You wouldn’t believe it…

In the past two weeks, we’ve had weather ranging from tornadoes to snow! I’ve lived in Oklahoma my entire life, and even this really dramatic shift of weather is a little strange. In the midst of a great deal of rain, I’ve gotten to go to two awards ceremonies, been invited to join a leadership team for next year (I’ll write about it soon!), and I’ve also had a lot of tests (not so fun…). It’s hard to believe that I’ve only got about 5 weeks left in my freshman year at OU! The semester began with High School Leadership Conference (HSLC), which was an amazing week and an activity that I will most certainly apply to be a part of next year! I’ll post some photos of the group from that weekend in February. After HSLC was over, the applications started to pile up.

The University College sponsors the PACE award, which recognizes the top 1% of the freshman class during the year. The OU Center for Leadership Development is responsible for coordinating the President’s Award for Outstanding Freshman (as well as many other awards for sophomores, juniors, and seniors). An awesome idea that a staff member at OU told me was to prepare a resume for one application detailing all of the events you’ve done during the year including the hours that you spent on each activity. While that one resume can take a great deal of time to prepare, you will also find that that same resume will be applicable in almost every circumstance with a little tweaking. By spending less time perfecting your resume, you’ll get to spend more time on those essay questions. A tip for essay questions is to be yourself because the people reviewing your applications will know the difference between an honestly sincere person and a person just wanting a title to display to others. If you impress the reviewers enough with your application, you just might get an interview and be selected for one of these awards!

Another important thing to remember about these awards is to not get too discouraged if you’re not successful. Realize that there may be more than twelve outstanding freshman on OU’s campus, but the committee is forced to narrow is down to just twelve people. Just keep trying and people will notice! I hope that the end of your year is going well, and I hope to see you on campus soon! Talk to you later!

-David

An Amazing Two Weeks!

           So, the last two weeks at the University of Oklahoma has been packed full of visits from dignitaries. Vicente Fox, former President of Mexico, visited on February 26. Former Vice-President Al Gore came to campus on March 1. Finally, former President of the United States George H.W. Bush came to campus on March 6th.
           So what do these important people do while they are at OU’s campus? All the above dignitaries gave public addresses open to the entire student body with topics included in their expertise. It’s really amazing to get to hear from legends in history their perspective on current events happening in our world today. For example, former Vice-President (and now Academy-Award winner) Gore spoke on the increasing effects of Global Warming, and whether you agree with his viewpoints or not, you’re still getting the chance to hear one side of the debate with all the evidence so that you can form your own opinions on the subject. Another piece of advice to you if you would like to attend these addresses is to get there early! If the address is any place other than the Lloyd Noble Center, then you’re going to probably need to get there the time that the doors open in order to grab a seat. Otherwise, you may have to settle for overflow seating watching the amazing speakers on a screen in another building.
            The opportunities available to the student body at OU are immeasurable and President Boren and his staff have done an amazing job to bring us more than just an education inside a classroom. That is what I truly love about OU, and maybe you’ll get to see this aspect of campus next year as well! I hope all of you have a wonderful spring break, and good luck to all the seniors in your final semester of high school!

P.S.- If you haven’t applied to OU yet, the deadline is approaching quickly on April 1 for incoming seniors from high school for the Fall 2007 semester. Make sure you apply so you can come join the Sooner family in 2007!

Winter Break

Well, one semester of college is over, and what a great semester it’s been! From first stepping onto this campus as a freshman in college to all of the other events that have happened over these fifteen weeks, I’ve grown to love this campus and the great people who work here even more. I wanted to tell you of one thing that will happen in every college experience.

Finals don’t really sound too bad if you put it in perspective. In all reality, it’s just some tests. Right… Umm…. Call me after your first semester is over and tell me what you think of this week-long struggle to constantly remember something or anything that may be on 3, 4, or 5 tests depending on what classes you’re taking. Really the only good thing about this week is that at the end of it, winter break arrives! No matter how many tests you have, I think one of the most important things that a person can learn is to study as much as you can, but do not let all this studying affect your sleep. Honestly, pulling an all-nighter just to study for a test may let you remember one more fact; however, it may also make you so tired that you can barely finish or arrive at your exam. Another good tip is to never study 24/7 during the week. Take breaks and have a little bit of fun during the week, or you’ll be one of those people that everyone dislikes because they’re afraid you’ll suddenly snap at them (trust me, these people exist). Prepare yourself beforehand and make sure that you attend your classes during the semester. If you do these two things, studying for finals will be a hassle, but it will not rule your life. Other than that, I hope that you and your families have (or had depending on when I send this in) a happy holiday season!

