Ya’Ke Smith is my hero.

Published by Alexzandria Siprian on August 25, 2011 in Alexzandria. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Welcome back, friends!

Back to another year of classes, traditions, inspiring moments, and all-nighters. Get excited!

I am officially a Junior in college! Can you believe that?! So crazy! I’m super excited because I made really great grades last semester and I want that to continue to happen. I’ve spent the summer waiting for that feeling of motivation to consume me, and just when I thought I had it, I get to my dorm and I feel motivation-less all over again.

Yesterday, just like we have every year before the first day of classes, we had our Mavs Meet Convocation. I’m not gonna lie, I never bothered to go in my first two years at UTA – but I wish I had. This year, however, I made my way over to the Convocation, and it was awesome! The key note speaker was one of our professors, Ya’Ke Smith. His address to the students of UTA was incredible and inspiring. No lie, I felt like I was in church. Haha. There was even a point when I said, “Testify!” in response to his appeal. He talked about how you can’t gain true success without struggle. I’m like – oh my goodness, that makes so much sense! He said, “Success without true struggle is nothing more than a gift. And if you give me something, you can take it back.” I just feel like I now have one of those golden nuggets of life that people talk about. Haha.

I feel like I’ve found my motivation.

Ya’Ke was a first-generation college kid, just like me. He has had plenty of struggle in his life, and I have too. I can look at him and listen to his story of success and know that I can also be a success story. Professor Smith talked about how the key to success is in our own hands. Basically, we’ve got to get up and go for it! We’ve got to move, strive, ACT towards our own success.

This year, I’m going to do work and strive towards my goals and my success. There are going to be a lot of trials and hard times to face, I’m sure. But those struggles will mean that my success will be genuine. And mine to hold.

I’m ready.

A Little Vitamin C

Published by Brittney Joyce on April 29, 2011 in Brittney. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

We’re only two weeks outside of Commencement ceremonies here at UT Arlington, and graduation fever is in the air. From the banners that have been hung on campus congratulating our graduates to the aches and groans of final exams, there’s something electric about the end of the spring semester that makes you feel nostalgic. It’s one of the reasons I love working on a college campus – I continually relive all my favorite memories of being a college student every single day.

One of our tour guides dropped by my office earlier to tell me about an event last night with her sorority on campus. As part of Senior Week, all the women in the chapter gathered at their house and shared their favorite memories about the seniors – the night was full of funny stories, meaningful moments, struggles, triumphs, hugs and tears. In just a week, all the seniors will become alumnae of the chapter and will have to close a door on all the memories they’ve lived as collegiate members. Graduation is such a bittersweet time – a time to celebrate the past four years and look forward to the next part of the journey.

With all the graduation buzz, I started thinking about the college decision and how selecting the right school is as important to your future career as it is to developing you as a person. As much as you can select a college or university for its rankings, reputation, and academic programs, you must also factor in where you envision yourself during the last few weeks of your college career. What do you want your graduation week to be like? What will you remember about your four years at the university you select?

Here is my opinion – you should want to surround yourself in a place that will provide you enough memories and find a group of people to connect with in a way that lasts a lifetime. And this is why the campus visit is so very important when selecting a college or university (you knew it was coming…)! As much as we send you brochures to help you learn about UT Arlington, you meet our admissions counselors out on the road, or you check our website, no one knows UT Arlington better than current students – come meet them and hear their stories about what they experience on campus. Ask them to envision their own graduation week and see what kinds of stories you get! Campus tours happen every Monday through Friday at 9AM, 10AM, 1PM and 2PM – registration is online at www.uta.edu/admissions/visit. We cannot accurately capture our Maverick Family and the vibe of campus on our website or in a brochure – you’ll have to experience that for yourself.

