Test Off

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Cherie

This Saturday, right before Dining In (hyperlink to other blog!!!) the Honor Corps teams will be having our major exam called Test Off. To be a part of the teams and perform in the community all team members must pass test off. This will be my second time going through it, and I can’t really say that I’m excited, I honestly just want to get it over with.

Each team does Test Off differently, as a part of the Honor Guard Test Off includes knowledge, skills, marching, performances, and inspection. The knowledge portion is a written 1 hour exam over a packet of material that all the teams in Honor Corps must know verbatim. Our skills test covers skills with both flag and rifle movements, while our marching test is basically an FDE that all teams must pass. Each member of the Honor Guard must command one flag posting ceremony as part of the exam and pass with at least a 90. Then there is a 2 hour inspection during which you are drilled on procedures, knowledge, and critiqued on how you wear the ceremonial uniform.

This is a lot to prepare for however, we train 4 days of the week in order to achieve a high level of excellence. In the end it all pays off because we get to perform at the cardinals game in phoenix, in flag retirement ceremonies, funerals, etc. It is a real honor to be a part of a team that exists to pay respect to those who came before us. It is for this reason that I participate in Honor Guard and take the time out of my week to practice. So, on that note I will be off to Test Off this Saturday to reaffirm my status as a Guardsman and continue honoring those who came before. Wish our team luck!!

Warrior Week

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Cherie

This week in Air Force ROTC is what we like to call Warrior Week. It is basically the week that we all bring the competition to prove which flight is the best in the detachment. The week includes flight competitions in sports, knowledge, and fitness. As well as costume contests for Halloween and wrapping it all up with an event called Dining In.

So we are beginning the week by constructing costumes, and wearing them to lead lab on Wednesday. I am not sure what my flight has decided to wear quite yet but, the overall theme of Warrior Week is combat superheros so it should be pretty interesting. I’m thinking superman T shirt and BDU pants, that superhero-y right?

Alpha Flight, the coolest flight Ever!! We won the costume contest!

Then we will have a bunch of sports, hopefully not cow tongue Frisbee like last year….that was really gross but amusing to watch. When the sports are all over then we will do knowledge competitions, and here at Dining In who won Warrior week and earns the Warrior Flight of the semester award.

Dining In, like I said earlier is a military tradition where the detachment gets together and enjoys each others company. During this time we have toasts to those who came before us and those who can no longer join us in our traditions. After the toasts, there is something called a grog, it is really really really disgusting but, if you did something really dumb durign the semester you are called to the grog. If you don’t have a witty rebuttal then you must drink a cup of grog to the last drop. If anything is left when you flip the cup upside down you have to take another serving!!!!

When the grog is all done we will eat and listen to guest speakers talk about their military service. When we are all done it is time for some fun, we go outside and have an epic water balloon fight between flights. At Embry Riddle we have Dining in at the Flight line in a maintenance hanger so its pretty entertaining to see people running around in costumes in the airport parking lot with water balloons.

Pumpkin Carving

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Cherie

Today some of our RA’s or Resident Assistants organized a pumpkin carving contest in preparation for Halloween. Some of the pumpkins were pretty awesome and others just plain gruesome. Overall though, the event was just another goofy even that we have here at Riddle to bring our students closer together around the holidays.

Our student body comes from all over the world, so when participating in events such as the pumpkin carving party it is entirely possible that you may meet someone who has never taken part in the tradition before. I met two such people today and it was really cool to be able to hear about their countries and make new friends all because of a simple tradition!

Events like this bring all of our students closer, and create a community on our campus that is unlike any other. We all love it here and we would like to invite you to come on over for a campus visit and experience it yourself. For a campus tour click here and learn more about what Embry Riddle Prescott has for you!!

Volunteer in the Community

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Cherie

Volunteering is a fun opportunity that can have amazing rewards in regards to personal growth, I strongly encourage you to go out there and get involved in the community wherever it is you choose to go to college. Some ways that Embry Riddle Prescott students get involved are: volunteering in local schools, tutoring, awareness walks, air shows, and cemetery cleanups.

Since I have been a student at Embry Riddle Prescott I have volunteered in vigil, cemetery cleanup, benefit auctions, air shows, and cemetery research. The one volunteering project that probably stands out the most, besides vigil is the cemetery work. Its kind of strange for a college student to be going out and cleaning up an old cemetery that know one even remembers, but it is something that i enjoy doing.

Embry Riddle’s AFROTC Honor Guard

I really like this project, as unlike my other volunteering experiences it is an ongoing effort to honor the veterans and other nameless individuals that are buried in a forgotten cemetery not too far from Prescott. The reason I have grown so attached to this work is that I actually had my first performance as a member of Honor Guard in that cemetery. Since then I have wanted to continue honoring those who lay at rest there, and my hope is to remind others to honor them too.

