Last Day
I don't even know where to begin with this Blog. It's the end of the year, and I'm done. It's surreal, this has been such a busy year for me and I've loved every minute of it. There are moments when I was stressed out beyond comprehension, and then there were times when I was enjoying myself so much I couldn't comprehend if I didn't come to this school. What I love most about this school are the people, honestly I may be reiterating a previous blog but I feel so strong about this I feel its worth repeating.
When I go to other campuses for road trips with my friends I constantly compare it to JMU, and every time I always feel JMU has the best atmosphere. It's the people that make it that way. I love how I just go up to any random person and smile and know that I'll receive a smile back. It's something people really take for granted until you go back into the "Real World" and realize that this is not always the case. JMU is awesome. I can't believe I get to stay here for half the summer, and I can't wait until the fall again.
Next fall I'm taking two geography classes. One is called Sustainable Housing in Developing Countries. We're going to study cultures of developing countries, and their surrounding geography and environment and try to understand why their houses are built the way they are. At the end of the year we're going to build our own model houses, and they'll be judged. The winning model gets to build their house on the JMU campus, and possibly go to the country which they built it for and build one there. This really has nothing to do with my concentration, but the class seems so interesting that I just couldn't pass up the opportunity.
I'm also taking a special studies class with Professor Dan Shaffer. We're going to develop a project which I will work on the entire semester; it would be great if I could integrate my minor into it as well. I'm also taking a leadership class with Dr. Warner, this is the class that I've been anticipating the most. Dr. Warner is the greatest speaker at JMU I think, and his class always fills up really fast. From what I hear this is the class that may not have anything to do with your major but the lessons you learn here, you will use for the rest of your life. I can't wait.
Well my semester is done, and I'm going to relax. Have a great day!
Posted by Simeon on April 29, 2005 04:43 PM | Link | Email Simeon
I AM DONE!
Wow, what a school year! This afternoon at 12:15 I just had the last class of my junior year. I honestly can't believe it's already over, well classes are over - finals are another story. In just a matter of months I will be part of the Senior Class, which is insane to me. Honestly I can remember my freshman year like it was yesterday, and here I am on the last leg of the best 4 years of my life. It gets me too sentimental sometimes so I really try not to think about it
too much.
What's nice about the end of the school year is it's really a social time. Everyone realizes that people are going to be leaving for a whole summer, if not for their college career so there are a lot of get togethers and barbecues and just all around good times. This weekend I'm going to my Water Polo team's BBQ and passdown ceremony, where the seniors passdown a lot of the random stuff that they have accumulated throughout their 4 years, which sometimes is a surprisingly large amount. Other social events include the Senior Dinner. That happened last night, when our dining hall "D- Hall" made all the favorite foods of the seniors, and served them all at the same time. This is a really big deal because d-hall usually spreads out the really good food for every day of the week, so for anyone who went it's usually a huge gorge fest, which is always fun.
With finals coming up you all may be wondering "But Simeon, aren't you stressed about finals?" and honestly I'm really not. It is just another test, but they give you a whole week to study for it, and I don't have to worry about other assignments in other classes. This allows me to focus all my concentration on just one test that is only as large a portion of my grade as any other test I have taken. Plus it's not like I didn't learn anything from the entire year of studying, so usually I find that my finals aren't even the hardest test I have to take. No definitely the most stressful time for me is always the week before finals, as many of you may have been able to tell after the string of quotes about how much work I had to do on my previous blogs. Professors are wrapping up their grading period and usually give out their big assignments at the end to apply everything we have learned. And usually with how deadlines pan out it all occurs at the same time right before finals. For me though, that too is over. I handed in my homework assignment, presented my second to last group project, and turned in my 11 page lab report.
The worst part of the final week though is saying the goodbyes, and even worse the packing. You never realize how much "stuff" you have until you have to pack it into your incredibly tiny car, and your parent's SUV. Thankfully, living off campus I get to keep my stuff in my apartment, until I move into my new town home in July.
Well now I think I’m going to enjoy my newly acquired freedom from the desk/computer that I have been slaving away at for the last 2 weeks. Everyone have a great day!
