Very late update

Well, it's been a while since I've made an updated post. I totally forgot that I was doing this blog to be honest. I've been so caught up in school and work and everything else. So that being said, I believe two classes have since passed for me at the University of Phoenix. My most recent class, Ethics and Values for Human Services, aka BSHS 355. I stressed myself to the maximum with that course, but my hard work I felt really did pay off. I received an A in the course with 99.29% as my final class percentage. Since the two courses have passed, not only have I managed to maintain a GPA above 3.6 (presently 3.84 - again-), I have also received another scholarship, but that I will post information about later on.

So far, these courses have been a lot more intense than I had ever expected. For those of you who believe that a 'fast track' school will be easier than a traditional school, I will say this: you are completely inaccurate in your assumption. These courses have been intense, educational, and stressful. As it turns out, many of my classmates are not doing 'as well' as I have been, which did come as a slight surprise. If you want to succeed in these courses, make sure to communicate with your instructor when you don't understand, and secondly, put 50% above your best effort in.

Week 1 & 2 BSHS 355: The Gossip Column?

It's been an interesting couple of weeks, although I am happy to say that the first week of this course, I managed to get 100% on all of my assignments. Yea.

The interesting portion; however, has been working with one of my classmates. I know that even I can be difficult at times to work with, especially lately in dealing with the passing of a few family members. Here's the thing, there's occasionally difficult and having a rough patch and then there's blatantly obstinate. This gal is definitely more on the blatant obstinate side. It's been incredibly frustrating so far to deal with her. Yes, this is again the group projects that are the mandatory part of our education.

It has felt that every step of the way, she has had some contrary opinion and argument. I can safely say that most of the group is starting to show signs of annoyance regarding it. Today, I pretty much had a gut load of her negativity and politely encouraged her to review our charter (the agreement we made as a group) to read up on all the agreements we made. I was very polite and respectful about it, but also matter of fact. She hasn't responded back and honestly, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, at least the 'drama' has settled for a little bit.

Overall, this class has been relatively easy so far. There is a big project due at the end of the course which is something I'm not quite looking forward to, but, like anything else, it can be done.

I'm glad to say that one of the gals in my previous classes is someone who I still keep in touch with. Thankfully, there's someone out there that I can share my direct feelings with and not feel like I'm going to get penalized for being frustrated.

No tips for today. Well, maybe just that when you feel yourself getting worn out from all the work, it might be time to allow yourself a break from whatever you are working on.

PDF to JPG questions

A small bit of information to share. For those of you who are new to posting and keep a running post of assignments or other things that you do online, here's a great little helping tool.

I convert my assignment files, which are usual docs to pdf and then to jpg to upload them to these posts. There's several ways you can do this. Depending on which computer I'm using will depend on how I upload. Right now, I'm sitting at my desktop, so I end up using a website that converts pdf to jpg for me. The cool thing about this website is that for every 5,000 conversions, they plant a tree. The website is called pdf2jpg.net. I love this site! It's quite simple. All you do for your word docs is save them as a pdf file and then jump over to that website and upload the pdf, convert, then download your converted jpg files to whatever you are wanting. It's fabulous! Go check them out if you haven't already.

If you are looking for software to download, AVS is a great one. I downloaded their paid version a while back. I think it was around $50 at the time and I swear by them. You can add in watermarks and all kinds of things as well. I'm definitely a big fan of them because I use it for school and for my business.

Back into action

Okay, I went silent for a bit because I took a break from class. I needed it. Three classes taken so far and A's in all three, but oh man. Life just happens and you need that break sometimes.

I just finished my first week in BSHS 355 (Delivery of Human Services) at the University of Phoenix. Week 1 wasn't too bad. The assignments were the usual 8 substantive posts (although this instructor wants 100 words and a peer reviewed APA reference for all). We did our Learning Team Charter, which is basically our group agreement paper with all our contact information. Finally, we did a worksheet about four different populations whose needs are unmet, problems they face, and programs out there that offer services for them. In actuality, that assignment took me two days to finish because I struggled to understand what the instructor wanted for it. If you are like me at all, sometimes, simple directions aren't quite so simple to understand.

