Favorite Presentation

My favorite presentation for this class was Joel's presentation on the Invisible Children. I was familiar with this topic and had attended the viewings of the documentary made about them. I was neat to see that someone else thought of this as a pertinent issue and that someone also wanted to help in his own way. I think that awareness is key to making a change, as nothing can be done about a problem no one knows anything about. I think Joel took this opportunity to make people aware, as over half the class had no idea about this cause. I also thought it was neat that it is closely related in a sense to our class web design project. I think it is great that our class seems to have a passion for helping those in need especially on an international level and that we are in the position to express that.

I thought Joel had great colors, pictures, and video clips to show during his presentation, and it was a good reminder for me to try and get involved in this project if at all possible. GREAT JOB Joel!

Fall Break

Sorry last weeks blog is late, but I thought I'd do it and try to earn some of the points at least.

The thing that is foremost on my mind this week is Fall Break. This is the first year I get to go somewhere for break and not have to stay here to train, so I am really excited for that. While I'm not going anywhere glamorous, home is enough for me. I am from Chattanooga, TN, and I miss it terribly while here at school. Unfortunately my parents will not be there as they are on vacation in California, but I have friends and a wonderful boyfriend to keep me company for my few days off.

I know that I am going to have a car and doctors appointment, but other than that, I have the weekend free to do whatever I want. I am going to go for a hike and to some of my favorite restaurants, and I hope to get some good sleep as well. I am going to leave for home on Thursday night because I have to be back here on Monday to train, so leaving the night before gives me a bit more time.

While this break does not seem all that eventful, it is definitely one I am looking forward to!

I am on the team blog this week!

"Ability to Pull an All-Nighter Can Be as Useful as a B.A.".....?

After reading through the list of articles that we were to choose from and respond to, it seemed that the first title was the one that I really was curious about. This article is titled "Ability to Pull an All-Nighter Can Be Useful as a B.A." Being a college student myself I have pulled an all-nighter on one occasion and that was enough to make me realize that is not a skill I think I could acquire. The article mainly tells the reader that there are many skills that one might acquire in college that one might not consider marketable; however, there are ways to spin things that make them sound like they are real assets. The article calls these skills "soft skills". The example that the author provides is that students have the ability to write a paper, talk online, and watch TV all at the same time. While this may be a product of a weeks worth of procrastination, it could also be thought of as an extreme form of intense schedule handling.
The article suggests using some of these "soft skills" in an interview. Things like facebook and myspace, if worded right, could be used to show that you are Internet savvy and are able to communicate in the most modern of ways. According to the article, all these examples, if used correctly could help you in attaining a job. However, you would not want to crowd your interview or resume with these soft skills- other, more traditional resume builders are still very important, but these other abilities might be of interest to some employers.
I thought this was a interesting and pertinent article considering our mock interviews and resumes are coming up. These examples cited in this article were not skills that I had considered marketable before, but I will now re-evaluate what might be worth mentioning in these up-coming assignments.

My Life in 10 Years...

My life in 10 years is an exciting thing to think about. I hope to be a successful lawyer practicing international human rights for the UN. I want to work throughout my life, and my biggest goal in the working world is to make a difference. I feel that my life will be well lived should I change something for the better. I feel that I have been given a lot; therefore I feel an obligation- one that I am have to indulge- to give back.
I hope to be married at this time as well. I see my husband sharing the same values and beliefs that I have. I hope to live in many different places, and at some point I would like to settle, but I don't know where that would be. I want to travel to Haiti for a significant amount of time, and I want to go to India, Tibet, Africa, and many other places for some short stints as well. In terms of children, I think I want to adopt, and right now, I am pretty convinced that I do not want any of my own. However, I am aware that this opinion might change.
It is hard to imagine my life in 10 years, but in the most basic sense, I hope that I am happy and well on my way to accomplishing my goals. Thankfully my schooling will be finished, and I will be starting and establishing my career. I hope for a loving and faithful husband to share all this with and as far as a family goes, I can only leave that to fate.
Whatever happens, I feel that it will happen for a reason, so I can only trust it.

Reactions to Web 2.0

I have never been one that is in the know with all the new things that technology has to offer- in fact, my skills when it comes to computers are very limited, and this video really helped to hit this point home. The title "Web 2.0" does not really mean anything to me, and I could only speculate what its implications are. If I had to guess from a very word based perspective, the word web implies something connecting many different things, which is fitting for what this short film was trying to convey. The web is how we communicate and the extent of that communication is growing daily. As for the "2.0" part of it, I guess maybe it is describing some sort of upgrade as compared to what we have had before.
For those entering the workforce, Web 2.0 can be a huge help. One can now submit resumes online, in fact places of business can now search for potential candidates on their own. This film made it seem as though the extent of what we can do and share on the web is for all intents and purposes endless. One might even conduct an interview via web cam.
However, with all the new technology one has to be careful of what he makes accessible over the web considering how companies now do in fact check who they might potentially hire.
People already in the workforce most likely have to learn the new systems and how to use all the new technology. It seems a daunting task; however, because technology is constantly changing. Once a company learns a new system, a better on is bound to come out the week after.
When the video says we will have to rethink everything, I think it is saying that we will have to be conscious of how we portray ourselves online, as now, almost anyone can find anything they want or need to know. Technology is amazing in the sense of the fact that an enormous amount of information in at our fingertips and two mouse clicks away. This is the positive side. The negative aspects are how this might affect our privacy and how far we are going to let it go. Pretty soon, people are not going to have to leave their house, much less actually interact with anyone else. Everything is available to them at their desk at home. We are most definitely creatures of convenience and we must remember this as technology continues to grow, and we cannot let it consume us.

Introduction

This is the first blog I have ever written, so hopefully, it all works out ok.

My name is Julia Young, and I am a junior here at Clemson University. I am a member of the Varsity Rowing Team and have been rowing for seven years. I am a psychology major with a religion minor. I will graduate in the spring of 2009 and from there, I hope to attend law school for international human rights. My dream job after completing all this schooling would be to work for the UN-who knows what the future holds though.

I was born in Syracuse, New York and lived there until I was about 4 years old. My family then moved to Tennessee where I was raised on Signal Mountain located right outside of Chattanooga. I am the oldest of three- my sister's name is Madeleine, who is a freshman at Columbia College of Chicago pursuing a career in acting, and I have a brother named Eric, who is a freshman in high school. My father, Dr. Chris Young is an anesthesiologist and my mother, Vanessa was a nurse until she had my sister and I.

I really enjoy being outdoors and traveling. I love to hike, ride bikes, go for runs-really just anything that keeps me active. I also love to lounge around and hang out with friends too. I have been to Haiti three times so far (hopefully many more trips to come), St. Marrten several times, Cabo, Mexico, Arizona, Utah, New York City, and several others. I hope to travel to many more places throughout my life.

As I'm sure many of my classmates' blogs do, this one only scratches the surface of who I am. However, hopefully this gives a little more information than was known before. Until next time...