How I Got Through Finals: Party Keg...of Root Beer

I am happy to say that finals are final. This term has been the most stressful yet but the funny thing is I say that at the end of each term. Welcome to graduate school...... you know what I mean?

So, I have decided to share my secret to getting through finals Winter 2008. The bottom line is that it was all about the beer.... root beer of course. There are not too many places one can score the 5 liter party keg of Virgil's Root Beer but our local Price Cutter Plus grocery store keeps these bad boys in stock. For a crisp $20 a person can walk in, shoulder this keg, and walk out without even being carded, regardless of your age. That is a sweet deal!

All jokes aside though, this brew has kept me up and alert at some extreme times of these most recent nights. Between having exams to study for as well as a term paper to complete, time was not on my side. The ability to stay awake through the wee small hours of the morning made all the difference. So with that I will embark on my Spring break by extending a big 5 liter thanks to Virgil and sending everyone else a happy "see you next term".

A Year of Change

I recently gathered many Student Council photos from the past year to put together some photos to be displayed at St. Michael's Educational Sports Bar & Grille. St. Michael's is our student hang out and the place where we hold our monthly meetings. I know it may sound weird to hold Student Council meetings at a bar but some how it works.... it works very well. The atmosphere is so conducive to getting new perspectives out on the table and to having everyone relaxed during the meeting. With this said I should note that during our meeting we are not partaking of items from the bar but just from the kitchen :)

The owners of St. Michael's were very excited about having Forest call this place our hang out that they even offered to put up any memorabilia that we brought them. So at our last meeting we gave them some of our official t-shirts and these photos. Hence, I needed to gather the photos.

While I was doing this I realized how many changes our Council has been involved with this year. In some strange form of synchronicity it was also the year the name of the school officially changed along with a new logo. It was simply a year of change for Forest Institute. It has certainly been an honor to be involved in these changes. With change comes many expectations, I certainly am hopeful of the impact these many changes will have on the future at Forest Institute.

Supply & Demand at Spring 2008 Registration

Since arriving at the Forest Institute campus back in the summer of 2006 I have registered a total of 6 times. Each time I have arrived to the campus around 8:45 am, usually just before a 9:00 am class, and dropped off my registration with no problem. This registration was different, much different......

I was told by Phillip Raleigh, the guy with all the info, that registration was taking on an all new form. There were many courses that had not only been capped but also sought after by more than the cap, many more. I knew I was going to have to arrive early.... of course early is a subjective measurement.


I arrived at 7:00am and was very surprised at the number of cars already in the parking lot. Once the doors opened I found myself in line behind around 15 other students. As we waited for registration to begin at 8:00am people continued to slowly file into line behind us. By the time I had finished my registration there was a line like I had never seen. Registration certainly did take on another form. Some how we have become a school with limited, yet highly sought after resources, especially including our courses.

A Week of Matching & Clearinghouse

This week was the "great & terrible" week of Match and Clearinghouse for the internship applicants. Within my role in Student Council I have been able to experience this both last year and this year. What I take from these experiences is that it is stressful, no matter how you slice it, simply stressful.

The basic idea here is that APPIC serves as the mediator between interns and internship sites. It is through APPIC that interns obtain application requirements and related information regarding the many sites available. When the time comes you apply by sending massive envelopes of internship application materials to each site you desire to apply to. Then if you are fortunate you are extended interviews to some of the sites. After interviews you rank the sites that extended interviews as they too rank those who interviewed. APPIC tabulates the rankings and then: POOF the Match has occurred. However, for one reason or another some interns will still be without a placement and some sites without an intern. This could be because the interns were not extended an interview or simply did not get ranked high by the sites they ranked high. Regardless, those without a placement then participate in Clearinghouse.

This is when all the sites without interns and all the interns without a site are directed by APPIC to begin emailing and calling each other to fill in the holes. A very stressful time, many choices must be made very quickly, not fun. Sometimes you land a good site, sometimes a bad one, and sometimes none at all.

Each year the Student Council assist the internship applicants during clearinghouse. This opportunity to assist and gain first-hand experience is of greater value than any other preparation for this process. I again have gained great insight as to how I plan to approach this capstone event of my time at Forest.