I always make it a point to state that professors at ISU will bend over backward to help you.  “If you show you care about what you’re studying and invest in your classes, our professors will invest in you,” is something I have said on almost every one of my tours.  I say this because I know it to be true.  As I finish up my time at ISU in the next few weeks I leave with the best regards.  I applied to two excellent graduate schools and received competitive admission offers from both of them.  I know that the support of my professors aided in this.  I would like to especially thank Professors Jack Howard and Victor Devinatz in the Management and Quantitative Methods department at the College of Business and Professor Thomas Burr in the Sociology and Anthropology Department.  They were all influential in guiding and encouraging me toward graduate school and helped to champion my application.  After much consideration I have decided to attend the University of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations for a Masters in Human Resources and Industrial Relations. Thanks to all of you and the entire staff at the College of Business.  Your personal, whole-hearted support differentiates you from similar programs and the world should know it.  For those of you following along and considering ISU, let me be the first to tell you that Illinois State’s College of Business is absolutely an excellent place to begin a career in business.

This semester is completely under way.  Rather busy.  Engagement will do that to you.

It’s true.

Especially when ones’ fiance is 4.5 hours away.

How awesome is that though?  Engaged to the most wonderful person in the world… what are the chances?!

Love you k!

Five minutes until I am done with work here in admissions for the semester. 

I am pumped for Christmas!

Love and Merry Christmas wishes your way,

Justin

 Thought I’d do some giving of thanks in regards to ISU (tis the season):

I’m thankful…

• the semester is nearly over
• for supportive faculty
• for a great job on campus
• that my bike makes it through the ice and snow
• for ski goggles to wear on my bike so that my eyes don’t freeze on the way to class
• for some good groups to work with this semester in labor relations
• that I could enjoy classes with friends
• for my roommate
• for the UPB
• for a thinking youth group on campus
• for a campus community that is willing to act socially and on their beliefs
• that the GRE is over
• for the many opportunities to get involved with other organizations and peeps on campus this semester
• that this semester has been the absolute fastest I’ve ever experienced
• that I have no reason to be anxious for anything
• that we got a whole week off for thanksgiving which provided some awesome family time
• for a partially heated house just a few blocks away from school
• for food and funds
• for education
• for friends and family
• for life and breath
• for Jesus and faith that has stood up to every bit of doubt and skepticism I could muster
• for purpose and direction

How about you?

Here I sit.  Nearing the last semester of my final year here at ISU, I can honestly say I’ve never had a semester where there was not a point where I was wondering just how much longer the semester could be.  Until now.  This semester has flown.  I don’t remember any times where I was like wondering how much longer the semester could wear on.  It’s just over.   It’s not that this semester’s been easy, it’s been crazy.  I guess that might be why it went so fast, but yea, prospective students, time flies.

We had a nice cold/rainy Open House yesterday at ISU:)  I still had a great time with my tour groups as we busted through the weather unfazed.  So it was all good.  One of the fellow tour guides said the weather was the equivalent of a refreshing mist.  Slightly too optimistic, but that’s cool. 

An optimistic view that is slightly more pungent is the fact that if you are planning on coming to college or going to college, you’ve got it better than most people in the world.  I reminded myself of that today with my printer. 

Sometimes printers don’t work though and that is not so good.  My old office laser printer I got for free (but nevertheless spent some money and time replacing things) decided not to work.  I tried all the tricks I knew (it has acted up before and is quite an interesting bulk of a machine to work on), but to no avail.  My roommate assisted my printing needs today, but I’ll soon be back to working on the old machine. 

In the mean time I broke down and purchased a well reviewed all-in-one.  I feel good about the choice, it was a good value and I’ve had the need for a scanner/copier for some time.  Now I have a reliable backup for when my crazy tank of a printer acts up and can hopefully keep using the double sided laser machine (of which I have enough toner to last me 60,000 pages) in all its glory in the near future.  Just one of the fun challenges of low budget college life.

So, I have heard  from a few busy individuals in the post-college world that the college life is so much simpler and easier than life after college.  They affectionately call it “the real world.”  So from here in this apparently imaginary place, I have set out to decipher if such a statement is true.  I was about to set up a null and alternative hypothesis, but I thought we could skip the science of the academic world and still have some objectivity like all those in the real world:)

The first issue in operationalizing the two worlds was that individuals in both the academic and “real” world can operate on a continuum.  In fact, I end my discussion there because it appears to be an answer.

