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DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING Meet your 2012 - 2013 BSU Cabinet Members!
, s e c u e d ! R E M M U S
n transitio to fall with ease
C same place, different O season n pg. 10 pg. 06 t e letter from 04 the n editor pg. 03 t s call for committee members
Learn how to handle transitioning from summer to fall.
some upcoming fall events pg. 09
contributors
Jodeci Richards, editor Harold Scott, graphics Joseph Daniels, cover model Willie Clay, cobol liaison BSU Cabinet FSU Student Publications
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edi to r ' s l et t er
Hello, all! I’m sure that those of you familiar with the Black Student Union are also familiar with the name Nubian Waves as the title for the BSU magazine. So, naturally, you’re curious about whatever this Incite Magazine is. Like, for starters, where did it come from and what is it? Well, in order to learn that, you need a little back-story. My name is Jodeci Richards (yes, like the group) and I am one of the new editors of Incite Magazine. Initially, I applied for an internship with Nubian Waves, but the BSU Cabinet graciously offered me an executive position after I revealed that I like to rebrand and revamp things. That detail was especially perfect because the cabinet was looking to do just that with their magazine. And what was one of the first orders of business after becoming an editor? Finding an appropriate, versatile, and powerful name. (Well, it was also putting together this awesome preview for you all, but we kinda needed a title for it, so that took immediate precedence.) After coming up with countless potential names, we found that “incite” was a word that encompassed everything that we were trying to convey. If you throw “incite” into the handy Dictionary.com search, you’d find that it means, “to stir, encourage, or urge on; stimulate or prompt to action.” This is a word that precisely represents the BSU and its goals. We love that inciting something makes us the beginning of a movement. We also love that its homophone, “insight,” also lends to the depth of our goals. We’re here to make people think and appreciate what others have to say. This is our call to action. Our goal for Incite is to create a publication that embodies the cultures and experiences of all students on FSU’s campus, while helping them to find and shape their own identities. We’re working to make this a quality publication for you to enjoy and we hope that you will be here to see us reach and then exceed our maximum potential. Yours
truly, Jodeci Richards Editor incite
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well tha Yeah, they’re upperclassmen in executive cabinet positions for the Black Student Union, but even they were once at the bottom of the collegiate food chain, trying to survive their undergraduate careers and understand themselves in the process.
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Jareth Bent, President
It’s kind of known that people fall in love in the spring/summer and break up around the fall. During my first summer semester, I spent most—if not all—of my days with a beautiful girl. Every single day, we would meet at Mom and Pops for lunch and then study together. Yeah, I guess you could say I was sprung. To me, there was an unwritten rule that we would remain together through the fall. But I was naïve. Though we really tried to keep in touch, it became increasingly hard for us to hang out in the fall. Our schedules became more and more clogged with school and activities, leaving less room for each other. Throughout the fall, it seemed like I received one less text everyday. One day, I asked her if we could hang out for old times’ sake. I wanted us to catch up and possibly rekindle whatever we had left. But she told me she was busy studying and couldn’t meet up, which was fine. It’d been tough making plans before, so it wasn’t a huge surprise. Instead, I decided to go to the movies with some friends. As I was walking into the theater, I saw her leaving. With another dude. “Studying.” She saw me, too, and we briefly made eye contact, but we said nothing. It was then when I knew we were over.
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Jasmine Johnson , Vice President
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During my freshman summer I was a part of the CARE Center’s Summer Bridge Program. We took an intense seven credit hours during a short sixweek period and I had an exam every week. Since there didn’t seem to be a lot happening around campus during the summer, I filled my free time with studying and sleeping (which was great because I was exhausted by school). But when fall came, FSU was practically a whole new college. The campus might’ve been the same, but there were—literally—thousands more people and a lot more events than in the summer. My classes were a little more difficult, but I’d already formed good study habits during the summer, so I found the fall a lot easier in terms of school. It was just a lot harder to focus on academics with everything else going on. I remember being so consumed by majorette, school, and organizations that I forgot I had a College Algebra exam. Everyone who knows me knows that math is not my forté. So I had to stay up all night to study everything. To this day, that was the hardest exam I’ve ever taken. But I learned a greater lesson about time management and propitiation.
