Student Activities Board (SAB)

Today the SAB will be holding its first mass meeting in Elston 334 from 11:30-12:20.

At the meeting we will be electing officers to serve as the organization's student leaders.

In an effort to encourage student participation in campus events we will be holding an end of the semester raffle. Each event that the student attends or helps sponsor in will be rewarded with a raffle ticket. Write your name and number on the back of the ticket and your name could be drawn at the end of the semester to win a iPod nano.

GOOD LUCK-- You gotta be in it to win it!

Columbus celebration or not so much?

It's Monday, week 6, here at SCCC, and I know what you're probably thinking, "We're the only school that's open on Columbus Day."

Well, you're probably right. Most schools in the area are off from school today. If you have children, they're definitely home. I never understood why a community college, which has many nontraditional students, ages twenty-four and up, many of whom have children, didn't give its students holiday's like Columbus Day off.

When I was a student at SCCC, I dreaded the College's "non-holidays". The Schenectady City School District gets, on average, about four days off from school a month. That means that almost 4 days out of the month I had to struggle to find childcare and dip into my savings to pay for it. Many of their days off are due to staff meetings and conferences- things inapplicable to a universal calendar.

On the other hand, all of our calendars designate Columbus Day as a holiday, and I think that SCCC should recognize this. St. Rose does. HVCC does.  SUNY Albany students don't have to go to classes on Yom Kippur- yet another holiday that is recognized by the Schenectady City School District.

If we could organize our school's schedule to include some of these days off and still meet the minimum number of hours required to be an accredited school, SCCC could make the lives of many of its students much easier.

Perhaps our attendance today means much more than we realize.

There are conflicting beliefs and interpretations about our national hero, Mr. Christopher Columbus. Some believe that Columbus discovered America in 1492. And, that's why today we celebrate his designated holiday.

However, there is another school of thought that is often omitted from our elementary school books. Some believe that Columbus's actions were cruel including: his use of slavery and violence against the American Indians, forceful projection of Christianity, and the transmission of diseases that would have lasting effects on the native population.

Are SCCC and other institutions that do not honor Columbus Day as a holiday suggesting that we believe that we should not honor Christopher Columbus as a American hero?

The Rated G version of Christopher Columbus
This morning, I asked my five year old if he knew why he had the day off from school on a Monday.

 "No," he said.

"It's Columbus Day. Do you know who Columbus was?"

He was anxious to answer, "Yes, he came to our island on a boat."

Maybe I shouldn't have, but I did.

I informed my five-year-old, little boy that, "When he came here he wanted to build houses for people to live in, and so, all of the Indians who used to live in the forests had to leave."

"Did they die?" he asked me. Big Brother often worries about death.

"No. Wait, yes, some of them died from diseases. Those men on the boats didn't bring their toothbrushes and use the soap when they took their showers, and so, they were full of germs when they landed in America. The Indians weren't used to all these germs and some of them got sick and died. The others, they moved to little communities away from the European men who were busy building house and taking over the forests."

The moral of this story: Brush your teeth and wash up with soap!

For those of you who do have today off, Say Schenectady has a list of things to do and celebrate the holiday.

Fall 2009 Artists

President Bullock Picks his favorite pumpkin!

Students at SCCC decorated pumpkins to celebrate Fall 2009

Administrators on "time out"

Times Union news reporter on education, Scott Waldman, was running a little late to his presentation in my blogging class on Tuesday.

He was late because he need to get the details out about his breaking story: Albany's Achievement Academy Charter School had taped 2 of its teachers without their knowledge.

First I thought: Wow! And, I was among one of the first two know about it.

Then I realized, that the story was only particularly interesting to me and a handful of my classmates because we plan on being teachers someday and could relate on a professional level. Furthermore, I have a child in elementary school: so, issues like this interest me.

But, think about it.....

How would you feel if you were secretly video taped at your job? Any job? Wouldn't you feel violated? Angry?

God, knows I would. I would be mortified if I looked over my desk and saw a little red blinking light coming from the stacked boxes of Student Activities Board seasonal decorations in my office.

OMG did that camera just catch me pulling up my pantyhose?

Would I quite my job because of it? Maybe.

Maybe, I would just get revenge. I might to do something vile to the camera and tape, but then again, if I did this, I wouldn't have any proof that my rights had been violated. Then those pervasive employers of mine (in a fictitious world, my real employers would never record me, the students are much more interesting to watch) could just deny that the cameras ever existed.

Okay, this senerio has gone a little too far into a world of make-believe. But, seriously, what the Achievement Academy did to their teachers & STUDENTS is wrong. It's easy to forget that these student's are victims too. My mommy side would be furious that 1) they did this to my child and his teacher without consent, 2) they stirred up an enormous issue for the school and made learning and attending school a problem for all of their students.

How many reporters and administrative employees for the school and the district will be visible present on school grounds while this story is investigated?

How are students supposed to remain focused in the classroom when there's so much controversy around them?

Can the school compensate for their actions? And, what is being done for those students who have to wait for a new teacher to take over 5-6 weeks into the school year?

As college students, employees, and citizens of a community, our actions are models to young children. Children are effected by our decisions everyday.

What kind of messages are we, as professionals, giving our children?

We want to know what moves you

What can we do to get your attention? As co-advisor of the Student Activities Board, I've just gotta know what we have to do to move you. Student participation in campus activities is weak, to say the least, and I just don't understand why. On any given Tuesday or Thursday, I can gaze out the windows of the Terrace or SGA office to the Commons and see many of you sitting around doing absolutely nothing.

Occasionally, there is that table of students with their books spread out and obvious good intentions. But, come on now, how much studying are you actually doing? How much of your conversation is gossip about your crazy English teacher that is always going off on tangents that have nothing to do with anything you've read? How many of you are complaining about that annoying girl that sits in the front of the class and won't quit asking inappropriate and irrelevant questions or feels the need to share her entire life story? What is really going on during your so-called study sessions in the noisy Commons?

Why not enjoy your free time and learn something new? My guess is that you've come to college with the intention of leaving someday having acquired skills and knowledge that make you a competitive prospect for employers.

Joining clubs/organizations, or just participating in Campus events can give you that competitive edge. Whether you are learning social skills from mingling with other students, attending a lecture on the environment, or study circle on racism, there's a lot to learn.

Okay, if I haven't sold it to you yet, just marinate in this...

We've got money to spend!
(thanks to your student activity fee)

We want you to get the most bang for your buck.
(the economy is very bad these days)

You can even spend it as you wish. Joining a club/organization gives you the power to share your own interests with the rest of the College. And the best part, it looks good on a resume.

Attend, or better yet, help plan, a concert, a comedy show, a donut eating contest, an Open Mic night, whatever, and enjoy your college experience. It's not everywhere you go that you can get all of this entertainment for just $54 a semester.

I hope that my message has reached some of you and I look forward to seeing more of you at these events. You're only young once. And if you're old, you deserve a little "me time" away from the family and responsibilities. Live it up!