Get Outside! Outdoor Adventure Surrounds You

by Miguel Diaz

Last weekend was really great! On Friday, a good friend who graduated from Embry-Riddle came to visit and we hung out with him for a while. On Saturday, I had my Industrial Hygiene class, and we did our individual topic presentations. After that I was able to finally relax after a long week. But the highlight of the weekend was Sunday, when my friend Alex and I took a few members of the Mountain Club (check out our Facebook page) for a day of rock climbing at a nearby canyon called The Promised Land. The Mountain Club is one of the many student organizations on campus. We are a community of rock climbers and mountain bikers that enjoy one or both of these sports and like connecting with like minded people. As an officer of the club, I love bringing people out on trips and introducing them to the sport of rock climbing. Anyone is welcome regardless of experience or gear ownership. We have taken many beginners and we have plenty of gear that we can loan out to members for use. The only requirement is a sense of adventure!

The canyon is located about 10 miles northeast of Prescott, or directly east of our neighboring town to the north, Chino Valley. There was seven of us going that day. Six students from different majors and even one staff member! Even though the canyon is close in distance, we have to go through some rough dirt roads, so it took us about an hour to get to the climbing area.

 

The Promised Land 1 MD PICTURE 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hiked in and started setting up. In rock climbing, each specific path, or line up the rock is called a route, and they vary in difficulty. So we started off by setting up some easy routes up the wall to warm up. Everyone did great and was able to finish them no problem.

We moved on to other routes as everyone was done with the first two. We tried one much harder route that only two of us were able to complete, but the challenge was a lot of fun! We continued on to two others that climbed on some jagged rock leading to a flatter face. Very fun but challenging too! This one seemed particularly enjoyable for most of us, although we were getting a little tired at this point.  At this spot I took a picture of one of our members going up the route

The climb
And another one of the group as I was descending back down.

Down the wall

After this we moved further down the canyon to do two more routes. One of these routes involved going around a cactus growing out of the wall, and it proved to be quite entertaining to see each other trying to climb up while avoiding it. Are we crazy?

At the end, we all had fun throughout the day and everyone enjoyed spending a day outside with beautiful weather in an awesome place with good people. We talked about climbing equipment and gear, about school and classes, joked around with each other, and made plans for future outings. It was a good day and a good weekend for us. And we look forward to more days like these!

Outdoor beauty around Prescott

“Mankind was born on Earth, it was never meant to die here.”

If you haven’t seen Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar yet and have any idea of what’s best for you, get out there and see it!  Don’t worry if you haven’t been fortunate enough to see the movie yet, this post is spoiler free.  As a student in our Space Physics program, I had a countdown for the release of the movie and saw it twice in the first 48 hours (no shame).  What I was really pleased about was how many people with little physics knowledge still appreciated this amazing work of cinematic art.  No seriously, my pilot friends were actually really excited about physics afterwards.  That never happens.  The movie was scientifically solid with the help of Dr. Kip Thorne and definitely not your typical sci-fi film.

So you’re interested in knowing a little bit more about what-the-Hubble went on in that movie huh?  We have amazing professors at ERAU that are here to help.  With courses like Relativity, Astrophysics, Space Propulsion, and Particle/Cosmology students are able to explore concepts that were so elegantly displayed in this film and much more.  Personally, I felt proud and somewhat accomplished for understanding the entirety of the movie and encourage anyone with the slightest interest in space to get educated!  Who knows, with all this information, you might be able to make the next greatest sci-fi movie.

If you’re interested in some of the courses available not just for Physics students but for anyone, check it out here!

Choosing Your Classes

For all of our current students you must register for courses this week for spring!! For Seniors the date was Monday, Juniors (today), Sophomores Wednesday, and Freshman Thursday. It is a great time to take advantage of your academic advisor’s expertise. Meet Heather, Katie and Scott.

 

Heather BeamanKatie GreeneScott RitchieThey will sit down and identify the classes you need to take each semester to help make sure you graduate on time. They can also help you get into classes that require special faculty approval. Advisors and the records office are here to help you!!!

The registration process is really simple and can be done completely online, for course overloads (17+ credits) there is a form from the records office that you and your advisor need to sign before you can get into the course. But, if you are not overloading credits then go onto your Student Center in ERNIE and use the “enrollment shopping cart” to search and add classes you need to take in the semester. When your enrollment appointment is validated then all you have to do is hit the “enroll” button and “verify” the courses. If any issues arise then your advisor and the records office will help you sort it out really fast 🙂

So its as simple as that, get ready sophomores and second semester freshman, your up next!!!! Hit that button as quick as possible (at 7:30 am ) to get into the classes you need!!!course-registration-college

ROTC and Students Celebrate Our Veterans

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It was a bright and sunny Veteran’s Day here in Prescott, Arizona. The student veteran’s of Embry-Riddle and of the community were recognized today with a parade and 24-hour vigil in downtown. Every year the cadets of the Air Force Honor Corps at Embry-Riddle Prescott work a 24 hour vigil at the local Veteran’s Hospital to thank the veteran’s of our nation for their service. The vigil is long, hard, and cold, however, the cadets are honored serving those who have payed a price for our freedom.Air Force ROTC Vigil

 

 

 

At the end of vigil the parade started up in downtown and at its completion there was quite a scene on the square. Street vendors, music, talks, and all kinds of fun activities commenced. Over all it was a fun event for the entire community. Maybe next year our potential freshman will have the opportunity to join us and see the awesome events that Embry-Riddle and the community host to honor our veterans. We would love for you to join us!! Please visit our website here and if you would like more information about Prescott AZ check out the Daily Courier for local news.