OU’s High School Leadership Conference (HSLC)

Ok, one of the other great things that I’ve decided to get involved in here at the university is a Campus Activities Council event called High School Leadership Conference that we sponsor for juniors in high school. As a former camper myself, I can vouch that it is an amazing weekend experience in February that you’ll never forget (so if you know a junior in high school…send them to www.ou.edu/hslc to apply)! It’s just really awesome to get to plan something for high school juniors here at OU because that way you (prospective juniors) get to experience a tiny snippet of what the University of Oklahoma campus has to offer. It’s a great program and a lot of students work long hours to accommodate juniors from all over Oklahoma and Texas. So, if you know any juniors interested in OU or any who just want to attend a totally awesome leadership weekend experience…HSLC is the answer! I hope you liked my pics from our awesome snow day, and I hope all of you have a great winter break! I’ll write again as soon as finals week is over!

Tip of the Post: The Meal Plan System

For those of you who will be receiving your housing applications soon…here’a little tip on the food services meal plans so that you can choose your best plan. Oh, and if you want to change your plan once you get here, you can switch it within the first two weeks of class in the fall.

Meals­–these are for Couch Cafeteria, which has certain hours for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The cafeteria closes on Friday nights and re-opens again on Sunday night. You get an allotted number of meals each week that reset themselves on each Monday.

Meal Exchange­–Usually anytime that the cafeteria is closed but you want to use one of your “meals” per week, you can go to most of the food vending sites on campus near the dorms and the Oklahoma Memorial Union and use a “meal exchange” to trade one of your meals for $6.00 at a food place on campus

Meal Points–These are strictly for eating at locations on campus besides Couch Cafeteria. 1 point equals $1.00 and you get a certain number of these each semester. This year, the meal points transfer between the fall and spring semester, but they will be gone after the spring semester concludes.

Hope this helps when making a few of your decisions!

Snow Day!

I’m an Oklahoman, so I know that the weather can change in a flash, but last week, Norman had a pretty big winter storm. So much snow and ice fell that they closed campus for two entire days (Four day weekend!)! What do you think students at OU did? We made the most of it! Snowmen, Snow angels, snowball fights, snow football, and sledding all became common overnight. Some students that came to OU had never even seen snow before and some were experiencing their largest winter storm in their life! In fact, it was a nice little break before dead week and finals (ahh!) to just chill out and relax. To catalog our first winter snowstorm, many students took pictures (some just to prove that they’ve actually seen snow). The two-day holiday from school was a blast, and I think that the snow day actually allows you to stop stressing out about all the college stuff (classes, grades, homework…) to just have fun and meet some new people. Although snow days happen only once in a blue moon here at the University of Okahoma (or so I’m told by many faculty, staff, and upperclassmen), it’s a great time to have fun, relax, and I guess if you wanted to…catch up on your studies. See you next entry, and I’ve decided to start giving tips for living on campus! (So you can save all your parents hard-earned money)

Tip of the Post: Laundry @ OU
You’ve always heard to bring along a lot of quarters to college for laundry, but at OU…you shouldn’t use them. Adding money to your SoonerSense account, which is a debit card system using your OU ID card, will save you 25¢ on every load you wash and dry in either the dorms or the Cate laundry center. The easiest way to add money to your SoonerSense account is the big black box by the ATM in Walker Center, but if you’re somewhere else on campus, most computer labs or the small office next to the Sooner OneCard Office in the Oklahoma Memorial Union also feature SoonerSense account boxes.

Sooner Saturday

Sooner Saturday this year was awesome! For those of you who weren’t able to attend, Sooner Saturday is the University of Oklahoma’s largest day of recruitment for the incoming freshmen class. Students and their parents came from California, Washington, Ohio, Arkansas, Alabama, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico…well, you get the picture…a great deal of the United States was represented in the thousands of people that stormed the Norman campus. Although the day had a chilly start, I hoped that any of you that attended came away with a better grasp of just how much the University of Oklahoma had to offer. As a volunteer for the day, I had a great time guiding and answering any questions that future Sooners could ask. The truth is that I never got to experience Sooner Saturday as a high school student, and looking back, I realized that this day would have eased a great deal of tensions about attending OU in the fall. It’s an amazing day to get a feel for the campus, learn about dorm life, and eat at the amazing Couch Cafeteria (trust me, the Sooner sweet shop can be addicting). If anything, most of you who attended the day gained a little bit more knowledge on how to get around to different buildings on campus. From my view of the day, Prospective Student Services and all the people who work there did an amazing job of planning the day and carrying out every event with class and style, and the multitude of volunteers that helped tried their hardest to make it an enjoyable experience for the future OU class of 2011. Sooner Saturday was a blast, and if any high school juniors (or their parents) read this…make plans to attend next year’s Sooner Saturday in 2007!

