DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge- Use your NOODLE!

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The UMass Lowell Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship is hosting the first annual Difference Maker Idea Challenge!!
Let’s get your noodles working!! =) Get creative! 
In this first Challenge, student teams will be asked to develop real solutions to real problems. Students are asked to present a concept proposal for a needed service, product or business that addresses a real world challenge, such as climate change, access to health care, support for the arts, cyber security, regional unemployment (additional categories TBA).
Eligibility

  • ·         Applicants must be UMass Lowell students (graduate or undergraduate) or have graduated from UMass Lowell within the past year.
  • ·         UMass Lowell students or recent alumni must take a leadership role in developing, presenting and implementing the concept and proposed solution.
  • ·         Students are encouraged to form interdisciplinary teams, meaning students from different majors should work together in developing and implementing the solution. If you haven’t yet connected with team members from other majors, we will help facilitate this.

Challenge Details and Deadlines
Challenge Kick-off Events

  • ·         Applications due by 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, 2013
  • ·         Applications must be submitted via the DM website. Forms are available at www.uml.edu/differencemaker.
  • ·         Finalists will be chosen for the pool of applicants and notified by Feb. 20.

Idea Concept Development – Jan. through Mar. 2013

  • ·         All student teams will be introduced to the Problem-Opportunity-Solution-Resources approach to problem solving. A series of workshops is scheduled to help teams examine their selected problem, explore the opportunity, develop possible solutions and identify needed resources.
  • ·         Idea Plan submission due by 5 p.m.  Apr. 12, 2013
  • ·         Each team must submit their proposed solution in an Executive Summary format, along with a concise PowerPoint Pitch Deck. This is an absolute deadline. Teams submitting plans past the deadline will not be included in the competition.

Idea Challenge Event – Apr. 17
Each team also will present a three minute pitch describing their problem and proposed solution before a panel of alumni judges. Each presentation will be followed by a brief Q&A session with the judges. The judges will convene to make final prize award decisions later this evening.
Prizes
A total of $25,000 prize will be awarded. YES you read correctly, $25,000! =)
For more information contact: DifferenceMaker@uml.edu
DON’T HESITATE! YOUR IDEAS DESERVE TO BE HEARD!

< 3 Giselle

An Early Spring!!!

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PHOTO: An early spring is on the way, according to groundhog "Punxsutawney Phil." When the Pennsylvania groundhog emerged from his dwelling at Gobbler's Knob on Feb 2, 2013, he did not see his shadow. 
  Punxsutawney Phil, the King of the Groundhogs!


 In case you didn’t know, Groundhog’s day was Saturday, and the proclamation is in!!!
On this February 2nd, 2013,
the One Hundred and Twenty Seventh Annual Trek of the
Punxsutawney Groundhog Club at Gobbler’s Knob….
Punxsutawney Phil, the King of the Groundhogs,
Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of Prognosticators,
Weather Prophet without Peer,
was awakened from his borrow at 7:28 am
with a tap of the President’s cane.
Phil and President Deeley conversed in Groundhogese
and Phil directed him to the chosen Prognostication scroll.
The President tapped the chosen scroll and
directed Phil’s Prediction be proclaimed:
My new Knob entrance is a sight to behold
Like my faithful followers, strong and bold
And so ye faithful,
there is no shadow to see
An early Spring for you and me.

Some good news! For the first time in nine years, Phil predicts an early Spring!!!

Which is fantastic news because its been dreadfully frigid out and I think it is fair to say that we are all sick of it. In case you are curious about Groundhogs like me, here are some fun facts: 

  •  The average groundhog is 20 inches long and normally weighs from 12 to 15 pounds. 
  • A groundhog can whistle when it is alarmed. 
  •  Groundhogs are one of the few animals that really hibernate. Hibernation is not just a deep sleep. It is actually a deep coma, where the body temperature drops to a few degrees above freezing, the heart barely beats, the blood scarcely flows, and breathing nearly stops. 
  •  A groundhog’s life span is normally 6 to 8 years.
Phil
 Swag

As you can see groundhog’s are pretty cool and kind of psychic since apparently Punxsutawney Phil can predict when Spring will occur I’m just excited that Phil predicted an early Spring because it’s way too cold out and we have a giant snow storm coming this weekend. I hate snow.

