Senior Year Begins

Hello again!

Or, "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story", as one of my friends is fond of saying. 

I'm very excited to continue my blog this year! I look forward to relaying my experiences at Clark as a Psychology major with a concentration in Jewish Studies, as a senior, on the verge of graduation! I'm beginning to discover how I will be able to merge my university studies with potential career options following graduation, and I hope, through this blog, to paint an accurate portrayal of how Clark has prepared me for what will come next in life.

So you may ask: what are my plans for Clark this year?

They're very exciting! I'm taking four classes: my capstone for psychology, called Advanced Topics in Social Psychology; a Jewish studies/sociology course called American Jewish Life; a Jewish studies course called Reading the Narratives of the Hebrew Bible (those who followed this blog last year may recall that I took the second piece of this course previously); and a COPACE course (through the Adult/Continuing Education program), a class titled The Final Chapter: A Study in Death and Dying.

Additionally, I am maintaining my position as a co-president of the Clark University Film Society (CUFS), and I will be preparing play-lists and hosting a radio show with a couple friends as a part of ROCU, Radio of Clark University. As the year progresses, I may join a few more clubs (Clark has so many to choose from!)

I will also be working as a student projectionist for the Screen Studies program here at Clark - I'll be in charge of setting up and projecting a number of screenings per week.

You may then be thinking: your senior year sounds great! But what's next? Are you going to stay at Clark and continue with the Fifth-Year Program?

My plans for the future are still uncertain - graduate school is a definite option, but my plans are not solidified to the point where I'd feel comfortable committing to Clark's excellent Fifth-Year program (check out Dylan's awesome science blog, which discusses what it's like to continue at Clark after undergrad, or this audio clip by a past student explaining why he decided to enter the Fifth-Year program).

If not Fifth-Year, then what are your plans?

I'm looking into careers where I may be able to combine the two topics I grew to love so much at Clark - psychology, and Jewish studies. Potential careers at this point include Jewish chaplaincy and hospice work; in my own experiences with illness and familial death, I have grown to appreciate how comforting the presence of such people can be during difficult times. And both positions would combine very nicely the topics I've studied here at Clark! For interested parties, here's a list of the smattering of courses that really pushed me to become interested in a career where I'd be lending kindness to the infirm: Suffering and Evil in Jewish Tradition, Holocaust: Agency and Action, Introduction to Peace Studies, Introduction to Abnormal Psychology, and Sociology of Families. I'm hoping that courses this semester (mainly A Study in Death & Dying and American Jewish Life, in addition to the Social Psychology capstone) will provide me with even more of a basis for the types of topics I’d uncover as a Jewish chaplain/hospice worker.

Clark truly is an institution that changes lives - without the availability and proximity of such enjoyable and interesting psychology & Jewish studies courses, I'm not certain I would have landed on a potential career choice that feels both accessible and exciting to me as an individual. 

This blog will follow my experiences at Clark throughout my senior year, with a focus on how my courses (and past courses) have prepared me for experiences after college. I'll keep you updated on events on campus, and will hopefully be posting relevant pictures, videos, and tweets (I've never used Twitter before, but I'll post links once I've set it up).

Thanks for reading so far - I look forward to keeping all of you updated!

Goodbye for Now, Clark! Final Reflections

The end of the semester is very close now - I leave in less than a week! Three exams to go, and then I'm done foreverrrr! Just kidding, I mean I'm done until summer classes start up.

Overall, my junior year has been filled with challenging courses, new friendships, new jobs, and difficult circumstances to overcome. But it's been very enjoyable! Along with working hard in my courses, I hosted and prepared playlists for my own radio show on ROCU (Radio of Clark University) and I successfully led my first semester as a co-president of CUFS (Clark U Film Society). I lived an entire year with a male roommate without either of us driving the other crazy, and I lived happily in a substance-free dorm. I attended various performances, improv shows, movies, and activities. It was a great year!

Although I'm pleased to be (nearly) done, I will miss Clark dearly over the summer. Today I filmed a video of  what I'm going to miss about Clark while I'm home. I apologize for the rain! On the upside, everything is looking wonderfully green.

Thank you to everyone who followed and kept up with my blog! I really enjoyed updating it, and I hope it gave everyone a nice look into what life as a psychology student & Jewish Studies concentrator is like at Clark.

I hope everyone has a lovely summer!

