Sense of Place: Past, Present, or Future

Part of sense of place is the people of a place, past and present and future.  

On Monday, October 17th you had a panel of FIRST YEAR OFFICE students coming and talking to you about SSU from a peers' perspective. Hopefully you were able to learn more about student life on campus and student's advice for success.

1. Please post about  A) the panel, B) the types of information you gleaned,  C) what struck you about how to succeed in College and D) what struck you about student life at SSU.

Answer: The type of information I received from the panel of first year office students was extremely helpful. For example, the first year office students gave us a various amount of advice on what to do when singing up for classes. The students gave us advice like to set up an appointment with our advisor to start looking at classes for the spring semester. My advisor was extremely helpful after I signed up and met with him. I took the first year office students advice and made an appointment and I am really happy I did. What stuck out to me most about how to succeed in college is time management. The office students made sure to be very clear and go in depth about how to time manage my homework and how to stay on top of my work. What stuck out to me most about student life at SSU is the amount of clubs and activities Salem State offers. For example, sports team such as lacrosse, rugby, soccer, or basketball as well as clubs such as theater, greek life, the debate team, and so much more. The first year office students gave us the advice on getting involved because it will give us the experience of college as well as giving us students the opportunity to make great friends we could potentially have for the rest of our lives. 

Second, Justin Snow came from advising to talk to you about advising. He reviewed degree tracker with you. Sense of place is also all the people who are around who can help you, support you, make college a place of success. 

2.  Please post about advising, Justin, your adviser and getting in touch, and your perspective of support at SSU during advising and thinking about your spring semester at SSU.

Answer: When I visited advising after Justin and the first year office students advised us too, I realized how much help it actually was. If I never went I would have never known what classes to sign up for nevertheless be able to register for classes because I would have never gotten my registration code.  My advisor helped me out a ton because I also did not know the first thing about registering for classes. He guided me through the process very professionally. 

3.Please post a picture along with the post. Some ideas are: IN this case, you can take a picture of the advising schedules, or the course catalog, or a fall day, or a spring day...trying to imagine beginning spring semester already.  

Here is a picture I took of a great fall day. 

4.  Post a link to where you are getting support for advising, registering etc.

Answer: http://www.salemstate.edu/  

Students can go to the drop down bar all the way to the right of the screen and hit "navigator", then go to the left side and look for "Advising" and it tells a student their advisors and how to make an appointment with them. 

Halloween Parade

Blog on the Halloween Parade!

Post pictures of your experience.

Share your role in the parade, did you march, observe, dress up?

Answer: My role in the parade was observing. I liked watching children as well as adults dressed up marching down the streets of Salem. 

Share who you went with to the parade.  

Answer: My friend came to the parade with me and he enjoyed it as much as I did. 

Share what you observed of the people of Salem.  What was the general feel of Salem?  What was the sense of community?

Answer: I observed the way everyone in Salem were interacting with each other. People in the parade, marching or sitting on the side walks were al laughing, smiling, and having an amazing time. Salem seems like such a warm and welcoming place.

How did you get to the parade?  How did you get back to campus?

Answer: I walked to the parade. It was a 20 minute walk there and a 20 minute walk back 

Post a link to the parade, and anything else related to Salem, your observations, etc. If you saw schools and you are interested in teaching, was there a school that stuck out, then post the link to the school.

Answer: https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS707US707&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=halloween stores salem ma&tbs=lf:1,lf_ui:4,lf_pqs:EAE&rflfq=1&rlha=0&rllag=42503517,-70914563,2570&tbm=lcl&rldimm=2687177528892079846

This link is to Halloween City in Salem, MA. It reminded me of all the children dressed up and having a great time during the parade. All the children stuck out to me most because I remember the days I enjoyed Halloween that much and its still amazing to see how children are still enjoying the Holiday. 

Library Experience

Blog about the library experience!

I know this is not as fancy as an adventure into town for some of you, but it can be pretty exciting for others of you.

When thinking about sense of place, it can refer to place as small as your room and as big as a country.  When thinking about having a sense of place in a building, like the library, where could you see yourself feeling comfortable?  

Answer: When thinking about having a sense of place in a building, like the library, I could see myself feeling comfortable mostly in the writing or tutor center. I love helping other people succeed so as a tutor I know I could help other students that aren't doing as well as they hope to be doing in school, reach their goals. I love writing creative narratives and/ or stories (that is my strength when coming to writing). I was in the writing center last week getting help on my paper and later on in my college career I would love to become a writing center volunteer and help students reach there goals of becoming successful writers. 

