When I first agreed to become a Lynn blogger, I never ever thought that one day I would be the administrator of the Blog Squad, neither did I have any idea of how successful the blogs would be. Yesterday evening, the Blog Squad and two new bloggers we will be bringing on next semester and over the summer, congregated for a pizza evening.

Every meeting we discuss if everyone is still enjoying blogging and whether they would like to continue (every one said yes) and we also discuss video posts and photo posts. Generally, we update each other on what is new in our lives and what our plans are for the break. I also hand out a statistical rundown of each blog, which shows the amount of views our pages have, where in the world those viewers are from etc. This is always very rewarding.

Mostly, yesterday, when I looked around our meeting, at every one laughing and talking, catching up and having fun, I began to realize that the one thing I least expected from becoming a Lynn blogger would be that I would make such wonderful friends. When I gazed at the group, it dawned on me that the Blog Squad is more than just a group of students with their blogs in common, we’re much more than that. We’re more than friends. We all read each other’s blog posts, we are all up to date on what has happened in each other’s lives, and we all care about one another.

As Gene said, if you don’t try something, you won’t know what you could have possibly achieved from it. And he’s absolutely right. I never imagined that becoming a blogger would not only unite students, but also spark friendships.

This photo is especially for Morgan and her infamous red shirt!

One of my fellow bloggers wrote a post about the last minute rush before Summer Break and all the things one has to do.

I have four years worth of Summer Break experience, so I recommend that if you’re planning to be a college student, think ahead, read on, and learn from my mistakes:

1. Summer Vacation creeps up on you before you know it, so spread your work out throughout the semester. Don’t leave your final projects to the last week, work ahead and put the time in before the last minute rush.

2. Plan ahead. You need to start making arrangements a month before the end of semester. There’s a lot to do, so be proactive.
3. Roommates: If you plan to live on campus the following year, start talking to your friends and figuring out who you want to live with. You’re going to need to sign up for a room a few weeks before the end of semester, so don’t leave it to the last minute and discover that all your friends have found roommates already. You’ll be disappointed if you end up living with some one you don’t particularly like.

4. Donate and Dump: Give your room a good spring clean right before the end of semester. Go through your stuff and figure out what is worth donating and what is worth dumping out. If you haven’t used it yet, you’re probably not going to, so give it to someone who will.

5. Find a storage partner. Storage isn’t cheap, so why not share storage with a friend. Remember that you’ll have to get a large vehicle to transport your stuff to the storage unit. You’ll have more than you realize, so be prepared for a full day of loading, carrying, and storing.

6. Mark your boxes. When you’re taking things out of storage you’ll want to know what’s in each box, and who the box belongs to, so get a marker and mark away.

7. Ensure that your university account is in order, that you have registered for classes and that you are prepared for the new year. If you plan on getting a job on campus the next year, plan ahead and get it organized before you leave for the break.

8. Get your friends contact details, you’re going to want to keep in contact.

9. Figure out who is going to drop you at the airport and who is going to pick you up from the airport before the actual day. Look around campus, the university generally offers a shuttle to the airport at certain times.

10. Don’t slack off in the last week, you may be tired from the semester, but you have worked so hard all semester, don’t let your grades drop in the last week.

11. If you plan on getting a summer job, plan ahead and set one up before they all get taken!

12. Grab a camera from the communications department and get some footage of your life at Lynn. When you get home you’re going to want to show Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa what your life at college is like. Remember, a picture says a thousand words.

13. You have to leave your dorm room in a clean and tidy state, so be prepared to do some scrubbing! Organize with your roommates a cleaning day and ensure that everyone helps out. You don’t want to be the last of your roommates on campus left with the burden of cleaning the room in order to avoid a fine.

14. Have fun. Enjoy yourself. And be prepared to miss Lynn and your friends more than you ever imagined.

The deadline for the “I’m Lynn” Video Contest has been reached, and the videos have been judged. Today at work, the Marketing Department gathered around to judge the contestant’s videos. We were all prepared, score boards and pens. All that was missing, as Debbie said, was the popcorn! Watching the videos was a lot of fun. We were all pretty much in agreement as to which submissions deserved an award, however, that’s not to say it wasn’t a difficult task. We were all so happy to watch videos that clearly, a lot of hard work had been put into them. We have not yet announced the winners, but I know who they are

We had a total of nine submissions, of which we are very proud. I think that as the “I’m Lynn” video becomes more and more established, it will continue to grow each year. A prize of $500 and a total of $750 in cash prizes is a fantastic incentive to create student videos and projects showing an aspect of life at Lynn.

I just want to say a big thank you to all the competitors of the competition. All of your work was wonderful and even if you didn’t win this year, there’s always a chance next year. The contestant’s videos will be posted on the web in the coming weeks… I will post a link as soon as they’re up.

As promised… the interview with Doris Kearns Goodwin:

One thing I have truly learnt is that as a graduate (or even senior graduating) student, you’re plans change quicker than you’ll realize. For example, I hadn’t always know I had wanted to do my masters, in fact I only realized I did about a month and a half before the end of my graduating semester. So, I quickly organized the Graduate Assistantship, my visa, and applied to the masters program. Well, I have 8 months now to change my mind a couple of times before I have to make up my mind on what life I choose after graduation. Well, in the past two months it has already changed a couple of times, and each of the three decisions were on different continents!!! I don’t know how many more continents there are left… so I suppose my decision changes are limited. I think that deciding what route you’re going to take after Grad School is the most difficult decision of all, as there are so many factors that play into it, so many factors that you cannot control. Will I get a job there? Will I get a job I like? How long until I get the job? How much will I earn? How much will I be able to afford? Where will I live? How will I live? How long will I live? Is this what I want? What if I make this decision and regret it? What if I chose a different route and that one ended in a pot of gold? What if this one decision is going to change the rest of my life? Can’t I just go back to being a kid again. Every day was a holiday and in South Africa, decisions like these seemed a world away. Wow, I miss those worry-free days. Life was just one big playtime.

Now it’s back to reality… it may be the weekend, but I have decisions to change!

It is just a few more days until the deadline for the “I’m Lynn” Media Contest. So far we have had two entries, however, I know of six more people who will be entering their projects, and that is not including the classes that have been assigned the contest and their class project! I’m so excited to see them all. There are several prizes: one random draw ($50 cash) a winner in each category (each $100 cash) and an overall winner ($500 cash). If I wasn’t overseeing the contest I most certainly would have entered!

It’s really simple, students have to create a short documentary, music video, or photo slideshow highlighting an aspect of Lynn University. The videos will be on our website, as well as at the official contest site: www.lynn.edu

Best of luck to all of you who will be entering the contest… Remember the deadline is April 15th 5PM.