What is a student’s motivation and ethic?  What is a working person’s motivation and ethic?  I can observe my own life here and I can observe the lives of many students.  People from both worlds exist in extremes and everywhere between on our continuum.  There are people who will strive for excellence in whatever they are doing and there are people who will not.  Maybe it just catches up to people more once they are out of college.

make the most of your situation wherever you are

UPB stands for “University Program Board.”  The UPB is a fabulous organization here at ISU.  If I could summarize what they do, I’d say they work hard in order to let the rest of the university play hard.  They are an unpaid group of students who get a big budget from the university to put on fun and exciting events, many of which involve food.  I am a big fan of free food.  Some of the sweet events I’ve been to this year that involve free food include midnight munchies, where we get excellent food every other Thursday at 10 pm (go figure), homecoming kickoff dinner, and ‘piggin with the prez’ where we get a delicious catered meal complete with a chance to touch base with our impossible-not-to-love president, Dr. Al Bowman.  On a side note, I have the privilege of being able to sing for Dr. Bowman’s parents every Monday evening.  I can see why Dr. Bowman has been such an incredible leader for ISU, his parents are the picture of selfless love and kindness.But back to my original topic.  I don’t just like the UPB because the organization gives out free food; I love them because of the people on the board.  My housemate David and classmate Becky do some sweet graphics design work and family event organizing.  Kevin serves tirelessly as president and is one of the most school spirited and kind individuals I know.  My incredibly outgoing and supportive friend Abe serves as diversity chair.  These are just a few of the UPBers I’ve gotten to know and been impressed by.  They dedicate hours of work to ISU to make student’s university experiences special and I’m thankful for them.  Props guys!

My roommate’s name is Joe.  He is a good Joe and he is not your average Joe.  He is an electrician by trade, but a genuine good guy by life.  Above all that, he would want me to further this by saying he’s a Christian.  Of course the guy’s not flawless, but he seeks out what it means to follow after the man Christ, and I find the whole thing encouraging.  I don’t mean to get religious, it’s just that if I’m going to talk about Joe, that is one of the things that defines him and it’s worth thinking about.  I learn a lot from Joe.  Most people think of him as a quiet person, and while he might talk less than average, he certainly talks and says a lot through his actions and words.  Joe is encouraging and caring.  He does random acts of kindness, which are much appreciated.

Joe cooks, not a lot, but none-the-less, he cooks.  He cooks sandwiches in his sandwich cooker.  He makes a sandwich and puts it in this unit that heats both sides of the sandwich.  If you use good cheese than it makes a really delicious sandwich.  Once Joe shared a bite with me, so I know.

Why all this talk about Joe?  Because if you have a roommate in college, which you probably will, that roommate will inevitably be a large part of your life.  A good roommate is empathetic and puts others first.  Joe is a good roommate.  I hope that each of you will be a good roommate first and that you will also have a good roommate.  But regardless, be a good roommate.  A little love goes a long way right?  I’m fortunate to have such a good example to share with you all.  Peace!

A couple of nights ago I saw the line of students camping outside of SAMI in order to get the best available apartments when they opened for signing the next day.  For those of you who don’t know, SAMI is one of the off-campus housing providers.  The whole situation made me thankful that I had a nice place set up already.  I was a transfer student when I came to ISU, and I was already in a great living situation right near campus (this is my third year there).  I lived in a house with a land lord who was one of my housemate’s dads.  Not only does he provide us a fabulous deal on rent for a great little house, he actually cares about us and is an incredibly upstanding man.  He’s been a great example to me of selflessness and putting others first.  His son has long since moved out (in fact he just got married), but our land lord continues to go above and beyond to provide us a great place to live.  He’s not out to make a killing at all, it seems that he’s more out to provide us an affordable deal than to make a profit.  He treats us like he would want to be treated.So this year the house is filled with 8 guys (We had 6 the first and second years).  It’s not a big place and I was quite apprehensive of the situation coming in, but everything is off to a great start.  We had a kick off meeting at the beginning of the year and each chose a job that we would do each week.  Essentially the whole house is cleaned each week now.  Our land lord came to offer some authority behind the whole deal and bought us a bunch of gondolas.  We set out some house rules to try to keep relations on a good level and set out to redeem the time, to make the opportunities we’re given.  This has made things great.  We are by no means similar of individuals, but we are able to get along well and complement one another (at least on a good day) because people aren’t arguing about clean up or annoying one another.  I like to go home, it seems like a haven these days, which is something to be happy about.  In fact, I say all this to say that last year (the second year), the house was not as good and there was only 6 guys living there (many of the same this year).  We didn’t meet at the beginning and there was a lot less cooperation and positive communication.  It was a good growing experience and we worked through a lot.  I learned that with a large, diverse group it’s best to lay things out right at the start and lead by example right from the start.  Last year was good for me because I was called out and challenged; the guys I was living with made me more consistent.  Whatever your living plans are, I would challenge you to do more than just satisfice and get by on tough relationships.  Work through the issues.  Take some time to set up how the house work should be split up.  Not everyone will love you for it, but in the end it creates a lot better and more edifying situation whether the others ever realize it or not. Next week, I’ll talk about my best friend and room-mate, and than maybe we can discuss RSO’s and how you should get involved in one.