Hixson Blog Post #2

Hixson Blog Post #2     1/27/13

A little late on the post due to getting a cold and having no energy on Friday.

There were no readings due for this week, so I will be mainly talking about class activities.  

Every class we start off with our "Hixson Intros," which entail you to say your name, Hixson year, county, and major.  "Hi, my name is Cole Schlitzer, I am a 2011 Hixson Scholar from Dubuque County, majoring in Business Supply Chain Management.  This helps with practice for the next fall and learning a little bit about everyone.  At the end of your intro, there is always a question that you have to answer.  For example your favorite food, place you want to travel to, best memory, and so on.  This week's question was to list your 3 character strengths and 2 character weaknesses that you need to build on.  My 3 strengths that I listed were that I was social and   can work well in group setting, I am very helpful to people that need it, and my third was that I can listen and be engaged with a subject whether it be in a group of individually.  I believe that those strengths with benefit and help my come fall when we have to teach the freshman.  On the other hand, I need to work on giving positive constructive feedback.  This will help with giving them tips and values about the college experience.  The second character weakness I need to build on is just general leadership qualities.  Being able to have a personal connection with the students is crucial.  I want to be able to teach and pass on some great advice that could influence their experience for the better.  

We also played a name game to help with learning everyone's name.  I am terrible with names...I think I only know like 5 other peer mentor's name.  I will defiantly need to learn them soon! I think talking to all of them and knowing a little bit more about them will help with that..   One of the last things I did for this week was to take the MBTI test. The purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types understandable and useful in people’s lives.(MBTI website).  I am very interested to see my results and see how accurate I think they are. I will defiantly help the first year students with finding more about them.    

Yesterday Iowa State won it's 17 straight home game at Hilton vs the #11 Kansas State Wildcats.  The place was rocking the whole time and was full of energy.  A much better performance than last Wednesday's breakdown vs Texas Tech, which was one of the worst losses I have ever seen by the men's team given the circumstances.  Still have a slim chance at winning the Big 12.  But yesterday's win was a must.  Iowa State (14-5) will travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma on Wednesday to play the Oklahoma State Cowboys (13-5)

Have a great week!

Cole Schlitzer   

Hixson Blog Post #1

Hixson Blog Post #1       1/18/13

This is where I will be creating my weekly reflection blog post about being a Hixson Peer Mentor.  This reflection will be about different class activities, reaction to text readings, or just an analogy to personal circumstances and how I will use this information as a peer mentor.  I will relate how my insights will apply to my work as a Peer Mentor.  This blog will usually be done on every Friday. 

Class   1/16/13

First off I want to say how humbled I am to have received this award and also being able to be a Peer Mentor. During our first Hixson Peer Mentoring class we got familiar with the history of the Hixson Program.  The Hixson Opportunity Award is a half-tuition grant (estimated value of more than $15,000 over eight semesters) to be used at Iowa State University.  Christina Hixson serves as sole trustee of the Lied Foundation Trust. Through her financial leadership, she has been recognized as an outstanding philanthropist. (Hixson Award Website).  

The readings that I had to read for this week provided me with an overview of students in peer educator roles on university campuses.  I will refer to being a peer mentor or peer educator throughout my blogs.  Both these terms have the same meaning.  A peer educator is a student who has been selected, trained, and designated by a campus authority to offer educational services to their peers. The reading also outlined the three components of the learning process: knowledge, skills, and personal integration.  I am going into this training with an open mind and commitment to be the very best I can be.  Be positive rather than negative, be supportive rather than judgmental, and active rather than passive. (as much as I am a passive person I am going to give my all to be very active with this training)

At the end of my post I will write up a little bit on Iowa State Football and Basketball. (I will keep it short)

Wow! What a finish by the Iowa State Men's Basketball team. (12-4)  George Niang provided a clutch layup with 2 seconds left to defeat West Virginia  69-67.  Even after Iowa State choked away a double digit lead in the second half. That extends Iowa State's 16 consecutive home game win at Hilton Colosseum.  Talk about some Hilton Magic....The cyclones take on a terrible TCU team down in Fort Worth this Saturday. Should be a blowout win for the cyclones, I'll take the cyclones (-30) 

The Iowa State football team finished up their season with an ugly loss to Tulsa in the AutoZone Liberty bowl.  (17-31)  Went down to Memphis for a little vacation and had a rather splendid time, besides the game result and the food poisoning! Yikes! Saw a NBA Memphis Grizzly game and the historic Beale Street along with Peabody Hotel (the ducks actually stay in the hotel fountain all day and was a site to see) Next season should be interesting to say the least.  Maybe we can get over that 7-6 and  6-7 mark....anyway I could keep writing more about the cyclones, but as I said I will keep it short. Until next week, have a great day and week ahead! 

Cole Schlitzer