invent the future

Last night, one of my favorite professors, John Boyer, hosted a Skype session with Burmese democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi in his 3,000 student World Regions class. I was lucky enough to take this class as a second-semester freshman in 2009. While Boyer's compelling antics remain unchanged, it has been wonderful to see his innovative approach to teaching develop over the years.

World Regions was one of my favorite classes at Virginia Tech because it allowed me to really, truly learn the information. The curriculum involved mini quizzes throughout the semester and two exams while also providing an opportunity for class credit through attending foreign movie screenings. The classes were so engaging that hardly anyone ever skips. I felt so knowledgeable about current events when I was in this class--something that is hard to obtain when you live in the bubble that is Blacksburg, Virginia for 9 months out of the year. Boyer approached the course creatively and enthusiastically. The amount of effort he dedicated to creating valuable resources made the class that much more meaningful. The Plaid Avenger, Boyer's online comic book persona, brings life and a sense of fun to learning about world issues.

Last year, I had the opportunity to study Boyer's Plaid Avenger franchise in my Integrated Marketing Communications class. For a group project, I helped develop a marketing plan for expanding his personal brands to other schools and ultimately other countries. At the end of the semester, a friend and I went to lunch with Boyer and his Plaid Avenger team (graphic designer, web designer, assistant) to discuss revamping his website with some of our ideas from the project. It was truly an awesome learning experience to be able to see behind-the-scenes of such an innovative educational powerhouse on our campus.

Recently, Boyer has used social media networks as a way to connect with influential leaders and artists. Last semester, he sent a YouTube video to entrepreneur and wine enthusiast, Gary Vaynerchuk. Vaynerchuk came to Burruss Hall here on campus and gave an awesome speech relating to his book The Thank You Economy. One of the premises of the book is taking the time to get to know people and personalize your interactions with them. You'll go far with this mindset in both the professional and personal world.

After sending a YouTube video to Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez this fall, Boyer was able to secure a visit from the father-son duo to campus. They visited to show a screening of their new movie The Way and provide a brief question-answer period.

I think that the Skype session last night further reinforces the movement towards a new phase of education. The technology we have today allows for faster communication with more people all over the world. Boyer has been doing this for quite some time now with his online Podcasts--free mini lectures on current events. Now he is expanding this method of teaching by including other perspectives from all over the world. I am so excited to see where this goes from here. Maybe I will have to sit in on some of his classes during my last semester in college in the spring.

Check out the video of the Skype session from last night. This is also a great article about the night.

One of my favorite parts of the discussion with the Burmese democracy leader? Her response when asked by a student "How do you stay so focused and motivated to achieve your goals?":

"I was brought up to think that duty was one of the most important things in life. Perhaps this is out of fashion now…perhaps people do not think any longer that duty is important and that really the most important thing is to enjoy yourselves….Throughout the years when I have had to face many difficulties, I was upheld by this conviction that nothing was more important in my life than commitment to duty…You could try, try thinking of duty as the most important thing in your life. I think you will find that it opens up a lot of vistas for you that you never realized before existed. It’s not a narrowing process, it’s in fact an opening up process."

-Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner

into the mystic

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous weather for late November. My parents and I decided to capitalize on the warmth and went boating on the river on Sunday. It was the perfect way to relax and work on my personal statement for grad school applications.

Just a glimpse of the afternoon in instagram photos...

"we were born before the wind. and also younger than the sun...hark, now hear the sailors cry. you smell the sea and you feel the sky. let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic." into the mystic- van morrison

we came to leave behind the world a better way

This past week I was able to see one of my favorite bands in concert on campus with my roommate. I have been anticipating this concert since I heard about it over the summer at Orientation, and we purchased our tickets back in September for this concert.

I first learned about The Avett Brothers my freshman year of college from my friend Logan, who went to UNC at the time. When I was down visiting him at Chapel Hill, we went to see them in concert and I fell IN LOVE. I've been a fan ever since, and I've waited for the opportunity to see them again.

