Josh

Man we make this look goood!

Hello all!

    So last night was the first annual SA meeting and a nice little mingling session before hand. But before I talk about the night I really want to discuss what the SA is, and how good we all looked! The SA stands for Student Association, and it is our student government body on campus. It is a great way to be involved and is actually a very important group on campus. (Yes, we are a big deal if you will!) We are class representatives (president, VP, treasurer, and secretary of each class...) Representatives from housing areas, and we are also club representatives. We all come together every tuesday night at 7 PM and hold our meetings. We actually discuss any issues on campus, and are addressed quite often from different organizations looking for money or just to tell us about the events. We then vote on quite a few things and that is that!

    The reason why I love the SA is that we are the voting members of SMC and no big decisions are really made without our opinions and voting on it. We are representing the entire school, and you also stsy very well informed about what is going on at school. Also, like last night, most of us get all dressed up. The governing board of the SA are always looking snazzy, and I like to do the same, so we are just look so damn good! What really strikes me is how professional we are and the responsibilties we have on the SA. Especially the president and vice-president of the SA run the meetings and they even have business cards. I may not be able to explain in words how professional we are, but we are all no more than 22 years old! We all have suites and ties (or dresses you know!) and have $500,000 that is given out through out the year for events or programming and such. It just always amazing me about the amount of professionalism and responsibility that all of us have and how well we do with it. The SA is just one amazing group to be a part of. There are also about 50 voting members, and then roughly 40 club representatives that are at each meeting, so if you can imagine, if any debate goes on, it could be a long meeting.

    Also, we get to say things like "I move to give VT Cares $1,500"...and then someone else says, "I second that motion". So we get to say wicked cool things too. We have a policy handbook and everything and we really do a great job. Also one of my roommates are on the executive board of the SA and puts a lot of time and energy into it! They do such a wonderful job. But lets get back to the whole meeting thing last night.

   So we got buses and had what they called was a "SA Away" first meeting. We actually went down to the ECHO-Leahy Center downtown, which is amazing. It has fish in aquariums, a cafe, gift store, and it such a cool little museum, it was great. Then we got food from Purple Knights, which was incredible and then we ate and mingled for a little bit. I knew quite a few people there so it was quite nice. Then we had little meetings about our roles and responsibilities, signed up for our sub-committees, and then ahd the first SA meeting which went very well. We donated our 1 % budget, like we do every year, to a non-profit. We gave the $4,800 to VT Cares, which is a local group that helps AIDS victims. Then we talked a little about the inauguration this weekend of our president. Then one person said the word "I move to adjourn" another said "I second that" and we were done! It was a great night!

  However, the problem was that we left before 6 and did not return until after 9 PM!!! That was a little long for my liking and I was up quite late lesson planning. But altogether it was such a great meeting and I am so excited for a second year in a row, to be on the SA. It is just such a great group on campus!

                                                      Joshua

PS- The first phone-a-thon is tonight! Maybe some of you prospectives reading this will get a phone call tonight! Get pumped!!!

I appreciate the family more...

Hello All!

    Well, from the title of this amazing post, I would really like to share my thoughts on my family. The reason I actually write this is because I had gone home this thursday night for some appointments I had in my home town, and got to spend the night with my mom, and then my dad in the morning, and I really love those peeps!

   I am sure we all thought or are thinking while in high school, that you are sick of your parents. You just want to no longer live under their household so you can stay out as late as you want, do whatever you want, and only have to worry about yourself. There is a huge feeling of independence that all students feel right before they leave for college. For one, those feelings are all totally natural! You probably just turned 18, an adult, and thus you want to find a way out! Once you do make it to college you get that oppurtunity and it is really great. The one reason why it is so great is because you are still supported by your parents, but on your own. If you are in a bind the parents will send you money, the mom will probably call you everyday, and the parents will help you pay for school. So college is a nice transition into the so called "real world" where you will be on your own, probably but not always, completely on your own.

