Classes get to be a burden, at some point. I have 18 credits – exactly half of which are for my masters – and while the discussions are interesting, the work can get to you. Today in my History of Science and Technology class, we argued about the Stevens Tech Strategic Plan. Without disseminating too much about the discussion (and trying not to get myself into trouble), it was a lively debate about whether managerial hierarchies actually listen to feedback, or if their attempts to open lines of communications are merely a public relations move. My greatest participation came to refute another student who said that as a technology school, lowering standards to allow more students and different majors (especially humanities majors) into the school just hurts the school. I feel guilty about the way I refuted her – and even apologized to a degree – because just as was the case in Bell Labs, letting employees (students are clients but in the case of university research can also act of employees) bump into each other and hare ideas and perspectives is an integral aspect to giving birth to innovations or revelations. Speaking of revelations…

I finally have secured something for the summer: I will be teaching a class during the summer phase for my high school! I am so excited to teach a philosophy elective (summer phase is mandatory for all students, we attend classes for 210 days a year) because I never had the opportunity to learn about philosophy – at a private, religious school no less! I am currently trying to write up a syllabus and focus the class to basic discussions (though hopefully they can lead into higher level discussions).

Otherwise, I am waiting to hear back from other opportunities. But this is all daydreaming for the future. Something else I am looking forward to is my visit to Scranton University next week with some friends. I went last semester and it was fun, but I hear that “Parade Day,” which is their St. Paddy’s Day celebration, is a fun time to visit.  I’m also excited to get to hang out with some of my friends, because while I’m in Hoboken, I have friends in Newark, Roselle, Scranton, and elsewhere – not necessarily close enough to get together often! The future is bright with opportunity, so far, but I don’t want to lose sight of the present while working towards that future.

-Rob

As for myself, I am still playing soccer and we are looking forward to playing regionals this season. I also became an EMT and, with my friend Tushar Patel, we started a new EMT kind of club for basic knowledge for the Stevens students. In addition, as a Chem-Bio major I will be sharing all my experiences by taking biological systems, organic 2, thermodynamics with Prof. Jones, History of Medicine which is a new course in CAL with Prof. Digrius. Thus, I am really looking forward to learning new material this semester and applying all this knowledge in the field of medicine, which is where I want to be part of.

In continuation, I probably forgot to tell you that I am 21 now and subsequently I can enjoy all the privileges of Hoboken now. Hoboken is a great place to be in – please do not take it for granted! Even though Stevens is not full of girls, trust me Hoboken has your back so if you are already 21 enjoy, and if you are not then be patient I am sure you are really close to enjoy all the different restaurants, history, and entertainment including bars that Hoboken has to offer you! Finally, I want to tell you about commuting and Greek life which in both cases is great. Greek life never disappoints; bid night was a success where most of Stevens people had a great time.

Commuting has been great except for the fact that sometimes when you have a gap of 3 hours between classes and you don’t have anywhere to go in this cold it could be bad. Thank god that is not my case thanks to SigEp, my fraternity. Consequently, life as a Stevens student has been great and I am sure it will keep giving me new experiences full of joy and knowledge for myself. Good luck to everyone in the semester of spring 2013 and talk to you soon.

-Sebastian

The past few weeks I have running around trying to find something big to do this summer. I have already been rejected (insert Dikembe Motumbo meme here) by a Fellowship at UC Berkeley, and am currently applying to an internship back in DC. Last year I was in Georgetown University’s Semester in Washington Program, but this year – hopefully – I’ll be staying at George Mason for the Engalitcheff Institute for DC Internships. This is an economic and public policy opportunity, which is something near what I am interested in after law school. I also have an interview with the ACLU of New Jersey sometime in March or April to interview for a position in August or in the fall. On top of that, I may call my high school headmaster and ask to teach a course during summer session (St. Benedict’s, my high school in Newark, NJ, runs from August to June). So, I have to juggle three possible opportunities (if I get them), or none! Sometimes it’s good to be paranoid.