-Tim

 

 

Welcome Back!

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To quote Baby Bash from his 2005 hit single Baby I’m Back ft. Akon I would like to announce that in fact, “Baby I’m back, yeah.”
http://photo.sing365.com/music/picture.nsf/Baby-Bash-photo/F9F0AE2FA683C1B248256DCE000F3F05/$file/Baby+Bash.jpg 
I wonder what he’s thinking about?

Anyways, I hope all of you had a fantastic winter break. The month of January was certainly exciting and cold and it’s time to catch all of you back up. Classes are back in session so make sure you go to them and I hope you guys didn’t have to make it rain too hard at the bookstore. Today we are going to talk about the Spring Concert so start getting hyped. 

 


I want to start off by announcing, incase you didn’t know, the trillest rapper of all time Kendrick Lamar is coming to Umass Lowell April 21st! 
 
Young Kendrick doing what he does best.

Now I know you all wanted 2chainz or Juicy J and I did too but Kendrick Lamar is a good alternate. Kendrick Lamar is a pretty new rapper so if you‘re not about that life and haven’t listened to his music yet you should probably go buy his album “Good Kid M.A.A.D City” and listen to it. The album received universal acclaim and is definitely one of my favorite albums of 2012. 

And in case that didn’t get you turnt up Steve Aoki is coming to open up for Kendrick. I know all of you that wanted Dayglow or you’re reppin #twerkteam and all that stuff can definitely get excited for Steve Aoki. Here is one of Aoki’s hit tracks to get you excited. 
 
 
Now if you’re not hyped for this Spring Concert you’re doing something wrong. Now I bet you’re thinking to yourself “Wow, I’m getting hyped and stuff but ya know I was I spent all my money on books and stuff and I’m not trying to spending all this money cuz that Taylor Swift concert I attended last Spring cost me like over $100 and I’m not trying to spend mad money on a ticket.” Well to answer your concern, tickets are only $22 so for all you out there on your grind you only gotta save up like $0.30 cents a day to afford this. Once you get that $22 you’re gonna want to head down to Mcgauvran Student Center on South Campus and go to the 2nd floor and head over to the little window next to Student Activities. Head over there between regular office hours Monday-Friday and you will be fine, as of right now they are not sold out.You can only buy 2 tickets per student and you gotta bring your student ID with you so don’t take that shuttle all the down to South Campus without it!

That is kind of all the exciting information I have for you today, good luck with all your classes and try to stay warm. I’m about to go buy my ticket to that concert right now so if you know I’m gonna be there its gonna be a good time. 


-Tim Brown

How to lift, an iSiS guide

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For my first blog of the new year I will be teaching you about 
Yes, THE secrets your parents never told you to protect your young mind such as the truth about North Dakota 
(It’s a myth)

But mainly you will be learning about adding classes. You see we don’t have time to go into the deepest darkest reaches of iSiS; iSiS is a lot like the movie Inception except people don’t usually rave about iSiS or make it out to be more than it is BUT you can always go deeper. 

ALRIGHT CHUMPS, LET’S DO THIS

Step 1: Play Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins 
            Most likely you will need some inspirational 80’s music, there also might be a montage of some sort. I have included the inspiration for your pleasure and inspiration
“LAAAANNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAA….danger zone“
Step 2: Log into iSiS
  To log into iSiS start by going to isis.uml.edu then you want to click on this button that looks like this 
This is the button you want to click

Step 3: Enter your student login information
Your login information will be your student email address and the password you chose for that email. 
“So, here’s the thing – I need to access my iSiS account, and you’re preventing that. Now we can do this easy, or we can do it hard. Your call. No? Hard it is, then!” – me on my first iSiS login attempt

Step 4: Your Student Center
Congratulations you finally made it into iSiS!
This is not what your Student Center looks like

