Alright the first week of fall ’08 is closing up. What a week it has been. For all the new and old students it can be a little intimidating; finding classes, working out a new schedule, buying books, pulling your hair out at FinAid, realizing how long 2 ½ hours really is, and of course making new friends. There are good things about the first week of classes, however, like FREE pizza!!!! How cool is that? There is one thing a Lourdes College student should always remember while at school: No matter how crazy life gets here, someone is always giving away free food.

Now that my passion for free food has been established I think that it is important to get to know the rest of what I’m all about.

My name is Matt. I have attended Lourdes College for about two years. I work full time, I go to school full time and I have a smile on my cheeks full time. My apartment is only a seven minute walk from the college. (SWEET, yeah I know) There are two major things that you should know about me: (1) It is super important to me that everyone gets involve outside the classroom. (it makes Higher Ed a lot more fun) (2) I am not shy whatsoever. I will talk to everybody and nothing can stop me. I am also a bleeding heart artist and a hopeless romantic.

Enough about me! Let’s talk about success in college.

.

The key to success in college is simple. Time management is the key. You don’t have to be the sharpest knife in the spoon drawer to get good grades. It’s all about showing that you can do the work in the time allotted. Don’t misread my words, hard work and determination goes into it. Just don’t get too stressed. college is just a way to show your future employer that “hey this guy/gal can get stuff done.”

So go out buy a day planner (I prefer a day-to-day) manage your time wisely and have fun doing it. What’s life if you didn’t have fun living it?

Also, get to social events around campus where you can meet people who share a common goal. To be successful you must surround yourself with positive, like minded people.

In conclusion I’ll leave you with thisà When people laugh at your ideas it is because they can’t understand. Try going about it a different way.

                                                            Tell Me A Story I Love You?

Thursday, August 28, 2008 4:06:29 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] | 

My classes for this 2008 Fall semester have begun. What was I thinking by taking 17 credit hours?! I'm enrolled in Music Theory, Voice, Classical Guitar, Philosophy of Religion, New Testament Greek, and History of Christianity. The classes have been interesting, although NT Greek gave me a headache.

However, having had combined these classes while starting in a new full-time employment position  - I feel a bit intimidated. I'm giving it all over to God. Wish me luck and I can use your prayers.

Yet, this is the experience of most Lourdes College students. Their ability to balance the pursuit of a college degree while being empolyed (I know of students with multiple part-time positions), family obligations, and whatever daily life throws at them - all continue on towards their goals.

What has helped me is that many of my professors at Lourdes share in my life goals. It appears that they are not here "because it is a job" but that they have a vocation to help the non-traditional student to succeed. They have been where I am now so, they understand, support and share in my goals.

With that being said, I'm off to work on that Greek lesson. Now, what did Dr. Dumke say about, diacritical marks? Which accent is it, acute, circumflex or grave? It's all greek to me - where did I put those aspirins?

Thursday, August 28, 2008 10:09:47 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] | 

Savannah is a new Student Blogger for 2008.  Welcome, Savannah!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 11:30:35 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1] | 

Fans of Saturday Night Live and Drew Carey’s Whose Line is it Anyway will want to catch the Around the Bend Players performance at Lourdes College. The improvisational comedy performs in the Franciscan Theatre & Conference Center Friday, September 12, at 8 p.m.

The Toledo-based Around the Bend Players entertain audiences by engaging them in their comedy routine. Their fast paced shows are filled with ever changing sketches and games that the audience helps develop – making each show unique. As part of the ongoing Lourdes College Performing Artist Series, the Around the Bend Players show is entertainment suitable for any age group or type of audience.

Lourdes College students, faculty, staff and alumni can receive two FREE tickets with a valid Lourdes College ID card.  Tickets for the general public are only $10 each.  To purchase tickets to the concert, contact the Franciscan Center Box Office at 419-824-3999.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 9:27:12 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] | 

This fall, "big" things are happening at the Lourdes College Appold Planetarium as it welcomes a new Coordinator and presents its fall program titled BIG.

BIG is a fulldome show that takes a quirky and imaginative look at the size and scale of our universe. With its lighthearted storytelling style, 3D graphics, clay-animated characters and a surround musical score, BIG brings a really big subject down to earth.