The Avett Brothers at UNC Chapel Hill, 2008

Now, three years later, I had the chance to experience their performance on my own college campus. They were just as fantastic as I remembered. They are such a talented group, both instrumentally and lyrically, and I love discovering new songs from them. Below are some of my favorite lyrics, photos from the concert, and a video of one of my favorite songs that they played Tuesday night.



When nothing is owed or deserved or expected / And your life doesn’t change by the man that’s elected / If you’re loved by someone, you’re never rejected / Decide what to be and go be it
"head full of doubt, road full of promise"

And I would give up everything No this is not just about me And I don't know a plainer way to say it Babe And they may pay us off in fame Though that is not why we came And I know well and good that won't heal our hearts We came for salvation We came for family We came for all that's good that's how we'll walk away We came to break the bad We came to cheer the sad We came to leave behind the world a better way
"salvation song"

Are you feeling, feeling, feeling like I'm, feeling Like I'm floating, floating, up above that big blue ocean Sand beneath our feet, big blue sky above our heads, No need to keep stressing from our everyday life on our minds We have got to leave all that behind
"at the beach"

View from our seats in Burruss Auditorium

Video clip of one of my favorite songs "Will You Return"

so many books, so little time

This year, I've been making a point to set aside time to read things that I want to read. It has been such a relaxing way to unwind at night or wake up on the weekends. This is the current stack of books I'm working through.

I actually finished Thirteen Reasons Why in less than a day when I was back home visiting my family recently. It was a gripping story about a teenage girl choosing to end her life, but in the end, it leaves you with the message that you never know how much the smallest actions affect others. In this book, Jay Asher defines the way we interact with each other. Definitely one of my favorite books, hands down.

I'm reading The Tipping Point as part of an assignment that I created for the Marketing Team I advise. The Marketing Team plans events and performs basic marketing functions for a campus organization here. I inherited the role of supervising the team when I claimed my role as a Junior intern for the organization. Now, as a Senior Intern, I've really tried to take ownership of my role as an adviser/mentor/supervisor/manager. One of the ideas I've implemented is having a common group book that we discuss each week. In the end, the students will write a blog post for the organization's blog about one of their favorite topics that Gladwell covers in the book.

Linchpins is a book that I randomly picked up on one of my hour-and-a-half visits to Barnes and Noble. I love to just browse books, and I keep a running list of books I would like to get (once I tackle the growing stack on my bookshelf). This book jumped out at me, and that's probably because it covers exactly what I need to be focusing on right now: understanding your personal value and becoming truly indispensable. While a lot of the book is focused towards being invaluable in the workplace, most of the concepts apply to just improving your outlook on life in general. I love reading and highlighting everything in this book.

And last there is The Hunger Games. For some reason, I'm really struggling with getting into this book. I've heard so many fantastic things about it, but I'm not hooked yet. Looks like this is going to be a slower read for me.

Next in line I have a self-help book (Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project), a Nicholas Sparks book (which is completely necessary every now and then..), the Steve Jobs biography, a Jonathan Safran Foer novel, and a variety of others. Good thing Thanksgiving and Winter Break are quickly approaching...

i'm where i belong

I just received some very exciting news this afternoon! I interviewed last week for one of three Orientation Assistant positions for New Student Programs here at Tech. The position is essentially the second year extension of Orientation Leader, except you do more behind-the-scenes work and don't have groups of freshmen. Instead, I will be mentoring the Orientation Leaders and helping them with training.

The other Orientation Assistants (two other girls and three guys) are literally a dream team. I could not have picked a more perfect team for these positions. It really is true that all things happen for a reason. I wrote on the first day of orientation this past summer in my journal:

I am so happy to be where I am. This is so much bigger than I can imagine. It's going to push me. I'm going to be a better person because of this summer.

Every word of that is true. I grew so much from my experience, and I feel like I learned more about myself than I thought would be possible. I am so excited to be able to work with the new Orientation Leaders of 2012 to help them have the same wonderful experience I did.

