Wednesday marked an historic date in the world of professional golf…Tiger Woods return after 8 months. In case you’re in the dark and know nothing about golf, Tiger Woods underwent surgery last year on his left knee after he won the U.S. Open that keep him off the course until now. For me, this is a big deal because golf is one of my passions and I think that Tiger is the single greatest athlete in any sport playing today.

Thursday marked a depressing date in the week of Mike Schilleman. Tiger Woods failed to make it past the second round of the accenture match play tournament and was defeated 4 & 2 by Tim Clark. I had high hopes for the world’s #1, but I may have set standards that were even too high for Tiger Woods. What I, and most of world, forgets is that Tiger is human too and you can’t except him to win his first tournament start back after not playing for a good chunk of a year. But that’s saying a lot for Tiger Woods though, he’s that good that people think he’s going to win every time he steps foot on the first tee.

So why am I telling this all to you? Well because golf is my favorite sport and it’s partially the reason I came to UWGB in the first place. UWGB has its very own 9-hole golf course called The Shorewood Golf Course that’s very convenient for students. It’s winter right now and there is a few feet of snow covering the entire campus, but when the springtime roles around, it’s quite fun to walk over and play 9 holes after class.

If you are at all interested in golf, like myself, then you will be excited to hear that The Shorewood Golf Course offers student discounts on golf, both on the links and in the pro shop. And if you could care less about golf, there is a small restaurant inside that serves killer food at a cheaper price for students of UWGB. The food really is great and on a nice day, it’s only a short walk away from any of your classes for a lunch break.

So, maybe Tiger will win some majors yet this year, but this Sunday will have to bring another golfer to the winner’s podium. And as far as golfing myself goes, I will be down in Florida in two weeks for Spring Break! I will be back very soon with another post, but until then have a great night and let me know if you have any questions or comments?!

Saturday February 21st and Sunday the 22nd brought parents to UWGB for the annual Family Weekend.
Family Weekend is truly a great chance for parents, grandparents, brothers, and sisters to come down and spend some quality, fun time with their college student. Especially if they live far away from Green Bay and don’t get much of a chance to visit.

UWGB is a great campus for family to come and visit. Besides being a beautiful campus, it yields many great opportunities to have fun. Family Weekend includes a nice agenda filled with activities on campus as well as off. It gives students a great chance to show off their school and Green Bay to their families.

On campus events included “Mini Sessions” which gave families the opportunity to learn about a wide variety of topics, such as: stress, spiders, Wisconsin weather, study abroad opportunities, and more. Also families got a chance to cheer on the Women’s Basketball team at the Kress Events Center when they played Loyola on Saturday night. The campus also opened its doors for a great opportunity to watch a cheap movie for a great price in the Christe Theatre, as well as many chances to eat both in the Cloud Commons and the Ecumenical Center.

As far as off campus events go, families got a chance to take a tour of Lambeau Field and the Packer Hall of Fame, which are both 15 minutes from the University. And a little further in De Pere, everyone drove to Comedy City, which is an improv theatre that grantees to put a smile on your face. It’s similar to the popular show on television, “Who’s Line is it Anyways”, and includes a lot of audience participation.

The Family Weekend also let families explore the entire campus, which includes the new Phoenix Bookstore and the Phoenix Club. The special weekend is not all free, though there are some that are. But for the range of events, the prices are not too shabby! So when you are a freshman here at UWGB, you can look forward to “Family Weekend”. You can show your family around town, introduce them to your friends, and have a great time. And who knows, they might not have many opportunities to visit. It’s a long ways away, but time flies…so mark your calendar!

For me, Friday the 13th was the busiest day of 2009 so far! Last Friday capped off a full weeklong event called Frost Fest at UWGB with a event called UWGB Nites.

The event started on 9 PM and included a magician named Derek Hughes, a game show called Phlash Card, crafts, carnival and video games, a midnight breakfast, an acoustic musician named John Kollmann, and the movie Twillight.

Phlash TV, a student organization that I’m very much involved in, presented the game show, Phlash Card! And part of my duty to make sure the game show went smoothly in every way. Putting all the hard work beside, the night was a blast and we had the whole commons at the edge of their seats. The event started at Midnight, but for me it started at 11 AM.

