My Tech – Infinite POSSIBILITIES

The Banner!

Greetings from WVU Tech CEO Ms. Carolyn Long!

Winners! Congratulations to George Washington High School Team!

This year has truly gone by too fast. Felt like just yesterday I came back to Tech to start the spring semester and now the fall semester is over! I had so much fun in 2012 from snowboarding to white water rafting. I have done more this year then my first two years of college. On to something random today is the last day I’ll see the first friend I made here at Tech, since the fall semester was their last semester. Time flies and now a new year will start soon with another list of endless possibilities. See you next year!

Finals week is almost upon us!!

There’s just way too much to do haha. I have finals to study for, Light Up Old Main, registering for classes, Christmas presents to make, and so much more!!! I am SO happy that this semester is almost over… it is said that your junior year in chemical engineering is your hardest, and I’d like to say I did alright but I really just don’t know.

One question all students ask when they go to college is, “What do you wish you had known beforehand?” or sometimes “What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned?”

TIME. MANAGEMENT. I cannot stress that enough!!! It doesn’t matter if you’re only taking classes and not involved elsewhere on campus—you still need to manage your time well. I am involved in the following:

-Residence Life as an RA in Ratliff Hall
-American Institute for Chemical Engineers
-The Tech Collegian as a Staff Writer
-SGA as the Secretary
-Alpha Sigma Tau as the President
-A full time engineering student
-Not to mention my friends & boyfriend

I didn’t know how to manage my time well when I got to college, and my grades definitely reflected that. Do your best to not let your grades fall. There are SO many resources at Tech that if you do let them fall, it’s on you. It’s extremely hard to get your GPA back up once it’s fallen. But your GPA isn’t a reflection of your intelligence… it’s a reflection of how much work you put into your classes. You could be the most intelligent person in the world but if you don’t go to class and don’t study, your GPA will be awful.

Everyone always makes college out to be big and bad. Is it harder than high school? Well, duh. Of course it is. Is it the end of the world if you don’t graduate on time or if you fail a class? NO. In the movie Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne falls down a well as a kid. When his had rappels down and saves him, he says, “Bruce, why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up again.”

I truly believe that if you haven’t failed anything at all at least once in your life… you’re not doing anything worth succeeding at and you’re not living to your full potential.

Everyday, I wake up with at least one goal. Sometimes, it is to work out during the day, accomplish at least half of my to-do list, or cook a really nice meal. At all times, the goal revolves about myself, though, and how to push myself more, make myself better, or spoil myself.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m always trying to make other people’s lives just a little bit better, too, which doesn’t even have to be planned in the morning, since it comes natural to me. I’m quite a happy person that smiles a lot, and doesn’t like to see other fellows sad or depressed.

But yesterday, when watching The First Grader, I was depressed. I tend not to cry during movies, it actually has only happened once so far, but last night I couldn’t hold my tears back. The movie is about an 84-year-old Kenyan, Maruge, who had never learned how to read, due to the lack of education in his country. However, after having fought for Kenya’s freedom and having suffered in several camps, Maruge received a letter from the president. When education finally becomes available for everybody in Kenya, Maruge tries to get into school to learn how to read, so he can comprehend the president’s letter. Still dealing with physical and psychological scars, Maruge fights everyday, and takes on all obstacles, just to learn letter after letter.

The movie is based on a true story, and made me realize once more, how great my life is. I never had to fight for learning the alphabet, I never had to sit on the bare ground because there weren’t enough seats in the classroom, and I don’t even want to think about my family being taken away and killed. Maruge, on the other side, is still such a humble and friendly person, never giving up on live, never complaining, but striving for education at the ripe age of 84.

Taking him as an example, my goal this morning was: Don’t complain about anything that today will bring, do appreciate what you have, and try to learn something so you can go to bed smarter than you got up.

Happy winter!!

It definitely feels like winter has officially started today! I walked to class in a jacket and with my head bundled up in a homemade scarf! Brrr!! At least it means this is time for hot cocoa and watching movies snuggled up in blankets!!

I am SO excited for Tech’s Light Up Old Main ceremony!! It’s one of the favorite things that Tech does and I look forward to it each year. I love that feeling of overall coziness the holidays bring. At Light Up Old Main we get to have s’mores, decorate cookies, listen to Christmas music, and see Santa!! I also love the parade. I’ve always been in parades, whether it be through Girl Scouts or the marching band. I rarely ever get to actually watch a parade, and when I do it’s because my dad is marching in one with the Kena Highlanders playing the bagpipes!