BIG shows at 7:30 p.m. on the following days:

September 6 and 20

October 4 and 18

November 1 and 15.

Visit www.spitzinc.com/fulldome_shows/show_big/ to view a sneak preview. Admission is $4 for adults and $3 for children under 12 and for Lourdes College students presenting their student ID.

Shows at the Appold Planetarium are limited to 60 and often sell out. To purchase tickets or for more information, contact Dr. Laura Megeath, new Coordinator of the Appold Planetarium, at 419-517-8897 or email lmegeath@lourdes.edu.

Dr. Laure Megeath earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Colgate University in New York and her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts. She previously conducted research at Harvard University until her move to Sylvania in 2006. A neurobiologist, Dr. Megeath has also taught as an adjunct instructor in the Department of Biology and Health Sciences at Lourdes.

 “Dr. Megeath is a wonderful teacher who enjoys making solid scientific knowledge available to a popular audience. She is a first-rate scientist and has an active interest in and knowledge of astronomy,” says Dr. Geoffrey Grubb, Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. “The Lourdes community is very pleased that she has joined our staff and together, we look forward to serving our local community through the Appold Planetarium and all that it has to offer.”

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 9:20:51 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] | 

Hello again everybody. I haven’t written here in a long while. I’m well, thanks for asking.

(I wrote this last week but didn’t get it posted. They were still going on at that time.)

The Olympics are winding down now. I have always been a huge sports fan, but that has changed for me lately. I have trouble following anything anymore, but that’s a topic for a later blog.

I’ve been watching the Olympics with renewed interest this year. I remember as a child and young man way back in the _0s when watching the Olympics was a heck of an experience. We couldn’t seem to wait until they came by and it seemed that each event was memorable. I remember watching the Black Power salute live. For me it was as powerful as anything I had seen. I remember the Munich tragedy when so many Israeli athletes were murdered. Watching that live was just sickening. I remember athletes like Bob Beamon, Jim Ryun, George Foreman, Mark Spitz, Mary Decker, Mary Lou Retton, Dick Fosbury, and a host of others. We cheered like crazy, knowing that these were truly amateur athletes who really had to live on nothing and to train in obscurity for maybe one chance to shine.

All that changed when we Americans decided we should start sending professionals to the Olympics and lobbied hard for a change in the rules. The first basketball “Dream Team” changed everything for me. I couldn’t watch them even a little bit. I was disgusted by every 100-30 victory over Egypt and every other country who dared try. Disgusted when Nike refused to let them accept their gold medals with the Reebok logo on their sweats.  Reebok was the sponsoring company, but Nike owned half of the players for endorsements. Anyone else remember the compromise? Yeah. Nike relented when the players draped the American flag over the Reebok logo. Great use of the colors, right? Who wouldn’t be proud of that? Yeah, neither am I. Some folks get so worked up about flag burning that happened 40 years ago. I think this was MUCH worse.

That was in 1992, and I honestly haven’t watched much since then until this year. For some reason, it has been exciting once more. I really loved watching the different sports again. Badminton? Sure. Triathlon? You bet. Equestrian jumping? Mais oui. Naturally, the star is Michael Phelps. He is a compelling character despite his Wolverine status. Nice guy, hard worker, and often at a loss for words in nearly every interview. You have to love that. It was fun watching every night as he racked up the gold. Did he really win that last race? Wonderful stuff. The most gold medals in one Olympics.

Then it got goofy again.

“Michael Phelps: Greatest Olympian Ever!” Michael Phelps: Greatest Athlete Ever!”

Are you kidding me? Just because of the number of gold medals? This is from the news people and journalists covering the games and many back in the states. I’m so sick of hyperbole!

Look, I know this isn’t Phelps’ fault. The media is ruining a beautiful story. Now I think about the fact that he even had 8 CHANCES for gold medals. Why? He can swim better than anybody else in the butterfly (?!?) and is pretty good in freestyle. Put them together with the relays and you have medal opportunities galore. Where did the butterfly come from? Help me out here. Do people swim the butterfly stroke for fun? If they’re stranded somewhere and have to swim for it, do they think “I’ll never make it if I don’t butterfly my way to shore.”  

