5th Week Update

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Skye

Happy Monday everyone! Or should I say one of the busiest Mondays ever! I hope your weekend was great! Congratulations to the Denver Broncos on their Super Bowl 50 win! It was really an amazing game. Defensive and offensive. I don’t really follow football, but I did go for the Carolina Panthers solely because I liked the color blue on their uniforms. Anyway, it’s the 5^th week of school! One of the craziest weeks scheduled so far! As for today, I had class from 8:00a – 12:00p. I lucked out and did not have a quiz in Physics today. Everyone was exhausted and I am assuming the teacher was too. From 12:00p – 5:00p it was studying after studying for my calculus exam tomorrow. 5:00p – 7:00p was an officers meeting for Society 4 S.P.A.C.E. We got a lot accomplished! We decided on our trip to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the website, and also decided to host a fundraiser next Tuesday! Progress!

Unfortunately this is not the end of my day. 7:30p – 8:00p dinner, 8:00p – 9:00p studying for calculus, again, 9:00p – odd hours of the night studying calculus with a friend – whenever I sleep is humanities homework. So a very packed and crazy Monday/Tuesday. However, I really am excited for this week because I have my first NASA Solar System Ambassador (SSA) telecom with NASA! Super exciting! I have to complete my Orientation and Training tomorrow along with my other homework. At this rate, this week may never end!

BUT it is a holiday week! A double header…almost! Valentine’s Day is on Sunday! A time for love and love and more love. I am a very crafty person and have a lot of fun creative gifts for my boyfriend. I also plan on making cupcakes for my friends. For all of you Valentine’s Day celebraters, have fun! Love and give someone a hug! Or a cupcake! President’s Day is on Monday and we do not have school. Yay break!

Almost a break for me, I have a research meeting, lunch meeting, fundraising meeting, and officer meeting on Monday so looks like more going and going. I will tell you this, one thing about Riddle that I love is that it doesn’t matter if it is the classes, or the clubs, you will ALWAYS be busy. For a person like me, who loves being busy, I absolutely love it. If I am not busy, I will find something to do whether that is to finally start my Russian Rosetta Stone, read, or watch Netflix. When I am busy, I feel like I am creating the best out of life. I am in college, this is the time to work your butt off for the career you want, and I feel like I am fulfilling that to the max! It makes me happy.

Speaking about college and career, registration for summer classes is on Wednesday! For the crazy people like me, I will be attending Summer A and B. However, for those of you on the fence about summer classes, here is some advice from someone who took summer classes last semester, me. I personally LOVE summer classes. It is tough and condensed, but you get the chance to get ahead and leave the “not so fun classes” for the summer, therefore you knock them out a lot quicker. It gives you a quicker graduation date, which means starting your career quicker. Think about it.

Anyway, it’s off to dinner and more studying/homework for me. Have a great week everyone and study hard!

Got Anymore of Them “Time Management” Tips?

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Billy

I can’t believe it’s been almost a month since I have been back. It definitely feels like I’ve been back a lot longer than that.

A few weeks ago, Embry-Riddle had its 2nd annual Activities Fair which was cool.

A lot of campus organizations had tables and stands on display for the day-long event.

I hope everyone’s been doing alright, I wish I could say that for myself. School is definitely starting to pick up and the 4 jobs I have currently are starting to take a toll on me. I think that the key is time management which I need to get severely better at.

In my career as a photographer, this was the first time I have ever shot baseball. Definitely need more practice.

“Another one bites the dust.”

Not a lot has happened since my last update, sadly. The Avion Newspaper is still going strong as we just published our 3rd issue for the semester, I had my first appointment of the semester at the Digital Studio on Monday, and there’s definitely a lot of work to be done for IT.

Embry-Riddle also had their Family Weekend recently.

Students were encouraged to invite their family and friends to visit them at the Daytona Beach campus.

Class wise, things are definitely picking up. I find myself seeking more and more help for homework and assignments, which isn’t really a bad thing. If anything, it benefits you since you’re getting one-on-one instruction by your professor, and it shows your professor that you’re serious about learning.

The Amateur Astronomy Club also had their Astronomy Open House around the same time.

