Tuesday, November 24, 2015


This month in the architecture LLC the students learned how to make sections and elevations. They also learned about the axonometric views in architectural drawings. They are learning how to use these skills interchangeably within their different projects. The students also went on a few field trips to Johnson Controls, Ideo and Workshop architects in Chicago. They also attended tutorials on the softwares Photoshop and Rhinoceros 5.

Next moth the students are designing christmas ornaments and will be displaying them in the freshman studio space in AUP...pictures to come!

Engineering LLC Update

This past month, things have been going full swing in the LLC. With Midterms come and gone, it is common to see students in the lounges studying and helping each other for their classes, like their engineering courses and Calculus. It isn't all work and no play though. Often, you will see students hanging out in the lounges just talking or playing video and board games.

Of course, the talking of the LLC is the Engineering Olympics. The first event was held on 11/16 and was a challenge involving a making a boat from limited materials to hold the most weight, The winners of all four weeks of the event will get their name engraved onto the plaque that is on the 9th floor of the LLC.

Since it's also getting to be that time, students are getting read to register for classes. Before the first event of the Olympics, Sharon Kaemfer, one of the advisors from the College of Engineering and Applied Science is coming in to the LLC to talk about the class registration process. She has been an advisor here at UWM for several years now and she and the rest of the advisors are dedicated to helping students succeed.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Art and Design October Update


Hey Everyone this is RA Joe!

October has been an exciting month here in the LLC! On October 16th I took the LLC to Gallery Night in Milwaukee's Third Ward. We went to the Tory Folliard Gallery to see the works of Susan Stamm Evans and Fred Stonehouse as well as visiting the galleries in MIAD to see their Alumni show and finally the Marshall building where many of Milwaukee's art gallery spaces can be found! 

Susan Stamm Evans - INTERWOVEN 7

The LLC had a great time seeing and talking about the art scene of Milwaukee as well as work from professional artists during one of Milwaukee's most important cultural events.



Hello Everyone this is Peer Mentor Devin!

With midterms behind us and both classes going through multiple critiques in their classes so a trip has been long awaited. On the October, 28th 2015 the Art and Design LLC took a group trip to the Lynden Sculpture Garden. This is an outside sculpture park in the Milwaukee Area that has 50+ installations spread out over their 40 acres.                                             

As a whole group we took a bus to the Sculpture Garden and spent the class period walking around looking at the various installations. This was another time when both 2D and 3D classes got to come together and connect with each other. It was a great time to get out of the class room environment and actually inspect some real art pieces and how the interact with the environment. 

LLC students while walking around and exploring the space were asked to find one work that inspired them and to take pictures of it from multiple angles, along with taking note of the artist name, title, medium. Once found they were asked to then do a discussion post on D2L which is a place where students post their ideas and can see other student posts and comment on them. In contrast as well students were then asked to find a work that they feel does not work or they feel in unsuccessful and go through the same process. 

Nightly News Viewing Night in the JAMS LLC

For quite some time now, I was wanting to plan an event where the JAMS LLC plans a Nightly News viewing night, where the students gather as an LLC and watch a nightly newscast such as NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, or ABC World News Tonight with David Muir. Now this is finally happening. On Thursday, November 12, the JAMS LLC is gathered on the floor to watch NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. We watched the newscast live right at 5:30 p.m.

I planned this event because, like discussed in the LLC class, it is important for journalists to stay up to date with what is happening in the world and current events, that way they know what is going on in the world.

I think that having an event like this enhances the experience of the Living Learning Communities because it's a great way for the students to bond together over a news program since one of the focuses of the class is journalism. Plus this gives the students an opportunity to see how TV journalists put together their stories for a newscast. Also I think it's a great way to bring back appointment television with a learning side to it.

In the future, I hope to have another one of these nights where we can watch ABC World News Tonight with David Muir to see if they notice anything difference between NBC's nightly newscast and ABC's nightly newscast. 

Friday, November 20, 2015

Honors Fall Update

Hi everyone,

Halloween was hit in the Honors LLC with many people dressing up, going out, and taking advantage of the West-O-Ween events here at Sandburg. I had the privilege to work the Halloween open mic night, which was a blast. Our LLC was strongly represented at the event and we even got to see some of the talent that is hiding among us. We are excited for the upcoming Thanksgiving break and then we will back to work in preparation for finals. Classes are picked for the spring, and as hard as it is to believe, the semester is almost out. I hope we keep up the good work and enjoy the break the fullest.