I got to campus in the morning and didn’t step outside again until 2 in the morning. It was a long day that started in my office editing videos for the event. After editing videos, I started to setup for the show at around 6 PM. Everyone on staff put in a helping hand and we just got everything together in time for a rehearsal. The rehearsal went alright, but we really nailed the real deal at Midnight.

Phlash card is a game show created by the student org, Phlash TV, which combines the game of poker, jeopardy, and the use of physical challenges. The full show was 45 minutes and consisted of 3 physical challenges: ice cream eating contest, scavenger hunt, and a dance off. The two teams that participated in the game show were the student newspaper, The Forth Estate, and the student radio station, WGBX. Each team was great and the crowd really got into it. Many prizes were given away, such as t-shirts, concert tickets, Tundra Lodge Water Park tickets, Gamblers tickets, and much more! After the show and clean up, I didn’t leave the Union until almost 2 AM, but it was totally worth it.

This is just one example of an exciting Friday you would find here on campus. Next month will bring another fun filled UWGB Nites along with new activities. There is always something going on around school, there really is no excuse to say there is no and go home for the weekend. Stuff like UWGB Nites is a great opportunity to meet new people and form friendships while being entertained all night long. Let me know if you have any questions about anything UWGB…Thanks ☺

Are college professors mean? Are they harder on you than in high school? Some of you many assume that as the years go on, they just get tougher. But the truth is, the professors don’t get tougher, it’s the material that does. It’s just natural that the classes are going to get tougher. We are growing as students and college is meant to challenge us and prepare us for the future. Not that the material is too difficult, because it is very manageable if you attend class and put a reasonable effort towards your work.  The professors want you to succeed more than anyone. They may seem tough, but it is just them challenging you.

They often remind students in the beginning of the semester that this is a college class and a lot is to be expected of you. I don’t mean to write this to scare anyone, but it’s good to have an idea of what to expect. I personally find some classes easier than classes that I took in high school, while other tend to be more challenging. Many professors give you options to get a hold of them or meet with them to get one-on-one help and support for class. They want to make sure you have all the knowledge and opportunity to succeed!

They also can be very fun. You get tons of work done every time you meet for class, but most of the professors I had in the past like to mix in some fun exercises and activities. For example, I’m taking a course this semester called “Theories of Communication” where we discuss theories. Our professor could bore us with lectures from a textbook, but he presents the material to us in more creative/ exciting ways. Last Wednesday to show us that every theory is different; he had us draw a map from the University to Lambeau Field. We drew them on the board and discussed how each map was different than the next and the pros and cons of each. It was a fun way to learn the concepts for the class!

So basically, don’t worry about the toughness of the professors or the classes for that matter. You know that the classes are going to be challenging, because it’s college. And the professors are here for you and they are here to make sure that you succeed as students and as young adults. If you fail, they fail. And in saying that, you have to do your part as well. If you try your hardest, attend class every week, and abide by the rules of the University, then you will have no problem what so ever. The professors can be fun and school can be fun. You just have to have a good mind set going in! Let me know if you have any more questions, I will answer them as soon as I can! Thanks

I think I’m finally getting back into the swing of things and it only took one short week. It was sort of hard to shake off the rustiness of winter break, but you’d be surprised how fast you can pick up your old routine. Everything is a little new though. Everyone has new classes with new people and your routine has to change a bit. For example, I almost was late to my first class on Monday. As you can see below my first class of the semester was Comm. 445 which is an upper level course called, Human Communication Theory. This particular class is in Mary Ann Cofrin Hall where most Communication classes are held and where I’ve had countless courses in the past. So, I thought I would be able to find this room because of my experiences with Mary Ann Cofrin Hall in the last five semesters here at UWGB, but I could not find room 234 for the life of me. I walked around in circles with only a few minutes left before 12:45. I was worried I would be late, but I ended up finding the room with seconds to spare. This just goes to show that no matter how old you are, it always pays to locate your classrooms well before your first class starts.

My school schedule is not too loaded as you can see below. I have four classes, two in which meet only once a week, and an internship. And after you account for work hours, meetings, and schoolwork, there’s not too much time left for leisure. The real nice part about my schedule is that I don’t have to get up before the crack of noon on any weekday! And I have Fridays off!

