Lyon College Blog

The last few days before Spring Break are the hardest for me to focus. Before this Spring Break can start for me, I have one more test, two papers to work on (one is to finish), a couple of meetings, and one last night at my job for the week. I am anxious about how I will perform academically, and I’m a little worried that I won’t get it all done.

Read the rest of this entry »

No, not me! I’m a very studious Lyon student. (Trust me, my GPA shows it…sometimes)

Let me tell you…I love to read! I cannot count how many books I’ve read in my lifetime. However, for some reason I have to fight with myself internally every time I have to read for a class. Assigned reading just turns me off completely. It’s like if I see a book on a shelf in a store, it would be very interesting to read. But when I have to pay hundreds of dollars for used books that are going to determine grades…I’m completely disinterested.

Read the rest of this entry »

So it is officially my last semester at Lyon College.  While I am not 100 % sure I want to leave everyone I’ve meet here behind, I am ready for a change.  The biggest change that I want to happen is living somewhere besides a dorm.  Dorms serve their purpose but they get a little old after a while.  I’ve figured out that the trick is to stay out of them for as long as possible.  Spend all your time elsewhere.  Another change that I am looking foward to is having my own parking space.  The parking area for Young House leaves something to be desired.  If you get lucky you can get a spot in the lower lot which isn’t far from the dorms but the not so lucky have to park in what is called the Way-Out-There Lot (also known as the WOT Lot).  I am ready for my own parking spot that is close to my house/apartment/wherever I live.  I am ready for a house but I don’t have the money for a house.  I am going to grad school next year so I doubt the whole house thing will happen anytime soon anyways…

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s about time for the Lyon website to get a little makeover.  I’m on a committee that’s evaluating the current website and considering different proposals for the re-design.  Here’s a few questions for you:  What do you think of the current website, http://www.lyon.edu/?  What aspects do you like?  Are there things that you absolutely hate?  What types of elements would you enjoy seeing incorporated into the re-design?

Read the rest of this entry »

As some of you may know, I am a senior this year.  And here at the end of my learning career, I’ve come to realize that I love passive learning.  In all my classes this year, we (the students) have had to present most of the information learned.  We have to dig around in our books and find important info, group it all together, find other information to clarify things, and then pull together some kind of presentation to give in front of our class.  Because of this semester, it has occurred to me that this is not my favorite way of having class.  I would much rather hear someone talk about something and me sit there and soak it in.  One of the clubs I am in, Alphi Chi, meets to discuss various topics of interest to someone.  Each week we go in and hear about some big project that someone has been working on in their classes.  I absolutely love these meetings because it is so cool to hear what they have to say.  I am going to miss the passive learning that is associated with school.  After next semester I will be leaving school and pushed into the active learning - the part where I have to do something in order to learn things.  Maybe that makes me a lazy learner.  What do yall think?

This is the part of the semester that makes me very anxious. It’s like I see the end, but at the same time it seems like it will never get here. I’m talking about finals week and the long-awaited winter break. All of my classes are winding down, and the big projects and papers and whatnot are becoming due. Why is it that every professor thinks it’s better to keep the big stuff until the end of semester? Whatever…I have to do them and turn them in to get the grade - which is going to be good, by the way. The good news is that one of my classes does not have a final…at least I hope that is good news! Oh well…ciao!

When the whole Facebook epidemic hit a few years ago, everyone warned me that if I got it, I’d be addicted.  I’m sad to say that they were right.  Yet, the creators of Facebook just couldn’t leave good enough alone; they had to make it “better”.  First came the Mini-Feed, which created tons of controversy as it showed practically every detail about changes made to “friends” pages, displayed wall-to-walls, etc.  And now, there are all of these crazy applications that can be added to your profile page.  When I go to look at a friend’s wall, I have to scroll down for practically two minutes because of all the applications they’ve added to their page.  Some of the applications are fun…..the SuperPoke!, Graffiti Wall, Greek Family Tree….and others just seem a little strange.  I keep getting invitations to add the Zombie and Vampire Slayer apps….to me, that qualifies as strange.  But hey, maybe I’m completely alone in these opinions…comments, anyone?

You know those bad dreams you sometimes have the night before a big test?  Where in your dream, you wake up and realize your alarm didn’t go off and you’re now late for your test?  Well, in my three years of college, I’ve had many dreams (actually, nightmares) about this, but it’s never actually happened.  But as the saying goes, there’s a first for everything.

Read the rest of this entry »

During my summer of research on C. elgans, our lab attended the 16th International C. elegans Meeting held on the campus of UCLA.  I know it may be hard to believe, but 1,600 people came to this conference to share their research and observations about one tiny nematode.  Let me tell you, these people were serious about worms.  No matter where you went, there was always a group of people engaged in a conversation about C. elegans. 

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the hardest, but also one of the most important, decisions that you’ll ever make is what college to attend after high school.  During the junior year of high school, the mailbox overflows with pamphlets and brochures from colleges….some sound interesting and some get immediately tossed in the trash.  If it’s a college that you don’t know much about, it’s good to do a little bit of homework-find out things like what degrees are offered, the faculty to student ratio, things that make the college unique, tuition rates, and the application process.  If, after evaluating those factors, you’re still impressed, schedule a campus visit or attend a preview day.

Read the rest of this entry »