Freshman
Hometown | Falconer
Major | Political Science

Entry: 2/04/08.

Christina,

I think it’s great that you’re looking at JCC as a college option. This is a great college - with an emphasis on the great!

My favorite part of JCC would be how all the teachers get to know you and do whatever they can to help you. In some subjects that don't really interest me I sometimes need a little help to keep up. The teachers here take as much time as possible out of their day to make sure you succeed, which is a great benefit. My best friend from high school is going to Ohio State right now and he told me his smallest class consists of 250 students. My biggest class this semester is about 30 students. JCC is a great transition from high school into the college life. I mean, what more could you ask for? You can live at home and eat your parents’ food and get a great education from people that care about you and not their own personal studies, such as one of my friend’s professors at Ohio State. Looking on the negative side, there really is not a lot bad to say about JCC. The only negative thing I really noticed is if you get to school a little late, the parking lot is full and you have to walk a mile to your classes. I think JCC is a great place to start out, I love it here. A word of wisdom if anyone ever tells you JCC is like going to "13th Grade": don't pay attention to that. This is a great school with a great atmosphere, great teachers, and great expectations for you to succeed. If you have any more questions feel free to email me. I would be happy to help!

Hope things are going well in high school,

Andrew

Entry: 2/04/08.

Hi,

My name is Christina and I am a junior in high school and am thinking about going to JCC. I was just wondering how you like it there and maybe you could share some of the positives and negatives of going there. I want to major in either Occupational Therapy, so I will probably have to transfer to get a Masters.

Tell me what you know....This is the first time I have looked into colleges and have no clue how to choose!

Thanks.

~Christina

Entry: 12/05/07.

Hey everyone!  Wow has this semester flown by.  Two weeks to go till Christmas break, you can tell everyone is getting pretty anxious for school to let out.  Finals are creeping up quickly so life lately has consisted of my job work and STUDYING! Lots of it.  Some of my classes do not have finals, so it takes some stress off my shoulders, but not much.  A lot of final papers are also being assigned now.   I just keep telling myself two weeks, and then I won’t  have to worry about homework, tests, or essays for a whole month.  Sweet!

With Christmas now just 25 days away, Student Senate is booming with the many Christmas projects we complete each year.  Last Thursday we decorated the student union. (See photos.)  It was going good until the ten foot tree fell over and we had to hold it up for an hour until help arrived.  We also had to ring the bell for the Salvation Army outside of Wal-Mart.  Let me tell you, there are some characters that go in and out of that store.  This coming Friday is the Jamestown Christmas parade.  We have a float, which we plan on putting more lights on than any other float in the parade.  It’s going to be like a giant strobe light.  I am dressing up as the Grinch.   Overall, school is going great at this point. I still love it!  Very stressful with all the work and projects but only two weeks till relief!!!!

Entry: 11/14/07.

It’s hard to believe there are only about five weeks left in the semester!  My first semester has flown by so far.  It feels like school only started up a month ago and now midwinter break is almost upon us.  This is partly for the reason that I have been so busy lately.  School is at its most stressful point for me so far.  Two tests a week, papers to write, meetings to attend, working, as well as trying to have a social life.  It’s a handful!

Classes are going great!  Things have started to pick up now with the amount of information we must obtain with finals just over a month away.  I am starting to get nervous because I have never taken a college final before so I have no clue what I am in for.  I hope they are not going to be as a bad as I am anticipating.  At the moment I am just trying to make sure I understand everything I am learning so I don’t find myself in a hole at the end of the semester.

So far at JCC I have been elected to the Student Senate and joined the Criminal Justice Club.  Student Senate is probably my favorite extracurricular activity at JCC.  The students that are in Senate with me are really cool along with Mark Suida, the Director of Campus Life, who is very fun to work with. Since I am looking down the road toward politics and pre-law, I feel that this is a great stepping stone en route toward my future.   Criminal Justice Club is pretty fun also.  Our Co-Advisors, Brian Barone and Ellen Van Valkenburgh, are funny and make the field of criminal justice interesting and fun at the same time.

I have been limited to the amount of other campus activities lately because of my work load. I did have time to go see Mark Lundholm.  Mark is a standup comedian and a recovering drug addict.  He was hilarious and had a great story to tell.  If he comes back to JCC, I would recommend that everyone attend.  It will definitely be worth your time!

Each day college becomes more and more stressful because of the amount of work assigned.  At the moment, I am just anticipating the Thanksgiving Break as a breather from all the work.  It will be nice to have a few days off so I can refresh my brain for the concluding stretch before finals.  I must admit that I do like all the work because I know that every day I work hard, it leads me closer and closer to my goal of becoming a lawyer.

Entry: 10/30/07.

      Hello Everybody!!  My name is Andrew Saff.  I am a full time student here at Jamestown Community College studying political sciences. I attended Falconer High School and graduated this past spring (2007). I chose to come to JCC first off because of the price.  I really didn’t want to pay twenty or even thirty thousand for my first two years of college when I can get the same education for a small fraction of the cost of some of those “big name” colleges.  The largest class I am taking presently (Intro to Criminal Justice) tops out at around 24 students.  With the smaller classes I feel I can ask more questions, and learn more than I would if I was sitting in a lecture hall with fifty plus students. The smaller classes are definitely beneficial to my learning so far. To be truthful, I really had no clue what career path I wanted to choose.  JCC is beneficial because the counselors give you many options to find your interests and aptitudes.

 I am currently enrolled with sixteen credit hours and I am slowly realizing how overwhelming college can particularly be. My goal for my first semester is to make a smooth transition from high school into college and keep my priorities straight along with staying focused and dedicated to what I have to do.  I can attest to not trying my hardest in high school.  I put my friends first and my school work on the back burner.  I recognized that if I did that this year, I was going to get nowhere.  I see college as myself paying for my future.

With the intense amount of work, I suggest using the many different resources JCC has to offer.  I have used the library and Main Street Tutoring Center and I can confirm how outstanding these places are.  Main street tutors can help with any subject.  Whether it is five minutes or an hour, they are there for any student that needs help.  The library has so many resources; one will never have any trouble finding info on any topic.  My main point for this first blog entry is to introduce you to what the college experience has been like for me so far.  Throughout the year I will continue to tell you about college life, my political science classes and what is expected, and what is going on at the campus.  If you have any questions for me feel free to email me at andrew@mail.sunyjcc.edu.

E-mail Andrew a question about JCC