Archives for March 2018

Coffee, Dogs, and Bikes: EWU’s Police Force for Students

03/23/2018 by afuller Leave a Comment

The first thing you should know about EWU's campus police: they're real police, but they're not like the police you see on TV.

I worked in the residence halls for a couple of years as an office worker and I can't count the times the EWU police helped me out. Sitting at the office for five hours at night could be tough at times, but having the police stop by for a few minutes helped me get through some of the heavy homework nights.

So how would you get to meet them? Students in the residence halls will get a few opportunities to speak with the police when they visit the halls for rounds and when they put on events, but there are actually a few things the police do that you wouldn’t know about right away.

Like free coffee.

Police at EWU run Coffee with a Cop. The idea is simple: you sit with a police officer, have a coffee, and chat about whatever you want to talk about. It’s a way for you to speak with a police officer and get to know them. Coffee with a Cop is usually held once a month from 8 a.m.-11 a.m., perfect for students heading to class or who have an hour free in the mornings.

What else do they do?

Instead of riding around in cars, a few of our police officers ride around on bikes. Bikes help our officers in numerous ways:

First of all, police on bikes can get around the campus pathways and buildings quickly. That means they can cover more ground on campus overall, and they’ll get across campus in half the time it would take an officer in a car to cross campus.

Bikes reduce the carbon footprint and wear on police cars. Let’s face it, police cars are far more expensive than bikes and aren’t as environmentally friendly. Even if a hundred bikes have to be replaced for every one car that gets replaced (I did the math), it ends up less expensive.

That last one is probably what you’ll notice when you leave the library late at night after studying. Knowing the police are nearby looking out for you makes walking to the residence halls after dark much more comfortable.

Especially if you’re still kind of afraid of the dark like me.

What everyone’s really here for

The last thing I’ll talk about with EWU police today is Hilani the facility dog. Hilani is a Golden Retriever and Labrador mix that helps out the police station. I’ve never seen Hilani but I hear she’s very friendly and relaxed. Remember to ask before you pet her!

That’s not all, there are many more programs out there with the EWU police. I’ve spoken to them on numerous occasions going to and from class, and when I worked in the halls. Say hi next time you meet one of our fantastic officers!

I signed up for LinkedIn: Here's my story

03/20/2018 by afuller Leave a Comment

In a recent blog post, I talked a little about LinkedIn. After about a day of serious writing and reflection, I decided to complete my own profile and see what I could do with LinkedIn. If you read the earlier post I wrote about LinkedIn, don’t worry! We’ll be talking about completely different things this time around.

We're all really familiar with technology, but I still loved the simple-to-use beginner steps for my account. I followed the steps easily enough and filled out most of my profile from there.

One of the first steps that tripped me up a little was getting a profile picture, and I realized I wasn't taking a great photo. Here's some good advice on taking more professional selfies.

Thanks to my previous post about blogging, I remembered to unpack each job into multiple tasks. For example, “blogging” turned into three tasks: conducting interviews, attending events, and researching topics.

After I added my education and job experiences, I created a summary that went over who I am and what I do. I wrote a couple paragraphs about my job, schooling, and hobbies that translate into skills. I added a section of “What I’m Really Good At” at the bottom to show off a few very specific skills that I believe I have.

I also added in a “I’m currently obsessing over” section because my adviser and pal in EWU’s Career Services had it in his profile. I didn’t use this space to talk video games or music, but I did get to talk about how much I love letterforms and the colors I’m seeing in autumn (the more I design, the more I notice subtle changes in color. I highly recommend looking around and noticing those kinds of things).

Then, I added connections to my profile. I wasn’t sure who to add so I only added people I knew and trusted professionally. This meant that I didn’t add any of my friends.

Wait, what?

Well for one, LinkedIn is a professional network, not a social network. My family and friends don’t have experience working with me. As LinkedIn connections, they aren’t helpful.

One thing I was afraid of was endorsement bias. That happens when someone endorses you for a skill they couldn’t possibly know I have. How could my friends know about my Photoshop skills if they’ve never seen my Photoshop work. where I’d be endorsed for a skill my friends don’t know if I have.

I’ve seen profiles where someone has every skill endorsed by someone they have never worked with, and it’s not impressive. What’s worse is the anxiety I felt about being endorsed and then having a friend expect me to endorse them in return.

