Annnndd we are in the home stretch people!

So here we are, ready to enter the final week. There are many ways you can approach this final week, and the experience will be different for every student. When students ask me what I do for finals, I always tell them the same thing.

My finals week usually starts with tension that begins to drain away as the days go by. I find it true that the only antidote for student tension is to study. I study, berate myself when I'm not studying, feel guilty, study some more, agonize over concepts that I'm not sure that I understand, and then study some more. I force myself to go to bed and arise at reasonable times and forbid naps to regulate a good sleep schedule for finals week. I temporarily cut out sugar, caffeine, and alcohol from my diet and stick to foods that will be kind to my digestive system. Most importantly, I make time to play. I make a point of stopping the study process the night before my finals to do something silly like play Mario Party, watch some Law and Order, or mess with my cats (cats + blinky Christmas lights = awesome combination).

By the time I have entered the final I am alert and a little nervous but calm. As I write the exam, my tension that has been slowly decreasing fully drains away. By the time I write my last thought and re-read my last sentence, I am at peace with myself. I get up and shake the hand of my teacher, thanking them, and taking a moment to remind myself the purpose of this class and the reason why I am here and more importantly, the reason that they are here.

When I leave I don't look back, don't think about what was right, or what I got wrong. I know inside that I have done everything in my power to prepare. How everything turns out is no reflection of my ability to put forth effort anymore.

If you can leave your finals with a feeling of peace and confidence, then I think you probably have truly accomplished what you have set out to achieve this quarter. If you don't feel this way, be gentle with yourself. Remind yourself that the world is bigger then just you. If you would pick any time in your school life to mess up and do something truly horrible, this community college would be the best possible place to make that mistake.

I wish you all a happy holidays and a prosperous finals week. Study hard!

Things We Wish We'd Known....

On November 13th, Women in Science & Engineering (WISE) and the F.U.T.U.R.E.S Science Club held a joint presentation for new students where knowledge donated by old students was compiled and passed on to the new science student generation at SCCC.

All donations of information were kept anonymous, but I thought I would share this particularly great submission from a seasoned student that has been enrolled in college for over 4 years!

"My 2 cents" - A Student Submission

If you can easily manage 20 credit hours with A's, work, and have a life, then there is nothing I can advise.

If school is a struggle then consider the following (no particular order):

1) Time management is everything. Quarter system is busy. Touch everything every day. Avoid the trap of just putting out fires. Time, even if a little, must be given to everything everyday. The brain rewards this.
2) Schedule your day around the availability of resources, like tutor schedules and faculty office hours. Fast answers and clarifications save time.
3) Never get any sense of entitlement with regard to grades. Just because you studied all weekend doesn't entitle you to an A. Jimmy partied all weekend and got an A. So you ain't as smart as Jimmy, get over it. Find the routine that works for you.
4) Always have a sense of urgency but eliminate any emotions (good or bad) attached to any performance evaluation. Strong emotions buy you nothing.
5) If possible, study/review an hour or less just prior to exams in order to wake the brain.
6) Avoid distractions: friends, MySpace, YouTube, porn; that sort of thing while studying. It only makes for inefficient studying.
7) Sleep is king. This is the time that the brain updates its hard drive. Lack of it makes for inefficient studying, health problems, and a feeling of being overwhelmed.

The event was a success, and is going to be held next quarter for those that were unable to come. Keep your eyes peeled!

Seen & Heard Around SAM .....

- Biology teacher Mark Ainsworth and math teacher Bryan Johns buying a ton of Phi Theta Kappa bake sale goods from PTK members.

- Physics teacher Rainer Heller walking down Broadway, eating a Dicks hamburger, on his way to teach a class.

- Biology teacher John Wiseley letting students know that the Biotechnology program will be discontinued shortly, and that a replacement program will be influenced by STUDENT INPUT (take the student survey here)

- Chemistry teacher Dr. Wick leaving the school late around 6:30 PM on a Tuesday.

- A very large display of "I voted" stickers on campus around Tuesday. Well done students!

Student Involvement Fair

October 8 was the student involvement fair in BE1110. A deejay played music, and popcorn, candy, and cookies were distributed liberally. General chaos erupted towards noon, with students consuming candy in mass quantities, challenging each other to games of Wii tennis (courtesy of the Tennis Club), and playing chess with one of the psychology professors at SCCC. I think I can safely say that a great time was had by all.

PTK (Phi Theta Kappa) was in the house....

The new (and quite popular) table tennis club drew quite a crowd....

The WISE club was there making new friends....