Posted by Simeon on April 28, 2005 04:32 PM | Link | Email Simeon
Enjoying My Final Days
As I said I would, I have been working a lot lately on all my projects. It's been really great because the work load is slowly but surely dwindling down. I spent nearly all of my Sunday and a majority of my Monday wrapping up some projects. Saturday though I didn't get to do any work because I had work all day with the Orientation Office.
This summer I'm going to be an Orientation Program Assistant (OPA) at JMU. Orientation at JMU is something unique that you really don't find at many campuses around this country. The Orientation Office here really cares about giving incoming first year students the best possible opportunity to have one of the most amazing experiences of their lives. There are so many programs which the first years go to, that by the time the start their school year here most First
Years aren't that anxious.
As an OPA I am going to be here all summer working Summer Springboard, a program to help incoming students and parents answer questions and register for classes. I am really looking forward to this because I am going to be working with a team of OPAs, who I consider to be some of the most amazing people on the JMU campus.
2005 Orientation Team - click to enlarge
Everybody's attitude is to just serve the incoming Freshman, and this is an attitude you'd find rare at other campuses. I've come to learn that at a lot of other schools the students are just put on campus and expected to adjust. With our orientation though we make it more of a transition, that I personally am so grateful I got to experience. I met some of my best friends through Orientation, and I know I was a lot less nervous coming into my first week of school after I was able to go to a discussion with a professor that was organized by Orientation.
I've been working with Orientation since February already, reading applications, and conducting interviews for First yeaR Orientation Guides (FROGs), who work with the Freshman right before the semester begins. This Saturday we held a training session for all the FROGs, going over a lot of the plans of what they will be expected to do come the Fall Semester, and just some team building. The day was incredible, we just basically sang the fight song all day and reinforced my appreciation for this school and its spirit.
But honestly my fun didn't stop with just this weekend. Last night I went to UVA and got to see the comedian Dane Cook. It turned out though that he was only 1 of 3 comedians on that night, and all of them actually turned out to be extremely funny. By the end of the night my stomach and face hurt so much from laughing. Even though I still have to finish up a lab report, I'm so glad I went. Besides I made sure I had more than half done before I went. So finishing it up should be no problem.
Well that was a little recap I had on my weekend. And now after this brief detour I'm going to get back to finishing up my lab reports. Have a great day.
Posted by Simeon on April 26, 2005 02:06 PM | Link | Email Simeon
Earth Day is every day
This next week will prove to be nothing very exciting. I have a lot of work to do with these projects I've been telling you all about, and we're still going over material in my Environmental Science class. I am meeting with two of my project groups today to hopefully finish our projects. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If so that would be just about the greatest thing ever, because the amount of work I have left is staggering. I hate procrastinating but I do it so often anyway!
In honor of Earth Day today, I thought I would discuss some more Environmental Science with all of you. Right now we are discussing green house gasses - quick fact: Did you know that water vapor is the most effective and most abundant green house gas in the atmosphere? It's not carbon dioxide like everyone presumes. I'm always fascinated with what we talk about in that class. For example, last class we were talking about how CFC gasses are released into the air that are 300 times more effective in trapping heat than carbon dioxide and they last for thousands of years. Compiled with the fact that these same CFC's also damage the ozone by allowing more UV rays to reach the earth's surface, it worries me about how much longer the earth can sustain the human race. A great thing about this class though is that we don't just talk about the problems, we work with them.
I've mentioned before the continuous project we have had in this class the last couple of weeks, working with data about the air quality in the state of Virginia. Well this week we have our final presentation of our project. We are going to discuss the air quality, as if speaking to a "town hall", so we have to present the information in clear concise terms. I find this requirement of the project pretty helpful, because I am positive in my professional career I will be making presentations to bosses and clients who may not know so much about the science I am working on and I'll have to present it to them in a way which they'll understand. So what I learn here is something I bet I will use in any field I decide to work on.
Well I'm going to hopefully finish these group projects today, talk to you all soon!
