Waid Park and Fairy Stone State Park

by Maryann C., Panther Blogger

The weather is finally starting to warm up! This is one of my favorite times of year!  I love being outside, and one of the great things about going to Ferrum College is that there are plenty of places to go spend time outside.

First, the Ferrum College campus has plenty of open grass space for playing games or just relaxing. Now that the weather is warming up, there are students already taking advantage of the space playing frisbee, football, and cornhole. Another great part about attending Ferrum College is that there are many parks within a close drive that are great places to spend time outdoors.

One of the parks my friends and I love to visit is Fairy Stone State Park. There is a large lake, a sandy beach area, as well as wooded trails and grassy, flat spots. What's great about this park is that it's only about a 15-minute drive from Ferrum, it is a beautiful area, and there is plenty to do there.

Another park my friends and I enjoy visiting is Waid Park. This park is a little over 10 minutes away from campus. It has lots of open field space for soccer and lacrosse games, goals included!  There is a huge playground area where we enjoy swinging on swings. There are lots of trails at this park as well, and I love walking and running them. There is also a creek that runs through the park, so when it gets really warm outside, we wade in the creek and skip rocks.

There are also other great outdoor sites that are a bit farther away but always enjoyable to visit. Smith Mountain Lake is about 40 minutes from the college and is a great place for swimming and relaxing when it gets really hot. Roanoke, which is about 45 minutes away, also has some great outdoor trails and parks. My point is that now that the weather is warming up, there are plenty of places to go to spend a great day outside!

Jazz Band at Ferrum

by Maryann C., Panther Blogger

I thought that I would take some time to write about one of the classes I am taking this semester:  jazz band!  Even though Ferrum College is not known for its music classes, the department still has a great group of teachers who make taking music classes an enjoyable experience for students. Since I am only involved with the jazz band, that is what I am going to focus on. However, I have heard many of the other performing music groups in the past and they are all great groups to get involved with as well.

In the jazz band, I play the alto saxophone. I played all through middle and high school and even during my first semester here at Ferrum College.  Then my major classes and other activities got in the way. Since this is my last semester, I have a bit more time for fun activities like jazz band. I am having a great time working with our director, Dr. Burnett, and the rest of the ensemble. We are a small group, but I think it's better that way. Dr. Burnett gets to know each of us as an instrumentalist, and we get to know each other's musical tendencies as well.  I think because we are a smaller group, we are able to match and blend better as a band.

We are playing a variety of music in this class, and it's great. We are playing some classical/concert band types of music, and we are also playing jazz and funk music. We have even started working on the theme from "Family Guy".  I am having a great time playing all different types of music, and it seems like the rest of the group is enjoying it as well. I think the most exciting part of this class is that we sound good - and I am not just saying that. As a whole, this jazz band sounds great. We have a concert in the Panther's Den on April 12th, so you should come out and hear for yourself!

My Internship Experiences

by Maryann C., Panther Blogger

During my last semester here at Ferrum College, I have been doing two internships with the Franklin County Public School System. I have been working with a fifth-grade class at Ferrum Elementary for one of those internships. I have really enjoyed working with these kids. So far, I have administered a spelling test, helped students work on writing essays and helped students make corrections to their essays. I also have been assigned to work with one student on her reading comprehension. I have just started working with her, and we are in the process of figuring out where she is in her understanding of reading and writing. Working with this young student on an individual level is going to be a great experience for both her and me. I have never worked with this age group in an academic setting and it is truly a great experience.

My second internship through the Franklin County School System is at the Gereau Center. I am in the process of working with fellow classmates, faculty here at Ferrum College, and faculty at the Gereau Center. We are working to create lesson plans incorporating data that the CEED building collects. So far this has been a very different and challenging experience. Trying to figure out how to incorporate real data into a lesson plan has proven to be challenging. However, I have just recently finished my first lesson plan and I am very pleased with it. I hope that it will get easier now that I am starting to get the hang of it. Working with my assigned faculty member has been a great experience as well. She is very helpful and resourceful. I am looking forward to see what other types of lesson plans my fellow classmates and I come up with.

New Experiences

by Maryann C., Panther Blogger

This is my last semester at Ferrum College. I am having many different emotions about this fact. I feel excited, nervous, scared, sad, and glad all at the same time! I thought my last semester at Ferrum would not have any new experiences for me; after all, I have been here for four years. I felt like I had done everything there was to do. Well, I was wrong!

