Things to do Over Summer in Prescott AZ

Posted on May 26, 2014 by Cherie

When you don’t have a vehicle on campus it can get pretty boring after hours during the summer soooo find a friend with a car and check out Prescott or take a hike!! There are so many things you can do in Prescott for example……

The Dells are a beautiful rock formation next to Willow Lake just across from campus and they are a great place to hike, rock climb, canoe, have a picnic, ride a bike, run etc.

You can always go take a walk around Lynx Lake or have a picnic. There is a great little place up by the lake that has a fish fry deal on Friday nights, and man is it good!!!!

The Grand Canyon is not too far away and the drive is gorgeous!

The mall in town is fantastic and has all the big brand stores that we all love, that’s a great place to hang out and even get some food.

If you can’t get off campus then there’s also the Student Union which has all the latest video games, pool tables, shuffleboard, Foosball, and computer games as well!

The overall point is that there is a lot to do here in Prescott AZ, don’t be a stranger get involved in the community after all, you will want to know the town you may be living in for the next few years! It’s really a cooler place than you might realize at first 🙂

Summer Classes

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Cherie

We are now into the second week of summer classes here at Embry Riddle in Prescott AZ and so far they are going well!! I am taking solid Mechanics over summer, it is the last of my engineering fundamentals courses that I have to take before I move on to higher level courses 🙂

What classes are you taking this summer? Summer is a great time to catch up on courses or get ahead in your class work while saving some cash at the same time!! It is also easy to get a job over summer as a lot of seasonal positions open up right in May. We do have two summer sessions here at Embry Riddle in case you are interested in joining us for the second half of summer in our B session. Give us a call or start your application today, we would love to see you here!!

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 🙂

Finals Preparation Starts Now!

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Cherie

It is that time of year again, professors and students alike have anticipated but, dreaded the upcoming weeks……FINALS…..again!! Are you going to be prepared? I know that finals are a tough and stressful time for students but, take hope, summer is almost here. Just remember to study hard and all that good stuff while motivating yourself by thinking about your summer plans.

This summer I will hopefully be going to Field Training for AFROTC and while I am nervous about that at least its better than doing hw everyday 🙂 I am also very excited about it too, Field Training is like a right of passage so to speak. It basically allows you to continue in your AFROTC career so that at the end when you graduate you will get a commission as an officer in the USAF. Other than that I will be taking classes and working as usual.

What are your summer plans? If your plan doesn’t include a visit to Embry Riddle’s Prescott Campus then maybe it should! We would love to see you here over summer, it is a great time to see whether this place is where you want to spend the next few years 🙂

The Pool is Now Open

Posted on April 14, 2014 by Cherie

Come on down to our awesome salt water pool and have some fun!! That’s right folks, the pool is once again open for the season!!! It’s a great place to work on that tan, swim some laps, have a BBQ, or just avoid homework in general 😉

The pool will be open until October and daily hours are as follows:

11am to 7pm

We hope to see you there!!!!

Spring is Finally Here!!

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Cherie

For those of you who have gotten a chance to put down the homework and take a walk outside you might have noticed how beautiful it is outside here in Prescott AZ. Spring has finally arrived as is evident by the greenery, flowers, and chirping birds. Spring is my favorite time of year and I have not seen a more amazing season than since I have been here at Embry Riddle. Living in the local area while going to school here is awesome because the whole town comes alive in Spring again.

The fairs start coming back into the square downtown, there are more opportunities to go hiking, biking, kayaking, and so much more!!! There is so much to do here in spring, and I highly encourage our prospective students to come on out here and tour the campus. In addition to that tour though, take some time to get to know the area. The area in which you choose to live while going to college is extremely important and not many students realize it until it is too late.

For example, when I moved here I knew Prescott would be wonderful because I had grown up in an area that is quite similar to Prescott. My transition into college life was not as hard because of this fact. So when you tour here, go see the sights, ask the locals about what they like to do in the area. Doing so will help you get a feel for the community as well as for the college. Well, with that said, I hope to see you here soon 🙂 Enjoy the Spring season!!