Week in Review: A Reflection of November 20 – 26

It was a short school week and a long weekend due to Thanksgiving last Thursday. I had a traditional Thanksgiving at my grandma’s house. Our new tradition is going through the sales ads in the newspaper to see what special Black Friday items are being offered. A few of my extended family members are the kind of people who will go to the store at 4 a.m. However, I do not. That’s too cold and too early for me.

Our West Bend Student Activities Committee meeting was canceled this past week, so I had a little extra time to work on my self-paced Microsoft Access work. It was a good thing, too, because this lesson plan took longer than expected. That’s three lesson plans down and two more to go!

I get cold when I sit in the computer lab working on my lesson plans sometimes, so I was glad we received our Student Senate fleeces at the last meeting. A Senate member who’s a Graphic Communication student here at MPTC suggested the fleece style and color. It is the coolest school-related item I’ve ever owned. I love it.

The week after Thanksgiving shouldn’t be too busy of a week, but the week after will be. December 6 is our Holiday party at the West Bend campus. This will be pretty much a whole day event. I’ll be helping out that day along with other Student Activities Committee members. All the assignments for my self-paced Microsoft Access class are due by December 8. If you’ve read a few of my other blogs this semester you’ll realize I mention this class a lot. That due date is very important, so I’ve been using my blog as a reminder to stay on track and also to not forget the date. It seems to be working.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving Day is usually a day when we are asked to reflect on what we are thankful for. There are many things to be thankful for, even in an imperfect world. Many of us are blessed with family and friends, a place to sleep at night, and food to eat everyday. These things should never be taken for granted. The basics of life are the most important.

Sometimes, especially past the mid point of the semester, it is difficult to feel thankful to be a college student. Sometimes there’s a lot of homework or you want to have more free time or you don’t want to shovel your driveway just to get to class. However, when I’m feeling this way I remind myself that the opportunity to go to college is something to be thankful for.

I’m very thankful I was able to go back to college when I found out I needed more education to get the type of job I wanted. Moraine Park Technical College is close to home, so I don’t have to worry about commuting long distances or relocating. I don’t have to spend four years to get the education I need. This is especially important to me, because I’ve already invested money in my education. I want to manage my debt responsibly. Attending Moraine Park has allowed me to do all these things.

This week I’m also thankful to my instructors who decided not to have any assignments due the week after Thanksgiving. I was able to take a break and spend quality time with my family. Oh, and I’m thankful for good food, too! Thanks, Grandma!

My First Web Developer Club Presentation

At our last Web Developer Club meeting I was the student presenter at MPTC’s West Bend campus. Since I have a background in art I was able to teach my fellow Web club members about art aesthetics and how they can be applied to Web design. I was very excited to have the opportunity to talk about things like color theory and unity. I was able to explain the reason why you can’t put green text on a red background and how to create elements on a page that work together.

I know quite a bit about art, but I also did some research specifically relating to Web design, and I was able to pass on my resources to others so they could learn more. I feel like we all benefited from the presentation, including me. I have a clearer sense of what an attractive website looks like.

Since the presentation didn’t take up too much time, there was time left for our club president to show us a site that allows a design team to organize a project they are working on together on a digital board. Had I know about it when I was in Web Site Design, Implementation and Maintenance class, we could have saved a lot of space in our email accounts.

This club is great for Web design students who want to go beyond what they learn in the classroom. I think of it as an additional college course on Web-related topics. You come to the meetings to learn new things yet there’s no books to buy or tuition fees to pay. Many students come from different backgrounds and have an expertise in certain subjects. Some students are great at knowing what the next big thing is in technology and communication. It’s not a big commitment, because we only meet once a month. Nobody is required more than to just show up to the meetings, but everybody is encouraged to share their knowledge.

Week in Review: A Reflection of November 13 – 19

It’s almost time for Thanksgiving, and in honor of the occasion my friend and I decided to get crafty and make hand turkeys. You know, the kind of turkeys you made in elementary school when you’d trace your hand on a piece of paper. My nephew made his first hand turkey this year. It will be a while before my niece gets to make one of her own since she was just born this past Thursday.

It was an exciting week indeed. Not only did I get to meet my first niece, I got to go to my first Green Bay Packers game at the legendary Lambeau field. It was so cold outside, but so worth it. The weather isn’t a problem because Wisconsinites know how to layer! T-shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweater, zip-up sweater, jacket, and jersey. If I can’t move, just roll me to the stands.

