Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Perspective on Journalism
Monday, December 7, 2009
Cougar sighting in Champlin
Penny and Officer Jeff Martin saw the cougar as it made its way across Hwy. 169, toward the Mississippi River.
The cougar crossed into a residential area along East River Parkway.
Keep a close eye on children and pets, Penney warned residents.
http://www.startribune.com/local/north/78660892.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMcyaL_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
Enterprise story.
Laura Sweeney
Enterprise Story 10
December 7, 2009
PSEO Students clueless.
Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) student’s are not educated enough on what the campus has to offer. The
students are clueless to Desire2Learn (D2L), metnet, the library, the
cafeteria, the bookstore, and the student advising office.
PSEO is popular this year more than any other year before. “Cost of universities systems now are so expensive and more
students are attempting non-traditional options,” said Kim Nelson, a counselor at Anoka High School. “We do not have a cut off number for students,” said Ashley Weatherspoon, the PSEO admissions coordinator at Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC). With that said more and more students are getting confused with the everyday life at the college.
“I didn’t have a clue on what I was doing for my online class,” Melissa Zeman
said. When PSEO students are registered for their classes they should be taught how to use D2L and metnet. The tutorial to
explain online courses and how to go about using the website is not
mandatory. Students tend to procrastinate so their first time signing in is
typically the first day of class. The tutorials should be mandatory so
students are not confused when they first sign in.
“I’m a traditional student and I found it pretty confusing on how to work D2L
for the first time. Being a procrastinator I almost missed my first day of
class because of the fact that I didn’t know how to login,” Brian Smith said.
After his friend taught him how to login to D2L he found it easy and stressed
over nothing. Although D2L may seem like it would be easy to login because of
the “helpful information” on the side, many students get confused. Of the 12
students surveyed at the Coon Rapids campus, nine agreed they didn’t know
what to do the first time they clicked on the Disire2Learn (D2L) button. That being said when students register for classes the first time they should be taught what to do.
Students at ARCC are required to make up a metnet
account. When making this account they are assured this email address is
where you will receive messages about class cancellations, assignments,
registration dates, payment deadlines, etc. Katie Sweeney said that she was
annoyed that she had to remember another e-mail address; she didn’t
understand why she couldn’t just use her original one. Although the sign up
page says you can have your student number as your username they usually give
you a name based on your last name with random numbers. Many students often
forget the name and have to send the information to their account that
they use on a daily bases. Of the 12 students surveyed five said that they liked
using the metnet account and can easily remember the username. The students also said that it was very useful and liked it more than the e-mail they had been using before. Seven students said that they didn’t like using the metnet account and thought the username was just another pointless thing to remember. Also they found they account was not useful and barely used it at all. When signing up, students are told to be given information about class cancellations and assignments, isn’t that what D2L is for? Also couldn’t the school just e-mail students on their everyday e-mail about registration and payment deadlines instead of putting students through the confusion of another?
“I’ve been a student here for two years and I still don’t know how to use the library,” Bri Zeman said. If a traditional student doesn’t even know how to use their own library how can you expect a PSEO student to know? Not many people go to the school website to know when the library is open. Many students get confused because the hours are not on the door of the library. Tina Licari, a PSEO student, said that she is too scared to go into the library because she doesn’t know anything about it. Even regualar students don’t know how to simply check out a book. Do you show them your ID card or just give them your ID number? The library states on their website, as an integral part of the educational process, the mission is to provide curriculum resources and access to broader materials and instruction about a variety of learning resources. Students should be given a tour of the library so they can feel welcomed and be able to check books out for their classes.
“Lunch at a hospital is basically the same as at ARCC,” Tyler Sweeney said. Most PSEO students’ don’t eat lunch there but it would still be nice for them to know for the future. Students should be given an example of what it is like to eat at ARCC. Brenna Morgan, a PSEO student, said that when she is out of high school and in college for real she will probably never eat in the cafeteria because she doesn’t know how it works. All you do is get you food and pay at the checkout. This is different than at high school because you don’t have a lunch account; you have to bring cash everyday if you plan on eating there.
