BINGO Night in the West Bend MPTC Cafeteria

On Wednesday, I played BINGO at Moraine Park Technical College’s West Bend Campus for the first time. I recognized one of my classmates who I also sat next to at the last student orientation event where we both represented our student clubs. It was her first time playing BINGO here, too.

For $5 I got two game cards and a voucher for lunch. We played a bunch of different BINGO games such as inside picture frame, postage stamp, and four corners. My cards weren’t so lucky until we played the last round – blackout. We had to get all the numbers on our card to win. I actually won! I got a $25 gift card for Kohl’s! There were a bunch of great gift card prizes. I wouldn’t have minded winning a gift card for Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, or a gas card either. They all sound pretty useful to me, though the Starbucks one would be more for a treat than used for a necessity like gasoline.

The next BINGO event at the West Bend, hosted by the West Bend Student Senate & Activities Committee, is Monday, October 17 at 4 p.m. BINGO is also held at the Fond du Lac and Beaver Dam campuses. Check out my “Events” page on my blog for upcoming events or check your myMPTC portal under the Student Life tab.

MPTC Spring Break Trip to London, England

On Monday I went to an informational meeting about the trip to London during spring break at Moraine Park Technical College’s West Bend campus. There are also informational meetings about this trip at the Fond du Lac and Beaver Dam campuses this week.

I know that they’ve done this trip in the past during spring break, but Ron Campopiano, who’s organizing the trip through Moraine Park’s International Education Program, said it’s going to be a little different this year. The company hosting the tour is Education First College Study Tours. They’ve come up with an itinerary that includes some major points of interest such as Big Bend and Houses of Parliament, Piccadilly Circus and Windsor Castle just to name a few.

It’s a really exciting opportunity I didn’t know a technical college such as MPTC had to offer. Even students from Germany have a chance to visit our campuses. They just arrived at the Fond du Lac campus a few days ago. You can find out more about their experience by visiting Moraine Park’s International blog, “International Education…Travel with us via the web” at http://moraineparkinternationaled.blogspot.com/. Moraine Park Technical College Culinary Arts students also have the opportunity to visit Germany as part of the exchange program.

My friends who’ve been to London tell me the time to go on trips like these is when you’re in school, because it’ll never be as inexpensive on your own. I don’t know if I’ll be able to go this year, but I still have some time to decide. If you’re interested in going and want to know more, take a look at the Web site and itinerary: http://www.efcollegestudytours.com/preview-tour.aspx?gt=1100150

Week in Review: A Reflection of September 19 – 23, 2011

Each week I reflect on what I have learned, new skills I have developed, challenges I’ve overcome, and new concepts I now understand. This week I learned how to make my own Web page backgrounds in Graphics for the Web class at Moraine Park Technical College.

In class we learned how to make a small image and repeat it using CSS to cover an entire background. Background images on Web sites are important when you consider that colors and shapes have different, specific meanings. The background needs to reflect what the Web site is about.

If you’re a student studying Web design, you know how time consuming it is to look for specific images online that express the exact message you are trying to portray. It gets more difficult when you’re working on paid projects and need to be mindful of copyright laws. I think it’s actually much less time consuming to create a background than to look for one using a search engine. It’s a pretty useful technique I’m certain I will use in the future. I may take a look at my previous work and apply this technique to those Web pages as well.

Second West Bend Student Senate Meeting of the Year

Our officers for the Moraine Park Technical College West Bend Student Senate were elected this week during the second meeting of the semester. I’ve been appointed as one of the members at large, which means I’m a general member of Student Senate. I’ve also decided to be part of the Student Senate Activities Committee this semester. This is a group of students who plan, organize, and run special events on campus.

During the meeting we discussed some of the upcoming events. Next week Wednesday, September 28, is BINGO in the MPTC West Bend cafeteria at 4 p.m. I remember there were BINGO events a few times last year, but I had class at that time. This semester I don’t have class on Wednesday nights, so I’m going to try to go. It’s only $5 to play, and there are prizes to win.

On October 21, Chad Calek will be giving a free presentation called “Trail of the Dead” at 6 p.m. with dinner starting at 5:30 p.m. He’s a ghost hunter who has captured footage of paranormal activity, and he’s been on several TV shows. Adam Ninmann, who’s in charge of Student Life at the West Bend Campus, told us that people must pre-register with him if they are interesting in attending.

