Successful Video for Gabby

                 For my video I decided to document Southern’s Symphonic Pulse Dance Company’s first performance this year with its new members including me! I wanted to capture the team in action so I thought recording us dancing would show what were really about. Overall I thought my video turned out well. I used iMovie and in my video I put in the performance cut into sections that went along with what each dancer being interviewed was saying. I interviewed four members of the team to get their perspective on what SPDC is, what we do and what it means to them. I thought they gave excellent answers and really captured what the team is all about. I also included a personal reflection at the end of the video of my opinion on the team.

                If I were to compare this video assignment to my last one, I would say that it is much better than the last one. I have never made short movies like this before and I think my first video was just me getting my feet wet. In other words my last video was me experimenting and trying things out. I learned a lot since that last video project on what and what now to with making a movie. Some of these tips included

1. Try to not use Windows Movie Maker, try and find access to a mac.   
2. Do not play your whole interviews of people, split them up if they are too long
3.   Music is nice to add it gives the video a more upbeat feeling instead of just dragging on
4.  Try and find topics that not everyone is using, be different
5. If you are going to put text in your video make sure you give the viewer enough time to read it

Campus Safari

        For this week’s campus Safari I choose to do #14 which was to attend an artistic performance on campus. I was recently accepted into Southern’s Symphonic Pulse Dance Company and we performed Wednesday night in the ballroom for the Caribbean Showcase. Our dance was to the song “King of Africa” which is a remix of the Lion King song. Overall, the whole event was a lot of fun. We got to see a few clubs perform which was awesome. Everyone was in costume and ready to dance. There were also performances where we learned about the history, culture, song, fashion, poetry, and inspirations of the Caribbean Islands.

"Never consider the possibility of failure; as long as you persist, you will be successful."

                                                     ~ Brian Tracy

For this semester, I would have to say that my midterm grades were decent. I mainly got all good grades except in math and Botany. I do not believe that those midterm grades reflect on the amount of time and effort I put into those classes. Math is that subject for me where it’s not easy but it’s not too hard. I’m not usually one to complain or make excuses but I feel the reason for everyone and literally everyone getting a bad grade on the midterm in that class is because of the professor. In Botany that is a very challenging class for me, because the teacher goes very fast. I usually end up teaching myself the lecture that day on plants and use my own notes to study for the tests. I mainly get B’s on the tests and am doing very well in my Botany Lab. I went to the professor during her office hours and asked why I had that grade for my midterm and she told me it was because I do not ask enough questions. I feel like I put in a lot of effort in all my classes but I will still try and push myself even further.

                Overall, I would say being as my first semester in college, that my midterm grades are good. I think that the big lesson I learned from midterms is what and what not to do in my classes. It taught me that I need to take more time into doing work rather than hanging out with my friends. It also showed me that I need to do more than just the work. I need to participate more and engage in class discussions more often. If I have questions one option I realized is that I can go during the professor’s office hours to ask them or just send them an email. Midterms are never fun but you learn from your mistakes and grow from them to do even better.

~The Beauty of Simplicity~

              Walking on campus near Morrill Hall I came across a very unique sculpture. When I took a closer look it had two labels. One engraved in it said “Commissioned by the state of Connecticut for Southern Connecticut State University through the Department of Administrative services and the Connecticut commission on the arts.” The second engraved scripture said “Serie Metasfiscioa xvIII Herk Van Tongeren 1988.” After googling this person’s name I found that this sculpture on campus was in fact done by a girl named Valerie Salamander from a photograph of the sculpture “Serie Metafisica XVIII,” by Herk Van Tongeren. A little background history on Tongeren is that he was especially known for his finely crafted bronze sculptures which were said to grow from paintings by Giorgio de Chirico and sculptures by Alberto Giacometti. As seen in the picture I took above, there are four pillars with roman columns designs. These pillars stand on one level while the next level slants towards the ground and has one ball at the top and one ball at the bottom.