This semester, I am doing an internship at Ferrum Elementary School and an "externship" at the Gereau Center in the nearby Town of Rocky Mount.  The Gereau Center is part of the Franklin County middle school where 8th graders go for half of the school year.

Working at Ferrum Elementary School is going to be a very new experience for me. I am studying secondary education, so I have not worked with this younger age group in school before. I have met with my cooperating teacher once and have observed her class one time so far. Based on my first impression, I think I'm going to have a great time working with these kids and learn a lot from my cooperating teacher.

I have done internships at the Gereau Center before, but this one is going to be very different for my cooperating teacher and me. This semester, one of my main focuses is to create lesson plans that all the teachers could access and use that they desire. Let me explain.

At the Gereau Center, they have what is called the CEED Building. It is an environmentally-stable building, and it uses energy from the environment - such as wind and solar - to power itself. The CEED Building also collects data, such as temperature, precipitation, and carbon dioxide levels. My goal is to take the data that the CEED Building collects and use it to create lesson plans, and then make those lesson plans accessible to all teachers.

I am very excited to begin working in both of these internships with the Franklin County Public School system.  I think I am going to learn a lot and of course gain experience. It's amazing how the faculty and staff at Ferrum College never cease to go beyond my expectations with the opportunities and support they provide.

Wednesday Nights

by Maryann C., Panther Blogger

During the school year, I attend a local church -- Ferrum Faith Assembly of God. I have become very involved with the church during the course of my four years here.  One responsibility that I have taken on for about a year now is teaching a class for elementary-aged girls on Wednesday nights. During these Wednesday nights, the girls and I sing songs, do a Bible lesson, play games, and just spend time together.

Some of the more exciting projects and activities I have done with the girls include puppet shows, making themed snacks (like witches' hats for Halloween), and playing games like musical chairs. I am especially excited about the tea party I am planning for the girls when I return from break!

Teaching this class has been a lot of fun, and I have learned a lot from working with these young ladies. I have enjoyed getting to know these girls and spending time with them.

My Education Internship

by Maryann C., Panther Blogger

Every time a student takes an education course here at Ferrum College, he/she is required to complete 40 hours of internship time at a public school here in Franklin County. This semester, I was placed at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in an 8th grade physical science class. I really enjoyed working with my cooperating teacher and the students in each of her classes. I learned a lot and was able to improve some of my personal teaching skills.

I think it is great that the education department makes it a requirement for students to be in the classroom for 40 hours each semester. Many other education departments at colleges and universities do not have this extra time in the classroom incorporated into their programs. These other institutions only have the student teaching aspect.

The benefit of Ferrum College having the internship time for each education class gives students the opportunity to know if they really want to become educators or not.  Once students decide they want to continue with the education program, they are able to practice teaching skills and build relationships with the faculty and staff in the Franklin County Schools. It has certainly benefited me that I have been able to be in the classroom gaining experience before I even began my student teaching!

End of a Soccer Season

by Maryann C., Panther Blogger 

The women’s soccer season here at Ferrum College came to a close last week. I had such a great experience that I want to share it. So many wonderful things happened during the season; goals were scored, friendships were made and fun was had. Overall, it was one of the greatest soccer seasons with one of the greatest teams I have ever been a part of.

I did not play soccer for two of my four years here at Ferrum. Coming back to play has been a major blessing to me and I really enjoyed it. I feel like I had a great season as an individual player. Having an assist at our senior game and scoring two goals against Mary Baldwin College are my biggest season accomplishments. I missed playing the game, and I appreciate the team for welcoming me back for one last go at the game.

Working with this group of girls has been an experience that I won’t ever forget. I have grown closer with many of the girls I already knew and I met new players who I plan to stay close to. Working with Coach Narrow was fabulous. She is easy to work with and has an obvious love for the game. The girls on the team are a bunch of goofballs! Long bus rides were never dull, and trips to public places were always interesting. I love each of these girls so much, and I will miss them once I graduate!

 As a team, we had so much fun. Team trips to Applebee’s and Wal-mart, movie nights, and team bonding activities were just some of the ways we spent our time together. For our senior game, the younger classmen had even more fun decorating the seniors’ cars and the locker room. Practices were a lot of hard work but once in a while, we would get some fun in during practices by scrimmaging, playing games and kicking balls at each other before practice.

