Lots of Congratulations Are in Order

Week in Review: A Reflection of June 18 – 24

 I had such a busy week and weekend with planned and unplanned events. I had a few things to do at MPTC’s West Bend and Fond du Lac campuses including helping out with the Career Showcase on June 21.

My nephew’s birthday party was on Saturday, which also happened to be the day my cousin gave birth to her first baby. We went right after the party to see her and her new son. Congratulations!

On Sunday my family and I went to Grafton to celebrate my second cousin’s eighth grade graduation. Congratulations, Michael! It’s hard to believe he’s old enough to enter high school now. I still picture him as being seven years old.

Between all the busyness this week, I’ve been checking on the garden. It looks like we’ll be having fresh raspberries in the house soon. I hope we get some rain so everything in the garden can grow.

What Should I Do With My Summer?

It’s easy to get out of shape during the summer when it comes to your mind. If you don’t do anything to keep your mind active, you may feel a little mentally sluggish when classes start in the fall. Here are a few tips to keep your mind and body in shape this summer.

Take a Summer Class
Whether it’s for fun or for credit, taking one or two classes during the summer is a good way to keep you in the learning mode.

Read Books
It doesn’t matter if it’s specifically educational or non-fiction or fiction. I’ve always read something during the summer. Right now I’m reading “Mockingjay,” the third book in “The Hunger Games” series. When I’m done with that, I’ll be reading a book called “The New Rules of Marketing & PR.”

Start a New Hobby
The Internet has made learning a new hobby easy. Try cooking or something crafty. You can visit YouTube to learn all sorts of things. You can find how-to websites that provide tutorials and demonstrations. Don’t forget that the local library is a great resource for anything you may be interested in.

A Shopping Success

Week in Review: A Reflection of June 4 – 10

Over the weekend I used the gift card I won at the Last Blast event in April to go shopping. I picked up two pairs of Capri pants and a sweatshirt, and I only had to kick in about eight dollars of my birthday money. It was a very successful shopping day.

Also during the weekend, I picked up my bridesmaid dress from the bridal shop. It’s for my sister’s wedding, and I love it. I was happy to find I will not need any alterations done to the dress, and I already have the shoes to match.

Even though it’s summer, I’ve received emails this week about some events going on this summer and next fall. One email about New Student Orientation in July asks members of MPTC student clubs to represent their club at the orientation. Another email notified us about a strategic planning meeting in September. It sounds like we’ll be able to provide some feedback about topics that concern student life such as health and wellness and campus safety.

If MPTC had fitness centers on their campuses, would you be likely to use them?

My Birthday Week

Pirate Fest (I'm the one on the left)

There are a lot of good things and bad things about having a birthday in the beginning of June. In high school exams always seemed to be that week. That wasn’t really how I wanted to spend my birthday. I enjoy the timing of my birthday more in college because the semester is over, and, depending on the weather, it already feels like summer. This year the weather has been very kind to my birthday plans.

Last Saturday my friends and I went to Seafood Fest at the park in town. We had some seafood, looked at the booths set up, and I got a massage at one of the tents. I’m not sure what that has to do with seafood, but I’m not complaining. This park has a garden labyrinth we walked through that’s beautiful this time of the year. Luckily, there wasn’t a whole bunch of bugs yet either.

The next day we went to Pirate Fest in Port Washington. I had never been to the festival before, and I had no idea it was so popular. So many people were dressed up. After the parade we walked out to the lighthouse. I was expecting it to be cooler next to the lake, but it was pretty darn warm out. I got burnt on my shoulders where I didn’t have enough sunscreen.

My Plans for Summer 2012

The spring 2012 semester is over for me at MPTC. This means it’s summer for college students! I will not be taking any summer classes, but I will be on campus periodically. I should be there in July for the New Student Orientation to represent the Web Developer Club.

I’ve already registered for the fall semester weeks ago. I have four classes that meet on campus. They are all afternoon and evening classes, and I’ll only have class two days a week.

I will be continuing with my volunteer work during the summer and learning some more programs on my computer. My birthday is in June so I’ll be celebrating that with my friends. My nephew’s birthday is also in June. I’ll be going to a family reunion later this summer at my aunt’s house.

Since it is summer you won’t be hearing from me quite as often as you do during the academic year, but I will still be writing a few blogs.

My favorite part of summer is sitting by a campfire at night. What’s your favorite part of summer?

Graduation Day

We headed to Fond du Lac High School for Moraine Park Technical College’s graduation ceremony on Saturday morning. When I went to get in line I was told I would be the last person to go up on stage. I’m used to being towards the end of a lineup, but I was pretty surprised to be at the very end of this one.

The ceremony

We sat according to our program. I sat with my friends who were also receiving the Web Site Coordinator Certificate. Not only did I get a nice blue case for my certificate, I was also given a commemorative medallion in honor of MPTC’s centennial in a royal blue pouch.

How We Created and Hosted Our First Webinar

A webinar is an online seminar. Until this semester I had never attended one. So, I find it pretty amazing that I helped host one on Wednesday for my Communication Technologies class.

The invitation to our first webinar for our group project

Every member in the group had a role such as speaker, moderator, or technical support. One of our members was in charge of social media communication through Twitter.

First, we created a content management document so we knew who our audience was, what we were to talk about, and the outcome we expected by hosting the webinar. This is an important step not to skip when creating anything, because it helps you keep focus on what is important. We did this step right away.

Second, we chose a webinar tool. We found a great one that offered a free 30-day trial. Attendees of the webinar can use the webinar tool without signing up for the trial. We sent invitation through the e-mail to the other groups in the class so they could attend. They would then register to attend our webinar.

Third, our speaker created a slideshow and an outline of what she was going to say during the presentation. Our assigned topic was applying audio technologies, one of the competencies of the class. We narrowed the topic down to specifically podcasting, especially for those who are new to the technology.

Wrapping Up

Week in Review: A Reflection of May 7 – 13

Everything is wrapping up now that the end of the semester is here. There are plenty of things to do still, and it’s going to feel very strange when everything slows down this summer.

We went to a restaurant in West Bend for our last Student Senate meeting on Thursday. It was a lovely day to step outside in the middle of the afternoon.

Afterwards I went back to campus to create an eBook for my Communication Technologies class. It was a challenging project, but I really enjoyed creating it. I was happy to use my graphic design skills to create a book that was not only informative, but also nice to look at. I used skills I learned in my Document Processing class this semester to add footnotes and make a nice table.