Introduction to New Blogger, Kathleen!

by Kathleen B., Panther Blogger

Hello!  I'm Kathleen, but most of my friends here at Ferrum call me Kat.  I'm originally from the Lake Anna, Virginia area.  Some of my biggest loves and dreams all have to do with writing. I've been in love with the pen and paper since I was a young girl. It is my dream to take my love and talent of writing and use it to influence those around me to rise above expectations and make the world a better place.

You're probably wondering how I found Ferrum College.  I actually heard about it from a family friend whose daughter graduated from Ferrum.  I journeyed three hours with my parents to tour the school and absolutely fell in love.  I love the mountains, so the scenery was a huge attraction for me.  But more importantly, the faculty was amazing. They worked with me and countless other transfer students to help us get settled in.

Ferrum has become home to me.  It is a smaller college, so everyone on campus is tight-knit and like a family to me.  The atmosphere here is light and happy. Among my favorite things about Ferrum are the professors and teachers.  I've become close with more than one professor on campus. They're all so kind and treat their students like their own children.  They can be hard on us at times but only because they want to see us do our best.  I've made amazing connections because of my professors here at Ferrum.  Because of this, I've been able to get internships for journalism.

Some of the many things that I am involved in are theater, campus ministry, the improv club, recreation club, and Theta Gamma Omega.  I will be acting as Pilar in this year's musical Legally Blonde.  As it is my first time being involved with a theater production, I'm very excited to show off my singing and acting talents.  I am also the Co-Director of our Campus Ministry's Praise Team.  I love working with the vocalists within Campus Ministry!  The Improv Club is all about improvisational acting. We do performances in the Panther's Den and in the theater regularly throughout the semester.  The Recreation Club is an amazing outdoors club!  We do hikes, rock climbing, canoeing, kayaking, and many other activities as a group.  Theta Gamma Omega (OGO) is one of Ferrum's local sororities, and I am excited to be pledging them this semester!

I have many fond memories of Ferrum.  Perhaps my most vivid and beloved is of the Homecoming concert that Ferrum put on for the students last semester.  My friends and I had been anticipating it all day.  My best friend and I spent the night swing dancing and laughing.  I can still recall her laughter ringing out with mine. We often talk about that night and how amazing it was.

Ferrum College is truly a wonderful place.  I wouldn't be the person I am today without the professors and friends I have had the honor to meet here.

National Collegiate Honors Council in New Orleans!

by Jessa K., Panther Blogger

On Wednesday, Nov. 6th, myself along with two fellow students and two faculty members traveled to New Orleans, Lousiana to attend the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC).  Our first full day in New Orleans was spent participating in a program called City as Text. This event is used to help students become more familiar with the city where the conference is held.  My City as Text destination was the Presbytere, focusing on Mardi Gras.  My group learned all about the history of Mardi Gras from its conception through today.  We learned about the importance of costumes and how the different groups who throw trinkets to the crowds came to be.

After our time at the Presbytere, we went to Café du Monde for lunch where we had Café au Lait and beignettes.

The next day, I presented at one of the student poster sessions.  My poster encompassed the research that I worked on about The Taming of the Shrew during the previous spring semester. After my poster session, I attended two other sessions:  one about writing newsletters within the honors program and another about the over-involved student. All three sessions were extremely informative and I was able to not only bring back new knowledge for myself but also for the honors program.

On Thursday and Friday night, we all went out to local restaurants to get an authentic taste of New Orleans.  One night during one of our outings, we ran into Aaron Sanchez, a celebrity judge on the show Chopped.  We were all too chicken to approach him except for Paige, who walked right up to him and asked for a photograph.  I am so glad she did because my mom, who is a major fan of the show, was able to see the picture.

Our trip to New Orleans for the NCHC was one of the best I've had so far at Ferrum. I had fun, I made new friends from all across the country, I was able to work on my professional skills in a low-stress environment, and I also learned that I really do not take enough pictures of everything (thanks, Paige, for letting me use all of your great pictures).  I have already started working on literary research to present at next year's conference in Denver, Colorado!

Hello from New Panther Blogger Jessa!

by Jessa K., Panther Blogger

Hi!  My name is Jessa.  I am from a small town in southwestern Virginia named Cana. It is very similar to the Ferrum Community. I am an English major with a minor in Spanish, and I am a sophomore at Ferrum College.  I intend to get my doctorate degree and teach college-level literature.

I heard about Ferrum during my sophomore year of high school because my best friend was looking at colleges and had fallen in love with Ferrum. As I drew closer to my senior year, I too began to receive information from Ferrum College. I found out that I qualified for the Boone Honors academic scholarship.  I actually applied to Ferrum as my back-up school in case my two first-choice schools did not work out, and they didn't.  However, I tell people all the time that Ferrum is my blessing in disguise.  While it was not my first choice, it has become my home. I love walking down the sidewalk and being able to say hello to all of my professors!  I was able to do literary research as a freshman and participate in two conferences with my findings. I find myself calling Ferrum home more and more.  There is honestly no place in this world where I would rather be receiving my education.

I am very involved on the Ferrum campus.  I am the founder and president of the Ferrum College Lions Branch Club. It is a service-based organization that focuses on health. I am also the secretary of the Spanish Club. This club is also a community service organization with a focus on the Hispanic community.  I am a member of the Boone Honors Program. I am also an Admissions Ambassador for the Ferrum College Admission's Office.  Being so involved in the Ferrum College community has allowed me to fully enjoy my college career so far!

¡Hola! ¡Bienvenidos!

BY VANESSA, A PANTHER BLOGGER

There are a variety of majors and minors at Ferrum College. When I first came to Ferrum, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to major in. I looked into several majors, but Spanish was the one that captured my interest the most. Many would ask: “Your major is Spanish? But you’re Hispanic? Isn’t that cheating?!” but that is definitely not the case. There is so much more to Spanish then just being able to speak the language. It comes with knowledge in literature, art, geography, grammar and SO MUCH MORE.

All my classes consisted of topics such as Latin American Literature, Latin American Culture, Spanish (Spain) Culture, Spanish (Spain) Literature and Professional Spanish. It wasn’t until the fall semester of my junior year that I knew I wanted to pursue Spanish as my major and really learn about different cultures, traditions and grammar in my second language, Castilian, or what most like to call it, Spanish.

Dr. Patricia Suppes

During this time, Ferrum had appointed Dr. Patricia Suppes as the new Assistant Professor of Spanish. Dr. Suppes, or “Profe” as her students usually like to call her, has been my professor for the past 2 years. She has challenged me in ways I never thought possible when it came to my second language. Another great thing about my major is that I was able to study abroad. This past summer, I was able to study in Alicante, Spain for a month; it was an experience I’ll be able to remember for the rest of my life.

When it came to my minors, I had an idea of what I wanted to pursue. Like I mentioned in my last blog entry, Journalism was a definite choice after taking my practicum classes, and it was something I was really interested in doing. When I was able to take some neat English classes with some AMAZING English professors (you all know who you are), I then decided to also minor in English because I really enjoyed literature, writing, the different classes, and the English program itself.

Majoring in Spanish and minoring in Journalism and English has given me a great experience at Ferrum!

My friends & I with a mariachi band in Roanoke, VA