THIS is what your Student Center looks like


Step 5: ENABLE EASY MODE 
Remember that button I said enabled easy mode? CLICK IT. You should see a screen like this. 
Hopefully when you are doing this you have met with your adviser and they have gone over your curriculum requirements that you need to cover the upcoming semester so you have the classes you need to take accompanied by their course subject and course number. If not that is cool too. I will get you through this. If you are just enrolling in classes and only know the names of the classes you need to take you can find a classes course subject and course number along with a specific section number here 
Step 6: Adding classes
To add a class you will want to take the course subject number and enter it into the box next to where it says “Course Subject“, after doing so the department that hosts the course you are looking for will show up (if you type in 42 English will appear next to the course subject box). Then take the course number and enter it in the box next to where it says “Course Number” (College Writing I is 42.101. 42 is the course subject and 101 is the course number) 
What you should enter if you were looking for College Writing I
Time to click that juicy search button 
Step 7: Choosing a class
You will want to pick a class that fits your schedule the best and the best way to plan out your class schedule is to look and see if you have any classes that have a lab or meet very few times a week and base the rest of your classes around that. 
See the select buttons that are bordered in red? If you want to add a class click that button
Step 8: Adding a class to your shopping cart
iSiS is very good in making sure that you are sure about your decisions. After you clicked the ‘select class’ button because you want to enroll in that class you will see a screen like this
Step 9: FINISH ADDING THAT CLASS
You have made it so far it is time to finish this one off. Go to your shopping cart. OH NO. After clicking next you got brought to a screen that looks like this 
Trust me you want to go to the shopping cart

After clicking the shopping cart button you will see a screen like this. You are so close to enrolling in College Writing I it wouldn’t be fair for you to quit now!
After clicking that juicy ‘enroll‘ button you will be asked to confirm that you want to add that class IN CASE YOU STILL HAD ANY DOUBTS. That is just how much iSiS looks out for you. 
Step 10: Success!
You have now added the class and can go on and live your life to the fullest with that class now blocked into your daily schedule sometime between Monday and Friday. Go take a nap or eat some protein bars from all the heavy lifting you just did. If you can add a class on iSiS you can hoist quite well. Maybe drink some milk to bulk up, it is winter. If you are me you will start crying because you could not add College Writing I 
How you should feel after adding a class on iSiS
Is clearly hoisting and has presumably drank milk at some point
How you shouldn’t feel after adding a class on iSiS
Clearly doesn’t lift or drink milk
Hopefully that helped you if you had any questions about adding a class on iSiS. There is a plethora of ways to utilize iSiS. You can use it to pay your fees for the semester, view your exam schedule, and a bunch of other good stuff. Be sure to check it out and learn how to use iSiS because a tool is only as good as the person wielding it. 
-Brady
         
                

WINTER BREAK!!!

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School is finally out!!!
This is how I feel…
This is the most ridiculous video I have ever seen.  
 Hopefully you all got some good grades. I got some awesome ones in case anyone cares (totally giving myself a pat on the back right now). So finals are over and school is out until January 22. For all the freshman reading this, how awesome does that feel? I don’t really understand the logistics of giving us all a month off of class but I am not complaining. It is just awesome.
Regardless….
Here is another reason to be happy!
 
Planet Nibiru decided to spare us Earthlings. 
As of 3:13pm on December 21st, 2012 I am still at my work typing on this keyboard. The world has not ended. According to whatever apocalyptic prophesy you prescribe to, needless to say, it did not occur. We are all alive. We can all celebrate the holidays. Ya good stuff!
Anyways, according to the Huffington Post, shenanigans in and around the Mayan pyramids were going down. Here is a quote, “The boisterous crowd included Buddhists, pagan nature worshipers, druids and followers of Aztec and Maya religious traditions. Some kneeled in attitudes of prayer, some seated with arms outstretched in positions of meditation, all facing El Castillo, the massive main pyramid.”  
Also, according to some random person there, who “stood before the pyramid and blew a low, sonorous blast on a conch horn. “It has already arrived, we are already in it,” he said of the new era. “We are in a frequency of love, we are in a new vibration.” So thats cool too I guess.
Here is the full article, its quite ridiculous:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/end-of-the-world-2012_n_2344389.html?ir=World
Anyways, I hope you all have a fantastic winter break!
Tim Brown