The busyness of the week left me with three lesson plans to complete in three weeks. Therefore, I’ll be spending an entire day on campus in the computer lab this week. The campus is closed for Thanksgiving, so I’ll be working on it earlier in the week rather than later. There’s about one month until the end of the fall semester and the beginning of winter break!

Now, let’s see if I can remember how to make those paper snowflakes.

Moraine Park Technical College Employment Services

It goes without saying that the job search processes is laborious, even in good economic times. Luckily, Moraine Park’s Employment Services realizes this, and they are more than willing to help out current and former students, even if they graduated many years ago. It’s good to know there will always be a place I can turn to if I should need assistance 10 to 15 years down the road. During the presentation this week I learned what MPTC’s Employment Services has to offer.

A really useful tool available to students and alumni of Wisconsin Technical Colleges is TechConnect. It’s a website that lists full and part-time jobs as well as internships related to the fields students are learning. Students can use this tool while on campus through the myMPTC portal under Employment Services, and graduates and soon-to-be-graduates are eligible to gain off campus access by registering with Employment Services. I’ve already used the site to search the miscellaneous job postings.

During the presentation we were given the Graduate Follow-Up Report. Michele said they show this report to middle and high school students. It’s also useful for soon-to-graduate MPTC students, because they can see where jobs are located for their field and what kind of wages they may expect for their first job after graduating.

Employment Services has found ways to bring employers to potential employees. Michele told us that we could find events listed on TechConnect. On campus recruitment and job fairs are available throughout the year with the possibility to be interviewed on site. The website has a new feature where students and graduates can upload their resume to be searched by employers. This is something new and still in the process of being refined.

I took away more information than I expected going to this Lunch ‘n’ Learn presentation. If you’re a student and you’re able to go to them, you should. The “Lunch” part and the “Learn” part are both free. That’s why they call them Lunch ‘n’ Learns.

Week in Review: A Reflection of November 6 – November 12, 2011

Time went by so quickly it’s difficult to remember what even happened this past week. I suppose this could be a good thing because it means things went pretty smoothly for the week. There’s just a little more than a month left of the fall semester. It’s going to be time for winter break before we know it.

I was just short from finishing the second lesson plan for my self-paced Microsoft Access class. There are five lesson plans total, and I’m trying to finish one lesson plan per week. So, I’m a little behind schedule in that class, but I’m ahead of schedule with my Graphics for the Web class. I thought an assignment was due on Monday, but it turns out it’s due two weeks from Monday. It’s a lucky mistake, but it’s a good reminder to check and write down due dates or next time I might not be so lucky.

What I learned this past week is to focus on the positive, especially the little things from day to day. I’m pretty lucky to be able to attend college. I feel blessed to have met such nice, intelligent, and creative people in my classes and extracurricular activities. And as Friday was Veterans Day, I’m reminded how fortunate I am to live in a country full of brave men and women who ensure I get to live this life filled with opportunities and freedom. This week I’ll try to remember that.

My First Student Activities Committee Meeting

When I joined Moraine Park’s Student Senate in West Bend, I also decided to take part on the Activities Committee. It’s like a branch off of Student Senate, but we are specifically in charge of planning and running activities on our campus.

On Monday we had a meeting to discuss our holiday party. We really want to make it an entire day event on December 6 from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Nothing is set in stone, but we would like to have another casino event. We had one last spring, and it was fun and well attended. If you’d like to read about it, check out my blog entry, Last Blast: Casino in the Cafeteria at http://moraineparktech.blogspot.com/2011/04/last-blast-casino-in-cafeteria.html.

Like I said before, nothing is set in stone, because we are still in the planning stages. We need to contact the casino company to see if they are available. There will probably be bingo as well, in the early afternoon and the evening. We usually give out gift cards to winners, but we may also have some gift baskets, too. We’re working on providing free beverages and food for the students such as coffee, hot chocolate, cookies, chili, and sandwiches.

Once everything is set, I’ll give you an update on the details.

Kindness

November 13 is World Kindness Day. With all the problems going on in our contemporary society, it’s not easy to switch our mindset from “what’s wrong” to “how can we make things better in our own individual way?” It’s these little random acts of kindness that reminds us there are people who care. When we perform random acts of kindness, we are reminded that we aren’t powerless to make a difference.

Whether you do it for a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger, it really is little things you do for people that can make their day better. One day I was at work and it was lunchtime. I couldn’t open my bottle of water no matter how hard I tried with both my hands. They were red and sore and I was irritated. One of my co-workers saw I was struggling and left the room. He came back with pliers and opened the bottle for me. Finally, something that day went right. I was in a better mood now all because somebody took one minute out of their break time to help me out. I really think it’s things like this that help people get through the day.