HONORS HALLOWEEN
Erin at West-O-Ween Olympics

November (vet's month) for the Purin Military LLC

Hello, 

November marks Veteran's month on campus at UWM. Veteran's month includes a spectrum of events tailored to give thanks and receive recognition for the sacrifices that our nation's veterans have made. This month I have worked with Michael Kirchner of Military and Veteran's Resource Center (MAVRC) to help get my first year military students involved in this effort. On Friday November 6th, 2015 we attended the Vet's Ball at the Renaissance Place on Prospect Ave. The Vet's Ball included a keynote speaker, an extravagant dinner, a silent auction, a dance, and a student scholarship for $1,000 that was issued to a military student in attendance. All proceeds from the tickets and auction will go towards supporting UWM's military students on campus. Both my students and I were very excited to attend this event.


Here is a link to the website: http://mke-svb.org/index.html

Spanish House LLC

Bienvenidos!
The Spanish House LLC residents have been super busy this past month attending events like Salsa Night, hosted by the UWM Roberto Hernandez Center, and a Spanish House LLC cooking night! Salsa Night was opened to any UWM student willing to learn about the culture and willing to learn how to salsa. I took some of the Spanish House LLC residents as a group to learn how to dance salsa and you can say we had a ton of fun!
 The Spanish House LLC residents also participated in a cooking night along with their Spanish LLC class professor and peer mentor. We met at six o'clock in the Cambridge Commons third floor community kitchen. We opted to cook tacos dorados con pollo, tortilla de papa, guacamole, and a dessert!




Check in next month to see what we are up to!
-RA Laly

Honors House II November Update


Once again, greetings from Honors House II!

November's a pretty big month for the Honors College, as priority registration was on Monday November 16th!  In the weeks prior, there's been a lot of class planning and contingency planning to do based on the Honors course schedule. 

To celebrate, we held one of Honors House II's new traditions:  the Rise and Shine event!

At 7:30AM on Monday November 16th, we encouraged HH2 residents to wake up and schedule classes on time with fresh breakfast food, friendship, and helpful reminders of how to use the PAWS system.

Then, as soon as the world clock strikes 8:00, we were snatching up our classes as fast as possible!  After that, we went about our day as normal.  And hopefully, with a little bit more excitement for what next semester holds.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Dance, Starbucks, Dracula!

Hey Everyone! The Dance LLC has been hoppin’ and growing closer together as a community this past month.  As stated last time we picked two performances to go see as a community and they were The Milwaukee Ballet Company – Dracula and the Danceworks Dance Company – Footsteps, Shadows, and Whispers.  I wasn’t able to go see Footsteps, Shadows, and Whispers but I was able to go to see Dracula with the LLC.  It was so much fun hanging out with all the dancers.  All the dancers have a lot of energy and were super pumped to go see Dracula at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. 



Before Dracula started the LLC headed over across the street to Starbucks to hang out, chat and grab some coffee with the Dance LLC stakeholder Dani Kuepper.  We also got a group picture in the Marcus Center before the show started.  



After the show was over the dancers had nothing but rave reviews.  Ask any of the dancer, you will be jumping out of your seat right at the end.  All in all it was a great time and I can’t wait until the next event.

October Adventures in the Music LLC

Hello everyone!

October has been a fairly packed month in the Music LLC.  In addition to battling midterms, October has been jam-packed with various performances, conventions, contests, and of course Halloween!  The Lounge is still buzzing with activity; in fact the Residents of the LLC took it upon themselves to decorate the lounge for the holidays.  We had a great arts and crafts night, complete with spooky cookie decorating.



While the instrumentalists enjoyed some of their first performance experiences last month, the choirs had to wait until mid-October before their first performance.  It was a very memorable concert, in more ways than one.  Near the end of the concert, we experienced a power outage; the entire cathedral went black.  Surprisingly, nobody panicked!  Everyone whipped out their cell phones and helped to light up the cathedral. When it became evident that the power would not be returning anytime soon, we decided to continue the performance by cell-phone light.  We closed the program with Leonard Bernstein's "Make Our Garden Grow," sung by all of the combined choirs.  Somehow the lack of light turned into a very moving experience.

