Friday, October 30, 2015

Honors LLC Update

Hello all,

The Honors LLC continues to work hard and have fun. Our extremely social community produced a good showing at our most recent event, which was an RC car tournament. The students worked in teams to race remote control cars around the 15th floor lounge. The event required the teams to work on strategy and communication and was some fun competition. Some residents even came just to be spectators of the madness. Residents Joshua, Jordan, and Jake were the winners as they went undefeated in the tournament. 






I hope we keep up the environment we have in the LLC and continue the hard work. Also, tis the season for advising and planning that next semester. Honors advisors are currently available for appointments after students meet with their academic advisors. Honors advisors are Laura Blaska and Aaron Dierks. 

Keep up the good work everyone!
The Engineering LLC has been off to a great start for the year. On Wednesday, September 9th, the LLC had its yearly kick-off event. The Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science was in attendance as well as multiple other chair members for the various departments. Students were able to socialize with Dean Peters and the faculty members to start building a network with those involved in the college.


Part of the LLC also had an event where they explored Milwaukee. This event took them to the Riverwalk, via the public bus system, where they walked down the river, making stops at the Bronze Fonz, The Third Ward, and the Milwaukee Public Market. 

Art & Design LLC


The LLC students are having a great start to the school year here at UWM. As first year art students they are required to take specific foundational classes. These classes are Art Survey, Drawing 101 and then their 2D and 3D LLC requirement and finally Digital 118. Firstly, Art Survey is an introduction to the visual arts disciplines and contemporary art concerns. Students have been enjoying Josie’s approach to introducing so much material they find the class fun and inviting. Along side this in Drawing 101 the students are learning fundamental drawing techniques and skills that will flow them into other studio practices on campus. Finally, Digital 118 is an introduction to digital arts, focusing on historical and cultural contexts, theoretical concepts and studio skills using imaging software. This is taught through a lecture and lab class throughout the week with weekly assignments and a midterm and final project. 

Being that it is already October the students have now experienced their first couple college critiques of their art work. These critiques usually run the length of the studio art class and they engage in deep conversation about the individual pieces of work. This is the time where students get to explain their own creative process and what the works meant to them as they produced it as well as the peers to explain how they interpret the work themselves. The most recent critiques have been from 2D and 3D which was a paper sculpture, line dynamics and a positive and negative cut out piece. Currently in the LLC class students are working on a plaster sculpture where the students are to derive inspiration from bio-morphic forms and then a collage with ties to a social justice issue. 

- Peer Mentor Devin

Hey everyone, this is RA Joe. 
September was an exciting month in the Art and Design LLC!

On September 26th we participated in the GE Design and Build Challenge at the Milwaukee Maker Faire! At this event where we formed a team of residents and were given the task to build a device to transport a brain with. The team was provided tools, a junk pile and 3 hours to design and build their creation to run through an obstacle course. Although our team did not win the challenge, a great time was had by all and I give our team my own personal award for best design. 

The LLC's creation

This month the Art and Design LLC had quite a few exciting events. On Friday October 16th, Milwaukee Gallery night took place and I took residents down to the Third Ward to experience that. Many exhibitions including the Crossing Over exhibition and the of student work in the Union Art Gallery and the Faculty Exhibition in the Arts Center Gallery on campus will be opening and the LLC residents will be encouraged to go and check our their peers' and professors' artwork. Additionally on October 28th the LLC took a trip to the Lynden Sculpture Garden here in Milwaukee. 

Monday, October 26, 2015

Panther Military LLC

Greetings, 

After a very exciting dodge ball match, the Panther Military LLC is ready for their next team based challenge. What is it you ask? Survivor comes to Purin! Each veteran will be placed on a team and will be assigned to complete timed group challenges. The first task will include designing their own team flag and victory chant. Next, students will be given the task of building a small scale of a shelter and explaining their design. Following this the students will be engaging in a scavenger hunt and the first team to locate all items will be deemed the winner. Students will also be given rations (supplies) to work with an create tools that will help their team survive. Finally, the teams will come together and partake in a feast and prizes will be given to the winning team. 

Sneak Peak:

November marks Military and Veterans month at MAVRC on campus. I have been working closely with Michael Kirchner and the veterans from the Purin Military LLC will be attending the Vet's ball. This event includes a dinner, chance to win a $1,000 student scholarship, and a silent auction. Only military students on campus may attend this event. There is a small fee, but all proceeds cover the cost of the auction items, food, and the scholarship.


