Finals week is here, which means that the library is full and students are studying like crazy! I’m personally done with my exams this Wednesday, so I just have to endure 2 more days of studying and then I’m graduation bound! Exams started today and will go on until this Saturday. Students can access their exam schedule online at the Registrar’s website and check with their professors.

The most popular places to study are the library, Wilbur Cross, the Union, and the many cafes, lounges, and study rooms located throughout campus. If students need any extra help there are many resources to take advantage of, including:

• Qcenter tutors
• Writing Center
• Language Center
• Professors office hours
• Review sessions
• Study Groups
• Teaching Assistant office hours

However, if you need a break and want to de-stress for a little while, I would recommend visiting the therapy dogs in the library. Each semester during finals, UConn brings therapy dogs to the library to help students relax a little during their finals. This program is called Paws to Relax. I would also recommend taking frequent coffee and snack breaks at one of UConn’s great cafes!

Good Luck with Finals! -Steph

Hello all!

http://www.admissions.uconn.edu/blogs/stephanie/wp-content/uploads/IMG_7675.jpg Over the weekend I had the opportunity to check one more thing off my Senior Year Bucket List: SKYDIVING! The UConn Skydiving Club held an event over the weekend offering UConn students the opportunity to skydive at Connecticut Parachutists in Ellington, Ct for a reduced UConn student price! My roommate Samantha and I had been talking about skydiving forever, so we literally jumped at the opportunity!

It was an amazing experience and one that I would definitely recommend. It was easily the best and scariest moment of my life! I went tandem skydiving with an experienced skydiver named Mike. I was his 8688th jump in his life! After jumping out of the plane, we fell for about 1 minute, followed by 5-7 minutes of pure floating with the parachute. The views were amazing! We were even able to see Gampel Pavilion from the sky! I am so proud of myself that I didn’t chicken out and actually jumped out of the plane! Needless to say, I’m glad everything worked and I made it to the ground safely!

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First of all, I hope everyone that went to open house yesterday had an amazing time and learned a lot about UConn!

http://www.admissions.uconn.edu/blogs/stephanie/wp-content/uploads/405033_10150690870682075_507607074_9579303_1018192689_n.jpg In addition to being at Open House yesterday, I competed in UConn’s annual Oozeball tournament. Oozeball is a huge mud volleyball tournament organized every spring by the Student Alumni Association! Oozeball was started at UConn in 1983 and has been an annual tradition every since. Hundreds of teams compete in mud-filled courts for the title of Oozeball Champion.

The games are messy, but so much fun! Some teams participate just to have fun and fall in the mud, but others are very competitive and are in it to win! Luckily, the weather was sunny and warm yesterday, which made rolling around in the mud a little more bearable!

Oozeball was actually ranked #33 in Sports Illustrated: On Campus “The 100 Things You Gotta Do Before You Graduate (Whatever the Cost).”

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This time last year I was living in Spain and traveling throughout Europe. In fact, I think I was spending the week in Italy exactly one year ago today!

Every college student should at least consider spending a semester or summer abroad. I cannot express how much studying abroad has impacted my college career. I completely stepped out of my comfort zone and visited beautiful cities, all while learning how to navigate a strange place by myself, adapt to language barriers, and learn about so many new cultures. I studied abroad in Granada, Spain and have friends that studied in France, Australia, Italy, Denmark, Guatemala and so many other places! UConn has over 200 different study abroad programs in many different countries!

Each semester UConn hosts a Study Abroad Fair in which students can walk around and learn about all of the programs UConn has to offer. There will even be a Study Abroad info session during UConn’s Open House for Admitted Students this Saturday, April 14th.

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http://www.admissions.uconn.edu/blogs/stephanie/wp-content/uploads/tn-1.jpeg Hello! My roommates and I went on a walk of Horsebarn Hill over the weekend. Horsebarn Hill is an area of campus by the agriculture buildings and animal barns. There is a beautiful path for students to walk/run/bike on that has a beautiful view of campus. I have always wanted to sit on Horsebarn Hill and see sunset over campus (next time!).

