Student Life

When you are choosing colleges or Universities that you might want to attend how much do you think about the student life? Well, most students say that it is one of the most important aspects of their decision and because it is so important wouldn’t it be nice if a current student told you what it was like? Well your wish has been granted!!!

I’m Cherie Gambino, an Engineering student at Embry-Riddle Prescott campus  🙂 In my year or so on campus I have greatly enjoyed my experiences here, from watching movies in the amphitheater to laughing at comedians we have it all. Embry Riddle really tries to focus on the student and what is important to them so we have several campus organizations that operate to enhance your experiences at Riddle. These are Student government, the Board of Campus Activities, Greek Life, the Residence Halls Association, Horizons Newspaper, Riddle Vision, and Riddle Radio. In the fall there are also special programs for incoming freshman such as the Passport Program which hosts all kinds of fun  barbecues, competitions, and movie nights.

Orientation Day 1

 

The campus organizations that organize these activities are active year round so there is at least 2 or 3 events occurring during the week. For example, last week there was a pizza party at the pool, a memorial day barbecue, and a movie night where myself and a few other students got to go see the new Star Trek movie at the Harkins theater.

Some of our other cool events and organizations are listed below, feel free to check them out and get to know the fun side of Embry-Riddle 🙂

October West

Passport to ERAU

Passport Program Events

Organizations

Local Events in Prescott

Campus Tours

 

For prospective students many colleges or Universities will offer a Campus tour so that the student may get a feel for the place that they may be living in for the next four years. Here on Embry-Riddle’s Prescott Campus the Admissions office staff and student employees (like me!!) work really hard to be sure that if you choose to tour our beautiful campus, that you have an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

 

Prescott Aerial View of Campus

When you first arrive on campus you will meet up with your tour guide in the Welcome center, which is building 41. It is pretty simple to find, just enter campus through the entrance with the electronic signboard and take the second right leaving the roundabout. You will immediately see the Welcome Center.

 

Once you are inside there may be a small wait and then you will be off on your tour to see the Freshman dorms, Dining hall, Wellness Center, King Engineering, Academic Complex, Laboratories in the AXFAB (Aerospace Experimentation and Fabrication Building), Wind Tunnel Labs, Jet Dragster Lab, Central Campus, Student Facilities, and the Hazy Library. If you are interested in doing Air Force or Army ROTC at Embry-Riddle then you will also be offered the opportunity to meet with representatives of one or both of the detachments on campus.for Aeronautical Science majors a tour of the Prescott campus’s flight line is also offered and can be taken in addition to the campus tour.

Campus Map

After your tour is complete you then have the opportunity to meet with your admissions counselor in order to cover any admissions questions you have about attending the University. Admissions counselors are located inside the Welcome Center as well as the offices of Financial Aid and Student employment so if you would like you may also look into discussing options for aid or employment with these offices after you have met with your counselor.

It may be a long and eventful day but, I can guarantee that this campus with fascinate you and that your visitor’s experience here at Embry Riddle Prescott has the potential to turn into a really fun and rewarding four years in pursuit of one of our unique majors.

Cockpit in Flight

If you would like to join us here for a day please visit our website and sign up for a campus tour. If you are unable to be here in person then I encourage you to take a virtual tour. Additional information on the campus can be found here. However way you visit we look forward to showing you our campus!!

 

Where are the Monsoons?

 

So apparently monsoon season in Prescott Arizona doesn’t start until July 🙁 Here I was really looking forward to all the rain and when I didnt see any of it I decided to do a little research…

Weather Patterns

As some of you may know we do have a Meteorology major offered at the Prescott Campus so I took it upon myself to ask a Meteorology student about what on earth is going on. This is what he told me 😀

Monsoons are a phenomenon that are triggered every year as a result of the Earth’s angle with the sun. So when the monsoons occur in Prescott the Earth is at a the steepest angle possible and is even farther from the sun than it is in the month of January.
So the question is this “If we are on Earth and we are farthest from the sun in July how is it that July is warmer than January?” Well, the Meteorologist in training told me that the temperature also has to do with the position the Earth holds in orbit around the sun. Yes we are farthest away from the sun at this time but, our continent is more in line with the rays of heat/sunlight during the summer months which is why it is still hotter in July than in January.

Sketch of the Angle between Earth and the Sun

Of course as an Engineer I really didn’t need to know all this but, its pretty interesting so I thought it would be nice to share 😀 If you have any comments or questions please respond below or if you would like to check out our Meteorology major just click here. Thanks for reading!!!

Summer Summer Summer

Summer over Willow Lake

This is my second week of summer courses here at Embry Riddle Prescott and so far I’ve really enjoyed it. I am only taking one class, Calculus 3, in a condensed six week period but, I have high hopes for how it will turn out 😀 I have taken a summer math course before but, not at Embry Riddle. I greatly enjoyed the experience as summer course are intense and crammed with information but at the same time they are very relaxed and fun.

