The Rock Blog

So we are in the fourth week of classes and around this time of the spring semester the weather likes to get everyone’s nerves. Especially for those people who get easily sick when the weather changes. Well I am one of those people and I am feeling the pressure of just staying in bed and sleeping the entire day. Well I am however proud to pronounce that even though I have been sick for past week, I have not missed a day of class yet. The semester has been four weeks long so far and I been to all my classes, even my Monday night class. I’ve been very careful though not to touch people and always have a bottle of hand sanitizer with me at all times. Hopefully when my cold passes over I can still be able to continue my perfect attendance.

– Frank H.

When I was back in high school, I was known as the over achiever to everyone. I was in almost every club and organization in the school and also ended up graduating with the honor of being fourth ranking of my graduating class. I was the yearbook editor, drum major, assistant director of the school’s plays and etc. back in those days it seemed like a breeze with all my extra-curricular activities. Now that I’m in college it’s a new and different type of atmosphere for me. My freshmen year I decided to join four student groups or organizations I joined the literacy council, council for exceptional children, jam rock dance team, and kappa sigma fraternity. At the time I was also involved with the honors program. My freshmen year was extremely busy and I may have gotten stressed out a few times, but as I matured I was able to be good at time management. As the years went by till now, which is my junior year. At this point in my college career added a few more organizations like the gamma sigma sigma community service Greek organization. With stuff like that added on to my plate, I still find a way to do my school work and random things as well The key to making this successful is to know how to do time management.

– Frank H.

I’m now reaching my second semester as a Slippery Rock University junior. Classes are getting tougher and my leadership for the organizations I’m involved in are becoming more demanding. It can get tough sometimes, but organization is important.

One day when I was sitting in my apartment looking up YouTube videos on random things, like I always do when I feel bored, a thought popped into my head. I got up and went to my supply kit which I use to hold all my office supply materials like pencils, posted notes and etc. I picked up this stack note cards (or whatever they are called) and took them over to my work table aka my kitchen counter. I always have my work stuff on the counter and I sort them into piles according to the class subject they belong to. With the so called note cards I wrote on them assignments that were due for each class. For example just in case I’m confusing you. In my stage management class I have had two homework assignments. I had to read a packet and read a couple of chapters in a book. I wrote on two separate note cards each of the homework assignment and I did that for each class I have this semester. Once I was done, I wrote out more note cards for each class so I can put them in a hat. I pull the winning class subject out of the hat and that’s the class assignment I work on first. As soon I’m done I will pull out the next class and so on. This is a new system I picked on picking the class to work on so I’m not sitting in front of my laptop for ten minutes deciding what assignment I should do first. I may have made it seemed confusing but it does make me more organize. The first time I did I actually got two weeks’ worth of assignments done for all my classes.

– Frank H.

A couple of days ago I experience the first cold day of the semester. For me this means becoming sick more often and also getting ready for the semester to end. Around this time I’m mostly getting ready for finals week period. Lucky for me most of my finals are presentations instead of test. Doing presentations are better for me since I can express what I’m thinking through talking and using media like Power Points and videos off of YouTube. For the finals that are tests, I just have to make sure that I study a lot. I don’t think they will be too difficult but I always have to prepare myself for anything when it comes to tests. Hopefully I will do well in all my final examinations before the semester starts even though the weather outside may make it difficult for me to concentrate since the cold season makes feel me tired and lazy, but I guess I will happen and see the result of grades when the schools sends them out.

– Frank H.

Every semester I find myself planning some kind of event whether it’s for my fraternity or for special education club that I’m president of. These are the two organizations I do the most work for and I’m glad I got a chance to be a part of it. For Kappa Sigma fraternity as the vice president of membership and development, I do a lot of work for planning events for the members of the organization. I do a lot planning and organizing with rush and pledging. When rush comes around it’s my job to make events happen to catch a student who is interested in joining Greek life. Some of those events may be a campus wide movie night, information meetings and etc. For the special education club that I’m in a lot of the events that we do are events that have something to do with helping children with disabilities. The organization plans an autism walk and a lot of fundraising. Planning all these events does help me with my future career goals so I’m glad I had the chance.

