Montclair State University

This week was Montclairfest and I got to attend the rock concert that was part of the celebration. The concert included bands like The Departures, My Arcadia, Washington Sq. Park, and the headliners New Found Glory. I'm not too much of a rock fan but I do enjoy concerts.

The concert started off pretty well. The opening bands were good but not entirely my genre. Although, My Arcadia was really great. They have a girl lead singer, way different that all the other bands. They sort of remind me of Paramore. When NFG finally came on everyone jumped out of their seats and flooded the front aisles. Once they were a couple songs in utter chaos broke out. People started climbing on stage and stage diving, rushing onto the stage to sing with the band members, and trying to start mosh pits. It was great. Nothing was dangerous and the energy level of the room was just great. Unfortunately, I didn't get to stage dive but my friend did. Definitely going next year and hopefully I'll get my chance then!

Posted by Myla Ramirez at 7:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had probably one of the most tiring days I've ever had since coming to MSU. Crazy class filled day with intense exams and readings? Well...no. But yes to running around, holding hands, and being in charge of a group of hyper kids. What the heck am I talking about? Literacy Day at MSU.

One of the programs that I'm involved with on campus is SCEEP, Suburban Cultural Educational Enrichment Program, where students from urban schools come to MSU to be mentored once a week. On Saturday, a group of about 40 students came to MSU for fun-filled activities all related to reading and writing. I was assigned the role of chaperone of about 7 in the 2nd grade. We ate and hung out all day while I got to escort them to and from buildings and sessions. Not that hard but promise when constantly walking from different classrooms in University and to Russ Hall with a bunch of super hyperactive kids who always want to hold your hand and play...it's tiring. Overall it was worth it and definitely one of the best memories that I'll remember from my freshmen year at MSU.

My group for the day! Can you spot me out of all the 2nd graders? I think I blend right in.

Group shot with all the students, volunteers, and Bonner Leaders!

Posted by Myla Ramirez at 7:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In my science classes, I feel like everyone already has a specific career in mind. There's a lot of future doctors, dentists, and pharmacists. Those are the main three, mostly everyone is pre-med or something health related. My mind set was to do bio and explore the different careers so I could fully commit to something I really loved within the health/medicine, because in reality there's A LOT of different career paths. I'm nearing the end of my freshmen year and I've sort of maybe narrowed it down?

The College of Science and Mathematics regularly has events that bring working professionals, researchers, and different professional programs to the university to talk about their life and work. I got an email about one of these events that were open to anyone who were looking to go into physical therapy, optometry, and audiology. Conveniently enough, these were the three I narrowed it down to. The people presenting just gave a lot of information about the actual job, the future job market, and everything else related to it. It was really helpful to learn about the careers and especially beneficial to people like me who haven't really committed to a career yet.

So with the help of CSAM Careers and talking it out with my family, I've currently decided to aim for the physical therapy. MSU offers a joint Doctorate program with UMDNJ. It's a 6 year program where I spend my first 3 years at MSU and switch out my senior year to UMDNJ. I still have to apply for the program and it's very competitive and once you get in it's no walk in the park, the curriculum is intense. I still have a long while before I have to apply for the program but I plan to take all my classes towards this. It's really still up in the air and I'm pretty sure I'll continue my indecisiveness up until the very last second but so far...I think this is it. My major stays the same but we'll see where I end up in the next couple of years. If it wasn't for that event, I'm pretty sure I would've still been indecisive so I'm just happy that now I have a goal, so cheers to CSAM Careers.

Posted by Myla Ramirez at 7:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Weathers getting warmer, suns shining brighter, and trees and flowers are starting to show their color once again. Spring has definitely sprung. One of my favorite things to do this time of year is actually just walking around. Weather's nice and its nice to just enjoy everything. Aside from walking around campus, walking towards a nice area or a nice view is what I mostly enjoy, hiking.

I've found three hiking areas that are close to MSU. The Lenape Trail is the closest from campus and is right up Normal Avenue. Garret Mountain is just down Valley Rd. and has a castle at the bottom of its base and leads up to a great view of the city. The farthest is in West Orange, a 10-15 minute drive from campus, South Mountain Reservation features waterfalls and tee-pees. I've only been to Garrett Mountain, but they're all worth exploring on the weekends and on a nice day. If you'd like more info, follow the links or leave a comment and I'd be happy to reply back.

Lenape Trail
Garret Mountain
South Mountain Reservation

My friend, Ali, and I on a cliff at Garrett Mountain. In the distance is the NYC skyline.

Posted by Myla Ramirez at 7:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I'm slowing finding out that age means nothing and shouldn't hold you back from anything. I guess you might argue that yes, age plays a factor when you're applying for jobs and maybe a couple certain things but for the most part all that really matters is how passionate you are about something and how much you're committed to getting what you want. I think college is the perfect place that shows this and there are so many people I've met that don't let their age stop them from achieving their goals.

