As We Near The End Of Week 3....

Yes, I said it, we are nearing the end of yet another week in the Summer Quarter!I hope everyone is having a great week so far, and in a few more hours we can say TGIF!

I want to ask everyone to take a few minutes and read the statement made in this photo posted below:



We have so many troops who are fighting for us and making sure that we stay safe, yet sometimes we really don't understand what they go through on a day to day basis. Yes, it's hot over here in New Jersey, but just think of how hot it is over there on top of their gear they must wear! I got this photo from a friend of mine who is a military wife and her husband is currently serving overseas. Please take a moment and give thanks to our military and all they do for us! God Bless! <3

What else do I have to talk about? Well, I actually began commenting more on the Facebook pages for both the main campuses and the online campus. I shared my blog on the online Facebook page the other day asking for some suggesting about what to talk about in my blog. I had a student request some information about how you actually go about obtaining your internship. That is a great question to ask especially being an online student where most of your interactions with career services is based via email or phone, whereas an on-site student has the ability to meet face to face with a career service advisor.

So let me explain this process a little bit. If you are a new student starting out, you may not even know much about the internship process yet because it's still a while away before you reach that point. When you are in your 11th quarter (going for a Bachelor's degree) you will take a course known as Career Management. This course will help you build your resume and give you all the necessary tips needed to make sure you shine in your interviews. This class will also require for you to find an internship or have Berkeley assist you with that process. You can most certainly go out on your own and find an internship, like I did, or simply meet with an advisor who will find you an internship that lines up with your related field of study.

You will spend your time in that class perfecting your resume, cover letter, thank you letter, and things of that sort. You will also prepare a career plan that will illustrate what you hope to achieve in the future. It's very helpful and will prepare you for your job and interviewing processes.

Then when your 12th quarter comes, you will be an intern! This more than likely won't be your only class since you still may have some credits to complete, so time management will be key here! Since I am in my internship now, I will continue to post updates about my experiences and share any tips I can about how to manage time more effectively with an internship and other classes you may have to take!

Please, as much as you want to be done with school, don't rush it! Enjoy the time you have because before you know it, you will be nearing graduation asking yourself, "Where did the time go?"

Stay cool and enjoy your weekend everyone!!

How's The Quarter Going?

We are about to wrap up week 2! So how the heck is it going? I've noticed a lot of great interactions on the Facebook page, which I am happy to see! It's great to have all of our students conversing with one another and sharing all of our favorite classes at Berkeley as well as tips to help us all survive!

Speaking of survival, I bet many of you are wondering why you stuck it out for the summer. I bet you have a really good reason, but if you are ever feeling doubtful, I have some tips and suggestions to share on how to survive through these summer classes! Remember, the Summer quarter is only 11 weeks, one week shorter of a normal quarter, so it's not really all that bad!

Here we go. For starters, you are probably sticking it out to get ahead in your college career. The faster you get through school, the faster you land the job of your dreams, and life just gets better from that point on! Well, at least that was my thought going into school & summer classes! Ok so here is the thing, when you take summer classes, you need to be careful when you spend a late night out. If you know you have a class the next morning at 8AM, chances are you want to stay in that night and focus on preparing for your class the next morning. Falling asleep in class will not earn you a good participation grade, so my advice, don't go out the night before if you plan on staying out super late! It will affect your grade tremendously.

Another thing to remember about summer classes is to keep on schedule. Don't fall behind because you want to enjoy your summer and spend a day at the beach. Again, that type of thing will affect your grade and it could result in having to retake the class again. This also delays your graduation process!



So staying focused should be your main priority, but also have some fun! After all it is your summer, but try to not to get overwhelmed and too consumed in the summer/beach life!

You all did well with choosing to get ahead in your academic career so don't treat it like it's not a priority. You will be glad you did this when it's all over and done with...Believe me!

For those of you who have stuck it out through the summer before...do you have any tips to share? We can all learn from one another!

It's going to be a gorgeous weekend, so catch up on your work and get out there and enjoy the weekend!

Welcome Back: Summer Quarter Kickoff!

Welcome back to continuing students and Welcome to all of our new students! We have officially kicked off the first week of the Summer Quarter and are well on our way to a great and successful quarter! Time to run out to get those books and read over the syllabus so you know exactly what you will need to succeed!

This is sadly my last quarter here at Berkeley. As I started my online classes this week, it was a bittersweet moment. I posted my introductions and I stated it's my last quarter and then I got all boo-hooish! It went by way too fast and I guess what I want to say is, enjoy every moment of college because like myself, you will be wishing you could be stuck in that lecture class wishing college was ending! I will definitely miss it, but it's on to bigger and better things in life!

