Alot of college is about studying to make those very important grades… but obviously you can’t study for the entire 4 years of college right? Check out this video to see a few of the numerous on-campus clubs we have to fill up your free time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeQCUdQ_WtE&index=17&list=PL793E000DD1CD6326
Do you like these new Video Blogs I’m doing? Comment below and let me know! Suggestions and questions are always encouraged!
Not going to lie, it felt weird beginning my last semester as an undergraduate student here at ERAU. Time went by faster than I could have ever imagined. Three plus years later, I have had experiences and made friendships that I could have scarcely imagined prior to actually attending. Nevertheless I digress, onward to bigger and better things!
The beginning of January did not only mark the beginning of classes, but the beginning of CFI New Hire class as well. This month the Embry-Riddle Flight Line hired a total of five new instructors, myself included. Having gone through a new hire ground school with Cape Air in the fall of 2013, I felt myself feeling prepared for what lay ahead. The key to any ground school, whether it is with a new company or even classes here at school, is to always get ahead. The instructors usually send out the material they will be referencing in class in an email prior to the school’s actual start date. In this case, with Embry-Riddle, we had about 3 weeks to study up.
Having used some of Christmas Break to brush up on details I may have forgotten, I walked into the new hire with excitement. Overall, the ground school was broken up into two pieces. The first piece was more administrative stuff, policies and procedures for example. As a student pilot over the last three years, I have become familiar with the policies concerning the students. As I transition to a flight instructor, now I have to learn the policies influencing instructors on a daily basis. The big ones include how to schedule your students on ETA (our scheduling software), and of course duty time restrictions. If you reference 14 C.F.R. Part 61.195, you will see we instructors have laws restricting us on how long we can actually work. Furthermore, the flight line has more rules.
The second part of the ground school was all about the FUNDAMENTALS! 
If there is one topic that was most certainly drilled into our heads it is the fundamentals. When I reference the fundamentals I mean straight and level flight, climbs, descents, and turns. These four aspects, or a combination thereof, make up all of the flight maneuvers you will learn throughout your training. We as pilots cannot continue to make progress if we do not have the fundamental foundation to move forward. Therefore, the fundamentals played a huge part in our ground school and will continue to do so for the actual flight training we conduct.
With the successful completion of CFI New Hire Ground School as of last Friday, here’s to the successful completion of new hire flight training. Hopefully, within the next few weeks I will begin to receive students. If you remember my earlier blog, I talked about time management. Being enrolled in classes, traveling for admissions, and now teaching actual flight students will be the culmination of time management as my time here at ERAU, as a student, begins to come to a close.
More to come, talk to you all soon!
As a graduating senior, I am looking back on some of the most transformative lessons I’ve learned during the greatest four years of my life. I probably was told these things prior to stepping foot on the ERAU Prescott campus, but it’s kind of one of those learn for yourself type deals. Here’s what I came up with:
Be a yes man (or woman)
In high school I would’ve considered myself judgmental and a cynic. It wasn’t long after I moved into my first room in our Mingus dorm complex that I realized my cynicism was embedded in fear. I became a much better person with a more convincing idea of who I am once I committedly opened up to new experiences and new people. College is the easiest time to make new friends because suddenly you are introduced to hundreds of new faces and most of them probably have similar interests to you. So say yes to joining clubs at the activity fair, going campus events put on by BCA, and eating lunch in the Union because before you know it, your college friends are your family. They will be there for you. They will take that lower-level general ed class with you. They will be there for the late nights and early mornings. They will agree to last minute coffee dates and even last minute road trips. So say yes because at worst, you’ll have a new story to tell.