A SCCC psychology teacher came down to show his support for our chess club...
Seattle Central Community College really has an active student community full of diverse interests and individuals. Attending college fairs are a great way to "shop around" for clubs without having to express any great deal of interest. A few notes on our college club fairs:

- They often occur ~ once a quarter.
- The college club fairs are organized by the SORC (Student Organizations Resource Council), one of the 6 departments at student leadership.
- The college fairs often occurs with little to no notice, so read the sandwich boards around campus!
- We have 51 clubs at SCCC and this number is growing.
- To start a club you need to go over and visit student leadership (beside the bookstore) to get the paperwork started and meet the awesome staff.
- A complete list of all clubs can be found here

The 30th Annual Scholarship Awards Ceremony

The scholarship ceremony was a huge success. Friends, family, and fellow classmates packed into the upstairs gymnasium in Mitchell Activity Center to watch the event. There was an excellent piano solo by one student, and two excellent speeches were made by two others. The food was also surprisingly tasty, and people afterwords snacked on salmon, cheese, fruits, and assorted baked goodies.

Phi Theta Kappa took home some cash (pictured with Nada Oakley, PTK adviser, right):
Several girls from the W.I.S.E club received multiple scholarships:All of the donors were extremely generous, some giving scholarships to multiple students:


Our college foundation has done an amazing job finding funds for so many students. 173 students were awarded money this year for a grand total bill of almost $450,000.00. Well done Seattle Central!

Also, a big thank you to all the students from various student organizations who showed up to assist the foundation in holding this event.

Transfer Tips

As many of you know, Seattle Central Community College acts like a springboard to many of its transfer students. Many students (including yourself) may be looking to transfer by Fall of 2009.

If this is the case, you need to start looking for schools NOW! February 15th is the due date for college applications at the University of Washington. This is an average deadline for most 4 year colleges.

1. How can you narrow your choices down?
Be specific! Make your perfect school in your mind. Does it have small classes or big ones? Does it support Greek life? Are the dorms co-ed? Is it a research school? Do the number of undergraduates dwarf the number of graduate students? Does it support living off campus? Are the cafeterias good? Do they have child care? Do you want to move? Do you want to stay in Seattle?

The more specific you are, the smaller the pool of colleges you will have to choose from. Knowing what your dream school has and why you want to be a part of it will also make writing your personal statement much easier.

2. What about money?
As community college students, lets me honest, it is all about the money. A free ride to one school may just be the deciding factor for you, regardless of criteria. Thus, when you file your FAFSA, you should state as many reasonable college options as possible.

Sure maybe you did want to be a "husky" but that all might change when Western offers you a $30,000/year financial aid package. You will never know what colleges have to offer until you ask, so make sure you are broad in your FAFSA specification.

In addition, now is a good time to get involved with college clubs or associations. Nothing looks worse on a college/scholarship application then a blank space in that box that asks about your contributions to your community.

3. Test Requirements & Transferring Credits
I can't stress how important it is to meet/communicate with transfer advisers at your potential schools as soon as you have made up your mind. You need to know what classes you should be taking to transfer effectively, and which classes will be a waste of money/time because you may have to retake them when you transfer anyway.

You should also make sure there are no other oddball requirements such as SAT testing (for those of us that did not grow up in the US), specific SAT subject tests, placement testing, or admissions tests such as essay writing. These are all good things to know about in advance so that you can start preparing.


The majority of transfer students at Seattle Central Community College will be transferring to the University of Washington, and because of that I have included some relevant links:

Click here for transfer sessions (note the special student to student meetings at the bottom)
Click here for directions to UW (its only one bus from SCCC)
Click here for new student information

I know most of you students should be finishing up the first of your mid-terms by the end of the week. Keep up the good work!

Life after Seattle Central

Congratulations to the following individuals that have successfully transferred from a community college to a 4 year college (and with a little bit of extra pocket change too)!

Academic Achievement in Business Scholarship
Fawziah Al-Hlaly

Associated Student Council Student Leadership Endowed Scholarship for Transfer Students
Fawziah Al-Hlaly
Darren Branning
Mohamed Hassan
Taylor Losey
Stephanie Pham
Linda Witkowski

Richard E. Baldwin/Windermere Transfer Scholarship
Thuy-An Nguyen

Broadway High School Alumni Foundation Endowment Scholarship for Transfer Students
Taylor Losey
Linda Witkowski

Broadway High School Alumni Foundation Endowment Scholarship for Transfer Students
(In Memory of William Wilton)
Stephanie Pham

Margaux "Tima" Manzon Memorial Scholarship
Kim Ton

Phi Theta Kappa-Alpha Chi Zeta Chapter Scholarship
Rina Thi

Seattle Central Opportunity Transfer Scholarship
Nicole Garner
Mohamed Hassan
Hoa Le
Feuy Saephan
Kajsa Söderlund
Iskender Suleimanov
Rina Thi

Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium Scholarship
Jack Vorhies
Kami Zhong

Polly Schulz Whitehead Memorial Transfer Scholarship
Jamal Ahmed
Darren Branning
Partia Naghibi

Some schools that these excellent students are going to include the University of Washington, Washington State University, UC Berkley, and UCLA.

