Academics

Classes are a big part of the GCC experience – find out all the great opportunities that are in store.

Excuse me, I’m allergic to math.

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Hey it’s Kiley talking about math and testing-

I don’t know about you but, I get an adrenalin rush every time I take an exam. The silence in the room is deafening to my ears. The tension the pencil gives my cramped hand is almost as annoying as a buzzing fly in a quiet room. To be honest, sitting still and racking my brain is torture to my soul. I wish I could be as cool as a cucumber, instead of a nail biting neurotic mess.

Every teaching style is different; therefore it’s important to understand your teacher’s expectations. Every teacher is a different puzzle, metaphorically speaking, each with its own vision or objective. I try to piece it together by observing and studying the homework questions and asking questions about topics I do not understand, but STATS is an impossible maze I can’t get through.

The worst thing for me is my attention span. In a quiet room I notice the most obscure habits of people. The girl chewing her gum could be confused as a cow, the moment I’m in that test setting. Sometimes I can’t help myself from being distracted by mundane observations. The boy blowing his nose sounds like a foghorn, I find myself chuckling. This is frowned upon, of course, by the instructor, but what is an ADD inflicted soul to do?

I am either hyped for a test or a basket case. I try to meditate beforehand in order to regain my composure during tests. I am sick of being the foot tapping, nail biting madwoman. Sometimes I start to feel like my calling is to step dance. This test inflicted habit not amusing, but embarrassing for me. To think I can just take time to simply take a breath is relaxing enough and soothes my test anxiety. I have always heard that clock tick and this would speed up my heart rate and anxiety. So I must go take this test I have been dreading, latter days.

Transformation.

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Hey it’s Kiley giving advice and suggesting  leisure activities!

The semester is finally over and the grades are in!

I took six classes this semester and my goal for next semester is to procrastinate less.  Sometimes I felt a mix of being overwhelmed and this fueled anxiety due to my structured procrastination. I would mix my priorities up and do everything, but my important tasks. Large tasks should be broken down, instead of being taken on all at once. I received three A’s a B and two C’s. This was a tough semester and I feel that the shift in my grades were due to a mix of burn-out due to four summer classes and procrastination. My overall average went from a 3.57 to a 3.44. This effects my ability be in the Honors Program another semester and PTK. This may also effect certain competitive scholarships for  next fall. I am disappointed in myself, but I will learn from my mistakes.These  obstacles do not make me any weaker of a person. I will rise above and achieve success for next semester.  Life does not always go as planed and sometimes people have to roll with the punches of life. I am my biggest critic at times, but am proud of the accomplishments I have made this semester.  Though perfection is ideal it is almost impossible to execute.

 

Must see movies and TV Shows:

Black Swan- disturbingly beautiful

Snatch

Iron Man 2

ROME-HBO show

Bored to Death-HBO show

 

Local Restaurants-

Red Coach Inn-A bit pricey, but overall delish. The bread was stale, but it came with 3 different dipping (butter, strawberry butter, and vinaigrette oil) I had a succulent scallop bisque and pecan sauced salmon. The veggies on the side were frozen, this was a turn off.The potatoes were crisped with a satisfying crunch.  I enjoyed red velvet cake, the presentation was beautiful.

Froghair-A very interesting concept for a restaurant. The atmosphere was a modern mix of virtual golf, sports TVs, and a antique romantic feel. Instead of bread this place offered pretzel sticks with mustard. This sets this restaurant apart from the majority of restaurants serving bread.I had the signature lobster bisque, truly divine. I do not normally eat burgers, but I had to try the Kobe beef burger with truffle french fries and dill mashed potatoes. Kobe beef cows are meat from  pampered cows in Japan. I prefer to eat that rather then the cheaper burger-full of hormones. I had a well done burger and it was  by far was the best burger I have ever had. I recommend this restaurant!!!!

 

The Froghair

 

Happy Holiday’s!

What does “SUCCESS” mean to you?

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Hey Ebony here stating her opinion.

We live in a world where we are judge by our success through other people. Society tell us how to live our lives, and tells us what we need to do in order to be titled as “SUCCESSFUL”. Many people may feel unsuccessful because they have not met society’s standards.

What do you hear all the time? “Make sure you go to college to get an education, a good job, and be successful”, do we really have to go to college to be successful? Do we really have to pay other people to measure how smart we are?

There are a lot of people who attended college and have gotten their bachelors, masters, and/or PhDs but do not have anything to show for it other than thousands of dollars worth of loans they have to pay back. While there are some people who never went to school and have all the qualifications and required knowledge, but do not have that stamped paper to prove it.

I do not have anything against college because obviously I’m here. I am here because I WANT TO BE and I feel I should be here to satisfy myself and my own needs, not others. Many of my friends and I have these group discussion about the measurement of success all the time. Some of them aren’t happy, some say they are here because their friends are in college, or their parents made them, and some just say “I don’t know”.

We should measure our own level of success and not let other people create our lives. Some people don’t really know the real reason why they go to school. Maybe it makes them feel bigger and better than the people who do not have a diploma.

How do you measure your level of success?

Some people can measure their level of success by

  • Getting a B+ on an exam
  • Spending time with their families
  • Being a stay at home mom or dad
  • Graduating high school
  • Getting a college degree
  • Finishing a project that has been sitting on their desk for years
  • Doing volunteer work and helping other people
  • Buying a house or a new car
  • Paying off debt

My bottom line is live up to your own expectations; do not let other people tell you how to live your life and measure your level of success for you. Ask yourself “AM I SATISFIED?”

What do you think and what makes you feel successful?

We Are Done.