Anyhow, it's been a relatively easy first week, even though I'm finding that one of our group members is not so willing to go with the flow and get along nicely with others. I guess, though, if you don't have a bit of turbulence, you  don't grow, right?

So here we sit, so far, I have 100% in the group. I found out from a previous class member of mine that even though I'm pulling A's, it's not as common as I was thinking. Yes, these courses are much harder than I originally anticipated. It's very important to make every point count in these classes, given that most of them are only 100 total points. Each point you miss literally drops you a full percentage point in the class, so missing more than 5 points drops you to an A-. Maybe I should clarify with this and mention that I have 1 A and 2 A-'s. That's okay though, my GPA is still at a 3.78. My goal for graduation is to graduate with a 3.5. I'm certain I can pull that off, I just have to stick to my guns.

So my tip for the week then is this:
If you start feeling like you are overwhelmed and just can't handle things at the moment, ask for a break. They allow you a break of two weeks or more as long as it is approved through the school, If it's approved, it doesn't count against your financial aid, so be SURE and communicate with your academic advisor. Cheers all!

Hugs and love!

Are you applying for Scholarships?

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. I finished one or two classes at the University of Phoenix  and right now am currently on a break. I've experienced a few struggles due to loss in the family as the holidays have come, so I figured it was time to take a breather. Despite the struggles, I still have great news. I am not sure if I've mentioned my efforts to apply for scholarships; if I haven't, well I suppose you know now. With that, I get to say that I received great news this morning. I won my second scholarship!

A HUGE thank you to The Courage to Grow Scholarship and to Kim for selecting my story as the winning essay from November's applicants. I'm so excited and flattered.

To all those of you who are out there attending college, I will say this: APPLY FOR SCHOLARSHIPS! It requires time and effort, but if you apply yourself, you can DEFINITELY do it! I've even linked the first one you can go apply for! :)

Blogger Glitch

I have no idea what happened, but somehow, I managed to comment on all of my posts with the same information that I put in my blog. Weird! Sorry for the hiccup!

Scholarship Hunting: Olene S. Walker Foundation

Well, let me start out by saying this, "If you don't ask, they can't tell you no." My dad used to say that to us all the time. I'm sure it's widely used, but it's something I credit to him. That said, I have an experience that reiterates that statement, even though it doesn't have the most happy ending possible.

If you don't know, I live in Utah, and one of the scholarships offered here is the Olene S. Walker Foundation Transition to Adult Living Scholarship. (If you are in Utah, use your preferred search engine to find the current scholarship application.) Note, if you are over the age of 26, you are outside of the age limit for this scholarship.

Going forward with the point of this post; I decided to e-mail the contact for the scholarship application to ask if they would consider accepting my application despite my age. After a few corresponding e-mails and phone calls, I am excited to say that they decided to go ahead and let me apply, On the other hand, while I was able to apply, I found out this evening that because I am enrolled in a private school, they would be unable to award the scholarship to me based on that. In order to receive the scholarship, I would need to transfer to a public school, despite my contact having a positive opinion of University of Phoenix.

I feel that I'm at a fork in the road right now. I am awaiting her response which will likely come tomorrow. I wrote this e-mail that is long and detailed about why Phoenix has been such a great choice for me but I'm too afraid to send it because I am afraid I will seal my fate in not getting the scholarship. At the same time, I don't want to waste any one's time. That and I'm convinced that chances are slim in finding a Utah based public school that will allow online study, contain the shorter weeks of class, and still maintain such a beneficial level of interaction and authenticity with its students.

I warned you, the ending wasn't happy fuzzy; however, the ending wasn't the point; the middle was. I got the courage to reach out and ask if my application could be considered and I was told yes. Of anything, that was my biggest accomplishment and a testament to what I was raised being told,

"They can't tell you no if you don't ask."

So here's my tip: ASK!!!