Now that the week is over and I can look back on my week, I can reflect upon my first impressions. My night courses seem to be pretty fun actually. They are three-hour classes, but tend to take less than that. Tuesday night I have Radio and the group project requires us to create our own radio station and “compete” against already existing stations in the area. It sounds like a lot of fun! My other night class is on Thursday, which is Communication Law. I don’t know much about Law, but I’m interested in learning more!

Overall I had a pretty fun week. It’s always nice seeing new faces and getting to know new professors. The first week is always syllabus week, so I got plenty of the rules and schedule overviews. Now comes the weekend and my 21^st birthday! I was born on January 31^st on the Super Bowl, so I will most likely be posting another blog about my B-day in a few days. Let me know if you have any questions about classes or about UWGB in general? Thanks and stay safe!

My Schedule!

Everyone knows that Green Bay is known for Lambeau Field and the Packers, but what you might not know is there are other sporting events to go to that are just as much fun.

Saturday I attended my very first Green Bay Gamblers game at the Resch Center, which is right across the street from the home of the green and gold. The Gamblers are a hockey team and they are doing quite well this year. I went with a huge group of people from UWGB for a part of Phlash TV’s winter training. It didn’t matter how freezing out it was, we had a great night anyways. Here is my story!

We left at around 6:30 PM and it took forever to get a parking spot. The streets were packed with cars trying to get to the game. While in the jam, we got a phone call from our friend in another car that told us to meet us at this one restaurant because she had a free parking pass for us to use. As we heard the news we just passed the place that she was talking about and we couldn’t turn around because of the traffic. Matt in the back seat then jumped out of the car, ran back to the restaurant, and got the parking pass from the other car. Then the line started to move, it started to move faster than ever before. As we crawled along, we watched Matt running behind us trying to keep up. It was hilarious! After he got back in, we parked the car in Lambeau field and walked towards the Resch Center.

The place was packed! It was family night at the Resch Center, so there was dollar hot dogs and soda. We got to our seats just as the starting line-ups were being announced for what was going to be one heck of a game. I put down 4 or 5 hot dogs that night and was stuffed, but that wasn’t all I ate. During the game, the announcer told the crowd that everyone in the stadium would win free Buffalo Wild Wings if the Gamblers score a goal in the next minute. We counted down and on the last possible second they score and the place goes nuts! We all won free wings and we were pretty pumped. Then the announcer told us that it’s for tonight’s use only. We debated whether or not it was worth leaving the game early for only six wings, but the Gamblers were winning 7-0 in a blowout, so we left with six minutes remaining.

We bared the cold one more time for the long walk back to the cars and headed down the street to Buffalo Wild Wings. We left early, so I thought the place wasn’t going to be too busy…but was I wrong! The place was packed!!! People were lined up all the way out the door and beyond. Some people may have left because of the wait, but we waited 45 minutes for a table to get our free wings. It was worth it because the wings were great; I just wish I could have gotten more than 6 for free. We all left the place more than full, but it was a great way to cap off an already great night.

I had to get up early the next day and was so tired Sunday evening, but it was all worth it. I recommend a Gamblers game to anyone. It is just as fun as a Packer game experience, but much cheaper and tickets are more available. Also recommend highly is Buffalo Wild Wings or B-Duds as we like to call it. Most people know that, but you may come from a part of Wisconsin that isn’t as privileged as Green Bay. If so, then treat yourselves to these fun activities and post any comments with questions for me! Thanks and I have to go because school started today and I gotta hit the books ☺

What if I told you that UWGB has its very own movie theatre located in the University Union? Would you believe me? Well the truth is YES, there is a movie theatre called The Christie Theatre right here on campus!

My guess is that most of you aren’t aware of this unless you have visited or toured the campus before. And even then, you still might not be clear about what the Theatre is used for.

The Christie Theatre is used for many different events and presentations. To give you a visual picture, the Christie is basically like a smaller version of a Marcus theatre you would go to for a Friday night flick. There’s a projector, movie seats, a large screen, and a stage for other types of performances. And the cool part is it’s all here on campus! It saves you the drive and the money.

So you might ask…does this theatre show movies and when can you watch them? Both good questions! The Christie Theatre holds a series called Cheapseats that offers UWGB students a chance to view new movies at an affordable price. Only $2 a ticket and there are concessions just like a real movie theatre.

