College Blog

I used to be skeptical about blogging. Having lived in Southeast Asia for most of my life, many people would blog to whine about their petty misfortunes or as a way to earn free endorsements from beauty companies. So it’s not surprising to treat blogging as a mindless entertainment. Think “Perez Hilton” and the first few things that come to our mind are celebrity gossips and bad writing.

Up until last fall, I had never invested enough time to maintain a blog. Some of my challenges came from the misconception that I had to satisfy the readers other than myself. Another problem is finding the time to write. Given the hectic schedule from studying and working in school for 40 hours a week, it’s even challenging to find some free time to myself.

While the idea of blogging started out as a digital medium to replace the traditional diaries and notebooks, its nature has changed over the years. What used to be the work of a single person has now developed into collaboration with many authors.

With journalism transitioning to the digital world, blogging has now become an important requirement for every professional journalist. The content is no longer restricted to mundane personal entries, but also professionally edited to cater the mainstream readers.

Michael Roppolo, a third year journalism student at RIT, shared his view on the importance of writing and maintaining a blog.

“Blogs are worth reading when they are interesting, factual and have a specific voice – a storytelling style that is unlike anything you've ever heard,” Roppolo said.

The 20-year-old also stressed the use of social media to engage more readers. “You can have the best, most interesting blog in the world, but without social media, your blog will not get readers,” Roppolo said.

For Tianna Manon, 19, a second year journalism student, blogging has been an essential tool in news reporting. “Because I'm learning photo and video, I use my blog posts to debut the work,” Mannon said. “I often flit from one thing to the next and having a blog has kept me grounded and working/developing one thing.”

If there’s one thing I learned about blogging so far, it gives me more input to my writing skills and at the same time, helps me build more credibility in developing my career. There is no doubt that the endless opportunity from making my presence known in the digital world will be tremendous.

There may be others out there who don’t believe in relying on technology, but I know that engaging myself with other writers and readers will give me new ideas and inspire me to write more consistently. The world, after all, is full of fascinating and intellectual people.

This spring I am going to be taking my first online course. I was a little wary when I signed up because I have always enjoyed the traditional classroom setting. I like getting to know my classmates and being able to ask the professor questions in person if I am confused about something.

At RIT students have a wide variety of online classes to choose from, with the opportunity to complete their entire degree online if they wish. And even though popular concerns, like how to get help from a professor, are addressed by the institution some students are still hesitant to enroll in an online class.

The sentiment I received from a lot of RIT students was that they had never taken a class online because they were worried about the experience. Some thought that it would be a challenge to get work done since there often are no set class times. Others were worried that having to learn a lot of material on their own would make an online class more difficult.

Joanie McDonough, a second year journalism major, said that she can certainly see why students take online classes. For instance, there’s the viewpoint that it is less time consuming than traditional courses. But online learning isn’t a likely option for her. McDonough said she prefers smaller classes where she can develop relationships with her teachers and classmates. “I feel like it would be very impersonal and I don’t know if I would like that,” McDonough said.

Tom Mordovancey, a fifth year mechanical engineering technology major, echoed McDonough’s sentiment. During his time at RIT he has taken two online classes. He said that he often felt alone in the class because of the lack of interaction with other students. Mordovancey added, however, that online classes were convenient for him.

“I was already overloading my courses so I figured it might make my course load a little easier,” Mordovancey said.

After these experiences with online classes Mordovancey said that he would not be inclined to take more online classes. He found these classes to be harder than traditional classes for a few reasons, including the difficulty of contacting the professor and the amount of effort required to get clarification on topics he didn’t understand.

After hearing all of this I felt even more nervous that an online class would be really difficult for me compared to my previous classes. I looked online and found a few tips for succeeding in online classes. Some of these include creating an ideal study environment, being proactive and practicing strong time management skills.

So when spring quarter starts in a few weeks I am going to try out some of these tips and hope that they will help my first online learning experience be a success.

What you intend to major in is an important factor when deciding on a college.

You wouldn't go to an art school to major in mechanical engineering. Nor would a tech school be your first choice for a degree in art and architecture of the early to mid-French Revolution.

That said, many students pick their major, go to their school of choice, and discover that they've made a terrible mistake and regret ever thinking they could base their life around that choice. And I was one of these students.

When I first came to RIT, I was majoring in physics. Bright-eyed and innocent, I was just coming off of high school algebra-based physics with a teacher who made science fun. I had no idea what was coming. That was when I looked at my first quarter classes, among which was “Introduction to Special Relativity,” a look at how physics gets all wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey around the speed of light.

A little red light should have gone off in my head at that point, but I stuck it out. In fact, that sentence pretty much sums up my entire first year at RIT. I continuously forced myself to try to adapt, but I just never fit into physics the way I would have liked. So in the spring, I finally folded and switched into the journalism program. And I've never looked back.