The bookstore is a big issue for PSEO students because this is where they will get what they need for their classes. Three out of eight PSEO students that were surveyed said they knew how to get their books without being helped. Five students said they didn’t and needed help. “I felt like a child in a candy store, there were so many books and I was just helpless,” Tina Licari said, “I didn’t know where to find my books, the numbers on the bottom of the books screwed me up. I had to ask someone for help. I wish I would have known what the numbers meant below the books so I could have found my books myself.” When the new students are given their classes I think they should be told that the class number and teachers name is on the cards below your class books. You can get many things at the book store. They offer students, faculty, and staff at the college, items to support your academic career and school spirit. The book store is where you buy books and sell them back; it is a nice place to know about for your classes.
The student advising office is a place where you can get counseling services and advising services. At the counseling services office there are specially trained faculty to help with many personal problems. At the advising services office there are specially trained staff members who assist students with academic planning, academic and career information, and academic success. This will come in handy when PSEO students are feeling over whelmed and need someone to talk to, or if they have a question they need an answer to they will have someone who can answer it. Katie Sweeney said she didn’t even know of the student advising office until this year. Of the eight PSEO students that were surveyed, eight said they didn’t know what or where the student advising office is.
Not only should PSEO students get a tour and help on D2L and metnet, so should traditional students when first registering for classes. They are missing out on some very important things going on at ARCC and they shouldn’t be.
Cites:
http://anokaramsey.edu/resources/studentAdvising.aspx
http://anokaramsey.edu/resources/Success/Library/CoonRapidsLibrary.aspx
http://www.arccbookstore.com/coonr/site_about_us.asp?mscssid=5C6613A8B9E94D7EBBBB1631B0EE17DD
Melissa Zeman-PSEO student
Tina Licari- PSEO student
Brenna Morgan- PSEO student
Katie Sweeney-Traditional student
Tyler Sweeney- Traditional student
Brian Smith- Traditional student
Bri Zeman- Traditional student
Kim Nelson- Anoka High School consular
Ashley Weatherspoon- PSEO admission coordinator
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Feature Story.
Sweeney works at Applebee’s in Coon Rapids. She has been working there since August of 2008. Sweeney decided to take a chance and work at one of the hottest spots after nine in the Coon Rapids area. “I can make up to $250 a shift there,” Sweeney claims.
Before working at Applebee’s, Sweeney had many jobs. She claims she never fully enjoyed any of them until she found work at Applebee’s. After quitting her last job Sweeney thought she was out of luck with employment.
Finally two months unemployed, she found work as a volleyball coach for Anoka Hennepin School District 11. Sweeney worked with children up until the age of 14. “Working with the kids was a rewarding experience. I learned a lot about instructing, I loved watching the kids grow with me. Some kids I had four years straight, from fifth grade up. I grew very close with their families,” Sweeney explains.
Sweeney then grew old of the coaching job and moved to St. Paul. While living in St. Paul she discovered a job opening at one of her favorite restaurants back home. A current employee, her brother, informed her of the job opportunity as a host/busser. “It’s a journey to work but it’s worth it,” Sweeney says. “Working at Applebee’s has changed my life, I met many friends and made lots of money. On top of it all I found my boyfriend of over a year while working side by side,” Sweeney gushes.
“I love the fact that I can go shopping for expensive clothes to present myself and still make more money. I get good use out of those clothes; I wear them 40 hours a week. I basically live in them,” Sweeney says.
Her boyfriend is also a server/bartender at Applebee’s. “I love that I get to see my boyfriend at home and at work,” Sweeney says. “I can understand what he says when he means bad day at work, not many couples can say that.”
During her previous jobs Sweeney explains that she was very unhappy. Her first job was at 15-years-old as a receptionist for her father’s mortgage company. There she answered phones, made meetings, sorted all the files. “I played a lot of solitaire while working there, I found it very boring, at 15 you want something exciting and I didn’t find that there.” Sweeney confessed. After her job with her father she moved on to a job as a receptionist at her dance studio to pay her tuition at 16-years-old. Once she was offered another receptionist job with better pay, she quit working for her dance studio. Sweeney accepted the job for a family friend’s title company. She then quit that job because it was an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. job Monday threw Friday during the summer. “I learned a lot at that job, I experienced working with adults in the very lucrative at the time real estate business. I had to quit because school got in the way, I was still a high school student at the time,” Sweeney says.