Giving back to the community

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Giving back to the community will not only sooth your soul, give you good karma, help others greatly, BUT it is also an excellent experience to put on your resumes! As college students you should know how difficult the economy is out there and you need things on your resume that makes you stand out from other college students. Take it from me, I’ve been volunteering in different places since my early high school years, it has done wonders for my growth, career and soul! If you don’t think volunteering is the thing for you, its OK, there are other ways you can give! Isn’t it great?
15 ways to give back
Donate unused clothing to Salvation Army
We all have clothes that we haven’t worn in months, maybe even years. Why not give them to people who need them? Or even to people who would wear them every single day?
Volunteer at a local soup kitchen
Working at a soup kitchen will teach you so much about how to appreciate the life that you love and everything in it. When you see people who are just happy to have a full stomach, you’ll want to volunteer again to help those people in need. It can be pretty life changing…
Write letters to soldiers overseas
There are men and women who protect this country. They deserve the very best from all of us. Write a letter to someone anonymously. I guarantee that it’ll make their day. They’ll appreciate their job that much more. (I Think I’ll even try this!)
Donate money to local charities
Don’t have any time to volunteer, but still want to help? No problem, just give a little bit of money to a great cause that you think deserves it. Are not well off economically? That’s fine. Any little bit helps!
Go back to your old high school and volunteer
You’ll be able to see your old teachers and help in the classrooms that you once sat it. Those children will look up to you in ways that you can’t imagine. Plus, we all know that high school can be tough. Why not help them get through it? Just share your experiences, what worked, what didn’t, help them have an easier growing up process!
Become a mentor for a young boy or girl
Becoming a big brother or sister for someone who can’t biologically have one is such a great experience for everyone. You’re giving that young one a chance to have someone to look up. That’s a gift in itself. Even if they do have a biological brother or sister, they might not be able or willing to help their sibling, that’s where you come in! Who knows you may change the whole family’s life! Wicked! =)
Buy from your local farmer’s market
Support local farmers and crop growers. Take a visit to your farmer’s market and buy the goods that are locally grown and produced.
Leave a waitress at a local restaurant a huge tip
Most waitresses’ work longs days just to make ends meet. Tips are one of the only ways that they can do that, so leave them a larger tip than normal and a smile. They’ll appreciate it more than you can imagine. Try it even if the waitress wasn’t as pleasant, she could have just been having a pretty lousy day.
Give blood
There is alwaysa need for blood so this one is a no-brainer. One trip to giving blood can lead to you saving 3 lives and/or 9 babies. I have wanted to do this, but tattoos and piercings get in the way =/ don’t let your fear of needles stop you! It’s just a pinch!
Pay the tab for the person in front of you in line when grocery shopping
I’ve heard stories of this happening to people, and each time, they’ve always had a big smile on their face. Do that for someone.
Work on a local political campaign for free
If you’re into politics, this is a great way to get the experience you may need for your future.
Volunteer your time to plant trees
The world needs more trees. Be kind to the environment and plant a few trees. Spring is coming! Make your community pretty. 
Work for a non-profit organization for free
This could also be considered having an internship that is non-paid. It’s a great experience; it’ll teach you the value of a dollar. Definitely taught me! Non-profit organizations have been a LARGE part of my life and I LOVE IT! (Look into the Boston Project Ministries)
Buy your co-workers lunch one day
This is a simple act of kindness that can put a smile on your co-workers faces. I know it will put an even bigger one on me, I love unselfishness! Or even bring some cookies in, any gesture would be amazing!
Do something you’re good at for someone that’s in need
Help someone; take photographs for someone for free if you’re a photographer. Get practice with what you’re good at. In my case, I like helping people make schedules for classes! They hate it, I love it, works out for the both us. 
-Giselle

Holiday Gifting for Poor College Students!