As I mentioned in my last post, I will be completing my internship this quarter. I did start back in March, but just as part time, so now I will be gearing up to meet my 300 credit hours! My internship position is as a Marketing Intern at a company known as Dauphin North America. If any of you travel on Rt.287 around Boonton, NJ you may have passed this building. “Dauphin is one of the world's leading office seating manufacturers, recognized in more than 50 countries.” My job description is to assist the marketing department in several day-to-day activities including internet research (press, products, etc.), proof read the marketing materials going out, graphic design support for the marketing coordinator, learning graphic design software to help create the marketing materials, and monitor their social media.

I interned today and did a lot of fun things which made time fly right on by. One of my first projects of the day was to reconstruct an operating manual for one of the chairs that the company sells. I worked with a program known as InDesign on an Apple Mac. The purpose of this manual was because one of our buyers, Target, had just purchased this specific chair from us and the marketing department is in charge of creating this specific piece of material for the company in regards to their new chair. I then went on to my next project, which was to look over our current leads and send out marketing materials so that these clients could obtain further information about the chairs we have. The marketing items sent out is a brochure of the chair and it's special features so that the client can decide if this is a chair they particularly like.

I then played around with a PowerPoint presentation with pictures from their most recent trade show, known as NeoCon. At this trade show, they gave away trips to South Africa, which is where the CEO of the company is from. I imported pictures and inserted African themed music to go along with the presentation. I added my creative marketing touch and off to the attendees it went!

Overall, it was a busy and successful day of interning! As the next 11 weeks progress, I will be involved in many more projects that I look forward to sharing with all of you!

I want to wish everyone the best of luck this quarter and please remember to show up to class the first week and get all the materials needed for the quarter! You can always visit our awesome bookstores for all your school needs!

Break From Berkeley!

Sadly, it's already Thursday, which means our break is coming to an end, but it's been a great time to just relax and not have to worry about cramming in any last assignments! By now,everyone should have paid their bills for the summer quarter and are ready to rock and roll next week! Keep in mind, classes will resume Tuesday, July 5th. Make sure you check out your syllabus and get all the books you need. I got lucky this quarter and only had to order 2 books! I also only have 3 classes left and then I am officially done! Next week will begin my countdown till that very last day of college for me.

Next week will be the official start to my internship, even thought I did start back in March. This time I will be there much more this way I can meet my requirements for the internship class. I am looking forward to seeing what other skills I will gain from my internship and I look forward to applying them to whatever type of job I end up with. It's just a whole new experience and something I am really looking forward to. Part of my internship requirements is to keep a journal, so I will be sure to keep everyone up to date about things going on and I will share my journal entry every week so you can see exactly what I am doing!

I hope everyone is really enjoying their break and this weekend is 4th of July weekend, so there is even more to look forward to! I keep thinking that last year I was in Florida on vacation at this time. Hard to believe how fast a year goes by! For those of you who went away on vacation, ENJOY and see everyone back on the Berkeley campuses next week! And hey, try to give yourselves a break from BlackBoard, I know it's so tempting to log on! (Guilty-haha!)

Happy Father's Day!

Today we honor all the great dads out there! I hope everyone enjoys this special day with their fathers!

WEEK 12! WE MADE IT EVERYONE! Can you believe that this is our final week of the spring quarter....ALREADY? Yup, well you better believe it! It's a little emotional for me but exciting at the same time because now, I am only one quarter away from being completely done with obtaining my Bachelors in Marketing! That is just plain scary if you ask me! Like I stated in the beginning of this quarter, this was by far my busiest quarter yet, but I made it through the challenge and happy to say I can finally enjoy a week off! I ended up taking 5 classes, one of which was accelerated, so for the past 6 weeks, I only had to deal with 4 classes, but that was for the better since I had a HUGE capstone project to work on! Luckily, the essay portion I got an A, and now I am just waiting to hear back on my narration PowerPoint presentation! Waiting on the edge!

How did everyone do this quarter? I feel like every quarter I walk away with a new tip and skill to apply in the future. I think it all stems from the way the class is taught and how you learn new things about yourself through the professors different teaching! For example, the online environment is COMPLETELY different from the on-site, so you're only way of communication online is via the discussion boards. You have to be careful how you say things because it could be taken the wrong way. This quarter, one of my professors pointed out that I have incorporated some humor into my posts that reflected well with the students and led to further discussion and kept the ball rolling. I personally didn't even realize I did it until people started making their comments that were encouraging and showing that they too found humor within. So I guess what I am trying to say is that, the online classroom doesn't have to be boring, as long as you can incorporate appropriate humor into your discussion. So the tip is, don't be afraid to step outside the comfort zone, but also, keep it appropriate!

Just a reminder to all the students out there, PLEASE make sure you contact financial aid and student accounts so you can be cleared for the summer quarter! You don't want to fall behind all because you forgot to make that simple phone call or visit to the office! I just took care of some paperwork I needed to fill out for financial aid, and then just have to make my payment and I am all good to go!

