This week I want to share with you about a great office on campus that is commonly referred to as the best kept secret on campus. Through this office, you can meet many great people, help participate in exciting service projects, and help your community, among many other things. This office is the Center for Service, Leadership, Ethics, and Public Service, commonly referred to as CSLEPS. During my high school years, I participated in volunteer work; when coming to college, I wondered how I could continue this involvement. I never imagined there was an office on NCSU campus committed to helping our community by getting students involved and preparing them to be future ethical leaders.
My freshman year I participated in Service NC State, which was in collaboration with an organization named Stop Hunger Now. Students from NC State, neighboring colleges, and even some community members come together on the first Saturday after classes started to put together packaged meals to be sent across the world. In 2008, we packaged over a million meals in just a few hours. Everyone had such a wonderful time during the event, and it passed really quickly. It was amazing to see what can be accomplished in such a short amount of time.
Alternative Service Break trips are other great opportunities offered through CSLEPS. Trips are during Christmas break and spring break. There are international and domestic trips, including everything from helping Habitat for Humanity, alleviating health issues, and teaching English in various countries. Many different interests are involved, and students from all different majors participate. This past spring break, I went to the Dominican Republic on a health issues trip. I had an amazing time interacting with the local people and learning about their culture. We toured their hospital and taught health lessons in the schools. Everyone should take advantage of these trips because you can learn so much, especially about appreciating what you have.
Leadership training is another service offered by of this office. Many great presenters offer workshops on various aspects of leadership that CSLEPS has carefully selected. By attending these workshops and doing a portfolio of service, you can earn a certificate, which employers look upon highly. These workshops have allowed me to look at things in a new perspective.
This past year, I worked with CSLEPS as a Service-Leadership Consultant, planning events and helping lead service projects. We were ambassadors for CSLEPS and helped wherever we were needed. This year this group has been absolved, and paid internships have been put into place. A group of interns over various aspects of CSLEPS have been appointed, and they will form committees where you can get involved with your specific interest and the planning behind events.
There are so many opportunities through the CSLEPS office that I simply cannot describe them all to you here. To learn more, visit their website and see for yourself what all they have to offer. http://www.ncsu.edu/csleps/index.php
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Clubs on Campus
Fun people, free food, and good networking – that is what the Agribusiness/NAMA (National Agricultural Marketing Association) Club is all about!
An advantage of being a student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NC State is being given the opportunity to be involved in clubs. Just within CALS, there are over 44 different clubs and organizations students can choose from! Clubs differ not only in their meeting schedules, but also their overall purpose. This gives CALS students the opportunity to become involved in an area that truly interests them. However, the main purpose of CALS clubs is to challenge students scholastically, engage students in service events, and promote networking for possible internship and job opportunities.
One of the clubs I am involved in on campus is the Agribusiness/NAMA Club, the club for students studying Agricultural Business Management in the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics. Here is an overview of what the club does: we meet every other Monday evening, there is free food served for all club members, we have at least one service event and one social event every semester, and we help with the Maola milk book at the State Fair (in the fall) as a fundraising event. We also have a professional within the agricultural industry speak about their job at every meeting, and we have an end of the semester banquet where we celebrate the successes of the semester.
The premier aspect of the club, in my opinion, is the opportunity to learn about different internship and job availabilities as we have different speakers at each club meeting. These speakers represent different aspects of the agribusiness industry. Through the networking that takes place between students and business representatives at our club meetings, it is very easy to obtain an internship; at the very least, we can obtain information about internship opportunities. Internships are key because they help a person to figure out if a specific career is ‘right’ for them. If all goes well during an internship, a job might be offered to the student once they graduate. To me, this sounds like a pretty good deal for college students!
However, the Agribusiness/NAMA Club is not the only club that promotes and focuses on networking in CALS. Explore the following website to see a complete listing of all the clubs CALS has to offer: http://harvest.cals.ncsu.edu/academic/index.cfm?pageID=395
This is just another reason, among the million, that I love being a student in CALS at NCSU!
An advantage of being a student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NC State is being given the opportunity to be involved in clubs. Just within CALS, there are over 44 different clubs and organizations students can choose from! Clubs differ not only in their meeting schedules, but also their overall purpose. This gives CALS students the opportunity to become involved in an area that truly interests them. However, the main purpose of CALS clubs is to challenge students scholastically, engage students in service events, and promote networking for possible internship and job opportunities.
One of the clubs I am involved in on campus is the Agribusiness/NAMA Club, the club for students studying Agricultural Business Management in the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics. Here is an overview of what the club does: we meet every other Monday evening, there is free food served for all club members, we have at least one service event and one social event every semester, and we help with the Maola milk book at the State Fair (in the fall) as a fundraising event. We also have a professional within the agricultural industry speak about their job at every meeting, and we have an end of the semester banquet where we celebrate the successes of the semester.
The premier aspect of the club, in my opinion, is the opportunity to learn about different internship and job availabilities as we have different speakers at each club meeting. These speakers represent different aspects of the agribusiness industry. Through the networking that takes place between students and business representatives at our club meetings, it is very easy to obtain an internship; at the very least, we can obtain information about internship opportunities. Internships are key because they help a person to figure out if a specific career is ‘right’ for them. If all goes well during an internship, a job might be offered to the student once they graduate. To me, this sounds like a pretty good deal for college students!