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So it’s nearing that time again, whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Winter Solstice or Boxing Day or ALL OF THE ABOVE. Regardless, you’re going to need to give gifts to some family and friends so they don’t disown you and hate you forever. But, as poor college students, gift giving can be hard! For those of you unaware, I am the craftiest human being on the planet, so I’m here to help you make super simple and super awesome gifts.


FOOD.

Everyone loves food. Unless it’s something dumpy like stale fruitcake, just about everyone will eat and enjoy food as a gift. You know those jars of baking ingredients everyone buys/makes and gives out as gifts? I still have one sitting in my house from when I was a baby. When it comes to your gift receivers actually DOING SOMETHING, it’s generally a flop.

what, I actually have to MAKE these cookies you’re giving me?

BUT. What about hot chocolate? It’s the easiest thing to make ever, just put hot water in it and bam, instant coziness. You can even get fancy and add MARSHMALLOWS or CHOCOLATE CHIPS or PEPPERMINT. I was inspired by this cute recipe, but if you’re especially lazy, you can forego making your own hot chocolate mix and use Swiss Miss or something. Then you pretty up the jars with ribbons and goodies and fanciness and it looks like you put a ton of effort and thought and love into these gifts. 

note to any of my friends reading this: I put a ton of effort and thought and love into your gifts, I swear.
Speaking of peppermint, everyone loves PEPPERMINT STICKS and candy canes and whatnot. Instead of getting a cheapo pack of candy canes from WalMart and tossing them out to everyone, you can put a tiny bit more effort into it and make them at least 600%* better.
*not an actual estimate
Inspired by this recipe, you can get whatever stick-like candy you desire (even pretzel sticks!), dip it in any melty sweetness you want (chocolate? caramel? FROSTING?!) and roll it in some sort of small topping, like jimmies or sprinkles or those fancy gold flakes. As far as the gifting process, you can be all fancy and generous and give people batches of them in nice gift boxes with pretty tissue paper and all that; or just get those dumpy cellophane bags, shove a couple in there, and tie it with some ribbon. Boom. Roasted. Candy.

DELICIOUS


NOT FOOD.


Just about everything in life can be separated into two categories: edibles, and non edibles. Edibles are the important wonderful things in life, and non edibles are just there so we don’t eat everything in the world.
Anyway! An old time favourite gift from back in the day is mix CDs. They’re so much easier nowadays than in the time of mix tapes where you had to manually and painstakingly record songs onto cassettes; now you just make a playlist in iTunes or Winamp (does anyone use that anymore?) and boom, ten minutes later it’s burned onto a CD. Make a nice personalized mix for your close friends and actually put some thought into it, or maybe just mass produce a sweet party jam and make it rain CDs. 

everyone can jam out on their discmen like the old days

CHALKBOARD PAINT. It’s the latest craze. Pick some up and go nuts. Found a cheapo dumpy mug for a dollar? PAINT IT. Random tiny picture frame? PAINT IT. Tape dispenser? PAINT IT.

if you happen to have an old TV laying around, PAINT IT.

So! I hope I was helpful in giving you some cheap, easy ideas for gifts this holiday season. Pinterest is always a great resource if you’re feeling crafty, or just want to look at a bunch of pretty things you’ll never be able to make/have.
Good luck with finals, and have a great winter break friends!!

Love,
          Trudy

Winter can be FUN! Just keep WARM.

