Random Thoughts

Well we’ve nearly entered that void in time and space, otherwise known as the days between the last day of class and our first exam.  The library, blue loop, and white loop will undoubtedly have extended hours to take care of students studying into the wee hours of the morning.  Many of us will be postponing all other activities until we’ve read and reread every last shred of information for our exams.  And in one week, it’ll all be over.

I wish everyone the best of luck in their finals, and hope you all have a great summer!

Well it has finally happened.  Warm weather and sunshine have returned to Happy Valley.  Our days of being reclusive, hibernating in our dorms and apartments, and dreading that cold, windy walk to class are over.  The lawns of the HUB and Old Main are once again dotted with sunbathers, Frisbee throwers, and new this year–”zombies and humans” participants.  This is perfect weather for Blue & White weekend festivities, which is a welcome relief to the rain of the the past two years.  Take advantage of the weather and be sure to take a look at what’s going on for Blue & White weekend!

can you read this? Olny srmat poelpe can.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

I am always amazed when I think about how some companies get their few years of fame and mass sales and then they fade back into the abyss while another company emerges for a time. This comment comes partially from looking at the transition of computer companies over the years. Although I am not terribly knowledgeable about this history of computer sales, from what I understand Apple was a key player in ensuring that many households purchased their very first computers. Everyone knew the Apple logo and they came to understand DOS in time. Then, with the creation of Windows, Microsoft spent many years in the spotlight as the computer of choice. This lasted for quite some time, at least in my observations. My family had to have purchased about three Microsoft computers within a decade’s time. However, all of a sudden, Dell showed up not too long ago using the pull system. They were making computers to fit every bit of the consumers’ needs, which was appealing to a great deal of people who cared about differentiating their purchase from others. Penn State even hopped onto this bandwagon and purchased quite a few Dell computers. However, with defects being prominent, the Dell craze did not last long. Finally, this leads me to speak about Apple once again. With new technology that dummy-proofed the now ancient Windows, the Mac has become the computer of choice for many.

Perhaps this is not terribly interesting to you, but I think it is worth acknowledging how a company can have its few years of glory at the front of the race and then runs out of steam. However, if the company continues fighting towards innovative, it can come back into the spotlight as Apple has done.

Penn State would not be Penn State if in your daily walk from class to class you didn’t come across at least one construction project on campus. One of the main reasons I chose to come to this school is because of Penn State’s great respect for modern, clean classroom buildings. I can’t tell you how many schools I’ve visited that have had rundown, decrepit buildings. Furthermore, why would you be showing me this on a tour?? Don’t you have any better maintained buildings than this? At that point, you don’t even want to see the dorms. I can tell you that many people do appreciate the quality of structures here on campus. I gave tours for Undergraduate Admissions for a summer, as well as tours of the Business Building, and I received many compliments from people regarding the classroom buildings (we showed Thomas Building for Undergraduate Admissions). I write this after passing the renovation projects of Ferguson and Borland on my way to the two-year-young business building, next to the new forestry and food science buildings, only to see the Law School being built in the distance.

As a member of the Smeal Student Society, I occasionally take on the responsibility of giving tours of the Business Building to prospective students. This is always such a pleasure for me, because I really love being a member of Smeal and Penn State and I want to be able to express that to others with the hopes that they can find such a community-feel in their college experience.

Anyway, I was giving a tour the other day to a high school junior and his father. After about 20 minutes into the tour, the dad turns to me and jokingly expresses that Penn State students must be required to follow a dress code in which they wear PSU branded clothing so many days out of the week. What a comment. All that I could say was that “it’s school pride”. Everyone has heard of Penn State; everyone knows somebody who has gone to Penn State; our alum are often desperate to maintain communication with their alma mater; and of course…who can forget about Penn State football.

Never before had I taken the time to watch people pass by on this campus, noting whether or not they had any sort of Penn State apparel on. However, I suggest you do it just just to gain perspective. We’re addicted to this school. We bleed blue and white, as they say. Why did you come to Penn State? Smeal? For many Penn Staters, school pride and branding is a huge factor, because it is a label that can stick with you forever if you allow it.