The choir, lit by cell phones

In addition, several of our students attended the Wisconsin Music Educator's Association (WMEA) Conference in Madison, Wisconsin.  Each year, every music teacher takes off two days of classes to go be a student again in Madison.  They learn valuable tips and tricks from their peers, connect with other instructors and revitalize their passion in teaching.  The conference offers very reasonable prices for collegiate students, and many of our future educators got to attend and pick up some cool tricks.

WMEA Conference Logo
Most recently, several of our young vocalists went to compete at the National Association Of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Student Auditions.  This is treated like a formal audition.  You compete in a division calculated by your age and level in college.  We had several of our LLC members compete, one advanced to semi-finals, and another went all the way to finals, ultimately taking third place in her division!  Needless to say, we are very proud of her.

NATS Auditions Logo
As exciting as all of this has been, there will be even more coming up in November!  Classes are starting to pick up, and the LLC is feeling the heat.  We're all going to be working hard this upcoming month, so stay tuned!  We'll keep you posted!

Until then,

RA Eli





Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Transfer LLC


Two Houses... One Community... The Transfer LLC



Since our last blog update, the Transfer LLC has continued to explore Milwaukee and adjust to life at UWM. As the end of the semester continues to approach, the work load for students has multiplied, and school has become more time consuming for them. This however does not prevent the residents from socializing and enjoying the different areas of campus and Milwaukee. The great weather that we have been having has also allowed residents to be out and about much more than typically allowed for November. 


One of the major events that have occurred for the Transfer LLC is a group outing to the BMO Harris Center. Residents were presented with the opportunity to travel to downtown Milwaukee to see the Milwaukee Admirals play against the Rockford IceHogs in a game of ice hockey. Wisconsin has a large hockey culture, so this event was exciting for both hockey fans and people who have never been exposed to it before. Residents reported enjoying this activity greatly and some have even expressed interest in attending another game. This event required residents to take public transportation down to the BMO Harris Center, something that many residents have never done before. Not only were residents exposed to a new atmosphere during this event, but they were able to become more independent when exploring downtown Milwaukee. 
As the semester comes to a close, residents are preparing for finals and winter break. Between now and then, there are plenty of campus and Sandburg events to keep them entertained. In the upcoming weeks, there will be both house events and tower wide events for residents to participate in. One thing to keep an eye out for in the next couple of weeks is the Campus Food Drive. This is a great way to give back to the community, and bring about some friendly competition by among the different floors of South Tower.

Health Professions LCC Update!

Hello Everyone! Happy Fall!



The Health Professions LLC is continually hard at work with their classes and different events that UW-Milwaukee has planned, like Make a Difference day which the Health Professions LLC just participated in recently. With the help of the Health Professions LLC's Peer Mentor, we were able to organize one of the largest teams of the day, which is saying a lot considering their were almost 600 people that participated in the whole event! WOW! 


Make a Difference Day is a large community clean-up volunteer event where volunteers go out into the community and clean up garbage or help winterize the homes of older adults in the community and many other opportunities! 



We have many more fun events coming up! Stay tuned to see what we have going on in the future!

Until next time,
RA Sydney and RA Shelby



Friday, November 13, 2015

Leadership and Interviews Oh My!

Hello everyone! This past month the Career Quest LLC has been very busy preparing for their careers! From presentations, leadership activities, interviewing and volunteering, our LLC has been creating a better world!

This month the Career Quest LLC class had a lot of interesting assignments in the class. One instance was where the LLC had to give presentations on career services on the UWM campus. Their objective was to go around to the different centers and gather information from real people working in those centers to make a presentation. The residents in the class stated that they learned a lot of valuable resources that are on campus! In addition, the students in the LLC class had to do a leadership activity that is pictured below and learned what leadership skills they exhibit.



Next, the LLC RA and the LLC class teamed up to do an event with the Career Planning and Resource Center on how to be successful in the interview process. The presentation included tips on what to do before, during, and after the interview. It went over frequently missed steps and questions that people make in the interview process. Overall, the LLC class enjoyed the interview and next semester we will be doing mock interviews on the floor!!!

Lastly, the first week of November the LLC class volunteered at "Make a Difference Day". Here residents went to someone's house in Milwaukee that cannot rack their lawns on their own. So, they went and helped a Milwaukee homeowner prepare their lawn for winter. Everyone who went really enjoyed the experience!!!