Posted by Simeon on April 22, 2005 04:39 PM | Link | Email Simeon
So close yet so far
Although Skydiving has been one of the greatest experiences of my life, my trip didn't leave me much time in the area of school work, and right now I am paying for it. As I may have mentioned before, most of my classes are doing group projects for the remainder of the semester. Although it's great that there is not as much stress to continuously study what I just learned for finals, it does create a lot of stress in terms of making deadlines with some of these impossibly hard projects.
The thing about these projects is that there are no step by step instructions, so problem solving on your own is a huge must. The professors are there for us though. I've approached all of them at least 10 times in the last 3 weeks. It gets really frustrating at times because I'll continuously work on a set of data for a map, but after maybe 2 straight hours of manipulating I still don't have a
finished product. It also makes it hard because all the work has to be done at the computer lab. A lot of the software we use in GIS is very new therefore VERY expensive and impossible to have on our home computers.
The class I'm working on the most is my Environmental GIS class, the one where my lab partner and I addressed an environmental issue using GIS. Well for a while we thought that everything had been under control, but as of lately this project has become some kind of monster and it's getting me a little worried. The data sometimes doesn't cooperate with us, but that's really what any geographer can expect. The one thing that has surprised me the most about the project is the amount of knowledge I have learned in the last 3 semesters as a geography major that I have applied to this project. One class that I have had to draw upon a lot was a class I took last semester GEOG 366.
GEOG 366, Geographic Information Science is basically the introductory course for the GIS concentration. In the class we learn about how GIS is applied in many functions, and we work continuously creating a data set. The professor, Dr. Kraenzle, selected a map of Bavaria as the dataset we were going to create. We started from scratch literally, creating our own digital outlines of Bavaria, and then adding data to it manually. Our dataset was obviously very small, or else I would still be in 366 adding attributes. We also created features such as rivers, cities, and highways. This class established a foundation for my future classes in GIS, and I am sure I will be using the lessons learned in this class a little bit more than many of the other classes I have taken.
As for the class I am taking now, I may be stressed but the thought that I am only 1 week of classes and 1 more week of finals away from the summer is what is keeping me going. The time is misleading though, I have a lot of work to go and I can't stop now. The summer...so close yet so far.
Posted by Simeon on April 21, 2005 04:07 PM | Link | Email Simeon
I went Skydiving, I went Rocky Mountain Climbing...
I know all my avid fans are out there reading this right now wondering..."Well Simeon! How'd it go?! What was skydiving like?" And let me tell everyone out there, it is bar none the most incredible experience of my life. After my jump, I know I can do anything now, because I JUST JUMPED OUT OF AN AIRPLANE 13,000 FEET (thats 2.5 miles) IN THE AIR! Another awesome part was that I got a video of my jump for free because they were doing so many jumps that it just made more sense for them to record my jump instead of take still pictures like I originally ordered, so I saved myself 45 bucks. The skydiving was amazing, but the experience was also hanging out all day with 40 of my closest friends as well as some new friends. It isn't very often that you are given the opportunity to have such a life changing day with so many people to share it with. That is one of the greatest things about JMU, the people here are so amazing and you don't know who will become your new friend, especially if you go through something as intense as Skydiving.
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
Now to recap on everything else that is going on in my life that isn't skydiving related. I've been working pretty hard on yet another class project for GEOG 450, Environmental GIS. My lab partner and I were assigned to address an Environmental Issue, and analyze it through the use of Geographic programs such as ArcMap. We are studying the type of vegetable growth in the Arctic Tundra, in relation to the amount of Permafrost that the area has. With this information we can discover what types of animals most likely reside in these areas, and what environmental issues that they may encounter. The project is really tough at times though because we encounter so many problems which my partner and I have to address myself, and there really aren't any instructions for us to follow. It has really made me think a lot more on my own, and apply everything I know. I really enjoy the challenge.
This is one of my most interesting classes because of the specified study of the class. Since Environment and GIS are my two passions, this class just seemed perfect for me and I was right. The benefit as well was how much more I've learned to use the GIS software.
Alright, off to more classes for me. Hope everybody has a wonderful day!
