Thinking About Fall Already

Month in Review: A Reflection of July

It sure doesn’t take long for the stores to switch from advertising shorts and swimsuits to advertising sales on school supplies and first-day-of-school outfits. Speaking of school supplies, I usually use my old notebooks until they are completely full before I buy new ones. Well, it looks like I’ll need to buy at least one new notebook and folder. My favorite folder has a pretty sizeable tear, and it’s seen better days. In a few weeks I’ll be buying my new laptop, then I’ll be all set to start the Audio/Video Certificate this fall.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the events section on the myMPTC portal. I’m very excited to see that Mission IMPROVable will be performing at the Welcome Back lunch. They are an improvisation group I’ve seen in the past, and they are so much fun. I highly encourage you to see them if you can! It is sure to be a memorable experience you’ll share with your friends for years to come. My friends and I still talk about their show and quote it.

At work I’ve been given more responsibility. I’ve been there for two months, and I’m starting to feel pretty comfortable with what I’m doing. The job duties test my multitasking ability, because I have lots of projects to work on simultaneously. I think college helps build those skills. When you’re taking four or five classes in a semester, you have no choice but to work on several projects all at the same time.

If you’re enrolled in classes this fall, enjoy the last few weeks of August before the semester starts. It’s right around the corner. I don’t have too much planned for the rest of the month. I think I’m just going to take it easy and enjoy the weather. What are your plans for August?

Welcome Back Lunch and Mascot Reveal

On Wednesday I went to the welcome back lunch at the West Bend campus. The event kicked off with free food and an announcement from our Moraine Park President, Dr. Sheila Ruhland. MPTC is getting a mascot! We are now the MPTC Gray Wolves. This mascot does not have a name yet, so to get input from the students we got to suggest names. In return for suggesting a name, I got a free T-shirt with our new mascot on it. We also get to vote for the name we want it to have in September through the myMPTC portal. The online voting will go live on Tuesday, September 6. To vote, log in to myMPTC, click on the Student Life tab, go to Student Life News and click on Vote! Name MPTC’s Gray Wolf. It should be interesting to see what people think the gray wolf’s name should be.

After that announcement, Mission IMPROVable came onstage to do some improv skits. They took suggestions from the audience, even a few of mine that I shouted out. In a scene one of the guys ended up skydiving off of a unicorn with James Bond. Thanks to them, I now know what a unicorn sounds like!

First Day of the Fall Semester

Monday was the first day of classes for the fall semester at Moraine Park Technical College. My Monday night class is Graphics for the Web. We’ll be using Photoshop CS5 to optimize images so they will download quickly and correctly on a web page.

The computers we use in this classroom are Macs, but they can run both Mac OS and Windows 7 operating system. I’ve had classes in this room last year, but before that I wasn’t aware a computer was able to handle two operating systems. Windows 7 is new to me, but I’ve heard it’s much simpler to use than previous Windows versions.

I’m actually looking forward to our final project for this class. We will be creating a logo for a company that will be selling a product in a foreign country. We get to choose the country and research what colors and symbols mean. Many countries have completely different meanings for colors and symbols than the United States. This is a very important fact to know.

After class, I walked to the bulletin boards to see what kind of events are coming up on campus. On my way to the board, I noticed they have installed new bathrooms next to the cafeteria. I’m pretty certain they were not there last semester. Anyways, there are a couple of events to go to this week. There will be a performance by Mission IMPROVable on Wednesday and free pizza on Thursday. I’ve got a class on Thursday night, so I will probably partake in that since I will be here anyways. Next week Thursday there is a Student Senate meeting. I’m thinking about checking it out.

For those of you who are new to MPTC, welcome and good luck on your first semester! And for those of you who aren’t new, welcome back and here’s to a great semester! Cheers!

First Week of Classes: Mission IMPROVable at the Welcome Lunch

I am very excited to see that Mission IMPROVable http://missionimprovable.com/ will be at all three Moraine Park Technical College campuses during the first week of the fall semester. They are a traveling group of performers who do improv skits similar to the ones seen on the TV show, Whose Line is it Anyway?

I had seen them perform a few years ago. My friends and I still quote some of the ridiculous lines from their show on a regular basis. They took suggestions from the audience and invited them on stage to perform with them. For one skit, the audience wrote down movie quotes and put them in a hat. They acted out a scene and had to use whatever quote they pulled out of the hat.

There is a free lunch for students from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. and the show is from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. If you’re free and looking for some fun, definitely come to see the show! You’ll be talking about it all semester long!

Fond du Lac campus: Monday, August 22

Beaver Dam campus: Tuesday, August 23

West Bend Campus: Wednesday, August 24

To see more upcoming events, click on the “Events” tab on my blog site.