So what I mean when I say that volunteering can enhance your character is that you might find a passion in a very strange place, that overall will make you a better person. Ever since I began to volunteer in the cemetery I have achieved a greater respect for life and a curiosity about those who are unnamed. It has been a year since we started the project and every day I work a little on it, hoping that I will get closer to finding their names. There hasn’t been much luck but, within the next few years my goal is to inspire others to continue this work and to not allow our predecessors be forgotten.

So as you can see, volunteering has made a positive impact on not only myself but, on the community. Now people know about the cemetery and our work there, we are getting an even bigger following every year. It is my hope that others will find their own passions while volunteering and will pursue them in order to make not only themselves, but their community a better place.

Freshman Dorms

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Cherie

A topic which I get a lot of questions on while doing campus tours with incoming students is what are the dorms like? Well, you have asked the right person!! We have 14 residence halls on our campus, of these halls the break down is as follows 🙂

5 Freshman Halls- Each of these halls (1-5) has 3 stories and the dorms are arranged in what is called a suite, there are several suites on every floor. In each suite there is a lounge which includes a refrigerator, a two burner cook stove shelving units, cabinets, a coffee table, entertainment center, 2 couches, free WiFi, and free cable TV. In the rest of the dorm there are three bedrooms, there are two people to each bedroom. All of the bedrooms have two bunk beds with large desks, two dressers, two filing cabinets, and closet space. There is also two bathrooms, well equipped for 6 people to share and a hallway with more cabinets and a closet for longer hanging items.

Additionally each room in the suite has its own climate control system. These dorms are really nice to live in and quite spacious in fact. I really enjoyed living in them during my freshman year and I hope that you will too!

The other halls are 5 upperclassman apartment style rooms, where you and 3 other students would live. These include a larger closet space, a larger lounge, and a full kitchen. There are also suite style rooms in the upperclassman halls where you and a single roommate share a room, and you share a community bathroom with 3 other students. These suites do not have their own kitchens but, there is access to a community kitchen in the hall.

The remaining 4 halls are for international students, transfer students, and overflow housing. These rooms have access to a large community kitchen and are shared only with one roommate. In addition all of our halls on campus have access to a large laundry room where students can do their laundry.

Staying Healthy

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Cherie

Its that time of year again everyone! The weather is cooling down and all of our favorite winter coats are being dug out of the closets and worn throughout campus. Unfortunately, this also means that the cold season has also returned. So here comes my list of tips and tricks to stay healthy and succeed in school this winter.

1. Vitamin C- this can be found at literally every store in a variety of different forms. Vitamin C boosts your immune system and gives you energy.

2. Hydrate!! No matter who you are and what you do it is important to hydrate properly as this helps prevent illness and also helps you focus/ stay awake in class.

3. Stay Warm- wear layers and lots of them. If you get too hot you can always take off a layer and put it in your backpack. Gloves are also a great thing to have so that your hands do not get dry, crack and bleed. This can be a painful problem to deal with while taking notes in class.

4. Multi Vitamins- these just supplement your nutritional values. In other words, they help keep your body balanced so that you can perform better in school and keep yourself from getting sick.

5. If you do get sick, the best thing is mixing emergen-C supplements with orange Gatorade, it tastes like orange soda (YAY) and the combination boosts your immune system, electrolyte levels, and energy. This really helps you recover quickly from any illness, it works 9 times out of 10 in my personal experience.

6. Wash your hands!!! I know you hear this all the time but, it is a serious issue!!! You can cut down on the spread of germs by 90% by just washing your hands. Please, please, please do this, it is simply gross if you don’t!!

7. Cover your moth/nose- if you have to cough or sneeze cover your mouth or nose to block the spread of germs that go flying. It is best to do this using the inside of your elbow so that you don’t spread germs by using your hands to cover a cough/sneeze. If you do use your hands then WASH THEM. Better yet carry hand sanitizer 🙂

8. Throw tissues away- if you have a runny nose, make sure you throw your tissues away and immediately wash your hands. This cuts down on the spread of germs!!! And you don’t have to pick up nasty tissues.

9. Wash the dishes- Don’t leave any dishes laying around, and wash them using HOT soap and water. This will eliminate germs and keep dishes clean.

10. (Last one I promise ) Wipe down door handles and frames- this is best to do if oyu or someone you live with is sick or has been sick. It removes germs from the surfaces that we most frequently touch so that they cannot be spread to others.

Overall, just be considerate of others. No one likes to be sick so keep that in mind, and if you do become sick and need more information or would like a check up then stop on by our Wellness Center on campus. Good luck in school everyone, stay healthy!!!!

October West Festivities

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Cherie

So as most of you probably know October West started this week and its been going great so far!! We are all very excited for the Air show to start tomorrow, myself and a few of the others bloggers will be out there so if you recognize us please feel free to say hi 🙂 The coolest part of October West this year, besides the planes of course, was the unveiling of the Prescott campus’s very first completed Jet Dragster!!!!

