Fact789's Blog-Associates Degree and Summer Plans

[JonathanBelles]

Since I posted these in chat a little bit ago I thought I would post theses in between Chemistry studies...

[CajunMama]

I still say you need to hook up with the girl in the long blue dress in the middle.

[JonathanBelles]

Today, I was re-elected Vice President of Leadership for my chapter.

[JonathanBelles]

I got a 101 on my last PreCalc test, effectively getting me a 95 for an overall grade. I was therefore 1 of 3 allowed to exempt the massive final exam! This means two things: my semester is over except for one last speech, and I have (unless something unexpected happens) secured a 4.0 for this semester. At the semester that I have had, and the April that I have had, I am amazed that what I have done. unbelievable! Now when it hits me, I will have to celebrate. I have two weeks to volunteer and catch up with friends and to relax and to chat without thinking about homework and maybe go to the beach..

[JonathanBelles]

Phi Theta Kappa was featured on the news while we were there with our partnerships with Keep Grapevine Beautiful and Keep American Beautiful. Here is that story:

http://websrvr92va.audiovideoweb.com/va ... EBAB1F.wmv

[tropicana]

congrats on all your successes! you do work hard, so you shouldnt doubt yourself. a 4.0 for the semester is nothing to sneeze at *ACHOOOO* ooops sorry allergies,

but yeah, enjoy the next 2 weeks off, have fun at the beach, i hate you haha nooo im kidding.
celebrate your achievements!

-justin-

[vbhoutex]

As always Jonathan you are at the top of the pack!! As Justin says celebrate your successes!!! You deserve that and more!!!! If more people in this world were like you it would be a much better place for us all!!

[JonathanBelles]

I wanted to see exactly what I did this semester, and I thought I would post that list (hopefully not forgetting anything)...

Things I accomplished
1 Lake Clean-up
Taught 5 Junior Achievement Classes (1 more this week)
1 Park Clean-up
Cooked 2 Ronald McDonald House Meals
Put together a Bowl-A-Thon
Put together a Steak and Shake fundraiser
Built one Habitat for Humanity House
1 Trail clean-up
A very successful Relay For Life raising $3,300
Successful Committee chair member for Relay
Successful run at Vice President of my chapter of Phi Theta Kappa
Who's Who nomination and award
All-USA Nomination/All-Florida First Team win
Individual Scholarship Hallmark Award win
1 Article in the Florida regional newspaper for Phi Theta Kappa (possible 2nd in a few weeks)
Leadership Certified by the SGA of FL
Unsuccessful Case Study
Sustained a 4.0 GPA (thats right I got A's in all 4 classes this semester!!! WOW!)
Filmed the fall Eta Nu Recruitment Video

Where I went
FJCCSGA- St. Pete
PTK International-Dallas
St. Petersburg History Project and Tour
Tropicana field to sell roses for scholarship at graduation
Mardi Gras at Universal

People I have met
St. Petersburg College Provost, Associate Provost and President
Dr. Dean Kohrs
amazing people from around the world

Where I spoke
Relay For Life
Chapter Induction and orientation
Chapter/SGA meetings

Things that changed
my graduation date
my friends and family
my knowledge
my wisdom

What I did...

Have a lot of fun!

[JonathanBelles]

I have a big milestone to announce today. I got my first job today!! It's really a paid internship, but oh well. The details are yet to be worked out, but I am working with WorkNet Pinellas @ St. Petersburg College. It's only 5 weeks, 4 weeks of which I will be working (the other week I will be in Richmond). I'll be working 3 days a week. They had to work around my schedule, which is darn near impossible, so I was somewhat surprised I got the internship.

I also got a surprising 104 on my 1st calc test!

[JonathanBelles]

Hey everyone,

Quite a bit of updating to do on my part. All is going well, and quick too. My internship is going quite well. Two weeks are through, and I very much like working with the kids. I'm teaching 8th-11th graders business ethics, job skills, career building abilities, and banking smarts. Quite a bit of fun actually, but I still prefer elementary school kids.

