“Jack Frost nipping at your toes…” I’m back home in Illinois for Christmas break and boy has it been cold here! The temperature has dropped into the negatives if you factor in the wind chill. I’ve been wearing lots of layers—quite a shock to go from warm Florida to below freezing! However, I love being home and am enjoying my time immensely.
My cousins and I went to a museum that was all about Abraham Lincoln last weekend. I learned a lot about Lincoln and found out that as a President the public didn’t like him very much; however, that all changed the minute he died. The museum was pretty elaborate and told the history of Lincoln from the time he was a boy till the time that he died. They had two movies that were interactive and captivated the audience’s attention. Being with my cousins was a lot of fun and I’m glad I was able to be home in time to go see them.
My church had a talent show/concert and my sister sang two songs. A couple of days before the concert my sister suggested that we sing a song together. I’ve never sang in public before but she convinced me that we sounded really good together. Needless to say, I sang “Go Tell It on the Mountain” with her and had a good time.
Well, my finals went well and I think it was a successful semester. My favorite part is the moment when I’ve finished my last final and I can take a deep breath realizing that I’ve made it through another semester. Next semester, I’ll be graduating and I don’t think that it has really sunk in for me, yet. I’m only taking two undergraduate classes next semester and two masters classes. One nice thing about my upcoming schedule is that I have made it so I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Four day weekends are going to be nice—except, I have PT on Mondays and Fridays at 7am. Oh well!
Time to stop thinking about school stuff and think about Christmas! I think today I’m going to put some Christmas lights up outside, since we are having a heat wave with the temperature in the 40s!
Until next time,
Kaleigh
St. Augustine—the oldest city in America—is a place that everyone should visit! My sister and I decided to take a mini road trip up there and see some of the sites. We purchased a ticket that allowed us to ride on a trolley and visit many of the historical places. Some of the places we visited included: the Old City Jail, the Oldest School House, and the Fountain of Youth. We’re definitely going to go back because there is so much more to see and do!
far the best ride because it’s an indoor roller coaster and it’s completely dark, so you have no idea what is coming up next. We didn’t get to see Mickey Mouse but maybe next time!
My Strategic Management class is going to keep me busy this week; I have a test on Thursday and the final on Saturday. In order to prepare for the test, one of my classmates and I have reserved a classroom for several hours and we are just going to review each chapter in-depth. I hope it works and I do well on the test! My other finals aren’t until next Monday night, so I’ll have some time to study for them later on.
Silver Wings had our end of the semester banquet and fall initiation ceremony the week before Thanksgiving. This picture is a group of me and some of my friends. I met them my freshman year and we have all been friends since then. Next semester is going to be a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to heading to Seattle for our National Conference in April.
If I remember correctly, they were filming a remake of Red Dawn. The picture is one of me on the set next to one of the tanks that was getting ready to be filmed driving down the street. I thought that was pretty cool to see! One thing I can say about Detroit is that the city has taken a hit since the automobile industry has been struggling; hopefully, the economy will pick back up soon. Silver Wings is a pretty unique organization in the fact that it is run completely by college students and there are some big changes that are coming in order to distinguish ourselves more. In 1998, we changed the culture of our organization and that has allowed us to become sort of lost in who we are. Now, we are trying to find our identity and in order to accomplish that some new things are going to be happening. I’m excited to be part of the staff that is going to implement these changes.
The College of Business Industry Advisory Board always comes to town during Homecoming Week and what this means is about twenty professionals in the aviation industry come and talk to us students along with some of their other duties. Some of the people include the co-founder of Ryanair, the risk manager at Jet Blue, people who work for Boeing, Lockheed Martin, the FAA, and so many other companies. I was one of the lucky students who were invited to attend a dinner with all of them and I learned so much about being a leader. A tip one man gave a few of us students was make sure you always give your full attention to your boss when he is in your office—don’t answer the phone, be typing on your computer, or surfing the web. They are the only thing that matters for the few moments they are in your office. I was impressed by how much these people wanted to talk to us students and how willing they were to share their knowledge with us. I’m looking forward to when they come back next year!