This year, Alpha Sigma Tau, my sorority, is doing a Toys for Tots drive. Toys for Tots is a toy drive organized by the United States Marine Corps that gathers toys and gives them to less fortunate kids all across the country. AST will be collecting toys over the next few weeks, and they will be piled into a toy mountain in the Tech Ballroom on the night of Light Up Old Main. People will carry the toys through the parade as a symbol that we, the students, are donating to this important cause. A lot of the time we forget just how fortunate we are… as my sisters and I say, if you have enough money to buy a movie ticket… forgo the movie and buy a toy instead. Being able to make a kid smile on Christmas is worth so much more than that movie will ever be.

When I was a kid and lived on the Marine Corps base, my dad (a pilot at the time) would dress up as Santa for all the little kids. My little sister and I always figured out it was our dad, even though my parents completely hid it from us. Let’s face it, we just know our daddy!! But we would always keep the secret even though we thought it was way cool our dad was Santa. All the little kids always got so happy! Last Christmas break, I played an elf to another Santa. This one is from my dad’s Masonic Lodge at home. The Masons and their wives gathered toys for all the kids at the battered women’s shelter, wrapped them, and had Santa give them away. The kids would go sit on his lap, he’d ask their name, and the elves (me and my sister) would find their special present. One little girl got a Barbie doll and spent the rest of the day doing her hair and playing with her. It was too cute!!

I definitely encourage all of you reading this to come out to Light Up Old Main this year!! You will truly see the value of Tech and the community it has, and why we all have stuck around so long!

It’s finally my favorite part of the year THE HOLIDAYS!

I can’t wait for this Sunday! I become a member of The National Society of Leadership and Success. It has been a long road to finish the requirements for induction. It took me nearly 3 years to finish the list of things needed to become a member (SNT meetings, live broadcasts, leadership training days, online writing sessions, etc). But, once I mastered how to manage time it was a piece of cake to knock out all the requirements.

Anyways, I love getting inducted into different societies. Especially in high school when I became a member of the National Honor’s Society. The ceremony was amazing and when I said the oath under candlelight I was so overwhelmed. I actually thought I was dreaming until I nearly burned my hand with my candlestick, then I knew it was real and no longer wanted the candle. I accomplish something that will always be apart of me and I hope this Sunday I feel the same way.

(Rather random, but have to explain why December is a goodie bag)

This December is like no other. Besides studying and taking my finals, I also have to decide what to buy people this year for the holidays, especially my mother and favorite aunt. I put so much thought and detail into every present I need a full year just to decide on what type of presents to give people.

The first week of December is going to be A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. The week starts off with me being inducted into another National Society, I see the holiday play on Thursday and then on my mother’s birthday (December 7th) I participate in the Montgomery Parade and Light Up Old Main.

Can’t wait to see Elf Monty NEXT FRIDAY!

After twenty years, this fall, I had been sitting in a classroom again. I am visiting Dr. Howard’s C# class. Now that I am older and had been teaching for a long time, it feels different to sit on the other side of the classroom. But I learned a lot. This semester, in addition to C#, Dr. Howard is teaching Compiler Construction, Computer Science for Engineers, and Programming with Python. Dr. Phil Howard is the newest addition to WVU Tech Computer Science and Information Systems department. Few days back I interviewed him for MyTech.

Question: Could you please tell us about yourself?
I graduated in 1982 from Central Washington University with degrees in Physics and Math. I was married that summer and moved to Los Angeles, CA where I began working for Hughes Aircraft. Hughes is a defense contractor, and I worked on a variety of projects including a ship-board laser-based missile defense system, and a target recognition and tracking system for the army’s tanks and helicopters. For the later project, I was the software team leader responsible for overall software design and for hiring new employees to fill out my team.
After five years of working at Hughes, I took a year off to study the Bible at Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland, OR. We liked the Portland area enough that we decided to settle there. I began working as an independent software contractor. I helped automate a wafer fab in Japan, helped write an award winning inventory system, was involved in some of the very early 100 Mbit Ethernet work, and wrote automated functional test software for electronics manufactures such as Intel, Diamond Multimedia, and Sonic Blue.
As my four kids grew up, they all played soccer. I coached their teams for a number of years. I was also involved with volunteering at their schools, and eventually became a school board member. After my board member term was up, I was invited to fill a part time computer teaching position at the high school. I accepted that position and taught there for six years.
Since I was only teaching part time, I continued my software contracting business. My contracting had developed into a fairly narrow niche which eventually dried up. Rather than pursue another niche, I purchased a small laser cutter business which became known as BC Laserworks (bslaserworks.com).