Posted by Simeon on April 18, 2005 02:23 PM | Link | Email Simeon
Literally making the biggest jump of my life
Tomorrow I am going skydiving. Seriously -- tomorrow I am going skydiving. I am jumping out of perfectly good working plane 14,000 feet up in the air, and free falling for a good minute and a half. Only to be saved by a sheet of fabric just a little thicker than my bed sheet. The thought of putting my feet close to an open door, and then making the plunge gives me goose bumps and butterflies in my stomach as I speak.
A good friend of mine organized about a group of 50 to go skydiving tomorrow, with the company Skydive Orange. This is just one of the amazing things you can do here in the Valley.
click to enlarge
JMU is a great campus and you can enjoy your time here honestly without really ever leaving the town of Harrisonburg, but the beauty is you don't have to just stay here, there is so much more to do. The Shenandoah National Park is a just a short drive away, and the George Washington National Forest is an even shorter one. Camping is always a popular activity out here, and even if you don't have your own equipment you can borrow equipment from UREC (University Recreation) for free, with just a small refundable deposit. And of course there are the 'extreme' sports like skiing and snow boarding at the extremely nearby ski resort Massanutten. Mountain biking wherever you want, Harrisonburg area is known as having some of the best mountain biking around, and or course SKYDIVING!
Also being a geography major and environmental science minor, nature is something that I have really come to appreciate and enjoy. There is nothing better than taking a class where I can apply what I learn to the very community which I live in. For example right now in GEOG 468, Internet GIS, I am working with a team on making an interactive internet map on several bike trails in the George Washington National Forest. We are working very closely with Shenandoah Mountain Bike Club making sure we include all the trails available, their details, and any corresponding information that any user may deem useful. It's been a very interesting project. It has also made me realize that if I want to work in such a computer-reliant field such as GIS I really need to learn computer programming. You really don't realize how much you need to know until you're waste deep in a project such as making an interactive website.
Well next time I talk to you all I'll have traveled 14,000 feet up and then 14,000 ft. back down. See you on the ground.
Posted by Simeon on April 15, 2005 03:37 PM | Link | Email Simeon
Environmental Science
Besides all my geography classes, I'm also taking an environmental class through the ISAT department to help complete my minor. The class is ISAT 321 - Fundamental Environmental Science and Technology.
The class is extremely interesting. Like most ISAT classes, it's not all math and science; we also discuss a lot of social issues pertaining to the environment. My teacher, Professor Tucker, worked with the EPA for several years. So, we talk about government regulation of the environment and understand why the government makes the rules it does.
Right now, we just got finished with outdoor air quality, and honestly it's kind of scary what we're doing to our planet. It has definitely made me a lot more conscious of when and where I drive. I don't like to really drive a lot in the first place though, due to these gas prices lately. The amount of pollution that comes from automobiles is staggering, I always figured that those big stack houses in industrial areas were more harmful but truthfully it’s everybody's cars.
I just got my test back in the class too, and I must say I'm pretty surprised with my grade. I did a lot better than I was expecting. I guess even if I didn't study as well for this one as I did in others in the past, going to class and paying attention really paid off for me this time.
I keep forgetting to bring my camera to classes so I can add photos to this blog. Don't worry… I've put it in my backpack just now so I won't forget it tomorrow morning while I'm rushing to class.
Well, today turned out to be a gorgeous day so I'm going to capitalize on the great weather now and run some errands, later everyone.
Posted by Simeon on April 13, 2005 05:31 PM | Link | Email Simeon
Spring Time is Crunch Time
For everyone here at JMU the spring semester is winding down, the weather has really warmed up and all life seems to be blooming once again, but for students these are some hard times. Well at least for me it seems that way, between the allure of hanging out in the warm weather with my friends and the increased work load I have been experiencing, the end of the semester is always one big willpower test for me.
One class which requires me to focus, instead of slack in the sun, is GEOG 466 with Dr. Kraenzle. This is one of my classes where I am doing an end of the year project that will take my team and I the rest of the semester to complete. GEOG 466 is officially called Managing GIS & Geographic Databases.
Throughout the year we have been learning aspects about GIS data, like how it is stored, organized, and how it is used.