                In my opinion I think that this sculpture really is something amazing. I never realized it before but after taking a closer look I now can see it has meaning behind it. To me the pillars stand as a symbol of maturity. They stand the tallest and are the most dominant structure on the sculpture. The slanted level represents the pathway one must take to reach their final maturity in life. The ball starting at the beginning represents someone just starting off in life. They travel up the ramp and that’s where the second ball comes in. It represents the point in life where you are ready to take life in your own hands. From there come the pillars. In a way they stand as if they are never ending. The reason for that is because in life you never reach your final maturity, you continue to grow. You are always learning from your mistakes and you continue to grow from them. In a way the pillars can extend forever. We continue to grow forever and even when we pass our life contributed to others and helped them and continues to help them as they grow forever; which is why there are specifically four pillars. Overall to me this sculpture is captivating the human life in one image. By captivating the human life in the details within the sculpture give it the emotional depth which then show the deeper meaning of how one grows throughout life and after life.

Campus Safrai

      

         For this week’s campus safari I decided to write about #19 which was regarding the Major’s Expo I attended on October 10 in the Adanti Student Center. When I first got to the event I walked around not really finding anything. Then I came to the marine science and environmental studies table. I met with Professor Tait, and he explained all about these two minors and how I can major in them if I choose to do liberal studies.  I then told him that marine science is not really what I was looking for but rather biological oceanography. His face lit up the second I said that. We then talked for about an hour all about that major. He told me he was going through exactly what I was at this time in my life. He said he wanted to find a major that could provide him with a job but then years later he decided to live his dream and become an oceanographer. He told me that being an oceanographer is worth it in the end, and that you should always do what you want in life because you don’t want to look back on something that you missed out on. I told him that the ocean has always been something important to me and to work with the marine life would be a dream of mine, and he told me to go for it. He said he could even write me recommendations to pursue this major after four years here, and go to school in California and work with dolphins. (Dolphins are my favorite mammal). Overall, Professor Tait helped me a lot. He gave me some hope that biological oceanography is something I can pursue. He told me not to be afraid but to just go for it. I plan to stay in contact with him through my schooling here at Southern so he can help me figure some things out. Below is a picture of one of the projects in the marine studies minor, and backgorund information on the Center for Coastal and Marine Studies itself.

               

Tiny Dancer

              

               For this week’s blog we were to do something fun on campus to relieve the stress of the midterm season. This week were auditions for Southern’s Pulse Dance Company. I decided to audition since I love to dance, and it ended up being a lot of fun. We auditioned in three categories, lyrical, jazz, and hip-hop. Dance has always been something I loved to do ever since I was a little girl. ECA ended in June and for the summer for once I was not dancing. I thought that once I started college I would have no time for dance. My parents were mad too because they always wanted me to stick with it and always keep dancing in my life. When I saw Pulse Dance Company at the club fair I knew I would want to audition. Not trying to jinx it because I don’t know the results yet but I would love to be part of their company.

                Dancing has always been something that relieves stress for me. All through high school dance was almost like an escape from all the stress in my life. When you dance you forget about all your problems and are just in the moment. Every pirouette, every leap, you get lost in dance. Everything about it relieves my stress instantly. The long mirrors, the broken in ballet shoes, all that makes me feel at home. The dance world is something great to get lost into and I find it the best escape from stress. When you do something you love that is the best stress reliever you could ask for. You get lost in a moment and it really is the best feeling in the world.

“There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd better learn the sound of it. Otherwise you'll never understand what it's saying.” 
― Sarah Dessen

Looking back at this semester I cannot believe how fast time fly’s. Looking back on my first day here at Southern and comparing it to now, I can see how much I have grown academically, and socially. At the beginning of the semester I set a goal to continue getting good grades and keeping a good gpa. Although some of my classes have been challenging I have been trying my hardest. I have been studying, doing my readings and completing my assignments on time. So far, I have achieved my accomplishment of continuing through the semester with good grades. Another personal goal I met is managing my time. I said in one of my first blog posts that the transition from high school to college will be completely new to us, and every person must manage their time to fit them. I wanted to maintain a balance throughout the semester of homework and time with friends. So far I have balanced them fairly well, and want to continue that way throughout the semester.

