Stark Voices November 2011 Edition

Student Leadership Academy

By Christopher M. Usner This session also featured several directors and representatives from local charities. Many of whom stated that they receive dozens of calls a week from employers looking to verify the volunteer experiences of a perspective employee.

I recently participated in, and completed Student Leadership Academy (SLA). And right now you may be saying to yourself, “who cares!?”

However, if you knew exactly what Student Leadership Academy was and what its goals were you might feel differently.

Student Leadership Academy holds about 12 to 14 sessions per semester and students only need to attend 7 of those sessions to earn a certificate of leadership. Certificates are presented at a banquet style dinner that features a guest speaker.

So what is Student Leadership academy, you ask?

Student Leadership Academy is a program run in conjunction with Kent State Stark that strives to assist students in developing the various skills that many employers are looking for in the ideal candidate by providing them with a whole host of hands on activities and opportunities. Many of the skills that are highlighted at these sessions may not necessarily be touched upon in a traditional classroom setting. These are skills such as showing you’re motivated to achieve success by setting goals and sticking to them or proving you’re a born leader by volunteering.

For more information about Student Leadership Academy check out the link below or contact our Coordinator of Student Life, Cherie Barth at: cbarth@starkstate.edu http://www.starkstate.edu/leadership

In This Issue Does Your Calculator Frustrate You? Aids Memorial Quilt Film Appreciation The Art of Apology Student Life is Raving Week in the Life of…

Why Stark State?

IMA

At one of the SLA sessions this fall, many individuals commented on the topic of volunteering. The overall consensus was that volunteering has the ability to really hit home and students were asked to remember that even the smallest contribution on their part could make a – big difference in the life of another.

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Does Your Calculator Frustrate You?

By Lori Frase Graphics calculator workshops are now being held every Monday and Wednesday mornings at 8:00 in room B201 with Mr. Robert Berens, Sr. Although turn out has been low, we hope that with some promotion and encouragement, more students will take advantage of this free tutoring available to them.

So, get out of bed a little earlier than normal, bring your calculator with you and see how much a single lesson can improve your math skills.

Or if you’d prefer, you may check out the following useful link for a tutorial on using the TI 83/84 series calculators, which are among the most popular: http://www.prenhall.com/esm/app/graphing/ti83/

Aids Memorial Quilt

By Lori Frase

To have the panels in our college is an honor and a privilege as not many colleges or students will have this opportunity. As part of the AIDS Memorial Quilt travels, Angel volunteers are always guarding at all times of open display.

The Aid’s Memorial Quilt was started in 1987 by the Name’s Project Foundation, which is a non-governmental organization whose mission statement is, “To preserve, care for, and use the AIDS Memorial Quilt to foster healing, heighten awareness, and inspire action in the struggle against HIV and AIDS” (The Aid's Memorial Quilt).

During this time: •NO one may add or remove any item from the quilt.

As the patches and panels grow, so does the distance they travel. This traveling allows the awareness and remembrance for HIV and the AIDS epidemic to be discussed in its presence.

•NO one is allowed to chew tobacco, eat, drink, smoke or chew gum near the quilt.

Beginning on November 28, – December 3, 2011, two panels from the National Aid’s Quilt will be on display in the Atrium for all students to observe. Each patch of the panel has been hand made by families and friends of individuals who have passed away from the AIDS disease.

•Do not pull or step on the quilt.

If you would like to volunteer to be an Angel guard please call or email Cherie Barth at cbarth@starkstate.edu or (330) 494-6170, Ext. 4237.

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Film Appreciation

By Ron Sabol

He went on to say “there are so few people that understand that something as popular as the XMen is about racism and prejudice and those are important ideas.”

In the spring of 2011, I participated in the very first semester of the Film Appreciation course here at Stark State. The course was designed in a way for students to learn the method that films are put together as well as film critique and theory. The course was taught by English instructor Justin Barber. I sat down with Mr. Barber and got his thoughts about how the initial semester went and about where he sees the course going in the semesters to come.

Justin told me that in future semesters he would like to have students read an actual script and give their own interpretations of the film before watching the film in class. Also, he’d like more “hands-on” work with movies on Angel. I was also given a preview of some of the films that may be shown in the class. These include: Pan’s Labyrinth, North by Northwest, Black Swan, Brick, The Hurt Locker, or any of the classic Alfred Hitchcock films.

