VMFA College Night Fun

You guys, did you go to the college night at VMFA?! Remember when we told you about it here? Well,  we went and had a blast! If you weren't able to make it out, here are some photos:

(Michael Hirsch's (J Sarg. student) charcoal portrait of Lauren King.)

(Lauren King's (J. Sarg. student) charcoal portrait of Michael Hirsch.)

(Awesome step team... So intense!)

(Lauren King and Michael Hirsch.)

(Just us. : )

Fantastic art work. Free food (including a sweet potato bar!). Awesome friends. If you couldn't make it this time, next time grab a couple friends and head on out to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art!

Eco-Friendly John Tyler

Hey guys! We know that being eco-friendly is very important to the majority of you. So, here is another post about how John Tyler is making great efforts to be as eco-friendly as possible. You can find these two in the library at the Midlothian campus. Take a look:

"The plants outside these window are more than beautiful - they are hard working."

Native plants are more efficient at absorbing and filtering storm water runoff. And, because they require minimal water and maintenance, water consumption association with irrigation is reduced by 87% annually, saving 3,513,159 gallons of drinkable water.

Large windows throughout the building allow natural light to stream in, minimizing the need for artificial lighting and reducing energy consumption. If the light gets to be too bright, motorized light-filtering sunshades are provided.

Pretty cool, right!

survivor. jtcc edition. week seven.

If John Tyler is ever to be attacked by zombies......

one. run, hide, scream. whatever you please.

OR.

two. join them.


Happy Halloween season guys!

yo, yo, yo!

hey guys! just a quick message we have for you...

send us suggestions! and also! you may have noticed that sometimes we advertise different jtcc events...that being said, if there's an event you'd like for us to highlight on the blog, let us know!

again, our emails are:

annemarie. ary20@email.vccs.edu
heather. hjt244@email.vccs.edu

stay tuned guys! we have some exciting posts coming up!

thanks!

heather and annemarie.

survivor. jtcc edition. week six.

thankfully....we're not in high school anymore.................

some helpful tips:

one. don't listen to this guy.

two. don't act like this guy.

Brenda Miller the Biker Babe

A few days ago, we interviewed Heather's ITE 115 professor Brenda Miller. Mrs. Miller is probably one of the coolest people ever. Check out our interview!

What courses have you taught at John Tyler?

I teach ITE 115 which is just Basic Computer Literacy. Two online courses: Intro to Internet Services and Web Design I and II. I also teach Math 02 and Math 120. Years ago I taught C++ and Visual Basic, but I haven’t dome those in a while.

What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

I love my ITE 115’s. I love them. But mostly because I love the students. I hate all the grading I have to do in it. It takes forever. And I really love my math course because I get to use the same book more than two or three semesters in a row which is amazing considering we change the ITE books every year. 

In general, what goals do you have for your students?

Computer comfort. The ability to adapt to whatever technology that comes along. And sort of on the side, confidence. Having had kids myself I guess I know that students at this age, typically a range of 18-23, a lot of times do not know what they are doing. They just kind of roll with the punches. I like to get to know a little bit more about the student. Just to talk to them about what they want to do see if they have a passion that they have not discovered that I could push them towards. I like to just kind of help them along because I was one that did not have a straight passion for a long time. It would have been nice to have had someone there to talk to me about my likes and dislikes.

You know I realized there are scholarships. Somebody has to get them... might as well be you. You know? Like, what is your story? 

What are some of your hobbies outside of teaching? 

I read. I walk like a maniac. My family is huge, huge, huge in all kinds of ways. Um... I ride a motorcycle, I do. I almost rode it work today. I’m no biker babe but I ride. You know, I ride a mini van or a motorcycle... 

What kind of motorcycle?

A Suzuki 800 intruder. Candy apple red. She is so cute; Susie is her name. She does well. I’m not hardcore though. 

What’s your favorite thing about Richmond?

My favorite thing in richmond is that there is so much going on. I grew up in northern Virginia and I mean you’d here about different things going on but it was just kind of so big that you avoided it. But you know,something could be happening in the west end and it’s no big deal. Just hope in the car and drive. There will not be much traffic and people are pretty normal. Richmond City is pretty much taboo for me because my husband was a Richmond City cop. I’m very familiar with Richmond though. Richmond is very doable. 

Anything else you want us to include?

Well, I have very strong feelings toward John Tyler. I’ve worked here since 1994, and I absolutely love this place and the people that work here. It’s a family place; we struggle together and we celebrate together. We do everything together! We are very close. John Tyler is a wonderful place to work, and I adore my students. I kind of instantly fall in love every semester. I really, really adore the students. I really do. 

Here she is!

SHE IS A BIKER, YOU GUYS!

Don't Waste Water!