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at’s new “
X iomelie Crisostomo , Treasurer
For me, high school seemed effortless. I turned everything in on time, was hardly tardy, and my study habits appeared to work for me. (Of course, studying was really just cramming five minutes before a test.) I made sure that I was at the head of my class. So, naturally, I felt that college was going to be just as breezy. I remember one semester when I decided to take “easy” courses. My classes became my last priority because I thought I didn’t have to work as hard. But one night I decided to take a break from my work and enjoy myself with my friends and just have a good time. Right in the midst of all the fun, I realized that I’d missed the deadline for two papers and a discussion board post, which, ultimately, affected my grade. Never before had I realized that I’d been so behind until that moment. But after that night, I gathered myself, prioritized, and got A’s in each one of those classes. Since then, it seems that I keep learning more and more about my work ethic, which has helped me adjust to my remaining college years. It’s even aided in my transition from inexperienced freshman to campus leader. Just remember, even if your priorities end up getting out of line, there is always a way to fix yourself in the end.
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Jephery Francis , Secretary
I was fortunate enough to partake in the CARE Summer Bridge Program in the summer of 2010. As a CARE student, it was easy make friends and get involved because I was surrounded by other minority students at a predominantly white school. However, the fall’s arrival prompted a bit of a culture shock for me. On the first day of my fall classes, I waltzed into my ENC1101 class, coming off of a confidence high from the summer. But once I stepped into the room, I realized that this wasn’t going to be the same. I’d gone from being in classes where the minorities were the majority, to classes where I was the minority again. After I took a couple of seconds to assess the room, I found a seat near the front. I figured the best way to relieve the pressure that I now felt was to step outside of my comfort zone. I couldn’t be thrown off just because I’m the minority. Since then, I’ve become friends and acquaintances with all types of people around campus, including some who were in that ENC1101 class. I’m involved in organizations like the Black Student Union where I am now the Secretary and even returned to my roots by becoming an Upward Bound Program counselor for CARE. These new experiences as a leader outside of my comfort zone have helped me grow as a student and as a person.
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The people here make it look so easy: juggling their clubs at the right place at the right time. But practice makes perfect, and summer is the perfect time to practice for the fall. By Jodeci Richards
Sure you’re in college, now—a place where lower- and upperclassman status no longer matters. But while this fact should provide some bit of comfort, it’s obvious that you have not been wholly successful in evading the stigma of being “fresh meat.” And having to wear those painfully brazen nametags around campus? Well surely that doesn’t help, now, does it? Especially when you’ve been plopped into a sea of experienced students. You don’t want to look like a tourist in your own town by pulling out your conspicuous campus map. But, hey, as corny as it sounds, you are not alone in this. We’ve all been where you are at some point. Doe-eyed and awestruck by the magnitude of FSU—by just the mere idea of college. And then Fall semester barrels through like a snowball, absorbing your life in its hectic path. Suddenly, you’re completely overwhelmed, because this experience is nothing like the one from summer. Suddenly, the obligations seem more burdensome, the events more enticing, the schoolwork more abundant. This campus will be humming—no, roaring—with activity in the fall, and if you don’t want the sound to swallow you, you gotta know how to control the volume.
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Feat ur e
Social Activity
A lot of the students who come in during the summer use this time as a transitional stage, in which they become accustomed to the campus, get used to class schedules, and engage themselves in campus events. And even though these students recognize that summer is not as hectic as the fall will be, they still look to be as—or become more—involved once August rolls around. But Fall semesters are infamous for the bevy of events that flood FSU. And navigating sporting events, classes, parties, homework, tailgates, night life, and organizations is more difficult than it seems now. According to Allison Black, Assistant Director of Student Activities at FSU, 141 event permits were filed with the Student Activities Center alone last fall. These permits only represent a fraction of the events that occur around campus. And, because there is an influx of newcomers looking to be involved, organizations are vying for the attention of every individual by hosting more events than what seems necessary. This can make you feel like you have an obligation to everything. But taking on more than you can handle can be just as regretful as not doing anything at all, so you have to understand your limits. Remember, you have four (or more) years at FSU, which is plenty of time for you to dip your toes into plenty of pools. If you’ve found many organizations that accommodate all of your interests, try getting involved in only a few each year. Say you sign email lists for 12 organizations. Pick three that you are most curious about during your first year. If, over the course of the year, you’ve found two that you weren’t so passionate about, stay involved in your favorite and pick a couple of new organizations to try out the next year. By the time you’ve gone
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through your list, you should have a small number of organizations that you’re heavily involved in that can also double as resumé builders.