Tomorrow I will be leaving for Richmond, VA for a Phi Theta Kappa International Honors Institute. Known as the ultimate honors programming experience, the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Institute is a week-long conference that brings together members, advisors and alumni to closely examine the Honors Study Topic, the Paradox of Affluence: Choices, Challenges, and Consequences. There will be numerous speakers from across the US, topics including Affluence as it relates to the Civil War (given by the former Executive Secretary of Phi Beta Kappa, our superior organization), Iran/US Relations (given by an NPR editor), primatology, anthropology and archaeology to discuss both affluence and violence in human culture and their connection, Affluence as it relates to racial tensions, and Affluence as it relates to families and communities. Very interesting topics, and I am very curious as to the Irani speaker.

This convention is quite a bit different than the others. I will be staying on campus (at the University of Richmond) the entire week except Thursday. We will be staying in dorms, where I might be dorming with anyone from FL to CA, which is going to be cool! We will be eating all food from the campus commissary or what ever they call it. Going to be a lot like University life. Long days (which is normal), most of which range from 7a-10:30p. This one seems to be more business than all other conventions, but it still should be fun.

Thursday, I will either be going to a colonial village in Williamsburg or DC. Either one will be great! Haven't been to either one, so both will be a new experience.

I'll be coming home late Saturday night. I most likely wont have computer access the entire time (or TV for that matter), so I wont be connected to anything, so don't expect me in chat or on the forum.

On my birthday (July 10th), I'll be going to the regional version of the Honors Institute in Jacksonville, so i'll be busy until the end of the semester (July 23rd-counting down the seconds!)

Other than the above this is what my chapter and I have been doing Spring and Summer Semester 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwObLoPKads

I'll update in a week or two, when I get time.

Jonathan

[JonathanBelles]

When I said a week or two, I must've meant a month. haha. oh well.

A lot to update here. My internship is over. My semester is over. Ive been to Richmond and Jacksonville, and I am off to the Nature Coast and Miami.

My internship ended quite a while ago, and it all went very well. I got a lot of teaching/learning experience, and I picked up a couple of friends and a couple hundred dollars.

My semester ended last Tuesday. I earned an A in Calculus 1, surprisingly. I got a B on 4 of 6 tests, which is the reason I was surprised. I know it had to have been a low A, but an A is an A, especially in Calculus. I have to thank my calc teacher and JBF for helping me quite a bit. This means that after 5 semesters, I still have a 4.0, which to me is unbelievable still! Next semester I am taking Calculus 2, Physics with Calculus I and Lab and likely Honors Psychology. Classes start August 24th, and for the first time, it will be 5 days a week unfortunately.

I let you read the papers I just finished writing for the school on my trips to Richmond and Jacksonville for Phi Theta Kappa.

Code: Select all

[b]My Phi Theta Kappa International Honors Institute Experience[/b]

   My Phi Theta Kappa International Honors experience at the University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia was a complete learning opportunity that I am very glad to have had.  I jumped on the plane to Richmond not knowing what to expect, but expecting the best.  My best expectations were blown out of this world!  In Richmond, we got to meet hundreds of people from all over the country and even a few from overseas, listen to speakers from a broad range of affluent views, talk with other officers of Phi Theta Kappa about all things Affluenza and otherwise.  We also were enabled to perform on stage and travel in Virginia around Richmond and to Williamsburg. 