Eleven reasons (and ten pictures) depicting why Clark is great even during finals

I have been very busy with finals and the end of classes; thus far I have completed (& presented) one presentation on a comparison between interviewing and observing (for Qualitative Methods). But I still have a lot left to do! My to-do list: (1) present a twenty-minute presentation on Gender Identity Disorder for Human Sexuality, (2) write a ten-to-fifteen page paper on my interview for Qualitative Methods, (3) write a three-to-five extra credit paper for Astronomy, (4) write two short papers for Hebrew Bible II, and (5 - 7) exams! For Human Sexuality, Astronomy, and Hebrew Bible II.

The weeks have been crawling by. I love being at Clark very much, but the cram and stress that always occur at the end of classes makes for a build of anxiety and a desire to return home where the cats are plentiful and there is an excess of time to be used sleeping.

Additionally, the pressure to figure out issues relating to class standing has been causing me to fret a bit. If anything, I can determine that this grinding process has at least been a learning experience of sorts; experience that allows me to communicate with the university as an institution and work together to determine how we can maneuver around the difficulties that have arisen. I feel that the head of the psychology department and the Clark faculty must be trying their very hardest to be flexible towards my academic needs at this point in time.

All of that stress-talk aside, there have been many ways to blow off steam in a safe and fun way, provided by Clark & the Worcester community. And so I present to you: ten pictures and eleven ways to enjoy life and take a break during finals time at Clark University.

1. Walks in Elm Park (we are imitating the hanging things from the art exhibit above us)

2. Road trips! (To the movies, preferably. The West Boylston theater always has a nice array of movies for low prices. And of course, Cinema 320 is run out of Clark's own Jefferson 320 serving as another movie option (in addition to CUFS, of course!) if transportation to get off campus is limited)

3. Browsing in That's Entertainment, Jelly's, and other local Worcester businesses.

4. Hanging out (or doing work) in the Clark Bistro

5. Sitting on the green with other Clarkies

6. Dance parties

7. Playing piano in Tilton Hall (in The Higgins University Center)

8. Drinking lots of coffee (provided by the Clark Bistro and Jazzman's cafe located on the first floor of the library)

9. Taking lots of snack breaks

10. Dressing up Freud in weird costumes (catch people red-handed on the Clark Red Square webcam)

And lastly, but definitely not least

11. Attending a variety of Clark-sponsored events! Just to give an idea of the assortment of activities offered:

Past events this weekend include:
Academic Spree Day
SPOC's game night
Clark's Relay for Life
Shenanigan's final show of the semester
DOM live in the grind and
Behold The Man (a student written, directed, and performed play).

Upcoming events include
Pea Pod's final show of the semester
Variant Dance Troupe's Spring Show and
the annual Screen on the Green sponsored by CUFS and SAB.

And so, as the school year concludes, I find myself overwhelmed by schoolwork but still enjoying my time here at Clark (how could I not, with all these fun things to do?)

Happy almost-Mother's Day to all mothers and children of mother's out there! Be sure to watch out for my last entry of the school year! Coming soon to the Internet near you.

Interview Completed, Finals Approaching

I am nearing the end of the semester - and gasp - the end of my junior year at Clark! Time sure has gone by quickly.

As far as classes go things have been picking up. I am finishing up projects and papers and will soon begin studying for final exams. I successfully completed my interview for Qualitative Methods in Psych last week! I arose early on Friday and piled into a car with my interview partner and PLA (Peer Learning Assistant). After a 20-minute drive or so in which my partner and I adequately pestered our PLA with questions relating to the interviews to come, we arrived at an assisted living facility. My partner was hesitant and so I volunteered to conduct my interview first; I ended up interviewing a woman who was nearly 100-years-old at the time (her birthday recently passed - April 19th). I heard about her childhood, bits from her marriage, and some thoughts on her current life in the retirement home (lots of bingo! She said).

Overall it was an interesting experience, though I was very nervous to be in the role of interviewer, and in charge of steering this kind older woman's thoughts in order to elicit stories about her life. To me, the point of this exercise was less about the stories we heard and more about the process of qualitative interview and the different manners in which we are able to view  and take on specific roles: as interviewer, as participant, as an equal, as someone in charge. I have participated in many, many undergrad and grad-student run studies at Clark, and to be honest, being on the other side (as researcher rather than participant) is a bit nerve-wracking, especially when considering all the prep work that has to go into it. However, I am looking forward to engaging in more research prep-work (or even transcribing) as I approach upper-level psychology courses at Clark (even though I was nervous it was still a lot of fun!).

