Hey everyone!
I believe it is crunch time for all you high school seniors finding out what colleges you are going to! That’s so exciting!!! Let me know if any of you guys I have been talking to get accepted to Riddle!! This weekend is Parents Weekend for the COA families, my parents are not coming but a few of my friends are, so that will be the excitement for the weekend. Also, tonight is the last hockey game of the year, that will be fun, too! Since we don’t have football here the big event seems to be hockey. I am waiting very patiently for Prof. Gallup (Awesome!!! take him!) to put my grade up for the test I took yesterday and it is killing me!!! I also had a math test this morning that seemed fairly easy, and I have a legislation test on Monday that I need to study for. For flight team we are getting our new plane Monday I believe, it is a Technam “Super Echo.” We will use it for our landing events, it is a Light Sport so it should land very nicely! Last week was the Daytona 500, which means the roads are parking lots… and there were tons of drunk people all over the place. Daytona saw its excitement for the year. It is kind of annoying for us though, it takes forever to do the normal activity because of everyone!!! That is about all that is going on in my life right now though. Keep sending those e-mails!!! and facebook me!!!
<3 Elizabeth

Greetings to all! I hope everyone is having a successful and productive year so far! The Daytona 500 is finally over and things have just begun to return to normal. I guess I can’t get too used to it though, because Bike Week starts up next week. I have never seen so many people crammed into one city! We found that it took longer to drive to the Speedway than it did to just walk over. I went to the race on Sunday, and worked security at the Daytona Club for a few hours to earn some community service. The race ended up getting rained out, and it was a soggy mess trying to leave the track. There was four F-15s at Daytona Int’l for the weekend which did the flyover to start the race. You see, I live adjacent to Eglin AFB in northwest Florida so I am used to hearing fighters, especially 15s, buzzing around my house on a regular basis. It was nice to hear the roar of those engines again. They made me feel like I was back home.

Classes are going really well, and I feel like I am managing my time well enough to perform soundly while also having fun and keeping up with my Pike activities. I scored well on all of my tests we’ve taken so I am very pleased about that. Speaking of classes…

* MWF 8:00-9:00 – AT200 – Air Traffic Management I – This class is at eight in the morning! So many days I wake up and seriously contemplate going to this one, especially if I was up until one or two studying. (studying. right…) It usually ends with me in gym shorts and a sweatshirt walking to class in a hurry. We took our first test, in which I scored an 86 on. I’m not satisfied with an 86, so I really hope to do better on the next one. The tests in this class cover six to eight chapters at a time, so with such a large volume of material it’s tough to remember it all. We are finally beginning the real meat of the course, studying Letters of Agreement, Standard Operating Procedures, Fundamentals of Radar, and Airspace.

*MWF 11:45-12:45 – WX301 – Aviation Weather – We took a test in this class last week, and I got an 84 on it. Like AT200, the tests in this class cover quite a vast amount of notes. But the professor said the first test in this class is much harder than the rest of the tests in the semester so the next test should have a higher result. This class also has a lot of homework and labs, which lessens the weight of the tests. Overall I have a 92 so I am just going to concentrate on keeping it up there. It has been a while since I took WX201, so the material takes some time to make sense, but I eventually get it.

*MWF 4:45-5:45 – PS103 – Technical Physics I – Physics is still super easy, which I attribute to excellent preparation by a fantastic teacher I had for physics in high school. We are moving very quickly through the book and the homework in this class can be a killer sometimes. It’s not hard, just very time consuming. The lab portion of this class only meets once a week, which is nice. However, the lab reports are such a pain to type up and understand. In this lab, me and three other students conduct an experiment and then figure out all of the math that makes it work. The guys in my lab group are pretty smart, so that makes the experiments and computations run smoothly.

*TTH 9:45-11:00 – MA112 – College Math for Aviation II – This is probably my favorite class. I love math anyway, but Professor Collins is an absolutely incredible teacher. On our first test, I scored a 92 which I think is acceptable. This class is really a breeze as long as you do the homework and participate in class.

*TTH 11:15-12:30 – BA201 – Principles of Management – One word could describe this class: Boring. I understand that management is necessary, especially for someone like myself who would enjoy the opportunity to one day manage an air traffic facility. I just wish this class wasn’t a woman talking for an ungodly amount of time. I scored a 92 on the first test in here, so that makes my outlook on this class a little brighter. We are currently working on a group project about a company of our choice about how their management is run within the business. We chose Embraer, who is an aircraft manufacturing company. Most regional jets are either made by Embraer or another company by the name of Canadair. (The prefix “ERJ” in some aircraft identifiers stands for “Embraer Regional Jet”).