It’s hard for me to believe how quickly this semester has gone by. I know people always say that…but if you are the type of person who likes to stay busy, it really holds true. So, now it is time to think about potentially late dropping a class (before April 11th), summer plans, scheduling, subletting your apartment, getting everything out of your dorm, internship or job transitions, grad school decisions, exams, papers, etc. We each have our own story of what will occur over the next few weeks and on into the summer.

Yes there is a lot going on, and yes you will likely get stressed and pull at least one long study night. However, I have always found that all of that balances out when I can have something to look forward to. For example, I have a huge test coming up on Wednesday, which I will put hours into studying for and reading over the chapters, so that I can retain every ounce of information possible. But through all of that, I can look forward to Saturday when I will go out to dinner with a bunch of my friends. Sure this doesn’t sound like much, but I promise you that having something to look forward to (no matter how small) invites more positive energy and spirits, making studying and the long list of 20+ things that need to get done before tomorrow manageable.

The ethics code is in every syllabus. On the bathroom stalls in the business building, there are ethics posters. We are required to take BA 242 (Ethics). Management majors are further required to take MGMT 451W (More Ethics). Why is is that this college focuses so much time and energy on ensuring that they have drilled this concept into our heads? I know that many people feel these required classes are not necessary because they already have strong ethics. Furthermore, this subject does not have right or wrong answers that can be evaluated in a test format.

However, with historical cases such as Enron and the Pinto Ford fires, the focus on ethics at the college level is at an all time high. These cases all started with individuals, just like you and me, making decisions that may have seemed harmless, but snowballed into disaster. In our work-life experiences, it is likely that we will be faced with with ethical concerns where the solution is not cut and dry. For example, do we take a gift from a customer and if not, how do you decline? Or, if your boss asks you to lie for him/her, should you do so or risk your job by saying no? We need to be made aware of real-life situations and analyze the various choices that we have, so that when we are faced with these dilemmas, we are better prepared to deal with them. Penn State really does know what it is doing in requiring such courses, despite the fact that they may seem redundant.

Two of my greatest passions in life are Penn State and traveling. Recently, at 3:00am on a Tuesday morning I was woken by a text message. My dad, a 1985 graduate of Penn State, was in Belgium for a business trip. He had arrived at the train station in Brussels and just stepped onto the platform when the first thing he noticed was a person wearing a Penn State sweatshirt. Being that we are from a family that bleeds blue and white, he just had to let me know! These days, it rarely surprises me and still always makes me smile when we run into Penn Staters during our travels all over the world – whether it is in the Badlands, South Dakota at Mount Rushmore, France, or Monte Carlo.

I recently came across an article entitled, “50 Ways Penn State Has Shaped the World” (you can find this at http://www.psu.edu/ur/about/50ways.html). The list includes number 17: “Engineers Everywhere – One in 50 professionally licensed engineers in the U.S. is a Penn State graduate.” My dad, an electronics engineer, is living proof. Number 37: “Penn Staters Everywhere – Penn State has more than 466,000 living alumni. One in every 720 Americans, and one in every 70 Pennsylvanians, is a graduate of Penn State.” The person who was in the Brussels train station at the exact same time as my dad is certainly evidence of this.

One day I hope my job provides me with the travel opportunities my dad enjoys (he averages about four major international trips a year). If I make enough contacts while in college, I just might be able to visit most of the countries that interest me by simply visiting other Penn State grads! The global presence of Penn State and the opportunities that provides is just one of the reasons why I know that I would never go to college anywhere else.

Ahhhh It’s finally here!  I don’t know about you all, but spring break is about the only thing that keeps me sane midway through the semester.  It seems like all of my midterm exams and projects I’ve put off are due in the same week.  When I started a “list of things to do before spring break” two weeks ago, it just kept getting longer and longer.  I was adding as many things as I was getting done.  I know many of you can sympathize with my pre-break crunch.