This may seem unimportant but in reality it is basically the fundamental aspect of all GIS. Without good data, maps will not be made; and even if the data is good, without a proper method for storing our data it would never be found in the massive electronic clearinghouses that geographers rely on to extract their data.
One particularly interesting part of this class is Dr. Kraenzle's application of what we learn in the classroom to the commercial world. The project which we are working on right now requires us to not only make a map, but extract the data ourselves, create a project plan like used in any industry, as well as specifications that will be required in our project which we must set ourselves. This project is so unique because we have to set our own standards. Making my team and I hold ourselves to such a standard is a valuable learning tool in the real world, because if we don't hold ourselves to such high standards it will show through in our work, and no customer would ever purchase it. Honestly the work itself is not difficult, but continuously trying to improve our specifications and plans is. That’s what I think I enjoy about the class - not all the technical information you learn but the responsibility and managerial skills you have to take on in order for the project to be a true success.
I have two other projects in two other classes that I am currently working on and all are coming along really well. Working with a partner always helps so much. Another thing I enjoy about the College of ISAT is the fundamental basis of group work. It really cuts down on the stress to know you have partners working with you. I'll let you all know how those are coming along as well in the near future.
Posted by Simeon on April 12, 2005 04:03 PM | Link | Email Simeon
Not Your Mother's Geography
Before I begin my first blog, I want to say a big hello to everyone out there reading this. I'm very excited to be a part of this, and hope that my journal can give you a glimpse of the life of the average JMU student.
First a little about myself. Well I graduated from Fairfax High School in 2002, thus making me a junior this year,and the last couple years have honestly just flown by for me. I try to stay very active in the JMU community, sometimes I think I'm "too" active. I'm in the Honors Fraternity Phi Sigma Pi, I play Club Water Polo, I work with University Information (where I answer a multitude of questions students have), and this summer will be an Orientation Program Advisor, so I will be in the beautiful town of Harrisonburg all summer. As you can possibly tell by the outlay of this blog I am also a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) major, as well as an Environmental Information Systems minor, and now a blogger for the College of Integrated Science and Technology.
When I first heard about the opportunity to start this online journal I knew I wanted to do it. The opportunity to share my experiences, as both a GIS major as well as a student, is something that needs to be done. I know that Geography is not the most understood major. When I tell people that I am a geography major they go, "Oh yeah, What's the Capital of the Czech Republic?" and you know what, I have no clue. But in seriousness, geography is so much more different than what you learned in grade school.
At JMU there are three concentrations you can focus on in Geography; Cultural, Environmental, and GIS. In Cultural, you focus on the factors of geography and see how they have influenced the culture. Environmental geography seems pretty self-explanatory. And then there's GIS. GIS focuses on all the technology aspects that geography uses, and in my opinion is one of the most underrated majors around. Most people use GIS day to day and most likely have no idea. For example, when you watch the weather in the morning, GIS was used to help make those maps you see the weatherman point out, or when you get directions from Map Quest, GIS was used to build those maps. GIS is integrated into so much of the daily lives of people that I think they take it for granted.
I've been a GIS major for the last year, and have taken
several very interesting classes. I think as a continuing project I will tell you all about a class offered, and how it can be used in the real world, in blogs to come. What I will tell you right now though, is how much I enjoy the geography department here. I could go on and on right now, but I'm afraid I just won't have enough room.
I see our department as a closely knit group. It will happen when you only have a 100+ students in the department though. But it's not just the students that make it this way, it's also our professors. All of our professors here have spent nearly a majority of their lives becoming professional in their field of work. Dr. Gustafson has worked for the military analyzing aerial photographs, and is still hired by the Catalina Island Conservancy to work on preserving the island. Dr. Kraenzle works continuously in GIS with other companies, sometimes finding students interning positions. And Professor Shaffer, who own his own business, TerraLogic GIS, creates maps that are made accessible through the Internet.
I feel I've written quite a bit already, but I just want to say one last thing. More than anything what I love about JMU is the whole school's spirit. I really find it second to none, and it doesn't just start and end during the Football season, but lasts all year long.
Well that's all for now I suppose, talk to all of you soon.
Posted by Simeon on April 8, 2005 03:27 PM | Link | Email Simeon
