BostonBlueHen

Freedom!

Hi!

Just writing a quick little entry to sum up the semester. I have now been done for about a week now, and it feels very good! I finished all of my papers, presentations, projects, etc. After my presentation Thursday night (which went well), it was shocking to realize I had actually completed the semester. I was in shock...but then it began to set in! After that, then begins the waiting period for grades. First came my Statistics grade-an A! I couldn't believe it! I just never thought I'd excel in that kind of class. A day or two later, an A in Criminalistics. I guess I did well on my presentation and paper! Then, the really great day, Thursday. Just checking to see if any more of my grades were up, and that they were. An A in Juvenile Justice and an A in Critical Victimology.

My jaw dropped when I saw the remainder of my grades. When I saw 4.0 (my GPA), I couldn't believe it! It had happened my first year of college, but not since then! My point here is not to brag, but to tell you that it's worth it. All of the reading, writing, papers, and projects...to have it all summed up in a nice little package as an A. I'm proud of myself! I worked really hard and the quality of my work did not suffer despite the workload. And I wanted to share my happiness in blog. :)

So I have completed a year of grad school, and am taking the summer off. Now I must search for something criminal justice related to do this summer, if possible. I am also beginning the search for an internship for the fall. But I have 4 months off from school!

P.S. My first book that I am reading-Lipstick Jungle. Nothing CJ related, or intelligent whatsoever. And I love it!! Reading magazines on the train is a great feeling also. And not going to class....that's pretty nice too.

So have a great summer...I'll occasionally be in touch with anything related to school or internships. Take care!

Classes=Dunzo!

Hi there,
  Well, classes are officially done!!! You'd think I'd be super excited but I have a lot to do before Thursday.
  I am done with Juvenile Justice. We visited a juvenile facility in Roxbury this past week and it was really interesting. Was a very educational and helpful field trip. I handed in my paper which ended up being about 16.5 pages. It felt so good to print it out and hand it in!
  As for Stats, our presentation went fine-and we got a 98%! The professor was very fair, taking into account the difficulty of the material we were tackling. My friend and I met Friday to work on the third assignment together, and it was really helpful. I plan on completing the assignment tomorrow and handing it in Monday! I feel pretty proud of it.
  Critical Victimology-final next week...Wednesday night. Must start studying!
Criminalistics presentations Thursday night. Need to add more on to the paper and presentation very soon--tomorrow!
  Crunch time!! The point is-in 5 days I will have completed the semester, and my first year of grad school, and that is pretty awesome! I cannot wait to read fun books & magazines on the train, rather than doing work, reading, highlighting, etc. Time for some fun!
But not until the work is done!! :)

Last FULL week of classes...

Hey there,

I'm in one of the Suffolk computer labs now and I just officially made the page requirement for my 15-20 pg paper for Juvenile Justice! This weekend I will re-read, edit, and finalize it! YAY! Once I hand that in on Wednesday, I am officially done with that class! We are going on a little field trip next week for that class, so that should be interesting. I'm pretty sure we are touring a DYS facility.

Stats-We haven't had our presentation yet because class was canceled last week. Luckily, our professor heard our concerns and directed us to a specific area of the article to focus our presentation on. My group and I are meeting tomorrow afternoon to work on it, and presenting on Tuesday. Didn't start the third assignment yet, but I chose an article, and will begin this weekend.

Last night I had my last Critical Victimology class! It was REALLY interesting-we learned a lot about mental health issues in prisons, and also about wrongful convictions in our prison system. We discussed the Innocence Project and other issues related to people who have been incarcerated on wrongful convictions, and exonerated. It was a great class! I'll have that final in two weeks.

Tonight I have my last Criminalistics class. Last week we had an Assistant DA come in to speak to us about legal issues concerning Forensic Science. He was a great speaker, and explained about how much planning and theatrics goes on in the courtroom. He mentioned how much it matters when the expert witnesses are presented, and how to speak to a jury to keep their attention, etc. Very interesting. I have barely started my paper and project for this class. This weekend I am aiming to do a big chunk of it!

Alas, after tonight, I will have completed my last full week of classes this semester. Next week I only have class Tues & Wed nights. I will be relieved once I am officially done and have completed everything necessary!

