Sophomore
Hometown | Shinglehouse, Pa
Major | Liberal Arts/Sciences (Teacher ed. transfer/adolescent education)

Entry: 11/28/07

Well, break is officially over for me: I’m sitting in the Tech Center working on my statistics homework before my 10 a.m. politics class. I’m both excited and nervous that the semester is almost over. I really am not sure how I’m going to survive my statistics final as I’ve been fighting for every passing grade the whole way through that class. I really do fit the typical “English nerd” stereotype as math and my brain just do NOT mix…

I also have my impending transfer hovering over my head at this point in time. My younger brother is starting at JCC next fall—the same time I’ll be starting at a four-year school. The good Lord only knows how I’m going to pay for college when my parents shift to helping him with his tuition. I’m really hoping that my GPA here helps me get some decent scholarships. I’d really rather not take out large student loans.

To prepare for my transfer, my best friend and I decided to attend a visitation day up at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford (Pitt-Brad) on November 17th. Pitt-Brad has awesome transfer agreements with JCC, bears a great English program, and is only 45 minutes from my hometown of Shinglehouse, so it’s at the top of my list for transfer schools. Let me first state that the campus is GORGEOUS. My buddy and I should know—we drove around in there for quite a bit after we got lost in the campus. I blame it on the sign, though: the “Parking for Visitation Day” sign was literally an 8.5 by 11 inch paper glued to a stake stuck in the side of the road. By the time I realized that it was directing me to traffic, I had passed the little bugger.

Anyway, my buddy and I made it to the information meeting a little late but safe nonetheless. The meeting was like any other college information meeting I had been to: they sit the parents and the students down in a room and tell them everything the parents would ever want to hear. That was not the most informative part of the trip in my mind.

Afterwards, students from Pitt-Brad came and gave us a tour of the campus. That, by far, was the most fun part of the entire day. Our tour guide was a senior graduating with a dual major in business and in accounting. He was rather overwhelmed as our group of girls had some pretty varied majors: ophthalmology (eye care), pre-pharmaceutical, sports therapy, elementary education, and English education (yours truly). He took us to many of the different buildings on campus and gave us his take on each of them. He even went as far as to tell us what foods to get at the cafeteria on what days. I was very glad to hear this as it made the campus seem more real. We got to see his dorm as well. Seriously, his dorm room was bigger than my bedroom! It was a great change of pace to see such a large dorm room instead of the closet-sized ones I’ve seen on past tours. I was blown away to say the least.

I was lucky to have had a friend from my high school and church at Pitt-Brad while I was there. She invited me and my JCC buddy up to her campus townhouse room to hang out and get her take on the campus. Her room was tiny compared to the giant dorm I saw earlier! (Pitt-Brad has to be the only campus I’ve personally visited that had nicer dorms than townhouses). My church friend sat us down with the degree evaluation sheet she was given during her advisement meeting and showed us exactly what it was like to get one of those at Pitt-Brad as well as what she had to do to sign up for classes. She even told us about her various professors and what to expect in classes like the ones she had taken. I learned more in that hour with my friend than I did in that long information meeting at the beginning of the day! I highly recommend that any transferring JCC students talk to real flesh-and-blood students at their potential transfer institutions. The admissions people have to make the college sound great; the students, however, will tell you exactly what it’s like from the perspective of a student who lives there. My church buddy, before we left, told us that she would call and let us know if Pitt-Brad had any events that were open to the public. She told us that the best way to learn about Pitt-Brad is to attend an event and enjoy it with the other students. I think I’ll take her up on that offer.

I came back from that trip empowered for this daunting transfer process. I’m pretty sure that Pitt-Brad will be my future school, but I don’t plan to burn any bridges just yet. JCC wasn’t in my plans when I first starting applying to schools, so I know from experience that I could end up somewhere I’d have never expected.

Well, I really need to be a good student and get back to my homework. I can’t slack off just yet—finals are only 4 weeks or so away! AAUUGGHH! 

Entry: 10/30/07

The semester’s half over; I still can’t believe that’s true.  It seems like just yesterday that I walked into the Olean campus at the beginning of the semester.  So far, the semester’s gone a lot better than I anticipated.  I had a lot more writing than I expected as American Politics, Intro to Computer Sciences (online), and Intro to Sociology (online) turned out to be writing-intensive courses.  I think I spend most of my time writing papers (or, in the case of the online classes, discussion posts) for those classes!

As some of you are by now probably very confused, let me introduce myself.  My name is Cherish, and I’m a student here at JCC’s Olean campus.  I came here right after my high school graduation back in 2006. I work as an English tutor in the Learning Assistance and Computer Center (LACC) on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays: if you stop in for help on a paper on one of those days, I’m probably that silly little nerd wearing the brown hat.  When I’m not in class or tutoring, I’m typically either at home with my parents and younger brothers, out with some of my friends, or at my church.  I am, though, taking 18 credit hours this semester—that’s 6 classes, for the record.  Obviously, this load keeps me pretty busy.  I’ll try my best to keep this blog updated regularly with what’s happening on the Olean campus, but who knows what’ll happen in the future.

As I’ve been at JCC for over a year now, everything seems pretty…normal.  This fall semester is, by far, much easier than Fall ’06 for me.  Granted, not being a scared freshman probably helps in that regard!  I also pretty much know my way around the campus.  I didn’t start this semester off by showing up in the wrong room in the LLAC (Library and Liberal Arts Center) building nor did I get the LACC and LLAC confused.  I also now have friends on this campus, so things are a lot more fun.

Basically, I just want to show in this blog what it’s like when you’ve returned for your second year at JCC.  I want to specifically show what it’s like on the Olean campus.  Though we are a bit smaller than our Jamestown counterpart, we are definitely not any less important.  :D  I may also mention a few things about what it’s like in the tutoring center: kind of a behind-the-scenes thing.  Some students are awfully intimidated by us tutors, and I’d really like to show some potential students that we are harmless (and sometimes rather goofy) college students that just want to help others succeed.

If you have any questions for me, please e-mail me using the link on this blog.  I’ll try my best to answer, and I’ll refer you to someone who will have the answer if you stump me.

E-mail Cherish a question about JCC