Do you know any of these students? It might be a good idea to renew contact if you do, especially if you have plans to go to any of the schools above in the future!

And I thought that 2.0 was never going to go away....

Did you know that you have the opportunity to replace a grade that you received in a class by retaking the class?

Students wishing to improve on a grade may opt to take a class over again for a better grade, but they must inform the office of registration that they wish for their new grade to take the place of the old grade. Otherwise, both grades will be averaged. But be careful the second time around! You are only allowed to replace a grade once per class.

On a more preemptive note, students wishing to keep knowledge current can also opt to informally audit a class that they have taken once already. This is particularly useful when a student is taking a 3 quarter sequence of classes, where all new content depends on old content.

A student wishing to informally audit should speak to a teacher before classes begin. Teachers might make stipulations to your audit (such as no grading of homework/assignments, no test taking, or mandatory attendance), but rehashed free education is still free education.

The 30th Anniversary Scholarship Awards Ceremony will be happening on October the 8th. One hundred and fifty four students have won scholarships this year, and will be receiving recognition for their awards. This is a great opportunity to take a break from your classes, grab a bite of food, cheer on your fellow colleagues, and maybe even network a little.

Where: CMAC210 (also known as the Charles H. Mitchell Activity Center, AKA the gym across the street, AKA the big white building next to the bookstore).
When: October 8th, 4:30 - 6 PM

Want more info? Go Here

** Note: Students attending to receive awards WILL get their picture taken, so make sure you dress as you want to be remembered.

See you there!

A W.I.S.E move....

Studies have shown that students who are successful in academia, regardless of where they come from, all have a few things in common:

1. They have a healthy diet.
2. They exercise daily.
3. They have good time management, including the formation and evaluation of effective goals.
4. They are bounded by other students.

So..... go get bounded!

Some women who are majoring in science & engineering are forming a club called, well.... Women in Science & Engineering (WISE). If you are a student seeking a degree in any science, math, engineering, biology, or physics department, and you are interested in hanging out with people with similar interests, let them know!

They are currently meeting every Thursdays for half an hour at 3:30 PM in the Fine Arts Building (located next to the Egyptian theater). You can contact repressedgenius@gmail.com for more details, or just show up.

For more information on other clubs, check out the link on the right.

Science & Math Tutor Center

The SAM tutor center is now open for business! Located on the 1st floor, next to the lobby, the SAM tutor center is open until 6 PM every day except Fridays (they close at 4 PM then).

You can stop in with any questions on a drop in basis, but it looked extremely busy when I was in there earlier today. You are eligible for 2 scheduled hours of tutoring per week for classes like biology, chemistry, math, and physics, so go and fill out an application right away because tutoring slots are filling FAST.

I can't emphasize enough how important it is to have someone to talk to about this stuff. Even if you do nothing during a tutor session except explain everything you (think) you know about the subject to the tutor, the session is still a great opportunity to build your confidence level.

28 Days...

...until 2008 Fall quarter begins!

The science and math building (SAM) is excited to welcome this year's new students. Each year brings a broad spectrum of students through SAM's doors: the aspiring scientists, the exasperated liberal art majors, and everything in between.

Science and math are not strong subjects for many students. Mildred Ollee (pronounced Oh-lay), the president of SCCC, struggled learning math in college. As a result, SAM is strongly dedicated to helping all students achieve success in science and math, regardless of the chosen field of study.

There is a tutor center on the main floor where you can either schedule one on one time, or you can just drop to have help with any homework questions that are stumping you. There are also other tutor centers on other floors for specific classes such as A&P (Anatomy and Physiology) and MAT098 (Intermediate Algebra), you can visit the main tutor centre for further directions on these cohorts. Students wishing to retain information from classes may apply to work at the tutor center for pay or for credit.

In addition, SAM also houses some incredible teachers. Our teachers are passionate about teaching their discipline, and do so in small classes. Nearly one-third of the faculty hold doctorates in their fields. The rest hold a master's degree.

Learning science and math is a life long battle. Particularly math. It will show up everywhere in your college education regardless of what you are studying, and it will continue to show up throughout your college career. But if you embrace it, and engage yourself in the battle, I think you will find math truly useful and maybe even a little beautiful. Without further text, I welcome you to the school year. I wish you the best of luck in your battle.