Field Trip in the JAMS LLC

The JAMS LLC has been busy with the beginning of classes, joining clubs and developing their journalistic skills, but not too busy to have some fun!

As part of the LLC's class this semester they get to take two off campus field trips: one to ESPN Milwaukee and one to Fox 6. On September 23, the LLC went on their Fox 6 trip and got to take a behind-the-scenes look at what a real life television broadcast station looks like!










The students were lead around the studio by veteran news anchor Katrina Cravy and got to experience what it's really like to work in a news room. They were met in the stations lobby and got to see Katrina tape an introduction for a feature story her and the production team were working on.





 Once in the atrium and production area of the studio, the students learned about different aspects of broadcast journalism and the different jobs you can have with a degree in Journalism.












One interesting fact Katrina shared with the group is that during breaking news, anchors are not always given a script to read so they simply watch a monster of what is happening and describe what they see. 




During our time in the studio, the students got to see a live broadcast right before their eyes! The station was filming their afternoon show when we stopped by to look around.






Once the taping was done, our students got to have a little fun of their own on the set taking pictures and getting the real news anchor experience.









 At the end of the field trip, Katrina gave out her business card and offered to let any of our students job shadow if they got into contact with her. Two of them, Danielle and Madison, took advantage of the opportunity Katrina offered and got to go back to Fox 6 and see what a full working day looked like at the studio!


Overall, the students loved the field trip and said they were even more excited to go through the school year knowing what lies ahead in their careers.

- RA Maggie Polsean

The UWM JAMS Living Learning Community tour the FOX6 Studios back on September 23rd to give the students a look at how a local news station operates. The students were greeted by reporter and anchor Katrina Cravey. You may know her from her segment "Contact 6" and on the show "Studio A."

While at the studios located in Brown Deer, the students got a tour of the building including the newsroom, and the studios that house the various sets of the news and FOX6 Wake Up. The students also got to see the control room where the stations producers help direct the newscast. We even got to see the closing for the FOX6 News at 11 end with Beverly Taylor and Tom Wachs.

After the tour, the students posed for pictures at the anchor desk and took selfies with Katrina. The picture I included in this post is RA Maggie and I at the anchor desk.

- Peer Mentor Stevan Stojanovic

Friday, October 23, 2015

It's Showtime Dance LLC




Hello! Its me again, Shelby, the resident assistant for the Dance LLC. This past month has been pretty amazing for the Dance LLC community. We have gotten pretty close and have formed many different friendships. One thing that has really impacted the community was the Dance LLC Kick Off event. We got to sit down with each other and talked about who we are as dancers. We talked about what we expected of one another and what they expect from me as their RA.



Lately, the peer mentors, Caitlin Reisinger and Brandon Hill, the Dance LLC stakeholder Dani Kuepper and myself have gotten together and have talked about the Dance LLC. We discussed different ways to get the dance community to be successful in their LLC class, as well as how to figure out how to make these programs and events fun. We have decided to make a list of different performances, provided in their dance classes and pick two performances from the list that we are going to see as a community. The performances we have chosen are The Milwaukee Ballet Company - Dracula and the Danceworks Dance Company- Footsteps, Shadows, and Whispers. Being part of the LLC, we are fortunate to be able to go to both pre-show talks. These two performances are at the end of October and the beginning of November. A majority of the Dance LLC members will be attending these shows, which is really exciting because it is a great way to get the dance community together and be able to watch a common passion together.

Another fun event that the Dance LLC had was on October 14th. We decorated the floor in Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations to prepare us for the fun fall weather. During this event, we decorated the doors and walls on the floor, as well as played games and decorated cookies. The community was pretty excited to decorate for the fun season!

Picking Up The Tempo in the Music LLC

Hello, Readers!

Things have been ramping up here at the Music LLC!  The residents have been hard at work with their courses this past month.  Just this past weekend, the members of Symphony Orchestra got to play in their first concert, some of our brass performance majors appeared in the weekly student convocation, our first choir concert looms in a couple weeks,  and everybody seems to be scheduled to play in masterclasses already.  All in all, the music students have been keeping busy. Nonetheless, even with all our curricular obligations, the Music LLC still has time to develop a very strong community in our Residence Hall!  It seems like our lounge is filled with music majors every night.