Getting Involved

Do you know how many organizations exist on OU’s campus during the year? The number stands well over 300 organizations (it fluctuates from year to year), and each of these clubs does something a little different. During your first week at school, I promise that you’ll be overwhelmed to join so many clubs that you’ll just be ready to recede to your dorm room in concession, but the main thing is to not get yourself too involved. I would suggest that you get a feel for your classes before you attempt to sort through the plethora (I just had to stick that word in here somewhere!) of extracurricular activities on campus. Just remember that this isn’t high school anymore; I say that because in high school, I tried to be as involved as I could (not that that was bad in any way in high school), but in college, you have to devote so many more hours to studying and other projects that it is easy to overspread your boundaries.
No matter what though, everyone should at least attempt to get involved in at least one organization on campus. One of the many groups I have gotten involved in is the Campus Activities Council’s Executive Staff for High School Leadership Conference (whew…that’s a mouthful). In a way, OU’s student council (not really a student council, but there was no better word for it) is split into two groups. On one side is the UOSA, which works to improve and delegate for students to improve the quality of life and change important policies at the University of Oklahoma. On the other side is the CAC (Campus Activities Council), which plans a great number of events on campus (homecoming, howdy week, HSLC, dance marathon, and the list goes on and on…check out cac.ou.edu for a full list).
Of course, every other organization on campus does a great deal of work to contribute to the projects at OU that occur every week. There will not be a day that passes that some activity or event has not been planned for OU’s student body. The importance of all of my rambling is simple: get involved! It’s the people that you meet here that make OU a gem in the Big 12, and the only way to meet a lot of these people is to get involved on campus. Good Luck with your high school years! Until next post, see you later!

PLC

Each year, the University of Oklahoma selects a group of around 100 incoming freshmen from high schools across the nation to be a part of the Presidents’ Leadership Class. We meet every Tuesday night, and every Tuesday is a different experience. So far this year (which is only a couple months), the activities and experiences I’ve had through PLC will last a lifetime. Some of the highlights so far would be our great retreat to Lake Texoma and dinner with President Boren and his wife at Boyd House. Our two student advisors, Allison and Barron, and our amazing adult advisor, Nanette, work tirelessly to plan events that both train us to be better leaders and to get involved in various activities on campus. In fact, I’ve joined a few volunteer organizations on campus because of the information given to me from PLC. Although it may sound as though we visit places and receive advice from people, it’s truly the people you meet while in PLC that make all the difference. So many OU faculty and staff aid in PLC events that you truly get to know an amazing group of helpful people on campus, and I can’t forget the other great people that are in my PLC class. My experience with PLC so far has been amazing, and I know that Barron, Allison, and Nanette have even more great experiences lined up for the rest of the year. I really can’t even express in words how much that the President’s Leadership Class has affected my life! I’ll definitely be updating you on the rest of my great year in PLC, so stay tuned! Oh, and the picture below is from our amazing view of Lake Texoma at the retreat.

Dorm Life

Yes, I’ll admit that the adjustment to living in the dorms was a change. The rooms are a little small and cleaning is not fun, but the major advantage to living in OU’s dorms is all the people you can meet. You’ll probably find someone that you can rely on to help you with any kind of homework at any time of day, and there’s always someone to talk to. Another item that you have to get used to is noise. At random times, you’ll sometimes be bombarded with some decibels that you’d rather not experience, but there is a solution for this conundrum. The answer is to find a spot on campus that you can relax and study. It may be Bizzell Library’s Great Reading Room or a lounge in the Oklahoma Memorial Union; either way, you just have to find your spot to find some peace and quiet. Plus, many of the dorms have study lounges that are supposed to be quiet for those who need to learn in solitude. Other than that, the dorms are OU are pretty nice, but I’d advise you to try for a premium room if that is still an option when you apply for housing (Here’s a tip…try to apply as soon as possible). Premium rooms include new furniture and the possibility of a lofted bed. Below is a picture of just a corner of my sweet premium room abode here at the fabulous University of Oklahoma towers. See You Next Entry!

Howdy Week

OK, so you’ve finally made it to college, and what do you think every college student wants the most? Free Stuff is the answer! Howdy Week is five days of activities planned by a truly amazing committee of the Campus Activities Council (CAC) here at OU, and these people know how to accommodate new freshmen. Not only do they serve free breakfast and lunch each day on the South Oval, they also work with another group to provide golf cart rides to class! All those worries about finding your classes are gone when you have upperclassmen driving you across campus to any destination. Trust me, these drivers know their campus well. Anyway, every night, Howdy Week sponsors activities that get students involved on campus. From free movies at the Union to Ice Cream Socials, the Howdy Week committee has planned something for everyone. Also, the Big Red Rally on Thursday night was one of the best pep rallies ever! The football team, the Pride of Oklahoma, and Clarke Stroud all made appearances, and trust me…that rally wasn’t an event to miss! So if you decide to come to the University of Oklahoma (and I don’t know why you wouldn’t!), then make sure that you try to attend some events at CAC’s annual Howdy Week celebration!