One last thing – a musical artist named Vitamin C came out with a song in 2000 called “Graduation – Friends Forever”. I had only been in college for a year when this song came out, and I used to bawl my eyes out whenever I heard it (freshmen year was a little emotional for some of us…). I listen to it once a year just to remember all the fun memories from my four years of high school and college. Imagine my surprise to see current comments on its You Tube video celebrating the Class of 2011! If you’ve never heard the song, check it out here: Vitamin C – Graduation Song

Congratulations to all the Class of 2011 graduates out there – especially to three of our own MavElite that are ending their journey at UT Arlington and moving on to the next best thing. We’ll miss you Kayla, Maria and Salvador!

Until next time,

Brittney

Q&A

Published by Caitlyn Rhodes on March 2, 2011 in Caitlyn. 0 Comments Tags: .

I thought it would be fun to have a Q&A blog. (Mostly because I have no idea what to write about this week. So I’m reaching for information.) So, if anyone has any questions about UTA or being a Maverick, post a question as a comment and one of us will get an answer out for you!

:) Happy questioning!

Happy Birthday to the GROUND!

Published by Alexzandria Siprian on March 1, 2011 in Alexzandria. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Hola todos! (Hello, everybody!)

Not too long ago, I received an email from my Spanish adviser in the form of PowerPoint that said something along the lines of: “Class registration is right around the corner!! Schedule an appointment with me so you won’t end up like this guy!!” (There was a picture of a man that was jumping around yelling…I think it’s really a picture of a film director that was yelling “ACTION!” or something, but we’ll pretend like it’s a student shouting in anguish due to procrastination.) And I thought to myself, “Yeeessss….I love this part.” Call me a weirdo, but I really get a kick out of scheduling my classes. Anyway, I figure since it’s about that time, I ought to make a blog about it. Here are some pointers when it comes to scheduling classes in college.

1. Don’t assume that your eligible day to register is the same as the official registration date.

Like I said, I enjoy scheduling my classes, so last semester I had my schedule planned out and set up in my “enrollment shopping cart” (get it?) even before the official registration date. However…I am but a puny sophomore, therefore I don’t get to register for my classes until a week or two after the upper classmen. (Did I mention we have about 33,788 students at UTA?) The day I got on my MyMav (kind of like UTA’s Facebook for scheduling/financial aid/school announcements) to register, I found that I wasn’t going to be taking astronomy this semester. :| There’s no pointer for this one; there’s nothing you can really do about that, just…just….yeah.

2. If you depend on financial aid, sign up for at least 15 hours.

Chances are, you’ll be taking College Algebra with some old coot who teaches you approximately NOTHING the entire semester, and you don’t want to ruin your GPA, so let’s go ahead and just drop this class – OHH, wait. You only have 12 hours. Drop down to less than full-time, lose financial aid. If you start off with one more class worth 3 credits, you’ll have room for error.

3. Look at the dates!

When you’re getting ready to schedule your classes for the next semester: WATCH OUT FOR THE DATES! Maymesters, Wintermesters, and Summer Sessions are all mixed in with the next big semester’s classes on the catalog. Keep an eye out! Otherwise, you’ll find out 5 days after Christmas that the entire winter break, you’ve been enrolled in College Algebra and your final exam is the next day. It happens.

4. Avoid Overscheduling.

Just because you’ll only be taking classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays doesn’t mean you’ll be studying all day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Especially if you have a job. No, you won’t have any spare time, and YES. You WILL become the most lazy person in the world. You’ll have 5 classes in one day. You’ll have class from 8am to 7pm. You’ll overlook the day of your birthday and have classes all day that day and won’t be able to do anything for your birthday besides convince your Spanish class to sing “Feliz cumpleaños” to you as a practice in pronunciation. Nope, not even free pancakes at IHop. Because that ends at 10pm and you bombed your last exam in Statistics, so you’ve got to do corrections so you can get those 5 extra points to get your grade up to an F+. *sigh*…

5. Schedule with friends.

Don’t try and fly solo, man! Get some of your friends to take a class with you. That way, when your birthday comes around, you can have someone to copy notes from. Trust me, it’s genius.

