What are Your Plans for Next Year?

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Cherie

Its so weird to think that I will be going into my Junior year here at Embry Riddle and taking some of the upper level engineering courses. My year is pretty much all figured out but, what about yours? Do you have plans for college that include Embry Riddle?? I certainly hope so!! If you are a graduating high school senior congratulations!! We hope to see you here in the fall 🙂

If not perhaps you are going to do community college first and then transfer in, we welcome you here too!! It is our hope that Embry Riddle becomes your home away from home in this next year. If we are apart of your plans please comment below and let us know.

If you are interested in visiting Embry Riddle to see if you would like to put us into your future then click this link to schedule a visit today!!

Happy Mother’s Day!!

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Cherie

Happy Mother’s Day to all those Embry Riddle Moms out there!! Without your support a lot of students wouldn’t be here studying at Embry Riddle Prescott. Check out our bookstore for cool Embry Riddle gear that your mom will love, they would make a great late Mother’s day gift that any mom would love. Or stop on by Fry’s grocery store for specialty chocolates and flowers that she would love too. All in all, Have a wonderful Mother’s Day!!!

PS….for those of you not home for Mother’s Day don’t forget to call home!!

Summer School in Prescott

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Adam

Done with Finals! and ready for summer. I cannot get enough of the sun and I love the summer. Although I like to stay busy with work, taking one or two summer classes can be useful. Whether you are trying to get ahead or catch up on classes its a great opportunity.

The first thing you might consider summer classes for is graduation, are you on track to graduate on time? If not then I suggest summer classes. If it is a core class you need then I highly suggest taking it at the university you are attending to stay on course. This can also be a great way to get ahead so your future semesters aren’t as heavily weighted on credits. But in the end, if you want to save yourself a semester, a $3,500 summer semester is much cheaper then a $15,000 semester. You could save yourself lots of money at the same time.

With some misconception, some may think that summer school will take away from all those fun summer activities. Not completely true, taking only one class can keep you busy enough from getting waayyy to bored.

At Embry-Riddle many summer classes are available over the course of two summer main sessions, summer a and summer b. ERAU Prescott offers almost anything you may need. Thanks for reading, good luck with finals and have a great summer.

Summer Pool Days

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Cherie

Now that most of the finals are done we can all focus on that rad summer tan!! Go hang out by the Embry Riddle Prescott salt water pool and have a little fun in the sun. If you are still in need of a swimsuit walmart actually has some good ones, target too, it all depends on the style you want 🙂 Swim suits are kind of a big deal in girl world, for those who don’t know it yet hahaha. I found a really pretty purple one with constellations all over it so if you happen to stop by the pool you may see me there. I know after finals that’s the first place I will be going!!!

What is the first thing you will do when your finals are finished? I know all the graduating seniors will be celebrating with their families but, what about us who aren’t quite there yet? Please comment below and let us know, we would love to hear from current and potential students! Have a great summer everyone!

Shopping in Prescott

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Cherie

For those of our prospective students who are female, I want you to know that you will have awesome places to shop while you attend college here 🙂 Its a weird topic I admit however, a lot of girls don’t realize how important shopping options are until you need that one item of the specific brand that you like in that one color that you can’t find anywhere else and…….the list goes on and on!! Well, I am here to bring good news!!! In Prescott the mall has a bath and body works (my favorite!!!!!), a Victoria secret :), Hot Topic, Macy’s, Sears, Dillards, Claires and a bunch of other really cool smaller stores with all the items you could ever want. So do not fear, there are plenty of options near!

Also, there are tons of little strip malls so you can go to Target, Ross, Hastings, Staples, and wherever else you need to go for the things that you need. If you can’t find a store then check online, it may be hidden in the area or you can check out amazon or the stores web site to order what you need. Additionally, you can pick up your packages right here on campus from our mailroom 🙂

Sooo, overall Prescott is a cool place to live and you will never have to worry about shopping for things you need/want in the local area. Have fun ladies!!!

Caffeine

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Cherie

We all know that the method of choice for most college kids to stay awake is caffeine but, caffeine can be found in healthier ways than others. There are also some alternate forms of energy that are more natural and won’t allow you to experience the “crash affect” afterwards. So I would like to share some of the better caffeine sources with our readers, hopefully our prospective students will benefit from this information too!

1. Best energy source- Vitamin B or Ginseng. Both are all natural compounds that we ingest anyway from most of the foods we eat everyday. There are some great natural energy drinks that are packed with both of these substances and they will power you for hours with no crash at the end.

Some other benefits of green tea….

2. Green Tea- has both caffeine and antioxidants. The antioxidants are awesome as they slow the crash associated with caffeine. Another really good one to try is blueberry green tea or white tea from trader joes, they have twice the antioxidants as green tea by itself.