The First Day of Class

Reflecting on my first day, I have to say that I am excited for college to continue. When I woke up today, I thought that my classes were going to eat me alive, but after walking into my first class at 9:30 AM, I saw that college classes really weren’t something to fear. Most of the first day, the professors simply handed out syllabi and explained their classroom procedures, which made me feel less stressed about all the work for the semester. All my professors today did amazing jobs with their lectures. You may think that a 45 to 60 minute lecture would be boring, but the teachers make the class interesting. Each teacher made the students feel welcomed back to OU, which gave this campus of an estimated 25,000 people that small-town feel. I really didn’t have any problems finding my classes due to SOW Weekend before school started, and the day really makes me think that the semester is going to be great! Finally, I’ve made a list at the bottom of things you need to know for your first day of class.

• Don’t bring your books to the first day of class unless directly told to do so—Trust me, those books are HEAVY. Most people don’t buy their books until after the first day, so you’ll be fine.
• All that you’ll need for the first day of class is a pencil/pen and plenty of paper.
• Pedestrians—Watch out for bikers!!!
• Bikers—Watch out for pedestrians!!!
• Don’t think that you’re too cool to ask directions…trust me, it’s better to be on time and look like a freshmen than to be late and possibly be counted absent. (By the way, go to class, you can be dropped from classes automatically if you don’t attend the first week…plus attendance policies can affect your grades)
• Take in mind that the first day of class may be a little frightening, so don’t go and drop every course that scares you. Remember that there is a drop period…try out the class and see if it’s really that bad, then make your decision.
• Talk to your advisor if you have problems!!!—These people are here to help!
• Finally, the weekend before you begin classes, take a jaunt around campus to see where your classes are located.

Move-In Day

I can’t even fathom how many people moved into the dorms on August 17, 2006. Arriving with two cars full of stuff, I tried to find a parking spot near my dorm, and I went to get my key. After making about five trips to the car, all my stuff was finally in my room at Adams Center. While saying goodbye to my parents, I met my new roommate for the first time. Here is some advice. When you apply for housing, don’t worry if you have to go potluck on a roommate. My roommate and I met through potluck selection, and he’s a perfectly normal, sane, good human being who I get along with easily. Finally, I cannot forget the gracious people who assisted all the freshmen arriving on that Thursday. Everywhere, upperclassmen in bright blue shirts were waiting to help incoming freshmen to move in the dorms. That small act of kindness in itself speaks volumes of why I wanted to become a Sooner. Yes, move-in day was stressful, confusing, and tiresome at the beginning, but by the end of the day, I was glad to call OU my new home.

Anticipation

Hi, I’m David Stubsten, and I’m an incoming freshman at the University of Oklahoma. Coming from the small town of Fairview, Oklahoma, Norman is a huge population increase, and honestly, that’s a reason to be nervous. I believe every incoming freshmen truly wonders if the university they have chosen is the right choice for them, and I think we also share the same fear of wondering whether or not we will fit in once we arrive. I can honestly say that these fears came into my mind as I made my choice of colleges in the United States, but the family environment that the University of Oklahoma quickly establishes with incoming freshmen helped me to make my choice out of many universities. While Norman, OK, is a big city, this college town still contains a spirit that truly welcomes the students of the University of Oklahoma, and though I know the next few years will be full of trials and temptations, I’m anxiously waiting to head to the university on move-in day.

Camp Crimson: Sooner Edition

Amid chants of “Boomer Sooner”, high-energy counselors, and high action events, the University of Oklahoma hosts Camp Crimson as the premier orientation camp for transfer students and incoming freshmen every summer, and my experience at Camp Crimson made most of my fears of arriving at college disappear. I attended the Sooner session of the 10th anniversary of Camp Crimson, which had an estimated attendance of 600 people. At Camp Crimson, delegates are separated into small groups with about twenty people named for buildings on OU’s campus, and several groups combine to form families. After meeting our amazing counselors and our group, we attended our first family meeting. I was a member of the Bizzell group and the Brooks family.  While building boats, attending the amazing retro night, and experiencing a first night at the “huff”, I came to love the OU campus and all that the university has to offer its students. While at camp, delegates have the chance to ask all the questions they have about living at the university, and professors give advice for classes. Before coming to Camp Crimson, I never realized how beneficial this three-day orientation activity would be, and I would definitely suggest that every incoming freshmen try to attend a session of Camp Crimson.