Last Thursday, I was given the opportunity to miss class and drive to Orlando for the National Business Aviation Association Conference. This conference allows aviation businesses to come together in one location and showcase their products to potential buyers. My Professional Selling professor wanted us all to attend so we could observe some sales people and see how they sold their product. I got to see a lot of different companies and how they tried to entice the customer to come to their booth by different display techniques and free promotional products. For example, one booth put on a magic show and in the end gave away a bunch of prizes for audience participation. A group of my classmates and I were able to talk candidly to one company and we found out that it was one of the smallest conventions in the past three years and they blamed it on the economy. Furthermore, they stated that the aviation industry will most likely be in a recession until 2012. The good news is their company was able to get some prospective new customers out of the show, so hopefully they will survive the economic downturn. Overall, the conference was interesting and I learned some new information, so I’m glad that I made the trip to check it out.
My scooter and I took a trip to one of my favorite locations: the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. It was a beautiful day and I hadn’t rode my scooter for awhile. During my freshman year, I made my first trip to the lighthouse and was impressed by the magnificent size and beauty. I’ve always enjoyed lighthouses and this was the first one I was able to go inside and climb to the top. I think it’s about 200 steps to the top and once you are up there you can see for quite a distance. I had a fun time and enjoyed having the break from homework.
So many things to do, so little time to do them all—that saying seems to be the story of my life right now. I’ve been keeping busy with classes, ROTC, my job, Silver Wings, my friends, and thinking about the future. For the first time, Embry-Riddle granted all students a Fall Break this past weekend, and I hope they continue with it in the future. Having a four-day weekend was great and allowed me to get some rest and get caught up on homework. Unfortunately, I seem to get sick at least once every school year and this year was no exception. I wasn’t feeling very good last weekend and decided if I wasn’t better by Monday that I would go to Health Services. I went and they diagnosed me with an upper respiratory infection. They prescribed lots of rest and to flush my system with fluids. I decided that the best thing for me to do would be to skip some classes and get better faster rather than attend class and take forever to get better. Now, I’m feeling a lot better and am hoping I can avoid getting sick until I’m back at home.
I had a presentation last week in my Strategic Management class and I enjoyed doing all the research for it. I had to find an article on an aerospace company that had changed strategy within the last year. The company I choose was AeroVironment and I learned so much new information about unmanned aircraft systems. Overall, I think the presentation went pretty well but I’m still waiting on my grade. For my Professional Selling class, we had our first sales call and boy was I nervous; however, I calmed down once it started and looking back on the video you can’t really tell that I was nervous. I’m excited for the next one coming up this week and I think I’m more prepared because I know what to expect. I think pretty soon we will start registering for next semester’s classes—hard to believe!
I mentioned earlier how I was busy thinking about the future. I graduate in May but I will be staying another year because of ROTC, so I want to start work on my MBA; however, this means I have to take the GMAT (a standardized test like the ACT/SAT) and fill out the application for graduate school. I’m working on studying for the GMAT and the application but they both are just going to take some time. This summer I really want to get an internship and last week I attended a workshop hosted by Career Services on how to get one. I think there is a pretty good chance I will be able to find one. Speaking of Career Services, they are putting on multiple workshops throughout this month in order to prepare us for the Career Fair in November. I haven’t gone to the Career Fair these past two years, so I’ve decided that I’m going to go see what it’s all about this year. I’ll be sure to let you know all about it!
Happy October! I can’t believe how fast this semester is going! We are a third of the way into classes and I’ve had a test in each one. All of them are going well and I’m learning a lot of information that is very relative to the real world. In fact, my favorite class this semester is probably my Insurance class. The professor is really nice and he does a good job of teaching so everyone can understand. On the first day of class, I was afraid that I would find it so boring; however, that has not been the case at all. Another class, Professional Selling, is starting to become exciting as we began our selling role-plays. I think practicing my public speaking skills is always a good thing and this class will help me realize what I need to work on. Overall, I think this semester’s classes are turning out to be alright.
Last weekend, I was able to attend a dinner hosted by the Air Force Association and Arnold Air Society. The purpose of the dinner was to give us a chance to interact with the older Air Force Association members. I was happy to have a reason to get all dressed up! The picture is of me with my next door dorm neighbors from last year. I became really good friends with both of them and part of that is because we lived next to one another. The best part about living in the dorms is that making friends is easy and you know that people are around willing to help you. Anyways, the dinner was a lot of fun and it was an opportunity to socialize with friends that I hadn’t seen in a while.