How could anyone else have a chance at 8 medals besides a swimmer? There are breaststroke and backstroke events too. How about runners? There are 4 ways to swim here, how many ways are there to run? As far as I can tell, all the track events have people running with the same motion. If they give gold medals to backstrokers, how about a gold for the person who goes fastest running backwards? I didn’t see that event. Tell me that doesn’t make sense. I’d watch that one.

Greatest Olympian ever? Please. You watch American beach volleyball and you can see the dominance. The Chinese divers, American basketball, even table tennis and boxers. The greats compete for 2 weeks, work very hard and suffer as much or more than swimmers. All of this is to earn one medal. He earns 8 in about 6 days and so we discuss whether any athlete has ever been as good? Sorry Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens and Muhammad Ali. Michael Phelps must be greater than all of you put together. Your total in gold medals is only 7.

Monday, August 25, 2008 12:26:21 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [2] | 

Attention Students:

Company Description:  St. Joan of Arc

Job Title:  Youth Minister

Job Description: Responsibilities to include designing, implementing, and coordinating comprehensive youth ministry

Qualifications: .Applicant must be adult, practicing Catholic with leadership and administrative skills and able to work collaborative with pastoral staff.  

Application Method:

Application Deadline:

Contact Person Information:

Resumes may be sent to: 

Very Rev. Gregory R. Hite, VF, Pastor,

 5856 Heatherdowns Blvd.,

Toledo, Ohio, 43614.  

Closing date for applications:  September 30, 2008.

Monday, August 25, 2008 9:50:19 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] | 

Attention Students:

Company Description:  First St. John Lutheran Church

Job Title:  Youth Director

Job Description:

Qualifications: Excellent communication skills, Strong Interpersonal Skills, Ability to relate to Jr. High and  High school students

Application Method:

Application Deadline:

Contact Person Information:

Pastor Robert Blohm

419-691-7222

Pastorblohm@sbcglobal.net

First St. John Lutheran Church

Attn: Pastor Robert Blohm

2471 Seaman St.

Toledo, OH 43605

Monday, August 25, 2008 9:45:55 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] | 

Attention Students:

Company Description:  

Job Title:  Curriculum Coordinator

Job Description: Coordination of infant, toddler and preschool curriculum among four centers of early childhood programming. Monitor lesson planning both comprehensive and individualized.  Coordinate implementation and use of developmental screening tools including the Ages and Stages Questionnaire, the Developmental Continuum, Get It! Got It! Go! and the Ages and Stages Social/Emotional Questionnaire.  Review parent conferences, portfolios, anecdotal notes, etc. to ensure that implementation of all required documentation is complete meeting the auspices of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (Step Up To Quality and licensing), The Ohio Department of Education (Early Learning Initiative), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (accreditation).

Qualifications: Must have a Bachelor degree in Early Childhood Education or                     Special Education of Preschool Children. At least five years experience in the early childhood classroom and/or the ECE arena including interaction with community resources and funding resources.

Application Method:

Application Deadline:

Contact Person Information:

Pat Scheuer

pscheuer@toledodaynursery.org

Monday, August 25, 2008 9:42:09 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] | 

Lourdes College is offering a new Engineering Transfer Program through a partnership with the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM). The program allows students to take math, science and humanities classes at Lourdes then complete their designated Bachelor of Engineering degree (Civil, Electrical, Manufacturing or Mechanical) at UDM.

Students enrolled in this program will attend Lourdes College for one to two years of full-time study and will then transfer to UDM to complete their degree. The Engineering Transfer Program is open to both full and part-time students.

One of the unique components of the program is the option for full-time Lourdes pre-engineering students to take Engineering Graphics and Design (E105) and Introduction to Solid Modeling (E107) at UDM before transferring at no cost. A second benefit of the program is the completion of three cooperative work assignments, equivalent to one full year of work experience. During the cooperative assignments, students will earn money, obtain real-world experience and gain a full resume before graduating.

Monday, August 25, 2008 9:12:13 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] |