I ended up adding a few professional contacts including my boss, a few of my instructors, and folks around the college. I tried to find instructors who knew my skills and might be able to speak for them.

Every time I added someone I sent along a message. This isn’t necessary for people I’ve known forever, but I found that adding a little message meant to me that I was thinking seriously about them as a business contact, not just someone I added for the heck of it.

Finally I worked on my headline. I originally wanted to use “Baron of Blogs”, but decided my skill level wasn’t quite up to that par. I ended up with “Admissions Blogger, Publishing Student, Guy with Photoshop” because I felt like that fit with who I currently am, though I might change to Baron of Blogs when I’ve done more. 😉

I’ll sign off with this interesting tip. You’ll see people across LinkedIn with connections ranging from 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 3^rd+. 1^st connections are your connections, 2^nd are the connections of one of your connections, and so on. This helps you gauge how connected you are to someone else.

Now get out there and make connections!

EWU Bazaar

03/12/2018 by afuller Leave a Comment

As a design major, I would meet new people every quarter in both design and art classes. When I heard that there was a bazaar for design and art students, I had to go check it out.

The bazaar had about thirteen installations with 9 current students and 4 EWU alumni. It feature all kinds of artworks, from the types of things you'd fine in a downtown gallery to the types of things you might fight at one of Spokane's summer street fairs. The alumni assisted the new students with picking out art for the show, pricing pieces, and even managing their own inventory. Students got firsthand experience and training with selling their art.

Show me the art already!

In no particular order, I’ll present some of the fantastic artwork done by students and alum. I really enjoyed the pottery, but I’ll be sure to show off some of the paintings and prints too!

These are all made by one student, Amanda Caldwell. Check out the variety of pottery she has, from small cups to canopic jars (let’s be real, I saw the canopic jars first).

Rebekah Curtis did all of this work.

Yes, all of it.

I keep getting drawn back to the two large paintings in the middle. I’m sure everyone who sees a painting like these sees something different but I keep thinking of them as the eye and minotaur paintings.

Mike Haynes is an alumnus of the EWU art program. One thing I love about his work is the unity between pieces I see here. The pottery is styled with either the black and grey snakes or the multicolored line pottery in the front. I feel like I could get all of my bowls from Mike and they’d all match up with each other!

The bazaar had much, much more but I’ll just go over the pins, prints and zines. It’s exciting to see how much students at EWU made and were able to show off!

How to find and join a club

03/07/2018 by afuller Leave a Comment

I’ve been working a little on doing more things this year than in the past. I'm busy pretty much all the time, but I did find a couple hours a week I could spend on learning something fun.

I joined Archery Club because I figured I'd be able to meet people who actually knew what they were doing.

But why even join a club?

Once you pick out a major and stop taking general classes, you end up spending most of your time with people in your major. That's great because you'll meet people with the same interests and hobbies that you have. Sometimes, though, it's cool to meet different people and start building friendships outside the people you come into contact with daily.

Clubs can help you meet new people, make friends, and enjoy a hobby you might not have known about before!

How to get Started

Did you know that clubs usually have their own Facebook pages? It’s super easy to send them a message through Facebook to ask any questions you have. I’ve been interested in archery for a while but I never shot a bow because I’m left eye dominant (yes, that’s a thing) and would have to shoot left handed. I asked a few questions and found that they have left handed bows!

If you want to skip a step and just sign up, most clubs at EWU are listed in EagleSync, our club database. I was able to sign up, write a bit about why I wanted to join, and get into the club without having to call around or open an ancient puzzle box only available from the library on a full moon.

One thing that I noticed: not all clubs are listed. There are a few “secret” clubs out there, mostly clubs belonging to specific departments. Professors usually know about these clubs, so it’s usually a safe bet to ask them if there are any clubs related to your major or interests.

So what’s next?

Most clubs on EagleSync will send out notifications for club meetings and events. You can apply through the database and once you’re in the club, you’ll be free to RSVP for meetings and let the club president know what meetings you’ll be attending. We all have busy schedules, especially near the end of the quarter, so don’t feel forced to go to every meeting if you have too much homework.

I wouldn’t have expected to enjoy a club as much as I enjoy Archery Club. Clubs might not be your thing but like me, you won’t really know until you try it yourself.