{"id":372,"date":"2010-08-12T14:24:34","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T21:24:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ups.edu\/studentlife\/?p=372"},"modified":"2010-08-12T14:24:34","modified_gmt":"2010-08-12T21:24:34","slug":"summer-nights-and-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/2010\/08\/12\/summer-nights-and-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Nights (and Days)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since this is my first Student Life blog, I think I’ll start off with a quick intro about myself. I am starting my senior year at Puget Sound, but actually started my college experience at Lake Forest College (30 miles north of Chicago, Illinois). I transferred to Puget Sound between my freshman and sophomore year, and haven’t looked back since! Last semester, I was lucky enough to study abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland. (I blogged about that for the University, too… Check it out if you want to read about my adventures in Edinburgh and beyond!) During my time at Puget Sound, though, I have gotten involved in many activities: Biochemistry (my major, of course), Gamma Phi Beta sorority, Campus Visit Program (tour guide), Habitat for Humanity, Relay For Life, and more. I look forward, though, to finding time in the midst of this senior year madness to blog about the real life of a Puget Sound student.<\/p>\n

This week, as summer is winding down and classes are just around the corner, there are three big things on my mind. First, is the end of summer research. I was awarded a $3,000 Canfield Scholar grant in April to do 10 weeks of summer research with the Chemistry department. I was originally going to use a laser (Second Harmonic Generation, for science nerds out there) to understand how a particular toxin (diethylphthalate) adsorbs into soil (a quartz\/water interface). Unfortunately, though, the laser has been broken all summer, so I’ve been doing some odd jobs around lab and lots of UV-Vis. I’ve also been looking into a method called ATR-IR, and creating a thin film of titanium dioxide. We used a Scanning Electron Microscope to look at this thin film surface, and the result was pretty coo (Kind of looks like popcorn, huh?)l:<\/p>\n

\"Alayna<\/p>\n

In any case, this is my last week of research, so I am wrapping up in the lab, and working on a poster to summarize my research, which I will present to my peers once classes start. The lab experience has been a great one, but I’m excited to diversify my schedule in a couple of weeks!<\/p>\n

The second thing on my mind (and my schedule) this week has been preparation for Perspectives. This is one third of Puget Sound’s AMAZING orientation program, and I am in charge of the portion for Transfer students. I have been helping out Spencer, Robin, and Marta with planning orientation and training (although, because they are full-time coordinators, they have been working harder than me all summer!!). Training starts on Sunday, and I am beyond excited! I truly believe that Puget Sound’s orientation program is one of the reasons that we have such a fantastic community… and it’s amazing to be a part of those 9 days. The leaders also form such great friendships during training and orientation. Needless to say, it’s 2 of the best weeks of the entire year!<\/p>\n

Finally, I am busy applying for Teach For America. It is a program that I have been interested in for over a year, and I am so excited\/nervous\/intimidated\/overwhelmed\/anxious that I am finally actually applying! In my work at a summer camp in 2008 and with various organizations around Tacoma (as well as hearing my mom’s own teaching stories), I have been inspired to help close the achievement gap. I am just really, really hoping that TFA grants me the opportunity to get involved with the organization and make a difference in our country’s educational system.<\/p>\n

Well, that’s about it. Back to research, packing (to move from my summer subletting house to my on-campus housing), planning, applying, and more!<\/p>\n

As with my study abroad blog, I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have about my experiences or about Puget Sound. My e-mail as aschoblaske@pugetsound.edu. I look forward to hearing from you, and to sharing my senior year with you all!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since this is my first Student Life blog, I think I’ll start off with a quick intro about myself. I am starting my senior year at Puget Sound, but actually started my college experience at Lake Forest College (30 miles … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alayna-schoblaske-11"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}