   Richmond provided the absolute best scholarship and fellowship experience I have ever had.  Seven speakers speaking in six different general sessions provided many different views of how the Paradox of Affluence: Choices, Challenges, and Consequences…our current Honors Study Topic…affects every day life across this planet.  We heard from a former executive secretary of Phi Beta Kappa who spoke about Richmond’s affluent history and the paradox of its slave and Confederate history.  Davar Ardalan, Senior Producer for NPR, gave us a new perspective of Iran and its relations with America through her experiences in both countries, and then explained the paradoxes of living in both countries.  Dr. Michael Galaty entertained us with some serious monkey business.  He has studied the affluences of two of our most recent non-human ancestors, Chimpanzees and Bonobos.  He did this by explaining that with land comes happiness or violence depending on the society of monkey. Then we had a town hall style meeting where we watched seven clips from movies and TV shows that contained themes from some of the issues from the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Study Guide.  Then, Dr. Randall Kennedy spoke brought the paradoxes of skin color into view.  He examined the paradoxes of boundaries and betrayal between different groups, often in the black community. Finally Paul Loeb shared through his experiences how to get involved in your community.
   After each speaker or presentation, we had a blast in seminar sessions led by Phi Theta Kappa faculty scholars.  They facilitated great discussions of all of the speakers before them.  The seminar groups were very small, of only 10-14 per group, which was the perfect size for the conversations.  The seminar sessions were the best part of the entire week.  We did not need much of a shove by our seminar leader to talk about the speakers and everything Phi Theta Kappa. We talked about the crucial issues in today’s society such as Iran and other war torn countries, the health care system, today’s economy, and the education system of America.  Afterwards, we always had time, or made time to talk about our home chapters and regions.  We were able to talk about successes and problems in our chapters and what to do about them. I got to see what other chapters from across the country were doing and how, and picked up a few tips along the way.  Along this journey we also gained 14 new friends that we got to know very well, and friends that I still talk to today.  They became a support group, a go-to problem group, a fun group, and a group that in the end made me laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time. By the end of the week, our group leader Dan had to just about kick us out and tell us to go away. 
   On our R&R day, Eta Nu went on a trip to Williamsburg to see colonial life in Colonial Williamsburg.  It was an amazing adventure walking through the streets there with re-enactors getting news from Boston that the Boston Tea Party had begun.  While we were there we also got to go into the old Virginia Capitol, numerous shops where they make everything from clothes to silver, a brickyard, the old courthouse, a woodshop, and the Governors Mansion.  We got to eat and breathe colonial life for a few hours, which was quite a neat experience.
   On the last day of the institute, the most amazing day, I got to participate in the last general session as a star of the show.  Throughout the week we rehearsed for Readers Theater, which was directed by Stephen Schroeder.  Everyone involved was given a script, which we used during the performances and parts in two of five performances that ranged from drama to comedy with minimal sets. I got to perform in ‘Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak’, where I played a double amputee that was captured in Afghanistan and sent to Guantanamo Bay. Everyone also had numerous parts in ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’, which enabled us to speak and sing the classic with the same name.  Readers Theater gave me the chance for the first time to go on stage doing theater.  At first, I was quite nervous, but I very much got into it.  The performances helped me strengthen my voice, which is still quite weak, and it may be brought to the school in the future in the form of a club and chapter activity. This also gave me the opportunity to meet many people with, some with theater experience, but mostly this was also their first experience with theater. I had an amazing time doing it, as it was a once in a lifetime experience for me to perform for people across the country. 
   We had an great time down to the last second in Richmond. Before our flight back to Tampa, we went around the historic areas of Richmond including the Virginia Capitol building, Monument Avenue, Carytown, and Hollywood Cemetery. Hollywood Cemetery was very interesting to me.  While we were there we got to see two American Presidents (James Monroe and John Tyler), Confederate President Jefferson Davis, many US and Confederate military officers, and many other local legends. While we were there we also got to see a great landscape of the Virginia skyline and the James River.  Later in the day we went to the Virginia Capitol, where we got to go into the Virginia House and Senate Chambers, and the old Virginia Chambers. We also got to see the only lifelike statue of George Washington, as well as Washington Monument, the Virginia Supreme Court and Executive Mansion (which we did not go in).  This day was a very educational experience for me, seeing quite a bit of the Virginia history. The Virginia Capitols were only the second state capitols that I have seen. 
   With all of the friends we were leaving behind, I was very delighted to see two of my friends were on the same plane as us on the way to Charlotte.  This gave us time to have an unexpected connection before the long trip back. I won’t ever soon forget the flight from Charlotte to Tampa. I used it as a reflection on all of the above, which nearly made me cry, but by the end of the flight we flew over the beautiful city lights of Central Florida. This provided an amazing closure to an amazing week. 