Otherwise, I’m just writing papers for classes, finishing up the wrestling season and enjoying myself. Wrestling has been going well; I was able to wrestle in 8 matches and be competitive and I’ve been fortunate to travel with the team and still be around the sport. Speaking of which…what is wrong with the International Olympic Committee? Dropping wrestling from the itinerary for the 2020 games is absolutely ridiculous. How are golf, racewalking, and most of the other “sports” still a part of the games, but wrestling – the original and oldest Olympic sport in human history – not? Wrestling is the epitome of sport (my water-polo friend told me so), combining strength training equivalent to Olympic weightlifters, the endurance of soccer players and swimmers, and the strategic intelligence of point guards or chess players. Wrestling is the sixth most popular sport among prep school schools across the country, with 275,000 participants; that number does not include the hundreds of thousands of youth wrestlers and college wrestlers. Hopefully, wrestling can beat out baseball/softball (I played baseball for a decade, wrestling should be in), rock climbing, wushu, karate, squash and wakeboarding. Honestly, a lot of what we do are hobbies. You can go to the courts in the park and play a pick-up game of basketball, or find a partner for tennis, or wakeboard or rock climb for fun. Wrestling can be a great experience and great fun, but you don’t “play” wrestling.

Wrestling reaches back to the ancients, Plato took his name from his pancration (Greek wrestling) abilities. Genesis 32:23 is a story about Jacob wrestling with an angel until the angel blesses him. Cultures all over the world have some form of wrestling. It is a great tool for learning life lessons and seeing other parts of the country, and the world. Wrestlers are family, and as the saying goes: once you have wrestled, you are always a wrestler. In the words of one of the greatest American athletes, Dan Gable: once you have wrestled, everything else in life is easy.

-Rob

Just recently, we had our Bid Night, which to Greek’s is a college version of Christmas. Parties galore with screaming and shouting and chanting. Bid Night is the night when the new recruited members that each sorority and fraternity have given bids to decide what organization they will become a part of for life. That thought is pretty scary, life is quite a long time to be part of something. It is what you make of it, though, and trust me, as long as you choose the right place, you will have no regrets.

Greek life is not all about the parties. And if that’s what you’re looking for in a fraternity or sorority, don’t join one. It’s that simple. Greek organizations are for those who wish to better themselves in their college environment and the future. Leadership positions are available to teach those who take them invaluable life skills that translate in the real world. Alumni and current members are great for building close bonds and in some cases, help you acquire jobs. In my experience, I have met some of my closest friends after joining a fraternity. I’m not paying for friends here. These friendships are strong and true and I know they will last for life.

I could talk all day about reasons why Greek life is so great, but I think you just need to see for yourself. In my case, I never even thought of joining Greek life before I found my fraternity, Phi Sigma Kappa, and became interested in seeing what it was all about. Once I accepted my bid and got to see what everything was like, I knew I made a great choice. So, the fact of the matter is that Greek life shouldn’t be shunned for the things it “promotes.” Overall, the positives outweigh any negatives that could be seen. Even though Greek life can be great to be a part of, it is not necessarily the thing for everyone. What I say is take a chance and explore before completely ignoring it as a possible pursuit in your college years. You never know what could happen.

-Tino

Hi everyone!

The end of last semester was fun. I got to play with Arduino, a very friendly open-source prototyping platform, and built a controller made with lasers, IR filters and heart beat sensor, that produced sound, and controlled things such as volume, pitch, frequency swiping, etc. It was a very interesting experience. I recommend you to experiment with it. It is great. I am working on a blog on my website explaining how I did it and what did I use.

These are a couple of pictures from the power supply prototype of the lasers:

My schedule this semester is both exciting and intimidating.  On one hand, I got to choose my own classes, two of which are CAL courses: American Renaissance in Literature and Modern Drama.  I’m very excited to be in them, especially because the former primarily focuses on Mark Twain and American humor.  On the other hand, I’m also enrolled in both Physics and Chemistry.  I had, um, “interesting” experiences with both of these subjects in high school; I’m hoping I’ll have a better time with them here than I did in high school. 