Don’t forget where you came from
The friendships that you develop in college are wavelengths different than the ones you made growing up. You and your friends from high school share a bond that you won’t find with anyone else because you survived a nightmare together. They are the ones that knew you when you had braces and coordinated rubber band color to the upcoming holiday. They knew you when you dated that jerk but he just looked so cute playing that blue guitar. They knew you when you had a terrible sense of fashion and bleached your hair. They knew all these things about you and they still liked you, so they are worth keeping around. And trust me, when you go home for the holidays, you aren’t going to want to hang out with your family the whole time. In today’s modern world, there is no excuse not to stay in touch with someone. The friends you meet in college are going to be amazing and radical and filled with innovation ideas but your past made you who you are, don’t lose sight of the important people from it.
Your undergraduate love life is not a romantic comedy
Bradley Cooper is not going to spend hours a day practicing a dance routine with you and Anna Kendrick probably won’t make out with you after her stunning a Capella performance, and that is just the reality of it. Here me out, you do not need a counterpart in college. We can sit and agonize over the fact that our latest crush hasn’t texted us back and our best friends will sit there and say things like, “I’m sure his phone is dead” or “He’s probably swamped in homework” and all of these are better than realizing that he is not texting you because he doesn’t want to. But your reliable friend will keep feeding you these excuses because most likely, it has happened to her at some point as well. And by the way, sending him a text at midnight of a kissing emoji won’t suddenly remind him of how much he is in to you. The only thing that will do that is his own desire to do so.
There are no exceptions to this. And that goes for you too gentlemen. Stop bombarding that cute, outspoken girl in your English class with texts and Facebook messages. More often times than not, she’s not reciprocating because she doesn’t want to, not because she’s a “bad texter.” Don’t get hung up on one person if you can help it because there are thousands more dying to meet you! (Cliché, but it’s the truth I swear). College is the time to find the simple joys in being alone. It is when you stop searching and become comfortable with the idea of independence that the right person will come along.
First Day Selfie!!
Welcome back everyone! Hope break was great for our returning students and for our prospective students. 🙂 We are all very excited to be coming back to classes for the Spring semester (although another week of break would’ve been awesome). I will give you the low down on the Spring Semester in college, so if you are interested in Embry Riddle you can get an idea of how it all works.
Spring is usually better. I’m not really sure why but, most people have better schedules and have a lot more fun during the semester than in Fall. It may just be because of Spring Break but, there are also more off days during the Spring Semester due to other random holidays. This semester is actually going to be an interesting one for me due to my ROTC jobs, courses, and work. I have a pretty good school schedule but I will be spending 8+ hours a week preparing the Honor Corps for our competition at SCIDM (Southern California Invitational Drill Meet). If you would like to know more about the drill meet please keep following my blog, I will post some cool pics when the time comes! You can also comment below and I will be happy to answer any questions 🙂
Honor Guard, one of the three teams in Honor Corps
So one last thing, I am curious to know what everyone did over break? I just went home and hung out with my family, nothing too fun.
LOL. Comment below to share your break with us, we would love to know what you got to do!
Embry-Riddle offers a large variety of summer camps during the months of June and July. Overnight, day, athletic, you name it, we got it. These camps are designed for high school students who are just beginning to explore their college options or making a final decision. I had the pleasure of working with about a dozen other ERAU students and our wonderful Summer Program’s Department in making sure the summer of 2013 was the most enjoyable for all attendees. Being a Summer Program Coordinator is an ideal job for students who are taking summer courses, flying, or just want a steady pace job during the summer months. Before our first group of campers even got to campus, we had spent months preparing. This meant tons of paperwork, organization of supplies, coordination with our professors, moving into the dorms where the campers would be staying, and of course, becoming CPR and First Aid Certified.
The first couple weeks were hectic but my team of coordinators and the campers made it all a little bit easier. I was shocked at how eager and bright the high school students were. I mean, when I was 15, I definitely would not have been able to tell you every detail of a UAV. I learned very quickly that this was not the type of summer camp where parents drop off their kids like a day care. These students wanted to be here and they were ready to learn as much as they could in the week. I think that living in the dorms with the counselors made the campers comfortable and made their experience more enjoyable. However, when living in the dorms, as incoming students will learn their first year, stuff gets mixed up easily. Like, say if your name is Adam White and you work an entire shift as Jeffrey Boudoin.
