Chaz Mancino
Editor’s Note: This is a guest blog post by Kettering freshman Charles ‘Chaz’ Mancino. Chaz, who is from Fredonia, NY, and is majoring in Mechanical Engineering, will occasionally post his thoughts about his freshman year experiences on Life at Kettering. If you’d like to write a guest blog post, e-mail phayes(at)kettering(dot)edu. Chaz’s other posts: Post 1 | Post 2 | Post 3 | Post 4 | Post 5 | Post 6 | Post 7 | Post 8
The final stretch. The final sprint. The finale. Those terms mean the same thing, and they apply to the busy lives of Kettering University students. Just before the end of each school term, there are final exams. The final push to freedom. This natural phenomenon occurs four times in the year at Kettering University, but it occurs only twice each year for most students. As this is the end of my freshman II term at Kettering University, it is time for me to once again face the beast that lies inside the hearts of men everywhere. Some say that he once made Chuck Norris cry and that he taught Jackie Chan karate. All we know is that he is called Finals.
Finals, unlike the Stig on Top Gear, drive the minds of college students everywhere to study for exams at the end of a school term. This term, Finals will be commanding me to study for exams in Physics 114, Calculus 203, and Humanities 201. Whether the studying pays off or not will be seen. For now, I will just have to prepare myself for what is to come.
One of the good things about Kettering University is that after all of the hard final exams are over with, one may go home and start working. This allows Kettering students to work hard on school term and play hard on work term. Instead of always sitting at a desk during a lecture and writing down notes, Kettering University students can go to work and get real world experience that companies are looking for. Did I mention that students also get the real world experience of finding a place to live, buying food, and fending for themselves? It seems as though Kettering University looks to the future of their students in teaching them not only how to apply vector calculus but also how to protect themselves from the Boogey man.
Another good thing about Kettering University is that there are several ways to let stress out before finals. On Tuesday, March 12, 2013, there were several activities to relieve stress in the Great Court of the Campus Center. There was a raffle with several prizes, free t-shirts and pens, and information about how to get help for stress, among other activities. Since every college student knows that the word “free” means good things most of the time, then the activities had a successful mission of making several students feel a little better inside. Talking about free things, particularly t-shirts, I have added six more Kettering University shirts to my wardrobe this school term, making the grand total of Kettering University t-shirts to be around 16. That number suggests that one could come to Kettering University without any t-shirts and walk out with enough to go a month without wearing the same t-shirt twice (although I would not recommend coming to Kettering without any t-shirts). To continue the relieving of stress, dogs were in the Great Court on Tuesday, March 19, 2013. Since everyone knows that the word “dogs” means good things most of the time, then stress continued to be relieved.
As most people know, food is good for the soul, and that is where Kettering University hides yet another stress relieving trick. It is called Late Night Breakfast, and it is utterly delicious. Late Night Breakfast occurs every Wednesday night before finals each term and offers students a variety of heartwarming foods such as eggs, French toast sticks, sausage, hash browns, and, the best part, bacon. However, there is more to Late Night Breakfast than just food. There are t-shirts to be given away (yes, more free t-shirts) and prizes like iPod Nanos to be won. However, the stress cannot be totally cured, and on Thursday, March 21, 2013, Finals knocked on the doors of all Kettering University students. He was hungry for education, and he was not leaving until he got it.
When Finals got his stomach full of knowledge, he left the lives of Kettering University students on school term and will remain dormant for usually about six months, unless he made room for desserts, which will come in about three months. Then the final stretch, final sprint, finale, whatever one would like to call it, has ended, and it is time to stand up, look around, wonder what just happened, and walk out of the room. Time to go home and sleep, then it is off to work and world of opportunities that awaits Kettering University students. If the world is a playground, then Kettering University students have recess six months out of the year, a deal which cannot be beaten by even naptime.
Free City is a large-scale, open-air public art festival that will take place May 3 – 5 at a former Chevrolet manufacturing site known as Chevy-in-the-Hole. More than 75 artists and organizations from around the world will offer free art installations, video projections, music, dance, and theater performances, and hands-on arts workshops. Visitors to the festival will also be able to take tours of the Chevy site by foot and by bike, and can enjoy food and drink from local vendors.
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