3 Weeks of Classes Left!

Hi again,

Sorry I'm not doing so well with making an entry every week. Here's my excuse: grad school. I think that's a sufficient excuse for this time.... :)

So I did my presentation in class on Monday evening. It went very well! I wasn't nervous, felt confident, and did a pretty good job, I think. My professor and some classmates complimented me on my power point, so that was nice! It was nice to get that over with. Now I have to crack away at the paper. I now have about 6 pages written out of 15...almost halfway done!

I have a presentation on the 15th in my Stats class, and I'm really concerned about it. I read the article that we are presenting on, and it may as well have been written in gibberish-made no sense whatsoever. Too many statistics in there! I just emailed my professor about my concerns, and also had received an email from one of my partners explaining she had no idea what she read. This should be interesting! We also have our third assignment due by the end of April, and it is more work than our other two assignments we had. I don't know why that came as a surprise to me, but it did. Ah, just add it to the pile!

Great news # 1: No more papers in Critical Victimology! He is behind on returning graded papers to us, so he decided that we've had enough with the paper writing. How nice it is to read and answer the questions without having to write a paper! This week we start our final book for the class-yay!

Great news # 2: That Criminalistics final...I got a 96%! I was really psyched to get that midterm back! We had a guest speaker last week on fingerprint analysis. She was a senior Criminalist at the Boston Crime Lab. I love having speakers in class, although the more I hear about people's job I get nervous wondering what I want to do for a career and can my CJ master get me there? I'm assuming these are normal concerns...I hope!

Working on my forensic entomology project. Read one article so far and there were so many "buggy" words; I was a bit confused as I read.

Conclusion: I am getting tired and a bit apathetic of school at this point. This always happens when you need motivation the most!! But luckily, I don't have a choice so here is what is standing in my way of finishing the semester:

My daily readings/response papers for all the classes, my 15-20 pg juvenile justice paper, my presentation next week and Assignment 3 for Stats, a final in Critical Victimology, and my 5-10 pg paper and 20 min presentation in Criminalistics.

Just typing that makes me want to scream!!

But I can do it....I hope!

5 weeks left....

Hi there!

Welcome back from Spring Break! My Spring break was fine; it was really nice not to have class for a week. I did some work on my Juvenile Justice presentation, and of course had schoolwork for the week after break. I didn't do anything too exciting, it was basically full of going to the gym, doing schoolwork, dog sitting, and some relaxing. My boyfriend took me to see Avenue Q, which was an excellent & hilarious play. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking to go to the theater!

I realized I wrote the wrong date for my presentation-it is actually next Monday. So I have been working on that, and need to finish it up and practice it a bit this weekend. It's going well, I have about 12 slides made, so I'm getting there. I'll be happy when it's over! I have a rough draft started of my paper also, about 4 pages of 15, but it's better than nothing!

I got my second assignment back in Stats; I got an 85%. We can either correct our mistakes for 5 points, or go to a speaker in April that our professor is sponsoring. I think I will go to the speaker! I was happy enough with my grade, although might as well shoot for an extra few points! I'll have my second presentation in this class towards mid April, but I'm not worrying about that yet.

Just finished a paper for Critical Victimology a few minutes ago. Every week we have a response paper due, about 2-3 pages. I was struggling this week on the paper, probably just getting  back into the swing of things after break. All I have in this class will be a few more papers, and a final. Not too bad.

So tomorrow I should get my midterm back from Criminalistics. I think I did well. I felt confident after I completed it. I need to start working on my paper and presentation for that class. Lots of work to do before the end of the semester!

I also spoke with my adviser yesterday. I have only 6 credits to complete for my master. Lots of my classmates are finishing up this summer, but I need a break. I will finish up in the fall. I plan to do an internship for 3 credits, and I need to take Crime and Justice Seminar, which is a core requirement.

So here begins my 5 week countdown. Five weeks of classes, then finals week. Honestly, it can't come fast enough. Although, I need the time to work on my major papers and projects. It will be here before I know it!

Finally, it was about 50 degrees out today--yay! I am very ready for the nice weather and Spring to come. I think it won't be completely here until a few weeks, but I am hopeful!

