JJ's World Views

Tag: Trio

  • Normandale TRIO SSS End Of Year Celebration

    Tonight was the end of year Celebrations for TRIO SSS at Normandale Community College.  TRIO SSS is for people who are first generation, persons with disabilities and low income students, if you were wondering.  This was our second annual banquet to celebrate the accomplishments of all the awesome people in the program.  We started with dinner and good conversation with our peers.  I just happened to be sitting next to the President of the school Joyce Ester.  She showed us the new motor scooter she had bought, it looked pretty cool, It looked more like a motorcycle than a scooter though.

    After dinner the ceremony  started another one of my friends Dee Parker was one of the speakers.  Dee is another really inspirational people who moved up here from New Orleans after Katrina.  We went through the Academic recognitions for the semester.  The categories are as follows:

    Roaring Red: 3.0 – 3.49

    Roaring Lion: 3.5- 3.99

    Lion’s Club: 4.0

    I happened to be in the Roaring Lion category for a 3.73 GPA for the semester.  My goal with the VA is to keep a 2.5 or better, My personal goal is to keep a 3.0.  I just keep on surpassing it.  In the fall I was admitted to Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society for 2 year colleges.

    The Next Speaker was Ushna Altaf a really funny and crazy Pakistani woman who is full of life and loves to crack jokes with everyone, this was her last semester at Normandale and she will be missed.

    Next we had a musical performance of John Lennon’s”Imagine” sung by Sam Dylia.  Even though I have the words to this song memorized, I do not think I could get up and sing it in front of a group of people and he should be commended for  the job he did.

    The awards came up directly after the performance, this is where I was filled with shock and amazement. The first three awards were the partner, Champion and Game awards These were given to faculty and staff.  Then we got to the Most Active scholar which was won by Ushna Utaf, her fellow nominees were Yuanyuan Cui and Jackson Code.  The next was the most Persistent Scholar which was won by Jenny Steck.  Her fellow nominees were Chamab Nhel, Dee Parker and Amber Branch.  The Last of the awards was Scholar of the Year won by yours truly JJ ODonnell with my fellow Nominees Amber Branch and Ella Komianvi.  This was a shock to me, I knew I had been nominated for the award but I never thought I would win.  In fact I was actually rooting for Amber or Ella, both of these women are strong, good students and have fought through their share of adversity.  This is not to say I have not; I just thought that one of them should be the winner.  Amber I know the most about she was my peer mentor and is my friend and just a kick ass chick.  Ella I know in passing from when I worked in the diversity center, she was always so cool and very courteous.  She is also the President of the BSA (Black Student Alliance) and participate in numerous other groups and activities.   I was just honored to be nominated.  I was not looking for anything else.

    The last performance was by Joe Charley who spoke a riveting poem about being more than just what people see and encouraging people to dive deeper to get to know others of different races and cultures.  It was astounding.

    The Keynote Speaker was President Ester who kept her speech short and to the point.  She was also still reeling from the previous speaker.

    The closing words were spoken by the Head of Normandale’s chapter of TRIO Frederick MacDonald-Denis, coincidentally he is my advisor till mine gets back from paternity leave, James.

    All in All this was a very interesting night for me.  It was a shock to my system I am glad to share some of it with you all.

    Peace Be With you all.

  • Day 4

    Well today was the end of my first week of school.  I had Intro to Cinema and History of World Civilization 2.  After my classes I had a meeting with my TRIO SSS (Student Support Services) advisor.

    In Cinema we were learning about its technical history from the Zoeatrope to George Melies “A Trip to the Moon”.  It was interesting to see how they first attempted to colorize film.  It must have been painstaking painting each frame, even if it was a 13 minute film.  It is remarkable to see how far we have come in such a short period of time ( in the grand scheme of things).  I also started the readings tonight going through the influences of the different countries that had an effect on the industry from the late 19th century to 1947 is where I stopped for the night.  This cover things like the Kinetograph and Kinetoscope developed by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson in Edison’s labs (411 Barsam and Monaham).  Going into the Silent Period (214), The German Expressionists (418) and many more.

    This afternoon I had History in which we watched a video (narrated by the late Leonard Nimoy)and discussed the Black plague, and he answered questions on the syllabus.  The video was something that I had seen before on the History channel so most of the information was not too new to me.  Like I knew they used Bodies of the dead as a form of biological warfare of the time and that doctors of the time were some of the most vulnerable do to the closeness of working with those who had the plague.  What I had missed the first time I had watched the video was the Flagellants ( an extremist Christian sect) that had started to gain traction do to the Catholic Church own ignorance and unwillingness to hear any ideas other than those in the Bible.  I started my reading for this class today as well.  The reading are on some of the creation myths of the world.  I have gone through the Iroquois, which is more of a matriarchal view of the world and the Japanese which from what I read started out quite nice then became very patriarchal.  At least that is how I saw it.  I will be rereading it to get a better understanding of them both.

    After history I went to see my TRIO advisor.  I like going to talk to him we always have interesting conversations.  For those who do not know Trio is an organization that help first generation college students and students with disabilities navigate through college life.  They help you set up your schedules, filling out financial aid forms and help to keep you on track in school.  Some of the most prominent people who have been part of this program through the years (not at Normandale Community college where I go they just started theirs last year) are Oprah Winfrey and Angela Bassett.  This Program has been around since the 60’s and is federally funded.  If you are in college and they have this program check to see if you qualify it is extremely helpful.  Me and James (my advisor) talked about how my classes are going so far, some of my financial aid and a little about this blog.  it was a short meeting but it is the first week and he is swamped with the new semester and people on his team. He did ask me if I “If I thought that I would have any problems with the number of classes or the classes themselves.” I dont really think I will of course while writing this blog my self doubt started creeping up again.  This happened before this time I feel I have the support I need to concur it.  beside I always feel like this until the end of the semester.  By then I have seen where I am at and know what I need to do to get the grades I need and want.  Hell right now I am waiting to get my invitation to Phi Theta Kappa our Honor Society. Over the past 2 semester I earned a 3.53 GPA in my college level courses.  If you add in my remedial courses it is a 3.68 GPA.  So, as long as I keep doing what I am doing I should have another good semester.

    Works Cited

    Barsam, Richard Meran., and Dave Monahan. “10/Film History.” Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film. 5th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2016. 411+. Print.