   I am very happy to have had this everything experience.  I grew friends, knowledge, memories, life experiences, and experiences I have brought back to my region and chapter.  The Phi Theta Kappa International Honors Institute in Richmond, Virginia was an unforgettable experience that I will have with me for the rest of my life that I am VERY thankful for. This trip gave me a wealth of information to ponder upon, and to bring back to Eta Nu.  Richmond put the choices, challenges, and consequences of every day life into perspective, and brought new choices into new light.  I hope that you will allow anyone who desires to go to any Phi Theta Kappa convention or conference the chance that I had.  It truly was an amazing and life changing experience.  Thank You!!

Jonathan Belles
VP of Leadership
Eta Nu chapter, Phi Theta Kappa

[b]My Phi Theta Kappa Regional Honors Institute Experience[/b]

   My Phi Theta Kappa Regional Honors experience at Florida State College at Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida was a great one.  This convention was a little bit different that all those before that I have attended.  This time, I knew one of the speakers, I had a regional responsibility or two, and I was a Seminar Leader. 

   When we arrived in Jacksonville, I was very much excited to see Yvonne, the host chapters president, and Dr. Dean Kohrs as well as all of the Florida Phi Theta Kappans I already knew.  A few hours after arriving to our hotel rooms we went through letting everyone know Eta Who was.  I also was given the opportunity to let everyone know what my International Honors was like, and it was my first of many experiences to talk to the region as a whole, which was awesome!  Then we got to listen to a different Dr. Dean Kohrs speech.  I was quite interested to hear what he had put together, knowing that it wasn’t his normal speech.  He provided a number that intrigued me.  He said that it takes 10,000 hours of studying in your field of study to know your field enough to be called a professional. He also gave an argument to the Nature vs. Nurture theories.
   After the first general session was over, I was given my first surprise.  While we were taking pictures for Whole Foods, who provided all of us reusable bags for the convention, a few of my friends started singing me happy birthday.  It was indeed my birthday, so I should have expected it, but I did not expect the entire region to sing me happy birthday. 
   The next day we had speakers from Komen for the Cure, Keep Jacksonville Beautiful, the Murray Hill Arts Center in Jacksonville, and then our Regional Coordinator, Connie.  I found the speaker from Keep Jacksonville Beautiful the most interesting speaker because she coordinates a project that Eta Nu hopes to begin in the fall through Keep Pinellas Beautiful.  She gave all of us new information, ideas, and answered our questions that may be instrumental to our new project in the Fall.  Eta Nu also had a big part in Connie’s presentation on Honors in Action.  After announcing the changes coming to the awards for all of us, Eta Nu was able to answer questions from what we have been told in Richmond and answer questions on the general way we write awards. We were also able to announce a few of our Honors in Action projects of the future, and bounce ideas off of other chapters.
   After each of the speakers, we all went to our Seminar Groups, in a similar fashion to that of the International version.  Here, we got to talk about the speakers, and we actually got Dr. Dean Kohrs to talk to our group during the second break out session to answer questions.  I got to know a few of the people from this group, and gain more experience in leading groups.  As a Seminar Group leader, I facilitated discussion, answered questions, and shared my prior experiences in Richmond with everyone. 
   After all of the speaking was done, and all of the pizza was gone, Eta Nu took to the Masquerade Dance Floor. The Upsilon Eta chapter of FSCJ, who hosted the entire convention, provided everyone with masks and a great time on the dance floor, where Eta Nu dominated.  We even got Mr. Meier to dance a couple times. 
   