We accomplished so much this season! At the beginning of the season, we set team goals and reached most of them by the end of the season. We finished in 5th place at the end of the season when we had been expected to finish 9th. We accomplished what no one else thought we could, and for that, I am proud of this hard-working group of girls. I anticipate many more great things to come from the returners, and I wish the seniors the best of luck in their future. This was an experience I won’t forget!

Panther Packs

by Maryann C., Panther Blogger

 

For the past three years, I have been a Gateway Seminar mentor. For those who don’t know, Gateway Seminar is a class that all incoming freshmen have to take during their first semester here at Ferrum College. My job as a mentor is to, well, be a mentor – help them in any way I can. During their Gateway class, the freshmen have a few big assignments to complete, and one of those assignments is to do a service project. This semester, the instructor I am working with for Gateway asked me to coordinate the service project. At first, I was very nervous to do this, but so far it is going great.

The service project I have planned involves working with Panther Packs. Panther Packs is a nonprofit organization that works with the local elementary school, Ferrum Elementary. Each week, Panther Packs makes packs full of food to give students to take home over the weekend. Essentially, the food is going to kids who, without the packs, may not get enough to eat while they are at home over the weekend. The kids’ families who are interested have to apply to receive the Panther Packs. This year, the program is feeding 51 kids each week.

Wal-Mart shopping group

This past week was my Gateway Class’s first experience in working with Panther Packs. Like I mentioned before, it was a great success. At the beginning of the week, I took a few of the students from the class into town to buy food to go into the packs. We had a set amount of money to spend, and we thought we would not be able to accomplish much. How wrong we were! With the amount of money we did have, we were able to get a lot of food that ended up being a great help to the Panther Packs Program.

Packing group

Later that same week, the professor of the Gateway class and I took some of the other students from the class to pack the Panther Packs. We met with a couple of ladies who help with packing the packs each week and they directed us so we would be able to successfully pack each pack. Each pack has to have a certain number of items in it, so it was good to have experienced hands assisting us in the packing. We got all 51 packs made in no time at all. We then delivered the packs to the elementary school where the students would get them on Friday afternoon to take them home for the weekend.


There were so many great things that came out of this whole experience. I was very pleased with myself for putting together a great service project for the Ferrum students and me to get involved in. I was also very excited about seeing the students happy to do the work. They knew they were making a difference for a few kids who live right here in our area, and I think that made them feel like they made a difference. I know that’s how I feel about it. Ferrum’s campus motto is “Not Self, But Others,” and I think this project resonated with that idea. I am pleased that the freshmen were able to get involved and help out the community. We are planning to do this again – hopefully multiple times through out the semester. I am even hoping to get some of the clubs I am involved in on board with this project as well. This was definitely the highlight of my week!

Our 1st Soccer Game

by Maryann C., Panther Blogger

The first game for the Ferrum College women's soccer team was against Randolph College on Friday, August 31. Being that it was the first game of the season, there were a lot of nerves between myself and the other girls on the team. We had worked hard during an intense two weeks of pre-season practice, and though I can't speak for the rest of the team, I know I was ready to play.

The girls who played worked hard throughout the game. Some of the girls even had to play the entire 90 minutes and they played very well. In spite of all the girls' hard work, the end result was not what we had hoped for. We lost 3-2 during overtime, but no one on the team seemed upset or mad about the end result. We took the game as a learning experience. It was our first game, after all, and it gave us a chance to see where we are as a team and what we need to work on. I am looking forward to a great season and I am sure the rest of the team is as well. Things are already starting to look up from the first game because we played again on Sunday, September 2 against Hollins and won 4-3!

The Last Weeks of a Great E-Term Course

BY MARYANN, PANTHER BLOGGER

During the third week of E-Term, my class went on a couple of day trips to Blacksburg, VA. We went to Virginia Tech to see their crystallography department. Crystallography is basically the study of a solid compound and determining its structure, which is done by machines and computers. While at the facility, we were given lessons on how the crystallography machine worked and how to operate the computer program used to create the structures of compounds. We then were able to take solid crystals we created in our lab time and use the machines to find the structure of the solid compounds we made. Using the computer program was challenging because it does not just tell you the structure of the compound; you have to figure it out. However, it was a very interesting experience, and I think my class and I took away a lot from this trip.

