Wednesday, November 30, 2011

So close and yet so far in the Honors House!!!

We have only 2 and half weeks left of classes plus a week of exams before winter break and the end of the semester!!! Just about everyone is feeling the stress and beginning to prepare for the exams. To try and have some fun before the end of the semester we have a few fun things going on! Next week friday a group of us are going to Discovery World on the lakefront!

a few days later, on saturday, another group is going to see the Nutcrakcer at the Milwaukee Marcus Center!

In keeping in tru Honors House tradition our house could not go with out being decorated for the Holidays! Alyssa Zasada spent a weekend putting together our fabulous Fireplace and Mantle,

and a large group of us had a lot of fun making the snowflakes and a mess ;)

We will never stop having fun! Well anyway I hope you all have a awesome rest of the semester and winter break!!!

RA Kelly

Architecture Tour of Downtown Milwaukee

Who says you need to go abroad or to another big city see significant architectural works?

This semester, the Architecture LLC had the opportunity to do a walking tour of downtown Milwaukee with none other than the Dean of the UWM School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Dean Bob Greenstreet. "Greenstreet", as the architecture students call him, took our LLC on a 3 hour walking tour downtown, pointing out Milwaukee's most significant architectural buildings.

Having lived in Milwaukee all my life and being a 6th year architecture student (BSAS and working on my Masters degree), I assumed I had seen and heard about most of the important buildings within the downtown area... Well I was definitely wrong. Dean Greenstreet's tour showcased little known spaces as well as the usual suspects. We had the chance to see spaces some people will never get to see! All of the students really enjoyed the tour and had fun getting to know the Dean of the school.

Hello, my name is Lucas Rentmeester and I'm the Architecture LLC RA. This is my 3rd year as an RA for UWM University Housing and my 2nd year as an LLC RA. I'm also a senior Architecture undergrad student at UWM.

I’ve been really enjoying having the Architecture LLC and helping my residents/students. Thus far this year we have done a tour of down town Milwaukee with Bob Greenstreet the Dean of the Architecture school. As well as, various project/model help nights. I look forward to the rest of this semester and spring semester and the various events we will have. (Sorry for the late post... first time blogging)

Sunday, November 27, 2011

End of the Year

Well the semester is wrapping and the residents are busy getting their final projects done. From this semester the residents explore the art of making 2D art forms. They went though the color wheel and playing with all the possibilities of color. They explored playing with space and shapes. With these foundations they are getting ready to adventure on making their own kind of art. I can’t wait to see what they will create in 3D concepts.
With the LLC being about community and living together, community was taken into the classroom. This semester residents worked on doing art in the community. The focused on the River west area, which got the residents loving the area that they are living in. From the classroom, community in the art and design LLC is very strong. Residents have all semester spend many hours in the lounge work on their homework together. The lounge is very active place at all hours. With this activie they have created friendships in this community.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

You Don't Always Need To Know Where You Are Going


Since this was my first year as a LLC mentor, I was glad to hear that I would be working with the Creating Your Future LLC. I am all too familiar with what it feels like to be unsure about your major and what you want to do after college. Since I already took the journey my students would be just starting on, I was very excited to be a resource for them. If anything, I could relieve some of the stress I felt when I entered college.

My main advice for students who are unsure of what they are going to major in is DO NOT WORRY...actually...be excited. Since you have no idea what you want to do you can take whatever classes you want and explore topics you never knew existed. My freshmen year I was able to take a variety of classes ranging from a political science class with a United States focus to a global studies course that opened my eyes to many international issues that I began to take interest in.

During my four years of college so far I have been a political science major, a global studies major and completely undecided in between every decision I have made. Now I am wrapping up my psychology degree and trying to double major in documentary journalism. As you can see, I still don't really know what I want to do with my degrees or in college, but I stay stress free by taking my own advice. Relax and enjoy college! It is more about the complete experience you get rather than a specific course of study. I have learned more from the people I have met, becoming my own independent person and exploring all avenues of life. For this reason, I think being undecided is the best major you could possibly be!

Community Leadership LLC!

Hey all!
Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was spectacular. The Community Leadership LLC, along with some friends from the res halls, continued to live up to their name all month. It all began with the RAKathon and continued with independent volunteering as well as some great ideas for the upcoming months, like "Don't get sick!" tips and adopting a family for the holidays. We wrapped up the month with a potluck style 4th North community Thanksgiving Dinner.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Winding Down

The Creating Your Futures LLC has been hard at work this semester.  The residents have been working very hard in their classes,with the last few weeks studying for midterms and now the residents beginning to get ready for finals.  In the Planning Your Major class, the residents got to learn how to create a resume.  The instructor took them through the basics of creating a resume and then some tips to really stand out from others.  Then, on November 9th, the residents got to have a local business person come in and speak to the class about interviewing.  The residents all found it really helpful and are planning to use what they learned to try to find a job on or around campus. 

Other than this we have had a few social events in RiverView lately and have a couple more coming up including a skateboard/longboard design competition, a ping pong competition, and our community specifically will be having a video game night in a couple weeks to celebrate the end of the semester and relax before finals get into full swing.  Before we know it, it will be time to pack up and head home for winter break! 

