ePortfolio

The very first thing in class we learned in class was how to make a blog. Making a blog was completely new to me and a new experience for me. I am not very good with technology so creating this account was definitely a interesting process. I was thrown for a curve ball with still having open my blackboard account and lewis email, but when I was able to get accustomed to it, it became much easier. I was able to let out any concerns that I had throughout the semester with anything. One of the most memorable blogs that I wrote was the one about Colin Kaepernick. I still feel very strong about my views against Mr. Karpernick but it was also great going into class and hearing the opposite. I think the best think about your class, Dr. Kyburz, was how we could voice our own opinion. In most of my college classes if a student was to voice their own opinion, he/she would get backlash on their grade for saying what they did in class. Hearing others opinion's especially in class was crucial for me to hear because it opened up my mind to how others viewed different subjects. I almost think that is most important thing that I have learned in college thus far. Being open-minded to different people's opinion's and ways of thinking differently of how to solve situations have helped me open up my mind quite a bit. Especially in your class, when Bara the one class day said his opinion about Mr. Kaepernick. Although at the time I did not necessarily agree, I still listened to what he had to say. I think hearing others opinion's in your class not only helped me open up my mind, but also helped me with other classes. It made me realize that the reason why a problem is occurring may not be just the one I am thinking of but other reasons as well. We also were able to discuss how we feel about the presidential elections and why we support one candidate over the other. I thought it was interesting here Dr. Kyburz's thoughts about Hilary Clinton and how to see things in a different way. Hearing this from a supporter of another party was intriguing because I was able to take things from a different view point an experience in an educative manner how others think and how I could be wrong in certain scenarios. We went on to do a documentary project which was interesting to write about because it as my first time writing something like this. Although, I did struggle with this paper, I learned form my mistakes and moved on. Then we moved on to our micro theme. At first I thought writing a one page paper for a college writing class was going to be easy but in the end it was probably was one of the more difficult papers that I have written for the class. It made me review every sentence that I wrote and try to make it more applicable to the reader. The most difficult part was trying to compress the paper into one page. It really tested my writing abilities to be able to compress well developed sentences. Then we were able to create a multimodal project. The multimodal was the first time I dealt with making a movie. It took me many tries and videos, but I finally came out with something that I believe described the fear of flying very well to some of the common travelers. Then we were able to do a persuasive essay and the topic I picked was the same as my micro theme. It was interesting to find out more information concerning why travelers are afraid to take planes as their most efficient form of transportation. I would like to end with the link to the post that I posted about Colin Kapernick and how crucial that was to me discussing that topic in class.

http://patrickfmccloskey.blogspot.com/2016/10/blog-day-friday.html

 

The week before Finals

Finals week. Man. It sure has been a roller coaster this semester. I've had good days and bad days but, haven't we all. These last couple weeks have probably been the most stressful couple of weeks of my semester due to the fact that every single one of my teachers either has a project/paper/or speech due. In total I have a written examination for the FAA, 4 papers, 3 projects, and a speech to give. I have never had this much work due all at the same time in my life. Unlike my prior habits, I usually procrastinate things until the last minute. I started working on these projects about two weeks ago when I knew I was going to be swamped with work. I would like to talk about how stressed students get and why they sometimes commit suicide during this stressful week. Suicide is a very serious topic  that all faculty and students should be aware of and try to find early signs of it especially during the most stressful week of students lives. I found a statistic online saying that there are more than 1,000 suicides per year on college campus. We as students need to know that our lives do not depend on getting an A in that one paper for the class or project. So, take  a step back, take a breath, DON'T PROCRASTINATE, and get the work done.

Argumentative Paper

For our final essay we have to do a final argumentative  project we have to choose a topic that interests us enough to make at least 2-3 summaries about our topic as well as do a 5 page paper for the actual argumentative paper. All this is actually very stressful for me because I have ben extremely busy these past few months due to flight and other projects due at all around the same time. Although I did not know that we had a summary due today, it just adds more works for me to do as well as the blogs. I have been overloaded with homework it seems like but there are no finals for all my classes except one for the most part. So I just have to buckle down and start getting it done. The argumentative essay does seem very intriguing because it is something that I truly enjoy and do not mind researching it. I'm going to knock these to summaries out tonight and then continue to research the reasons why some people have such a difficult time and fear of flying.

The Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles are a team that is hard to love but I was born and raised to love them. The "Birds" as we in Philly call them have definitely had some good seasons but also many, many bad seasons. Our slogan in Philadelphia is "there's always next year." Unfortunately, most Philly sports aren't the prettiest thing to watch. The Eagles this year are not looking too promising either. Their record as of right now is 5-5 and we are the worst team in the division. Being and Eagles fan and going to the games is one heck of an experience. Two years ago my roommate came to visit Philadelphia with me and he was able to attend an Eagles pre-season game. Although he was a Bears fan, he was forced to wear Eagles attire because if he was in a bears jersey because Lord knows what would have happened to him if he would wear it. He was in good caring hands when we went to the game but the opposing fans unfortunately were not. My brother and his friends were cheers and boasting about how greta the Eagles were gonna do but look where we are now. Very ironic.

Women's Volleyball team

At Lewis, I help coach the Women's volleyball team. Over this past summer, I was able to play with some of the girls at the sand courts. Although we were somewhat messing around, I was asked by the captain if I would be willing to practcie with them throughout the rest of their season. I accepted the offer because I love the sport so much and would be willing to help the girls out if it meant they would get better. Although I had to go through pages and pages of signing paperwork with the NCAA, and lewis; at the end it was all worth itSome of my concerns is the net being about seven inches lower than normal and questioning if they are able to handle a guy playing with them. Needless to say they kicked my butt the first day and I learned how out of shape I was compared to these women. I was sweating so much the first day of their practice, sweat was literally dripping off my fingertips. They have gotten so much better throughout their season and seeing each one of them improve was a pleasure to see. Ever since I was about 12, I have been helping my dad coach volleyball learn how to coach the correct way. I had a really great time helping these ladies and I hope they got something out of me being there. I'd like to thank the coach for setting me up and captain for this opportunity.

Thanksgiving break

For this Thanksgiving I will be traveling back to Philadelphia. I am very excited to travel back and enjoy the short holiday with my family. My sister and her finance just got enganged as of two weeks ago which is very exciting news. My sister's finance proposed to her and she said yes and the next day he wanted both family's to come together the next day and celebrate their day.  Unfortunately, I was unable to travel back that weekend due to a prior commitment. So, it should be nice being able to see them together and ask about how every went. The enjoyable part about going back home for thanksgiving break is having fun in the nice weather, visiting old friends, and go bike riding. Philly is my home and no one should ever forget their roots of where they came from.

Iowa tournament.

This weekend my volleyball team and I went to a tournament at Iowa state university. The drive there as very flat for the most part. There were just a lot of fat rolling hills. Especially this time of year the drive was beautiful and filled with color because of the leaves. When we got to Iowa state we just slept at the hotel because we were all exhausted after a 5 1/2 hour drive. The next morning we woke up at 6:50 and left the hotel by 730. There was a lot of good competition at the tournament. We faced a lot of great players from around the midwest as well as some teams from D3 programs. I play the left front hitter and needless to say I am very sore today. A lot of swinging and jumping but all in all it was a fun trip. I am looking forward to many more tournaments with my team and many more memories.