inside a mind of an SCU student

Finally, my multimodal project is done! After hours of revising and trying to figure out photoshop (thank you online tutorials) I got my cartoon that I thought accurately portrayed the message of my research argument:

Ah! Another problem! Well, for starters, it is not supposed to be this blurry. For reference the elephant is saying “I have to win, no compromise. We have to protect against voting fraud, Voter ID laws are the only way.” The donkey is saying “Election fraud isn’t a thing. Voting reforms only hurt minorities. Can’t even listen to Republicans, my way is the best and most fair way.” The dove is saying “Sit down and talk to each other and you will find a solution.”

Since I envision this cartoon to be in the New Yorker so I put, on the bottom in cursive font, the phrase “Only if the dove wins do the American People win”.

I am actually pretty proud of this, maybe not because of my photoshopping skills, but I think there is good rhetoric in the picture. The dove is purposefully flying in the opposite way to show the race is actually irrelevant. I also thought that it is clear that the donkey and elephant are only focused on winning.

It’s crazy I have projects wrapping up, summer seems so close… only with a few finals in the way 🙂

So, I started this blog because of my English class. I think it’s fitting to talk about some of the things I’ve been doing in English, and how the skills I’ve learned are going to help me in the future.

Sometimes, I feel as though the things I do in my classes have no relevance to my future. Do any of you guys feel this way?

Onsizzle

In English, we did a lot with research this quarter. When I get into the real world, I don’t really expect to be writing 10 page research papers because of my major (mechanical engineering). However, there are a lot of skills that I will be using that I have learned in English.

Research: While I might not be doing papers, I do know that somewhere along the line I will be doing research, whether that is about a science problem or research about a certain politician in history. It is important to know where to get my sources. In English, I discovered the archives, and databases, two great resources to get information.

Reliability: Another skill I learned in English was the reliability of sources. No matter what job I am at, I have to know whether or not the information I am getting is trustworthy. English 2A has helped me understand whether or not sources are reliable.

Writing Well: In every english essay I have turned in, I needed to know how to write well. Even if I am going into a more science-based field I will still have to write memos, and papers and I have to know how to write well, because even if it is talking about science, it still has to have proper grammar and organization.

These are the connections I made when it came to the skills my English class has taught me… what are some connections you can make in your classes?

Summer is fast approaching… and I mean fast.

Tenor

Finals week is upon the students at Santa Clara University and after finals, we go home.

Summer is a little different of a concept than in high school. In high school, everything was pretty much the same, just there was no school. In college though, summer means leaving your college friends, and going back to your high school life.

It’s kind of odd because I have become so used to all of my college friends and while I keep in touch with my high school friends, it’s going to be weird being around them everyday now.

Tumblr

I also am interested in thinking about who I am going to keep in touch with during the summer. I hope all of my friends, but the only problem is that they are new friends. Keeping in touch may be a little harder.

Summer is going to be a great time, I can already tell. But, I can also already tell that I am going to miss Santa Clara so much! It has truly become a home away from home, and I don’t know if I am quite ready to part with it.

popkey

Sorry readers, this is a bit of a venting blog post, but I would love your opinions. Comment below and tell me if you have any tips for keeping in touch with friends, and tell me what your plans are for the summer!

I have been really thinking about grades a lot.

My parents have always put a lot of emphasis on grades. My family has a big expectation for getting good grades. It is stressful, but it also makes me work hard and I do think that is useful.

However, sometimes I think I focus on grades too much. I always calculate what I need to get on a test or essay to maintain a good grade, and whenever I get a bad grade (which happens more frequently than I would like to admit) I have so much stress about it.

GaGgif

People always said “Grades don’t matter in college” but I find this to be completely untrue. Grades still do in fact matter. A Forbes article writes:

According to a survey of more than 200 employers conducted in Aug. and Sept. of this year by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 67% of companies said they screened candidates by their GPA.

So, grades really do matter! I would actually argue they matter more than high school grades because we are talking about hiring for jobs in the future.

This fact is stressful, and I am still trying to come to terms with it, but it also is important to actually understand the material you are learning. If you have a great GPA, but don’t actually know the material when you are in your job, you are going to be incompetent.

I am trying to be inspired by the fact that my GPA still matters… I’m not going to slack off in school and I’m going to keep working hard, but not let my GPA become my life.

Ok, sorry to all my readers who don’t go to Santa Clara University. If you don’t maybe just skip over this post. BUT if you do, I want to tell you the best places to study on campus.

The library: Basic, I know. However, the library is a GREAT place to whip out an essay or study for a test. I like to go into the basement and sit in one of the cubby’s. Second floor is also a great place if you want to be “hanging out” with people but still studying. I only go to third floor during finals because that is floor is QUIET.

The Mechanical Engineering Building: OK, so this kind of my little secret, but I love studying in the Bannan Engineering building. Not a lot of people go there so it is always quiet and there are not that many distractions.