Week...Stress

Hello there,

I knew I was quite due for a post, I guess it has been about a week or two since I have posted last. Here is a little update on what is going on with me.

Juvenile Justice is going well. Our professor just announced our presentation dates this week. I have to do my 20 minute presentation on March 24th. I have about two weeks to do that from now. Considering I haven't begun to gather any articles or research the topic, you can probably predict what my Spring break will be used for.

Stats is going well! I understand everything that I didn't get so well last time I wrote. The following week our professor reviewed everything she had taught the previous class, which was very helpful. She said she realized many people were confused, and thought it would be helpful to recap and review what was taught the previous week. That was great! I handed in my second assignment this week, so hopefully I will do well on that.

So as for Critical Victimology, I have good news to report. Remember that exam I was worried that I rushed and could have been more thorough? Well I got a 107! Any grade from a 95-120 was considered an A, so I'm all set there. Clearly, he provided us with some bonus points. But I was very glad that I did so well on it, and next time I will not rush on an exam no matter what is going on afterwords. That was pretty dumb of me! We had a speaker from the Children's Advocacy Center last night. She was a great speaker and was very interesting. Working with children involved with the criminal justice system sounds like a possibility for me, although the work she described was more social work. I would like to learn more about working with children as a possible career path.

Criminalistics-I have my midterm today! I'm nervous. It covers everything we have done from Day 1 until now. I think that is about 8 weeks worth of work--overwhelming! I have been studying, but definitely could have studied more. I am working on getting my outlines organized today, and hopefully will feel confident about the material by 4:30 pm today! I also have to pick my research topic...I am feeling extremely indecisive about what topic to choose, but I may go with Forensic Entomology which is the use of insects to determine time of death. Very cheery business, huh?

Okay, so that's all for now. On an overall note, this is the hardest, and most demanding semester of school I have ever experienced. I am overwhelmed, stressed, and anxious! It's kind of a first for me, as I have really never felt this busy before. Once I finish one week's worth of work, it's right on to starting for the following week. Then add in my 15 pg research paper, 5-10 pg research paper, and two 20 min presentations...I'm burned out. Thank God for Spring break next week! I wish I was going away, but unfortunately I am not. On the very bright side, after Spring break there are only five weeks of classes left, then finals........I can do this! (I think!)

Week 7

Friday, oh Friday. Normally Friday is the start of my weekend. I usually have the day off, sleep late, get work done, be social. Today I am working 9-5 and then babysitting overnight. I feel like I'm getting old because normally come Thursday night I am tired from the week, and today I am a little more tired than yesterday. Okay, enough of that!

So in Juvenile Justice class I finally picked a topic for my presentation. I will be researching juveniles and the death penalty. It's no longer legal in the US to execute juveniles, but I am researching its history, the supreme court case that made it illegal, and the movement to end the execution of juveniles. And so begins the research.

Stats class didn't go so well for me Tuesday. I was pretty lost throughout the entire class, and spoke to my professor after class, briefly. She was trying to explain and help but I was too frustrated and confused to understand it at that point. I will look over everything this weekend and see if I understand it better. If not, I will try to meet her in her office hours to get some extra help.

Wednesday we had our midterm in Critical Victimology. I must admit I feel that I rushed through it a little. Afterwards, some friends and I were planning on getting some drinks at a nearby bar. I think I was rushing a little because I wanted to just be done. I feel I was thorough, but could have been more thorough than I was. We will see when I get my grade. Either way, we had fun going out for drinks afterward, it was nice to be social with some classmates.

Last night in Criminalistics we had a guest speaker on Ballistics, and guns. He was part of the Boston Crime Lab, and showed us a video, power point presentations, and spoke. He passed around bullets, casings, and the inside of a gun's chamber. It was pretty cool! I enjoyed having a guest speaker. Soon I need to pick a topic for my project in that class. I need to research a forensic technique....I need to start cracking on that.

