Video Blog

So my friends and I needed something to do and we decided to make a video blog to share with you all. I always like doing this because it switches things up a bit. It is just a bunch of people hanging out in Corey and Jake(some friends from second floor)'s room. I had them all either give a favorite memory or some advice about college. Enjoy!

Until next time,

Scott

Less than a month left...

I can't believe that I have less than a month left of college. Wow. I really don't think that has totally hit me yet. I mean, I'm sending out resumes and I'm attending end of the year activities and I'm looking for a place to live- but in the back of my mind I still can't imagine not being back here this fall.

Mary and I were talking about that recently about how we're not ready to leave. Well, sometimes. We're at different stages of how we're feeling right now (and to be honest, I'm not sure any 2 seniors are feeling the same way about it because it is just such a big time in our lives), but we are both in agreement that we'll miss it. There are things that I'm ready to see and do outside of Bluffton, but I love my friends and professors and everybody I come in contact with on a daily basis. I'm really torn most days because while I am excited to try something new, I also know how much I love being here, just down the hall from most of my friends. And I feel like I just started. Less than a month of college left? No way.

That being said, it's been a pretty good time lately. Last weekend was one of the highlights of the year actually. I'll let you read Mary's blog for the details, but basically 30 Bluffton students went to Denny's in Findlay around midnight on Friday. It was so much fun, and we got some good pictures from it.

Today I get to sit in on a meeting of the Board of Trustees for Bluffton. Myself and 4 other members of Student Senate will be observing some of the discussions and decisions that the Board makes for the upcoming school year. I've had the chance to do this the past two times (they meet in the fall and spring) and it's always been a neat experience. I really enjoy getting to see what goes on in regards to decision making from a different perspective than just a student who goes to college here.

I don't remember if I mentioned it yet, but in a couple weeks there will be a Rock Band tournament on campus! For those of you who are not familiar with this game, it is just like it sounds- you get 4 people and you perform rock songs. In my band I'm doing vocals. I'll make a video of us playing sometime so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. But anyway, I am getting really excited about this tournament and we are in the process of putting a band together now. We have it pretty much figured out except for one spot. I will definitely keep you posted on this, and include pictures as part of the judging is based on performance and costumes. Oh yeah, life is good.

Well folks, that is all for now. I hope you are having a great day whatever you are doing!

Until next time,

Scott

P.S. The pictures are from last weekend at Denny's. The first one of me is a really weird one (which begs the question of why did I put it up) but I was telling a story of taking a picture if I recall correctly.

Bummer.

So apparently my last blog didn't post. I wrote one last week and something must have happened because I just checked now and it isn't there. Sorry about that. Bummer. Anyway, it has been awhile since I last posted anything. Life has been going pretty well lately though. It has definitely been very busy, but there have been some good things happening as well.

It has been hitting me a lot lately that I'm getting close to graduation. Several end of the year activities are coming up and it is making me realize that I am almost done with my undergraduate career. That is super weird, but I can remember the day I moved in like it was yesterday. I don't want to get all sentimental though, so we'll change the topic.

I found out some pretty cool news this past weekend. As a senior business major, I had to take a test that college students across the country take, and I found out I scored in the top 90th percentile in the country. It was pretty exciting to find out, and the EBA (Economics, Business Administration, and Accounting) Dept. here at Bluffton is giving me $100! So that obviously was a great start to my week. (Sorry, I just felt like bragging there for a little bit. It feels weird telling people in person, but if I write about it it doesn't seem quite as weird for some reason. I'm not sure that makes sense, though.)

My Student Senate responsibilities are coming to a close as well. We (the executive committee and our advisor) met this weekend to decide the allocations for next year. It's pretty cool because as Senate we have a lot of responsibility, including deciding how much each student organization on campus will receive for the upcoming school year. In order to do so, each group fills out an application and then we look at them and talk about each group and the activities they have done as well as what they would like to do. We also discuss how many students are actively involved in the organization, etc. Our meeting took over 2 hours to decide, but I feel good about our decision. It's a neat feeling knowing that you can make decisions that will impact the rest of campus.

And then tonight I went to the mock interview session hosted by the Career Development Center. Several community members from all types of businesses volunteered to interview dozens of students. It was a great chance to get some feedback from real professionals who have had experience interviewing and hiring. I actually hit it off with one of the interviewers who offered to send my resume to a recruiter for his company in Indianapolis! I was excited to find that out, because it sounds like the type of job I might be interested in. I'll let you know what I find out.

Well, that's all for tonight. This is a busy week though, so I'll fill you in on the rest later.

Until next time,

Scott

Almost Spring...

It's good to be back at school after a week off for Spring Break. Don't get me wrong, I was definitely ready for a break from responsibilities and classes and everything, but when I'm gone for too long I get bored.