Making a Difference One Pie at a Time

Hello Again!  
      We have had another fun and busy month here in the Education and Leadership LLC. This month we had many various events going on. Our floor took part in the Halloween Decorating contest and Make a Difference Day. Some of our students were even featured on the news! It was a great way to make an impact in our community and waking up early for it wasn't so bad either. The event focused on helping elderly residents in the neighborhood to winterize their homes. This included raking leaves, cutting or pruning plants and trimming back brush. It was a great way to give back! 

      One of the events this month with a biggest turnout was our Pie Your RA in the Face event.  This event gave residents the ability to participate in Dance Marathon here on campus in a unique way. Dance Marathon is an organization that focuses on dancing to raise money for the children's hospital and Miracle Network. On our floor, those who could not attend could still participate in this event. For each $1 donation made by a resident, that resident got to pie the RA of their choosing. (As I mentioned to them all as they decided..."You want to pie Bryce don't you?")….unfortunately they usually wanted to pie me. But it was all fun and for a great cause!  

- RA Annabelle

     

Meet Your Mentor Jessica Ferruzza



Jessica is my name and menting is my game. My name is Jessica Ferruzza and I am the Peer Mentor for the UWM.NET LLC. As a mentor I sit in the residents' class Writing and Social Media for Careers and engage with students to help with their transition into college. I am a sophomore pursuing a Industrial Engineering degree. Math and Science is my thing, I’m not much of a words person but I’m doing my best. I have been a University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin HR office assistant and an Orientation Leader. I am looking forward to becoming a semi-adult by starting internships this summer highlighting my interests in ergonomics and Industrial hygiene. Basically, making things easier and safer. UWM has been a great help in my success of transitioning into the adult world of resumes, interviews, and bills.

Social media had never really crossed my mind when it came to the job hunt, but this class has shown me how truly important social media is. With a society that is slowly going paperless, online news sources, social media platforms, and memes have become the forefront of what many people are seeing. That’s why being aware of your social media presence as well as being experienced with the different types are crucial. LinkedIn for example is a platform that can be used as a virtual resume where employers skim for possible job candidates. Facebook can help by making networking simple but can hurt you by seeing your embarrassing party photos. I may seem like your fun but employers might think you’re a little TOO fun.  This shows how social media can be a driving force when it comes to becoming employed. Whether you’re an outgoing global studies major or an introverted engineer getting into the social stream is a major plus.


Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Business Skills ARE Life Skills

The Business Panthers LLC has been keeping busy over the last month. As first semester eclipsed its halfway point many students are now acclimated to college and have found their niche on campus. Furthermore, spring enrollment is right around the corner, and Business Panthers are being reminded to sign up for advising appointments. (Don’t forget about the Business Ethics class that Business Panthers are required to take).

On floor three of the Business LLC, one Resident Assistant, has been holding study nights in the common area. Residents can come out of their rooms to work on homework, study, and socialize with their peers.  Since the all Business Panthers are required to take similar classes, these study night have been very beneficial; allowing students to bounce ideas off each other and help with homework. 

Another Resident Assistant held a cupcake making event where residents were able to frost cupcakes and socialize with one another.

Finally, the LLC invited the owner of the Milwaukee Admirals, Mr. Harris Turner, to Sandburg Flicks. Mr. Turner talk about how he is a UW-Milwaukee graduate and the path he took to becoming the owner of the Admirals. During his presentation ice cream was served, which was accompanied by an Admirals apparel raffle!

The Business Panthers LLC will be taking a trip to an Admirals game on November 21st.


Just A Quick Update

This past month, I have been focusing a lot on some fun events that the LLC will be having later during the year and planning our event that we will have at WaterTower View. This event is actually coming up rather quickly; it will be this coming Sunday and our residents are super excited to go make some Thanksgiving and Winter Crafts and get out and involved in the Deaf Community that Milwaukee has. In addition to prepping for our WaterTower View event, residents decorated our house for Halloween! It was super "spoopy." Although we did not win the decorating contest in West Tower, residents had a lot of fun putting up Halloween decorations and we are all excited to decorate some more for all the rest of the holidays and seasons coming up this year.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Scene One, Take Three: The 24 Hour Editing Contest, The Film

Scene One, Take Three. Our third blog post of first semester. Where has the time gone? Oh yeah - TO MAKING ALL THE MOVIES!

