Well I am not sure if you all have noticed but we have literally two weeks and two days left of this semester! It is ridiculous how fast this semester has flew by. It was just like yesterday that the semester started in January.

Well I have to say that I always find the beginning and the ending of the semester the most important. The ending of the semester is important because now you are leaving the presence of a teacher that you may need to keep with in contact in the future. For example, I have met a professor this semester that is in charge of John Jay’s PhD program. I would love to keep in contact with him to get some pointers from him, and soon I will be joining his research.

Making a good impression while you are leaving the semester is so important. I believe that making a good impression at the ending and beginning of a semester can help influence your grades, because you will stand out in the professors mind and they will remember how much of a good student you are! Here is the time where you show what makes you different from the x amount of students that are in your class. Just shine, shine!!

Do not forget to start studying for those finals of yours, and write your final papers. Please no procrastination! It is such a horrible act to engage in, I advise you it really is!!

I hope all of you enjoy the rest of your semester, and I hope you all do very well.  Study, shine, and speak up ! It s never to late  to make a great bond with your professor. So lets end it off with a BANG!

Enjoy =D

Well as you all know it is finally Spring Break. The one week everyone has anticipated ever since the semester started. The week that you all get to kick back and relax, but even though we all have a week off doesn’t mean anything. Spring Break comes with a lot of ups and downs.

Being on Spring Break is great! Everyone can finally get some extra sleep. Work more hours at their jobs. Catch up with some old friends and hang out. Go on a week vacation, and much much more! Who wouldn’t want to do all of these things. Not everyone wants to be in school every hour of the day every single day. Its exhausting. That’s why these are all the pros to Spring Break, to let loose and endure in some fun!

But even though all of these things sound fun, that does not mean everyone should slack off in their school work. Getting some extra sleep is great, trust me I know! But there is a lot of work to be done too. I can’t even begin to tell you how much work there is to be done that is school related. It is mind bottling!! I wonder how it is possible for a teacher to squeeze in all of this work in merely a week. Sometimes it feels like if teachers don’t realize we have a life too.

Now I know everyone is trying to get as many hours in at work to make up for all the hours that they are loosing when they are in school. That is great, but remember that even though you want to make all that extra money think about the excess amount of school work. It is that time of year were final papers due dates are approaching, and with everyone’s procrastination you have put it off to the end. Think about those extremely long papers that you have to write and try writing  a page a day I guarantee you’ll get it done.

Everyone wants to enjoy their Spring Break and by all means please do, but just think about the school work that you still have to attend to at the end of the day. Instead of pushing it all to the last two days of the Break try spreading it out and doing it over the next week !!

Enjoy =D

As you all know in one week, well technically in four days. After April 5th you guys are all free to set free and run. Run away from all the school work and all of the work in general. I hope everyone is going to have a great time during this break. Make sure you all catch up on your sleep, make sure you catch up on your homework and start working on any term papers, hang out and let loose.

I really hope everyone does enjoy themselves for spring break, but on a serious note I hope everyone has made their academic advisement appointment. It is very important that everyone has done this to have their EF stop removed. Another reason why it is important to partake in an academic advisement session is so you can have early registration.

Over the course of Spring Break if you have not done this I will highly recommend that you go to John Jay and make this appointment to attend an academic advisement session. Academic Advisement is located L.73 in the New Building. They are open between the hours of 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Monday, Thursday, and Friday and 9 a.m. -7 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. You can also call them at 646-557-4872 or 4816.

Make sure you all do this!!! Getting this stop removed is super important. Also, if anyone wants to take a summer class you can go on ESIMS and check under open sections to see what classes John Jay is offering during the summer!!

Enjoy =D

Its that time of the semester again! Registration is finally here for the Summer Session and Fall Semester!! I am so excited that the semester is coming to an end and a new one is approaching. Even though you all are second semester students you still must visit an Academic Advisor. Once you have under 30 credits you must consult with an advisor to remove your EF stop that is on your account.

The way you go about making an appointment is by going to the Academic Advisement Center which is located in the New Building Room L.73. Once you go there you tell the person sitting by the desk that you will like to make an appointment to have your EF stop removed. Once you have done that, and attend the session; your EF stop will be lifted so you can register for classes.

I know some of you guys have questions about Summer Registration. The way you register for the summer is by first checking the list of classes John Jay is offering in the summer to see which one you want to take. http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/_winterjj/wintersch.asp

Once you have chosen the class you would like to take you will then go to ESIMS and click Open Section. After you have done that you will chose Summer 2012 as the semester and research the class you want. From there you would take the four digit code that is assigned to that specific section you want. You will then enter the code into summer registration which can be found under the registration tab on the ESIMS main page. Registering for the Summer session is just like registering for the Fall or Spring Semester.