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Are you afraid? It’s almost here!! I can feel it, the cold yet burning sensation to my skin; tears running down my face, the red nose and discomfort. Oh why must I face this tragedy called WINTER?
Cold weather can be dangerous. Many people don’t realize how quickly cold weather can lower their body temperature, until it actually happens. Some people also don’t know how to properly dress so that they retain as much body heat as possible when going outside. Dressing properly can go a long way in preventing hypothermia and frostbite.
How to handle the cold
Set up your base– Walking around campus in the fall and spring seemed pretty easy right? Well winter will not be so much. Make sure you have set up a comfy and warm place for you to be at. Winter is the season to hibernate! (Not for too long though).
Supplies– Girls please don’t go out in our typical skimpy dresses, LAYERS is our BEST FRIEND! You will look hot in anything =). Warmer sweatshirts than the ones you used for fall, WOOL socks are heaven in keeping you warm, and a cute yet very warm coat is NECESSARY! Try Macy’s or Burlington Coat Factory for some. To spice up your wardrobe add a SCARF! Looks good and keeps you warm. YEY! Personally I have a drawer filled.
Find reasons to stay active– If you are like me, you hate planning, and you just wait until one of your friends says “get dressed, we’re going out!”. That is a perfect motto to follow in fall, spring and summer. NOT WINTER. Winter is the time where even if your brain doesn’t want to stay in, your body is telling you WE”RE STAYING IN! Fight your body! Many people fall into depression and become very anti-social in the winter, you don’t want to become that. FORCE yourself out of bed, have dinner, play in the snow, bring your blanky and watch movies at a friend’s place, etc. STAY ACTIVE.
Find the positives– Christmas music! My ultimate favorite! Wait until December 1st you WILL hear me sing them around campus. There is Hot chocolate, throwing snowballs at your least favorite roommate (muahaha).  Then there are presents, going into the city and seeing how even more beautiful it looks with all the colorful lights everywhere, checking out the cool ice sculptures and snow angels! You can even go off to a log cabin for the weekend with friends and ski or snowboard, and then come back to the warm fire and BOND! Winter is not all that bad as long as your LAYERED and kept WARM.
Where to look for some winter fun

Offices to keep in mind: Career Services and Cooperative Education Center

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With the fall semester coming to an end in little over a month hopefully you are doing well in your classes and are adequately prepared for your remaining exams and quizzes. If you are a freshmen you might be asking yourself a few questions like “Do I want to continue my major?” or “All of these classes are great! My only concern is that classes don’t give me a competitive edge when I graduate, how do I go about gaining that experience?” Ok, most of you maybe were putting that last question off until later but it is definitely a question that you need to address because having work experience coming out of college is shown to give people a competitive edge in the job market. Luckily for you UMass Lowell has the Career Services & Cooperative Education Center which can help, which is conveniently located in room 328 of Southwick Hall on North Campus.

Co-op
The co-op program is open starting your Sophmore year only if you have permission from your department and are in good academic standing. The co-op program is described in three phases. The first phase being Preparation, this phase is meant to ensure that you are professionally ready to begin your co-op. The way that you go about achieving this readiness is by taking a one credit seminar, The Professional Development Seminar. This seminar is meant to provide you with the “necessary structure, resources, and support” to be successful in obtaining and maintaining your co-op. The second phase is the actual work experience. The co-op periods are split up into two different periods. You can either work a two, three-month summer co-op periods or you can work two, six-month co-op periods that take place during the school semester. The summer co-op periods do not interfere with your graduation time but the periods during the semester do, which is something to keep in mind because some classes are only offered during certain semesters. Some employers like to keep the students for the two periods but at the discretion of the company or yourself you can choose to work at another company when it comes time for your second period. After you have completed a period of co-op experience you need to enroll in a one credit co-op assessment course which is meant to assist you in “evaluating, reflecting, and presenting” on your work experience.  
More information about how to go about participating in the co-op program and more information about the program in general can be found at 
Interviewing

What I find to be one of the interesting services offered by the Career Services office, besides a co-op, is the ability to conduct mock interviews. Let’s be honesty everyone loves a good co-op.

Ok, maybe Infinity Ward doesn’t, but most people do

The office goes about conducting them in a number of different ways that are entirely up to you as the student. You can either have your interview recorded, have a face-to-face interview, by phone to rehearse the commonly used phone screen interview, or if you have a webcam you can use “Interview Stream” which functions 24/7 and can be done from the comfort of your room. The interview practice is very helpful so that you don’t have something like this happen to you…

Just one, can you name one magazine?

