Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Meet some of the panthers in Business Panthers!

Q&A with some students in the Business Panthers LLC

Nick
Major: Undecided but thinking about business

Q: What do you see differently with the community you have in the Business Panthers LLC and communities that are Non-LLC?
A: “[Here in Business Panthers] we are a lot closer. We have more common interests and we can relate better”.
Q: What has being in the Business Panthers LLC done for you personally?
A: “It has inspired me to reach goals I never thought I had.”

Nick likes to ride his motorcycle and go to the gym to lift weights in his free time.

Jeanne
Major: Architecture and Business Minor

Q: Why did you choose to live in an LLC instead of a Non-LLC environment?
A: “I was never really involved in high school, and I found that I didn’t really fit in anywhere. Being in an LLC made me think that I could find more people like me that had the same interests”.


Taylor
Major: Marketing, Finance and Real Estate with Certificate in International Business

Q: What do you like best about Business Panthers?
A: “Everyone has the same major and we all have the same [business] classes. So if you need help with your homework or you need to discuss something in class you didn’t understand, you can just go to someone on your floor”.
Q: How do you feel about your fellow Business Panthers?
A: “I like everyone in the LLC, they are all down to earth but also business motivated. I’m building long lasting relationships. And when we are older and have careers, these are the people I know I can go to.

Taylor competed in his DECA’s International finals, and is trying to start a DECA chapter here at UW-Milwaukee.

Nakia
Major: Accounting
Q: How do you think Business Panthers has or will help professionally (career and academic wise)?
A: “Well it looks really good on a resume. And being in Business Panthers, [RA Louella] introduced us to some ‘big guns’ in the business school. If I wasn’t in Business Panthers, I probably would never know or meet some really important people in Lubar”.

Nakia has her eye on working for Pricewaterhouse Coopers, one of the Big 4 Accounting firms in the world. Nakia is also organizing a West 5/6 Family T-shirt and a Business Panthers T-shirt.

**The above individuals were interviewed and informed of this blog post with their permission. They also approved of their picture. All individuals in this blog post are aware of this blog post and approve of this blog post.

Need Help?

It's hard to believe one month has gone by!

By this time in the semester all of UWM is moving full speed ahead. Hopefully students understand how their classes work and what expectations instructors have of them. Before we know it, midterms will be upon us!

If you're still feeling a little overwhelmed by the semester work load, that's okay too. If you need a tutor or help with your work, find those resources on campus now. Even if you have the smallest inkling of stress in the future, reach out NOW! It will be easier in the long run, I swear it.

Some campus resources I recommend checking out:

The First Year Center

This resource could be your one stop answer to all of your questions! If you're a first year student, this is a great place to find help. They have wonderful advisors who are there only to help you. Go here to talk, meet classmates/peers, and get access to tutors and mentors. The FYC is located in Bolton 120.

The Writing Center

The WC is open to all writers on campus, freshman to grad students alike. The staff here can help develop ideas to write, organize thoughts, revise drafts, and help you refine your writing ability.

TUTORS

Many of the classes you are in have tutors assigned to them and are completely free to you! They'll answer questions, review material, and ensure your understanding if you go to them. If you class doesn't have a tutor, hit up the FYC and see if you can find one.

I recommend you do these things early (now!) and start forming good study habits. It might be a lot harder to form these habits when it's just days before a final...

Thanks for reading!

Monday, September 27, 2010

OUR Highlighted

A lot is happening in the Lab Rats' LLC these days. In class, they are working on visiting various research labs around campus - mine included. Besides being an RA in West, I'm also an RA (Research Assistant) in Dr. Mosack's Patient Advocacy and Research Lab here on campus (a psychology lab). Right now the study that I'm involved in researches how patients with HIV and diagnosed depression can adhere to their HIV medications and how their HIV affects their depression. It's pretty deep stuff! Another study that I was involved in for the lab researched bisexual identity development among college-aged women. I got in the lab the first semester of my sophomore year and I am very glad I got my foot in the door as early as I did.


In the spirit of Undergraduate Research, I would like to highlight the Office for Undergraduate Research, or OUR, since it affects so many students who will read this. The OUR describes itself as  "a centralized location for undergraduates seeking on-campus research opportunities and faculty seeking enthusiastic, motivated undergraduate students with whom to collaborate." (Taken from the OUR homepage).


Students can even visit this link, https://www4.uwm.edu/our/students/index.cfm, to start creating their own research profile and apply for credit in a research lab.