Pike is keeping really busy lately, but I am making some great friendships and contacts that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Many people say pledging a fraternity is almost like having another class, because of all the work required. I’m beginning to agree with them. There have been several basketball games recently, which are always a blast to attend. It’s great fun to trash talk the other team and complain to the referees about their terrible calls (which always seems to happen). Hockey games are also a blast, except they always seem to fall on freezing cold nights. The rink is several degrees colder than outside due to the ice, so I always freeze by behind off. Also, last week was the date auction. This is where people are auctioned off for dates and all the money raised goes to charity.

In other news, I recently was invited to join the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, which I am very excited about. NSCS is an honor society for only students with a 3.4 or higher cumulative GPA. I am really looking forward to Spring Break so I can see my family and friends from back home again. My best friend Sam is coming down from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, to spend a few days with me at the beginning of Spring Break. Sam is in the military, so it’s not often I get to see him, let alone spend a few days together. He is shipping out to go to Afghanistan in the beginning of April, so this time will be very special.

Anyway, that’s all for now. I hope everything is well with all you readers out there and don’t forget to shoot me an email if anyone has any questions about Riddle.

Until next time.

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful long Presidents’ Day weekend. I sure did! I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and go up to New York City to visit my girlfriend for Valentine’s Day. What a fun and exciting time! I have actually never been to New York before so I really enjoyed myself. We saw the Statue of Liberty, went to the top of the Empire State Building, walked through Central Park, and ate amazing food. It was a well-deserved vacation.

Now that I’m back to the grindstone, classes have been progressing rather smoothly. Last week was pretty calm; however, the upcoming week is gearing right back up again. I have my first US History test on Monday. I’m really curious about how that one will go. I also have a weather project that will be due in a few weeks. The teacher divided us up into groups of eight. Each group will explain the weather phenomenon that occurs in a certain region and how it affects travel. My group gets the opportunity to research and explain the weather in the Middle East. This project should be pretty interesting. I’ll keep everyone updated as my research progresses.

This weekend is Parent’s Weekend in the College of Aviation. During Parent’s Weekend, the students get the opportunity to give their parents a first-hand look at what it’s like to be a student here at Embry-Riddle. The parents get to experience personal tours, attend classes, and even observe flights. It is truly an exciting time, especially for the current freshmen. I even took my student’s little brother and sister flying with us during our training flight yesterday. The look on the little girl’s face as we took off was priceless. Times like these make me realize how lucky I am to have such a rewarding and exciting career.

I hope everyone has a wonderful February, well, what’s left of it at least. I’m off to a flight instructor get together. Remember; don’t hesitate to email me if you have any questions.

Dodd

It’s almost March and the semester is already halfway over!! The past two weeks have been pretty hectic with me getting sick and having to keep up with school and ROTC stuff. On February 12th, I had that feeling where I knew I was going to get sick because my whole body just ached and I was really hot feeling. Well, I went to PT Friday morning and felt alright but when I got back to my dorm room I could barely walk around. I recovered somewhat and went to class; I was feeling better around mid-afternoon, so I decided to go to the beach with a friend. Afterwards, I took my temperature and it was around 102°. Needless to say, the rest of the weekend was spent taking it easy and sleeping. I feel 100% better now and I believe that I had just overworked my body which is why I got sick.

My tests went pretty well-Organizational Behavior was an A, Principles of Aeronautical Science, Corporate Finance, and International Business were all three B’s. I was pretty happy overall and I think I’m going to do well in my classes this semester. Currently, I am working on my Business Law midterm which is a take-home exam. Sometimes take-home’s are a lot harder than in-class tests because the teachers expect you to put in twice the amount of time and effort. I still need to start on my Business Law paper but with all my other classes it has been pushed to the back of my to-do list.

This weekend was Project Charity House. Project Charity House is where you build a house out of cardboard boxes and then you sleep in it overnight. Silver Wings built the wad of money from the Geico commercial-I posted pictures on my website. I didn’t sleep outside overnight because it was pretty chilly and I didn’t want to get sick all over again. Throughout the night the participants also play games and in the end the points are added up and a winner is chosen. Silver Wings took home second-place this year!

AFROTC has been keeping me extremely busy because this past week and this week I have had a position. I have been in charge of making sure my flight knows their knowledge for the week as the Flight Academics Officer. Every two weeks the jobs rotate among the cadets and some weeks you’ll end up not having a position. Last week was Big Week, which is when all the cadets who are graduating in a year and want to be pilots find out whether or not the Air Force is going to let them fly. A lot of my friends got good news and are going to be pilots! I was really happy for them! Cadets also find out navigator and combat systems officer positions during that week which is why it’s titled Big Week. Operations Bottom Up (OBU) Week is coming up and that is where my class takes over the entire wing and we run everything from Lead Lab to PT that week. I’m looking forward to it and I have to submit an application packet this week in order to receive a position. Also, this week is the PFA and I’m hoping for some warm weather because it helps my run time!

This weekend, I went and saw the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic. I thought the movie was really good and I would definitely go see it again. This coming weekend I am going to go out of town since I didn’t get to go last weekend; I’m looking forward to that! Well, I need to get to some homework because the mountain seems to be growing. If you have any questions, please e-mail me. If you are thinking about coming to Embry-Riddle and are having a hard time making a decision, send me an e-mail and I can answer your questions.