After all of her receptionist jobs, she found out it just wasn’t her calling. “It didn’t make me happy, I wanted a challenge, and working as a receptionist was plan ol’ boring. I didn’t want to sit at a desk all day, I wanted to do something more exciting,” Sweeney busted out. “I stayed unemployed until my family bought Quizno’s in the middle of my senior year in high school.” She worked alongside her mother, father, sister, and brother. While still working at Quizno’s Sweeney took a year off of college and chose to take real estate classes to become a licensed realtor. Soon after she got her license and was hired by Weichert Realty. Sweeney was working two jobs that summer. She was glad that the family business was closing because it distracted her from having a real job. After a about a year in real estate it became too expensive for Sweeney and she had to end her career working as a real estate agent.
Once she ended her job at Weichert she found out where her best friend worked was hiring. Guess Jeans in Albertvile Outlet Mall hired her on the spot.” I quit working there because of the poor management, also the girls’ there were catty,” Sweeney explains. After working at the clothing store Guess Jeans she was offered the job as a coach. “Finally a job I liked!”
When she ended her job as a coach she found the job she had been looking for all along. “I can’t believe I never thought about working at Applebee’s. I had to go threw all the bad jobs to finally find a good one that suited me. It was just what I had been looking to find. This is one of the best jobs in the world. It’s such a blessing,” Sweeney says blushing.
Working is one of the things Sweeney loves to do. She has been working since she legally could. Its no wonder working is her hobby; it’s been such a big part of her life. “Working is one of the thing I’m actually good at, all my experience has got me here, I’m in a great place in my life.”
Monday, November 30, 2009
911 Emergency:The Dahmer Tapes.
The Milwaukee Police Department released a transcript today that is evidence that two officers missed a chance at preventing the death of 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone.
Jeffrey L. Dahmer, confessed to 17 murders, Sinthasophone being one. Dahmer pleaded he was insane. He was arrested after the police found 11 mutilated bodies in his apartment a week ago.
The transcripts were a 911 call from 37-year-old Glenda Cleveland, a Milwaukee resident. Cleveland called at 2 a.m. on May 27 reporting that her daughter and niece had seen a naked boy on the street corner of 25 and State, and needed help.
“He’s butt-naked and he has been beaten up. He is very bruised up. He can’t stand. He is really hurt. And I, you know, ain’t got no coat on,” Cleveland explained to the dispatcher. Cleveland was then transferred to the fire department and an ambulance was sent to the scene.
Another caller reported a male dragging a naked male who looked injure. The Milwaukee emergency operator responded,”OK. We will get someone out there.”
The officer that was sent to the scene reported back to the dispatcher,”36…. Intoxicated Asian, naked male. (Laughter.) Was returned to his sober boyfriend. (More laughter.)”
The police officer never took any of Cleveland or her daughter and nieces’ information, this bothered Cleveland. She did a follow-up call to Milwaukee Emergency about the male,” The fact is a crime was being committed. I am sure you must need, you know, some kind of information based on that.”
Cleveland was then transferred to an officer who was at the scene. The officer told Cleveland that the male was just an adult intoxicated boyfriend of another boyfriend. Cleveland asked several times if the officer was sure the boy was an adult. “Are you positive? Because this child doesn’t even speak English. My daughter had, you know, deal with him before, seeing him on the street.”
The officer responded,” Hmmm. Yea. No. He’s, he’s, oh, it’s all taken care of, ma’am, I can’t make it any more clear. It’s all taken care of. That’s, you know, he’s with his boyfriend and, ah, his boyfriend’s apartment, where he’s got his belongings also. And that is where it is released.”
Cleveland explained that she was just worried the male was a child instead of an adult. However the officer insisted that the male was not child.
When Dahmer was arrested he told the police that two officers had been at his apartment two months earlier to investigate a 911 call. After the officers left, Dahmer killed Sinthasomphone. The two officers’ that reported on the scene were suspended a week ago with pay but not identified.
Charges: Man provided gun in St. Paul killing; teen thought it was unloaded
Cornell was arrested last week in the death of Smith,a student at St. Paul Central High School.
According to the charges, Cornell and others in the Maryland Avenue E. home had been playing Russian roulette prior to the shooting. They played with a gun that Cornell brought to the home, except they played without the .22-caliber revolver being loaded.
When the guest were ready to leave, Cornell decided to load the handgun with three live rounds. Soon after, the trigger was pulled while aimed at Smith's head.
http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/78164217.html?elr=KArks:DCiUocOaL_nDaycUiacyKU7DYaGEP7vDEh7P:DiUs
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Eighth Story.