***Just a little tip to prepare for success for next year, make sure you meet with your academic adviser before you schedule classes!  Meeting with your adviser can help keep you on track and help you graduate on time! 

Monday, November 21, 2011

International Education Week

The past month was filled with many event that truly corresponded to the Beyond Borders LLC.  This events were those put on by the Center for International Education for the International Education Week.  The LLC took full advantage of these events by going to them.  The week started off with the Careers Across the Map: Working in International Education on Monday, November 14th.  During the middle of the week on Thursday the residents went to the International Bazaar where they were able to sees the different student organizations that have international aspects associated with them.  Dina Wolf even created a fun game with it by giving out goody bags to those residents that did come to the bazaar.  Then on the last day of International Education Week the LLC residents were invited to the Global Networks: Global Studies Fellow Colloquium where they could enjoy amazing food while listening to faculty members of CIE talk about their research projects and their goals for them.  Also on Friday, there was a fantastic program called How's it Going? U.S. Holidays were they were able to try different foods that coordinated to different holidays celebrated in the U.S. by different cultures while learning fun facts and the origins of the holidays.  The next event is another pairing with the Center of International Education with celebration of Human Rights Day on Tuesday, December 6th at 7pm in the Wisconsin Room.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

60 Second Film Contest

Hey everybody! The Film LLC recently had a 60 Second Film Contest. Here were the rules:
You have to break off into teams of no more than 4 people.
Each team was then given this quote:

"I was looking for that shop
where the shopkeeper would say,'There is nothing of value in here.'
I found it and did not leave.
The richness of not wantingwrote these
poems."

Each team had four hours to create a video 60 seconds in length. No more. No less.

Each team was given an obstruction to follow: for example, one team was not allowed to shoot on campus, another was not allowed to have any shots of more than 6 seconds in length, etc.

Immediately after the video was completed, the videos were screened in front of an audience and panel of judges. Everyone was allowed to vote for the audience favorite...except filmmakers were not allowed to vote for their own, of course. The votes were tallied, and an Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize winners were given trophies.

It was a lot of fun. We had lots of residents (even from other floors) come to watch the four films that were produced. All in all, it was a great event. Everyone is looking forward to the 12 hour film contest coming up in the spring!
I have placed a link to the Film LLC's facebook page so you can watch the videos that were made. There are more pictures up there as well.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Innovation House at Discovery World!


Hey all!

Three months into the semester and the Innovation House has some awesome things going on!

The highlight of the semester has got to be Discovery World! Ten Freshman including myself our half way through a program at the interactive Science Museum designing Lego Mindstorm Robots! Every Monday night for three hours, we design, test, and build Robots that utilize bio-mimicry. What I mean by bio-mimicry is that we are designing robots to mimic a plants action. You might not think plants move, but they actually do! The Venus Fly Trap closes its leaves to capture bugs and insects for food, the traditional bean plant moves its leaves around to maximize sunlight intake, and the exploding cucumber plant launches/explodes its cucumber when touched by something. The most exciting part about this whole process, is figuring out how you can design a robot to accomplish your specified plant task. And that is what we are working on! I will try to post some pictures if our finalized robots when we complete them! Stay tuned :)

Ross

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Fun Events!!!

Hey everyone! The weather is really starting to turn and a lot of people are looking for indoor activities for fun. I want to post up a few ideas I have for things to do that are close to UWM. One thing I have really enjoyed in the past and would love to go to more is MAM after dark. Once a month, on a Friday night, the Milwaukee Art Museum offers a night of special activities, exhibits, food, drinks, and friends. This website has a list of the upcoming events: http://mam.org/afterdark/?page_id=63.  They also have a lot of artists' talks that the public can attend. If you are an art student don't forget to get your free museum pass in the art office! You pay for it through differential tuition so go use it!!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

It's an Elephant!


So we had an event tonight. It was called "It's an Elephant!". Basically, you had to gesture a picture to someone, and they had to gesture to someone else...like the game telephone. I was trying to build there signing skills, using different kinds of classifiers. We had about 10 people come around so that was exciting! It went over pretty well with everyone; it was interesting to see how people interpret things so differently. Event=Success!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Architecture LLC / Environmental & Global Sustainability LLC

Hello! My name is Kyle Bilot and I am a First Year Mentor working with the Architecture and Environmental & Global Sustainability LLCs!

A little about myself... this is my 6th year on campus at UWM. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies degree in May 2010 and I am currently working on my Master of Architecture degree (graduating this spring). In Summer 2009, I had the opportunity to study abroad in France, Italy, and England, which was an absolutely life changing experience.

I have been involved with the First Year Center and LLCs for 3 years now. Last year, I was the mentor for the Environmental & Global Sustainability LLC, and this year working with that LLC again as well as the Architecture LLC. I love working with the LLC students. It is a very rewarding experience to get to know the students and see them transform over the course of the year. Watch for some updates of what our LLCs are doing in the near future!