Think about the campus, and the location of the library.  How does the location of the library contribute to the sense of place of SSU campus?  

Answer: The location of the library contributes to the sense of place of the Salem State University Campus because it is basically in the center of campus. In my mind the center of campus is where people can get help (Tutor or writing center) as well as go to the quiet place and be able to get and studies completed. 

What did you learn from Jason about the library itself, and its places?

Answer: I learned from Jason that there are many resources inside the library. From people in general, computers, websites, or books, a student will have all the resources they need to succeed at Salem State University. 

What did you learn from Jason about researching?

From Jason, I learned that Lib guides and the library's website is the best way to look up something for research. For example, an article, a book, a song, an artist, a film, etc. Lib guides and the library's website will give a student all the information he/ she needs about any of the things listed above to help one succeed on a research project. 

What did you learn about Mapworks?

The overall objective of Map works is to help students adapt and get involved in their institution. From the survey I completed today, I know as a student I need to become more involved in the Salem State community. 

Post a picture of the library, preferably one or a few you took.

Post a link that relates to your trip to the library.  Critically think about this, and go beyond the library link, but rather something related to what you learned about, or places like buildings, etc. Explain the link you shared.

Answer:http://www.framinghamlibrary.org/ 

This is where I would always complete my homework. I used to tutor a fellow friend from my High School and we would always meet here. I hope I can bring my experiences of helping others from my hometown library to the Salem State Library. 

NPS Reflection

1) Share information you learned about Salem from the NPS from your reading, from your fellow peers teaching you, from the ranger, and from the place itself.

Here are some questions I had after reading my blog that eventually got answered throughout the NPS trip:

- How many ships come through The Customs during each day? 

Answer: Not a specific amount came through each day, but there was a lot.

-What type of goods did the ships carry?

Answer: Spices (Cinnamon, pepper, salt). Along with flowers, furniture, ceramics, and cotton. 

-What is a high paying wage for The Customs?

Answer: Average paying job: 75 cents per hour, High paying job: 3 dollars per hour

-Was The Customs a good job to be apart of?

Answer: Yes, The Customs was one of the highest paying jobs in that time period.

-Did a lot of smuggling of the goods happen during the period of The Customs?

Answer: Yes, lots of smuggling occurred during that time period because some people back then couldn't afford the simple goods that were imported (cinnamon, salt, and pepper). 

-How did the employee's measure the goods to be the exact amount they needed to export?

Answer: There was a scale the employee's used to measure how much goods needed to be imported and exported in and out of Salem. 

2) Post at least one picture from our outing.

Here are some pictures I took at the NPS field trip 

3)Post your drawing-Scan (using a free scanner  app on your phone, like camscanner) one nature journal drawing from the day (there is no shame in your drawing talent...truly!)

4) Post a link to a link related to our NPS trip. This can be a link you read for homework that you want to remember, or something new.

Link: https://www.nps.gov/sama/learn/historyculture/customhouse.htm5) 

Reflect on the experience.  

A)  What struck you the most?  The way the ocean smelled?  Envisioning how it looked 400 years ago in the exact same spot?  The stories Tracy the ranger shared about the people, the practices, etc?  What did you notice that made the biggest impression?

Answer: What stuck out to me the most when on the NPS trip was the "Narbonne House 1675". It amazed me how many people back then could fit in just a tiny space. Another aspect of the field trip that stuck out to me the most was "The Customs". It seemed as though back then that was a high paying job to have and the amount of goods they exported and imported on a daily was insane! 

B)  Building upon the response above, how did this trip, seeing the place, listening to the stories, walking around, and learning about these aspects of Salem history contribute to your own sense of place, positively or negatively...All experiences add to your perception of the place and all are valid! Your sense of place is YOUR sense of place.

Answer: This trip contributed to my sense of place in a positive way because it gave me more knowledge about Salem that I probably would have never guessed to be about Salem. For example, I learned that a high paying wage in the 1700's-1800's was 3 dollars per hour. I also got a tour around Salem and learned many historical facts about Salem. 

6) Last, share any questions about Salem, Salem history, Salem in general (maybe from something you saw en route) that emerged after our trip!

I remember someone asking about the red line that was located in the middle of the side walk. I am pretty sure it had something to do with touring the rest of NPS. I just wanted to share how I thought that was a very creative way to display a tour of the history of Salem.