Spring 2009 Students

Hello, future students!

The first tip I have for you about this class is to get to work on the client project as soon as you can. If you wait too long you may end up realizing a little too late how difficult it is to get everyone in your group together.

When it comes to the career stuff you need to hand in (like resumes), I would recommend going to the university's career center or your own department's, if you have one. I did this, and it really helped me out especially with my resume.

In this class... you will need to know/learn a lot about technology! It can seem overwhelming at first, but don't stress about it. Mrs. Rogers is really good at teaching you how to do everything, and once you get the hang of it all you'll see it is not too hard. If you already know much of anything about Web sites, then you should not have any trouble at all.

I loved this class, and I think you will, too! Enjoy your time with Mrs. Rogers!

Client Project

The biggest challenge we've had on our client project is getting feedback from the client. We've tried contacting them several times, but we are still waiting on the info we need.

The best thing about this project is that it has really opened my eyes as to how complex organizing a big group working on one project can be. I think I've learned a few organizational skills through this process.

I've worked in teams several times both in high school and college, so that was really nothing new. However, it is always a challenge to try to decide everyone's skills and really get things going. We did spend a lot of time working on this project.

Dual Coding Theory

I think the Nike Ad is relevant mostly to the verbal side of Dual Coding. I'm not entirely sure what it is an image of... so I'm just going to go off of the words presented.

The words "Practice Like Champions" and "We Believe" are both positive, inspirational sayings. They put Nike in a positive light, as someone rooting for the hard working players who dream of being great.

But like I said, it is not clear to me- someone who knows next to nothing about football- what the actual image is of. I could be missing something.

Miscommunication

I have worked in a dog kennel during the summer for several years now. Several dogs had to be walked/played with daily and sometimes there would be two or three people working on it. Before the kennel started printing out a list of dogs that needed walks for us, we would often have miscommunication issues. I would pull out a dog and walk it for 15 minutes, then move on to another one. Sometimes someone else might walk the same dog again, because they were not sure if I had walked it already!

They could have just checked with me to see which dogs I'd walked already, or they could have just paid attention- I would normally just see someone walking a dog and make a mental note that it's been walked. As you can see, this whole system was a little ridiculous. So, the kennel started making a list of dogs that needed walks. Now, we can all just initial our names next to the dog's name to note that we've already walked it. This way dogs don't get double-walks, so we save time, too.

Interview

I had my interview on Wednesday.

1. Were you nervous? How did you deal with this?
I was very nervous- I am not used to going through that whole process, so it was a little awkward! I just tried to think about the questions and what I could say to make the interviewer see that I was right for the job... thinking kept my mind off of being nervous.

2. Did you get any questions that threw you? How did you handle those questions?
The personality questions threw me. I guess I forgot that those kind of questions might be asked. I just winged it with them, trying not to stumble around with my words.

3. If you could do the interview again, what would you do differently?
I think I would come a little more prepared especially when it comes to what I think about my personality- so that I don't get caught off guard again!

4. What did you learn from this experience?
I learned that I need to try to relax a little more and to prepare a little more.

Interview

Well, I was one of the people scheduled for a Wednesday interview- so I guess I can't really do this blog yet.

I did go to the CAFLS Career Fair on Wednesday though, dressed up and all. I handed out my resume to 4-5 companies, but I was rather disappointed overall. There were maybe 2 Animal Science related companies, and they were both swine and poultry operations. I would have liked to see more companies related to horses, cattle, or something else.

I'm working on getting a picture of my Anderson county livestock show trophy up! I don't have a camera, so I'm waiting for someone to send me the pics.

Presentations

I would say that my three favorite presentations were Cassidy's, Cammy's, and Kyle's.

I picked these mainly because they were all about animals, and that is of course what I am most interested in! Cassidy of course had great props with the dogs, and her presentation made me want to start fostering some animals. I can't do it right now, but I will definitely look into it in the future.

Cammy's was interesting as well since she brought in the cute little squirrel. I always thought I had a bunch of animals, but I've never quite had the diversification that she does! So I really liked hearing about all the different species she has.

Kyle's was good because I think it was on a topic (beef) that a lot of people like- but they know so little about. I really think that people need to know where their food comes from, and I personally can't believe how many people fall for the silly "Certified Angus" meats as if it makes any difference. I can't remember if he had the certification specs on his powerpoint, but several breeds of cow can actually be "certified angus".

I really enjoyed presentation week!