WMU football, broadcasted on ESPN

Hi everybody.  I got the grades back on my recent class presentations and got all A’s!  I am particularly proud of the presentation I gave in my Leadership in Business Organizations class.  I received the world-famous “Leadership Champion” koozy (you know, the foam pop-can holders that keep your drink cold).  The presenters that do the best job on that particular day each earn a koozy!  I know what you’re thinking, “what’s the big deal about a koozy?”  Well, I tried to tell myself the same thing but I couldn’t help but think, “I really want one of those!”  It’s a status thing, I guess  ; )

Next Tuesday is WMU football’s final home game.  They will be playing Ball State and it’s going to be televised on ESPN 2!  There are going to be tones of promotions and give-aways at the game because they want to make sure that the student section is full for the whole game.  There will be free food for the first 2,000 students and there are going to be lots of gift card give-aways.  I am going to try and get some friends together to go to the game.

Go Broncos!!!

Hello all.  I am a proud new owner of a business suit!  I had been needing one for a while now so I finally went out and got one.  I got everything:  black jacket and pants; dress shirt and “power tie”; black shoes and socks.  I’m so glad I  went and got it tailored too.  I have never had a dress shirt that actually fit me well.  I’m excited to wear it for my job interviews coming up.  Once my interviewers see me in this suit they will surely hire me one the spot  ; )

I have had three presentations scheduled for the past two weeks and each one is in a different class.  I have been making a lot of Powerpoint presentations!  One was a presentation about business etiquette in India for my International Management class.  Yesterday, I gave one about an interview I had with a small business owner in my Small Business Management class.  Finally, I will be teaching the rest of my classmates about how to be a more organized manager in my Leadership in Management class.  Feeew!  I actually don’t mind giving presentations.  I always dress at least business casual.  Note cards are a must too.  I transfer the text from the slides onto them and include my notes about each bullet-point.  This way, I don’t have to look away from the audience to read the points on the screen.  I also don’t mind talking in front of groups.  I owe a lot of my public speaking skills to my job here as a Student Ambassador.  Giving all of those campus tours has really payed off!

Hello all.  Halloween this year was awesome!  I dressed up as Buddy the Elf from the Will Ferrel movie Elf.  I did’t have my costume ready to go until the Halloween night so I couldn’t dress up for all of my classes (although I’m not sure I would have the courage to wear it in front of my professors).  I had been planning this costume for a while so I was glad to see it all come together.

I have two classes this semester in which each of them only have two exams for the class:  the midterm and the final exam.  I’m happy to report that I just got my grades back from my two midterms and I got an 88% on one and 100% on the other!  For the class that I received an 88%, I have the option to not take the final exam.  The final exam for this class is there if students want to replace their test score from the midterm.  The better of the two test scores is put toward the final grade.  There is no penalty for not taking the final exam.  I may skip the final exam so that I can focus on the final exams in my other classes.

Go Broncos!!!

Hey folks.  I am happy to report that I was invited back for a second interview with the company that interviewed me after Career Fair!  The interview is not until December which gives me lots of time to research the company further and prepare for the interview.  It takes place in my home town which is convenient.  There will be a tour of the facilities and then lunch with their staff.  I can’t wait!

I also did Habitat for Humanity this past Saturday for my Service Learning class.  What Habitat does is provide affordable housing to low-income, working people.  They don’t simply give the houses away to just anyone.  A person who wants a Habitat home must go through an extensive application process and put in hundreds of hours of work into their future home and other Habitat homes.  I have never done Habitat before so I was a bit hesitant at first.  Once we got to the house, I was pleased to see that we would be working indoors.  The house was a renovation and it was at the final stages of construction like painting and flooring.  I mostly painted the basement walls with DryLock so moisture would not penetrate the foundation.  The time flew by and everyone working there wanted to be there.  I enjoyed the experience.  It felt good working with my hands and knowing that my efforts would make a huge difference in someone’s life.

Go Broncos!!!