I have been told that watching the sunset over campus on Horsebarn Hill is one of the prettiest view of campus and it is definitely on my senior year bucket-list!

Many freshmen visit Horsebarn Hill for the first time when they participate in a campus photo scavenger hunt with their FYE class (first year experience class). This class is a one-credit class that many new students will take their first semester to learn about all of the resources UConn has to offer and adjust to college life. One of the assignments for this class is a campus scavenger hunt.

Hello Admitted Students!

UConn will be having an admitted students Open House on Saturday, April 14th! Attending Open House is a great opportunity for admitted students to take a tour of campus, learn more about UConn, and get a feel for student life at UConn before making the big college decision.

I encourage all admitted students to attend! I attended the spring Open House when I was a senior in high school and it was a huge determining factor when picking which university to attend. Open House offers students a great opportunity to visit campus. To register, visit the Open House website.

We will have campus tours and many academic and residential buildings will be open for students to visit. We will also be having various informational sessions, including presentations on Financial Aid, Study Abroad, Residential Life, Student Life, and Major Programs.

Hope to see you there! Please feel free to leave a question or comment! – Steph

Hello Everybody,

We had our week-long spring break 2 weeks ago (Mar 10-18) and students took advantage of break by going home, visiting friends, and going on vacation. I went to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida with two of my roommates and had a great time! The weather was beautiful and perfect for going to the beach and the pool! It was a wonderful time to take a break from school and just relax. This was the first time that I have actually gone away for Spring Break. I went home my first two years and last spring semester I was studying in Spain.

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I want to go back already! We had a wonderful time and were sad to come back to our school work, but thankfully the weather has been beautiful here in Storrs and we are trying to enjoy our last few weeks before we gradutate (even with all of the exams, presentations, papers, projects). Time flies! Until next time! -Stephanie

Hey there!

http://www.admissions.uconn.edu/blogs/stephanie/wp-content/uploads/310607_10150455647267125_507117124_10314872_1054926856_n10.jpg Today I’m going to share some of UConn’s traditions! Now most of you should know that our school colors are Blue and White and our mascot is Jonathan the Husky… but do you know:

• All year round student organizations paint the UConn Rock to promote their organization or event. Rain or shine the rock is painted to represent a different student group on campus.

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• The UConn Fight Song: played at all of our Football and Basketball games, especially when we score points!

• UConn events:
  • Oozeball: huge mud volleyball tournament during the Spring Semester
  • Midnight Breakfast: takes place the Sunday night/Monday morning before finals to give students a quick break from studying
  • One-Ton Sundae: build your own massive sundae with UConn Dairy Bar ice cream
  • Homecoming: Parade, car-chalking, carnival, Royalty Pageant, Lip Sync competition, Football game, etc.
  • HuskyThon: annual student fundraising event to benefit the CT Children’s Medical Center

Hello all,

As hard as it is to admit, my four years here at UConn flew by! One minute I was a nervous wreck moving into my freshman year dorm room, and now I’m suddenly in my last semester of college. So, please don’t stress about your first year at UConn and keep in mind you only have four years here! I’ve compiled a funny list of my Freshman Fears vs. Senior Fears:

Freshman Year Fears:

• “What in the world do I major in?”
• “Classes will be too difficult and hard to manage”
• “I’ll be homesick”
• “I will never make as good of friends as I did in high school / I won’t make any college friends”
• “What will I do on the weekends in Storrs, CT?”
• “I have to eat in the dining hall every day”
• “My dorm room will be too small”
• “I won’t like my freshman year roommate”
• “The next 4 years will take forever”
• “I won’t get UConn Basketball tickets”
• “I won’t get into the classes I want as a Freshman”
• “I will get lost on campus”