This kind of thing happened often but there’s nothing wrong with a good long laugh. We honestly might have been having more fun than the campers at times. Our team was made up of pilots, CFI, GSIS majors, engineers, and me (the lone physicist) which made for a creative environment. The different mind processes brought innovative ideas to the table every week during our meetings. This diversity also helped with our wide range of camps that we offer which can be found here, http://summercamps.erau.edu/camps/index.html.
For many, an Embry-Riddle Summer Program was a camper’s first experience away from home. That being said, it was part of our job to make it as much fun as possible outside of the classroom lectures. This included trips to Sedona, Ghost Tours in downtown Prescott, dinners, movies, camper vs. counselor kickball games under the lights, hikes though the Dells, and anything else we thought they would enjoy. Activities varied from camp to camp because of the different types of students.
The end of the summer came much too quickly as most summers do. I was sad to see it was over but I also felt a sense of happiness. I had just spent the prior months encouraging younger students to become inspired, to follow their dreams, and to keep exploring things that they don’t understand. I had created a entirely new group of friends on campus through working with Summer Programs and the campers even stayed in touch with me via Facebook, Instagram, and yes even Snapchat. I received many messages like this one,
and the coolest part of it all? Now that I am a senior, I see so many underclassmen on campus that attended the camps and they look happy here at Embry-Riddle, which means I did my job.
After hiking Humphrey’s peak in Flagstaff, my friends and I hurried back to Prescott to catch the last half of Acker night. Every single business, or close to it, has a least one musical performance. You could hear Joy to The World on a banjo, Silent Night by chorus, or rock out to Jingle Bell Rock. Just look at that schedule of events!
The streets of square are lined with good food, group dances, and even pyrotechnic performers. Once the festivities came to an end, we grabbed a delicious dinner at the well-known local favorite, Bill’s Pizza. Prescott has an incredible sense of community similar to Embry-Riddle as seen through this great production.
Acker Night is just one of the many events that take place in the square. This one just happens to be extremely popular because who wouldn’t want to look at that beautifully lit up courthouse! They don’t call us Arizona’s Christmas City for nothin’.
What is Acker Night? Acker Night is produced solely by volunteers and was originally created to achieve the goals of benefactor and Prescott resident, James S. Acker. Mr. Acker first moved to Prescott in the early 1900’s. He was a proprietor of a general store which provided a variety of school and music supplies for the children. In the 1930’s he ran a real estate company where he began to gather parcels of property throughout the community. He left a number of those parcels of land to the City of Prescott to be used for parks and music programs when he passed away in 1955. Along with being a fun tradition, Acker Night combines participating downtown businesses with the support of hardworking musicians who donate their time and their talents. The mutual goal is to keep music alive and thriving for the youth of Prescott. All of the funds raised on Acker Night provide scholarships for music lessons, instruments and local youth performing arts programs.
Well here’s something new I’m trying… A sort of Video-blog kinda mesh, where the video is the main focus of the blog post and this text is just an accompaniment. If y’all enjoy this format, I’m sure you’ll see more in the future.
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At last, finals were done. And what better way to celebrate than hop on my less-than prepared bike and throw myself down a mountainside with my good friend Ben. I’ll let the video do most of the talking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDMCMU89ZP8
This is my first “VLog”, and other than noticing that I move my hands alot when I talk to the camera (I’m used to being BEHIND the camera), I really enjoyed the process and hope you enjoy the result as much as I do. Leave me some feedback on what you’d like to see next/what I can improve upon!
Hey everyone! We are really getting close to the end of the semester here, and getting excited for Christmas Break!
Being a student employee for Embry-Riddle has opened up doors by increasing the people I interact with and of course providing some money too. I have been working in the Admissions office since freshman year, and with this amazing job I have given tours to prospective students, and even traveled the around the country promoting ERAU, including Oshkosh 2014.