Spring Break for me consisted of visiting my brother and his wife in North Carolina until Wednesday which was a lot of fun (Mary wrote more on that), and then coming home for a couple days and just relaxing. I had a job interview as well but I just didn't bring my A-game and I don't think it went all that well. Oh well, I am just taking that as practice and an experience to learn from.

So I imagine if you're reading this there is a good chance you are looking at going to college in the fall. If so, you are also probably being bombarded with financial aid packets from all the schools you have been accepted to. A piece of advice from good old Uncle Scotty- breathe.

The decision that you are going to make about what college you will attend is big and I don't want to minimize that at all. But at least from my experience it just comes together after awhile. When I was deciding on where I wanted to go 4 years ago (whoa, that went fast), I spent a lot of time talking with my parents, my older brother and sister, friends, teachers, and admissions counselors. We talked about everything from cost to quality of education to opportunity to get involved and everything in between.

While cost shouldn't (in my opinion) be the deciding factor, it obviously needs to impact your decision. Depending on whether you are getting a lot of financial aid or whether or not you have parents or grandparents are helping to fund your education can make a big difference as to where you might be able to go. Even if you are essentially on your own paying, however, there are almost always a way to make it happen. Talk to your admissions counselor- they will everything they can to get you on campus.

But I strongly recommend balancing that desire for a "cheap" education with a lot of thinking about how the colleges you are choosing from will help to form you in your path through life. I've mentioned in previous posts about how different I am now compared to four years ago when I was making this same decision and I am happy about that. If I had a chance to go back and do anything different, I wouldn't. I have loved so much about Bluffton and the opportunities and experiences I have had here.

So as you're making your final decision in these next few months, remember to keep some of those things in mind. After I factored in a lot of pros and cons about each college I was looking at, Blufton stood out as the place that I felt I should be. There was just a moment all of a sudden when I knew that it was where I wanted to spend the next four years of my life.

Hopefully you have a similar experience. Talk to your parents, siblings, friends teachers, mentors, pastor, Sunday school teacher, etc. Ask them if they attended college what factors helped make their decision. Talk to current students at places you are considering. But most of all, make sure it is your decision by deciding what is important to you.

I hope that helps. Now if you have any advice for finding a job, please let me know as this is all new to me. :)

Until next time,

Scott

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

What a week so far! It has been nice because it hasn't felt so busy. Plus, we've had quite a bit of snow and my friends and I have taken advantage of it by making a snowman, sledding and snowboarding. It's weird because sometimes growing up people try to act so cool and grown up and then when you get to college something happens that makes you wanna be a little kid again.

Tonight we were out for the second time this week and we spent a couple hours snowboarding down a hill by Sauder Visual Arts Center. It's not a huge hill, but big enough that I'm unable to stay on a snowboard. We decided part of my problem is that I have such big feet (size 14 shoes) and so my heels touch the ground instead of staying on the board. So we got the bright idea that I should stand on the plastic sled and use that as a sort of snowboard. And now I'm in pain. I got going pretty fast on that thing and then landed right on my shoulder. The other guys said it was one of the coolest wipe outs they had seen so far that night though, so that was some consolation at least. But I was definitely on the ground for a little while, and my first thought was "I wander if I broke something." It's gonna be sore in the morning.

I just realized that I never talked about Tony Campolo (see my last post where I mention my world getting rocked). Anyway, if you've never had the chance to read anything by him or hear him speak, I definitely recommend you check him out. He is an incredible speaker who really challenges you.

But hearing him speak last week really shook me up. He was brought in for our Spring Spiritual Life Week, so that was kind of the point I suppose. He talked a lot about how we are so wrapped up in our earthly comforts and things that we don't even care about things like kids dying of starvation or the AIDS epidemic. It hit me because lately I've been so excited about the job search and finding a good paying job so that I can pay off my loans and save up money that I have been only focused on myself. God definitely showed me through Tony's message and also some Bible verses later that night that I'm gonna be ok, but that I need to refocus on the types of things that I should be focused on. This doesn't mean that I'm going to be a missionary in some third world country (who knows though), but what it does mean is that my options need to be broadened and I need to seriously considering what it is God would have me do with my life.

So yeah, I've been doing a lot of thinking the past week and I'm not sure what I'll be doing next year. Who knows, it might be finding some job and volunteering some time helping out at a homeless shelter or something like that. Or it might mean a year of service in some other area that needs help. I really don't know, but it's been at the forefront of my mind lately, and I don't think it's going to go away.

I feel like I've covered a lot of ground in this post and the different themes might not fit together as well as you would like, so let me sum up the points that I was trying to get across in my stories. First of all, don't be afraid to just go and have fun. Sure, you might be a little sore later, but it's worth it. Secondly, be thinking about the path you want your life to take and be open to changing your focus. God has a way of shaking up plans sometimes, so it helps to keep an open mind and be ready to adjust.