My new semester resolution is to spend more time devoted to my studies.  Don’t get me wrong, I did well last semester; I just want to do better this semester.  Do you guys have any new semester resolutions?  I don’t think you can actually answer me (this isn’t tumblr, after all), so I’ll just assume you want to try to improve in at least one area of your college experience.

Since it’s pretty new into the semester, there isn’t too much to say yet; I’m sure that’ll change around midterms, though! Until then (or sooner, if I do another entry before then), I hope you have a great semester!

-Virginia

Thus, now we are currently suffering the consequences of Sandy due to the fact that this semester we are going to have to take finals and finish up our classes at the same time. In my case I have my organic lab final followed by a presentation on the Darwinian revolution for my humanities class; right after that I will be attending the Christmas formal at my second house with great, incredible and unique men who I am proud to call my brothers at the SigEp house. Keeping up with my schedule on Wednesday I will be attending a surprise lecture for organic chemistry that we needed to have in order to cover all the material before our two-part final on Thursday. The first part will be in class on Thursday and the second will be a take home honor board exam. Finally, to conclude my week I will be having my third exam, which will be counting as my final exam for cell biology because we do not have enough time to have a final exam.

To sum up, we will be having a lot of studying to do and many long hours to spend in the library, which by the way, they are providing free donuts and hot chocolate sponsored by the honor board. Also, i want to say sorry because I couldn’t concentrate in this blog as I wanted to because of the amount of work we have for this finals week. In addition, I’d like to congratulate all the fall sports, especially soccer for a great season and everyone else for making this semester a great one, full of great experiences such as the return to glory event held recently. Thank you for being a part and helping our Stevens spirit to grow, good luck in your finals, and have wonderful holidays.

-Sebastian

I would love to travel, but I haven’t traveled much. I’ve been to Florida once to visit my grandmother and her significant other, and I’ve been to our nation’s capital a handful of times, most recently over the summer while attending Georgetown’s Summer in Washington, Program. I love D.C, I thought it was amazing, but I want to see more. I cannot wait to visit Texas because I get to see the West Coast (El Paso is Mountain Time). I can finally walk into a desert and feel like a cowboy – I don’t know if Frank Sinatra was ever a cowboy, but the more I think about it the more it makes me laugh: an Italian version of John Wayne.

I am looking to apply to Baylor Law School next year so it also helps to get acquainted with that part of the country. Baylor is in Waco on the other side of the state, but the plains are effectively the same, or so I hear. Even though I’ve spent my whole life in big cities (Jersey City, Newark, Hoboken), I’m looking forward to this experience. I have a pipe dream of one day owning a flat or home in Sicily, which is about as country as one can get, so I’m hoping this gives me a good perspective on things. Plus, I think it will be fun to just hang out in Texas and shop at the bodegas and thrift stores with Clair.

So, really I’m just looking forward to the end of tis semester because I know it means I get to relax and enjoy the Southwest!

-Rob

In my high school years, I attended Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, NJ. A well-known magnet school, BA (as it is also known), gave each of its students the option to pursue a major of their choice for their four years there. Being a 14 year old, not at all qualified to make any decision regarding my future, I chose the Academy for Engineering and Design Technology. While engineering was interesting, I never felt it was my passion, my true calling in life. However, I began to become involved with the Visual Arts program, taking part in the Yearbook club and eventually becoming a Co-Editor for my junior and senior years. It was because of my experiences with Yearbook and graphic design projects I pursued as a hobby of mine that I knew I wanted to pursue graphic design for my career.

Now, picking a school was going to be difficult in various aspects. I had to decide where to go (Did I want to stay local or go to some faraway land?) and what schools were a perfect fit for me, among other things. I had travelled to Boston to look at colleges and being near the city my whole life, schools like NYU and Fordham seemed like home. I was fond of the open campus type of university where you were simply thrust into the world, but also saw the appeal of the closed campus where you were part of a small private community. Stevens became that perfect amalgamation of the the two. The campus still had that closed, intimate feel, but the whole city of Hoboken was just a hop, skip, and jump away as was the grand city of New York. But an art major at an engineering school? The Art & Technology major seemed to fit my situation perfectly well. I had the engineering background and art background and the major brought an engineering flavor to the art that really made everything work well in my opinion.