But now it’s time to recharge, refresh and get ready for the second half of my junior year.  Take it easy, and have an awesome, class-free week!

When I was growing up, my parents always told me two things: 1) Never take anything for granted, and 2) Never turn down an opportunity.

In May of 2005 I had to create an anthology of various pieces of writing, song lyrics, stories, newspaper clippings, pictures, etc. for English class at the end of my senior year in high school. I was instructed to choose a title reflective of the material in my anthology and therefore, to choose a title that reflected my feelings upon graduation of high school. With the start of college right around the corner and my parents’ advice in my mind, I chose the title “It’s my Life and It’s Now or Never.” You might recognize this line from the chorus of Bon Jovi’s hit, “It’s My Life.”

Already knowing that I was going to attend Penn State, I chose that title for my anthology because I thought I was about to encounter a plethora of opportunities at Penn State, and it turns out that I was right.

This past weekend was THON and as I lived in the BJC for three days, surrounded by all of my friends and thousands of fellow Penn Staters and families, I was reminded yet again of all of the fantastic opportunities Penn State has to offer – opportunities to become involved, to meet amazing people, to make a difference in the community, to help a stranger, to become friends with a stranger, and to learn from others. Additionally, the scale and magnitude of THON and its accomplishments ($6,615,318.04 for the kids) reminded me that impossible is nothing when you attend Penn State.

Similarly, walking through the atrium of the Business Building on a beautiful sunny day reminds me of how great I have it at Penn State. As I enter the Business Building, I realize that the buildings on this campus are magnificent. I peer into the Trading Room and I know I have access to any technological resource I may ever need. I look through the glass windows and see that I have the best football stadium to go to for the most fun football Saturdays. I walk by the Corporate Relations office and remember that there is a career fair twice a year with hundreds of employers who travel many hours seeking my resume and that there is always an advisor willing to answer my many job search questions. I think of the jobs offers I received thanks in part to the information on the Simplicity website about the open positions and information sessions. Then I remember all of the resources I have yet to use, all of the people I still have to learn from, and all of the ways I can become more involved in something great.

So far, I have done a pretty good job of using the resources that Penn State, and in particular, Smeal, have to offer. It is my life and I know that now is the time to take advantage of all resources that are at my disposable and that are free (well, I do pay out-of-state tuition, but you get the point). We have it good here at Penn State and we have pretty much anything you could ever need. Impossible is nothing. There are so many resources that are here to help you accomplish your goals. The only problem I have encountered is that I only have 4 years here!

I encourage everyone to never take for granted all that Penn State has to offer… before it is too late. Talk to your advisor. My mom, a Penn State grad, said her top academic regret at Penn State was that she didn’t get to know her advisor and she felt that she missed out on a lot of information that would have benefited her immensely. You’ve heard it before – you only have 4 years here before you enter the “real world” and work for the rest of your life. So yes, take this time to enjoy yourself. But also take advantage of the resources Smeal has to offer before you go into the real world and are left with some regrets and a lot of questions.

• Penn State Altoona- Closed

• Penn State DuBois- Closed

• State College Area School District- Closed

• Penn State Univ. Park- Open, as usual

So I’m looking outside my window at a sheet of white blowing horizontally. Hailing from south of Buffalo, NY, going to school in an arctic blizzard isn’t new to me. But many kids here at PSU come from the Philly area, where if one inch of snow falls, the world stops spinning. Schools are shut down for weeks on end, and people board up their houses and stock up on bottled water.

Of course I’m exaggerating, but how many of you refresh your browser 2389498 times to see if, perchance, Penn State decided to cancel classes for the rest of the day? I love the days when every other school in the area is closed, because everybody is talking about how they can’t believe we still have to go to class. I find myself calling my mother to complain about it. Then she reminds me that there are three feet of snow on the ground at home, and she still has to work at school.

For now, I’m going to put on my sexy snow boots, hope that at least half the walkways are shoveled, and plow my way to Willard.