Silver Wings got down and dirty over the weekend while helping out the community. The service project was helping to create a garden for low-income families in the Daytona Beach area. We dug up a patch of grass and turned it into a plot for some vegetables to be planted. Some of us planted broccoli, while others spread mulch around the various garden sections to make a pathway. It was hard work but we had fun and are looking forward to going back next month. I thought that it was fun to work hard and rewarding knowing that we were helping families get fresh vegetables. Community service is something that I enjoy doing and our campus is always advertising ways for students to get involved and help out.
Another first that I can now cross off my list of things to do is CAMPING. I had never been camping before this weekend and by that I mean sleeping in a tent out in the wilderness. My friends convinced me to go with them on a camping trip to Ginnie Springs. I decided to go and I had a pretty good time; however, I don’t know if I can say that I will ever do it again! The mosquitoes were pretty bad and I forgot my bug spray, so now I’m itching like crazy. I did set up a tent for the first time and it wasn’t as complicated as I thought it would be. The pictures are of me holding the tent and then the tent all setup and ready to be slept in. We floated down a river on inner tubes and that was my favorite part of the trip!
This past week I had an amazing opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. and spend five days there. The reason I had this opportunity goes back to my freshman year when I decided to join a club on campus called Silver Wings. Silver Wings is a national, co-ed organization that focuses on professional development and community service. The club’s members are both AFROTC cadets and civilians and one of our purposes is to create awareness throughout the community about the military. Over the past three years, I’ve been able to develop more as a leader because of the positions I’ve held in the organization. This year I’m the Silver Wings National Treasurer and the reason I went to Washington D.C. is because we had our Executive Boards. Executive Boards are when the National Staff shares with the eleven Region Presidents what the vision is for the year. Also, our sister organization-Arnold Air Society-meets and we discuss what community service projects we will work together on amongst other things.
My time in D.C. was not just spent in hotel meeting rooms; I did get to go out and see many of the monuments. I saw the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument, the White House, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. I had never been to Washington D.C. before and to see all these monuments was an amazing experience! Also, we did get to go to one museum-the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We decided to get a group picture taken in front of the original Wright Flyer, since our school has a replica of the Wright Flyer in front of the library. One day I want to go back, so that I can spend more time exploring the city!
One of the reasons we have our Executive Board Meeting in Washington D.C. is because the Air Force Association invites us to their Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition. When we finished with our meetings each day, we were able to go downstairs in the hotel and attend their conference. Some of the briefings I was able to listen to were from the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Air Force, and many other notable people. On Sunday morning, we were guests at the Air Force Association Wreath Laying Ceremony for fallen Air Force Association members. The ceremony took place at the Air Force Memorial and I was impressed at the size and beauty of the memorial. Also, we were included in the two formal dinners they hosted. One of the dinners was to honor the 12 Outstanding Airmen and the Air Force Band along with the Singing Sergeants put on a performance. To be able to attend the Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition was an experience that I will remember for a long time.
Let me tell you a little about myself: I’m a senior majoring in Aviation Business Administration with a concentration in General Management, I’m in Air Force ROTC and will commission in May 2011, and I hope to start working on my MBA next semester. I enjoy going to school at Embry-Riddle and the weather is an added bonus! I’m from Sidney, Illinois where snow at Halloween is not a surprise, Florida weather is nice and, if you ever get too warm you can go jump in a swimming pool or the ocean!
I was excited to come back to school and see all my friends again! This semester has been another full of firsts: my first time having my Jeep in Florida, my first apartment, and my first time living by myself. A car is not necessary to have when coming to Embry-Riddle and my freshman year I walked all over the place with my friends. My sophomore year I got a scooter and was able to go a little bit further from campus. So far I have enjoyed having my own car because it’s nice to not have to ask people for rides or have to plan around the weather when I want to go somewhere. Right now, I’m living in a studio apartment about 5 minutes from campus. I like the fact that it’s close enough to go back if I have a break between classes, but far enough to not be on campus all day, every day. After having roommates for two years, I decided that I would like to live by myself and so far I’m enjoying it!