Is today my birthday? Yes. Did I have class all day? Yes, and still one more to go. Did all of the other things talked about in this entry happen to me? ….We won’t go there.

Razzle dazzle, man. Razzle dazzle.

-Alexz

Adventures in Intramural-ing.

Published by Caitlyn Rhodes on February 24, 2011 in Caitlyn. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Question: Did you know that there are free agents in the realm of intramural sports?  That’s hardcore…like parkour. (Which is something for a wholleee different blog.)

Groups around campus put teams together to play in as many sports as they possibly can. One such dedicated group is none other than the infamous Brazos Bulldogs. Brazos House is one of our 5 residence halls on campus and they take passion and competition to a whole other level. I’ve witnessed it first hand at “Dancing with the Mavericks” last semester. They didn’t win…but they should have. They were clearly the only ones with rhythm…but hey…they didn’t ask me to judge.

One of the best ways to get involved around campus and to make friends is to join an intramural team. Brazos helps their residences out by putting teams together for the students who live around each other to get involved in. The Brazos Ballers play basketball, the Brazos Dodgers play dodgeball, and the Brazos Pokemon Trainers play soccer. Don’t ask about that last one…still trying to figure it out, myself. Thanks to Garrett Jones for all the Brazos info!

MavElite also plays intramurals! Last year we had a flag football team and this semester, we’ll have a softball team! So come out and support UTA’s campus tour guides and telecounselors…and Kevin Cheek (one of our admissions counselors). Example time!

One of our tour guides, Kayla, plays co-rec soccer. This weekend, she played the ROTC team and she busted her knee open. Apparently, it was pretty gross. Way to take one for the team, Kayla!

Another one of our tour guides, Kristy, plays both basketball and sand volleyball for the Delta Delta Delta sorority team. Kristy played sports in high school, so for a student who doesn’t continue on with sports after graduation, it’s fun to be able to play on a team again.

Tina Rachel, another tour guide (catching a pattern?),  says “intramurals are an opportunity to relieve the stress of the academic life”. She played flag football and volleyball last semester.

If you have any questions or are curious about UTA’s intramurals, check out their website!

Il est bon avoir des amis partout. Votre amie, Caitlyn!

(It is good to have friends everywhere. Your friend, Caitlyn!)

“Never Say It, Neva-neva Say It.”

Published by Alexzandria Siprian on February 16, 2011 in Alexzandria. 3 Comments Tags: , .

Greetings, people of the World Wide Web!

It’s been a gooood while.

Let me catch you up to where I’m at in one paragraph.

I spent the summer interning in Montana. I battled College Algebra last semester. (It has been added to the Axis of Evil.) I’ve been doing some serious bonding with my Brazos House homies. (My best friend from home, Grace, got to live with us last semester. Epiiic. Lots of adventurous all-nighters, there.) My awesome friends from Montana put money together to buy a plane ticket for me to visit over Christmas break! I played in the snow there! Ah! Speaking of snow, there have been five days out of this semester so far where the University has closed due to awesome snow. Oh yeah! And that pretty much catches you up!

Now, then. Here we are, present day. What is there to talk about? I’ll tell you what we’re going to talk about. I’m sick. Yeah. That’s right. It’s been months since I’ve written a blog, and I’m choosing to talk about sickness. It was in the summer when I started to notice symptoms of what has been diagnosed as a chronic disease. Some people have it, but don’t really know it…That was me. *Sigh*….anyway. My sickness is called joosbiebbretin syndrome. But it’s common name is

BIEBERRR FEEVVEEERRR!!!