But before you can choose your ideal schedule you must have that stop removed! So make sure you make an appointment with Academic Advisement As Soon As Possible.

You guys are all scheduled to register for classes early so make sure you take advantage of it because it doesn’t last for long!

Well as you all know the semester has started and is now slowly winding down. Apparently, we have less than ten weeks to go!! Woot woot =). Today I wanted to touch upon the topic of being a good student. It is very important to make a good impression with any of your professors. I have exercised my good student abilities in my PSY 370 class which contributed to an amazing accomplishment for me.

My friend and I was walking into the new building and our professor was right behind us. When we realized that he was behind us wee stopped to say hello and then we all began to talk about various topics. One of the questions that I asked my professor was, “What degree is better PsyD or PhD?” From there on I was given so much information in the matter of 15 minutes. My professor was able to give me a ton of information on the difference of the two degrees and advised me to engage in research. He even suggested that when he starts his new research I should join him. I felt so amazed by the progress that I made. I was happy enough that my professor recognized me and my friend because our class contains 120+ students.

In a situation where you are in a large crowd of students (lecture hall) it is always best to sit in the front row of the class. My class starts at 9:25 and I leave home at 7:45 to get to school at 8:30. That is almost an hour ahead of class, it is all because I want to be able to sit in front of the class. Professors have always told me that the students that usually sit in front of their class are the students that they remember the most. Ever since I have been given this piece of information I feel that it is the key to student success. I know it may be a little awkward to sit in front of a classroom at times but it really does set you up for success. I see all of past professors and each of them always stop to say hi to me.

So guys make sure you sit in the front, participate, and make sure your professor knows who you are!!!!

After a series of constant doctor appointments I felt that it was necessary to make this weeks blog about making sure your healthy. I am not really sure how many people this can apply to, but if you are anything like myself you would constantly put off the nag of going to the doctor. I was the person who always needed to go to the doctor for various reasons to make sure that I was okay. But, I was always thought, “Why do I need to go to the doctor I am going to miss out on class time.” Boy do i regret that!!

Lately I have been extremely sick, to the point where I miss work almost every Friday for the past month! And just the other day I missed a class! Now for me to miss a class I was super upset. I can’t actually believe I missed my first class for the semester, because I neglected my health. Now I know some people may be thinking, well why do you put your health to the side for over school? Well for me its this simple, I must go to school to be someone and if I need to miss school to go to the doctor that is ridiculous. But it came to my attention, if I am not in a healthy state then there will be no one to exercise the education that I have obtained. Boy, did that spark so many neurons in my brain. I thought to myself, wow how silly of me to push off my health all because of school. When its really my mental and physical state that will help me succeed in school.

Basically what I am trying to say is before you get really sick like I do make sure you take care of your self. It is extremely important to know that your healthy, because if your not then you’ll be like me and you’ll have to miss class. So make sure you take the time out to go to the doctor and have a physical done. The best part is you are in control. You know when you are free so make that appointment to make sure that your okay!!! Make sure you eat healthy, exercise daily and engage in activities that will reduce your stress. What really matter is making sure your healthy and showing everyone what your capable of!

Thanks Guys =D

Today I realized that I literally live in the writing center. I had an appointment in the writing center today and as I was being helped I realized I have more than one appointment this week. I have made two other appointments for this week and I feel extremely proud of my self.

I remember when I was a freshmen here at John Jay, I did not want to get extra help. I hated the concept of getting extra help, because I always thought that extra help was for “dumb” people. My views have totally changed on this concept ever since I took a summer class last year. Over the Summer of 2011, I was traumized by the sight of the grades I recieved on my philosophy papers. I couldn’t believe how bad I was doing on all of my papers and my teacher never gave any feedback that was useful. He was so laid back with everything and to be quite honest he was a horrible professor. He gave everyone the same grades on their paper with little to no feedback too. At that point and time I had no clue what to do. I couldn’t imagine myself actually getting a grade less than a B+. i forced myself to swallow my pride and go and get help. I took initiative and I am glad that I did!

I learn so much from the writing center it is incredible. I disliked writing and reading so much that I never practiced or took any interest in learning it. And now I was suffering, due to my inability to excel in writing. When I look back on my experience with the writing center, I get really happy because for once I did something that I can benefit from in the long run. Today I went to the writing center for one of my psychology classes. This class is incredibly tought but with the assistance of the writing center I feel as if I can overcome anything. I went with two other quizes that I have already taken as an example for the tutor to see how the professor is grading us. With my two examples and my current paper, I was happy to know that I wasn’t making the same mistakes like I was in the other papers. Because of the discouragement of the two bad grades that I recieved on the other two exams it pushed me to keep on going and not to give up.