What's shakin' guys?! Hopefully your all having a rad weekend (do people even say that anymore?... i do!). Here is another post on how John Tyler has made a great effort to be environmentally friendly:

Did you know John Tyler conserves water? The school has reduced their water consumption by 24% a year... that save 100,909 gallons of water annually! Pretty sweet, right?

Remember to check this out for more info!

Alright, peace out guys!

calling all volunteers!

What up, what up? Well, the Salvation Army want you! You better believe it! Below is the info for the Red Kettle Campaign. Jeff Baldwin emailed me and asked me to post this to get some volunteers. So, sign up people!
_________________________________________________________
Volunteers Desperately Needed During Red Kettle Campaign 

The Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign in Central Virginia is set to kick off on Friday, November 12 and volunteer bell ringers are desperately needed. 

“This year, more than ever, volunteers will be critical to the overall success of our Red Kettle Campaign,” said Jeff Baldwin, Public Relations Director for The Salvation Army. “On any given day, over half of our sites are silent with no-one there to ring the bell. Every penny, nickel, dime and dollar bill adds up, but without volunteer manpower, we can’t possibly reach our goal. More than any other fund raising drive, this campaign is crucial to the financial stability of The Salvation Army. The money raised through the Red Kettles allows us to meet the on-going and ever-increasing demand for our services.” 

This year’s campaign will run November 12 through Christmas Eve, and raises funds to provide assistance to thousands of children and families and support Salvation Army programs and services throughout the year. 

Volunteer slots are available every day Monday through Saturday, with the exception of Thanksgiving Day and opportunities exist in both the Richmond metro and Tri-Cities areas. 

Currently, more than 75 locations are available, however, on most days a large percentage of these sites and shifts are vacant.   

“It’s unfortunate, but every year we have more kettle sites than we do bell ringers,” said Captain David Worthy, Commander of The Salvation Army in Central Virginia. “This year, more than any other, we’re pleading with the community to step forth and partner with us. The red kettle is iconic and it represents hope, happiness and healing to the least, the lonely and the lost.” 

Individuals and groups that are interested in volunteering during the campaign can register one of two ways; either by visiting our website; www.registertoring.com/centralvirginia, or by calling Captain Natalie Sayre at (804) 433-1684. 

“Volunteering as a bell ringer is easy and effective,” said Worthy. “Simply show up at the appointed location on the confirmed date and time and someone with The Salvation Army will deliver your kettle and bell. Once your shift is over, we’ll return to pick the kettle up. This year, our objective is to cover as many of the available kettle sites as possible. To do that, we’re asking individuals, civic organizations, corporate groups, churches, schools and sports teams to spend a few hours helping us raise the crucial financial support that will allow us to sustain our services to those in need,” said Worthy. 

The Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign began in 1891 by Captain Joseph McFee of San Francisco as a way to raise funds to provide Christmas dinner to the area’s poor. He remembered collection pots from his days as a sailor and quickly secured permission to place pots throughout the city, thus launching a tradition that spread throughout the United States and around the world. Today, it is the single-largest fundraiser of the year for the Army.  In 2009, the Red Kettle Campaign raised $139 million in the United States.

______________________________________________________________________

Also! Khiem Tran from John Tyler is gathering volunteers for Full Moon Madness on

October 23rd! Make sure you read the below information and then sign up to help out! 

_________________________________________________

"Hey you! We need you, right now! VOLUNTEER as a course assistant for the Full Moon Madness event on the Midlothian Campus - Saturday, October 23, 2010. Beef up that résuméand get community service hours!

Go to www.jtcc.edu/fullmoon and click on the purple Volunteer Registration button near the bottom. Or go directly to it here: http://raceit.com/search/event.aspx?event=b679f31a-1c54-4fdf-a998-75b71939b919.aspx Sign up as a "4 Mile Course Assistant"

______________________________________________________________________

Well, that is all for now. Remember to send us suggestions for posts! For real, guys! We need to know what the public wants!

Later,

Annemarie and Heather

survivor. jtcc edition. week five.

Okay guys, it's about time to start signing up for classes for next semester! Can you believe it?! Anyways, we all know that every teacher is different and that we work better with certain types of teachers. That being said, remember to check out the teacher before you sign up for a class. You can do this by going to http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/. On this site you can search for a teacher and then read what others have posted about them and see how they've rated them. We've both used this site many times and have found it to be very useful. Hope you guys like it as well!

things we think you should know #2...

Here are two new things that you need to know about!

For all of you creative people that enjoy writing, come on out to the Creative Writing Club on Thursdays from 2:30-30 in the Midlothian Science building (room 103). Seriously, check it out!