They usually play a few movies a month at various times during the evening and nights Thursday thru Sunday. The times for the movies and movie line-up for this semester are not set in stone yet, but here are the potential movies:

High School Musical 3
Zach and Miri make a porno
Twilight
Bolt
Quantum of Solace
Yes Man
Bed Time Stories

You will see these movies shortly after they exit regular theatres and before they hit stores for DVD sales. You’ll get the cheap price of only 2 bucks and you can even pay with pass points. How easy is that! It’s cheap and convenient, so check out Cheapseats in the Christie Theatre once you become a student here at UWGB. The theatre has many others uses, like I said before, so let me know if you have any questions about the other uses of the theatre or about Cheapseats. Thanks!

You will end up taking plenty of courses for your Major here at UW-Green Bay and they are all important to your educational development, but Internships might be a great opportunity for you to gain real world experience. They are not mandatory, but are highly recommended by many professors/ advisors and myself. No matter what your Major or interest is, there is most likely some sort of Internship or opportunity out there for you. Some Internship can be for student organizations here on campus or other internships can be for outside companies and businesses.

So how do Internships work? Well I can’t speak for all internships, but I will try my best to describe the general process. Typically you can go see your advisor and ask him or her what sorts or Internships or opportunities are nearby that suits your interest. Once you find something you like, you may have to apply or interview for your desired position, which also provides good practice with the interviewing process for the future. Some Internships can be paid positions, non-paid positions, or positions that get course credit, but no matter what the compensation is, the work you do and the skills you learn are the important part. To my best knowledge, most Internships on campus through student organizations, etc. are for course credit. 3 credits to be exact, which translates into 1 class that you would have to take otherwise. Most Internships off of campus for companies tend to be unpaid, but give you even more real world experience!

I personally have been interning with a student organization called Phlash TV, the student run television station, for the past two years. It has given me the chance to take what I learned in the classroom and apply it to real life situations. My Major is Communications and I have an interest in electronic media and television production. This Internship allows me to practice and perfect many techniques that will give me a leg up from the competition for jobs in my future. My role at the station is Station Manager, which also builds my leaderships skills, which is very important to me!

So, I talked a lot about “real world experience”, which is the whole point and appeal to Internships. Many classes teach you about what you will encounter in certain situations, but Internships allow you to actually experience them for yourself. I starting taking my Internship my sophomore year here at UW-Green Bay and I’m planning on continuing it until I graduate. You can start or take an Internship whenever you please, but you may want to get a year of college under your belt beforehand. Please let me know if you have any questions about Internships or anything else you have on your mind. I will try my best to get back to you right away and give you a great answer!

Something I like to do more than anything is play basketball over at the Kress Events Center on the UWGB campus. It’s a close place where I can get a bunch of my friends together for a pick up game. And the best part is it’s completely free for students, even during winter and summer break. All you need to do is flash your student ID at the front desk and you’re in. You can check out basketballs and other equipment to use in many open gyms.

Two semesters ago I played basketball every Tuesday and Thursday for two hours in the morning with 5 of my close friends. It was a good way to start off my mornings and it gave me something to look forward to during the week besides classes and homework. Sometimes it was hard waking up at 8 AM in the morning, but it’s a lot easier to wake up for basketball than it is a 9 AM class. It was also very good exercise! The first few times we played, we could only play for an hour and I was pretty sore the next day. But after a while, we could play for hours with out stopping and I felt better than ever.

It’s nice to have a routine or a planned time to visit the Kress. I see many students who walk over to the Events Center a few nights a week and exercise. They find times and gaps in their schedule where they are free and devote it to the gym. It is a nice escape from having your head in the books and gives you a chance to work off some stress. So, I say use the Kress and use it often. You might as well, because it is free for you if you are a student and if you live on campus…it’s only a short walk away. And even if you don’t live on campus, there is a huge parking lot that you can leave your car while you hit the weights.

The Kress is the home for all of the indoor intramurals sports that take place in the fall and spring semesters. This is for the more competitive sports lovers, but it is another great way to take advantages of this great Events Center. And if basketball is not your sport, don’t worry; there is a huge variety and sports and activities that the Kress offers.

I will be using the Kress Events Center for the remainder of my time here at UWGB. I mostly play basketball and I try to play at least once a week. You might see me there sometime, but if you’re a huge fan…please post a comment and ask me any questions you have about the Kress Events Center. Also share with me your favorite sport and we can discuss some further opportunities that the University of Green Bay provides.