Hey there Bronco fans!  It’s homecoming week here in Kalamazoo.  After being nominated for homecoming king last week,  I had to give a presentation about myself in front of a panel.  Unfortunately, I did not get onto the homecoming court  : (     I was a little sad at first but then I heard about how many things the people homecoming court has to do during homecoming week and was relieved.  I would basically have to go to a homecoming event every night this week in addition to already busy schedule.  I am pleased that two of my fellow WMU Student Ambassadors made it onto the homecoming court!  All this week, students can go online and vote for king and queen and of course I voted for my coworkers.

On Saturday, the Western Football team played our rivals: Central Michigan University.  I couldn’t make it to the game but we ended up losing.  Oh well.  There’s always next year.  There was, however,  a cool fundraiser being hosted by the Marching Band where they bring in an old car and people hit it with a sledge hammer!!!  They take all of the windows out of the car and paint it in Central Michigan colors.  They charge one dollar and you get 30 seconds to hit the car with either a sledge hammer or a baseball bat.  Anything that a person breaks off of the car they can take home!  I saw a guy carrying a bumper around campus.  I had a chance to watch people hitting the car in between classes but I didn’t have enough time to try it.  By the time I got there the car looked like it had been driven over by a monster truck.

Go Broncos!!!

Hi everybody.  I am pleased to inform you that yours-truly has received a nomination for the WMU Homecoming Court!  I was nominated by the Registered Student Organization I’m in, the Honors Student Association.  A ton of the other student organizations nominate their members, so there is a judging process to narrow it down to about 4 Kings and 4 Queens to be on the homecoming court.  The next step in my pursuit of my rightful place on the throne is to give a 4-5 minute presentation that addresses the question, “Based on you leadership experiences, what type of legacy will you leave at Western Michigan University and/or the surrounding community once you have graduated?”  I’m not sure exactly what I will be doing for this presentation, but I know it’ll be sweeeeeet.  Wish me luck!

I had my first exams today in two of my Management classes.  The first exams in my classes are often the hardest for me or at least the ones that I score the lowest on.  Even though the material on the exams get more difficult as the semester goes on, the exams usually get a bit easier for me once I know the test format that the professor uses.  I always feel better just to get the first exams out of the way.

Go Broncos!!!

Hi readers.  I did some cool things this past week!  First, I went to the WMU Career Fair where over 100 companies set up booths so students can come and inquire about internships, co-ops, or full-time positions.  This being my senior year here at Western, I was looking for whatever full-time management positions I could find.  Before the fair, I printed out copies of my resume (on fancy paper), prepared my business attire, and scoped out which companies were looking to fill management positions.  Once at the fair, I approached companies I was interested in and spoke with their representative(s).  I opened with a firm hand shake and asked to learn more about the position I desired.  After explaining what the job is all about, they would often ask, “tell me about yourself.”  To answer this question, us business students are taught to respond with their 30-second commercial which highlights our our best qualifications.  From their the representative may ask for a copy of your resume and give you some literature about their company.  I spoke with about 6 different companies and all of them asked for a copy of my resume!  I even was offered an interview!  I accepted, of course, and interviewed the following day for the Operations Manager job at a food distribution center.  I feel like the interview went well so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a call back for a second interview.

Second, I was on a student panel for a nearby high school.  It was for high school Juniors in a class that focuses on getting students ready for college.  Their class helps them choose colleges, explore majors, and learn about college in general (I wish I had that class in my high school).  I’m glad I could help answer the students’ questions from a college student’s perspective.  They had great questions and seemed enthusiastic about the college experience.  It was weird being back inside a high school.  I felt so old and the high school kids always look younger than I remember.

Over the weekend I went to to the Michigan Honors Association Conference in Roscommon, MI.  It’s basically a way for Honors Colleges all over the state to come together and present about their honors program, share ideas, and network with people.  We stayed in these really nice cabins and we were right on the edge of Higgins Lake.  The theme of the conference was service-learning, so basically community service and volunteerism.  I got to attend a service project hosted by Ameri-Corp where we went to a local river and identified bugs!  They let me put on chest-high waders to catch bugs under the river rocks.  After our group had collected a fair amount of bugs, we learned what each of them were called and how they affected the ecosystem.