Yeah!!! I love Justin Bieber. Not in a creepy I’m-almost-twenty-he’s-sixteen-but-who-cares-he’s-GORGEOUS-AND-TALENTED way…Rather, in a Hey-this-kid-is-pretty-talented-and-he-loves-his-fans-and-yeah-so-his-hair-is-perfect-no-big-let’s-be-best-friends sort of way. So, Friday, Caitlyn decided to take me to see his movie, Never Say Never, for my birthday. (Ps. Justin and I share the same birthday. NBD. And yeah, we’re on a first-name basis.) It. Was. Amazing. By the way,  there are tons of movie theaters around UTA. There’s the one in the Six Flags Mall, there’s the Studio Movie Grill, and so on. We decided to go to the theater in the Parks Mall. Right down the road from UTA….just throwing that out there.

“Okay, Alexz. We get it. You’re a Belieber. But what does that have to do with UTA? Tell me why Justin Bieber is relevant at all when it comes to my consideration of UTA for higher education?”

Justin Bieber’s movie, Never Say Never (which by the way, was double-epic in 3D), has a powerful message. There’s this one line that he says that gets me every time. He says, “There’s gonna be a time when people say you cant do something or live your dreams…. but you know what I say? NEVER. SAY. NEVEEEEERRRR!” You know, there might be a ton of people in your life who tell you that you can’t make something out of your life. You can’t go to college, no one in your family did. You can’t go to a university. You’re going to fail out.  You can’t go because you wouldn’t fit in there. You can’t go because you don’t have the money. You know what?? Never say, “never”! Our motto here at UTA is “Push your limits, in a place where there aren’t any.”  There is no limit to your success. There is no limit to achieving the unachievable. There are no bounds to your dreams here. That’s why I love UTA. Because I can come here, to a Texas university, and do things I’ve never imagined. I can come as a first generation college kid and experience life outside of the small town I hail from. When I thought I couldn’t afford it. When I was afraid of coming hours away from home with no support system nearby. When I had no clue of what to expect because I’m the first in my family to take this path. I’m here, making something out of myself when everyone was thinking that broken homes make broken kids. Heck no, techno. I’ll never say, “never”. Because I’m in a place of ambitions of all sizes. And please believe, my ambitions are as big as Justin Bieber’s resilient smile.

I belieb I have the fever.

Published by Caitlyn Rhodes on February 16, 2011 in Caitlyn. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

Yeah, I said it! ….typed it! I’m a Belieber. If you’re staring at this post with a really confused look on your face, allow me to shed some light:

According to Urban Dictionary:
Belieber = A person who loves Justin Bieber & beliebes in everything that he can do. Example: I am a Belieber because I respect Justin Bieber and I believe in him.
I think that UTA should bring in The Biebs for the Fall concert this year. Then, an influx of small children (mainly girls…okay…they’d all be girls) would come to campus. And we could give them all campus tours. Then they would be sure to come to UTA because Justin Bieber was here. I think it’s genius. All the students on campus that dislike JB could get over it…because we would be ensuring wicked enrollment increases in 10 years’ time. Take one for the team, Mavericks…the future team.
I’m going to admit publicly…that I saw his movie, “Never Say Never”. I have to say…it was really encouraging. The music industry today is so freakishly shady and Bieber’s precious face adds some purple light. I think everyone should see the movie. It made me a belieber. He’s a pretty talented kid. Drums, guitar, singing…take away that pop-py nonsense…and you’ve got some great music.
Okay…I’m done. In the past, our Fall concert has had artists such as Rihanna, Maroon 5, and B.o.B. I have a feeling that the next group to grace us with their presence at Texas Hall with be a rock band. I’m sensing a pattern. EXCEL is an organization on campus that is in charge of bringing these acts to campus and I think they do a pretty great job.
*stands and applauds*
Click here to see what all EXCEL has on their schedule this semester!

Il est bon avoir des amis partout. Votre amie, Caitlyn!

(It is good to have friends everywhere. Your friend, Caitlyn!)

A Super Bowl of snow.

Published by Caitlyn Rhodes on February 10, 2011 in Caitlyn. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

A new semester brings a new flurry of classes…and apparently some flurries of the snow variation.

Last week the university was closed for 4 days. Four days. Four DAYS. Close your eyes…are you imagining UTA closed because of snow and ice? Awesome. Now what are you imagining? Students studying? Students being proactive? Open your eyes.