Another resource that the OUR website provides is a list of roughly 90 research projects that are happening on campus right now: https://www4.uwm.edu/our/research/index.cfm. If you are interested in getting involved in Undergraduate Research, skim through these studies too see what floats your boat. You never know where you might end up!

I really can't stress enough how important it is to start early in your undergraduate research experience. I have always been the youngest assistant in my lab, which means by the time I graduate, I'll have the most experience out of everyone - which looks awesome on my curriculum vitae and graduate school applications!

I'm really glad I got the opportunity to push the Lab Rats into undergraduate research and get them started in some labs right now!


OUR homepage: http://www4.uwm.edu/our/
OUR facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Milwaukee-WI/UW-Milwaukee-Undergraduate-Research/183946611475


Check it out!

Friday, September 24, 2010

ASL LLC gets an exciting new addition.


The ASL LLC is off to a great start and this week past week we welcomed a new floor-mate. Mohammed comes to us from Kuwait, and this is his very first time in the US. Everyone was very excited to learn we would be receiving a new resident and we welcomed him with open arms. The students spent a long time researching Kuwait's customs to make Mohammed feel right at home. He is going to be studying English as a second language for 4 months here at UWM.
He has come a long way to be with us.
It seems that this semester will be very educational for everyone! The LLC students will get to learn about a foreign culture and teach about their culture. They have already stepped up to teach me a little about signing culture. Coming in to this semester, I did not know anything about sign language or Deaf Culture but I have already learned so much from these students. For instance have a learned several signs like "nice to meet you", "understand", "girl", "boy" and several others. I have also learned how close people are in Deaf community. When you are part of the Deaf society, you automatically have friends and a family no matter where you are solely based on your similar experiences with the signing community.

I have learned so much from the ASL LLC residents and cant wait to learn more from them and from Mohammed. I'm confident he will return to Kuwait having had a very special experience here in the US.


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Business Panthers at Lubar's Back-to-Business Picnic!


The Business Panthers LLC located in West 5/6 have been extremely busy networking and working towards success!

The Business Panthers LLC kicked off their year by attending the Business Ice Cream Social in Lubar's Undergraduate Student Advising Office N297. There, the Business Panthers students enjoyed refreshing sundaes and conversations with the Lubar staff. Howard Spearman, a Lubar Undergraduate Business Advisor, talked with the students and explained how the Advising Office could help them. Then Greg Krejci, the Director of Business Services, introduced himself to the students and told them how his office could help them explore majors and careers, build their resume, and search for internships. Krejci also shared that he would personally edit the students resumes if they set an appointment with him ahead of time- just because they were in Business Panthers!

On Wednesday, September 22, some of the Business Panthers attended the Back-to-Business Picnic located at Pangea Mall to put their networking skills to work and get a delicious lunch sponsored by Lubar School of Business and Direct Supply. The picture above shows some Business Panthers students with their RA Louella Aquino and their Mentor Blen Bayu. Some students were not able to join due to class conflicts - there are some dedicated and studious students in this LLC!

Coming up, the Business Panthers will have another LLC event called "Lubar in the Residence Halls". Now that Business Panthers have made several trips out to the business school, it's time to bring the business school to them! Stay tuned for more information on this exciting event coming up fast in October!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The CS Welcome!

The Writing and Visual culture LLC is off and running smoothly, ladies and gents!

It's the fourth week of class now and hopefully we're all adjusted to the living and learning that has been going on.

Down here on G1 of North Tower things seem as creative and social as ever. I'm so excited to see all the residents hanging out and making friends. What's more, the friends we're making are our future network! As creative individuals, networks such as this will someday (or already are!) crucial to success!

You might be wondering what "The CS Welcome" is?

Let me being with explaining the name: The CS. The CS is a name for both the group of students in the Writing and Visual Culture LLC, and one of the nicknames for our floor (North G1, the Ninja Turtle Lair, NG, and now The CS). The Creative Suite, in the unabbreviated form, implies a general interest in creativity the residents of North G1 share. Maybe it's visual art, theatre, music, literature, or just a healthy interest in creativity. The people of North G1 are creative people. Thus the new nickname.

You have to admit, calling ourselves The CS is much more hip and edgy to say than Writing and Visual Culture LLC.

"The CS Welcome" was an event that took place on Monday, September 20th in Sandburg Residence Hall. It was an opportunity for residents of North G1 and students in the LLC class to meet, mingle and eat delicious pizza. Students enjoyed food, refreshments and good conversation. Not only did they get all that, but UWM mascot Pounce the panther stopped by for some entertainment and school spirit.

The CS is doing well, I hope you can see. However, to make this more clear next time, I think an official event photographer should be appointed. A picture of Pounce would have made this entry supreme! Send me a pic if you have one!