When it comes down to it, it's not right to expect high school students to know exactly what they want to do with their lives, and that's why the possibility to switch majors exists. Now, this does have its drawbacks. If you switch too late in your academic career, you may need to spend more time at school to meet all the requirements of your new major, which translates into more loans and more crippling debt.

On top of that, your school might not offer a program you really want to switch into. If an engineering major decides they'd really rather pursue their longing to be a writer, their school might have a poor or non-existent liberal arts department. It might require transferring to another university entirely, which is its own flavor of headache. There are a number of perils, and not everyone can consider switching majors a back-up plan, nor should they. But it's nice to know that the option exists in some form or another for those who really need it.

The Rochester Institute of Technology has a very large art population. The school features majors such as Photography, Graphic Design, Illustration, Glass work, Metal Crafting, Ceramics, Film and Animation, and even Furniture design, amongst many others. So how are student artists preparing to enter the “real-world?”

Many students are doing their best to get involved in the Rochester community. This means gallery showings. Students like myself yearn for support from local galleries, but also from the citizens of Rochester.

Local galleries, such as Gallery r, and Visual Studies Workshop, amongst many others, have greatly helped these students show and/or sell work, giving them their first career boost.

As I am rounding the end of my college career, I have found myself overwhelmed by how little exposure my photography has gotten in the community in which I’ve lived for four years. Disappointed in my feat, I began looking into local public showings. As a photographer, this is a large part of career building. I was able to find two photographic upcoming shows that are open to the public.

One show is for the seniors of the Fine Art Photography program at RIT. The show, titled F.L.O.A.T., is set to open on Thursday, March 14, from 5-8 p.m. in the SPAS Gallery at RIT. The gallery is located on the third floor of Gannett Hall (building 7a).

Kristin Asche, project manager of F.L.O.A.T., has been working diligently on the show’s preparations. She has prepared a website displaying the work of all the featured students, to be made public one week before the show’s opening reception. Asche said she’s excitedly awaiting public exposure for her own work and the work of her classmates.

The second show is the 10th annual Draft Magazine showing, also featuring the work of RIT’s students. This show accepts submissions from all RIT School of Photographic Arts and Sciences students. The show will take place at Community Darkroom Galleries on Monroe Avenue. The opening will take place on April 19 from 7-9 p.m. According to DRAFT 10’s website, their purpose is “is to break photography down to its simplest elements.”

Margaret Stockman, an RIT student and submissions judge of DRAFT 10, is eagerly sorting through hundreds of submissions to prepare the best show possible.

Rochester also features an event called First Fridays. This event often features the work of locals, students included. First Fridays take place every month at various locations.

Shows such as these have helped to shape many artistic careers, and the students of RIT are lucky to have such an art-appreciating and welcoming community of galleries and citizens.

In a busy day full of classes, the last thing on my mind is figuring out what to cook for dinner. Sometimes, the furthest thing from my mind is eating healthy when fending for myself. I try to shop for $20 or less by sticking to buying frozen veggies and generic brand products.

Jacob Deboer, a third year Motion Picture Science major at RIT, tends to eat at home whenever possible. Sometimes on campus, he decides to pick up a quick sandwich or soup but never anything besides that. Deboer explicitly warns against the temptation of vending machines.

“Never, ever use vending machines on campus,” Deboer said. “I fall short of this advice myself, but the truth is simple: For what you pay for a Snicker’s bar at the vending machine, you can get a whole box of granola bars at Wegmans. If you need to keep your energy up during the day, carry some granola bars from home in your backpack.”

Audrey Perkins, a fourth year Nutrition Management student, tends to keep her shopping bill at $50 or less by simply evaluating the worth of what she buys.

“I pay attention to individual item prices, and gauge whether I think the item is worth the value to me,” Perkins said. “It could be real cheap, or slightly expensive. It just depends how I value the product.”

Erin Supinka, a third year Journalism student, stresses the importance of portioning your food to your advantage. “Portion control is a huge part of it too,” Supinka said. “Milk, eggs and bread can last me two weeks if I eat the right portions. If I make a six-egg omelet every morning ‘just because’ I am basically eating my money inefficiently.”

To save more, Supinka recommends that people put thought into what they want to cook during the week. “Try to plan meals. If you can, figure out how you can make a meal last for more than one or two meals,” Supinka said. “This keeps me from spending money on campus when I'm hungry and in a time crunch and also keeps me away from grabbing quick, unhealthy snacks too.”

Perkins said healthy eating is necessary for reducing the everyday distress of life. “Being healthy is an all-around benefit. You feel better, you look better, and your mood is improved,” Perkins said. “It's a great thing to feel this way, especially when you tend to be more stressed out than the typical person.”

According to Deboer, eating healthy is also the best way to prevent becoming a zombie. “Some people will tell me ‘I don't have time to take care of myself.’ RIT is intense, and it wears you down. As I understand it, you don't have time not to take care of yourself.”

Readers, what ways do you budget and stay healthy? Let us know in the comments below.