College Field Trip!

Going on a "field trip" in college is a lot of fun. There is no tape placed across your door to implement curfews, you get to ride a charter bus, and best if all: you do not have to stay in a group.


*Quick note*
If you are able to join the Honors Program, do it! The Honors Program participants get to go on a lot of interesting field trips! If you are not in the Honors Program, then look for chances in which other classes or organizations get together with them so that you can join in with them... like I did ;) This particular themed trip was a part of the African American Experience honors class.
*End of quick note*


Today, we made a trip to the Muhammad Ali Center. It was awesome because the information displays were so creative. And, yes, of course I would love something totally awkward like the layout of the place. Forget your regular and boring museum setup. This museum incorporated highly interactive displays (which were all the rave with the one hundred elementary school students who arrived shortly after we did). The Ali Center contained a full-sized boxing rink on which to watch film clips from above, an area where visitors lay flat to experience the film on the ceiling, red stock market-style crawls of succinct information, and an area where you can practice your boxing skills. I will not give away any more about the Ali Center because you should experience it for yourself!

I already knew quite a bit about Muhammad Ali before going to the Ali Center, but I never knew that a center could be laid out so creatively. It is cheesy, I know, but you learn the weirdest things when you least expect it. Perhaps, one day I will need to set up a creative display and I will be inspired from the amazing design talent that I saw today. Who knows?!?

Anyway, we had a fabulous "soul food" (traditional Black American food) lunch afterwards, and then headed up to Cincinnati, Ohio. Tomorrow we will retrace the trails of the Underground Railroad and visit the Freedom Museum.

Learning outside of the classroom (whether it is on a study abroad trip or with the Honors Program like this one), is always a special experience. Not only do you become immersed in what you are learning, but you also get the chance to bond with people beyond the usual "hello" and "see ya" that you say to each other at the beginning and end of class. That in itself is priceless.

Roommate Drama is Bad Drama

So in my tenor here at WKU, I have had some good roommates and some god awful ones as well. I have had so many different experiences at times its rather comical now. I just want to share some of my experiences with you so you know what to look for in a potential roommate.
My freshman year I had a roommate for 3 weeks before I moved to the first floor of my dorm. I had a private room for the rest of the year, but we still got a long great and even hung out on occasions. Sophomore year wasn't so cheery.
My roommate that well fall semester was very clingy and I hate that. She would always ask me where I was going and so forth like she was my mother. Irked the living daylights out of me. I did invited her to some things that I was doing, like my bible study and things, but after a few failed appearance I just stopped. She would always say well you don't invite me to anything your doing which was complete bull. The only thing that we actually agreed on and could do with out fighting is watch and talk about Laguna Beach. She got to the point where she was never in the room and I decided to rearrange my side of the room and she finally shows up and has a fit like I touched her stuff. I could go on really about it but I'll spare you the stories. She ended up dropping out that fall semester because of illness and I got that room to myself for the rest of the year.
Now my favorite roommate was my roommate junior year (the first jr. year lol). She was so nice, we had the same morals, and so forth. But my favorite thing about her was...she always baked goodies for me haha. She would always bake stuff and we would eat it. Sometimes I would give it to the boys that lived down the hall from us. Now she was a bit anti-social which is totally different than me but I got past that. She ended up taking her last semester online at home because she only had 9 hours left and couldn't live on campus. So I had a private room the next semester.
Last year (O8-09) was the worse year in the dorm that I had. My first roommate was a clean freak. I am clean but I'm not OCD about it either. I had a lot of stuff so my side was kinda cluttered compared to hers. We finally got to a point where we just got over it, but she moved into another room with her friend and I had the room to myself. We actually get a long better now. Then for the last few weeks of school another girl or should I say girl(s) moved in. My roommate and her friend were always together, in our room. The other girl acts like she couldn't stay in her own room by herself. It was soo annoying. Plus I got to hear about all the drama that was going on with them, I'm pretty sure I never asked to hear their whole life story. But they got a room together in the spring in a different dorm
But the story that trumps them all is last spring semester. It was just horrific. The girl that moved in, I knew her, but it's different when you live with people. She was umm...how do i say this nicely....promiscuous. I mean my big red flag was when she had a big ole box of condoms on her desk. We just had totally different morals. I was kept quiet and kept my composure for most of the semester until I walked in on her having sex in our room! First of all, have some self respect, I would never do that in a dorm. Plus you could have put a sign up that said something. But this story gets even better. When i come back in the room and start to get ready to go to bed, they start going at it again!!! I went ballistic and lets just say it never happened again.

I know this is long but I tell you this to warn you, try to room with someone you know you will get a long with. Some one who has the same morals and things as you. try to save yourself from all the unnecessary drama that I had to go through. Happy roommate hunting.

Your Shoes Don't Have to Match Your Shirt and Pants

Kiwi. Banana. Apple. Blackberry. Pomegranate. Plum. Strawberry. Rug.
Apricot. Raspberry. Tangerine. Mango. Passion fruit. Pineapple. Chemistry.

There are times when a sequence does not make sense. There are also times when a sequence does not have to make sense. That is how you should think of a college education, like the latter sentence.

This semester, I am enrolled in two bi-term (the first or second half of the semester) classes that I do not need. Both of them are about food. Both of them have nothing to do with my major. Both of them require a lot more work than I had initially expected. Both of those classes are awesome and extremely relevant to my life.

Although these classes are totally out of line with my current route of studies (Communication Studies and Spanish... oh yeah! ♥), they are probably going to be the most beneficial classes I will take this semester.

I will not get into the specifics of the two classes beyond the fact that they both examine the role that food plays in our health, policies, environment, and overall culture. I am learning information that I would have never taken the time to learn on my own had I not enrolled myself in these classes.