Last night I took part in my last Astronomy Lab for the semester - my professor was there in addition to our astronomy TAs and observation assistants. Together they managed to get our telescope functioning so we could finally take a look at the sky using something other than our eyes or binoculars. Additionally, we watched a movie on the Chaco Canyon, an area in which people aligned their buildings and roads to match up with solar and lunar processes; the setting and rising of the sun and of the moon. Overall it was very interesting, especially considering that these calculations were made a long, long time before any of the equipment we have now was ever created.

I am currently working with my group on a project/presentation on Gender Identity Disorder for Psych of Human Sexuality, and soon I will begin prep on my papers and studying for Hebrew Bible II (we have two take-home mini-papers and a final exam). Because I am a Jewish Studies concentrator, recently I was invited to a dinner in honor of a contributor to the Jewish Studies program at Clark. I am very excited; I will be mingling with President Angel and faculty from the JS department. I will even be dressed moderately fancy, it's all very exciting!

The weather in Worcester has been so lovely lately - this is picture of me lounging on the green with some snoozing friends during Spree Day (the building pictured behind us is Atwood Hall .

A happy Passover and Easter to those celebrating!

Springing into Spring (at Clark)

It finally feels like spring!

Clarkies have been celebrating with the help of Clark-funded events this week. On Sunday I attended Woo-Stock, sponsored by Students Activities Board and Student Leadership & Planning. It was situated on the green between the University Center and some of the academic buildings. I sat on a blanket with some friends and we watched bands while enjoying free bread (provided by Panera) and coffee (provided by Acoustic Java). There were some inflatables, music, and just generally happy students lying around on the grass in the sun.

students playing Hacky Sack!

students lying on the green next to Red Square (the building pictured is the University Center)

one of the inflatables set up at Woo-Stock

"Survay Says" performing in front of Jefferson Academic Center

This past Tuesday was another fun Clark tradition - Spree Day! Fear of rain led to inflatables being set up in the Kneller Athletic Center. Classes were cancelled, registration opened at 8am, and students lined up to try to receive one of the 300 free t-shirts being distributed at the Info desk in the University Center. Free food was provided, and happy students milled about for most of the day participating in the activities; playing on the inflatables, using the photo booth set up in the Kneller, gathering free food from the cafeteria. At one point there were four booths out in front of the Kneller: one handed out huge (and I mean super big) bags of kettle corn, another gave out ice-cream, another gave out pretzels, and the fourth handed out cotton candy.

(Click here for a Clarkie-filmed video of Spree Day from the Clark youtube page!)

Although I've been enjoying these lovely Spring breaks from class, work has definitely not ceased (soon! only a few weeks of class left). Tomorrow I will hopefully (& finally) conduct my interview for Qualitative Methods. There was a bit of a mix-up timing-wise, it was difficult to try to coordinate separate interviews for everyone in the class, but it seems as though tomorrow will be sufficient.

I'm going home for Passover this upcoming Sunday, so I will back in Portland on Monday/Tuesday. My professors have been understanding (one of them even cancelled class because he will be observing the holiday as well) but I will have to do some preemptive make-up work before I leave.

Additionally, I'm still in the process of figuring out how to fulfill my graduation requirements appropriately so as to limit my chances of having to stay a semester late; it's an issue of getting into the courses I need rather than an issue of time, so over-extending my stay seems silly. However, I have been corresponding with different department heads and offices at Clark and it seems as though things will settle into something manageable eventually.

Now I will head out to prepare my interview for tomorrow and to finish up some Astronomy and Human Sexuality homework. I hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather!

Mid-End Term

This past week or so has been spent studying and finalizing plans for Fall 2011 and Summer 2011 courses - I will be taking one or two courses at a university in Maine to rectify the credit I lost while ill. Clark also offers summer courses, but I already have plans to be back at my home (hopefully with a summer job!), otherwise I would consider utilizing the Clark COPACE summer program.

This past Wednesday I had two tests, and upon completion (and after diligently running around campus trying to determine where to turn in my summer course approval form) I celebrated by wandering around in the sunny weather with a friend. We ended up walking through Estabrook, where she stopped to play piano in one of the open practice rooms, and I took some pictures out the window. This is from the second floor of Estabrook; off to the right you can see just a bit of Wright Hall, one of the first-year dorms.