Last night, I taught myself how to use iMovie on my new Macbook Pro, and I made a video of my Orientation experience. What perfect timing...

expressive

As I am about a month in to my senior year ofcollege, I am recognizing how much I truly love my major and the career I have ahead of me. I attribute this passion to my dad, who was the one who originally encouraged me to apply to the Pamplin College of Business as a Marketing Management Major. My Buyer-Seller Relationships class is one of my favorite marketing courses thus far not only because I think the material is so relevant to many aspects of life, but also because it reminds me of my dad, a real estate broker. One particular class last week reminded me of my dad.

Since I was about 15 years old, my dad has emphasized the importance of understanding your personality, its strengths/weaknesses, and its reactions. There is an assessment, called "Bulls/Tigers/Owls/Lambs," that he gives to his real estate agents to help them understand their personality as well as their clients' personalities. I have taken this assessment multiple times, and my dad has coached me on interacting with other personality types.

I truly believe that my dad's lessons on personality coaching have helped shape the person I am today. I have learned the invaluable lesson that not everyone responds to the same approach to conflict, criticism, or direction. This seems like a "no-brainer" concept, but it is incredible how many times I have encountered campus leaders, supervisors, classmates, and friends who treat criticism with one uniform approach. I believe that the best leaders are the ones who know their followers well enough that they understand how to convey their message in the way that will be best received. In some instances, I want to remind people that "you catch more bees with honey."

Last week, my Buyer-Seller professor gave the class a personality assessment that measures one's responsiveness and assertiveness. After scoring myself on criteria ranging from decisiveness to openness, I found that I scored highly for both the assertiveness and responsiveness categories.

Ranking high in assertiveness means that I have a tendency to be opinionated, fast-paced, and quick to speak out. While I think that my reactions definitely depend on the situation, I admit that I agree with these results. I am firm in my beliefs, direct in communication, and I don't like to "talk around the subject."

High scores in responsiveness reveal that I am relationship-oriented, openly emotional, casual, informal,and that I like to talk through my ideas (love collaboration). I completely agree that this is spot-on...Except for maybe the casual/informal part, seeing as I wear a dress to class nearly every day, and I always like to have a plan. Other than that, I love group dynamics, am empathetic towards others, and ultimately want to touch peoples' lives.

With combined high scores in these two areas, I am cast as an "expressive." This means I am animated, highly communicative, dislike being alone, uninhibited in communication, enthusiastic, open-minded. I am big-picture oriented, spontaneous, but not necessarily organized in my daily life (I like to call it organized chaos). These are very accurate descriptors of my personality, and are very much coordinate with other personality assessment results I have taken. I think that it is critical to understand your personality and how you fit into a group, for both the workplace and you social life. I feel very fortunate to have started this lesson early on and to have professors who further invest in this development.

a look at last week

"Find life experiences and swallow them whole. Travel. Meet many people. Go down some dead ends and explore dark alleys. Try everything. Exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life."

- Lawrence K. Fish

I am such a "quote person." I love having little reminders and insights of inspiration. Last week in itself was a glimpse of what a great year this is going to be.

I started the week off by doing something that has been on my bucket list for quite some time now...giving blood. It has always scared me because I am a bit squirmish when it comes to needles, but with the support of friends and the knowledge that "I make a difference," I did it. While I almost fainted in the process, I was so proud after.

By the middle of the week, my group for my Buyer-Seller Relationships class was in full force to work on our presentation. Our professor met with the department head for the marketing department, and we are now set to pitch our ideas and research to them later on this semester. We have a lot of work cut out for us, but we are all so excited and motivated to make this an awesome presentation.

The week ended with a trip to The Cascades out past Pembroke, VA with my family. I hadn't been to the Cascades since my freshman year, and I was excited to show my brother and parents what awesome things are practically in my backyard here at school. I, of course, had a great time capturing the trip with Instagram pictures.

Here's to another great week ahead.