Week 9

Hola Readers,
This past weekend was an eventful weekend for Latinos around the Hartford area. The Connecticut expo center hosted the Latino Expo 2010 “The festival of Hispanic Culture, Business, and Entertainment”. The event was held on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 in the afternoon. It included a cultural stage, local businesses that put an effort into helping Latinos, along with radio stations, and higher education schools.
The Puerto Rican Latino Studies Institute (PRLS) held a booth at the expo and invited students from the PRLACC to come and work the booth with Dr. Rios (the director of PRLS). We went and offered information on both the center and the Institute. The courses and minors available with PRLS and the activities and clubs one can join through the center. Joining us was Excelsior College and Lambda Theta Phi Fraternity Inc. which can be found at many different colleges and universities.
Radio Stations such as La Mega 910 and Hot 93.7 offered the music throughout the day. Each held a dance contest as well. La Mega even held a dance competition on Saturday offering $100 dollars to the winner. The expo held a performance stage as well where many children’s dance groups got to perform in front of a live audience. Of course there was also a food station where Colombian, Dominican, and Mexican food was being sold. The food was absolutely delicious.
The Latino Expo is a yearly event. This was the 10th year the event was being held. It is a good opportunity to go and see what is offered to Latinos such as La Voz news paper aimed specifically to the Latino Community. Insurance companies go as well and offer the opportunity to talk to someone right then and there who can speak Spanish and inform you on anything that may help you out when searching for insurance. Along with insurance, Chet a company that helps you prepare financially for college was there to give advice and offer information. Ultimately the Latino Expo is a great resource and an event worth attending to get information on different opportunities for Latino/as so keep a look out for it next year. =)

Week 8

IT'S SPRING BREAK AT UConn!!! :) Live it up and be safe readers! Enjoy your vacations if you are going on any and if not enjoy your time home with homecooked meals. I will be back next week :)

Week 7

Welcome Readers!
I’m trying something a little different this week and writing this before the week goes by instead of at the end of the week. There is a reason for this new method, midterms weeks. If you are taking the time out of your last week before break to read this blog I thank you and I realize how stressed you may be. It has reached that time, mid semester, when the midterms are given and suddenly you realize how quickly time is passing by. At this point in the semester is when many people really begin to worry about grades however; you have to keep in mind that stressing yourself will not help you in anyway.
This week I want to remind you of some key pointers to help you succeed on your midterms.

Let’s begin with something that many of us (I include myself because I used to think this way too) feel we can do without when we have a lot of work or studying to do, sleeping. We neglect our sleeping schedules and instead of sleeping, we take naps at night or pull all nighters. At the time we feel this is the best choice because we have a lot of material to review but it hurts us more than it helps. It has been proven that when the mind is tired it can only retain so much. By denying ourselves sleep, and assuming anything we study while tired will stick with us, we are only lying to ourselves. The mind does not retain or properly hold materials needed when tired. You can think you are studying and remembering what you are reading but in most cases what truly happens is that when it comes time to recall what you studied, while sleepless you, will not be able to. Most blank out on what was read while there was lack of sleep. This is not the case for everyone, but I do recommend that everyone get at least 5 hours of sleep a night. If anything instead of staying up late studying then sleeping in till the exam I recommend a slightly different approach. What has proved successful for me is to go to sleep earlier than I expected sleep my 5 hours and then wake up early in the morning to continue studying. This way you give your mind a chance to rest before making it work once again in the morning. Remember we NEED sleep to function.

Along with a sleeping suggestion let me offer an eating suggestion. Many students (and I have heard it often) give the excuse that they “forget” to eat because they are so busy studying. Let me remind students that your body needs food to function. It is what gives you energy and keeps you healthy. If anything, when you are cutting back on your sleeping you should make sure you get in all your meals because if not you leave yourself more susceptible to catch a bug or cold going around. You need to keep your immune system up by nourishing your body. Make sure you eat your three meals a day and if you have an 8 am exam try and eat something before you go. For many people this is too early in the morning but even if it’s a piece of fruit you are assuring yourself a little bit of push towards success on your exam.

I do realize that many of us have four to five exams this week and a side effect of this situation is more likely than not, stress. Stress prevents us from thinking clearly and concentrating on what we are studying. We have so much going on in our thoughts worrying about all out other exams and things we have to do that technically “blocks” out mind from retaining what you read. If you find yourself stressed, take a “mind clearing” break. This would be a perfect opportunity to grab some food (hint hint). Find your stress relief; for some things include going to the gym, watching TV, going for a run, or listening to music. Whatever be your stress relief, allow yourself 30 minutes of it. Give your brain a chance to rest without having to think of books or classes for a least a half hour. Chances are that when you come back from your study break your mind will be slightly clearer and studying will seem just a little bit easier.
With these pointers said I wish you all the best of luck on midterms =)

Week 6

Hey Readers!
Wow can you believe how quickly this semester is flying by? For the seniors I’m sure you are keeping a countdown till graduation. While I’m sure you are anxiously counting the days try and visit the “senior website”, Sye.uconn.edu. It offers very important information on the day we are anxiously looking forward to. On this site the University offers information on when your designated graduation time, place, and date is (for those of you in College of Liberal Arts and Sciences this is EXTREMLY important to look at because we have two different graduation times for different majors). More importantly it also tells you how many tickets you have available to you to hand out to family member, so in other words how many aunties and uncles you can invite after you invite the parents and the grandparents : ).

Many things students are not sure of or more accurately “unaware of” is the tassel you use on your cap. If you did not know each school has different color tassels. I would think it is important to you to wear the color of the school you worked so hard to get a major from the last four years! All this information along with the order form for cap and gowns can be found on this website. Although the tassel, cap, and gown will be lifetime memories for the student the website offers a wonderful thing for both students and parents, senior portraits. Parents will forever treasure the portraits taken of their students while the students will be offered a free year book at graduation if you take senior portraits. You can find the exact place to schedule your portraits and any information necessary on sye.uconn.edu

Finally the most appealing things for seniors this website offers is information on senior events. We all put in the time and dedication in succeeding and surviving these last four years so we should all take advantage of any events offered for the class of 2010! In April at one point we even have a week of event for seniors which is “senior week 2010” it includes trips to the casino, carnival, and other events available only to those graduating.

This website is dedicated to US the class of 2010! Since the last four years we racked out brain and worked hard to push for these degrees coming our way we deserve to accept some of the praise the university offers us. Be sure to make it a priority to visit sye.uconn.edu and explore so you no longer miss anything available to our senior class and you can more efficiently prepare for graduation. Keep counting the days because time is going by insanely fast and it will be the end of the semester before we know it : )