Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Welcome to American Sign Language!

Hello everyone! My name is Vanessa Kersten and I am the Resident Assistant (RA) for the American Sign Language Living Learning Community for the 2017-2018 school year. I am a sophomore and I lived on the ASL floor as a resident last year. I loved it so much I just had to come back! I am Pre-med, majoring in biochemistry and minoring in ASL Studies.

Hello! My name is Katelyn Miller and I am the Peer Mentor for the ASL LLC. I am a sophomore in college and I am a Middle Childhood Education major and an ASL Studies minor. I lived on the ASL LLC last year and I am looking forward to another great year!

The LLC started off the year with our kick-off event where we played a variety of games including videophone, which is just like telephone but with gestures. Our stakeholder Erin Wiggins was there and even joined in on the fun.

This past week was Deaf Awareness Week Wisconsin (DAWW) and many of the ASL classes cancelled class so people could go to the events. There were people from all over Wisconsin who came to learn about Deaf culture and support the community here at UWM. I had class and wasn't able to go but from what I've heard the people in the LLC had a great time!


Things are settling down around here now that Fall Welcome is over and people are starting to really focus on classes. Almost every night you can find people studying in the lounge. Most people in ASL 1 are in the same class so it's very easy to ask questions about assignments and to get notes if you missed class. Other ASL students in higher levels are able to help with vocab, grammar and facial expression.  It is amazing to see our community growing together and improving on our ASL skills!




Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Welcome to Business Panthers!

We are so excited to have you and we can’t wait to see all the wonderful things you all do this year!
As we approach the end of our first month of the semester, we wanted to discuss some of the fun stuff we have done so far!

We had a wonderful Business LLC Kickoff! We played a “Guess the Company Logo” game and gave away LLC t-shirts, Southcat t-shirts and lots of study bucks! We also went through a ton of pizza and ha an amazing time! At our Kickoff, we asked you what fun type of trip we as an LLC could take and everyone seemed very excited about the idea of trip to a Bucks game! We can’t wait to start planning that for all of you!

Something we would like everyone to keep an eye out for are LLC Study Nights! These will be every few weeks on floors 1,3 and 5 in South Tower! RA’s will be in the lounges ready to help and your peer mentors will stop by to help as well! Oh, did we mention each study night will have snacks on each floor and different activities for stress relief? No? Well it is going to be a blast and we can’t wait to get this started for all of you, so that you can have a successful first semester here at UWM!
Your RA’s have a lot of fun events coming up for you so keep an eye out for what is on the horizon, and your Peer Mentors are wonderful people and are a huge help to you so make sure to utilize us all! We are here for you!

We can’t wait to see what the rest of the year holds for all the Business Panthers!
Go Southcats! Go Business Panthers! Go UWM!


(Picture Below from Business LLC Kickoff, Pictured left to right: Angela, Brent, Madison)


Monday, November 27, 2017

Welcome to Honors 1!

The Honors 1 Living Learning Community is an engaging space where first year UWM Honors College students live, learn, and socialize with one another outside of the classroom setting. This LLC was acknowledged as the 2016-2017 LLC of the year at UWM for its residents being highly engaged on campus and for it being one of the most social communities on campus. Events that are planned in correlation with the Honors College are meant to immerse LLC residents with unique campus resources and the City of Milwaukee. Opportunities that are presented to residents living in the Honors 1 LLC may only be found through living in the LLC. The month of September was met with LLC residents settling into their classes and making new friends by attending different campus events.

The Honors College courses that various LLC residents are enrolled in this semester are “Telling Tales,” “The Rise and Fall of Human Rights,” and “Writing Milwaukee,” to name a few. Honors College courses offer the opportunity for students to expand their knowledge in very unique and interesting topics while developing their writing and discussion skills. These classes are even more impactful for Honors 1 LLC residents though because classmates are also living amongst one another and the discussions carry outside of the classrooms.

The month of September was also meant to make residents feel comfortable on campus and to make connections. Residents in the LLC attended events such as a Pool Party held at the Klotsche Center, the annual Honors College Pizza Party, and the inaugural Un”Bowl”ievable LLC Party at the UWM Union Recreation Center. Numerous Honors 1 residents will be running together on the Honors College Panther Prowl team on Saturday, October 7. Also, the LLC will be attending a show at the UWM Planetarium titled “Moons and Myths.”