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Hey Ebony here giving you some updates,

I had a lot of fun over my Thanksgiving break. It felt great to get away from Batavia and schoolwork for a while. I spent time with my family, ate lots of food and partied as much as possible. It felt great to be around real friends and family. I was comfortable. The funny thing is, after that week I was kind of ready to come back to Batavia, and now that I’m here I cannot wait to go back home. There is one week left into this semester, so much excitement. Wow how time flies when your having fun.

I’ve learned a lot and next semester I will be stronger and more humble than ever. I hope that other people have learned and will prosper.

Lets do it big for 2011. 

 

 

Thoughts on “Semester Success”

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Hi, I’m Eunice Bellinger,  from  Academic Affairs at GCC.  I’m trying this blogging out because it’s a cool way to communicate and sounds like it might be fun! As the snow descends on Genesee Community College, thoughts of final exams, projects due and papers to be completed loom large in the minds of both students and faculty.  We acknowledge another semester coming to a close re pleat with successes, failures and memorable moments of understanding.    What I like to think of as the measure of a successful semester is, upon reflection, realizing that I learned something, created something, helped someone and took the time to get to know someone I hadn’t known before.  So, I’m thinking I still have three weeks to make sure this semester comes to a “successful” conclusion.

I know that I learned a great deal about Brazil this semester.  We had the Boyds and the Drexels return this summer from teaching at FATEC college in San Paulo, Brazil.  They shared their experiences in a world I had known very little about.  Who knew that the area had been settled by ex-Confederate Soldiers and their families in the late 1860’s!  I’m looking forward to learning more as faculty and students travel there in the future.   As I serve on the “SUNY Strategic Planning Committee: SUNY and the World” I become increasingly aware of the internationalization of the American educational experience.

We all help to create the “GCC experience” and I guess, as creativity goes, I hope I add something positive to that experience.  We’re still working on new programs and concentrations (Logistics, Medical Office Tech. and Fashion Design) as well as new study abroad opportunities.  And of course we’ve created the “Office of Academic Affairs Newsletter” … another way tocommunicate.

http://gccnet.genesee.edu/depts/AcademicAffairs/AcademicAffairsVol1No3.pdf

I know we all help students and I hope that I’ve done my share as well.  I’ve always figured that we have a great opportunity to transform lives in higher education and I think that is particularly true at the community college level.  Sometimes when conversations are all about the singular events that disrupt our jobs  it’s easy to forget the positive difference we make on a daily basis in the lives of those we touch.

The ‘getting to know people’ part of my successful strategy…. I try hard but I get caught between endless meetings and EMAILS … so you can help me by stopping in, sitting down and chatting with me …. “it’s all about me” …. I need you to help me make my semester a success!  STOP IN!!

The End is Near

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Wow, the end is near and so many things has happened. I’ve met a lot of new people, had some great experiences and some bad, however I’ve learned a lot a long the way.

Now it’s time to go home for thanksgiving. Then it will be time to go home for winter recess, and before you know it, we are going to be starting a whole new semester.

This was actually an interesting semester for me; I was more involved than I would normally be in school.  I’ve surrounded myself around fun, energetic, goal oriented, and intelligent people. I’ve stood out as a leader, and tried to bring forth unity on campus.

Working in MarCom (marketing/communication) taught me a lot, and allowed me to show off my communicative competence. I’m also happy to be apart of this wonderful blog, and work with such wonderful people.

we all LEARN TO GROW and GROW TO LEARN!

Just a spoon full of sugar.

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Hey it’s Kiley giving you the low-down.

It’s that time of the semester where everyone is overwhelmed with finals and projects.Fear not, like Miss Ebony said: “stay positive”.

Guest speaker Paul Maurer, co-founder and chairman of Re-Tree WNY

This was sponsored by the Earth club and was proven to be a truly rewarding experience. Maurer is part of a nonprofit organization that’s goal is to plant a total of 30,000 trees around Buffalo area. This is necessary, due to a tragic storm in 2006 that destroyed many leaf -laden trees in Buffalo and Erie County.I was shocked to here about the damage  due to the storm. Maurer expressed that it was important to educate the neighborhood about the proper way to take care of these new trees. That it was important to call these tress their own.I thought that the many fundraiser ideas were great, especially because clubs are cut due to low funds.These innovative grass root ideas may influence students to start a revolution. It just takes one small person with one big idea to start a revolution.  He expressed that it was our job as a  community to fight for our earth. I was impressed by his devotion to this cause. I feel that many students expressed a desire to get involved in these community efforts.

October Storm 2006 pictures!

Missed the guest speaker? Click here and learn more!

America Recycles…and so does GCC!

Monday, November 15

9:00 – 2:30 PM

GCC Batavia / Forum

Don’t forget to collect some gently used winter wear, magazines, old cell phones, and dry cell batteries and bring it to the GCC forum. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure, as they say. Why not make use of some items that haven’t been used in months. Don’t be part of the problem be part of the solution. This will be one small step to ending a national problem. If everyone helps out and brings just one or two items, this will make a huge difference in the events success. I personally am planning on rounding up some magazines to help this great cause!

UPCOMING Documentary!

Forks and Knives

March 11, 2011

This claims that diseases can be controlled and the cause of these illnesses are due to animal based menu items and processed foods. I’m taking food and  nutrition currently and these types of documentaries interest me.Check out this website and maybe this will interest you as well.

Movie trailer!

College Applications

Last night I applied for two colleges Canisius College and Medaille College. For the typical second year busy GCC  student this is necessary to ensure a students future. There’s a lot to think about campus tours, applications, and scholarship opportunities. So if your a second year student it’s important to get started now!