Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Honors 2: Exploring and Studying


Hello again!

Since the last post, the Honors 2 LLC has been up to a lot (other than working hard in classes, of course!). We had a couple fun events. One event was really great. We stayed right here in the residence hall and went to one of the every Thursday night events, tie-dyeing! A couple people in the LLC had never done tie-dye before, so they got to see the process and had a great time experimenting with different techniques. This was a great opportunity for everyone to do something fun together and take a break from studying.

Some of the LLC participants also went to the tower-wide event where they were instructed on how to paint a painting! This was great to see them get even more artistic and get to catch up.

Coming up, we will be going to the cat cafe with the LLC. This will be a great opportunity to continue to explore Milwaukee. We will get to ride the MCTS bus and checkout a new activity close to campus. We will also be going to the Honors College play to support our fellow peers and to experience another aspect of the Honors College - cool clubs and awesome events!

Other than all the events, the LLC participants have been studying for their traditional courses and working on papers for their final papers within their Honors College courses. Thankfully, we have a great lounge on the floor that they can all utilize to not only study in but work with each other to provide feedback and get new ideas.




Cultures and Communities: Fun Nights and the Milwaukee Public Museum


Hello Cultures and Communities LLC! 

This past month has been so rewarding for me as a Resident Assistant. I have gotten to know many of the residents in this LLC, and they are all coming out of their shell. It is so awesome to see everyone making friends with the people they live near and have classes with! 

We have had alternating bi-weekly study nights and game nights for the past month, and it seems like everyone has been enjoying them a lot! Even if we do not have a game night or a study night, almost every night is a social night! There is always more than one person hanging out in the lounge and laughing, studying, or just talking with their new friends. If anyone is ever bored, they can just walk out of their room to hang out in the lounge.  

On December 1st, a group of some members of the Cultures and Communities LLC and the Local to Global LLC visited the Milwaukee Public Museum. As you can see in the picture, we were a pretty happy bunch! We had a great time, and we learned so much about different cultures, both old and new! We also got to learn about dinosaurs, rain forests, butterflies and more! The trip was very educational and applied to many things we try to promote in our LLC.  

I wish everyone the best of luck on their upcoming final exams, essays, and projects! I am so excited for the events we have coming up next semester. See you after break! 



Community Engagement: Make a Difference Day


Winter is finally here! On one of the coldest mornings of November, we had our Make a Difference Day event put on through the Center for Community-Based Learning, Leadership and Research. We were lucky enough to get snow the night before so we had to get creative with our rakes. A few residents woke up bright and early on a chilly, Saturday morning to do volunteer work within our community. We used the busing system to get transported to our assigned houses and helped elderly winterize their homes and do some needed yard work. While the leaves were piled high and the wind was bitter cold, we pushed through and made a positive impact on our community.

The residents were happy to have participated and we were even rewarded with a few Snickers bars! The rest of this month was filled with a well needed Thanksgiving break, lots of studying, and plenty of exams. The lounge has included socialization and studying and the residents are filled with anticipation to finish finals and fast forward to Winter Break!



Transfer: Homecoming and Hanging Out


November was a great month for the Transfer LLC!

First, UWM had their homecoming festivities in the early weeks of November. One of the great activities that took place was an LLC Banner competition. Every LLC was to create a banner that represented their LLC and they would be hung up during Homecoming. The LLC Banner that was voted best would then be taken onto the court at the Men’s Basketball Homecoming Game. This year the Transfer LLC won! A couple of the Transfer LLC residents were selected to take the Banner onto the court during the game and it was a great time. Everyone had a lot of fun making the banner and seeing it represented not just on their floor, but also to the rest of UWM at the game. The banner was a great way to show the many different schools that transfer students come from. This allowed the residents to come out of their rooms and learn about the many different places that other transfer residents have come from, whether that be from UW-Stevens Point, or all the way from West Africa! The transfer residents have also had a great time getting involved with others in the common areas of their halls. In Riverview, many transfer residents come out of their rooms to hang out with others in the common areas. They spend time studying, playing pool, talking, etc. and have also become more comfortable with surrounding resources such as the MCTS Bus system. This resource has allowed them to be able to go out and explore the many great experiences that can be had around the City of Milwaukee.




ASL: Dinner and Bowling


Finals are coming!!! Not to be dramatic or anything but finals are coming soon and I don't think anyone is ready for it. Thanksgiving break gave all of us a chance to catch up on some sleep and get a head start on some of our final projects. Aside from classes the LLC has been having a lot of fun this month!

On November 7th we had our Staff and Student Dinner. There were 4 teachers from the ASL department that came and many residents from the ASL LLC were there. We ate dinner and played animal sign tag. Since there were so many people we had to teach new signs for animals that hadn't been taught in class. Many of the residents were excited to learn the new animal signs because they were more exotic, exciting animals. Overall, it was a great night and I think everyone had a lot of fun. 

We also had an event on November 28th. The ASL LLC partnered with the Signing Student Association to have a bowling night at the Union Rec Center. Our stakeholder Erin Wiggins came and had a great time bowling with us. We even had a resident that isn't in the LLC join us. He has done an amazing job learning sign language over the semester just by hanging out in the lounge! We are so excited that another person has started learning about ASL and is interested in learning about the culture. This is what the ASL LLC is all about, teaching people about what it is like to live fully immersed in Deaf culture.  




Social Welfare: Coffee with a Cop and Service Learning


One of the main events that occurred in the month of November was the Social Welfare LLC’s partnership with the UWM Police Department to sponsor Coffee with a Cop in Sandburg. Coffee with a Cop is a program used by police departments across the country to connect with the communities they serve. The UWM Police Department usually hosts 3 of these events per semester, and we were lucky to be chosen as the sponsor for the final event of the Fall Semester. In addition to the Coffee with a Cop, we got together before break and had an ice cream and coloring event in our lounge. As we wrap up our semester, we are looking forward to a pizza party before study day and potentially touring the UWM Police Department and hearing from our own officers about careers in law enforcement.

A major component of the class associated with our LLC, Criminal Justice/Social Work 105 (Intro to the majors), is the completion of 10 hours of service learning within the Milwaukee community. By now, a majority of the residents have completed their service learning and reflected on the lessons that they’ve learned. One resident, a first-year Criminal Justice major, chose to complete his service learning at an elementary school within the Milwaukee Public School district. At the beginning of this resident’s service learning, he came to me and mentioned the difficulties of revealing his major in a classroom of young children who, for the most part, have grown up with a strong distaste for the police. Recently, he came to me and told me that he was putting together a presentation for the children in the classroom about the good things that police do. By the end of his service learning, he had not only gained experience and valuable knowledge, but he also left a lasting impact on the students in the classroom. This is just one example of the success that can occur by choosing to pursue an education in Criminal Justice and Social Work at UWM.


Film: 16mm film and Floor Events


November has been a busy month for the residents of the Film LLC. Students have continued working with the department’s Filmo Cameras and Sekonic Light Meters in order to shoot on 16mm film. Our Peer Mentor Alexis has helped guide them through this process, staging several in-floor demos to make sure everybody is getting the best experience they can. The students also created a special Film LLC Banner that was displayed at the Homecoming Basketball game. This month also saw several floor events, including a festive Thanksgiving-themed arts-and-crafts night, and a board game night featuring dozens of assorted card and board games.