And so my countdown begins until I can officially say I have completed my degree! I have had nothing but a great experience here at Berkeley and I will definitely be sad to say my goodbyes when the time comes, but those who have helped me out along the way will always be considered my Berkeley Family!!

Well, I am off to open my pool and plant some sunflower plants in memory of my Grandmother who passed away the beginning of this month! I miss her more and more everyday but I know she is always with me! :)

Enjoy your weekend everyone and YAY! WEEK 12!!!!

Heatwave On The Way

Well there goes the nice cool weather we had for the past few days, now back to the heat and I am not particularly happy with that one! Oh well, I will save the complaining for another day since at least now I have an excuse to go the beach right?!



We are slowly wrapping up the Spring quarter and then summer time it is! Some of you may be taking off for the summer while others, like myself, will stick it out and continue to plug on through. Luckily for me, it's going to be my last quarter, so of course I will suck it up and be done with it! I've said it a hundred times, but I honestly cannot believe that my college career is coming to an end in about 4 months. While I'll be done with school, most of my friends will have another year left and I'll be living the life. Actually, I'll probably be really jealous and wish I was back in school, but I won't be able to judge that one till I'm actually done!

I started thinking today about when and where I want to start my job search. I had to write a career assessment plan for my career management class and while that outlines my intentions, I still need to start the actual looking and selection process. I want to find a company that is a smaller functioning company for now, this way I can build up my skills and then in 3-5 years, start looking into a bigger company who would be interested in hiring me. I'm not going to completely eliminate bigger companies out of my search because a really awesome entry level position could come along for me, so I will be open to see what does come along.

I've browsed through a few websites, Monster in particular, to see what kind of jobs are currently being offered as far as entry level and marketing positions. There are people out there looking, which I should be really, really, really happy about considering many students coming out of college, have an extremely hard time finding a job. I also like to remember that Berkeley offers life-time assistance with finding a job, so even if I did get stuck, I could always visit the good old Career Services office and ask for their help in locating a job. I know it won't be instant, but getting the word out, does go a really long way.

Now that I am winding down and really do want to locate a job upon graduation, I am going to begin doing some research on some companies little by little. I will take notes and possibly inquire more about the position and see where it takes me.

I would also like to extend this advice to my fellow classmates who are going to be winding down on their college experience as well. Start thinking about what kind of company you want to work for, what type of work you want to do, and start gathering all the necessary pieces of information you will need for later on down the road.

And remember, if you EVER need help with any job searches or inquiring specific types of information about a company, contact Career Services. They will be more than willing to help you locate a job and help you generate some useful information in your job search!

That's all for now! I hope everyone has a great week and remember, FINALS are approaching quickly, so any last minute tutoring you need, visit the Academic Support Center, and they will be more than happy to help you out!!

Back up and running!

Hey guys! Sorry for the big gap in posts, but my blog was down for a few days and I haven't had to opportunity to get on and post. So since my last post, a lot has been going on. I participated in the Berkeley College Commercial on May 18th, and it was really cool to be a part of that. Now when I see myself on TV, I'll feel my 10 seconds of fame really kick in.

Can you believe it's going to be week 10? Just think, two more weeks to go and then we get a week off or some of you may get the whole summer if you aren't taking classes. This just means for me that a little more than 4 months and I will officially have completed my bachelor's in marketing! WOO HOO!

My classes have been kicking my butt with papers after papers, but luckily I am just about done with all of them and can kick back and relax. My 15 page paper I had been dreading in my past posts is submitted and ready to be graded. I just have to finish up my narration on my presentation and that will be done as well. The one thing I am very happy about was taking advantage of my resources here at Berkeley. I decided to submit my big 15 page paper to the writing center for some feedback because well, 15 page papers weigh a lot in this class and if I messed up or got the wrong idea about the paper, then I wanted to know how I could fix it! Luckily, within a few days I got my feedback and it was mostly citing corrections that I needed to fix. I swear MLA changes every day!! It was good for me to see these changes because now I know if anyone came to me for citation help, I could lead them in the right direction. If you or any of your friends have a paper due and want some feedback, contact the writing center! They are there FOR YOU!

Aside from that, I am still working over at my internship and we are just doing some final touches on some promotional things for their show in Chicago in about a week and a half. It's been a great experience being able to be a part of that and I've really been enjoying it!

So as we approach the end of the quarter, start preparing for your finals and take advantage of the Academic Support Center if you need any extra help or you are having some trouble with some material in your classes.

A very special and important women in my life passed away on Wednesday, My Grandma. She was in a lot of pain and they just let her sleep until she passed peacefully. I am very glad she will no longer be in pain and now she is my guardian angel up there. It's never goodbye, just see you later! Rest In Peace Grandma, I love you so much! <3