1.) If that’s what you saw…you are sadly mistaken. A wicked case of cabin fever swept over many of our students. I, personally, didn’t do anything productive. At all. In my Book of Productive Doings, however, I have things such as ‘catching up on my many favorite TV shows’ and ‘reading a book on my sweet, new Kindle’. Those things may not be on your personal list.

2.) If you were able to close your eyes and read the instructions at the same time…call me. I’ll get you in contact with Professor Charles Xavier. (No. He’s not dead.)

So, this semester…I’m taking my last French language class, Intro to Advertising, Writing for Mass Media, Microeconomics, and Communication Theory. My professors have been really awesome! For some reason, all of the professors in the Communications Department have top notch senses of humor. They say the darndest things.

I’ve written posts before about how I want to study abroad. It’s one of the reasons I’m at UTA! I wanted to study in England for a semester, but the more I think about it…the more I realize I have other, better options. (I know…better than London? Poppycock.) The Department of Modern Languages offers a really cool program called “Summer in Paris” where students spend one month in…you guessed it…Paris! Classes are taught by UTA professors and you get actual credit for the classes you take with them. Classes are Monday thru Thursday in the mornings, then in the afternoons your assignments may be, for example, to take a recipe and go to the market, collect ingredients, and prepare dinner! Cultural immersion. Genius! The professors take the students to different monuments and museums! Sounds like the trip of a lifetime! My professor last semester told me that a lot of the students take trips on the weekends, too. So I may get to see London, after all!

In other news, you may have heard of a little thing called the Super Bowl here in little ol’ Arlington. Was traffic ridiculous? Yeah. But it was SO worth it to have a piece of history down the street. A lot of students got the chance to volunteer to help out at the actual event and at the NFL Experience. Lots of great opportunities out there!

Until next week!

Il est bon d’avoir des amis partout. Votre amie, Caitlyn!

(It is good to have friends everywhere. Your friend, Caitlyn!)

Grandmother Willow has a Japanese cousin.

Published by Caitlyn Rhodes on January 25, 2011 in Caitlyn. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

So here’s an update about my summer. I’ll write a blog next week to update you on my Fall semester. We’ve had some technical difficulties, hence the delay in posting. But we’re back and ready to write for our fans! I know we have fans. Even if they’re only my professors and my mom…HEY MOM!

My summer was beyond words. Even though I worked at my home town’s local grocery store for the first half of the summer…the latter section of my holiday was…stupefying. I spent 2 weeks in Japan and then another 2 weeks with my family on an East Coast roadtrip.

My sophomore year of high school, my family hosted a foreign exchange student named Miki Takao for a year. She’s from a town called Matsudo in the prefecture of Chiba just outside of Tokyo. So this summer, I spent 2 weeks living with her and her family. For those of you who are Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift fans…no…I didn’t see any drifting. But, believe me…I was definitely on the lookout. If you watch that movie, most of the places he sees…I’ve seen. Such as this:

This is an area called Shibuya. It’s known as one of the fashion centers of Japan. It’s kind of like New York City.

This was also taken in Shibuya at a T.G.I. Friday’s! Check out the UTA shirt! Reppin’ the Mavs!

For the first few days that I was there…I was SIICCKK. Jet lag and culture shock are surely on the Axis of Evil. After that, though…I was ready to go. We stayed at her house for the first week, then Miki and I set off across Japan by ourselves. We rode a bus to Kyoto and stayed there for a couple of days. We went to temples and shrines and did some shopping. It was really beautiful there. Then we rode another overnight bus to Hiroshima. MAN. Talk about sadness. It was heartbreaking. If you’ve been living under a rock for the last 70 years…allow me to catch you up: On August 6, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. So imagine being an American and walking around the site of the explosion 65 years later. The site where 74,000 were killed and a similar number were injured. It kind of makes you hang your head a little bit. Okay…a lot.