During this month’s Lunch ‘n’ Learn we discussed random acts of kindness at MPTC’s West Bend campus. It was nice to talk about something positive. We talked about how people have shown kindness to us and how we show kindness to others.

We also shared ideas of how we could show kindness on campus. The simplest things to do are to say hi to people in the hallway, open doors for people carrying things, and picking up things off the floor. You can help your classmates when they are struggling with an assignment or task. You can ask people to go to lunch or dinner in the cafeteria after class. All these things don’t require any money or lots of time, but if you can make somebody’s day a little easier or a little nicer, it makes a bigger impact in the world than we realize, especially if we are all doing these things every day.

If somebody shows you kindness today, make sure you pass it on!

Week in Review: A Reflection of October 30 – November 5, 2011

Spring 2012 class registration for returning students at Moraine Park was this past week. I’ll be focusing on my second program, the Office Assistant program. I signed up for four classes, all of which are during the daytime. The IT-Web Designer/Developer program, my first program, consists of all night or online classes. This will definitely be a change for me. One of the classes I signed up for is at 8:30 in the morning. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a class that early. But then again, I can’t complain because I won’t have to watch any of my favorite primetime shows online anymore.

I had to spend several hours in the computer lab, but I’m caught up with my self-paced Microsoft Access work. While I was on campus working on my homework, I noticed a book sale by the library. I bought a book by an author I like for only a dollar. The money is going to the United Way. What a great way to raise money, recycle, and buy some inexpensive books.

Student Senate Update for November

As always, this Moraine Park Technical College’s West Bend Student Senate meeting was packed full of information. There are a lot of things going on in the month of November. Some of these events include several Lunch ‘n’ Learns, a BINGO event, Business Professionals of America (BPA) Fall Leadership Conference, and the BloodCenter of Wisconsin Blood Drive. My monthly planner is booked!

Speaking of the Blood Drive, it will be held at the West Bend campus on Tuesday, November 29 at 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. If you’d like to donate blood, you can register online at http://www.bcw.edu/MPTCWB. You could save a life!

During the meeting I learned about two Student Senate members receiving recognition for their design skills. At the APCA conference, one student won second place for a graphics competition. Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities is a conference that some Student Senate members went to recently. I wasn’t able to go, but there is a different conference in spring that hopefully I will be able to attend. Another student won a competition to create the Wisconsin Student Government logo last semester and it’s now on their website. Check out the logo she made at the WSG website http://wsgtech.org/Home/.

Next Tuesday I’ll be meeting with the rest of the Student Activities Committee to make some plans for a future event this December. Stay tuned!

Open Lab is Now Open

The open lab hosted by the Web Developer Club is now open at Moraine Park Technical College at the West Bend campus. On Monday nights, room S-112 is open for students taking web design classes to get help with their assignments from other web design students. I have class in that room, so after my class is over at 4:30 p.m., I’m already there for the open lab time. Students can work in the lab until the next class starts at 6:00 p.m.

This past Monday we had a great turn out. Just about every student was paired up with other students. It’s what we hoped the lab would be, a place for students to learn from other students. It’s a good learning experience for both parties.

Another student and I were able to help one of our classmates understand how to do an assignment. He was pretty thankful. Last year, when we had the open lab, one of my classmates who wasn’t in the Web Developer Club but wanted to use the open lab time to work on her homework was able to help me a few times. She was such a big help. She really eased my frustration.

I hope that people continue to come to these open labs. We should be able to do this again in the spring semester and maybe every semester after that.

Week in Review: A Reflection of October 23 – 29, 2011

Mission accomplished. I finished my homework by Thursday night so I had the entire weekend off to celebrate Halloween. It really wasn’t the “fall break” like I thought it was going to be since there was a lot going on. The weather could have been better, but at least there was no snow or ice.

My online Photoshop class is moving along quickly. I looked ahead in the syllabus, and it appears we will be going through the entire book. That’s a lot of material to cover in half a semester. By taking this class and the Graphics for the Web class concurrently, I’m getting to know Photoshop CS5 really well. I’m trying to memorize more keyboard shortcuts as I go through my assignments. These are combinations of keys you press on the keyboard to get the program to perform a certain action rather than clicking through menus. It saves time.

I didn’t have a whole lot of time to work on my self-pace Microsoft Access assignments this past week, so I’ll have to make up for it this coming week. The December 8 date is looming closer. I definitely won’t be able to get all that work done in a week before the due date. Guess I’ll be spending lots of time in the computer lab this week!