Mental Activity
Understanding your limits when it comes to organizations can also greatly improve how you handle your academics. A lot of people worry they won’t know how to prioritize once the school year gets into full swing. They worry about becoming overwhelmed and overworked. But here’s the thing: you have to pump yourto organizations can also greatly improve how you handle your academics. You’re here for a purpose. There aren’t degrees for extracurricular hours. If there were, people would be walking across the stage for keg stands, not Chemistry. (Hey, some people consider drinking an extracurricular activity.) But if you still want to be involved and just need to maintain the balance between your social life and academics, Summer sessions are opportune shock absorbers. By partaking in events and organizations now, you can focus on academics in the fall. C.A.R.E. student Heather Van Assche appreciates summer for this reason when saying, “If [I went] just straight into fall, I would be overwhelmed…but since it’s kind of slowly starting to pick up, it’s easier to transition.” The same can be said for school. Fall classes will also begin to pick up, so if you get too comfortable with the idea that fall is identical to summer, then you’ll find yourself tumbling down a rabbit hole. This is especially so for those who don’t put forth the same amount of effort in their summer classes as they do their fall classes. Or any classes for that matter. There are two types of people who take summer classes. There’s Bare Minimum Billy,
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I w e nt j u st st r a ig h t i nto fa l l , I would be o v e rw h e l m e d … "
F eatu r e
"I would say the best thing That I did was come in for summer." who skates by on his work so that he kinda sorta passes. And then there’s Serious Sally, who treats her summer classes as if this was her first day of her first fall semester. If you’re Sally, then don’t lose that drive. And if you’re Billy, then become friends with Sally to get on the right track. Because if you’re working your butt off now and classes are a cinch, then you can surely handle fall.
Physical Activity
Finding your balance means nothing if you can’t get to classes or meetings on time. (Oh, you thought this was going to be about exercise? Sorry, no.) Summer is the perfect time for getting acquainted with the campus. As Dina Cella, a C.A.R.E. student who just moved in this summer, expressed, “I would say that the best thing that I did was come in for the summer. Because if I came during the fall, I would have been way more lost than I am … I get a chance to see where everything is and where the buildings are.” But while summer has this advantage, in the fall you have to take into account the amount of people that are going to be on this campus and the actual physical movement of those people. Guess what, you’re not the only one who needs to take the bus to Westcott. You’re not the only
one driving in from your apartment. You’re not the only one with a 12:15 class across campus. According to FSU’s Office of Institutional Research, 24,010 students were enrolled in the summer of 2011, and 41,710 students were enrolled in the fall. Imagine every one of those 41,710 students driving to school each day. Or riding the bus. Can you say, “Chaos”? So if you think that parking in the Woodward garage is frustrating, now, well the garages are going to seem like the middle of the Sahara once fall arrives. And the buses? Believe it or not, they have maximum capacities, and they do get filled. So don’t completely rely on one mode of transportation to get you to your destination on time. Even if you drive to campus 30 minutes before your class starts, expect to take another 30 minutes to an hour looking for a parking spot. Yes, an hour. Even if the buses are running on time, make a plan for what you’d have to do if the one you need is full. And, when in doubt, buy a bike. Because buses can’t ride on sidewalks and sometimes your feet are too slow.
L
ook, we’ve all been to orientation, attended seminars, or heard someone say something about “managing time” this or “don’t party too hard” that. And while all those things are useful, those tips have the tendency to fall on deaf ears because individual people are hearing advice for the general student population. But, sometimes, our problems aren’t so general. The real worry comes when you realize your own personal dilemmas and fears and don’t know how to face them. Anyone’s first fall semester naturally comes with those fears. Even if you don’t want to admit it. Whether you’re jumping into the deep end or you’ve been wading in from the shallow side, there’s a tiny bit of you that has some kind of worry. And that’s perfectly fine. No one expects you to have this completely down pat. You can’t come to college and automatically know anything and everything that’s going to happen. You’re going to learn what you have to
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hat ’ s w f o e t a ta s
Autumn
-coming in
, s lc , da r , u p n e l a c u y of f s c o u rt e s
& sac
See The Lorax
July 31-August 3 Student Life Cinema 7:30PM-8:55PM 10PM-11PM
Countdown to Fall
First Friday
August 3 RailRoad Square 7PM
August 3 Club Downunder (18+) & Union Ampitheater (all ages) 6PM
Seminole Sensation Week Hypnotist Kerry August 22-26 Sharp Oglesby Union
Union Productions
August 23 Union Ballrooms Doors @8:30PM, Show @9PM Union Productions SS Week
FSU v. Murray
Involvement Fair
August 28 Oglesby Union Doors 7PM-9PM SAC
September 01 Doak Campbell Stadium 6PM
Business Attire Fashion Show September 27 Location: TBD 10
Minority Business Society
summer preview
GBMs
September 13 SLC 101C October 04 Union 312
National Council of Negro Women
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interested in incite ? email
bsuincite@gmail.com
for more information
THEBLACKSTUDENTUNION fsublackstudentunion@gmail.com