At the Senate meeting we also discussed APCA (Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities) conference this October. Two of our members are going. It sounds really interesting. I’m unable to go to the conference, but hopefully I will be able to go to a conference in spring.

During our next meeting, October 6, Moraine Park President Dr. Sheila Ruhland will be there to speak with us. Student Senate really is a great way to get involved, find out what’s going on, and have an impact on the college’s future.

Go Purple for Alzheimer’s

I was looking at the events section on myMPTC portal this week and saw that Wednesday is “Go Purple for Alzheimer’s”. September is World Alzheimer’s Month and Wednesday, September 21 is Alzheimer’s Action Day. MPTC Students and staff were asked to wear purple this day to raise awareness of this disease.

I don’t know much about the disease, so I went to the Alzheimer’s Association website http://www.alz.org/wam/wam.asp to learn more. They asked for people to wear purple and to change their Facebook profile picture to purple. On the U.S. National Library of Medicine site http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001767/ they said that it is a disease that affects peoples’ thinking, memory, and even behavior. They recommend having a low-fat diet, eating foods high in antioxidants, and to stay mentally active to prevent the disease.

It makes me thankful that I am healthy. My classes may challenge me mentally, but I know it’s good for my brain. I plan on being a learner for the rest of my life.

If you’re looking to get involved in the cause, there is The Walk to End Alzheimer’s event on Saturday, October 1, 2011 at Moraine Park Technical College’s Fond du Lac campus. Registration is at 9 a.m. and the three-mile walk begins at 10 a.m. For more information visit: http://2011walktoendalzheimers.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=451251&lis=1&kntae451251=9A4BE9BD87DE47CCA81C832842339272

First Web Developer Club of the Semester

I was reelected as the secretary of the Web Developer Club at Moraine Park Technical College during our first meeting of the fall semester! We held elections for the president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and student senate representative. I became the secretary of the Web Developer Club last spring, and I’ve been a member since last fall.

I was very happy to see some members from last year as well as several new people. I think it’s going to be a good semester for the WDC. It seems like a good group of people who really want to get involved.

We discussed a few ideas we may pursue this semester. We’re hoping to have at least one field trip. There’s a possibility that we will get club shirts as well. Next month we’ll be voting on logos.

The Web Developer Club is trying to bring back the open lab for the Web developer students. As I mentioned last semester, we have held an open lab once a week in one of the computer classrooms where students can work on their homework, get help, provide help, or share sites and information related to Web design.

Our next meeting is Thursday, October 20. If you’re in the IT field and want to learn new things, network, and have fun, think about joining the Web Developer Club.

Week in Review: A Reflection of September 12 – 16, 2011

This week I bought a student planner from the Moraine Park bookstore. My personal planner was too small to write down everything I needed to write. They were on sale because we’re already a few weeks into the semester. In a few days, we’ll be one month into the semester! I still feel like it’s the second week!

Some of my classes are picking up in pace, and I have multiple assignments due for each class. A few of the classes are half a semester long, so there’s a lot of work to do in a short amount of time. After those two classes are over, I start Beginning Photoshop. This class will be my first completely online class.

I decided at the beginning of the semester that I would keep up with my assignments by working on them as soon as possible. It’s been working well for me. My free time is more relaxing and guilt-free knowing I’ve finished what I need to finish for the week by Sunday night.

What I’ve learned this week is that setting a schedule for assignments makes the workload easier to handle. I set priority to the tasks that are due the soonest and the ones that will take the longest to complete. Pacing things on your to-do list is a transferable skill that can be applied to any job, especially in the Web developer field.

Alternative Plans

Moraine Park Technical College’s West Bend Student Senate meeting was canceled this week. I was disappointed, but I knew it was a blessing in disguise. It gave me extra time to work on my self-paced class.

There’s an open lab for self-paced classes where you can go to work on your homework and exams. The instructors that organize the classes staff it. Since I’m new to myITlab, I found it very helpful to work on my homework there. I had a few questions as I was going through lesson plan 1, and the instructor was able to answer all my questions.

I was nervous taking the exam. It’s a sort of simulation exercise. Another student told me you have to follow the steps exactly, or it won’t be correct. She was right. I wasn’t very happy with my first score, but luckily there is the option to retake the test to earn a higher grade. I felt much better after taking the exam again and getting a better score.

Last week I looked at the lesson plans to figure out how to pace myself and get all the work in by December 8. I figured if I did one lesson plan a week, I would get all the work done by mid October. After that, I start the self-paced Access class.