(Some LLC Students Performing in Brass Convocation)


The students are starting to become immersed in the greater Milwaukee arts community.  They have gone to attend performances at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, Skylight Music Theatre and the Milwaukee Rep to name a few.  One particularly noteworthy outing was to a Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Pops Concert held at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.  A highly sought after pops conductor and arranger, Steven Reineke, conducted a thrilling slew of Broadway favorites.  They were sung by the esteemed Broadway singers, Stephanie J. Block and Ryan Silverman.  We're truly lucky to be able to take advantage of student tickets here in Milwaukee.  The MSO generously offers $12 tickets to students.  When we're old and grey, we'll be paying upwards of $60 for any concert we attend.

(At an MSO performance.  Are we sophisticated yet?)

In addition, the students have taken it upon themselves to create a music video!  Without any of my persuasion, two students began to organize a group devoted to creating a music video featuring original music and dance.  They're collaborating with the Dance LLC to see this completed.  It's a fairly large undertaking, and they're still in the planning phases, but I know I'm very excited to see what the group comes up with!

This October, we're looking forward to Halloween, and several other exciting events.  We're hoping to bring in some professionals from the community to discuss job opportunities after college.  It's always a frightening thing to pursue a career in music... People often say, "so what are you going to do with a music degree?"  Truthfully, that's an excellent question, partially because a career in music is difficult, but also because it never goes exactly as planned.  I'm hoping these community professionals can show our students that there are plenty of unexpected, unforeseeable opportunities beyond college, and that the most important thing is to keep your eyes and ears open.
Thank you for reading!  Until next time.


Transfer Community - Out and About



I have quite a few updates from the South Tower Transfer Community! First of all, we just wrapped up our event called "The Hunt". Throughout the month of October, RA Katie and I posted pictures of locations around the UWM campus and encouraged residents to go take selfies with that location in the background. Residents got points for turning in photos of the correct location and earned bonus points for taking pictures with other residents from the community!

Another event the Transfer community just had was "Explore MKE". I took residents on an in-depth exploration of downtown Milwaukee. Katie and I wanted to get residents off campus and let them experience all the great sights and wonders that we have in Milwaukee. We got to see the Gold Fonz Statue along the River Walk, check out the Milwaukee Public Market, and navigate around the Historic Third Ward. All of us that went really enjoyed ourselves. It was a perfect way to start of this Fall season.


This month we'll also be taking a group of Transfer Community residents to an Admirals Hockey game at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Katie and I are both extremely excited for the event! Some more events the residents took part in the past few weeks was the LGBT Film Festival and the on-campus Glow Zumba event hosted by UWM's GroupX program.

Stay tuned for our next post to see how the Admirals game goes!

-RA Paul

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Health Professions Updates

The Health Professions floor has been bustling with activity recently! Everyone is gearing up for Anatomy and Psychology midterms and their first Practicals! But the Residents are really enjoying being part of such a close knit community with other residents who are in the same classes. This provides great help and resources just from their fellow students!

On another note, The College of Nursing's 50th Anniversary this year and the College of Health Sciences 40th Anniversary so, in honor of that, some of our residents supported their college by participating in the Annual Panther Prowl 5K!


On the horizon, LLC Stakeholders are hard at work planning some really cool events within the next few weeks! For example, a possible tour of the Blood Center of Wisconsin and personal student advising within Riverview on the Health Professions LLC floor! Stay tuned for updates!

What's Happening in the LLC?

Hello everyone,

My name is Jenna Towers and I am the Resident Assistant for the Career Quest LLC. Now that the semester has started rolling, some exciting things have been happening in the Career Quest LLC class and floor!

The students in the LLC class have been learning how to write resumes!! The importance of resume writing is key to starting any career you want to have. To have a class that teaches you how to write a resume is a great opportunity that a lot of college students do not have. In addition, the LLC class has you network with LinkedIn profiles and gives you opportunities to listen to different types of majors talk in class. The LLC students are given a head start to enhancing their career and that is a great opportunity to have! Later on in the semester they will have mock interviews to help prepare them for real life job interviews.