    The reason that I love college is that you are on your own, slowly becoming less dependent on the parents, but you gain a great appreication for your family. Before I left for college I would constantly fight with my older brother and my dad. My brother and I were getting better before I left because he had a son, and he learned to grow up fast! (take that Matt, haha) And my dad and I just always bashed heads because he made too many restrictions on me and needed to learn to cool down. (He was not the only one, I had to learn to accept his rules too! Darn it!) My mom and I have always been close because she is the closest person to me, and I love her! (Go ahead call me a momma's boy, it be true!)

    When you are away at college, the moment you go home you want to be there and your family is so excited to see you! You will only be home for a sort time and so there is no time to fight anymore, you just enjoy eachother's company. So actaully no longer living at home actually helped my relationship with my family, and since nothing was wrong with it before, we are the closest we have ever been. It is so nice because my brother is having a second kid (Congrats man, you got a girl knocked up again! hehe) and being our family has grown so much, the baby is coming into the most loving and supporting family! I really do enjoy being a part of my family.

   As much as I do love SMC, and I never want to leave, all the things I have learned here helps me with home and the community feeling you have here, and love for one another, is brought back home and personally for me, makes it all the better. There are of course those whose family life just can not be fixed and never will, but home is still where the heart is and I love it!

                                                  Joshua

PS- This is a shout out to JODIE BOTTO!!! This is my roommate's mother who says she reads all of my blogs and is proud of me! Thanks Jodie and you are the best, also Nick is quite mad that Brad cut his hair like his. (I think he is having twin anxiety still, hehe) See you on Friday, I am pumped for the food! And seeing you of course!

I am Mr. Pastina...

Well Hello!

    Ok, so I am in my toughest education classes right now which I have mentioned, but luckily my placement started today. If you have no idea what that means, which you would not unless you were in a education class, it means you are placed in a local classroom with a teacher for observation purposes. I am working with a great teacher, Amy Sherrer in one of the local middle schools. I was quite nervous because I would be working with her 6 hours a week, meeting over two days, and my last placement was aweful. The teacher did not really let me get involved and I basically sat in the back of the class and took notes. It was honestly pretty uneventful and such. This teacher was so great, she introduced me to all of her classes, she got me involved today, and even had me teach the class a little!!! It was so great and I already feel I am getting to know her and the rest of the class quite well! IT is going to be a great semester with the students!!!

   The greatest thing was that she was so talkative to me and made sure that I knew everything that was going on. She even already mentioned she would love for me to sub for her and even allow me to teach lessons for her, and she would watch me and then give me feedback! This is a huge deal because I need some classroom experience with getting comfortable because it will be no time at all before I am student teaching, and she is going to give me the best experience with this!

   The students also seem so great, but the worst thing about being in this class was that I am now, officially, Mr. Pastina. I never really thought of it before hand, but she introduced me as Mr. Pastina and that is what the students are already calling me! It is weird to think because of course my first reaction to that name is, "no, no, no...that is my father!". But no, that is me now! I am no longer a teenager and am a junior in college. More specifically, I am about 6-7 years older than these middle schoolers! That means I am a good deal older than them and they truly do look up to me and treat me as a teacher. She said that I was from Saint Mike's so the students know that I am not really that old, but I am a good deal older to them. The only issue is that I do look young!

   I finally made a haircut and cut the 5 inches of my head! This unfortunately made me look much younger once I shaved and yet again, one of the girls in the class asked how old I was! Now, come one! I do not look that young! I told them that I was 20 years old and they looked quite shocked, like "Wow! he is really that old?" Well, I am proud of no longer being a teenager! I am just so thrilled to get to know the students and I feel so great to already look like a teacher! I am so excited about this and Amy was just such a great teacher. She was incorporated so many teaching strategies and I am honored to be working with her. Most of all...I LOVE BEING ABLE TO TEACH ALREADYYY!!!!!!

                             Joshua

yeah...i go grocerg shopping and check for coupons!

     I would love to now talk about how I no longer have a meal plan and cook for myself and it is the weirdest thing ever for me. I am living in such sweet housing, I am in one of the Hodson apartments and we have a full kitchen! I really enjoy being able to cook all the time and so I decided to not buy a meal plan. Normally, we would get the food at Alliot for free, but because I am living in housing with a kitchen I had to decide if I wanted to buy a plan or not and I thought I would spend the same amount in groceries and decided to pay that money through out the school year and not all at once and I'm not gonna lie I kind of like it!