Just by going to the writing center I am able to regain the confidence that I was lost when I realized I was getting bad grades. I managed to get a B+ in my philosophy class because of the help of the tutors in the writing center. And because of my past experiences I promised myself that I would never make the same mistakes again. And for that same reason I have been in the writing center almost everyday since this semester started.

There is always room for learning, so take advantage of the resources John Jay provides. I know for a fact that I will continue to go to the writing center until I graduate; there is always something new that I could work on in my writing. Just think about how much better your writing, math or science skills can improve just by going to get some assistance! (Think about it!!)

Enjoy =D

Well I am very glad to say that we all have survived three entire weeks! Yayy! I am so excited by the thought of completing three entire weeks, I am so pumped to rock and roll! I hope everyone has finally started to feel the vibe of their classes. I know how awkward the first couple of weeks can be, but this is your opportunity to speak up and impress your professor. I mean what professor wouldn’t appreciate a student who is willing to start talking during the beginning of the semester!

I have two professor that already know my name which is great! Actually it is more than great it is amazing, astonishing, exciting!!! What this means in my head is, ” Oh my god they know I exist!!” We all know that professors teach more than one class or maybe teach in more than one school, so take this opportunity to be recognized by your PROFESSOR!!!

I have to say I am so happy to see so many of you around campus. It is great to see how you all have been interacting with each other, becoming so involved and professional. I am super astonished by how much you all have grown since the first day I’ve meet you.

I want to stress to everyone that no matter what school you go to the more involved you are the better! I mean having a group of friends is great, but imagine having many other groups of friends that also share similar interest with you. Think about all of the different possibilities that you can have by getting involved. You never know who you can meet and how much they can help you! For instance, I have friends who have greatly impacted my life in several ways. I have learned about the John Jay Sentinel (JJAY School Newspaper) from my English professor. And ever since I was able to gain experience by writing an actual article for the newspaper. Also, if it wasn’t for a really close friend of mine I would of never meet Nancy here at FYE. Which means I would of never became a peer mentor!

It is super important for you guys to get involved. There is so much to John Jay that people do not know about. Sometimes I find it sad to hear juniors and seniors who have not been involved with the school. And when I engage in a conversation with them and tell them about my experiences, they are always so surprised by the information I tell them. The most common question they ask is, “We have that here?” It is experiences like this that motivates me to want to tell you guys get out there and explore, meet new people, just don’t stop here, KEEP GOING ! The experience only gets better, so make the best of it!

Welcome back guys to the Spring Semester here at John Jay. I hope everyone has had a fantastic winter break away from the stress and overload of homework. I know most of you spent your time well catching up on all the sleep you lost during the fall semester which is great!! Meanwhile, some of us were in school taking a winter class, which is fine too.

I hope you all are ready for the work that is cut out from you for your classes. I know some of you may be thinking well my class is really easy but, that easy class still requires you to do some work for you to get that so called “EASY A.” So, my best advice to you all is make sure that you are on top of your game this semester. If you have not learned your lesson from last semester yet, but please I beg of you do not procrastinate. Procrastination gets you no where! I know I may sound a little bit redundant but I am speaking from experience DO NOT DO IT! For those of you who have not procrastinated and has been update with all of your work, I commend you for the effort that you have put in to make sure everything is handed in on, or, before time.

I do hope all of you have a great semester!!! Enjoy your time here at John Jay, because the time you have being an undergrad student is not enough. Your time here will fly back like nothing so make the best of it! =)

Yesterday was an amazing time ever!! I was super astonished by all the research projects that you guys did. It looked like a lot of effort and time was put into it especially when it came to the extensive research. It was incredible to see all the work that you guys have done after all what freshmen can go around saying that they did a research project.

I couldn’t wait to go around and listen to the research that you guys have constructed. I was super impatient to finally go around and here what topics each group of students researched! As I went up and down the isles I was amazed by the presentation of each poster board. Not only was the presentation pretty but when it was time for an explanation of what your project was about you guys did such an awesome job explaining. Each explanation was very clear, precise, and contain a lot of information in it. After listening to what your projects were about I was able to ask questions to really see how much you guys really knew (dont worry you all passed with flying colors).

Even though I was never in the FYE showcase when I was a freshmen it did look like a lot of fun and a lot of work. For both the student and the professors! This was a really great experience for me because I was able to learn about all of these different topics that flooded the room. I really look forward to doing my own research one day and presenting it for many other people to look at too!

You guys truly did a great job and I have to commend all of you on the fantastic job you guys did. Job well done!

Congrats Guys!

(P.S all the hard work we put into it for you Pat dropped a ladder on his foot for you guys.)

Here is the only picture I took during the showcase taken by Vinny C.