Film LLCers in Film 117 and Film 116 have been busy at work shooting their 16mm black and white silent films, editing 16mm film and doing field recordings. Almost every weekend brings a post on the Film LLC Facebook Group asking to borrow equipment and help out with shoots. The interconnections of the floor is very clear to see when it comes to these classes and working with 16mm film has a lot to teach about Film as a medium and craft.

The LLC also continues to be hard at work with the LLC Video. Days 1-3 of shooting each brought new challenges and scenes - including elevators, cardboard armor, shooting on the patio, bird shoes, bird shirts and megaphones. Residents are learning to organize and prepare for shooting, how to operate on set with each person in a rotating role, and how to manage a film shoot on top of a school schedule.

Check out some photos from recent days of planning and shooting:









The cast and crew of the LLC Film was shooting until November 14th.

Last weekend was also the third LLC Event for the semester, the 24 Hour Editing Contest! Participants broke off into teams and were given 24 clips, 24 sounds and 24 hours to edit. The Film LLC took over the second floor lounge of the Kenilworth Apartments where we had three adjoining rooms filled with couches, tables, footage and food.

The clips included coverage of a variety of park bench conversations between RA Lea and RA Josh. They were given wides, two shots, singles, CUs, inserts etc. and an encyclopedia of topics, faces and body language to edit into whatever conversation they pleased.

Other footage was of RA Lea walking through the city reacting "seeing something" and reacting in a variety of ways. They were then given an assortment of clips of "what she was looking at" which included city scenes and some alley way situations between RA Shannon and 2013-2014 Film LLCer Emry Brisky.

The sounds included some externally recorded audio from the clips, as well as isolated sounds like clapping, banging, a baby crying, a toilet flushing, birds chirping, chains clinking and more. LLCers were encouraged to create a sound environment or edit sound creatively as opposed to relying on sound.

Things got pretty crazy around the 4:00am mark. LLCers in Pjs laughing about the 20th century fox fanfare played on a recorder, showing each other their edits and snacking on an abundance of snacks and drinks provided for the event. Many slept between 6:00 and 10:00am and enjoyed breakfast of muffins, fruit and orange juice before continuing to edit.

LLCers looked up tutorials on masks, warped sounds, flipped footage horizontally, color corrected and more to make approximately 15 unique edits. Voting will take place this week online and the winners will get UWM Bookstore gift cards, their videos posted on the Film LLC page and trophies.

Many photos were taken and are coming soon. Here's some photos of the prep, including an enormous sign-up which included a column for "Best Team Name".



South side LLCers also made a bulletin board on Women in Film, an important topic which has recently gained some buzz on the UWM Campus with the intitiation of a brand new production club entitled Reel Women. 


The rest of the semester will be the LLCers finishing up filming and editing for the LLC Video, editing final projects for Film 117 and signing up for Film classes next semester. Keep an eye out for the 24 Hour Editing Contest voting site as well as photos!

Here's an introduction to the LLC that was recently made entitled The Fourth Floor Sitcom.








Monday, November 9, 2015

October in L2G

Happy Fall!

This last month Local 2 Global did some wonderful things in Milwaukee and internationally. We had an event in the lounge of our community where we created pinwheels through an organization called Students Rebuild. For each pinwheel we made the Bezos Family Foundation donated $2 to help Syrian refugee children. In just one hour our community made 207 pinwheels, meaning that we helped to donate $414 to Syrian youth - a job well done! Some people stopped by for a few minutes and just made a few, while others stayed the whole hour; and every single one is appreciated.


Making pinwheels!

Making pinwheels!

Making pinwheels!
This past weekend our community participated in Make a Difference Day. We spent Saturday morning going to two different homes of elderly women.  Make a Difference Day is a large UWM event specific to helping the elderly in our community winterize their homes. The first woman only needed us to rake her lawn to prepare for the winter. At the second home the woman had us rake her lawn, clean the windows, and change a few window screens to glass. The weather was perfect and we had so much fun talking to the owners' of the homes. A few of our international students also enjoyed their first experience with raking and the traditional "jumping in a leaf pile." It was a Saturday morning well spent for us and our community.

A big thank you to a resident in our community, Sean Xu, for taking the pictures below!






This upcoming month our community is looking forward to having a presentation from the Study Abroad Office and an International and Global Studies career advisor.

-RA Brigitte