November 25, 2009
Eighth Story
“I picked to do PSEO because I hate high school, I felt like I was above all the other high school students in maturity and intelligence,” Melissa Zeman, a 16-year-old PSEO student at ARCC . “It’s free college, I don’t understand why people wouldn’t chose to do PSEO. “
Zeman isn’t the only PSEO student who feels like this. Of the 20 people surveyed four said they were PSEO students, when asked why their explanation was almost word for word as Zeman’s.
When asked if the surveyors were PSEO students in high school, six said yes, two said no, and 12 said they wish they were. “I wish I would have done the PSEO program when I was in high school. I was the type of person who just hated being in school with all the immature kids, I felt more grown up. If I would have done the program I probably would already be done with school and saved a lot of money that I’m wasting in school right now,” Katie Sweeney, a 21-year-old student at ARCC.
20 out of 20 surveyors answered that PSEO is a very good program when asked if they believed PSEO is a good program.
Most students don’t even notice who is and isn’t a PSEO student. “I only notice when those students make a spectacle of themselves. Say, if I’m doing a group project and I have a PSEO student in my group, if they aren’t doing their portion of the project, I might be a little more aware of the face that they are PSEO. Or if they talk too much in class, start drama, and act like college is like high school that upsets me! So it all depends. Some PSEO’ers are great at fitting in and acting like the rest of us, and then I think they belong there,” Carissa Parker, a student at ARCC says of PSEO students.
“If the student has a good work ethic and the patience and maturity why not be in college, they already have the grades to get in,” Sweeney says.
Dan Mau says “PSEO is a great program, when I was in high school doing it was the best thing ever. I loved getting out of high school and saying I’m going to college now. I also felt like I belonged there. I felt I was never judged that was probably because no one suspected I was still only 17-years-old. These days when I’m sitting in class I can tell who is and isn’t the traditional student.”
When asked if they felt high school students belonged in college 19 of the 20 said they feel they did, one answered no.
“I don’t understand why some people have a problem with high school students being in college. Seriously I’m at a maturity level that’s higher than the rest of my high school probably put together. Also I’m in the same class as the traditional student so doesn’t that cross out the possibility of me being stupid? I have the same level of intellect as you so why are you judging me? I’m just trying to get some free college, and by the looks of it others wish they would have too,” Zeman says when told some people don’t agree with high school students being in college.
By the looks of it Zeman is making a choice many other college students wish they would have made when they had the chance.
My Ways to Relieve Stress.
I generally take my stress out by listening to music. I like to listen to upbeat music so it puts me in a good mood. While I'm listening to my music I'm also dancing. As a dancer I find it easier to express my emotions in my dance moves instead of spilling my heart out to my friends. Usually the music and dancing works for me but if they don't I'll just grab a magazine and take a nice bubble bath. I'm not the type of person that explains how I feel so I keep my stress in and relieve it in ways people don't have to listen to me complain.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Brooklyn Park fire takes hours to control
A team of hazardous materials experts stood by as firefighters put out the fire. No chemicals leaked nor spilled said Fire Chief Ken Prillaman.
No cause to what started the fire has been determined. No one was injured in the fire at the building on Xylon Ave., which houses a plating operation.
http://www.startribune.com/local/north/70611387.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMcyaL_nDaycUiacyKUUr
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Seventh Story.
The Post-Secondary Enrollment Options program, also known as PSEO, was created in 1985 to promote rigorous educational pursuits and provide a wider variety of options for high school students.
Through PSEO, high school students receive both high school and college/university credit for college or university courses they have completed. The program is available to students throughout the state. In nearly every Minnesota public high school, students earn credits through PSEO. Only juniors and seniors are alowed into the PSEO program.
The standards for taking PSEO classes differ in grades. For juniors in high school they have to rank in the upper one-third of their class or score at or about the 70th percentile on a nationally standardized, norm-referenced test. For seniors in high school they have to rank in the upper one-half of their class or score at or above the 50th percentile on a nationally standardized, norm-referenced test.
Out of the 21 teachers at Anoka Ramsey Community College surveyed, 17 said that their PSEO students did as well if not better than the traditional students in their class. The other three that were surveyed chose to not answer. One of the teachers said that most PSEO students just don’t understand the jest of college life yet and should stay focused on graduating high school first.
That being said 13 of the 16 students surveyed said that the PSEO students in their classes keep up with the other college students. Three of the 16 students feel the PSEO students fall behind quite a bit.
On that note most teachers and students think that PSEO students are at the same level of intellect as the traditional students that attend ARCC on either campus.