The Honors 1 LLC offers first year students the opportunity to make quick connections on the campus of UWM. The students that makeup the LLC are goal-oriented individuals that are looking to be leaders in the world and on campus at UWM. These are the reasons this LLC continues to be social, inviting, and productive on campus.


Monday, November 20, 2017

Welcome to Education and Leadership!

LEADing off the School Year with the Education and Leadership LLC!  

My name is Macey and I'm the RA of the education and leadership floor. I'm a second-year exceptional education major and I couldn't be more excited to spend the year learning and growing together with our community. A great deal of the students living on the floor are pursuing degrees in early-middle education and exceptional education.  
We started off the year by participating in our kickoff event "LEADing into the school year". We took some quirky personality and leadership style tests as well as attempting the infamous human knot teambuilder. We talked about how we can work together with our different leadership styles and mesh well as a community.  
We also had the opportunity to go on a camping retreat at Camp Minikani, just a short bus ride away. The retreat was planned by Ed Pol professor, Laurie Marks. After having free time and eating dinner we pulled our sleeping bags and pillows out into the common area and watched the film "Waiting for Superman" which discusses the impacts of failing public schools while taking a positive outlook on charter schools. We woke up early the next morning and completed a low ropes course as well as other teambuilding activities. The retreat gave students the opportunity to see one another in a different light and work together towards a common goal.  

September was a big month for us as an LLC! I can't wait to see what October brings seeing as we have some cool events in the works such as Dinner with the Dean and Make a Difference Day.  


Friday, November 17, 2017

Welcome to Career Quest!

The Career Quest LLC is a living learning community that is designed to help residents move forward in finding a major/career path. All residents are required to take the Educational Psychology – 110 Planning Your Major and Career course with Professor Lauren.

On September 14th, 2017, the Career Quest LLC had their Kickoff Event to start off the year. Residents were given the opportunity to socialize with their peers, participate in ice breakers, and get an overview on what the LLC would look like this year. Pizza and snacks were also provided.

During the event, Resident Assistant Kiana and Peer Mentor Emily shared ideas about future events and goals. A few that were discussed include;

Wednesday Night Study Sessions: Every Wednesday between 6:00pm and 8:00pm the 23rd floor lounge is “reserved” for those who want to work on homework or academic related projects.

Mental Mondays: One Monday a month, LLC residents will have the opportunity to discuss concerns, share thoughts, or just have some heart-to-heart conversations. This is a good way for the residents to get to know each other, and also use the time to relax and hangout in a stress-free environment.

Career Fairs: Each LLC resident will attend at least one career fair of their choosing to help expand their network and learn about possible careers they may be interested in.

Others (tentative): Nature walks, rock wall climbing, “Back to the History” Night, Resume Building, and UWM Bucket List incentives are a few other possible events.


Goals:
  1.        Each resident should participate in at least 2 events throughout the semester
  2.     Help guide residents in finding a future major/passion
  3.     Become a support system for each other, both in and outside of the LLC


Overall, the event was an informal, informational meeting that was designed to get residents familiar with each other, as well as give them an idea on what to expect to get out of being in the Career Quest LLC. A few residents stayed after to further discuss ideas they had or get more information on possible future events.


Thursday, November 16, 2017

Welcome to Art and Design!

On Friday September 15th, 2017 the Art and Design LLC had its very first Kick-Off Event of the year at Cambridge Commons! It was a great event filled with mingling, crafts, and food. Resident Assistant Hannah Biller, Peer Mentor Bella Chiappetta, Stakeholder Contact Melissa Wagner-Lawler, and in spirit Residence Life Professional Staff Stakeholder Rebecca Thomas. All these wonderful people either helped plan or set up for this great event! We begun planning weeks beforehand. RA Hannah door knocked and made flyers to get the word out, and also got supplies. Peer Mentor Bella raised awareness but telling residents in the 2D class they all shared to come. While Stakeholder Melissa and Staff Stakeholder Rebecca also advertised by reminding residents and telling them to come beforehand.

