MU Honors Program: Student Blog

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This week is going to express my desire of focus, professional craftsmanship, and breadth of knowledge - by this I mean this is going to be an incredibly short blog about aspects of campus, with little actual writing skill involved. Now that I have set such a wonderful picture, relax and enjoy!

Two random subjects:
Intramural Sports: Are a big deal here. A GREAT (notice how GREAT looks when I write it in caps!) example of this is broomball. Broomball is awesome. I love it; Miami University loves it. It is hockey without grace or skates (seriously, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPfhYxkdTcQ it if you do not believe me). It also may be the most fiercely competitive intramural sport on campus. There are regular occurrences between good teams to have multiple penalties per side in a single game. In fact, I have taken part in games where people have ACTUALLY (I love caps) been in fistfights over calls. Now, we Americans make fun of Canadians about a lot of (true) things, but one thing that cannot be solely attributed to our friendly Canucks is ice rage. I have had it and so have many others who have played broomball. And it is understandable because darn it (notice the censorship) I want to win! But to wrap-up the first part of my random topics I feel there are two recommendations I offer you, Audience, my Audience: Do not get too worked up over intramurals. The referees get paid terribly and it is not worth it. Second, when looking for things to do on campus, check out some intramural sports you would never have thought of (ultimate Frisbee, Frolfing, handball, etc.). For further exploration here is a link for all the options of intramurals at Miami:

http://www.units.muohio.edu/rsp/recsports/intramurals/

Greek Life: is also a big deal here. Miami is known for having started something like three different fraternities on campus and has more Greek organizations then there are Greek letter combinations – there is little exaggeration there. But before getting too caught up in the freshman Greek rush, I recommend to each incoming freshman that they seriously ruminate (50 cent word of the day!) over whether or not Greek life is for them. I say this for two reasons: first, to assert ambivalence towards Greek life and second, to show there is some pressure to join the innumerable Greek organizations. To address the first, I am not Greek nor do I support the Greek system (mostly the fraternities that do not let pledges sleep for a week… Yeah, I went there). At the same time, I know MANY MANY MANY (51% of campus) MANY people who are involved in Greek life and love it. As such, I realize there is a large desire for social community and paid friendships (just kidding) at Miami. So please, do not let my cynicism disrupt your interest in the Greek system (hence my desire for ambivalence). The second issue I want to address is pressure; there is A LOT of pressure for freshman to join a Greek organization. Not to overuse caps lock, but YOU DO NOT HAVE TO JOIN a Greek organization. “Wait. Wait. Let me repeat that. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO JOIN A GREEK ORGANIZATION.” Truly, some people make it four years without Greek life of any kind. A major desire for freshman, I feel, is the want to be part of something bigger– and the answer is that there are many organizations that can help you accomplish that or any other goals you desire here at Miami.   The campus is diverse enough that you should not feel pressured to join Greek life, so absolutely explore the possibilities of many different new ideas. If Greek Life is your thing, then do it. If not, join Club Broomball and travel to Minnesota with me!

Side Note: This blog is not meant to offend our northern friends nor the brothers and sisters of Miami; this is simply a humoristic evaluation of some aspects of Miami. Sorry to offend (if I did).

And that is all I have for this week! As always, “This is Johnny Rhythm saying ‘Goodnight and God bless!’” –John Lennon

Stressing Out…

Hello Everybody!
    Stress is a powerful tool. It is a major component of pushing people to accomplish great things or lose their sanity. Right now, I am asking myself whether I am more of the former or the latter. Hopefully the massive amounts of work that I have been doing are working towards doing something amazing, but only time will tell. What is important, and the purpose of this blog, is to discuss stress management here at Miami.
    To best discuss stress choices, stress options, and how to optimize your experience at Miami, I will look at my experience (which I feel can be common for honors students) and different ways one can manage their time and personal motivation. Instead of itemizing the various strains on my schedule I will instead group them by importance and then explain ways I have found to cope with stress:
    Most Important: These activities are ones that I feel I have to do. Most of these strains deal specifically with class, because I am very focused on what I am paying for: learning. For the most part, all other aspects of my life are pushed aside for classes (except family matters).
    Very Important: These are aspects of my life that I am incredibly interested in, but not vital for the learning process. These activities include international study programs, China Business extracurricular, environmental initiatives on campus, and AIESEC. What is important about these activities is that they are ones that I connect with on a personal and professional level; I would be intrinsically hurt to stop these activities.
    Somewhat Important: These activities include ones that are “résumé-builders.” Such activities are professional or academic activities that I do not particularly care about or am trying to get out of. This also includes activities that are optional “group-building” activities in my dorm, or organizations that are good for employers, but not connected with my personal beliefs; finally, they are other menial tasks that I feel are unnecessary.
    Social: These aspects of my life are for my personal entertainment. When I have time, this is the main focus of my life, but as it is now, I do not have time to be a socialite. And this section here is a major influencing factor why I am stressed out. Primarily because I know that I could be having more fun, but I would also be doing less meaningful things with my time here. This, I feel, is a problem for many honors students.
    Having discussed all the various aspects of my current life, I will now move into the stress management. Depending on what high school you came from, the transition from high school to college can be either scary or normal. Within the business honors program, I know there are many people who are used to moderately comparable outputs of work from their high school and so their transition was seamless; I am not one of those people. This is not to say my high school experience was a cakewalk, but it was significantly easier than college. So when I became a student at Miami, I was confronted with the difficulties of time management. On any given day I can honestly say that I do somewhere between two and six hours of homework - and that does not include class time, extra curricular, or social life. Needless to say time management and stress control are necessary functions of a college students life.
    Taking the various groupings I have discussed and applying them to stress management, it becomes instantly apparent that any college student needs to prioritize and balance the various aspects of their life to get the most out of their college experience. Here are some strategies that have worked for me:

1. Agenda: Necessary. Keeping an accurate agenda of homework responsibilities and events happening will reduce disorganization and increase efficiency. Along with an agenda I recommend a computer application of a calendar (iCal is my preference). This will give balance between homework and sociability, while keeping times correct and focused.
2. Prioritize: Like earlier stated, a major part of college is deciding what is important to you and focusing on those things more than the peripherals. Are you looking for the best time out of college? Do you want to leave college with a double major/ double minor (what idiot would do that?)? Are you trying to become and expert on art/science/business/ or video games? All of these are relevant questions that every college student is forced to ask themselves and then act in their best judgment.
3. Balance: This is the most important aspect of time management. At any given time it is necessary to keep the various aspects of your life in equal accords. This is because of a Buddhist principle that reflects all aspects of life: moderation. Do not do anything to excess unless you want other aspects of your life to suffer. It is really that simple.
4. Flexibility: This is probably the hardest aspect of time management, but essential. At any given time a student needs to be able to change their schedule to fit the unforeseen occurrences in life. A good friend of mine’s grandfather just passed away (may he rest in peace). There is nothing to be done to prepare for that, nor is there anything more important than being their in time of need.
5. Class Scheduling: There is an art form in scheduling. My recommendation is to take an excel sheet and map out the courses necessary for your graduation, then adapt your schedule to make it happen. At the same time, schedule classes that fit your lifestyle and optimize your output in classes. This will decrease your inefficiency in schoolwork and maximize your entire collegiate experience.

These five aspects of time management have (so far) allowed me to keep sanity in college while allowing me to focus on issues that are important to me. I am not saying that I am the best person to recommend how you schedule your time; I am just describing my techniques for time management in hopes that it will give in-coming freshman a better path to keep their life balanced between academic pursuits and collegiate experiences.
    Finally, I am going to bookend back to stress. Recently, I have had five exams in six class days and have been staying closer to the six-hour homework day. It has been taken a toll on me and pushed me to re-evaluate my choices at Miami. At the same time stress is a vital tool to push people to accomplish great things and can force people to grow mentally and emotionally. When coming to Miami, each person will be able to gauge their own stress levels and act accordingly. Hopefully the strategies I have offered will help the next generation of over-achievers better allocate their time and better themselves, the university, and the world as a whole. I hope this blog will be helpful, albeit moderately dull again (sorry y’all, its been on my mind), and just to bring it back, “This is Johnny Rhythm saying God bless and good night!” (-John Lennon)
With Love,
Jared

ET, Bio-Diesel, and focusing yourself at Miami (Part II)

Okay fellow Bloggers and bloggettes! Here is the second part, enjoy!

Recently I have become involved in two projects that I hope will forever alter my life: MU Bio-diesel and the MUITDC. The former is a project started by the Environmental Sustainability Council and a Green Oxford student that researched the feasibility of bio-diesel for Miami transportation systems and is hopefully coming to fruition by my hands. The latter is a competition put on by the University to stimulate ET knowledge and product growth and construction. Both are incredibly important to Miami University, the ET movement, and me altogether. But before I delve into why they are important, I would like to take time to discuss each:

Bio-diesel: The basic idea of the bio-diesel project is take used cooking oil from the ten dining halls on campus and turn it into useable bio-fuel for trucks, buses, and other diesel vehicles. This project has so far been almost entirely student run, with help from various people in culinary services and different professors. In the end, my goal is to create a prototype of two vehicles using processed bio-diesel by May 2009. This will hopefully allow Miami University to save enough money that they will be willing to turn a large majority (if not all) of Miami’s diesel vehicles into bio-diesel. This will save the University money and reduce carbon our personal carbon footprint.

MUITDC: Miami University Interdisciplinary Technological Development Competition (or something close) is a competitive experiment put on by the university to have undergraduate students create, design, and actually build a prototype technology that will reduce global imprint and hopefully reduce costs for businesses, communities, and America in general. There is a cash prize, along with funding on building the project; all-in-all it is a pretty incredible and time consuming experience.