– Frank H.

So a lot of people like to complain all the time about the weather but I love it. I always say that I like it when it’s cold because I rather be cold and then warmed by a blanket than turn the thermostat up more. I guess this feeling is base on where I come from. Be a Pittsburgh native you have to deal with the cold winters and sometimes even though you have heating it still manages to be a little cold. I just rather it be cold then it be hot because I hate sweating. In SRU there will be your extremely hot days and then there are those extremely cold days. Everyone goes through a phase when they hate the hot sun and wished the snow come early, but then wish for the hot sun when its’ extremely cold. I’m in the middle of all that. I really don’t care how the weather changes as long it doesn’t affect my day.

-Frank H.

A new thing I’m doing this year is going out of the country for spring break. Even though that is month ahead I start working on preparing for it now. A couple of fraternity brothers and I decided that it will be a cool idea to go to Canada for spring. I feel that it’s a good idea because I’ve never been out of the country and plus it won’t cost as much if we decide to drive up there. There are even brothers of the same fraternity that I’m in up in Canada it will be an honor to meet them.
To prepare for this trip I of course have to get pass port which I’m in the process of getting. I though it would be a simple process but it’s a little difficult then I thought. I’m also going to the gym more. I know this work out plan might seem hard for you but it’s easy for me to complete. I start on Monday morning. After waking up at 5 AM, I get ready and gather all my stuff to head over the gym on campus by 6 AM which is when it opens. I do an hour workout with consist of lifting weights and cardio. Then I once I’m done and refresh I head to my classes for the day. I walk everywhere since I don’t have a car on campus and plus its good exercise. Every time I’m spotted walking across campus people offer me rides, but I always say no because it’s extremely healthy. Well if you think my exercise program is over its not. I finish my day with a workout did. Then I’m day for the day and I wake up at 5 in the morning and do all over again every day except for the weekend. This is something new that I’m still adjusting to. Sometimes I can’t even wake up on time, but hopefully I can do it consistently until next semester.

For my first blog of the semester I want to discuss change. Whether you are a freshmen entering your first year of college or you are a senior getting ready to graduate. Everyone on this campus experiences changes once in a while. As a junior at slippery rock university I experience change through entering my upper class men years and also adjusting to the cool changes that are happening around the university. I feel that you need to be able to adjust to changes if you want to succeed in college. Being involved with the theater department, the special education department, and all the other activities that I’m involved with (kappa sigma fraternity, gamma sigma sigma community service organization, jamrock dance team, and council for exceptional children) keeps me very busy and of course changes happens occasionally. When you were in high school a lot of your teachers were the same. They had the same teaching style and method and you got use to that style for four years. Then you came to college and you a have professor that does one thing and another professor who does something that is totally different. In college I feel that you have to be able to deal with things that are new to you. You have to be able to go through changes and succeed from them.

– Frank H.

So now that Homecoming is officially over, I can now get back to my regular life as a college students. One thing I liked about this homecoming is the fact that I was more into it than last year. Last year I was a freshman pledging a fraternity and I did know what the heck was going on. I stood in the background while the brothers of Kappa Sigma worked on the float until someone asked me to do something.
Now my sophomore year when I’m brother now I know what really happens during homecoming. This year I woke up early in the morning of the homecoming parade and walked to one of my brother’s place to get some breakfast and to get my homecoming gear. Then we all walked to the place where we had our float, which we spent some time building. Once everyone is ready to go, we all just ride the float to the parade and then the fun begins. Then after the ten minute parade we had to get tailgating ready. I wasn’t really at tailgating that much but I heard it was a blast. But homecoming is fun and it’s a good way to show your school spirit.

Frank Hammond

This year, scheduling for classes is different. Scheduling for classes is really competitive. It’s a first come first served basis. If you find out that a class you want or need is filled up then it can get really depressing. Especially if the class you need is not available, but you need it to move on your college life, it can get stressful, but also there are many ways and many resources that can help you with that. You just have to ask and there should be someone to help you with it. Just hope for the best when you schedule for clasess.

Frank Hammond