                For the second semester a personal goal I want to have, is to basically figure my life out. As of now I have no clue what to do with my life or what direction to lead it in (career wise). I like biological oceanography but I also enjoy business but then I find that I like the health field as well.  I want to take the time for this semester and all of next semester and just figure everything out. Some things I could do are make a pro and con list of all the careers I am thinking of. That way I can see the good and bad and hopefully limit some career choices out of the mix. Another thing I could try is doing some research. I want to look up all the classes each major involves and I want to see what jobs you can obtain from that major later on after college.  I could also try talking to some professors to help me see my options. Recently I went to the major’s expo and I met with Professor Tait. We ended up talking for almost an hour and I told him I was always interested in biological oceanography and he told me one of the professors here is an oceanographer. I think if I try talking to him I can figure out some things. But in the future I plan on figuring out everything to be on the right track.

                                                    Campus Safari

          For this week's campus safari, I decided to meet with one of my professors during their office hours. I met with Professor Peters which teaches my CSC 101 class. In his class we are creating a family tree on youworldtree.com by gathering pictures from home of our entire family. We then must scan them, edit them, and upload them which sounds easy but is a very confusing process. I went to his office on Wednesday and he helped me scan a picture of my parents and edit it. I found that going to a professors office hours can be very helpful. They are more than happy to help a student out with homework and answer any of their questions.

The Idea of the Natural

In the book Mindset, the topic of failure is a prominent theme mentioned throughout the novel. It is mainly connected to sports and how failure is never an option for some athletes. One example I liked from this book was about the gymnast named Elizabeth. She failed at her first meet and her father told her if you want to succeed you have to work harder. Elizabeth did just that, and continued to win every other meet. The lesson learned from all this was that Elizabeth learned from her failures. I always have thought that learning from your mistakes is something important that everyone must experience in their lives over and over again. If you never fail you will never grow from that. This in a way to me connects to the fixed mindset. A person with a fixed mindset would have gone to that meet and when they lost like Elizabeth they would not put any effort into becoming better, but just blame something else for their loss. Elizabeth on the other hand had a growth mindset and knew that she needed more effort into her technique.

                Another quote I liked from this novel was in the chapter “The mindset of a champion.” In this chapter the author related failure to an athlete. Billy Beane was a natural and was compared to Babe Ruth. He thought he had everything, but what he was lacking was the mindset of a champion. Whenever he lost he searched for something to break. The quote “It wasn't merely that he didn't like to fail; it was as if he didn't know how to fail,” was used to describe Billy. He believed that since he had natural talent he had no reason to fix things when he continued to fail. At this point Billy had a fixed mindset. Fixed mindset is what will lead a person to failure, just as it led Billy down. But what makes this story interesting is that he managed to change his life around. He watched another player and saw that mindset was more important than failure, and baseball was about the process more than the talent. Billy managed to change his mindsets, and that is what brought him out of failing. I believe that this is true, it’s not about how well you play the game, but instead the set of mind you go into it with. Not everything is about how naturally talented you are. An athlete who is always flawless, that does not make them the best out there. I can correlate this example to my own personal experience.  As a dancer I have seen girls that are just naturally good at dancing but then theirs others that have to work their whole lives. When you watch them both on stage I always saw that the dancer that worked harder was the better one. The dancer with the natural talent it just looked like it was a piece of cake for her. But the dancer that was really trying that went in with the mindset that she could do it was the better dancer over the one that knew she would always be picked and would never fail. 

“Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends.”

                                                      -Shirley MacLaine

For this weeks blog we were to do something that pushes us outside of your comfort zone. Whether it be academic, or social, and we are to blog about the experience. A lot of people probably won’t thing this is stepping out of your comfort zone, but to me it was.

