Ferrum's 2014 Women's Leadership Conference

by Jessa K., Panther Blogger

On March 11, 2014, Ferrum College hosted the Women's Leadership Conference.  The annual conference focused on immigration issues this year.  There was an alumni panel, a panel of young women from Bassett High School, a keynote speaker, a movie, a call to action, a parade, and an artist speaker.  The entire day was filled with a lot of great information.  It was helpful to those who agree with the subject matter as a rallying event, but it was also really great for those who may not agree with immigration reform or who may not have understood what immigration reform was all about.

For me, the best part of the event was the panel of seniors from Bassett High School.  There were two undocumented young women as well as two first-generation U.S. citizens.  Their stories were truly touching - there was not a dry eye in the room.  These young women have had to face the difficulty of their family members having to return to Mexico, as well as face the realization that those who are undocumented will not be able to attend a college or university the same way their U.S. citizen friends will be able to.  One of the alumni on the alumni panel, Norma Valez, explained the response to the panel of Bassett High School girls when she said "if you don't agree with immigration reform, go talk to someone who is undocumented. If your opinion is still the same after you have heard their story, I will respect your opinion."

In order to create a documentary about immigration reform, my Spanish 302 classmates and I videoed the majority of the speakers and got interviews with many of them.  It was truly amazing to be a part of the 2014 Women's Leadership Conference on campus. At Ferrum, there is no shortage of ways to make our country a better place!

Hello from New Panther Blogger Rachel!

by Rachel W., Panther Blogger

Hello, my name is Rachel and I am a junior at Ferrum College.  I am originally from a small town in Carroll County, Virginia.  I am majoring in Social Work and will be interning at the Franklin County Hospice this summer!  The wonderful thing about earning a Social Work degree is that there are so many different agencies I can work with, so I'm not sure where I'll end up after graduation.

I am President of the Social Work Club, an active member in the Ferrum College Lions Branch Club, a Leadership Fellow, a Peer Assisted Learning Tutor, an admissions ambassador, and the E-term student assistant.  When I'm not busy with school and organizations, I love working with photography and typing for my personal blog.

When I was a senior in high school, I met Tiffany Gordon, one of Ferrum's admissions counselors, at a college fair.  She was telling me about Ferrum and it sounded like an awesome school. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to major in Social Work, and Tiffany told me about how great Ferrum's program was. After I visited Ferrum's campus for the first time, I knew this was where I would be spending the next four years of my life.  What truly attracted me to Ferrum was the sense of community, and the small class sizes.  Coming from a small high school, it was extremely important for me to know that each of my professors would know me on a first name basis.

Dogwood tree on campus

Another thing I really love about Ferrum is that it is multicultural. I've learned a ton about other cultures from my peers and professors!  There are specific classes to help you learn about other cultures as well as study abroad opportunities.

I would recommend Ferrum to anyone who was looking for a very personalized education. Here at Ferrum, you know your professors personally, and there are a ton of majors and minors you can earn.  Ferrum offers a lot of academic resources to help their students succeed as well.  Between professors being able to help you one-on-one and the peer tutoring that is offered, there is always help available.  Ferrum also has a writing center and a math center where professors help you with papers or your math homework.  It's extremely helpful and helps boost your grade!  These are great resources and the best part is that they are all completely free for students to use, which is very rare to find in a college or university.

Social Work Conference

The Social Work Program is awesome here at Ferrum!  I know that no matter where I end up after graduation, I will be fully prepared for graduate school or for a career.  Jennie and Martha, the two main Social Work professors, are highly skilled and knowledgeable about the field.  Both of them take a lot of time to find the perfect internship for each student and they offer an excellent hands-on learning environment.

Enjoying the snow at the farm at Ferrum!

This semester is going to be super-busy for me!  The Social Work Club is planning on visiting kids at an after-school center, adults at the local nursing home, and the homeless at the local homeless shelter.  The Lions Branch Club is participating in Read Across America and a diabetes awareness day.  And that's just the beginning!

I'm excited to be a Panther Blogger and I hope you enjoy reading about my experiences here at Ferrum College!

Settling In

by Chris L., Panther Blogger

I have been at Ferrum College now for just over 2 weeks. The first thing that has taken me a while to adjust to is the heat. Back home in Northern Ireland, it rains almost every day and we very rarely get a full day of sun shine. Our summer consists of day after day of rain, and we rarely have temperatures over 20 degrees Celsius. I am looking forward to the winter as I am not used to this heat!

Another issue I have had to adjust to is the timetable. Back home at my university during my first two years, I was only in college two/three day a week.  Over here, I am in class every day, although it is only for a couple of hours, and then the rest of the day I can spend doing things I like. I have completed as many assignments in the past two weeks here as I have in 1 year at university at home. We do not have to complete that many assignments as they only count as a small percentage of my overall mark for the year. Exams are more important at home.

On Friday the 7th of September, I attended the free bowling night in Rocky Mount with the other international students. Although I am not very good at bowling, it was still good "craic" (craic in Northern Ireland means "fun").  I often say "what's the craic" to people and get weird looks, but it actually means "How are you".

Last weekend, I watched my first American football game and I did not understand it one bit. I couldn't believe how long the matches take -- it took around 1 hour and 30 minutes to get to half time!  Hopefully, by the end of the year, I will understand it a bit better though. Back home, I play rugby, so it was good to actually see an American football game in person to see how it differs.

Celebrating the Chinese New Year!

by Chang S., Panther Blogger

February 9th is the Spring Festival - the Chinese New Year. Since both China and Korea have the tradition of lunar New Year, we international students decided to celebrate the Asian New Year together.  To make it more fun, I, as an RA, decided to hold a residence life program using this as a main theme. We invited folks around the campus to come and celebrate this great event. (Apart from the students, we also invited Ms. Sasha Saari, Dr. Basu, and Dr. David Johnson and his wife.)

In order to get a more vivid sense of what the Chinese New Year is like, we specifically demonstrated how to make dumplings -- one of the most traditional types of food served on New Year's Eve. The full process of making dumplings includes several steps. First, we made the noodles needed to cover the dumplings. The noodles were made out of flour and albumen. Secondly, we made the meat stuffing using chopped pork and beef. So as to get better-tasting dumplings, we mixed the meat with ginger and green onion scraps. (The aim of this is to avoid the potential raw smell of the meat.) These first steps were mainly a presentation of us (the Chinese students). For the next step, we "wrapped" the dumplings together, which is the most interesting step because it allowed us to make whatever shapes to design the dumplings. Finally, we cooked the dumplings and served them, enjoying various types of seasonings, such as soy sauce, vinegar and oyster sauce.

I think everyone enjoyed that day. For the Chinese and Korean students, it has been a unique experience to celebrate the New Year overseas. Also, for the rest of the participants, I would say it was a great opportunity to get to know about eastern culture, as well as to share the enjoyable time together.

In Beijing time, February 9th is New Year's Eve. There is always a half-day difference between Beijing time and U.S. eastern time. Apparently, such time differences do not affect people's enthusiasm for the New Year across the globe.

Although the program was a residence area program instead of a campus-wide program, we did actually have people around campus coming. Special thanks to Botao Wu, who proudly served as the chef and brought us such delicious food!