When I asked Justin to describe the class, his first words were “It’s a fun class.” He goes on to explain that students will learn about how “film is story and how story is transmitted to viewers.” The class also looks into the uses of lighting and camera angles within a film, as well as the ideology and symbolism of films.

I, for one, would definitely recommend this class for anyone who has an affinity for movies and the elements that are considered when making and/or watching them.

I asked about what he thought worked well in the class and he talked about the film High Fidelity and the lessons that were discussed in regards to the film, such as narrative storytelling as opposed to omniscient. In the class, the film was broke down into several points of view, and Justin thought that the students reacted well to the conversation that took place during those lessons.

For those of you who are interested in taking Film Appreciation in the spring of 2012, you can send questions to Justin via his e-mail: jbarber@starkstate.edu

The Art of Apology

By Christopher M. Usner

In the future, Justin told me, he would like to delve more into the plot and theme of films as well as their technical aspects. This will definitely get some interesting conversations going in the classroom.

I was thoroughly impressed with Student Leadership Academy and I think that it is a wonderful opportunity that is made available to our student body. At every session students were handed a survey and asked to make suggestions about future session topics. And every time this occurred my mind was blank. Now weeks later, I have a suggestion and no survey to write it on.

However, that’s not likely to stop me because I can always just make my suggestion here.

When asked why this class is important and why students should take it, Barber said that film, “is a prominent form of storytelling and sharing of ideas and the better you understand how to take those in and making some meaning out of that is important.”

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Student Life is Raving

Student My suggestion would be that a future Leadership Academy session be designed to focus solely on the art of apology.

By Emunah Pearl

So, you simply say, “I’m Sorry” right? Wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. Because apologizing really is an art form. An inadequate or inappropriate apology can easily be just as bad as no apology at all.

So, how do you apologize properly?

The answer isn’t simple. It’s more of an art than a science, so opinions differ widely. But many sources indicate that the apologizer needs to look at who he/she is apologizing to and ask him/herself how close your relationship is and how apologizing will effect that relationship. Next the apologizer needs to examine what he/she is apologizing for and how serious an offense it was. Then decide if the apology will be delivered verbally or in writing or a combination of the two. Keep in mind that the apology, no matter how it’s delivered, needs to contain an appropriate amount of emotion. Apologies are supposed to seem heartfelt and this is achieved by displaying the proper amounts of sympathy and empathy when conveying the message.

Lastly, one must consider what makes an apology concrete or tangible. This is often achieved by apologizing for the said offense and promising to never commit the offense again. This approach often occurs with younger kids and between spouses. Another approach would be to apologize for the offense and offer to compensate the other individual. An example of this approach would be if you said, “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to scratch your car. Send me the bill and I’ll take care of it.”

It really is an art and hundreds if not thousands of opinions on the subject exist, which just goes to prove that we as a society place value on accepting responsibility for our own actions. So ask yourself what future employer wouldn’t want an employee that did just that? So, now that the suggestion has been made, maybe a future Student Leadership Academy will focus on this otherwise untaught art.

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The student life at Stark State is raving, with forty-one student organizations that get involved both in the community and strive for a good academic life.

Annually, the office of Student Life celebrates the beginning of fall semester with a "Smart Start Saturday" for students and their families and the FWOF (First Week of Fall) activities.

The office of Student Life concludes the spring semester with a variety of celebratory activities.

These week-long events encourage students to meet one another and to enjoy a host of student sponsored activities.

Our Beta Gamma Epsilon chapter of Phi Theta Kappa is also proud to support Canton, OH causes, such as: The New Beginnings Transitional Housing, the American Cancer Society, Akron Children's Burn Center, Aultman Blood Center, and Habitat for Humanity, Keep America Beautiful and the many walks for cures.

We are also proud of the stuffed animal drive that we employ annually for "Make a Difference Day" to support the area's safety forces. Several thousand stuffed animals have been collected through the generosity of our students here at Stark State College. These toys give comfort to children in times of need while they are being cared for by police and fire department personnel.

