Thursday, April 19, 2012

Life being a Nursing major and a Student Athlete and Catch up time!

Hello lovely ladies!!

Well it is April and we are feeling the Spring weather here on campus.  It has been in the 80s then dropping and going back up.  The temperatures are crazy!! Well I must apologize that it has been so long since I have blogged but I hope you know that I have been thinking about you ladies often and wondering how the admissions process is going!  I hope many of you ladies chose Notre Dame of Maryland University as your college choice!  This is an exciting time for the seniors as graduation is approaching soon and in a few short months you will be joining a college community!  College is an awesome change and a place where you can truly find yourself and find some of the most amazing people ever!  My freshman year of college has been one to remember.  I have made so many great new friends and I cannot imagine myself any where else except Notre Dame.

Since I have talked to you ladies my sports season has begun and we are almost finished the Gator Softball 2012 season.  Being a student athlete teaches you a lot about yourself.  You learn time management skills, which you need to be a student athlete anywhere, and you branch out of your group of friends and meet a lot of new people.  My softball team is one of the best group of girls I have ever played with in softball.  This year is a year of change.  We have a lot of new freshman on the team and a new coach.  We have all bonded, especially with our overnight stay in New York for our game.  Many girls think that it is not possible to be a college student and play a sport, but as long as you have the drive and study skills to keep up with your studies you can make it through a season just fine.

Preseason was definitely the hardest time for me because we had 7 am workouts Monday-Friday and practice in the evening 3 days a week.  Although that seems like a lot, all the work you put in during preseason will pay off during the season.  Being a student athlete means you will have to miss classes sometimes, but the teachers at Dame are very understanding as long as you take the lead and talk to them about when you will be missing class and that you will keep them informed of your schedule, they will work with you no problem.

Being a nursing major and being a student athlete is a lot of work.  Since we have different classes than other people, we have to work that much harder to keep up with our studies.  As I progress in the nursing major in my junior and senior years, playing softball is going to be a challenge that I am willing to take on.  Due to clinical experiences, my coach will have to work with me for the games that I cannot make due to my clinical part of the major.  But as of right now, playing softball and and being a pre-nursing major has helped me learn better time management skills.  I love my softball team to death and they are all supportive when something happens or you are having problems in school.  Your teammates are always the ones that will be there when you need someone.  I have attached a picture of my team, this is the serious one but we can be fun too!


 I will be blogging again soon!!! A little over 20 days left of school for the semester :))!

Have a fantastic weekend ladies!!!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Beginning of Spring Semester and Maryland Higher Education Day

Hello there you wonderful ladies!

Hope your holidays were fantastic!  Well here at Notre Dame I am back in the swing of things with classes and softball practice.  I am carrying a 17 credit semester while playing on the Gator softball team.  I have been very busy thus far with assignments, classes, and 7 am practice monday-friday and evening practices.   I do apologize that I didn't blog last week but I am getting my timing down with everything here so I should be back on track from now on.

Yesterday was special day for Maryland Independent Colleges and community colleges in Annapolis, MD.  Yesterday a group of Notre Dame students ventured to Annapolis to take part in Maryland Higher Education Day.  Here is a picture of us lovely Notre Dame students wearing our blue and white scarves!  We had two nursing students, an education student, a psychology student, and two second year Pharmacy students go for Notre Dame!  Look for the scarves and you will see us!!!!




Throughout the day yesterday we had the opportunity to talk with Delegates and Senators from our students home districts and also the legislators from the area the university is located.  Our point of attending this special day yesterday was to ask our legislators to give MICUA (Maryland Independent College and University Association) $11 million total to dispense to 4 colleges this year.  The capitol budget helps fund many operations that happen on this campus.

Notre Dame asked for $4 million to assist the college in building a new building on campus.  For nursing and education majors this will be our building.  The nursing wing will be built first and will have classrooms for the students and simulation labs to act like we are in a hospital setting to practice.  The building is going to cost about $22.6 million dollars total.  But good news is that the building will be up and running by the time my class are Juniors and in need of the building.  Also I had to opportunity to thank the legislators yesterday for their support of the university and helping distribute financial aid.  If I didn't receive the financial aid that I did, I would not be sitting in the Foreign Language Lab right now with my roomie Laura.

But on a lighter note, classes are going well.  I haven't really been able to go home since I am busy with classes and softball practice.  But I love my classes and I love my team.  Tonight the girls are going to one of our captains off campus apartments to have a "team dinner" which should be good bonding time for us.  But ladies you should definitely come and see one of the Gator Softball 2012 games and support me :). 

DON'T FORGET TO FILE YOUR FASFA LADIES!!! I have filed mine, have you filed yours???? Congrats to all our lovely accepted students for the Class of 2016!  This is an exciting time for you ladies so live it up! 

Well ladies it is FRIDAY which means we have a nice weekend break!  Hope you all have a lovely weekend and I will talk to you ladies again next week :)))!!!

-Colleen