So two days ago, SOKS was notified that Cessna would only be able to airlift 14 athletes to New Jersey for the USA Games. This left 17 other athletes without transportation. As we all know, plane tickets are crazy expensive, especially with the USA Games only two weeks away. Immediately, the whole office was in a frenzy, but we focused on the bigger picture – getting our athletes to USA Games.

This is the message we posted on SOKS Facebook page, that reached 5,536 people:

“Help our athletes and their bags get to USA Special Olympics Games June 14-21 in Princeton NJ. Originally scheduled for Cessna airlift, SOKS was notified just this morning that half the seats will not be available. We are having to purchase 17 commercial tickets to get our delegates to the games. These games are held every 4 years and are once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Can you help? Please click on the link and make your tax deductible contribution of any amount. Then, PLEASE consider sharing this on your FB page to help us spread the word. We know we can do this! Thanks…..”

 

By close of business on Wednesday, we raised $250. Through social media, myself and other employees of SOKS, helped raise $10,000 in 48 hours, as of 9 a.m. central time.We told our friends, we posted and shared on Facebook, and we reached out goal! Now all 31 Team Kansas athletes will be able to attend the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to compete in the USA Games. What an exciting time to be a part of such a fantastic company!

#GoTeamKansas #USAGames #SOKS

Hello Again! I have officially started my internship as of last Monday. Fortunately, I was already surrounded by people that work at the same place before I even started. My roommate, Sharelle, is an employee at the Space and Naval Systems Center (SPAWAR), where I will be interning for the next four months. Since I flew out to San Diego, I was without a car and she was kind enough to drive me to orientation on the first day. She even offered to give me a ride everyday, but I’ve had different plans in mind.

I found an apartment only 4 miles away from work. So on my second day in San Diego, I went to a local bike shop and bought a replacement for my Corolla. This week I have been biking back and forth between work and home, 4 miles each way. After 8 miles each day, I will not need to worry about working out, paying for gas, or finding a parking spot. There’s only one problem. I work on a CLIFF! And that is no joke. The start of my ride in the morning is at about 50 feet, and after pushing my bike… err, I mean riding my bike up daunting hills I end up at work, 400 feet above the water. Although, I can’t complain about my view. I have to force myself to do work with the entire skyline of downtown, the bay filled with sails and hulls, the approaching ocean, and stunning mountains in my window.

I was very nervous going in my first day. I started at the carding office where I got my picture taken for badges; on the positive side, I resemble Gary Busey at his current age in my photo. On a military base, you need certain forms of identification if you want to even get past the gate. Although my cards were not ready, I found another intern in the office with the same problem. It was the first day for both of us, so once we got the cards to get us through the gate we walked through the area we would be working. After a few hours orientation had started and we were briefed on the normal first-day precautions. “Don’t lend people your badge. Don’t talk about your work to friends. Don’t stare into the high frequency lasers.”

After orientation, I had my first taste of San Diego-Mexican food. Which is the best you’ll find in America. I was too excited to see my actual workplace to think about tacos, though. For my first few days, my boss was out of town. My temporary, 3-day bosses were Dan and Michael. Dan being an experienced human factors specialist, taught me some cool testing techniques I had not yet learned in my classes. With his retirement being only 2 weeks away, I tried to absorb as much of his knowledge and wisdom as possible before saying so-long. Michael is a younger employee, and more of a network security professional than a user-centered designer. The branch I work for recognized his specialty and took him in as soon as they could. I noticed that there was a variety of people with diverse backgrounds in our “User-Centered Design” branch. Anyone from computer engineers, software engineers, human factors specialists, network security professionals, or even those with a general psychology background. This made me feel better about finding a career one day.

That afternoon I walked home and managed to find my way with the help of my iPhone. By the time I got home I just wanted to eat and sleep until the next day. Therefore, I ignored all responsibilities and did just that. The next day consisted of many meetings. The first was a division meeting, so the room was filled with higher-ups and representatives from each branch. I got the chance to see the leaders of different branches and departments nervous to present, just like a college student in a speech class. So, I laughed quietly to myself at their expense (if you haven’t found out by now, I have a cynical sense of humor).

Throughout the week, I went to many different meetings exploring what the people in my branch were working on. Since this is government work and I have a secret clearance, I will not be able to write in detail about what I learned. I can give a few general ideas about the awesome work these people are doing, though. They are working on anything from designing a controller for remote operators of unmanned vehicles to designing displays for military ground and water-based vehicles. I was so surprised at how much these experienced professionals were doing the same type of work I have been learning in my classes. Upon starting the job, I thought everything would be different. Although they have different theories and work domains, a lot of the techniques remain the same.

On Friday, I was worn out from excitement overload. There is a lot to learn here and I am just getting started. I am thankful for the degree program I decided to major in. There are so many places and so many projects with open doors for human factors input.

So as of now, I’m well into my internship. I’ve done so much already it’s hard to believe I’ve only been there just a few weeks. The first day, I made Facebook post the entire day. I couldn’t believe it. It was fun and enjoyable, I just couldn’t believe that was my job for the day.

A few week ago, Special Olympics Kansas (SOKS) went to GARMIN for a health fair to promote healthy communities. Believe it or not, it was only my 3rd day on the job and I was already answering people’s questions on “What is Special Olympics?”. I was in shock! So that day I got to get out the office and spend a few hours at a booth, promoting SOKS Midnight Run, and other healthy living choices.

Since the Special Olympics Summer Games is coming up on June 6th, every one is kicking things into gear. My highlight of the preparation was being able to write the opening ceremony script for the CEO of Special Olympics Kansas (SOKS). I wrote the scripts for the “Hall of Fame” winners and the “Make A Difference” awards. I even got to do a phone interview for one of the winners. It felt soooo good being able to do that. The CEO even took a look at my script & most of his changes were how we would say things. The Summer Games will be in Wichita, Kansas this year and I’m really pretty excited because I want to see Cessna stadium & all the Cessna stuff down there.

A couple of other duties have been: reaching out to athletic companies to advertise events, press releases, opening ceremonies scripts, and a WHOLE bunch of other stuff. I’m just glad that my boss is giving me REAL work to do that actually means something, and not something just to keep me busy. On top of all that, I still have time to watch Netflix when I’m not writing up press releases or doing social media posts.

I’m really pumped up for this internship and still can’t believe it… Until next time 🙂

Hello, my name is Carolyn and I chose Embry-Riddle because it’s the best aviation school in THE WORLD! Also, it allowed me the opportunity to work closely with professors, start research early, and get involved with a lot of campus activities. I had my first conference presentation when I was 19, so the research opportunities make you look good for college.

Hi all my name is Andreia and I chose Embry-Riddle because I had the opportunity to choose any school in the country to attend for free and I chose ERAU because I wanted to follow a different path than my family did. I also chose ERAU because it was a little too late to be a pageant queen.