Hopefully after practicing your interviewing skills and going over the commonly asked interview questions, which can be found at http://www.uml.edu/student-services/Career-Services/For-Students/Interviewing/Interviewing.aspx, you can name a magazine if asked to do so. 
Resumes 

More than likely you have had to submit a resume at one point in your life whether it was to be a Crew Member at McDonald’s or to that job at Best Buy that you keep telling yourself that the reason you didn’t get hired was because you were overqualified and knew more about electronics than everyone else that worked there combined. You are also not holding a grudge against Best Buy. What is also more than likely is that you will need to submit a resume to a company if you are applying for a job after college or if you are looking at an internship or co-op of some sort. Luckily for you the Career and Co-op Center is here to help, again! The Career and Co-op Center allows for you to either drop-in to have your resume looked over or you can schedule an appointment to see a career counselor for help. These resources are available to you as a student so that you don’t have this happen to you the next time you apply for a job.

-Brady

Disney Bought Star Wars?!

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Disney Acquired Star Wars!!!


Ya, Disney acquired Star Wars. That really did happen. Disney recently acquired Lucas Films for 4.05 billion. Yolo. 


What this means for the franchise I am not entirely sure. I anticipate Disney is going to make some more Star Wars movies. We can only hope an expansion into the beloved creation that is the Star Wars galaxy. I have a couple characters I hope they will expand upon. I hope you guys feel the same way as me by the end of this blog. I don’t really know much about Star Wars but I do know that some characters are very interesting. Here we go.



Yaddle

Among one of the most interesting species in the Jedi Universe is the race referred to as “Yoda’s species.” Because George Lucas never wanted to release information regarding the origins and whereabouts of Yoda’s species, we may never know. Yaddle is among one of these unique creatures referred to as “Yoda’s species.” Yaddle is a female jedi master and some would argue that Yaddle is nearly as powerful as Yoda. 

Fun Fact: Yaddle uses a rare orange lightsaber.

Jar Jar Binks

Alright… Jar Jar Binks might be one of the most hated characters of all time. I understand. I love Jar Jar Binks though because his laughably ludicrous behavior. I cannot take this character seriously whatsoever and everything he does consequently results in a giggle from the inner child of my soul. Jar Jar Binks is everything you hate and everything you love. He makes no sense.

Fun Fact: Jar Jar Binks was a galactic senator in his prime and comes from the planet of Gungan (not gagnam, sorry). 

Ikrit-PotJSB.jpg
Ikrit

Ikrit is a jedi master. I am not sure how the logistics of jedi training occurred or how the force is apparently strong with this floppy eared kitten, it just is. No justification necessary. I am not really even familiar with how Ikrit can hold a lightsaber. Oh yeah, Ikrit was also yoda’s apprentice. I would imagine it to be laughable to watch Ikrit and Yoda train together. Perhaps a future movie can elaborate on this magical moment of cinematic wonder. 

Fun Fact: Ikrit was ironically killed by a group of people referred to as the “Peace Brigade.”

Darth Zannah TERC.jpg
Darth Zannah

Darth Zannah is a pretty cool character. Zannah never received formal jedi training but still managed to be a great warrior. She was the apprentice of Darth Bane. Zannah is a very interesting character who used defensive prowess and an acute ability of Sith magic to overpower her enemies. I am not really sure why I like Darth Zannah so much, but I do know that she is pretty beast-mode. 

Fun Fact: Darth Zannah uses a double edged red lightsaber.

Do I think Disney will include any of these characters in the film series? Probably not. Do I buy scratch tickets sometime in hopes of being able to win a million dollars? Sure do. Sometimes all we have is our dreams and faith to hold onto. I can only hope that Yaddle, Jar Jar Binks<3, Ikrit, and Darth Zannah are in some Star Wars movie installations in my lifetime. Especially Jar Jar, who will eternally have a special place in my heart. 

Hope you enjoyed this weeks blog installment. Happy Holidays!

-Tim