Go Broncos!!!

Hi everybody.  I have been go go go like crazy lately!  But in a good way, of course.  I did a few campus tours this past week.  I had the privilege of taking two large groups of seventh graders all over campus.  I got to show them things like the Student Recreation Center, the Bernhard Center (WMU’s student union), and a few other buildings around campus.  Middle schoolers are a fun group because they usually are very interested in the university and have lots of good questions.  One of the groups had to tour in the rain, but they were troopers and made it through with minimal complaints.

Last week I was appointed as the Programming Coordinator for the Honors Student Association!  I am very happy to being taking on this new role because I will be overseeing the planning and execution of all the HSA events.  I am still the Social Committee Chair too and I will be apointing someone to take that position from me very shortly.

I went to the Broncos Football game and we won!  The student section is fun because we are right next to the band.  We also sing the fight song whenever the team scores.  Oh!  And a canon goes off too!  Sporting events here at Western at a great way to meet up with friends and all of the home games are free to students.

Go Broncos!!!

Hi everyone.  I am now in my third week of classes here at WMU.  The first two weeks always seem to be a bit hectic, particularly at the beginning of the Fall semester.  Returning students like myself have to shake of the cobwebs and get back into the swing of things.  There are new classes, new professors, and often times a new place of residence.

For the most part, I have now figured out what to expect from all of my professors.  There is always a learning curve with professors.  They all grade differently, collect assignments differently, and lecture differently.  Once you get a feel for what the professors expect, it’s easier to focus on the class material and not have to worry about the structure of the class.

My first Honors Student Association event last week was a great success!  Everyone liked the food, the game we played was uber cool (Russian Dodgeball, best new game I’ve played in a while), and the live band did fantastic.  We were having fun right in the heart of campus out in the evening air until it got dark.  I hope that the rest of the events I help plan are as good as this one.

Go Broncos!!!

Hi everyone!  My name is Alex.  This is my first blog entry…ever!  I have never written any type of blog and I have only read a handful of blogs before.  Rest assured, I do embrace the current technological trends like Facebook and YouTube (although I have not gotten onto the Twitter bandwagon).  I am a 4th year senior now and my time here at WMU is flying by.  I am a Business Management major and a General Business minor.  I have been a member of the Honors College since Spring of my Sophomore year.  And of course, I am a WMU Student Ambassador.  My favorite part about being an Ambassador is giving campus tours because I get to talk in front of people and help prospective students with one of the biggest decisions of their lives: choosing a college.

Now that all of the formal stuff is out of the way, I can tell you about the cool stuff I’ve been up to.  We are now into our second week of classes so the beginning-of-the-semester-chaos is winding down.  I went to Bronco Bash last week which is always fun.  It’s basically a gathering of a ton of student orginations, clubs, and school programs where they have booths and hand out SWAG (Stuff We All Get, i.e., free stuff!).  I got a bunch of coupons, candy, pens, and even t-shirts.  It’s kind of like college students going trick-or-treating on a college campus.

I’m particularly excited about the exciting things I’m doing with the Honors College this year.  First, I am beginning the work on my Honors Thesis which I need to complete to graduate.  I am doing a research/study project titled The Power of Positive Thinking.  I just picked my mentor for my thesis who is one of my management professors.  I’m really excited to get started on this topic since I already have some ideas bouncing around in my head.  Second, I am this year’s Social Programming Committee Chair for the Honors Student Association.  The HSA is for anyone in the Honors College here at WMU and it helps honors students get involved with academics, community service, and of course social events.  Basically, I oversee the planning of all of the social events for the HSA.  The first social event is tomorrow night!  My committee and I have been planning this for weeks now and there will be food, games, and even a live band.  I can’t wait to
see how it turns out.

That’s all for now.  I will be posting blog entries about once a week.  Come back soon!

Go Broncos!!!