We also went to Miyajima Island off the coast of Hiroshima. It was unbelievable. This picture should explain it.

FYI-Deer like ice cream. And they’ll follow you around to get it.

One of the highlights for me was seeing Himeji Castle.

It was literally on my list of things to see before I die. The keyword in that sentence being “was”. It reminded me of how much I want to study abroad and how UTA wants to help me do that. There is so much money for Mavericks to study abroad! So if you’re interested…be sure to check out http://studyabroad.uta.edu/.

Next week, I’ll talk about getting back into classes. So, get excited. :)

And finally, this is a dark chocolate orange frappuccino that is really popular in Japan.

It’s beyond description. “Delicious” is primitive compared to this.

Books, Mountains, and Pushy Friends.

Published by Alexzandria Siprian on May 24, 2010 in Alexzandria. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , .

Hello, friends!

It’s been so long! [I guess not that long. Haha.] :)

So, as I mentioned before, I am interning in Montana. I arrived here Friday – I rode the plane for the first time in my life! It was awesome! And the airport in Minneapolis is HUGE! It’s like a mall! I had an hour and a half layover, so I window shopped…and bought a BOOK! [For those of you who don't know me, this is a BIG DEAL! I don't read! Not if I don't have to! (Sometimes not even if I have to. Hence, my struggle in History this semester.)] Caitlyn was real proud of me until I told her what book I bought: Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I don’t care if it’s a third grade level book. It’s HILARIOUS! And my mom for the summer [I'm staying with a family up here. Kinda like a foreign exchange student. Except I'm not foreign. Almost, though! Haha.] said something that just…was so encouraging! She said, ”Reading is supposed to be enjoyable. You’re the one who decides what it is that you enjoy!” And you know what? I think I  might start reading more often. Even if I’m reading books meant for elementary students. Because I enjoy them. :) ANYWHO…It’s so gorgeous in Montana! I’m staying in a valley, in a town called Kalispell. It’s like a bowl…the mountains surround the valley. It’s awesome. I keep forgetting that there are mountains outside! Haha. I step outside when we’re about to go somewhere and look up and “OH snap! I forgot about the mountains!” And I just stare at them. They really are as majestic as people say they are. I took a really great picture and set it as my profile photo on Facebook. I can now quote Caitlyn’s beloved Community: “I don’t have an ego. My Facebook photo is a landscape.” Haha.

Anyway, I’ve been in kind of a funk so far. It’s like I can’t remember who I am. Haha. I have been the absolute most awkward person in the world, and I’m like “Who is this girl?!” My dad for the summer told me that I need to find my flavor. We think it’s Birthday Cake. [By the way, they don't have Chick Fil-A or Blue Bell ice cream in Montana! It makes me reeaalllly miss the Connection Cafe!] My summer parents tell me, “Be Birthday Cake! You ARE Birthday Cake! Sprinkle, sprinkle!” Haha. They’re great!

ANYWAY! So, the reason I am writing this blog is to tell you guys about my grade in History. As you know, I spent many many maaannnyy hours trying to pick up the slack I created in my History class. [Caitlyn can testify to that for you!] Grades were posted Thursday, and in the class of History 1312, I made the letter grade of……..

………………………………….. . . . . .   .   .   . . . . . .. . . . . ……….. .. . . . . . . .  …   .. . .

B!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’d like to take this moment to thank God for giving me friends like Caitlyn and our study group [Courtney, William J., and Mike] and my Brazos buddies [Kavaugn, Collin, and Will P.] and the general advisor on the second floor of Davis Hall [whose name I can't quite remember! I think it's Kevin...] for pushing me to not give up in this class! Because I was soooo close to just giving up! Like, I put History on my schedule for next semester because I was sure that I was going to fail this semester! But because I am surrounded by people who want to see me succeed, I did not give up! And now, I don’t have to take any more History courses! :)

Anywho, that’s all for now! Happy summer! :D