At least that was the impression I gained from my first summer course in mathematics and hopefully this impression remains the same!! In addition to my class I am working in the Admissions department, so if you stop on by campus this summer you might see me or even get a campus tour from me.

Other than that not much has been going on here at Riddle except for moving into summer housing, attending campus barbeques, and chilling at our pool. The campus is a relaxed place over summer and it is extremely opportune time to come visit so that you, the potential student, can gauge the community that has developed on campus.

Everyone here is really nice and we would love to meet you here on campus sometime, so please come join us for some summer fun!!

SCIDM- Honor Corps

 

Hey there I just got back from a cool competition that Air Force ROTC Honor Corps does every year and I just thought I’d tell you a little about it. First off though I’ve got to tell you about the teams in Honor Corps, there are three: Honor Guard, Rifle Drill, and Sabre drill.

I am a member of the Honor Guard and we basically post and retrieve flags as well as doing other events for football games and flag retiring. Honor Guard has the most variety of all the teams and it is also the one that pay most attention to detail, if you plan on being in Air Force ROTC and you want your uniform to be perfect then please join Honor Guard!! Guard is a lot of work between uniforms and performances but it is very rewarding as all we do honors those who came before us in all branches of the military. For example, each year Guard performs a 24 hour vigil for veteran’s day along with the two other teams. Vigil takes a lot of training, time, and dedication but, it is an entirely rewarding experience as it allows you to experience a fraction of the sacrifice that our veteran’s experienced while serving our country.

The Rifle drill team spins (and occasionally breaks) rifles in variations of four to ten man performances.  Rifle team is definitely the more rambunctious of the groups in Honor Corps, but they put on an incredible performance which personally I could never do.  They of course, also help with vigil and perform at SCIDM every year.  If you get the chance to come by Riddle one of these days you can see rifle and the other teams practicing in the lower fields. Practices are exceedingly interesting to watch and we invite you to stop by and check out the teams. You might be lucky enough and get to learn a few moves with the rifle (it’s a fake one by the way so no worries). If you enjoy it then we definitely encourage you to join one of the teams.

Sabre team is the last team, they are the smallest of all the teams in Honor Corps but, they are pretty epic too. I honestly don’t think I could toss a sharpened sabre around all day and hope that my partner catches it properly. It takes a lot of courage and skill to do something like that in my opinion. Despite how dangerous it sounds almost no one ever gets injured so don’t fear grab a sabre and try it out, they are a lot lighter than the rifles that Rifle and Guard have to carry so if you don’t want to be holding a lot of weight Sabre is perfect for you!!  Their performances are also quite impressive, and they performed incredibly at SCIDM.

That’s all I’ve got for now but if you want to see some of our performances please feel free to look at the links below!!

Ten man Rifle Drill Team at SCIDM

Honor Guard Recruitment Video

Sabre Team

Surviving Prescott Winter Weather

Hey there, Its me again, and as you might have guessed I have spent a lot of time at Embry-Riddle and in the Prescott area. Well, unfortunately the rumors about our crazy weather are true, monsoons in the summer and sub-freezing snowy streaks in the winter. I can assure you however, that the peculiarities of this gorgeous place can easily be overcome by anyone who makes the decision to spend their next four years here. The four important things to remember are as follows: layers, vitamin c, boots, and brains. I’ll discuss each of these critical needs to survive the weather here, and also one additional thing that you’ll need: A sense of adventure and a youthful disposition towards the snow!

Layers-YOU WILL NEED THESE! The wonderful thing about layers is that you can wear as many layers of clothing as you want in order to stay warm. You don’t have to go and buy yourself a parka when it hits 19 degrees, just throw on an extra shirt and sweater, grab some gloves and head out. If you are in class and you get too warm later just take a sweater off, no big deal!

Vitamin C- This will keep your immune system up so if you get a little too chilled one day you wont get sick. Getting sick and missing classes is a huge cause of extra stress and low grades in college, avoid it at all costs!! Also, pick up some multi vitamins, these will help maintain your natural balance of minerals and also prevent you from becoming ill. We want you to succeed and the student’s health is our main priority, so if you can’t afford to be these at Walmart, or just don’t have the time to, come on by the Wellness Center at Haas . We provide the medical care you need all week long!!