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Second week of Creating Your Future

Hi everyone! How's everyone doing? Well, our LLC - Creating Your Future meet up every Wednesday and it's been going great. There's about ... 20 students in the class and I'm trying to remember everyone's names.  It's hard but we all live on the same floor in one wing so I'll get it soon :)
Have I explained what this class is about?  Well, the class is more like a classroom-type but it's all good.  This class is about exploring your future career options.  Most of the students are undecided but have an idea on what their career might be.  Some students, like myself, have declared our majors but decided to join for more resources and information.  Today we played CAREER PICTIONARY and my team won (with my awesome artistic skills, just kidding) ! And then we evaluated our interests, skills, values, etc. and we're gonna fill out this major scorecard.  That's the exciting part! (for me at least) So, I'll update with you all next time :D

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Health Care in the 21st Century Update !

HEY EVERYONE,

Alright so the beginning of the year is off to a wonderful start. The latest thing that we have had as a fun event occurred right after the house meeting! Everyone gathered into a circle and played ninja. It was hilarious to watch everyone trying to make moves to protect and hit others hands at the same time! It was a great bonding experience for all those involved.


I do have to say though 15/16 in North tower is the place to be. Up to this point we have had a good 6 movie nights were everyone just decided they wanted to get together and watch a movie, as well as, a GREAT game night where a bunch of people sat in the lounge and got to know each other over a rousing game of apples to apples. But it is not all just fun and games over here, oh no... we also have a tone of creativity. A few individuals got together and decide to make a Robot.... Props to them !

Everyone in the LLC for health care thus far is a blast to talk and hang out with! I can't wait for the future events and fun times I know will happen with all these wonderful students!

Milwaukee Film Festival

This semester is already off to a great start as students in the Film Video and New Genre LLC have already become a close knit group of film makers. They have used each other as motivation to go out and start filming and making projects. Just this past Thursday I was walking back from Kenilworth and got near the Architecture building when I saw a group of my residents taking pictures. When I asked them what they were doing they said they were working on homework for their film class. Getting a head start most of them ended up finishing the assignment a week before it was due. Thus giving them time to spend the night in our lounge watching a movie.

This LLC has already proven to become a great benefit for the students as they have resources to bounce ideas off of and collaborate as well as give feed back. It is something I wish I had as a first year film student.

What have we been up to?
Just last week we had our first official LLC kick off where a group of about 20 of us got together and played some Scene It! and eat pizza. Poor choice on my part was that I forgot to order the drinks. Oops. We had a blast though and it was a very much back and forth race as we had four teams two of which held a strong lead and than suddenly it all turned around.


Most of the residents attended Pantherfest and had a great time hanging out together. As far as enjoying the headliner that is something you would have to discuss with them.


Also like I mentioned before you can always find them in the lounge about every other night watching a film. All the chairs are filled and you can't forget about the beloved LoveSac.

Whats up next?
We are currently planning to attend the Milwaukee Film Festival. Everyone has a good list that they would like to see as the film festival has a large amount of highly acclaimed films. So you probably will be able to catch one of them at most of the screenings at least at the Oriental. We will be attending as a group to the film Breathless (2010 Restoration) a film I enjoyed watching as a first year film student and one that will be talked about in their film classes as it focuses on the 1960 film style with black and white.
Films they have their eye on? Buried, Hipsters, Lucky Life, Waiting for "Superman" and much more.
The students also are considering volunteering at the Film Festival as they receive a free tshirt and entry to a movie.
Volunteers can register at http://www.milwaukee-film.org/section/volunteer

Thats all we got for now! Join us sometime!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Lab Rats Update!

Hey all!

It's time for an update on the Lab Rats! Recently we had a fun pizza party and discussed the first Lab Rats LLC class and what the residents hoped to gain out of being a part of the class and LLC. Some awesome ideas included getting experience in undergraduate research early in their college careers, starting to network with professors, and just having fun!

The Lab Rats have even already started their own research projects. Ishu and Shelbie decided to take note of how many times they saw transportation other than walking (i.e., bicycles, skateboards, rollerblades) around campus. Mike and Tyler kept track of people's favorite fruits. Kristin and Anurag tallied up how many hours per day people spend doing homework. The groups collected information by asking people around campus and keeping track of responses or just by merely being observant. It will be interesting to see the outcomes of the research!

Well, that's all for now from the Lab Rats. I will leave you all with this delightful photo (this is actually the default pic for the Lab Rats facebook group).


Friday, September 10, 2010

ASL LLC's first event of the year.