   All in all, I had a great time in Jacksonville at the Florida Regional Honors Institute.  Eta Nu got meet many people from the region, and learned a lot from everyone.  During lunch on Saturday, I was enabled to talk to every chapter in the region, and to get everyone to place their locations on the regional map.  As the regional project leader of the Phi Theta Kappa International Mapping Project, I will get to talk to all of the chapters in Florida.  I am very thankful to be able to go all conventions and conferences, and I hope you will allow anyone who desires to go to any Phi Theta Kappa convention or conference the chance that I had.  It truly was an amazing and life changing experience.  Thank You!!

Jonathan Belles
VP of Leadership
Eta Nu chapter, Phi Theta Kappa

Also, as I mentioned I will be traveling to the Nature Coast (most likely the rainbow river) sometime in the near future. I will be going to Miami on a Student Government trip on August 5th-8th as well.

I hope you enjoy reading about my experiences. Feel free to comment. I do have an active Twitter Account now (Fact789), as does storm2k_org. You can also keep up with me in chat or on Facebook.

Thanks Storm2k!
Jonathan

[JonathanBelles]

Hello everyone!
I know its been a LONG time ( a year ) since I've written here, but today I hit a huge accomplishment. I hope to hit many more this summer.

Anyway, I graduated today with my Associate's Degree today!!! I have been at St. Petersburg College for three wonderful years, and I have accomplished a lot. I'm still waiting on one of my grades to be processed so that I know my final GPA, but I am estimating that I will be finishing with a 3.82/4 GPA (Magna Cum Laude). This is my first of three big milestone towards becoming a Meteorologist, and I still have my Bachelors and my Masters yet to come. I will be working to transfer my knowledge and power to my teammates and successors in Phi Theta Kappa and the other 3 organizations I will be moving away from. I also graduated with my Honors Diploma from the Honors College about a week ago. As you saw in one of the other threads, I have big summer plans encompassing both the west and east coast of Florida and the US. I will also be working on putting together a portfolio of all things SPC that I did at SPC, as well as a meteorological portfolio.

My next big step in my education career is Florida State orientation on July 9th. Between that date and my first day of classes at FSU, I will be moving out of my parents house and into an apartment or dorm in Tallahassee. The only part I am really nervous about is moving. I am already making a few connections in Tallahassee, with many many more to come.

I will include pictures from my latest year and from recent graduation soon. I will also post pictures of my Honors diploma and AA degree when they come (in 4-5 weeks :| )

[somethingfunny]

Hello everyone!
I know its been a LONG time ( a year ) since I've written here, but today I hit a huge accomplishment. I hope to hit many more this summer.

Anyway, I graduated today with my Associate's Degree today!!! I have been at St. Petersburg College for three wonderful years, and I have accomplished a lot. I'm still waiting on one of my grades to be processed so that I know my final GPA, but I am estimating that I will be finishing with a 3.82/4 GPA (Magna Cum Laude). This is my first of three big milestone towards becoming a Meteorologist, and I still have my Bachelors and my Masters yet to come. I will be working to transfer my knowledge and power to my teammates and successors in Phi Theta Kappa and the other 3 organizations I will be moving away from. I also graduated with my Honors Diploma from the Honors College about a week ago. As you saw in one of the other threads, I have big summer plans encompassing both the west and east coast of Florida and the US. I will also be working on putting together a portfolio of all things SPC that I did at SPC, as well as a meteorological portfolio.

My next big step in my education career is Florida State orientation on July 9th. Between that date and my first day of classes at FSU, I will be moving out of my parents house and into an apartment or dorm in Tallahassee. The only part I am really nervous about is moving. I am already making a few connections in Tallahassee, with many many more to come.

I will include pictures from my latest year and from recent graduation soon. I will also post pictures of my Honors diploma and AA degree when they come (in 4-5 weeks :| )

Dude, that is a HUGE achievement!!!!!!! You must be proud! And, you should take a vacation!