However, the Agribusiness/NAMA Club is not the only club that promotes and focuses on networking in CALS. Explore the following website to see a complete listing of all the clubs CALS has to offer: http://harvest.cals.ncsu.edu/academic/index.cfm?pageID=395
This is just another reason, among the million, that I love being a student in CALS at NCSU!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
What is CSI?
As a student, you may have an occasional free minute to sit down and watch the infamous “CSI” television series. This show portrays Crime Scene Investigators as nicely dressed, perfectly-styled professionals who find imperative clues at first glance. When viewing this type of show, you have to remember that that is television drama, performed by Hollywood actors.
Well, what then is a CSI? A crime scene investigator plays many roles when solving a single crime. Many hours are dedicated to retrieving, recording, and testing forensic ballistics in all aspects of the crime. For instance, DNA takes at least a week to go through processing and data
recording. On the state level, cases are backed up to a year; this is due to the number of cases and the holds placed on those cases because more pertinent cases come through the system.
Specialists deal with certain aspects of a crime. One person is specially trained in the finger-print analysis unit, while another is specialized in guns. The task of a gun specialist is to compare and identify bullets from the crime scene to potentially match those bullets with a specific type of firearm. They use water chambers and cotton-lined ranges, as well as an indoor and outdoor firing range. They compare bullets left at the scene and firing pin impressions left on the shell casings with the marks on test-fired rounds in the crime lab. If the marks on the test bullet match, the weapon has been identified. This is based on the principle that no two guns leave the same marks on the ammunition. The bullet striations and firing pin impressions are as unique as our fingerprints! The specialist can also determine range, impact and type of bullet wounds, as well as calculate the distance of the shooter from the powder stain patterns on the target. Each specialist does his or her part, and then sends the information to the investigator in charge, after which he or she receives the next order of business. The specialists are never involved in the specific details of the cases.
So the next time you find yourself watching the infamous CSI series, just remember that cases are not solved so quickly or easily.
Well, what then is a CSI? A crime scene investigator plays many roles when solving a single crime. Many hours are dedicated to retrieving, recording, and testing forensic ballistics in all aspects of the crime. For instance, DNA takes at least a week to go through processing and data
recording. On the state level, cases are backed up to a year; this is due to the number of cases and the holds placed on those cases because more pertinent cases come through the system.
Specialists deal with certain aspects of a crime. One person is specially trained in the finger-print analysis unit, while another is specialized in guns. The task of a gun specialist is to compare and identify bullets from the crime scene to potentially match those bullets with a specific type of firearm. They use water chambers and cotton-lined ranges, as well as an indoor and outdoor firing range. They compare bullets left at the scene and firing pin impressions left on the shell casings with the marks on test-fired rounds in the crime lab. If the marks on the test bullet match, the weapon has been identified. This is based on the principle that no two guns leave the same marks on the ammunition. The bullet striations and firing pin impressions are as unique as our fingerprints! The specialist can also determine range, impact and type of bullet wounds, as well as calculate the distance of the shooter from the powder stain patterns on the target. Each specialist does his or her part, and then sends the information to the investigator in charge, after which he or she receives the next order of business. The specialists are never involved in the specific details of the cases.
So the next time you find yourself watching the infamous CSI series, just remember that cases are not solved so quickly or easily.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Academic Trips
Hola! My name is Dustin Hart and I am a sophomore in Poultry Science. This week, I thought it would be fun to talk about school trips! Who doesn't love going somewhere instead of sitting inside of a classroom?
I recently took a class trip to visit Asheboro Zoological Park. My Avian Physiology class has been learning about avian behavior, so for our weekly lab, we took an all-day field trip to put our newly-learned skills into practice. At the zoo, my group decided to watch Chilean Flamingoes! We spent about two hours taking notes and utilizing the skills we had learned in the classroom as we watched our subjects. For the remainder of the day, we walked around looking at the rest of the animals at the zoo.
Needless to say, this was one of my favorite labs! We didn't just learn about how to study avian behavior, but we actually put it to use. Later we created an ethogram (a way to list avian behavior) as if we were actual researchers studying the Chilean Flamingo. We also created a 5-7 minute class presentation discussing our findings from the zoo.
Where else would you be able to get this kind of hands-on experience if not in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NCSU?
I recently took a class trip to visit Asheboro Zoological Park. My Avian Physiology class has been learning about avian behavior, so for our weekly lab, we took an all-day field trip to put our newly-learned skills into practice. At the zoo, my group decided to watch Chilean Flamingoes! We spent about two hours taking notes and utilizing the skills we had learned in the classroom as we watched our subjects. For the remainder of the day, we walked around looking at the rest of the animals at the zoo.
Needless to say, this was one of my favorite labs! We didn't just learn about how to study avian behavior, but we actually put it to use. Later we created an ethogram (a way to list avian behavior) as if we were actual researchers studying the Chilean Flamingo. We also created a 5-7 minute class presentation discussing our findings from the zoo.
Where else would you be able to get this kind of hands-on experience if not in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at NCSU?
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