However, now that the end of my flight training and BS in Aeronautical Science degree is approaching I am looking ahead. For years now I have worked through the flight training program with the end goal of eventually becoming a flight instructor. Earlier last month I applied to become a Flight Instructor for Embry Riddle. After submitting the application, I was offered an interview for the position. At first I was excited but also nervous for the upcoming interview. I prepared in every way I knew how, getting my suit ready, reviewing any last CFI or CFII knowledge that I was unsure about, and of course the lesson plan. For a CFI interview, not only do you have to answer standard HR questions and technical flight questions, but you also have to present a lesson plan like you would to a student. This was the one part of the interview I was uneasy about; however with enough practice I nailed it.
I am happy to report that as of Monday, I have been offered a position as a flight instructor! My new hire date is scheduled for January 5th upon successful completion of my CFII check ride (expect a blog about that next week!). Many updates to come!
The first picture you see is me as a freshman, right after my first Solo flight in October of 2011. The following two are from the multi engine cross-country flight that I did to Salt Lake City, Utah (KSLC). You can also find great images and videos on our Flight Department facebook page. As a matter of fact I recommend you “like” the page so you can keep up on the cool things you’ll do as a flight student.
I cannot convey enough how awesome all of these flight experiences have been thus far. Here’s to clear skies!
Your instructor will take a picture upon the successful completion of your first solo flight!
Making progress in my training. This picture was taken last summer during my Multi-Engine Cross Country to SLC!
Sunset over Utah/Arizona Border!
Its amazing how fast this semester has gone by and for some of you the first set of college finals is looming in the not so far away future. However, for the vast majority of us here at Embry-Riddle Prescott, we know the drill from our past years of experience. That does not make it any easier though! Finals are always a nerve racking time to prove what you know and potentially boost your grades or keep them at a solid A. Whatever the case may be in regards to your grades do not forget to use your on campus resources for help!
Professors are more than happy to help you study for those finals and if they are not around then schedule an appointment with a tutor. The tutors are hired by the campus to help you so you do not need to pay them at all! They are a great resource however, starting on 4 Dec you may only meet a tutor by appointment so keep that in mind. Regular “Walk in” hours will resume again next semester. For our readers who do not know what “walk in” hours are, it is a time where a tutor will be in a specific location waiting for a student to walk in and ask for help. Pretty simple right? Well, it gets even better than that! All tutors where blue and gold lanyards with their name, so they are all very easy to find.
Additionally, tutor information is available on the control tower which is run through our student portal so you can log in today and check out the tutors available for the courses you need help in. If you want more information then contact Ms. Katie Green, the head of the tutor program. She hires all the tutors who are ready to help you!! You can find her information in the campus directory that current students have access to under people search.
And of course you need to eat well and de-stress during finals. The Finals Breakfast event is the perfect way to fill up on pancakes and have some fun too!
Hope this helps, good luck studying for those finals everyone!! Also, if you want some more info on our Academic Support check out their website!
Being a student at Embry-Riddle has made me realize that what I can achieve in the future is going to be great.
I knew that coming to a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and private school would differ from any other school, but I was unsure how it would be different. After the first week of classes, I realized what the difference was. The main difference was that everyone from admin to professors to staff care about the success of every student. I heard stories in high school from colleagues whom were in college about how they felt as if they were just a number since the university was so large. Here at Riddle I surprisingly enjoy the smaller student population since the classes are more interactive and I feel as if I am not just a number, but also a student who is striving to achieve similar goals as my colleagues.
I know that those who decided to attend here had a certain goal in mind whether it is for engineering or any of the other majors and it makes attending Riddle more enjoyable because fellow peers are going through the same journey together. The small student population indicates a tight-knit community throughout the university and in the close community there are numerous people that share the same love for aviation as I do. What I did not know is that quite a few people also share a common passion for robotics as do I.
I look forward to more great things that will surprise me about being a student at Embry-Riddle!
Kaila Romero, Women’s Softball