Successful Day of the Dead Event

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Horchata a Hispanic rice drink 🙂 Very yummy!!

The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers at Embry-Riddle’s Prescott Campus had a successful Day of the Dead celebration by selling tacos, tamales, horchata, and assorted Mexican sodas on 31 Oct. The event was very well received by all members of the campus and within a few short hours the food was sold out!

 

The group of about 15 members made over 600 tamales and about twice as many tacos, as well as 6 gallons of horchata!

Embry Riddle Precott SHPE Members

Embry Riddle Precott SHPE Members

The fact that the food all sold out in such a short time proves how welcoming our campus is to different cultures and peoples. The campus community is very friendly and accepting of everyone and we would love to invite you here to see for yourself!

Embry Riddle Precott SHPE Members

Embry Riddle Precott SHPE Members

 

Come and visit the campus sometime soon! There are always cool events going on and all the students/faculty/staff are more than happy to meet new faces 🙂 Maybe next year you can join us for some tacos and tamales!!!!!

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Halloween

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Halloween is coming up, have you found a costume yet? I haven’t but, Prescott, AZ has some great places to get a costume for the holiday. There are also some really awesome public haunted houses and pumpkin patches to see if you (like all college kids) are too old to go trick or treating.

The campus is also hosting a costume competition to celebrate and the student with the best costume has a chance at a prize!! So if you are in town come check it out. We have a lot of really fun and festive events going on and we love to welcome new faces to our Embry-Riddle campus community!

Graveyard of darkness

The Graveyard of Darkness is your chance to find out what is behind the RASC Safety Building, but beware and watch where you’re going because dangers lurk around every corner!

Scooby Doo Clue

Or if Scooby Doo is more your style, we have the ultimate Clue game going on this Friday. The event will include nine crime scene investigations located throughout campus. Each location will allow the students to investigate, gather information, and obtain clues.

If you want some more information please visit our main page. Happy Halloween!

Everyday Life

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For those of our prospective students who may want to know what college life is like, today I am going to give you an overview 🙂

So for one, its kind of like living in a hotel with tons of other semi permanent residents. Since you are all living around each other for 8ish months you get to know people pretty well. So that makes things easy as far as having friends on campus is concerned.

Also, its like your job is going to class. There are some people who really don’t do their job well and there are those who do. It is up to you to choose as you are the boss of your career.

Its not like living at home, no one will do your chores for you and if you are hungry you are responsible for taking care of that. So I suggest learning how to do laundry before you leave home, ironing is a part of laundry as well. There  may be times where you need a nice suit for an interview or event on campus. The rest of the time you can dress how you choose but, remember you must make a good impression on your professors or they will not take you seriously as a student. So basically I suggest you dress within reason, no crazy doo’s, shorts are fine but no booty shorts, shirts should NOT show your stomach, also high heels on campus are so ridiculous. At Embry-Riddle you have to walk everywhere so it’s totally not worth the pain. For guys do not wear sweats or athletic clothes to class, it is sloppy and a lot of professors don’t like it. Try to wear jeans, nicer shorts, and a simple T shirt or polo.

Then of course when classes are done you do homework, hang out with friends, relax, attend campus events, and enjoy the many interesting places in our community 🙂

The whole week pretty much goes like this, some days are busier than most but regardless of the work load its a lot of fun!! Hopefully, you will  join us here soon!!!

Thanksgiving

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What will you do if you aren’t going to make it home for Thanksgiving in college? Well, I can answer that! It can be tough not to go home over Thanksgiving but, don’t be a loner!!! You can still have a lot of fun over the short break by connecting with other faculty or students in the area, trust me I did that my freshman year. 🙂

Even though I was totally bummed about being stuck at college over my favorite holiday, I found others who were in the same position me and we held our own thanksgiving potluck! 🙂 The best part was that I actually got two Thanksgivings that year as I was also invited, with some of my other classmates, to a professor’s house where we spent a fun evening playing board games and enjoying another potluck.

Even though I was away from my family it was a wonderful Thanksgiving over which I made some new friends and learned about how friends are not only your social network but, your extended family away from home. So don’t be sad and go have fun!

Career Day

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For those of our students who haven’t heard, its Career Day today!!! Grab that resume and head on down to our Activity Center where numerous Aerospace companies have gathered to educate you about the opportunities that await when you graduate. Additionally, there might be some internship opportunities involved 🙂 But, you will never know if you don’t get out there ans start the job search.

Many companies actually love to hire interns as they are good potential employees. An internship is for you to decide if you want to work in a particular side of the Aerospace industry and also for the corporation to evaluate you. If you do well enough you have a shot at an awesome job after graduation. If that doesn’t motivate you, here is something that will! Some internships or Co-ops provide college credits and you get paid to learn more about the industry/your future career.

Grab that resume and get going!!!!

Update on Junior Year

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As some of you may know, I am a Junior here in Embry Riddle Prescott 🙂 So far this year I have really been enjoying my coursework. A lot of my professors are more trusting in me to get my work done so they don’t collect homework anymore, and for those professors that do collect homework, I seem to be doing pretty well.

I think my favorite class this semester is Structures 1, it is definitely really cool to see how all the past two years of classes applies to the design of an aircraft. My midterm for that class is next week, and I’m nervous but, I am sure it will go well 🙂

Other than that, I am just doing the usual working (and still being broke #collegelife), going to classes, being secretary of an engineering society, and of course my favorite being a POC in AFROTC!!!