     The reason why it is so weird is because I feel that I am completely on my own now! I mean I pay for everything, I am not a teenager, and I go grocery shopping and cook for myself! It is so crazy to be this old and already a junior in college taking care of myself! The best is going grocery shopping, because I always drag one of my roommates with me so I can talk to someone. But at this shaws in Winooski there is a Dunkin Donuts! So you can get some coffee, check for sales, and then get your shop on. It is just crazy that I make a shopping list, decided what I want for food during the week, and then get it all. I feel so mature, and I guess my mama rasied me right since I can cook, clean, shop, and the works!

     The cooking thing though however can be a little annoying sometimes. Especially on thursdays I have so many hours of classroom time and never feel like coming home to cook anything. So I guess that when my mom used to say she was too tired to cook and I would complain about her not cooking, I now understand where she is coming from and I was such a spoiled rotten, but cute, kid! I do like cooking overall thought just because I am surprised to know how much I can cook! I like getting it all ready, planning on how I will cook, and doing it. My roommates and myself actually do cook very well too. We have made chicken parm, broccoli and chicken alfredo, and we even make our own bread from scratch! So we are definitely taking very good care of ourselves. To be completely honest I think it is because three out of the 4 of us are Italian, I know thats why I can cook so much!

     I guess that overall, it is pretty sweet to wake up in the apartment, brew a pot of coffee, and then start making bacon and eggs! I love living where I am, I love being this old and taking care of myself finally (thanks mom), and I love being at SMC! The only thing though is that I really need to go home soon because I have not seen my family enough and I want to see them!

And so the semester beginsss....

Helloo All!

    I really can not believe it but the summer has ended and we are now on our third week of school! That is quite surprising because I feel like we just finished orientation!!! Which was absolutely incredible by the way, but I will wait for a whole other post before that! I am quite surprised I guess because so much is happening right now in my life! My junior year of college had begun, I am a Coordinator for our Founder's Society, and I have found some love in my life. I really thought it could be forever before I found myself a girlfriend, but I finally found an amazing girl that likes me too...yeahhh man!

    I am sure that most of us remember or are currently in our junior year of high school and remember how hard it was! It was the hardest school work year for me and I remember being so glad that it was over with. Then at the beginning of this year someone mentioned to me that I should be getting ready for the toughest college year!!! I can not believe it, that could not be true? But it does seem like its true because I have so much homework it is ridiculous. however, I feel like those people are wrong because I am in the two toughest education classes for me which are giving me the bulk of the work, so I think that is why I have so much! But I do not want to scare anyone away from the idea of a lot of work in college, there is going to be and everyone knows it, but let me give you my point of view on all that work...

    First of all, I am a history major and that really consists of reading a lot and writing papers about it. That also means no tests...so in my personal opinion, bring it on, I hate tests! I also must admit that all of the books that I am reading so far have been very good and have taught me a lot. I have no problem reading them and having group discussions in class, they are great! Also, I have no problem writing the papers because none have been more than 10 pages double spaced and that really does not take that much time to do! I am a history major and I have no problem with the work, but reading two books a week so far is getting pretty intense. Now for my education classes....

     I am getting a lot of articles to read, I have some reflection papers to write, and I also have a LOT of lesson planning to do. I hear so many people complain about it and this is what I think about it all...IT IS CAREER DEVELOPMENT!!!! I know that once I am in the classroom I am going to have the knowledge and experience to deal with anything because of it. Also the articles are not in depth and hard, they are all classroom issues or scenarios or something so they are fun to read and they really do teach you a lot! I love my education classes and we also have so much group work and talking in class it is like its not a class at all but a big discussion...I LOVE IT!!! Also the lesson planning is fun and giving us lots of experience, I know they can be time consuming but I want to be a teacher and lesson planning is a part of it so I do not mind!

    I am so excited for junior year to start, I just hope with how busy I am this semester time does not fly by because I love this place and never want to leave SMC!

                                        Joshua