My aunt tried teaching me this past summer how to play pool. I have always been a terrible pool player and I have no idea why, I just can’t get the hang of it. Not only did my aunt beat me but all her old friends did and they thought it was hilarious. I swore I would never play pool again since I always get continuously beat at by people. So today was time for a change. I went into the pool room without looking back and decided to play a game with some people. Yes, I was completely terrible but I did not care. I had a lot of fun and just tried my hardest. Even though I said I would never play again of course I found myself playing again.
I would define myself as an outgoing person but with only some things. I find that and have been told that I give off a shy personality but don’t be fooled by that. I am a really loud person and not afraid to try things. Pool was just one thing I did not like to do but I tried it again. I pushed outside of my comfort zone considering I’m always embarrassed playing pool since i’m terrible at it. What this week’s blog taught me was that pushing out of your comfort zone is not as bad as it seems. Most people are afraid of embarrassing themselves in front of others but you just have to learn to not care. When people stop caring what other people think then they can really act themselves.

Day of Service

For this week’s campus safari I decided to participate in Southern’s Day of Service. We were put into teams and bused out to various locations all around New Haven. My group was Natalie, Amber, Erica and her lacrosse team. We were assigned Whalley Ave where we walked down it cleaning up trash. We had huge trash bags and we ended up picking up a lot of trash. Overall it was a good experience. People would come and thank us for cleaning up and a lot of people really appreciated what we did. It ended up being a really fun day and it felt good to give back to the community.

"When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world."

               

         For our inquiry class, we were assigned to read the first three chapters of “Mindset,” by Carol S. Dweck. Reading these chapters I saw that I agree with the points the author has been making. There are two types of mindsets, fixed and growth. Fixed mindset is the belief that you have a fixed amount of ability and intelligence and you are unable to change that. Someone who has a growth mindset has the universal belief that their basic qualities are things they can cultivate through effort. Although we have both these mindsets, I believe that as we go through life and make mistakes and what not that our mindsets will be affected. For example, with a fixed mindset that is what you were always taught to believe in or do. In my opinion those are the things our parents taught us and what influenced us to believe in something the way we do.  As we grow older and experience things on our own, that fixed mindset can change a little. We can start to have a different opinion about something we were once taught by our parents. Our minds are always learning new things everyday so it is impossible to have such a fixed mindset that you will always just see things in black and white.

                With both these mindsets I believe they provide motivation. Regarding the 10,000 hour theory, it states that when you do something for 10,000 hours, that is when you will become a master at it. My opinion with this is that when you have a fixed mindset and you do something against what you believe for 10,000 hours, you will start to change your mind and see things differently. With a growth mindset with the 10,000 hours they will learn from their failures and try harder.

How to Create a Successful Video

Overall, this project took me a week to complete. I managed my time well and spaced out when I would do interviews. I think that helped me with the finished product because by being organized it was easier to complete this project and I had a lot of time to complete it. I think my video came out well, although I had to use windows movie maker because I have a pc it still came out nice. I decided to make my video about all of what goes into declaring a major.

 I asked a wide range of students who either knew their major or did not know at first to get different perspectives for my video. I also incorporated professor’s views in my video to show an adult’s perspective since they have already gone through the whole process themselves. With different ages and majors I thought it would provide my video with a good balance providing all different answers. The reason for that is because everyone is different and some things may apply to one student that may not apply to another.  My goal was to hopefully help out a student in guiding them into choosing a major. I also did this topic to help myself as well. By listening to all the answers students and professor’s provided me with it helped me in deciding how I should choose my major.

The conclusions reached after I asked each question to students and professors, their answers were very similar to ones that I would say. I videotaped all student interviews and from there I was able to listen to their answer and draw the conclusion they made along with one I made from their answer as well. I balanced the material they gave me in the interviews with my own voice well. I was able to make many conclusions from the questions I asked. My overall conclusion was: Deciding what major to pursue in college can be very challenging but as long as you research the major and find an interest in it then you should go ahead and pursue it.

Inquiry Movie