Hey everyone,
The ASL LLC has had our first event this past Wednesday the 8th! Our Pizza Pig out was a success, even though we ran out of pizza. We had started to plan a big event for our second semester, and talked about other option for this semester. We had a chance to talk with Katie Woods our ASL LLC mentor who had fun chatting with the residents, giving them advise and talking about the deaf community at UWM. Some of our ASL LLC residents will be going to the Brewers game this Sunday the 12th where there will members of the deaf community signing the National Anthem.

We've started out this semester in a great way and hopefully it will continue to go well.

Talk to you again real soon,
Kelly Keuper

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Business Panthers on the Prowl for Success

Hello and welcome to the Business Panthers Living Learning Community (LLC) at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee! This is the inaugural year of the Business Panthers; nevertheless, our LLC and our LLC students are on their way to big success.

I’m excited to introduce myself to you as the Business Panthers LLC Resident Assistant. My name is Louella Aquino and I’m a second year student pursuing Marketing and Spanish. It is my first year as a Resident Assistant, and I’m excited to also be able to guide the Business Panthers LLC. Before declaring my major this fall, I have already been fortunate enough to have had two Marketing internships: first with the Milwaukee Art Museum and second with Motorola, Inc. This year will be an exciting one for me as I dive deeper into my business education and explore business with my LLC students!


These are pictures of a Marketing Intern at work at the Milwaukee Art Museum: helping out at MAM: After Dark and the Brewers' Sausages' photo shoot.

The Business Panthers LLC will help students (already interested in business or still contemplating) explore business majors and careers, develop a sense of belonging with our Lubar School of Business, and academically and professionally reach success.

As the Business Panthers RA, some quantitative goals I have set for myself that align with the LLC's objectives are: 1) Have 80% of students in the LLC continue to pursue their business degree and remain in the LLC. 2) Recruit at least 3 students interested in business to the LLC. 3) Have at least 1 LLC student obtain a well paid, respectable internship at the end of their first year.

The Business Panthers LLC is located in West Tower Floors 5 and 6. Stop by, say hello and become successful with us!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Hey Health Care in the 21st Century !

Hey everyone !

I am Nikki and I am the RA for the Health Care in the 21st Century LLC. This is my second year as an RA for an LLC and am really excited for the different opportunities it provides for the residents. I am from Kenosha, WI but now call North Tower 15/16 home! I am in my 5th and last year of school and thus my last two semester are made up of Nursing Clinicals. I am engaged to a great guy who actually lives in east tower at the moment. I really can not wait for the year to get into full swing. The LLC welcome event today should be a blast. Remember LLC students to mark on your calender Sept. 27th since their will be a Tie Dye event where you get an awesome LLC themed shirt and then get to make it your own. Not to mention you will be able to talk not only your professors but other individuals in the Nursing and Health Sciences programs. Making Connections, plus having a blast....what more can you ask for?

Till next time, Nikki

Film, Video, and New Genre

Hello and welcome!

My name is Zachery Holder and I am the Resident Assistant for the future of our entertainment world, at least I like to believe so. I reside in Sandburg Residence Hall on the 19th floor where the Film, Video, and New Genre Living Learning community is already booming with artist and film makers eager to make movies.

I am a 3rd year student at UWM and a 2nd year RA. I am a film major myself and am gaining more of a focus in animation and video. I graduated high school from Verona Area High School right outside of Madison. It was my art teachers in high school who really sparked my passion to have film as my career as I spent most of my time in our video lab. I recently finished an internship at Walt Disney World and now am a Campus Representative for their Disney College Program. I spent my summer working at Six Flags Great America doing shows and parades. I also had the chance to work with American Idol while they were in Milwaukee which was an unforgettable experience. I am a RA mainly for the fact I love to help people and just be active in my campus and helping new students and meeting such great people along the way makes this experience all the better.

I am rather excited to have this group of students who a good number have connected from the start and have grouped up to start working on projects. It's exciting because it is definitely something I wish I had during my first year. It's great to see that within the first week of moving into Sandburg the goals of these residents are already starting to be achieved. Our goal for this community is to come together to collaborate on ideas and network to help bring those ideas to reality. One of the hardest things to do when making a film is getting people to help you and be dedicated to it. In the LLC everyone is here to make a film, video, or animation or something of the likes.

Up coming events we will be having our first Film, Video, New Genre LLC Kick off in the Channel on Tuesday Sept. 7th at 7pm where the residents will be able to test their movie knowledge and eat free food and relax just before the really jump into their classes and homework.

I have high hopes for this year! Hope to see you around!