My point is, the route of classes you take during your college years does not have to make total sense. It does not have to be some perfect sequence or some "race to the end."

Advice from a senior: Take your time. Relax. Avoid predictability. Take the unbeaten path every now and then. You will develop new areas of interest, new skills, new pools of knowledge. You will appreciate the opportunity to learn while you are still in college.

So, that is enough "waxing poetic" with ya'll for a late Saturday night. Until next time... steer off course a bit... live a little!

My View of the Hill

Hello blogosphere! My name is Ally Martel and I am senior here at WKU! I will be graduating this May with a degree in Creative- Print Advertising and Graphic Design. I absolutely love the career path I have chosen, and cannot wait to take my talent to the real world (let's just hope they like it!). Besides the stresses of being a college senior and planning a wedding, I'm also a student worker and retired tour guide for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. It's truly the best job I have ever had!
Well, I think that's enough about me! Now onto more important matters... COLLEGE! College is said to be the best years of your life, which makes the "Which college do I go to?" question so much more difficult. This is the place where you make life long friends, discover yourself and your future, and create memories that you will never forget! So, it's important you chose a college that is the best fit for you.
WKU can definitely be the place for you! There are so many great professors and staffers willing and ready to help. I remember feeling so lost and disoriented my first day of class, and I found so much comfort in my RA and the girls on my floor. Everyone at WKU is incredibly supportive, and I couldn't be happier with my decision to attend Western. My decision to go to WKU was an easy one, when I was junior in high school I visited Western and completely fell in love with the campus. I researched the art program and toured the department, and the decision was final, I wanted to be a Hilltopper! I truly feel that WKU has shaped me into a confident young woman, ready to take on the world! I hope all of you decide to start the best years of your life on the hill!
I'll write soon :)
Ally

Why I love WKU.

I remember when I first came to Western Kentucky University. I came with some people from my high school in the summer of 2004, right before I started my senior year. I remember just absolutely falling in love with the campus. I knew right then and there that I would be coming to WKU in the fall of 2005. There was something about this campus that makes you feel right at home when you come here.

I lived in Gilbert Hall, an all girls dorm when I got here my freshman year. As much as I thought I would hate it, it was an awesome experience. I lived in "The Vally" and me and some of the girls would always go to McCormack hall or Rhodes and just hang out. That environment and community in The Vally was the highlight of my freshman year.

WKU sporting events are always a blast. Everything from the tailgating, to the "Topper Walk", to the game is exciting. The atmosphere on campus during football season is fantastic. The basketball games are a blast too. I've never had so much fun at a basketball game till I came to Western. That's something that you can look forward to in the fall.

I've been here for 5 years now and I fall more and more in love with WKU everyday it seems. There is something about Western that has for one kept me here all these years, secondly has shapped me into the person I am today. There is a saying that you will hear hundreds of times while you are at WKU, and it is "The Spirit Makes the Master." I think everyone has a different meaning for it. For me that spirit has given me the drive to be successful at whatever I do. That is "The Spirit Makes the Master".

From alumna to recruiter

That profile picture of me was taken in May 2009 as I walked into Diddle Arena as a graduate student and walked out an alumna of Western Kentucky University. I was so excited to have my master's hood placed over my head by my thesis advisor, Dr. Blair Thompson, but at the same time I was quite sad that my time at WKU was coming to a close. When I saw a job posting for the Office of Admissions I jumped at the chance to stay on the Hill -- and my enthusiasm must have showed, because I was offered the opportunity to join this office as an admissions counselor in November.

Some of you may be wondering, as I was three months ago, what exactly an admissions counselor does all day long. Let me tell you, it's a whole lot. On days when we're in the office, our list of duties runs something like this:

• Answer incoming phone calls from prospective students, parents, guidance counselors, and whomever else selects "speak with an admissions counselor" from our automated menu
• Meet with prospective students and their parents who come in to Potter Hall, whether scheduled or unscheduled (both are fine; you don't need an appointment to stop in)
  
• Schedule visits at high schools and community colleges
• Send notifications to guidance counselors and students of upcoming visits
• Send thank-you notes to guidance counselors and students following a visit
• Enter data from the information cards students filled out during a visit
• Answer questions posed via e-mail and snail mail
• Write letters to students who indicate interest in WKU by sending us their ACT/SAT scores
• Fill in for our tour coordinator if he has to miss the daily tour/info session at the Welcome Center
• Act as back-up for our application processors during the busiest parts of the year
• Make a daily run to Java City for a cappuccino and a Rice Krispie treat (OK, so I'm the only one who does that)
• Assist where needed for Focus on WKU, Minority Preview days and the Academic Transitions Program (some counselors are in charge of actually planning those events)
• Recruit students for, design, and oversee the production of Office of Admissions publications like our annual Viewbook
  
• Plot ways to get someone to paint over my bright-green office with a more respectable shade of coffee-with-cream brown (again, that's just me)
  

When we aren't in the office, we're most likely visiting a high school, community college, or career/college fair somewhere in this great nation. Usually at those visits we'll set up a table with information about WKU, then wait for people to stop by and ask questions. Sometimes guidance counselors will allow us to make a presentation for a group of students, which is nice because it gives us more time to talk about what makes WKU so great. Each WKU admissions counselor is a fearless public speaker (I even taught a public speaking course at WKU), so, given the microphone, we can ramble on for days (or at least hours) about the Honors College, Study Abroad, scholarships, and a plethora of fast facts about our alma mater.

I'll be popping back in now and then to update everyone on exciting happenings in the world of admissions counselors, and I'll be sure to let you know what happens in my quest to get my bright-green office painted. Thanks for visiting our blog, and we hope to see you soon on the Hill!