Lucky for me, my best friend from high school comes to Montclair. Her name is Tahsina and although we've known each other for about four years, she's like my other half. We both started as science majors but she's now taking a different route. Her initial plan was to become a pharmacist but she's following something that she's more passionate about; she's currently running for the Board of Education in my home town. As a freshman and just graduated last year from high school, she's one of the youngest to ever run for BOE. One thing that I love is that she doesn't let her age stop her from what she wants to do. She's passionate about her work and wants to give back to the community and inspire young people. She's now a family and child studies major with a minor in biology and political science, hoping to one day be a social worker and a council woman for our town.

It's crazy the type of people you meet at college and especially at Montclair. I've met so many people that have done great things in their lives and its nice to hear their story and why they chose Montclair. One of my classmates received an award from the president while she served for Americorps, another served as an american youth ambassador overseas, and many people who have just lived exciting lives and who don't let age stop them from doing what they want. College really is a place where you can start anew but it's always important to never stop reaching for your goals and to never let anything get in the way of that, even your age. For future freshmen, remember just because it's a new place doesn't mean you have to start back from square one.

Posted by Myla Ramirez at 7:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finally spring break and the only thing I want to do is...nothing. No warm weather and white beaches for me, all I want is my head on a pillow and a blanket over me. This is my time to be a bum and catch up on all the sleep I've been missing. I've followed this most days but no I'm not a total bum, just sometimes. Spring break was really just for catching up with all my friends from high school. Weather was gorgeous so we all played some Ultimate, ultimate frisbee that is. It's possibly one of my favorite sports. I also visited my old track team a couple times and caught up with my old coaches. Hung out with an old teacher and old friends but chilled with new ones too. I went hiking with a friend from Newman. We went up to the Ramapo Reservation through the halifax trail. Montclair has a couple hiking trails that I have yet to explore but I know I'll get to those eventually and post how those are too.

My friend, Megan, posing as we climbed the creek.

So far spring break has been great. Two more days of freedom before getting back into school mode. Hopefully I'll just continue to bum out and relax. Hope you are enjoying/enjoyed/will enjoy your spring break!

Posted by Myla Ramirez at 7:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yup, new addition to my room. Not quite the real room mates you might be imagining, but they do have their own space. This week I got new goldfish, they're really for my bio lab experiment but they just make my room a lot more homey-er. Funny story, the first batch I got was about 15 goldfish. Unfortunately the didn't last the night because of over feeding. I'm not the one who overfed them though, promise. The second batch started off with 9 and seems to be going well (meaning they're still alive). At Montclair, the only pets allowed in the dorm are small fish and a tank of no more than 10 gallons. Lucky for me, I'm allowed to have these. I honestly didn't check until after I got all the supplies for my experiment. My community director and CA both questioned me when I walked in with water filled bowls. Nonetheless, I am very excited for my new fish.

Posted by Myla Ramirez at 7:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This weekend, the Women's Club Volleyball Team traveled to the University of Massachusetts-Amherst for a volleyball tournament. There were seven total girls that went, plus our coaches. Some guys from the Men's team came with us to show some support which was really nice. We spent the weekend in Amherst and prepared for our tourney which was on Sunday. Since this is the first year the women's team was established, we don't belong to a league yet and have to wait until next year to join one. So far we just join tournaments and schedule games privately with other schools. That tourney that we went to was actually part of one of the most competitive leagues and the schools we were up against were Dartmouth, Harvard, Brown, Northeastern, among many others. We didn't win but it was a great experience for us to all just travel and bond the whole weekend. I'm definitely looking forward to more games.

An awesome snapshot of the team at our second tournament at Rutgers-NB. I'm to the left of our coach with the long braid. Come cheer us on, Red Hawk #5!

Posted by Myla Ramirez at 8:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week has been like riding a roller coaster. I'll start with the lows, I've pretty much spent every night this week at the library leaving early in the morning. I've also been waking up really early in the morning around 4ish so I could do more homework . If you can figure it out then yes, I haven't been getting sleep this week. 15-minute naps during the day seem to work wonders for me but I guess that works with everyone. Now the high, On Wednesday I went to eat with a friend at Blanton, one of the dining halls on campus. We saw our Chemistry professor eating at a table near us and decided to join him. It was really interesting/ironic because we had an exam the next day BUT we didn't talk about the exam or anything science related at all. It was a nice change and it just makes me really happy knowing I can have lunch with my professors. If I went to a bigger school I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to do that. That's it for my highs and lows, actually just some of them. Lots highs but also lots of lows to even it out. What are some of yours?

Posted by Myla Ramirez at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just found out today that I was accepted to Peer Leadership! If you don't know what it is, it's basically a job where over the summer I'll be living on campus and helping facilitate freshmen and transfer orientation. I'm so excited for this. I'll be living on campus for about a month and a half with all the other peer leaders. The days are long and tiring but I hear the experience is great. It was a really hard application process too. Aside from the application there was a single interview then a group interview. Out of the 50 that were at the group interview they accepted about 20 peer leaders. I'm so happy that I got through it all and can't wait for the summer!

Posted by Myla Ramirez at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)