The pool: This one is a risky one. If you only have light homework, maybe take it to the pool and sun tan while you work. However, distractions are very heavy here so only go if you don’t have that much work.

The Sky Lounge: This is really for freshman but on the top of swig there is a great lounge that has chairs and is good for studying. Beware though: lots of people are up there so you are bound to run into a friend.

Happy studying people 🙂 Good luck on finals!

Ok so really shifting gears here, but I was working out (I know… me… working out– shocking) and I was watching the news on the TV’s in the gym. Well… the big news right now is the Comey testimony and I watched two grown men getting into a yelling fight, on national television, about President Trump.

Huffiest

While I am all for disagreements and level-headed intellectual debates, both of these men screaming at each other were not listening to what the other had to say, instead they were both just trying to talk the loudest.

Talking politics is taboo… everyone knows it. When you go to a dinner party, everyone tells you to avoid talking about politics. However, why does it have to be that way?

WordPress

See, if everyone was level headed about politics, and listened to what their opposite had to say in a respectful manner, politics wouldn’t be such a bad topic to talk about.

I actually think that if we all could just talk, more solutions that are better for our country would come about, but more on that later….

In my last post, I talked about the challenges of distractions in college… but don’t worry readers I won’t just hangout you out to dry.

How do you manage distractions?

Well, one of the biggest distractions is my phone. I will work for a max. of 3 min and then have to check my phone. It is such a huge time waster, especially when you are trying to get work done. One of my solutions is to just leave it in my room. I usually do work in the library, so when I am going, I leave my phone and just take the things I need (textbooks, notebooks, but NO phones). Whenever I do this, I am MUCH more productive.

Buzzfeed

In terms of managing the time you spend watching Netflix, I usually tell myself in the beginning of the day how many episodes I can watch. This helps greatly because I’m not just going cold turkey, however I am limiting the amount of time I spend watching shows.

Now, the hardest one is the friends. The most valuable tip for hanging out with friends is to evaluate every situation and ask “is it worth it?” Sometimes, a hangout will just be to hangout, everyone just sitting on their phones and not really talking. In that situation, the better call is to just stay in and study. However, if your friends are going to Santa Cruz for the day, my advice is to go! College is about school, but it is also about making connections and building relationships. If you can manage it, why miss out on an awesome trip to the beach?

Friends

Hey reader’s, since I’ve been talking about some of my homework assignments for English, I thought I should talk about distractions, the things that pull me away from homework.

Blogspot

In high school, I was a pretty efficient worker. I could study for hours without needing a break. However, in college I have found distractions are a bigger problem.

See, in high school, after the school day I would go home. When I was home, the only thing to distract me were my siblings, my parents and my dogs (well that is a big distraction). I couldn’t watch TV on weekdays and I wouldn’t hang out with friends unless all of my homework was done (once in a blue moon).

The Odyssey

In college, it is a whole other story. I can watch TV whenever I want as I don’t have parents looming over me. Furthermore, friends are always around. Heck, my roommate is around. That means the desire to go to the beach with a group of people instead of study is a much bigger desire.

Giphy

In my next post readers I will tell you how I try and manage my distractions so hang tight 🙂

For my CTW class, I had to write an 8-10 research paper.

I know. Not exactly everyone’s favorite activity. However, I actually was extremely interested in my topic. I had been thinking a lot about voting, and more specifically what prevents people from voting.

At first, I really only thought about apathy: that some people just don’t really care. As I dug deeper into my topic, I realized that there are actually more systematic obstacles. Finding out more about the Voter ID laws, I acknowledged there are some laws that might hurt voter turnout.

I wrote my essay about the two sides of voting reform, the Republican and the Democrat sides. This was very interesting because I realized that both sides fight passionately for their respective side, but don’t try and find a compromise. 

Enter my task to translate my research essay into a multi-modal project. I decided to do a picture that had a donkey and an elephant, both trying to win a race and beat the other side. What I wanted to convey is that the two sides don’t try and talk to each other, but I am running into troubles with how to show that there is an easy solution if they just talked to each other.

Current picture

Readers, that is where I am calling on you. Could you help me show a third option on my picture? Comment below on what you think I should do.

I was doing research for a research article I had to do for English and it was one of the most unique ways I have every researched for a paper.

For starters, I didn’t have a research question, instead I simply had a topic. I knew I wanted to talk about elections and this turned out to be enough to go on. Looking at databases, I found articles about elections, including the use of social media and voter ID laws.

While I couldn’t quite see how these two articles were related, after I did more research, I started making connections.

Source from Giphy

At first, I only focused on millennials and how they participated in elections. As my research continued however I came across many articles about Voter ID laws. Through my research I discovered that Voter ID Laws target people of color, a group that historically have a low turnout to the polls. I then drew a connection: both millennial and people of color often do not go and vote. Drawing from all of my sources and my survey, I began to fill in a connection that is not immediately evident and came up with the potential research question: 

What encourages, or discourages, groups of people, who historically have low voter, turnout to go out and vote?