E-Term has now ended. I had a fantastic time these past three weeks. We spent most of the first two weeks in the lab doing whatever kinds of experiments we wanted to do. Some of the guys in my class have a fascination with explosions; Dr. Powell allowed them to do some very small-scale experiments that produced bright light, smoke and/or fire. I am not much of a fan of making fire and explosions, but I did one pretty cool demonstration by using a copper penny in which a colorful, fun reaction takes place.

Other than that one awesome demo, I spent most of my time conducting failed experiments. But that’s ok. Sometimes experiments don’t work. I often think that you learn more from a failure than from a success.

This chemistry E-Term was a great experience. I did a lot of things I know I normally would not have been able to do. I conducted experiments that were interesting to me as well as see other experiments my fellow students were working on. I also had a great time working with my fellow students as well as with Dr. Powell. This was an experience I will not forget!

Laboratory Experiments for E-Term!

BY MARYANN, PANTHER BLOGGER

Before my senior year at Ferrum College, I am taking a three-week Experiential Term (E-Term) course this summer. The Experiential Term I am taking this summer is CHM 405, Advanced Chemistry with Dr. Powell. This E-Term’s curriculum is mostly made up of lots of time in the lab conducting hands-on experiments. Every day, we individually conduct at least one or two experiments.

The first day of class, we each made a different compound; I made hexaamminenickel (II) bromide. It is a coordination compound, which basically involves the formation of a product due to coordinate covalent bonds.

hexaamminenickel (II) bromide

You feel good when a lab goes as planned, but sometimes you have to expect that a lab just might not work. Even when our experiments do not always work right, we do not let that stop us; we learn a lot from both successful and unsuccessful experiments.

Colloidal silver

The other day, each student in my class conducted a different experiment and then presented it to the rest of the class. I made colloidal silver. Colloidal silver is a nanoparticle, which is a really small particle. It was used long ago to stain glass windows in churches.\

My class is learning a lot in this E-Term course! We are working individually as well as consulting with each other to solve problems. I am looking forward to the many other experiments that we’ll see throughout this class.

Greetings from Ferrum College Student Blogger, Maryann!

By Maryann C., Panther Blogger

My name is Maryann and I am a senior at Ferrum College. I am from Sterling, VA, which is not far from Washington D.C. I am working toward a major in Biology with minors in Chemistry and Secondary Education. My short-term goal is to graduate next spring. One of my long-term goals is to find a teaching job after graduation where I can make science fun and exciting for my students.

I found out about Ferrum College at a college fair when I was in high school. I was looking for a small college with a pre-professional science major. At the time, I wanted to become a veterinarian. I also wanted a school where I could play soccer but still have time to do what I wanted to do. I knew that a big school was not for me, so I came to Ferrum.

At first, I had some reservations about coming to Ferrum, but once I came here, I soon grew to love Ferrum! There are a lot of different things I love about Ferrum College. One thing I love about it here is the faculty and staff. Teachers are always trying their best to help students in any way they can. I can name multiple scenarios when a teacher was willing to work with me so I could succeed. The many other faculty and staff who work on campus are also very helpful and friendly.

Ferrum College is a great school and is preparing me for the future each and every semester. The best example I can think of is in my goal of becoming a teacher. I have taken many Education classes here at Ferrum College. Each semester that a student takes an EDU class, 40 hours of internship at a public school are required. Forty hours seems like a lot, and yes it can be difficult, but the benefits are so worth it. Since I have been in the Franklin County Public School system doing internships for three years now, I know that I actually want to be a teacher. Plus, I am gaining experiences that many other teacher education students at other schools are not getting. This will help me to stand out more when I apply for a teaching position.

There are so many different ways to get involved here at Ferrum. I am currently on the women’s soccer team. I have also run for the women’s cross country team in the past. I am president of a club called Sisters Serving Christ. I have also been a part of our Orientation Team, which works with the freshmen on Gateway Weekend. I have also played many of the intramural sports offered during the year, such as basketball, soccer and volleyball. What is so great about Ferrum College is that it’s easy to find clubs that interest you; if there is a club you want to be a part of but that is not already at Ferrum, you can easily make a club.

I have created so many wonderful memories here at Ferrum College, so it’s hard to pick just one to talk about. I can’t wait to see what new memories will be made during my last year here.