Question: Why did you choose University teaching after a long career in industry?
When my oldest son started college at Oregon Institute of Technology (the Oregon version of Tech), I became interested in teaching at the college level. I started working on graduate studies (while still teaching part time and running the laser business). I eventually resigned my teaching post to focus on my graduate studies, and a couple of years later sold the laser business to focus full time on my graduate studies. I received my Ph.D. degree in Computer Science in May of 2012.

Question: Could you please tell us a little bit about your research work?
My research has to do with synchronizing processing in multi-core computers. The way I like to describe it is that it is often easier to do something your self rather than do it in committee. Since most modern processors have multiple cores (even cell phone processors), computers have become committees, and they have the same coordination problems as human committees. My research deals with mechanisms that allow the cores to cooperate while wasting the minimum amount of time on coordination efforts.

Question: What is your first impression of WVU Tech?
I am enjoying my time at Tech. I enjoy the small class sizes, and the ability to be personal with students. The collection of engineering disciplines provides the opportunity (which I haven’t had the chance to explore yet) to work on a variety of interesting projects.

Question: What is your advice to the students at Tech?
I would offer the following advice:
1. Work hard: grades matter
2. Enjoy your time here: life consists of more than studies
3. Pick a great senior project and do well at it: A good project can open doors for employment.

I am SO happy to be on break! I came home and surprised my family (they thought I was going to have to stay at school). I admit, I was hoping for more excitement than them all saying, What are you doing here?

Oh well.

All my WV friends are out hunting and I’ve spent my break baking cookies! I love bringing my friends at school cookies after long breaks. So far I’ve only made chocolate chip, but tomorrow I’m making some sugar cookies with some yummy sprinkles! I’ve also been studying a bunch… it may be break but when I get back to school I only have two weeks to until finals!! AHHH!!!!

On the upside, I was elected as the president of my sorority a couple weeks ago. I’m excited for the opportunity and I am glad my sisters see me as a good enough leader to have such a position.

Well, back to studying for me! Hopefully I can figure out this thermo soon! Haha!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

I have not attended a swimming meet since I was actually in one back in 2004 (such a long time ago). When I use to watch swimming meets I always felt like I was watching an Olympic event and that someone was winning a gold medal that night. My imagination has no limitations and I’m sure I’ll think the exact idea tomorrow at this swimming meet. I’m looking forward to both the Men’s & Women’s’ Swimming Teams to bring us a victory in there events tomorrow. The picture below ev

I just think swimmers who wear swimming caps are the coolest. The picture above even illustrates how cool its looks to wear a swimming cap even though majority of the time the caps don’t protect you from having wet hair and are sometimes too tight. After then these two flaws I still would want to wear one.

Well, homecoming is finally over!!

Don’t get me wrong, I love homecoming, but it just gets so BUSY. I have the tendency to overload myself and I sort of did this past homecoming. Oops! It was a lot of fun though. I got to be an escort for a Mr. Golden Bear candidate, who happens to be one of my best friends. I got to help build the Alpha Sigma Tau float for the parade, which I always enjoy doing. Both our basketball teams won, which is AWESOME. Six of my residents (I’m an RA for Ratliff Hall) are basketball players on the women’s team. They all did an amazing job on the court and I can’t wait to go to their next game!

So now we go on to plan things like Light Up Old Main. Each Christmas season, Tech lights up Old Main with Christmas lights. It’s a whole event! You get to decorate cookies, meet Santa and his elves, and so much more! And, we’re adding a bunch of new stuff this year!! I’m very excited and I encourage you all to come out. It’s an event that’s open to the community and it’s SO SO much fun!!

I hope you are all doing well in school and are enjoying it. Be sure to register for the November 10 Open House and come see myself and other students here at Tech!