In addition, past support has been given to The Zone, an organization that helped to supply wigs for cancer patients, The Arthritis Foundation and The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

To learn more about the Beta Gamma Epsilon Chapter here at Stark State College, contact our adviser Cherie Barth at: cbarth@starkstate.edu

Why do homework when I can watch Ohio State struggle against a team they should beat soundly, or “The Game of the Century” which turned out to be a snore-inducing field goal fest?

A Week in the Life of a

Procrastinator

By Ron Sabol This article was written approximately 5 hours before it was to be handed in to my editor. That, my friends, is due to the fact that I suffer from a terrible affliction that I like to call “procrastination.”

The next day, Sunday, was a pretty busy day filled with Tylenol, lots of drinking water and bed rest. It was because the night before, well, I’ll leave that to the imagination.

Monday through Thursday, for me, always entails school which is immediately followed by work.

It’s an irritating infirmity that prevents me from ever getting a jump on projects or papers that are due in any of my classes. It is my belief that there are more procrastinators at this college than you may be aware of, and whether you are or aren’t one of them, the multitude of stories that a procrastinator can tell are too fascinating to not listen to.

On the plus side, I do my best work at midnight.

Unfortunately, every night I got home it was one dilemma after the other.

On Monday night I had to check out the football game. Tuesday night was forth meal night at Taco Bell. I was set to write on Wednesday night, but then realized that I was out of clean socks so I had to make a late night run to Wal-Mart. Thursday night was no good because I wanted to catch the further adventures of Beavis and Butthead, and every time anyone watches them it just makes them seem a little dumber inside.

How long have you known about the assignment?

Why do you wait until the last minute to do it?

What have you been doing between being assigned the work and the due date? If these questions sound familiar then you are a procrastinator; if not, then I present the series of events that led up to this article being written by a master of procrastination.

Before I knew it, it was next Friday and my article was due that night.

I was given the assignment on Friday, November 4. It would have been so easy to go home after our staff meeting and crank out the article in a matter of just an hour.

I just couldn’t get myself to actually do it during the day—mainly because I spent the day with my girl.

After that, I sat at my desk staring at the computer; apparently I was waiting for zero-hour to come.

But that did not happen. Instead, I decided to go to lunch with a friend, and that was followed by a few hours of browsing around the mall for early Christmas gift ideas (because it’s never too early).

So that brings me to right here, right now. I’m finishing up the article assigned to me 7 days ago.

Why did I wait so long? Do I work better under pressure? That’s what I tell myself sometimes, and sometimes I believe it.

It was then off to work. On Saturday, November 5, I had no work and no interest, whatsoever, in doing anything school-related. The funny thing was that I had most of the day to do my article.

However, I wanted—no, scratch that—needed my dose of college football that day.

For those of you who don’t procrastinate—good for you. For those that do—why do YOU do it?

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Why Stark State?

By Lori Frase & Christopher M. Usner

Many incoming freshmen often ask, “Why did you choose Stark State?’ The answers they receive differ greatly; however, most agree that there is no other college quite like it.

In a recent conversation, Lori and I discussed this exact question and Lori responded by stating that she felt that the heart and soul of Stark State College was its dedicated faculty and staff. Many of whom spend hours getting to know the students as individuals. She thought this approach really set Stark State apart from many other educational institutions were students are simply faces in a crowd or numbers on a roster.

Twenty-one years later, she returned to Stark State College because it felt like home.

This time she is hoping that an education and a firm foundation will enable her to pursue a future in the field of Human and Social Services.

In May of 2012, Lori will once again be a graduate of Stark State College and she knows that she will be ready to begin a new career built upon the firm foundation of an individualized education provided to her in part by Stark State College and its dedicated faculty and staff.

One could say that as a direct result of this approach and many other factors, our student body is made up of a very diverse mix of traditional and non-traditional students who see the benefits of a smaller student-oriented institution. Many of these individuals have a vast number of questions, don’t know where to start, or already have a job, but want to move into a career position.

The best thing about Stark State is that as an institution it can provide a solid foundation for them all if they are truly dedicated to success.

Lori earned an Associate’s Degree in Applied Business – Sales and Marketing from Stark State in 1987 and later went on to work in a variety of fields and experienced many successes.

If you have any comments, suggestions, concerns or even criticisms, about Stark State or this paper, please let us know by contacting us at: starkvoices@starkstate.edu. Because ultimately, this isn’t our paper; it’s your paper. The Stark Voices.

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