Until next time,
Kaleigh

Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful January, I sure did! January was a good relaxing month for me. However, February is going to be extremely busy. It started off last week with two big tests, followed by a paper that is due today. Whew! I’m finally starting to feel the pressures of this semester.

My first test last week was in my humanities class. It went extremely well! When I first started studying I was not interested at all. I mean, how can a Humanities class be interesting? But, as I studied, I realized that the information was extremely interesting and useful. I learned how the advancement of technology affects different jobs, cultures, and even sports! The test consisted of multiple choice questions, as well as an essay at the end. I was glad it was over, however, I actually enjoyed studying and learning all about the advancement of technology. That is the beauty of Embry-Riddle. Even though I am taking a humanities class, it still relates to aviation.

My second test was in my weather for aircrews class. I love weather! For this test, the professor gave us a bunch of weather information and an international flight. She asked a bunch of application questions on how the weather affected the route of flight. She also had us predict the weather over Italy using only a weather depiction chart, a chart only giving you the basics of the atmospheric weather patterns. What a learning experience! I’ll be able to take all of this information I learned for this test and enlighten my flight students on the wonderful world of weather. I can’t wait!

Finally, I just finished my history paper that is due today. My assignment was to write a five page paper on a book we read during the month of January. The Jungle was a book about a family that moved to Chicago to experience the American dream. However, what they experienced was a life of death and defeat in the filthy meat packing town of Packingtown. It was an interesting book depicting just how life was for immigrants in the United States.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine’s Day this weekend! I’m off to class. Again, if you ever have any questions about Aeronautical Science or the flight program, feel free to email me at allen624@erau.edu.

Happy Valentine’s Day!! I am pretty excited for Valentine’s because it is a three-day weekend and I am leaving Daytona Beach for a road trip. The Daytona 500 is that weekend, so I’m going to miss out on all the crazy traffic. I found out some good news last week-my sister is coming to visit me during Spring Break! I am pretty excited about it and we have already started making plans for all the adventures we are going to have. She has never seen the school, so I plan to take her on a personalized tour of campus. I can’t wait to see her!

This Saturday was the Bud Shootout (a race) and Silver Wings sold pizza on the corner of the street. We sell the pizza for $2 a slice but we always meet people who want to drive the price down. Some people would buy it and complain about how cold pizza is so terrible, but they always ended up finishing off the slice and sometimes coming back for more. Last year, Silver Wings sold the pizza in a parking lot but this year we ran into some problems with the race track management and had to move to another location. I sold pizzas for about 8 hours and was pretty exhausted from walking back and forth down the street.

Last weekend, I went to the basketball game on Friday night and it was Coaches vs. Cancer which means everyone is supposed to dress up and wear sneakers. One of my friends and I wore dresses, blue jean jackets, and Converses. We didn’t plan it and when I saw what she was wearing I was like, “What a coincidence!” I posted a picture of us on my site. On Saturday, I attended the Relay for Life Team Captains University which was basically a gathering of people from the area to share ideas on fundraising, how to get members on your team, and how to spread the word. I had a good time and we got some really good ideas.

I had Round One of tests last week-a test in Organizational Behavior and one in Corporate Finance. I think I did pretty well on both of them, but I will for sure do better on the next one because I now know what to expect. Round Two is this week with a test in Principles of Aeronautical Science and one in International Business. I really need to study for my International Business test because it contains an essay question and the test is worth 30 percent of my grade. I have a few study tips to share with you that seem to help me: highlight in the book, check out the practice quizzes on the book’s website, read the chapter, form study groups, and study ahead of time. Highlighting helps me remember key phrases and when I only have ten minutes to study, I study the highlighted stuff for a quick review. I also write out the key definitions because if I write them then I have to read them several times, so it sticks in my memory better. The practice quizzes can help because a teacher may pull some of their questions from there. I just go online fill out the quizzes and print them off, and then I go back through them and highlight the answer. Buy several highlighters and multiple colors because if you lose one you have another on hand! I read the chapter at least once so I can get a grasp of the whole picture. Study groups are essential because telling someone else helps you remember it more and if you don’t understand something they might be able to help you. Lastly, study ahead of time because there is too much material to cram at the end. If you study along the way, you will not feel so overwhelmed at the end. As you read the chapter, highlight and write out definitions; therefore, the days before the test just go back and review that material. I hope these tips help somewhat!

Some upcoming events that are on my calendar are a possible Beach Bonfire, Charity House (more on that in the next entry), and the Physical Fitness Assessment for ROTC. Still as busy as ever, but I am finding time to enjoy myself, have a good time and still get things accomplished. Right now, I am off to an Arnold Air and Silver Wings picnic! I hope everyone is enjoying school!

Until next time,
Kaleigh