3. Coffee- don’t drink the cheap stuff, it is not only acidic but, has less caffeine than you think it does and can do some serious harm to your body. If you are buying coffee grounds get the real deal. It may be a few bucks more but, you are ensuring you get actual caffeine that won’t damage the lining of your stomach or intestines. The best grounds to get are those that still have oil from the coffee bean in them, the oil helps temper the acidity of the coffee and also holds alot of caffeine. Cheap coffee has virtually no oil and is full of additional chemicals that attempt to disguise the poor quality of the blend, if there is even real coffee beans in there at all. Most cheap blends are artificial, do not trust them!! My rule of thumb is that I only buy coffee that I can grind myself in the store, that way I see the beans that go into my coffee and I know that I am making a healthier choice.

4. Energy drinks- like monster, redbull, nos, and others. These are definitely not good for you, although they are enjoyable, the amount of sugar in each one far outweighs the amount of caffeine or taurine. Basically, the pump you up on sugar while saying that its the caffeine or taurine content making you energetic. NOT TRUE! In reality you are paying way to much for something that will give you diabetes in a few years. Additonally, the crash associated with each of these drinks is far worse than any other crash because the spike in your blood sugar suddenly declines leaving you with barely a trace of actual caffeine/taurine. Admittedly, I really like redbull however, I know the affect it can have on my body so I think twice before choosing to drink it.

Overall, natural energy methods are the better way to go as they have fewer adverse affects on your body and give you a more even level of energy. One more fun fact is that brewing your own coffee is fast and cheaper in the long run. So if you have to pick the cheapest way then choose some beans and get brewing 🙂 Have a nice day everyone!!

Finals Week

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Cherie

A lot of students ask what the campus does to help students as they study for finals week. Well, we offer finals breakfast at 11pm on the night before study day, free cookies in the library, 24 hour quiet hours in the halls, and often professors have study sessions before their exams. No matter how you choose to prepare for finals (which officially started on Saturday by the way..) the campus can help you!

Some awesome study tips are get enough sleep, eat a well balanced meal, and calmly review notes, old hw’s, and whatever else you have that will help you review. So with that said, I’m off to study as well 🙂 Happy finals everyone, remember that summer is almost here!!

AFROTC Update

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Cherie

As the end of the semester is near so is the end of my time at Embry Riddle as a GMC. I am very excited to be moving up in the world (i hope) and to complete our last lead lab of the semester! The last lead lab is always a parade for the change of command ceremony. If you have ever seen a change of command ceremony you know that it is pretty cool 🙂

If not, then you do not have to be in ROTC to participate, you can watch by the sidelines with the families of those who are assuming command of the cadet wing. For those of you who aren’t really interested in watching but, you want to know more about ROTC then check out this link here. We would love to talk to you about what ROTC is like and what it takes to be a cadet here at Embry Riddle. Maybe you (potential freshman) will be in my flight next year!!

Well, until next time…have an awesome weekend!!

Take Home Finals?

Posted on April 23, 2014 by Cherie

Oddly enough they do exist!! I was surprised to discover that my Mathematical Methods for Engineering final exam is a take home final. I have never had a take home final before and I’ve only had one take home exam so my question to the readers is whether this is a common practice or not?

As odd as it is I actually like the idea of a take home final, sure it might be a little harder than normal but, I don’t have to cram in studying and I can work on it at my own leisure. How cool is that??!! The downside of the take home final is the fact that unlike homework you can’t work on it with other students. It might be a little lonely sitting at my desk by myself trying to figure this thing out but, at least there is Pandora!!

So what does your finals week look like so far? Easy, hard, impossible?? I would like to know, go ahead and comment below so we can share our thoughts and tips with you. Happy prefinals week everyone….may the odds ever be in your favor 😉

Dynamics Project Complete!!

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Cherie

Organized Spring Pendulum Motion

19 pages and countless hours later my dynamics project is done!! I am so happy to be finished with it. Overall, I proved that a spring pendulum system is chaotic but, its motion can still be modeled with dynamics. I used two methods, the second one is the most accurate as it shows the chaos in the motion of the pendulum system. The methods are respectively called simple pendulum motion and rigid body pendulum motion. The difference between the two is that rigid body motion takes more “real time” factors into account such as the mass of the spring, its changing length, inertial centers of masses of each object in the system and so on. the system is actually so complex that you can solve for the general equations of motion but, they are unsolvable by hand. The graphs you see here are numerical solutions to the motion of the pendulum. This concept is huge in terms of Engineering, as engineers must be able to predict and describe chaotic motion due to the affects it has on a structure. Dynamics is a fundamental course designed for students to be exposed to the important methods and concepts before they get into upper level courses.

Chaotic Spring Pendulum Motion

Personally, Dynamics is a hard class however, I find it really fun and educational. I learned so much from my project about how to describe motion through mathematics and numerical integrations. I really look forward to the other classes in which I can apply this knowledge.

So my question to our readers is this: Do you want to go to school at a university that challenges you in a way conducive to learning? I did, and that’s why I came to Embry Riddle Prescott. Stop by some time and join us 🙂