Thankfully all of my Freshman year Fears were quickly dismissed and I enjoyed a great first year (Check out my earlier blog below: “A look back at: My Freshman Year”)! I took classes that challenged me, started pursuing a major that I was passionate about, met the best of friends, went to several UConn sporting events, was super involved, and eventually knew the campus like the back of my hand. My Freshman year fears were easy to handle, now that I’m graduating though I have a whole new set of fears headed my way! But thankfully, UConn has prepared me so much that I feel ready to tackle the world, even though I’m a little nervous!

vs. Senior Year Fears:

• “Which Grad School? What job?” (time to go to UConn career services…)
• “Grad school/my future job will be too demanding”
• “Am I really moving back home with my parents?”
• “I will never makes as good of friends as I did in college”
• “Only 5 weekends left?? How am I going to fit everything in??”
• “I have to cook for myself. Can you swipe me into the dining hall?”
• “I will never live in an apartment as nice as my apartment here”
• “My roommates are my family, how can I ever leave them?”
• “These past 4 years flew by… do I really have to leave?”
• “I never won the basketball ticket lottery…”
• “I wish took advantage of other courses offered outside of my major”
• “The Real World??”

Please feel free to leave a question or comment!

Hello Everyone!

My roommate Amy is an HDFS major with a concentration in Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) here at UConn. HDFS stands for Human Development and Family Studies and is located in our College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS). Students will start as an HDFS major and then apply to the concentration of their choosing at the end of their sophomore year to begin the concentration’s coursework in junior year.

There are several concentrations in HDFS, including:

• childhood and adolescence
• early childhood development and education
• adult development and aging
• family relationships: services and counseling
• family and society: policy and planning

Amy and the Early Childhood Development and Education concentration:

http://www.admissions.uconn.edu/blogs/stephanie/wp-content/uploads/199101_10150429405525114_787840113_17401164_4378280_n.jpg The most exciting part about this concentration is that in addition to the academic experience, students gain practical experience with children as well. Some of the courses include: Intro to Programs for Young Children, Infant/Toddler Development, Infant/Toddler Curriculum, Observation in an Early Childhood Setting, Early and Middle Childhood Development, Preschool and Kindergarten Curriculum, and Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood, among others.

One semester is spent in a fieldwork experience which includes an hour and a half seminar class and nine hours of classroom work in one of the classrooms at the UConn Child Development Laboratories. This experience is done with either infants/toddlers or preschoolers. The following semester then begins your student teaching experience with the opposite age group of  your fieldwork experience. This includes 20 hours in the classroom and a one hour seminar.

For example, Amy did her fieldwork in the Preschool and is currently student teaching in the Toddler Room. Student Teaching is a lot of work but also really fun and a great learning experience! Amy is supervised by the two head teachers in the classroom and along with getting to know the children and the routine of the classroom, Amy is also expected to run a movement experience, a group experience, and a group time for the 12 toddlers once a week. She is also involved in the teachers’ weekly curriculum planning meetings and will eventually be expected to plan the entire curriculum!

http://www.admissions.uconn.edu/blogs/stephanie/wp-content/uploads/mail1.jpeg Amy also works on developmental narratives on three children and will be holding parent conferences with these children’s families at the end of the year. It is a lot to do in one year but is a great learning opportunity!

After graduation, Amy plans on becoming a toddler or preschool teacher. She has currently applied to 5 different jobs – 3 in Connecticut, 1 in Massachusetts, and 1 in Washington DC! Early Childhood teachers are needed everywhere! You can work in other careers too with an Early Childhood Degree including: a foster care case worker, a child life specialist, a child advocate, a behavior manager, a human services case worker, or a research assistant, among others. With an advanced degree you could also become a speech/language pathologist, an occupational therapist, a special education teacher, an elementary school teacher, a child psychologist, a social worker, a family therapist, and a reading specialist, among others.

For more information about the major, visit www.familystudies.uconn.edu.

-Stephanie