Now that you all know a little about these new exciting endeavors, let us talk about implications of the projects, how everything discussed is related to the Friedman speech, and finally a discussion of current and prospective students.
    Both of these initiatives are student run, incredibly time consuming, and with a high possibility of failure. At the same time, they are beautiful résumé builders, Miami University programs, and ET plans that actually implement sustainability initiatives that everyone talks about but no one is doing anything about (MU received a C+ on environmental grading scale for colleges recently). For me, this is exactly what I want to be doing; these programs are field work and internships (basically) for what I want to do in the business/environmental fields. They are also incredibly well-thought out programs and will positively affect the world as we know it (or so I hope).
    These programs also relate to the Friedman speech because they are programs that do not need to be government funded (though one is), and can create amazing new possibilities in the field of ET. For instance, the competition is going to foster designs of initiatives that companies are able research, discuss, and possibly try to patent (hopefully ours). This is using innovative competition at its best. I feel that companies need to be looking into new ET products, researching ideas created by students and colleges, and creating ET divisions, just like they did in the pre-Y2K IT boom. This is because ET is eventually going to become a business stakeholder and necessity. Friedman knows this; he goes so far as to say that ET will become a revolution, with major business powers losing their assets because they cannot or will not conform to ET business trends. Whether this is true or not, it is true that programs such as the Biodiesel and the MUITDC are creating a new age in ET and business in America.
    Finally, how does all this relate to each of you as a student (prospective or current)? Employers want a candidate who can sink their teeth into something and show results (AKA motivated people). Now if you are like this guy, you do not want to waste a lot of your time on something that differs from your interests. There needs to be passion for your work and a strong connection between your moral and career choices. A great example of this is the accounting degree at Miami. It is a great major, with strong job placement, and professional experience, but are people passionate about accounting? I have asked many people why they are accounting majors and the general responses are:

1.    High job placement, with high pay.
2.    It seemed easier than finance
3.    I like numbers.

Now why is this? I feel it is because people (more specifically me) cannot be passionate about crunching numbers. Now do not get me wrong, America (and the world) needs accountants and I feel it is a great profession for many people, but not for me and is not your only option. Personally, I need to connect with people; I need passion in my work, joy in my task, and human interaction that will expand my worldview – basically I want everything out of my work. What I am trying to contrast is the difference between living from your work and living for your work. And that is something that I feel is the central aspect of whatever you choose in your studies and career: choose something you can go to sleep with every night that you know is right for you. And what I am doing right now is just that; I am actively trying to encourage environmental activism, while creating something for the world. My favorite quote from the Friedman speech was, “[ET is] an incredible opportunity disguised as insolvable problems.” Although I agree with this statement, I feel Friedman’s words can be transferred over so much more; Miami, despite some distractions, really does have incredible opportunities, but they are disguised and it is up to each of us to continually break through knowledge barriers. And please, do not pick your major for the job afterwards; pick your major for you.

ET, Bio-Diesel, and focusing yourself at Miami (Part I)

“[America] has lost its groove since 9/11,” said author Thomas L. Friedman when he came to Miami University recently as a part of the annual lecture series. What he meant by this statement is that American has lost its ability to communicate and build international relationships because we are so focused on 9/11 and terrorism. And because of this focus on fear and impenetrability, he felt America had lost its competitive edge. And it’s true. It can be seen that the job fields that are growing in corporate America are internal audit, IT auditing, fraud and compliance, financial auditing, supply chain, and public accounting. Now, I am not saying these jobs are not important (because they are), but they are not research and technology; they are not meant to keep America competitive. Many of these jobs are increasing because we are afraid of financial failure and because we are afraid of TERRORISTS.

    What Friedman went on to say, is that the next push in technology and capitalistic growth is in the environmental sector, or “Environmental Technology” (ET) as he put it. “Al Gore should apologize. And the reason he should apologize is because he underestimated the climate change happening in the world.” (This quote is not verbatim, but contains Friedman’s point). As such, Friedman said we needed to invest in ET because the world is only going to continue getting hotter, flatter, and more crowded (his books name is Hot, Flat, and Crowded). Investing in alternate and ET will be the next revolution after globalization and America needs to be at the pinnacle of this process. We are not; America is still caught in a one-sided war of scientific fact and unwavering fundamental belief, which has proven to be continually incorrect.

    Now, for those out there that say it makes no sense to invest in more expensive ET because it is fiscally irresponsible and illogical, you are partially right. It is illogical to invest right now in ET because there are cheaper, dirtier alternatives for every environmentally sustainable option. But it is not fiscally irresponsible to invest in ET; there just needs to be a couple major paradigm shifts in investing that will make ET possible. Friedman states that our government needs to increase oil prices and create subsidies for ET that reduce America’s global imprint. While I agree partially with this idea, I feel there are many viable options besides government subsidies and price floors. One avenue that needs to be viewed along with government intervention is the investment in the youth of America. Over and again, creativity has driven America’s economy and created the paradigm of the “American Dream” mentality that we all know and love. To continue this trend, there needs to be a push for ET that comes from the coffers of the “debt-leaving” generation to the young and vibrant members in society. And the best way to do this is the basis of capitalism: competition.

    To Keep things young and spry, This is the first installment of two blogs coming out this week which discuss the environment, programs on Miami campus dealing with environmental initiative, and how it affects the prospective and current student. Keep posted!

会见！