Attendees were treated to a presentation by a visiting professor from the University of Kansas regarding dark matter, dark energy, and the expansion of the universe.

The event was highly received.

My Sci-Fi humanities class is really interesting. We just finished reading H.G. Well’s The Time Machine, and instead of writing a traditional essay, we have to make a webpage from scratch in HTML. Personally I think this a really neat and interesting approach because we are learning interdisciplinary along with coding; definitely a unique combination.

I am sorry if this month’s update was not as exciting as my earlier ones. Hopefully with the semester entering its 5th week, things will start to pick up.

As always, thank you for reading and I will see you next time.

kennedy space center

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Skye

Happy Thursday! One more day until Friday! Luckily, I have Thursdays off so I get to relax a bit before homework and studying. Anyway, last week ERAU hosted the Student Activities Fair here on campus. It was a great success! Society 4 S.P.A.C.E. won Jeopardy last semester so we got the chance for early registration. We picked a table right in front of the College of Arts and Science. Prime real estate! It was a total success. We had 68 people sign up and stop by the booth. We brought the famous space man out, our rockets, the ASRV, weather balloon and much more! I lucked out this year at the Student Activities Fair. I had 10 volunteers from the club.

The one thing I really enjoy about the Student Activities Fair each semester is that it gives the club officers, as well as the members, a chance to meet new faces and expand the knowledge of their organization and their mission. For instance, when I was at the booth for Society 4 S.P.A.C.E., I loved seeing the smiling faces of all the students when they saw the space man, the rockets, and everything else we had out to display. There was some real interest and promise in the future members. I loved explaining to them what the Society 4 S.P.A.C.E is all about and how we are heavily dedicated towards research. Especially this semester, due to new opportunities, we are able to do more research than ever before, which gives our members and greater chance of success.

I can’t wait for the success of next semesters student activities fair!

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Space and more Space!

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Skye

Happy Wednesday everyone! It is the middle of the week and we have almost made it through! Well, with Wednesday practically over, two more days to go! As I mentioned in my last post, it has been a crazy day today! With class from 8:00a-12:00p, working lunch from 12:00p-12:30p, pre-interview prep 12:30p-2:00p and interviews from 2:00p-5:00p, pre-meeting prep from 5:00p-6:00p AND finally the meeting from 6:00p-7:00p, it has been non-stop!

Classes went really well today. Especially my humanities class. The theme for HU145 in my class, in particular, is music. Mostly jazz and blues but it is still music! One of my fellow classmates plays a bunch of different instruments and we had the honor of listening to him play two pieces: a famous ragtime piece and the classic “In The Mood” jazz piece. As a person coming from a musical background, I do in fact love the class; it was a treat hearing someone play an instrument who has a passion and dedication to music.

Interviews for the Society 4 S.P.A.C.E. officers went great as well! 8 interviewees total and myself, along with the vice president, decided on the new board of officers right as the interviews ended! I am really looking forward to starting this semester with a new board. The meeting was also a huge success. We spoke about all the research that we are going to be conducting. Some include aeroponics, drones, solar system, propulsion and much more. This semester is going to be greater than ever!

On top of the space from school, I recently got more information about the NASA Solar System Ambassador position. I have to complete Orientation and Ethics training, which I will be doing tomorrow and then I can finally plan my speeches! I am so excited!

Another treat, on Friday, after classes of course, I get to take my second solo trip down to Kennedy Space Center for a couple reasons. One, my old fifth grade PE/Drama teacher is bringing a group of his school kids up so I will get to see him in the first time in 4-5 years! Plus I get to talk to his kids a little about NASA and KSC. Secondly, I have a meeting with the VP of New Business Development, or as she likes me to call her my abuela. I will have the chance to talk to her about the NASA SSA position as well as a NASA trip for the Society 4 S.P.A.C.E group.

A lot of space stuff is happening in my life and I am super excited! I’ll be sure to keep you updated! Have a great rest of the week!

4th Week Update

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Skye

Hello hello everyone! We are now in the 4^th week of school! Surprise surprise! We have made it through January! Happy February! Only 3 more months to go and summer break arrives; well at least for some of us! This week for me is going to be a crazy week. I got a super bad infection last week so I missed some school. All I could do was lay in bed and feel hopeless, but luckily, I am feeling much better this week!