After some piano we wandered towards the Academic Commons in the Library, stopping to purchase something called Mocha Blasts (or explosions? or something else that sounds equally somewhat dramatic and destructive, yet delicious) from Jazzman's cafe. Finally, we ended our parade through campus at the Clark University Thrift Store where I purchased an old Spree Day t-shirt and an old evacuation plan map.

My friend Meghan is currently taking a photography course at Clark, so as we wandered a bit around Worcester Meghan took pictures, and I took pictures of Meghan taking pictures.

Because I've recently gone through "second mid-term" exams (or mid-end term, more appropriately named), I don't have too much to report from classes. Tonight I will be completing my third observation for Astronomy; they are broken up into two week periods so that the student has one week to watch the assigned film for that period, and the other week to do the actual observation outside. I watched the film last week, which was excellent, if only because it was narrated by Alec Baldwin. The assignment for this observation looks a bit daunting, but I am comforted knowing that I have a lab buddy and helpful TAs to utilize.

Plans are being made to conduct the qualitative psych. interview project soon - it has been somewhat difficult to coordinate an appropriate time for all group members, but it appears that they will be completed by next week. During the interview we will be broken up into pairs and one student will conduct the interview while the other sets up/tests the recording equipment, and then takes notes on everything; how it's going, what the participant is saying, what the interviewer is saying. Following this, a new participant will be brought in and the students' roles will switch.

I am feeling quite nervous about the interview, if only because I have no idea how compliant my participant will be and how I'll do with steering the conversation to an appropriate place (the purpose is to gather life stories, one of which will be focused on more in-depth later in the course). However, as the professor has said a few times in regards to the project: it's not about what you do right or wrong, it's about learning.

Interview Project Initiated

This past Thursday in Qualitative Methods in Psychology we made the first real step in our interview project! Our PLA (Peer Learning Assistant)-led groups were matched with other PLA-led groups of the same size, and then each student choose another to practice interviewing with. I interviewed a friend named Mira, and I asked her questions about her family traditions/holidays (as this was the previously chosen topic by my PLA group). The interview went relatively smoothly, though I felt somewhat unprepared in regards to which questions were appropriate to ask my interviewee in order to elicit stories and answers. I am grateful for this practice, because I realize now that it will be very difficult to only rely on follow-up questions to keep the conversation moving; prepared questions will be necessary to guide the interviewee, as well as help me maintain my role as interviewer by focusing the interview (this practice was supposed to serve as preparatory measures for the final aspect of our interview project, the interview with the elderly). It certainly gave me an idea of what to expect, as well as lending me more comfort with the overall process.

After the ten minutes or so in which I interviewed Mira, she then interviewed me. Despite my discomfort with speaking openly to others, I actually rather enjoyed this portion; she asked me questions related to my first job experience, in particular my experience with those I worked with (co-workers) and those I worked for (the residents of the retirement home in which I worked). Overall the interview went smoothly, it was easier than I would have anticipated to regale anecdotes after only few prompting questions. However, at a couple points she repeated incorrect information back to me, just as I was guilty of doing with her. Despite that our mistakes were likely just slips of the tongue, in the "real" interview (with the elderly) this could be interpreted as not listening properly. Thus, I will be careful to listen closely to my interviewee and rephrase his/her words delicately.

The next couple of days will be spent looking over summer courses (I am behind one credit due to my bout with mononucleosis & will reconcile this over the summer) and deciding on Fall 2011 courses. It seems likely that I will be finishing all of my requirements excluding capstones for both Jewish Studies and Psychology by the end of Fall 2011, completing my final year at Clark with my two capstones in Spring 2012. Although Clark assures its students that deciding on a major is not necessary until the end of Sophomore year, I gently urge future and current students to at least get a head-start on the perspective major/minor requirements sooner rather than later. I was unsure of my desire to pursue psychology for quite a while, and thus I held off on some of its requirements. Despite that I took my time meandering through the other departments, taking a smattering of different courses, I will finish all of my requirements on time. So it is very possible to take one's time and experience many difference aspects of Clark - I do encourage this. However, it is significant to remember that there is limited time to complete requirements, and even just having a basic idea of what's required will ease additional stress and allow for smoother transitions if minds are changed.