And that was my week, in a nutshell. OH I have a final complaint. I ended up complaining in the Suffolk Library the other night to the night manager. I search and search for a quiet place to study but I've realized there is not one. The 4th floor is allegedly the "Quiet Floor" but I swear it is the loudest of them all. It's not so much of a problem to me because I have a quiet home to study in. I feel worried for students who live in dorms/apartments that they cannot get work done in. The Suffolk Library is by far the loudest library I've ever been in. A few of my peers have shared in my complaints about the noise level in there. Lucky for me, I use the Law library which is excellent. The perfect atmosphere to study in.

Stepping down off my soap box...

Have a great weekend!

Week 6

Hi there,

  So week 6 was a pretty fast one for me considering I only ended up having class Wednesday and Thursday evening. We had a Monday holiday, and were supposed to have our make-up class on Tuesday night. My professor was going to be out of town so I didn't have class that night either. Friday evening was supposed to be my make-up for Tuesday night, but we had lots of snow and in turn, Suffolk shut down as of 1 pm on Friday. We had steady snow throughout the whole day, and it really grew to a decent amount! I have to admit that I was pretty excited about not having class on a Friday afternoon.

  It was great having an extra extra long weekend, but I definitely do better when I stick to my schedule. I barely did any work throughout the entire weekend, and started to fall behind just a little. Thanks to Friday's snow day, I was able to get lots of work done and get back on track!

This upcoming week is a full week for me. I will be working Mon, Wed, Fri and having class Mon-Thursday nights. As a matter of fact, I was supposed to do a presentation in my Stats class on Tuesday but now we have another week to work on it because of the snow! This Wednesday night I have a midterm in my Critical Victimology class, which I need to begin studying for this weekend.

That's all for now...!

Week 5

Hi again,

   Just wanted to post again to update you on what is going on in my life. I started a new job last week and it is going well! I'm enjoying learning how this office works (the Off Campus Housing Office) and getting accustomed to my new duties. :) I am working 17.5 hours a week now which is a few hours more each week than I was working earlier, so I am working on getting used to that schedule as well.

School is going well. I can't believe it is already week five. Keeping busy really makes the days go by faster than normal. This week we had a 330 page book due in Juvenile Justice. I struggled getting into the book but it became more interesting as I read. We have gotten two of the largest books out of the way in the first few weeks so it should become a little easier from here. I need to start thinking of a topic for my research paper and presentation for the class.

Statistics is fine also-we had an assignment due this week, our first out of three this semester. It took me several hours to complete at the computer lab. We use SPSS which is a statistical program that helps create charts, statistical measures, etc. The professor makes the class interesting by having the students do presentations on the articles we read, and also uses statistics from the primaries and caucuses to relate real world info to our class. She even let us out early from class since we worked hard on our presentations--how nice!

Tonight I have Critical Victimology. We have been handing in a short paper every week, and we also have a midterm coming up at the end of February. I've already started doing some of the reading for next week since it's about 200 pages worth of articles.

Finally, on Thursday for Criminalistics we are going to the Boston Crime Lab for a tour. Our professor is the head of it and will be showing us around and pointing out lots of interesting things. I think that will be really interesting!

We have a long weekend coming up...yay! Because of President's Day I do not have my Monday class. We are supposed to make up the class on Tuesday night but our professor is out of town so I have Monday & Tuesday off! Finally, the Tuesday make-up is Friday evening...that stinks, but oh well!! That's all for now....Happy Valentine's Day!

Week 4

Hey there,

So here I am fully immersed in week four of classes. This semester is flying by and I am neck deep in schoolwork. It's really not even funny. I have SO much reading to do, it's frightening. My juvenile justice class has a lot of reading, quite a bit more than I have become accustomed to thus far. Not to mention we will have a 20 pg paper due this semester--eek! My Stats class is not so bad, sometimes I really have no idea what I'm reading but class tends to help clear up the confusion. I also have a presentation on an article coming up in that class in a few weeks. Critical Victimology is not so bad either, a fair amount of reading each week and a small paper due every week also....I do believe though that I would rather write a small paper every week rather than a huge paper at the end. However, no one really asked for my opinion in the matter.... ha ha. Finally, my Criminalistics class has a larger amount of reading this week which I am trying to squeeze it all in....which is why I am going to finish this quick little blog here so I can get one chapter in before bed....

I'll write again soon!!