Oh, and all of you theatre geeks (true geek or not...) join the Theatre Club on Tuesdays at 2:30 in the Academic building (room 201). It will be lots of fun and who knows, you might get checked out by an agent!.... except not. Just come! If you love theatre and acting, you won't want to miss this weekly meeting!

Alright guys! Thats all for now, have a great weekend!

Peace,
Heather and Annemarie

come on, guys.

hey! remember this? come on, guys! send us your suggestions!

annemarie. ary20@email.vccs.edu

heather. hjt244@email.vccs.edu

student i.d.s

As you guys know from this post, sometimes you need a student i.d. to have access to things like the college night at VMFA. However, what if you don't have a student i.d. yet? Where do you get one? 

Until last week, we had no idea how to answer these questions. But now, we've got it all figured out!

It was no simple feat. Let me tell you....

First, we asked a couple of people in the office who directed us to Amanda Carpenter. She, however, was not in her office. That being said, we kind of thought we were out of luck. Then, Heather had the brilliant idea to ask someone in the administrative building. So, we asked the security guard...

(this is kenneth, a pretty cool dude if you ask us.)

He knew exactly where we needed to go! How crazy is that! He told us we should go to counseling right around the corner in the admin building (the building you go to to enroll and stuff like that). Once we reached counseling, all we had to do was sign a paper sign the i.d. and we were done. Simple. Also, they gave us a sheet of paper that told us where we could get discounts. 

So guys, when in doubt....ASK THE SECURITY GUARD! : )

John Tyler's pretty green if you ask me...

Hey guys! Hopefully, those of you on the Midlo campus have noticed this, but all around the new science building there are signs explaining the efforts John Tyler has taken to become less of a hazard to the environment. If not, though, don't lose heart! We'll show you all of them right here on the blog over the course of the next few weeks.

(click on the photo for a larger view)

The first one explains that, instead of dumping our wastes from the new building into landfills, we chose to recycle most of it. Gold star for JTCC!

Then, number two explains the measures John Tyler has taken to conserve energy in the building. 

Also! If you want more info...

http://www.jtcc.edu/green/index.htm

survivor. jtcc edition. week four.

Research tip for you, firiends. Heather figured this one out for ya.

So, have you ever been researching on google and you find a document with the words in it, however, the document is like ten pages long? Now, you have to search through the entire document just to find the little blurb that talks about what you're researching....

OR.

You could just do something as simple as this...

Windows users:

First. Make sure you're in the window that has the blurb of info in it.
Second. Press Ctrl and then F. A window will appear.
Third. In said window, type the word or words you are specifically looking to find.

Apple users:

First. Make sure you're in the window that has the blurb of info in it.
Second. Press command and then F. A window will appear.
Third. In said window, type the word or words you are specifically looking to find.

And there you have it, all highlighted and everything.

Tricky, tricky I tell ya.

Happy researching! 

things we think you should know about.

here are some things we found the other day as we were perusing the hallways....check em out!

all you readers out there....there's a book club at JTCC!

click here for more info!

also! college night at the virgina museum of fine arts is wed., oct. 20 from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. 

make sure you have a student i.d. so you can go!

for more info, click here. 

sweet deal guys! we hope some of you decide to take advantage of these great opportunities!

(we were bored.)

what's that you say? sports at john tyler?

This morning, we interviewed Amanda Carpenter, the Assistent Coordinater of Student Activities at the Midlothian campus. If you haven't heard already, John Tyler has sports clubs/teams in the works. Check it out! Here is the info: 

Can you tell us a little bit about your vision for sports at jtcc?

Well, right now, there’s a fishing club, a ballroom dancing club, and they’re trying to get a golf club. There’s also a running club. We’re trying to determine what sports the students want. Jim (Zador – JTCC’s Web Developer) and I are gonna try to hold a soccer tournament soon and maybe a volleyball tournament… just kind of to test the waters and see what the students want. We don’t really want to start something and have like five people show up.

How can a student get involved?

They would just need to email me and let me know that they are interested in and what tournament they would be interested in and what their experience is. That’s just for the tournaments, though. If they want to know about a club, I’ll head them in the right direction.

Will these sports be structured like clubs or like actual teams?

Currently, it’s clubs in the hopes that they move towards teams. We want to push them into teams as they are ready.

How do you think this will change jtcc?

Hmmm. I don’t know because I don’t know exactly where it’s going. I think it would be a good change that the students would support and I know that it’s something the teachers and faculty want to see happen.

Amanda's email: acarpenter@jtcc.edu.

Guys, if you want this to happen, you are responsiblie for it. Sign up! This is a really great opportunity...take advantage of it. Email Amanda and let her know what you are interested in, yo!

Peace,

Heather and Annemarie (a.k.a. Bonnie and Clyde)

(image found via flickr)