South Bend

Student Life Update

by Jerry Madsen, Dir of Student Life

The Student Life initiative here at Ivy Tech has a lot of things going on in the month of November, so here's an update of what you can get involved in...

Poetry and Lit Club
If you have a love for poetry and literature - either your own or others - feel free to join us on Wednesday, November 1 from 11:30am to 12:30pm in room 2221.  Refreshments will be served!  If you have any questions, contact Prof. Comeau.

Black Student Union
The next BSU meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 7 in room 1121.  You don't have to be African-American to care about issues facing African-Americans here at Ivy Tech.  If you'd like more info, contact Asst. Dir of Diversity Affairs, Gale Vaughn.

Ivy Tech College Players Auditions
Interested in auditioning for a modern adaptation of Dickens A Christmas Carol?  The Ivy Tech College Players are hosting open auditions in room 1148 on the following dates:

Thursday, November 2 - 6pm to 9pm
Friday, November 3 - 2pm to 5pm
Saturday, November 4 - 9am to 12pm

If you have any questions, please contact Prof. Parmley.

Intramural Flag Football
Interested in joining a intramural flag football league for the spring?  We're taking names of men and women who would be interested in joining a team and competing against other teams of Ivy Tech students.  If there is enough interest, Ivy Tech will purchase the equipment, set a schedule and provide refs.  Contact me, Jerry Madsen, if interested.

Catch a ride in the CAB
The Campus Activities Board is having it's next meeting on Thursday, November 2 at 6pm in the Office of Student Affairs conference room.  If you would like to join us, please feel free!  Snacks will be provided.

It's not a blog without bloggers!
Lastly, we are still looking for more students to submit weekly entries to this blog about their experiences here at Ivy Tech.  Again, if interested, contact me, Jerry Madsen.

THE GOLDILOCKS UNIVERSE

SOUTH BEND, IND. (Oct. 10, 2006) - "The Goldilocks Universe: Not too hot, not too cold, but just right" will be the topic of a free public lecture Thursday, Nov. 2, from 7-8 p.m. in the CyberCafe at Ivy Tech Community College, 220 Dean Johnson Blvd., South Bend.

James Powell, Ph.D., chairperson of the General Education Division and professor of chemistry at Ivy Tech Community College-North Central, will discuss whether the universe was designed and fine-tuned for human habitation, one of the questions raised by proponents of the "Anthropic Principle" - a term coined by physicist Brandon Carter in 1973 which covers a series of topics in observational cosmology which include ideas about the origin of life in the universe.  Powell will show a collection of photographs from NASA space probes and the Hubble Space Telescope to help explain some of the key events in the formation of the universe, the Milky Way, and the solar system.

The lecture is non-technical and admission is free and open to the public.  The event is sponsored by the Ivy Tech Science and Math Club.

The World is Changing

by Ladifrog

My world got a little bigger this week. I officially started helping out in the Learning Lab. I have met more people this past week than I have the entire semester so far. And boy are the people interesting.

For one, there is an 83 year old gentleman who is taking classes here so that his days will be filled with more than just daytime TV. He’s an astonishing man to talk to. All the stories he’s got, all the things he’s seen, all the life he’s lived. It’s just amazing.

I have always loved sitting and talking with older folks. I used to care for a 79 year old lady who lived where the Atlanta airport now is located. The town she lived in is just gone, taken over by terminals and runways. She’s seen some amazing things take place in her lifetime. She’s seen things invented, new ideas take over and the world change all around her.

I wonder what our kids will say when they are 60 or 70 years old? What changes will they say they witnessed? What new ideas will have come about by then? Will technology continue to advance or will we reach a plateau and level out? Will we have settlements in outer space? Will the ‘Star Trek’ concept of the future be with us or will it be something totally different?

Science Fiction has always been a love of mine. The possibilities it show us, the possible futures we could experience. It also shows us where NOT to go. It gives us hints into the things that could go wrong if science is misused. I choose to believe that we will continue to grow as human beings and as a culture as a whole.

What part in the future will you play? What unknown path will you follow? It’s all up to you, the future is endless and so are the possibilities.

hi, I'm a new blogger

by American Butterfly

hi. i am a new blogger for ivy tech college. i am an 18 year old young woman majoring in general studies here. after ivy tech, i will transfer to iusb or bethel to major in music education. my member name is americanbutterfly because that is my myspace site. you can view my site @ www.myspace.com/americanbutterfly i also write poetry, songs, and stories. i have cerebral palsy. anyone w/ questions or comments can post them here or on my space.-americanbutterfly

One of those days

by ladifrog

I’m having one of ‘those’ days.  You know the kind.  The kind of day when you wake up and look out the window and see that it’s blah and grey.  The kind of day when you body is feeling it’s age in every muscle you have.  The kind of day that you just want to turn the alarm off and roll over and go back to sleep.

But.  (There’s always a but isn’t there?)  I have class today.  So what do I do?  Do I roll over and go back to sleep.  I gotta tell you it’s darned tempting.  Then I remember that I didn’t do so well on that last test and I should be studying or finishing homework or whatever. 

So I crawl out of bed, and believe me, some days it’s really a crawl out of bed rather than just getting up.  I stand under the hot shower and I don’t know if it’s the heat on my muscles or the steam reaching my brain or what but I’m waking up.  My brain is beginning to function and I realize it’s not so bad standing here in the shower.  Now all I have to do is get OUT of the shower.  That’s when the fun starts, it’s so darned COLD out there!!!

I swear guys have it easy, they throw on a pair of jeans and a shirt and they are done.  The choices for a woman are almost endless.  This shirt with that skirt, or maybe that blouse with those jeans?  I finally decide to keep it simple, a blouse and a pair of jeans.  Heck, if guys can do it so can I!

As I gather my books and things for school I realize I’m beginning to look forward to class.  It was less then 30 minutes ago that I was trying to crawl out of bed and here I am prepped and ready to go. What is the trick?  What gets you from wanting to roll over and go back to sleep to getting up and jumping in the shower?  In my case, it’s willpower.  You see I have a bad back and most days I wake up in considerable pain, so getting up is a contest of will on most days.  The mere act of getting up is going to cause me pain, so I have to brace myself for it.  It would be so easy to roll over and try to ignore the world.  It would be so easy to make a hermit out of myself.

But I discovered something really cool when I started school.  There are people out there to talk to.  There is more to life than the 4 walls of my house.  I actually find myself going a little batty from Friday to Monday when I don’t have any classes, because I don’t get out of the house as much. Going back to school for me isn’t just about the academics, it’s about the whole experience.   There are people to meet, friends to make, things to do and opportunities that I never knew I had available to me.  In a sense, going back to school has saved my sanity. 

It may seem like a cool thing to not have to get up for work every day.  Until you’ve done it for the last three years, then it really plays tricks on your mind.  When friends call you up and say ‘lets go here…”  I have a tendency to say, ‘Not today, I’m not really feeling very well” 

But that was before I started back to school.  My friends have commented to me on how much more accessible I am now.  I can only think that it’s the world of possibilities that have been opened to me by attending college that has done it.  So when you feel like rolling over and going back to sleep.  Fight the battle, believe me it’s so much nicer to be a part of the world rather than watching it go by out the window.