On the floor we just had our first LLC event! The event was to go to the All Majors Career Fair in the UWM union. This fair had employers from top corporations there to explain what types of jobs and internships they were offering. The goal of this event was for the LLC students to go and start talking to employers. To learn what they look for in an intern. To start finding careers or companies that interest them. To really discover how to model themselves into the kind of person employers want to hire.

The LLC students really enjoyed this event because they got an idea of what it takes to be the type of student employers want to hire. After the event that night we had pizza and talked about all of the companies the residents talked to that day!

















Lastly, it's Halloween this month and the Career Quest LLC will be entering a Tower-wide common area decorating contest! Here is a picture of what we have done so far!






Monday, October 19, 2015

Spanish House LLC

Holla!
This past month has been busy busy busy for the Spanish House LLC! For our first event the Spanish House LLC teamed up with the Local to Global LLC to travel to the south side of Milwaukee to experience the predominate Hispanic culture. We visited El Rey, which is a Hispanic super market, and we had our residents try new foods and experience the different atmosphere. After walking around the supermarket we had dinner at a restaurant called Jalisco a few feet away, which serves Hispanic food. We had a great time during our event and can't wait to partner up with the Local to Global LLC for future events! For our next event we will be attending Salsafest! Salsafest will be held in the Union Ball Room on October 15th from 7pm-11pm. Students will be able to watch professional dancers preform and they will also have a chance to learn how to Salsa from them! I am excited to let you guys know how our Salsafest event turns out next month!
-Adios, RA Laly
Some of the Spanish House LLC residents enjoying El Rey's desserts. 
Some of the Spanish House LLC and the Local to Global LLC at the restaurant!

Holla! 
The students are all doing a really great job in their Spanish discussion section! The instructor for the class, Ester Suarez-Felipe, gives them lots of opportunities to take what they learn in their classes during the week and apply it in conversation with their classmates. It really does not matter what level of Spanish each student has, we give everyone the chance to take what they know and expand upon that. Students are graded in their participation in the class and also their participation in the Hispanic culture, as outside excursions into the community count towards their overall grade. All I've seen so far is a group of people who really enjoy the chance to expand their perspective on the world around them.
-Adios, Peer Mentor Victoria 

Friday, October 16, 2015

The Business Panthers LLC Is The Place To Be

There is an old saying that goes “It is bad to mix business with pleasure.” In the Business Panthers Living Learning Community, we are finding out the opposite. As the initial hustle and bustle of the year calms down, the first year business students begin to understand the demands of college life. Many students have been hard at work over the past month striving for excellence in the classroom. While academic success is one of the primary goals of the Business LLC, opportunities to network and have fun are other factors that contribute to developing a dynamic business leader.

At UWM, we encourage our business students to be well rounded. Surely, the lessons learned in the classroom will be useful in the student’s various fields of study. However, offering engaging social activities that challenge student’s level of comfort and grows their communication skills is just as important. The Business Panthers Living Learning Community is a place where academic excellence, social connections and leadership opportunities collide to make a memorable experience for our world’s future business pioneers.

At this point you may be wondering, “well what exactly has taken place in the Business LLC over the past few weeks?” Let’s take a look a couple events that helped our students have fun while keeping business in mind:




Business LLC Hawaiian Beach Party
The Hawaiian Beach Party was the Kick off event in the Business Living Learning Community.  At this event students were welcomed to the Business LLC and provided the opportunity to network and socialize with their peers.






Oreo Wars

Have you ever tried to construct a tower using Oreo cookies, marshmallows and peanut butter? Well, this competitive event offered students the opportunity to engage in a fun team activity while building leadership skills. 


Education & Leadership LLC Update

A successful month of September has concluded within the Education & Leadership LLC. Residents participated in a variety of events in recently including pizza party study night, a study night at the library, a trip to the Career Fair, and Education & Leadership LLC Kick-off event that included pizza and root beer floats (pictured).

The Education & Leadership LLC Pizza and Root Beer Float Kick-Off gave residents a chance to collaborate together on their Educational Policy course outside of the classroom setting. This event also provided residents a chance to make new connections with other folks in the community.

Residents of the Education & Leadership have been collaborating with RA Bryce to create a pumpkin carving event that will also include a speaker from the Inclusive Excellence Center on October 21st. Residents are also excited to decorate their community with a Halloween theme in hopes of winning the North Tower Community Council house decorating contest!