I missed a speech in my COM class, but I get to give it tomorrow. I am talking about NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, in particular, on how it impacted and inspired me. It’s our first introduction speech and it’s four minutes long. I have been practicing and I have hit four minutes right on the dot! I’m excited to finally deliver it tomorrow. Calculus homework is also due this week along with the finishing up of “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man” by James Weldon Johnson in Humanities. I really enjoyed that book, surprisingly. I am usually not a reader, but considering this book was for class, it was not half bad. I enjoyed reading about the history of what happened between blacks and whites back in the day. It was quite sad and I did actually get mad over the lynching, but it is nice I became aware of it.

Along with makeup work and classes to attend, this week the Society 4 S.P.A.C.E has its officer elections. Yes, the mighty job of the Vice President to find candidates for the open positions. On top of that, we also have our weekly meeting with two guest speakers talking about our research projects that we are doing this semester. My schedule for tomorrow: 8:00a – 12:00p classes, 12:00p- 1:00p lunch/prep for interviews and meetings, 1:00p – 2:00p class 2:00p – 6:00p officer interviews 6:00p – 7:00p weekly meeting. Tomorrow will be a pretty insane non-stop day, but the good thing is that I don’t have classes on Thursdays so I can semi-sleep in.

But you’re probably saying that’s enough about school! Well then let’s move on! It’s the week of the Super Bowl people! The BIG 5-0! My boyfriend and I are going up to Jacksonville and visiting a friend for the game. Now mind you, I am not a big football person, I usually root for the team Josh tells me to but hey, I get to eat homemade smoked ribs so I am not complaining!

Valentine’s Day is also next week. For all you couples out there, here is to the chocolate, expensive flowers and a fun night! Share the love with friends and family too!

I think we are good for now…I do have some more exciting news, but I will hold off for now.

Have a great week everyone!

Tour of the Bombardier CSeries

Posted on February 1, 2016 by Nicolas

On December 18, I had the opportunity to tour the Bombardier Facility in Mirabel, Canada, where the CRJ and the CSeries is built. It was a huge day for the company as they announced the certification of their new aircraft, the CS100. I was invited to the event as a media with AirwaysNews.

Program leaders on the CSeries program, along with government representatives of Canada held a press conference in the morning to announce the new jet’s certification. The multinational also announced that the first CS100 will be delivered to launch customer, Swiss International Air Lines, in the first half of 2016. The larger variant, the CS300, is scheduled to get certificated in the next six months and deliveries will begin in the second half of the year.

The Bombardier CS300.

Following the press release, the media was allowed to tour the new aircraft. I first visited the CS300. As I entered by the main door of the aircraft, I thought the cabin was very long. Once in service, this aircraft will seat a maximum of 160 passengers. The plane did not have any seats in the cabin because it was one of the testing flight. It was filled with various equipment and computers to monitor different components during flights.

I then boarded the CS100, which looked like a usual aircraft with seats installed. I headed to the flight deck to see the new technology the plane had to offer. It included side sticks instead of the regular yokes found on other plane. It was very impressive!

Flight deck of the CS100 aircraft.

The CSeries is designed in a 3-2 configuration in economy class and 2-2 in first class. I particularly enjoy this configuration because only 20% of the seats in economy are middle seats. Everybody hates middle seats. I personally prefer a window seat because I like to enjoy the view! I think the cabin looks similar in size to Delta’s Boeing 717-200.

Inside the cabin of the CS100.

The aircraft offers large overhead bins to accommodate the large number of carry bags passengers board with them these days. The pivot bins enable passengers to store the bags sideways instead of flat in the overhead compartments. The CSeries has also a modern galley and modern restrooms to accommodate the passengers.

The pivot bins can support four carry-on bags.

I really enjoyed spending half a day at the Bombardier facility in Mirabel. I knew I was going to attend the press conference, but it I didn’t know the media would be allowed to tour the new aircraft! You can read my full story and see more pictures on AirwaysNews.com.

Until next time!

Nicolas

Contact the author at berniern@my.erau.edu

My Life @ Riddle

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Monthly Archives: February 2016