Boots- You WILL WANT THESE SUMMER AND WINTER!! The monsoons in the summer turn center campus into a giant flowing creek, but don’t worry, the campus is specifically designed to keep the creek out of your path but, we can’t prevent some of the deep puddles that form on the walkways. For this reason I urge you to go buy some rubber ducky boots, you know the kind i mean, they look like your grandmas gardening shoes but they are exceptionally comfortable and dry. Most of the summer students wear these several times a week as it is necessary. On the other hand, for winter you will want a good pair of water proof high top hiking boots. These will keep your feet dry if it rains or snows;  they are also quite comfortable as they provide ankle support and traction so that you won’t slip on the ice that forms on stairs and walkways after a big snow. The safety department does their best to keep ice under control but, nature has other plans so please be prepared so you don’t encounter any dangerously slippery situations.

Brains- Please use this, if you attend Embry-Riddle you are obviously pretty smart, so again I ask please use your intelligence!! Observe your surroundings, if a passage way is to icy find a safer path and avoid it. Follow the guidelines for usage of icy pathways and stairs, most stairs and icy areas are marked off by cones to indicate that you must use caution while walking there. Places that are too dangerous will be completely roped off in yellow “DO NOT CROSS” tape. Some campus roads may be closed off because of black ice so please observe this and use caution when traveling anywhere on campus or in Prescott by car or foot. We want you to stay safe!!

The final element that is necessary is a sense of fun, have fun with the weather but, remember to be safe!!!!!

Build a 7 foot tall snowman 🙂

Veteran’s Day

As we all know, Veteran’s Day was this past weekend, so in light of my participation in Embry-Riddle’s activities to support our veterans I would like to tell you about how Embry-Riddle honors our veterans every year. As a little side note, there are a few hundred veterans on campus as well as a few hundred Air Force and Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets.  The campus is very military friendly.

The experience was extremely rewarding and the activities that I was a part of this past weekend will be the most notable memories of my freshman year. I am a member of the Detachment 028 Air Force ROTC Honor Guard Team, which is basically the military group that presents the colors before football games and at other various types of ceremonies.  Each year the Honor Guard Team and the other teams in the Detachment 028 Honor Corps go to the Prescott Veteran’s Memorial Hospital and conduct a 24 hour vigil around the flag. This year’s vigil was my first time performing as an active member of the Honor Guard.  Just being able to stand at attention and endure a mostly sleepless night for the sake of vigil was an incredible experience. It really made me think about why I had chosen to become a member of the team and why I had put in so many long hours at practice when other cadets hadn’t.

The reason is this: millions of people died to protect our freedoms, an almost equal amount have endured incredible hardships as prisoners of war, and countless others have been labeled as missing in action. These brave young men and women never got to say a final goodbye to their families, never got to see their homes again, and because of their sacrifice they must never be forgotten.

This is so important to me as a freshman in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps because I know that I will be the next in line to take up the defense of this country.  Being a participant in Vigil really changed my viewpoint.  I appreciated veterans before but when I stood guarding the flag as a symbolic representation of those who took up arms in its defense, I truly came to understand the magnitude of the hardships my predecessors had undergone.

Honor Corps Vigil 2012

 

I can honestly say that if I had not decided to come to Embry-Riddle I would not have had the opportunity to stand vigil and I would not have grown from the experience like I did that weekend. This freshman year has been an amazing growing process and my Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps commitments have truly helped me mature. I have made a ton of great friends along the way and become a part of the family that I call the Honor Guard. When I need help with school work they are there, and if I’m having a bad day they are there too.  I have found a home away from home at Embry-Riddle and I hope that you will too!

Cherie Gambino Aerospace Engineering

Hello, everyone! I’m Cherie Gambino, an Embry-Riddle Prescott student from a small town in California. I came to this school for two reasons: Air Force ROTC and Engineering. So far, I’m loving my experiences here. The people are amazingly sweet, the campus is gorgeous and AFROTC is a blast. My best choice to date has been coming to this school.I think my overall favorite experiences have been climbing inside a wind tunnel, building rockets, and being able to tour the campus’s crash lab, all as a freshman student!

In my University 101 class, my professor allowed me to climb inside a wind tunnel because I had been begging him to let us tour them.  It was also during this class that we toured the crash lab, which is basically a field full of old plane wreckage that is set up comparably to the original crashes so that students can study the sites and try to establish the probable causes of the crashes. Because of the University 101 class and other great freshman programs at Embry-Riddle, I have discovered so much about this campus and have met some incredible people who I am sure will become long lasting friends as I pursue my career as an engineering officer in the U.S. Air Force.

Prescott Campus

I encourage anyone who is interested in Embry-Riddle to tour the Prescott campus since it is simply beautiful here, there are many programs to explore, clubs to join, and facilities for students to use. Even though I had never toured the campus myself before my first day here, I have fallen in love with this school and also the state of AZ. Because I love this campus so much, I am very excited to have the opportunity to blog about my experiences as a freshman student of the Aerospace Engineering Program, Air Force ROTC, and Air Force ROTC Honor Guard. If you have any questions or would like to know more about me, feel free to ask.  I am happy to share with anyone and would love to get to know more about you!