It's late and I'm tired. Good night.

Until next time,

Scott

Whoa

I apologize for what has proven to be my longest absence yet from blog writing. But alas, I am back, and I have tales for you that include, but are not limited to, staying up until 4 in the morning playing SimTower (actually, that's the whole story, I was just bored and I had the next day off from my internship because of President's Day), a road trip to Indianapolis, and my world being rocked. Let's dive right in, shall we?

There has been a lot going on this past week. It started out last weekend when I tried to make my computer run faster. Since I've had the same computer that I got because I came to college, it's been running really slow lately. I'm not really a tech guy, but I am ok with computers so I was only a little scared I was going to delete everything. I tried to format my hard drive, but it wouldn't really work. All my stuff is still on my computer, and it runs a little faster I suppose, but at least I found Sim Tower, which is a pretty old game that I forgot I had. So that's been my new time waster this past week.

Then on Monday I had to take a standardized test that all Business majors here have to take. Something like a 1000ish colleges around the country take it as well and it just lets the school know how the business professors are doing. It's actually kind of impressive because normally Bluffton seniors average around the top 70th percentile out of the whole country. As an incentive to students to do well and take it seriously, if you score in the top 90th percentile the EBA (Economics, Business, and Accounting) department gives you $100. So, I don't know if I did, and I'm not sure when we'll find out, but I think I did well. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Later that night Mary and I went to Fort Wayne to stay at her house for the night. It is always fun to get off campus and I love spending time with her family, so it was nice to be able to do that. Then we got up early Tuesday morning and went to see her sister and brother in Indianapolis. We got to babysit for her niece and nephew for a few hours and I discovered that I am apparently a pretty sweet babysitter. Aka, the kids loved me. I don't like to toot my own horn, but- beep beep.

We spent some time talking with her brother later that evening about jobs and what we are planning on doing. He has quite a few connections in the area and has been helping us in our search for a job in Indianapolis. Plus we sat down and talked about expenses and what we would have to make to afford living in the area taking into account rent, groceries, loan payments, etc. It was a little depressing to think about, but at least it painted a realistic picture.

Then the next day we went to a job fair in downtown Indy and realized that maybe we would have to keep looking since there were only 12 companies there. It was pretty funny actually because we actually stayed in line to get into the room for longer than we spent in the job fair. Plus, Mary and I brought the average age down by probably 20 years. If we had made the trip just for the job fair and didn't see her family, it would have definitely been a wasted trip. But it was a blast getting to see them all and spend some quality time with them. Oh, and I had an interview with some sales company that wants me back for a second interview, but I'm not sure if I will at this point. I'll keep you posted.

I just realized that I have written quite a bit and I haven't even touched the "my world getting rocked" part yet. I think I'm just going to write about it next time because I did not expect to spend so much time on what I did. So, I'm keep you in suspense for a couple days, but trust me, it'll be worth the wait.

Until next time,

Scott

So weird to be back here...

Greetings blog readers. After about a week of no posts, I am back. This past week has been a little weird because my schedule has been getting kind of busy and I'm getting over being sick. Plus I have two job interviews in the next week that I'm trying to prepare for which just adds to everything.

I have been pretty excited about the job search up until this point, but lately it's been getting me down. If you're familiar with Ben Folds, you'll know he sums it up pretty well when he sings "It hurts to grow up, but everybody does, it's so weird to be back here, let me tell you what, the years go on and we're still fighting it, we're still fighting it..." I love the thought that I'll be out on my own sometimes, but other times it just seems like too much. Even though I'm excited about my life after college, I also know that I'm gonna miss this place and the late nights talking with my friends, random trips to the Flying J, and even staying up all night writing papers and studying for tests. (Well, at least I'll miss my friends and the Flying J.)

So yeah, I guess you could say I'm embracing my future but fighting it at the same time. There are days that it seems like I will never get everything done and I'm just annoyed with all of the things I have to do- those are the days that I am ready to say goodbye. But then there are days that I have a few hours to relax and spend time with friends and play Rock Band and watch Scrubs unti the wee hours of the morning- those are the days that I know I'll miss. It's like I can't win.

But alas, time stops for no man. And tomorrow morning I actually have my first job interview. It is in Findlay with a financial investment company and I don't really know what to expect. I have been practicing (and will no doubt continue tonight) interview questions and shining my shoes (fyi, be careful when doing this at home or you might end up getting polish on your jeans like I did) and re-editing my resume for the 139th time and it's finally just time to do it I guess. Wish me luck.

Well, I best get back to the business that is the rest of my night.

Until next time,

Scott