Everyone dreams of that one semester where everything seems to fit. I might be speaking too soon (knock on wood) but I think I have found that this semester at USC. But first I had a great time at the first football game of the season, beating Hawaii in the Colesium was the best!
Now onto an overview of my semester.
Courses:
BISC 320 – Molecular Biology: I have always been fascinated by translation, transcription, and molecular components of DNA and a cell. This is by far my favorite biology class so far, but I know it will be a lot of work because there is a lot of tiny details to keep straight. But I have study buddy Steve in my class so I am sure we will do great!
HIST 106 – Chinese Lives: An Introduction to Chinese History: I was just taking this as a General Education course but have come to love the professor and the material. He allows us to explore Chinese History through primary source documents and is very enthusiastic about teaching the subject matter which makes the class very engaging.
EE 202 – Linear Circuits: The teacher for my Linear Circuits class, Professor Takahashi, is awesome! I have always struggled with circuitry, which is why I am not an EE major, but she teaches the material with ease. She gives us great overviews, teaches well, does simple and complex examples in class, and even plays the Batman soundtrack as we are trying to solve complex circuits by ourselves. I really lucked out with this class; going into the semester I thought I wasn’t going to like it at all.
BME 423 – Statistical Methods in Biomedical Engineering: Professor D’Argenio is great. He taught our BME 210: BME Computational Methods and knows most of us already. Being comfortable with a professor already and knowing their teaching style is a breathe of fresh air. I have always enjoyed probability and have found it fascinating how probability can be applied to BME concepts.
BUAD 301 – Technical Entrepreneurship: I am so glad I got a spot in this class. This class fills up really fast and for me is one of my first technical electives. We learn all about how engineers can be entrepreneurs. We analyze case studies, overview industries, look for market needs, and at the end of the class we will be writing a type of business model to present to investors. I can’t wait! Plus I get to work with Radhika on our final project which should be a blast!
Organizations:
I am involved more than ever this semester and am enjoying every minute of it. I am a Freshman Academy Coach, and have planed some great activities with my co-coach Julie for the new students. Can you say Broomball? Or maybe even Beach Trip & Scavenger Hunt at Santa Monica? These are just two of events that we planned for our students outside of the classroom. It has been great to be a mentor figure to the new students, and I remember my coaches helped me a lot when I was a freshman.
We had our first meeting for Order of Omega: Greek Honor Society – an honor society which comprises the top 3% of students in the Greek system based on GPA. I am currently the VP Finance and we have some great things in store for the semester. We are coordinating fundraisers, speaker series for the semester, the Greek Awards Ceremony, and our annual Retreat. I am working with a great group of people and we should be able to get a lot done. Duties include: setting up student org bank account, setting up PayPal account, determining accounts payable and accounts receivable, coordinating the payment of dues, distributing money for events.
Being Vice President of Phi Delt is a lot easier the second semester around. When you are elected for an executive board position in my fraternity you have the position for one calendar year. Now since I already know the basics of the position I have been able to carry out meetings effectively and efficiently. We just finished our recruitment process which was a long week of fun activities and long nights. Some typical duties that I have to do on a day-to-day basis include: coordinating with Alumni, coordinating with General Headquarters, holding all officers accountable for their jobs, informing the chapter of internal events, coordinating all internal events and details. Ohh also we had our first invite on Friday and I got to dance the night away – I love to dance, ask any of my friends!
I enjoy being busy and I will definitely be busy this semester for sure. Hopefully this semester will be as great as I believe it will!
Now Playing: Some Nights by Fun. with Tongue Tied by Grouplove on deck.