We are all very proud of the work that this team has put in to produce the first Prescott dragster, just 4 years after the project all started here at our campus. The recognition of this hard work started with a fly over, speeches by the chancellor, Chris Larsen (the founder of Larsen motor sports), and finally a demonstration by Elaine Larsen.

The demonstration was so cool!!! At Riddle we love jet engine nose and this car was all engine!!! Intense flames poured out the back as it rolled its way across the tarmac and fans roared, it was seriously amazing!! If you were lucky enough to be at the event you could even feel the pulses from the engine firing. Some sweet pictures are included below, please look through and enjoy. If you can be at the Prescott Airport tomorrow, be there so you can have a look at that dragster and join in the festivities 🙂

Fall is Finally Here

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Cherie

Even though the leaves aren’t changing yet, you can feel it in the air here at Embry Riddle Prescott: Fall has arrived!!!! The monsoons have been gone for about 2 weeks now and the winds have returned making it a little bit chilly out there. So for all of you newbies its time to break out the cold weather gear, and if your from California like me, you might have to go buy some.

I would just like to share with you what my favorite parts of fall are and see if maybe you would like to share with us here at Embry Riddle as well 🙂 So the top things I like about Fall are:

Scarves- They are warm and stylish!!

Hoodies- comfy for class and studying

Cookies- In the upperclassman dorms we have ovens to make them in!!

Stew- Reminds me of home, and its a delicious way to warm up after a long day

Hot Cocoa and Tea- Relaxing and awesome.

Pie-Just because pie is awesome 🙂

and………(Drumroll please)….Halloween!!

I really have no idea what I will wear for Halloween this year, although last year my friends and I dressed up as skittles 🙂 We ran out of colored T shirts though and I ended up being the random skittle in the bunch, but it was still a ton of fun. During my freshman year we had a few engineers who made their own costumes and wore them to classes, so if you love fall as much as we do then this is the place for you!!!

Please stop on by and visit us here in Prescott, we would love to have you join us in our Fall Fun. To schedule a visit just click here!!!

Ruck at Riddle

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Cherie

What a Ruck looks like

Good Morning everyone!! I just completed a 5K 40lb ruck for PT this morning and I’m feeling great. It was seriously so much fun!! So I was just curious to see how many of our readers are veterans, current military/ROTC, or CAP/JROTC who have done a real Ruck march. Please comment below and share your fun/not so fun experiences about Rucking.

For those of you who do not know what a Ruck is, it is basically a really long walk/jog with an extremely heavy backpack. It is not as bad as it sounds, if you have gone backpacking before then it is pretty similar to that. Most of the time for Rucks you will be using an old backpack and a 35-40lb sandbag, depending on the individual you may decide to do more than that however, for Air Force PT this morning the sand bags were standardized at about 40lb per person.

So my fun Ruck story from this morning begins with a lack of a proper backpack….yes not a good thing. The back pack I brought to PT was way to small for the sandbags, this resulted from the fact that my regular class backpack is so shredded that it would not stand a chance against a 40lb bag of sand. (I need to go shopping and get a new one, in Air Force ROTC you will ruin on average about one backpack per every 8 months). So rather than not going on the Ruck I grabbed a bag of sand put it on my shoulders and went for it!!

It actually wasn’t too bad, I fell a little behind because balancing 40lbs is a little bit more difficult than carrying it on your back. But, myself and the other cadets on the Ruck all finished within good time and with awesome experiences to share. I could write on and on if I wanted to but, if I would like to address more specific topics/stories/questions or whatever you would like to hear so if you would like to hear more about my morning or share your own story please comment below we would love to hear from you!!

Midterms are on Their Way!

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Cherie

Last Friday I had my first midterm exam in statics, and I’ve got two more this upcoming week. School is definitely progressing quickly around here. Soon it will be Thanksgiving and then finals time, its such a weird thing to think but, don’t let it catch you by surprise!! Start preparing now, don’t wait until the day before the exam to study, this is not high school, this is a highly respected University so don’t forget it!!

Tests are definitely something that need to be taken seriously, so like I said start preparing early by asking questions, doing the homework, reviewing up to 3 days before the exam and clarifying any topics that you are unsure of. Doing this will ensure a higher score on your exams, which will help that GPA!

Even though it can be easy to ignore what you have to do I strongly urge you to put your school first. Yes it is awesome to go out and have fun while you are in college but, don’t forget why you came here…EDUCATION. To get that degree you need to be successful academically, that is why it is so important to put studies first.

The best way to do so is to make a list of the homework and studying that you know you must complete. Do as much as you can every day and when you are finished take a break to enjoy yourself, go out and have some fun. This will really help out your grades and you will get the college experience that you wan at the same time.

So all in all enjoy yourself but, don’t let exams and classwork to catch you by surprise!!