The event started at 12:00 and ran to around 2:00pm. The event was filled with a station of arts and crafts that consisted of various art supplies to create a banner that would be hung up in the community. Residents loved this, and immediately started painting and all decided to create a Halloween theme. The painted pumpkins and all things Halloween. While residents worked on the banner, our team provided pizza, soda, and cookies for the residents. We got a lot of praise for the food, and it was just the right touch!

This kickoff event was great because we had a really good turn out, great food, happy people, and it was awesome to see everyone and really getting the Art and Design LLC team to really start those relationships with all the LLC residents







Monday, November 13, 2017

Welcome to Architecture!

Hello and welcome to the Fall 2017 Architecture Living Learning Community!  This is peer mentors Emmy and JP, and RA Katy reporting in for this month’s blog post.  Each month, we will be sending out a blog post containing an update on the Architecture LLC here at UW – Milwaukee.  Students in the LLC experience the architecture program on a more connected level by living with their peers and attending a LLC course.  The LLC is off to a great start, both academically and socially.
In J.P.’s section of the LLC, the students have been taking inspiration from projects around the architecture building to create multiple drawings.  They then selected a couple drawings to morph into a crafted model.  This model will serve as a building block for the rest of the semester.  They are exploring concepts such as materiality, typology, and form finding. 
                In Emmy’s section of the LLC, students have been learning about site and how to analyze and diagram key features of a site. They also modeled the topography of a site near campus that they will eventually creating a design proposal for. Overall, the students have put forward some extremely well crafted and creative work.
                The LLC held its first even on Wednesday, September 20th.  Students were tasked with creating a structure out of Legos that would then be critiqued and judged by the peer mentors and RA.  The top three designs received awards created by RA Katy.  It was a very successful event with some awesome creations and great conversation. 

                

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Welcome to Panther Military!

On September 16, 2017, the Military Learning Living Community conducted its kickoff event. Two residents from the LLC traveled with Resident Assistant Matthew Bruders to Adventure Rock to go climbing and bouldering and have some bonding experiences. Only two residents could go since some of the other residents had drill that weekend and could not make it. Also, due to the weather problems happening around the United States a few of the LLC members were called off to help in those areas of the country and had to leave the LLC.  The two residents and myself meet on the third floor of Purin Hall and walked over to the Union to ride the shuttle service to Riverview Residence Hall. We meet Residence Life Coordinator Sarah Weiler at Riverview Residence Hall and walked across the street to Adventure Rock. The residents and myself had a great time climbing the walls and then bouldering. Bouldering was probably the more popular of the two different climbing styles that we could do because the residents and myself were able to test our limits without worrying about falling or dangling from a machine on top of a wall. We all got a little competitive and raced each other on different climbs. Starting out at the basic ones we tried many different climbs and really got to know each other quite a bit more than before. After bouldering and getting a few blisters the residents and myself were tired after only climbing for 2 hours. Overall it was a lot of fun, it brought the residents together, and brought a little bit of the competitiveness out of everyone which isn’t always a bad thing. We also developed more confidence in ourselves and had a great time.



Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Welcome to Social Justice!

The first month of the semester in the Social Justice LLC has gotten off to a great start! We started the month with a community meeting, designed to get everyone familiar with their brand new neighbors, followed shortly after by the LLC's kick off at the SocioCultural Spectacular. Members of the LLC were able to listen to live music, define what “We the People” means to them, make buttons and more! With classes in full swing, members of the LLC have met with Peer Mentor Melissa on Sunday nights to study for their LLC history class with some help from their classmates. To close off the month, the LLC met again to define what social justice means to them as well as make buttons that represented a multitude of identities, all while getting to know each other over pizza. 

We’re excited for the year ahead, with some exciting collaborations with LGBT Resource Center and Sociocultural Programming, featuring some festive activities, speakers from within the Social Justice community, interesting panels and conferences, and involvement opportunities for residents of the Social Justice LLC to get involved with social justice and activism on a grander scale than what we can offer in University Housing. Members of the LLC have also offered suggestions on what they would like to do within the LLC, ranging from community decorations to events out in the community. We are so excited to have such an engaged community this year and look forward to the opportunities and fun this year will bring!