Currently, I keep myself extremely busy at Stevens. One of my key pieces of advice to remember is just to simply do anything and everything you want. Join those clubs you are interested in or start ones if they aren’t here. Broaden your horizons because being well-rounded is honestly much better than being really really really really really really really really really really really really good at one thing. And also, take time to have some fun with whatever you’re doing.

In my time at Stevens, I’ve become part of various clubs and organizations. Currently, I am President of the Art Installations Club, a club that exhibits student art on campus and around Hoboken. In addition to this, I am Features Editor for The Stute, our student newspaper, a member of TechCreative, a club that essentially works as a design firm, and had the honor of being an Orientation Leader this year. Being an Orientation Leader was a great experience where I met a lot of good friends and simply was asked to be silly and animated for a couple of weeks. I also had the privilege of becoming a brother of the fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa and currently hold the position of Rush Chair, dealing with recruitment. Greek life was something I had not seriously considered before coming to Stevens and my experience with the fraternity has never made me regret my choice. I’ve formed a close bond with all of my brothers and will cherish these relationships for years to come. I’ll probably delve further into Greek life in a later post so stay tuned!

Well, you’re probably tired of reading this, and I probably would be too. I’m kind of tired of typing this out, so this is where we say goodbye. Please, don’t cry too much. I’ll be back in a bit or at least when my next deadline is up.

-Tino

My name is Juan Manuel, I am originally from Peru and I came to the US 10 years ago. It was pretty difficult because I did not know anyone and I have to build myself up to where I am now. I feel blessed. I am currently a Senior in the Music Technology Program at Stevens.  I am following both the composition and sound design and production concentrations. Also, I am trying to get a minor degree in Computer Science.

I feel very excited because this is actually the first time I am writing a blog, and I will try to do my best. I hope these lines can, somehow, bring you smiles, and be helpful in some way, or perhaps can give you some clues and answer to the questions that you have about Stevens. How is the weather? Well I commute, I live 10 min from Stevens and I feel pretty lucky because I really did not have any major consequences after Sandy or the last snow storm.

View from my window during the last snowstorm.

Perhaps you are asking yourself: What is a Music guy doing in an Engineering University? To me, music is just like math. It has measures, patterns, intervals, and other things found in mathematics. What really captivated me about this program was the interesting curriculum that Stevens offers. It is not a conservative music school, nor is it a straight audio engineering school. It is more than that. It offers you a mix of  both worlds: creativity, use of technology, and software design. In my opinion, the best of all is that, because the school is small, you get to have one-to-one conversations with your professors and advisors.

This is the control room of the Studio were we take sound recording classes; we go there every Monday.

Whether you are a composer, a producer, music technology researcher or a music therapist, a Studio is always a good thing to have. It does not have to be big (expensive) as long as it fits your needs and it is acoustically well-designed. That is one of the things that I have learned in this program through one of my favorite classes: Acoustics. I’ve just finished a “quadratic diffuser” for my own home studio. This helps to scatter different frequencies in different directions.

A “quadratic diffuser” I just built for my own home studio.

We get to compose music, record and mix an album or design sound for a movie. We also get to play a lot with electronics and programming such as is don with Pduino (a mix of Arduino and Pure Data). With this we are able to create new MIDI controllers, synthesizers, in order to control not only sound but also lighting or anything in a live performance. Yes, I am in love with my career. I have learned a lot, but two of the most important things that I have learned are that you never stop learning, and that anything can be less difficult once I change my attitude. Everything is really up to us. That is why it’s important to do what you love to do.

Hope to see you around! Thanks for reading!

Juan

PS. One more thing! Go to the Writing Center! You cannot imaging how helpful they are. Especially for me that I am not a native English speaker.