SBU200 grade, etc.

SBU200, Business and Society, is over! This is a very good thing, because, as it was a 5-week, condensed, class, it was the most time consuming. I'm now free to devote that time to my other classes. I ended the class with a B (88%). Its not the A I wanted, but its not bad, either. The final project was a detailed stakeholder-analysis of the Martha Stewart insider trading incident. If you'd like to see my project (got an A on it), just email me and I will email it to you.

After seeing an advisor last week to review my credits needed for graduation, I learned that I didn't need to take SBU200 at all! This illustrates the need for frequent consultation with the school advisors to make sure I'm not signing up for unnecessary classes.

Both my last tests in trigonometry and chemistry scored 87%. Again, not the A's I wanted, but not bad. I just need to invest a little more time to reach the A.

Last week, I was told by my psychology professor that she nominated me for a program offered by the community college called "Leadership Academy". It is only available to students who are nominated by faculty members. It is basically a 2-semester course in developing leadership skills, along with a personal leadership style. It is provided free-of-charge, including all textbooks. Here is an excerpt from the email that was sent to me after I signed up:

"Congratulations! You have been selected to be part of the 2007-2008 Leadership Academy! You have been nominated because you have made a positive impression on one of your faculty members, and have shown leadership attributes that are greatly needed in the world today.

Remember, our first meeting is next week Saturday, Oct. 6th from 8am-3pm (we may get out early) in the Kiva Room (downstairs Kirk Center). Breakfast and lunch will be provided. This is a FREE training session from the world-reknown Arbinger Institute, a training that normally costs $400 per person. The material discussed in this session will be used throughout the year, so it is very important that you attend. "

The program is based on work by the Arbinger Institute. I have not looked up Arbinger yet to see what they are all about, but it seems to me they carry some prestige. This is a great opportunity for me, both for personal development, and enhancing my transcripts/resumes in the future.

The First Few Weeks

Three weeks into the semester, here's a little bit of what's been goin' down...

Trigonometry
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Textbook: Analytic Trigonometry with Applications, Barnett et al., 9th Ed

The class started off defining degrees, angles and arcs. We learned to use the proportional nature of degrees and arcs to calculate arc length defined by an angle.
One fun aspect of this class is that it makes frequent use of real-world applications in the course work. For example, we used the above concept to calculate Earth's circumference.

The rest of chapter one discussed similar triangles, right triangles, and introduced the basic trig functions, sine, cosine, tangent, cosecant, secant, and cotangent. Applications included calculating height of a mountain, radius of the Earth, and shadows of vertical objects when the sun is shining at a certain angle. I got a score of 112% on the chapter 1 test.

Chapter 2, which I have a test on tomorrow, has focused on gaining familiarity with radian measure, linear and angular velocity, and basic properties of the trig functions.

I enjoy the class so far.

General Chemistry I
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Chapter 1 was a review of dimensional analysis and units of measure. Chapter two discussed atomic theory, elements vs. compounds, isotopes and ions. Chapter three studied formulas, equation balancing, mole concept (6.022 x 10^23 particles), limiting reactants, and stoichiometry (calculating quantities of reactants and products). First test coming up on Monday.


Time to get back to studies, I'll continue later.