Archive for the 'Prescott College' Category

September 16, 2010 | "Whoa whoa I gotta go...back to schoooool...again",4th Semester,Book Stuff,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Fall 2010,Fundraising,How coolio is THAT?,Intro to Fiction Writing,Life in General,Mentors,Prescott College,Rio Salado,School Daze,The 4-1-1 on Me

Today mark’s the official start of the fall 2010 semester at Prescott, but I don’t start my classes until Monday.
This semester, my two classes are:

Fundraising and Resource Development

Intro to Fiction Writing

The first one is a mentored course, and I feel I’m going to be learning a lot from Maureen Baker, manager of Individual Giving and Events at the Musical Instrument Museum. The other is an online course at Rio Salado College and by the end of that course, I will have completed a short story. Short stories were never my forte, but I’ve decided to try again. The DA series has a few little in-between stories that could be told and the best way seems to be in the form of a short story.

So, just like the GREASE song lyric states, it’s time for me to go back to school again. Join me for the ride.

Technorati Tags: Maureen Baker, Musical Instrument Museum

September 15, 2010 | Inner Mean Girl 40-Day Cleanse,Life in General,Mentors,Prescott College,School Daze,Summer 2010,The 4-1-1 on Me,Uncategorized

I’m participating in the 40-day Inner Mean Girl Cleanse.. For 40 days, I am joining women around the world to cleanse my system of 6 toxic habits of my Inner Mean Girl (gossip, comparison, judgment, expectations, and obligations) and replace them with self-loving habits instead.

This week’s toxin is: Unrealistic Expectations

The Mission: To give up over-promising and perfection for the next 7 days.

When my friend told me about Prescott College, I thought “Well, this school sounds perfect for me.” I browsed the website for hours, reading everything about the program I was thinking about entering. And then the next thing I know, I’ve decided to do it. I’ve decided to go back to school after 17 yrs and finally get my degree.

This time, I’m going back for me, and the degree isn’t going to be English. It’s going to be Nonprofit Management.

I attended the 3-day orientation and felt slightly overwhelmed, but excited about starting. Excited and apprehensive because I had to step outside my comfort zone and ask complete strangers to be my teachers. My original grad date was Dec 2011. If I took 3 classes per semester, I would graduate in Dec 2011. It seemed like a reasonable goal at the time.

Until I actually started school.

Two classes.

And promptly had a teeny, tiny, breakdown 2 months in. Seriously.

I couldn’t figure out why it was so hard until Babendude pointed it out.

“It’s because you didn’t have a job.”

Ah. And the light bulb clicks on.

When I was going to school, I had been going full time. My parents wouldn’t let me get a job until I transferred to ASU. And even then, it was on campus and part time.

I took three classes for the first time this past semester.

And it nearly killed me. Emotionally.

Graduating in Dec 2011 was a nice goal, a nice expectation. But an unrealistic one, I now realize. My life was different back in the 90′s. I’ve grown up since then. Which is why my grad date is now Summer 2012, taking two classes per semester. I agonized over that decision, too. I felt like I was letting myself down, letting Babendude down. I really wanted to finish next year. But I’ve come to terms with my limitations and have to compensate for that.

No over-promising for the next 7 days? Hah. Nooooo problem.

Technorati Tags: 40-day Inner Mean Girl Cleanse, Prescott College

September 6, 2010 | 3rd Semester,A Royale Pain,Adv Children's Lit,Book Stuff,Book Two,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Life in General,Prescott College,School Daze,Summer 2010,The 4-1-1 on Me,Your Two Cents

Thanks to everyone who came by last month to provide feedback for the first 5 chapters of A Royale Pain. The project has ended and the posts have been taken down so that I can work on them. Your feedback was greatly appreciated and will help me make some much needed changes.

September 6, 2010 | 3rd Semester,Creative Writing II,Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series,Financial Mgmt,How coolio is THAT?,Life in General,Mentors,Prescott College,School Daze,Summer 2010,The 4-1-1 on Me

Edit: I received the signed mentor eval for my CWII course: and it’s an A! Woot!

Happy Labor Day! Today officially marks the end of my summer session. I survived 3 classes. Barely.

Sustainable Financial Mgmt: A+

Creative Writing II – Revising Your Novel: Not sure yet. My core faculty hasn’t signed the eval yet.

Advanced Children’s Lit: C+ (despite being a writer, I’m not good at writing nonfiction. Essays and research papers suck!)

The first two were mentored courses and the last one was an online course through Prescott.

THANK YOU’S:

Georgia McBride, founder of YALITCHAT, for being a great CWII mentor. I learned so much from her and will be able to carry it through to my future books. Even go back to DA Book One and work some magic there.

Chantal Sheehan, former-CFO-now-Executive Director of New Global Citizens for being my Fin Mgmt. At one point during this course, I felt like I probably should’ve taken a basic accounting course before jumping in to this class, but she still did a great job. I’m looking forward to working with her with her again in spring 2011.

Thank you ladies for taking the time out of your busy, busy schedules to mentor me. My experience with you will be utilized in the future. I swear.

I have a 12 day break before the fall semester starts up again and I plan to enjoy it. From here on out it’s going to be 2 classes per semester. That means my grad date will be pushed back to about summer 2012, but I don’t care. My sanity will remain intact. And Babendude with thank me for it. LOL.

Technorati Tags: Georgia McBride, YALITCHAT, Chantal Sheehan, , New Global Citizens

August 17, 2010 | "Whoa whoa I gotta go...back to schoooool...again",3rd Semester,Life in General,Mentors,Prescott College,Reading is FUNdamental,School Daze,The 4-1-1 on Me

Romance author Carolyn Brown has a book coming out in October with this same title. I’ve been reading her books in between homework assignments and right about now, this feels appropriate.

I am so tired of school right now it’s not even funny.

Today, I busted out an assignment two hours before I had to meet my mentor. Didn’t give a damn if it sucked or not. She said I did good.

One–or both–of my mentors for my Fall semester may or may not be approved by my core faculty. I was worried about it for, like, a day.

Now, I don’t give a damn. I could probably use the break.

I have a 10-page research paper due on the 5th and I haven’t really started on it. Earlier this month, I had to change topics when I couldn’t find enough academic resources. I stressed about it.

But now, I don’t give a damn.

The summer semester ends Sept 6th. The fall semester starts 10 days after that.

Right now, that little window of Education Freedom is lookin’ like a slice of heaven.

I’ve got stack of 9 books in my TBR pile and I’m gonna spend that free time reading my ASS off.

Technorati Tags: Carolyn Brown