A lot of know what we want to major in even before we come into college. A lot of us, however, do not. On Tuesday, I worked the Psychology table at Transy’s annual Major/Minor fair, just one of the many ways Transy tries to give you as many opportunities as possible to explore your options!

I had so much fun, I thought I’d tell you about it! Generally, some seniors and juniors from each major get together to work the tables. There is food, candy, science experiments, music, mini theatrical performances, cool artifacts, and even people in costume!
At the Psychology table, we had an actual operant chamber (aka “Skinner Box”) at the table, optical illusion cards, a mirror maze, and some other awesome gadgets we frequently use or study in the department! First years and undecided sophomores could not only get information about the major, but interact with current majors and participate in hands on activities that we sometimes do in class. They can also talk to recent alumni to see what kinds of opportunities exist for each major after graduation.

Me, proud of my psychology table

Psychology wasn’t the only table to have neat stuff like this, though. Nearly every program had something unique at their table! Religion had pictures and stories from people who had studied abroad in Israel, Anthropology had artifacts, Latin American Studies even made cupcakes!
I remember when I attended this even my first year. I thought for sure that I had decided on a Biochemistry major, but at this event I remember talking to some passionate English students, and it eventually contributed to my decision to switch.

Bottom line is—if you think you might have varying interests at all (which, if you’re at or considering a school like Transy, you should), attend as many of these events as possible. Talk to as many students in different departments as you can about their experiences! Even if you don’t change your mind about what to study like I did, you can at least meet some pretty cool folks and learn a thing or two about something you might not have known anything about previously.

Weekend of Service!

Community service is something that is incredibly important to me, though I often don’t get a chance to do it because of my crazy school and work schedule.

Last weekend, though, I was able to participate in not just one awesome service project, but TWO, and other members of the Transy community were at my side for both.

On Saturday, Psi Chi (The Psychology Honorary), had a craft day at The Florence Crittenton Home, which is about a 5 minute walk from campus. It is a mostly a home for teenage girls who are pregnant or have children. We hung out with the girls and some of their precious babies for a couple hours making picture frames and thank you cards, eating cookies and chatting. They were so appreciative, and their crafts turned out incredible! On the way back to campus, something equally cool happened. We passed one of the neighborhood houses, and 3 children were running around the yard. They spied our picture frames, and began asking questions. We were able to not only give the girls at the home a fun day, but also to make the day of these neighborhood children by giving them the rest of our picture frames. What a cool experience to make so many people smile in a day!

Team Phi Mu at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5k

Sunday was even more humbling. It was the 2010 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5k. Every year Transy has a strong team that participates in the walk and raises money for breast cancer research. It’s an issue that’s close to me and my family, and I had not been able to participate in previous years, so I was super excited to get the opportunity this year. I raised 165.00, walked/ran with some beautiful and inspiring people—survivors of breast cancer, their families, and those who were just generally supportive. I don’t even have words to describe the emotions I felt being a part of this event. It was AWESOME! People gave each other high fives after turning the first corner; smiles were abundant; it truly made me proud to be a part of the Transy and Lexington community.

If service is something that you hold close to your heart, then you can always find a way to get involved at Transy. Check out our office for community service and civic engagement: http://www.transy.edu/campus/comm_service.htm

When you think about a class, you might think of a typical set up—you come to class, take notes, discuss readings, write papers, and take tests. All of this will mostly take place in the same class room with the same people every day, but one of my classes at Transy this semester is challenging tradition.My 20th century American Literature class examines American literature after 1945 while considering the historical and cultural context. We spend a lot of time thinking about what it means to be an American presently and throughout the time period. To help us consider this more deeply, our class has paired with the Photography 1 class in the art department to do a creative project, which will define America.
Now I know what you must be thinking—it’s exactly what I thought when I heard about the project: “Why on earth would an English class work with a photography class, and how is that going to help us better understand the literature we’re reading.” The answer is that it inspires collaborative thinking, something that many classrooms don’t allow for. Having the perspective of the art students helps us better explore the meaning of America, which gives insight into the texts we read.
We just completed our first collaborative project yesterday. We had to spend 5 hours with our partner, getting to know him or her in order to produce a photographic and narrative portrait of one another. Honestly, I was dreading it at first. I barely have enough time to spend 5 extra hours with myself, let alone with someone else. In the end, though, it was an incredibly cool project. I got to learn about the values, priorities and history of someone I didn’t know very well before hand, and as it turns out, we’re pretty similar.

The portrait my partner took of me! Supposed to revel something about me you couldn't gather from a short conversation.

Our photographs turned out really well, and the narratives we wrote accurately portrayed us both.
Even in my senior year, I’m still constantly surprised by the ability of Transy professors to come up with new ways to approach education. It keeps me engaged and fuels the passion I already have for learning. Not to mention, the chance to be creative is super refreshing in the midst of strictly academic research.

So, funny story, I actually wrote this blog last week and when I went to post this week’s, I realized that I wrote it, but didn’t actually post it. Chalk it up to a disorder I like to call “senior scatter brain.” Anyways, here it is:

I’m not going to lie, when I was still on the meal plan at Transy, it was a little tough when it came to eating healthy and finding vegetarian things to munch on. The quality of the food wasn’t bad, but there weren’t a whole lot of vegetarian choices and it was hard to keep track of your caloric intake.
I am happy to write today, though, that Transy has since become 100 times better in both arenas. I even find myself walking over to campus to eat on days when I don’t feel like cooking!
Here are some of the biggest and best changes I’ve noticed:

1.) The 1780 café, our late night diner, used to serve all kinds of awesome but bad-for-you items. Consuming a ton of calories super late at night has frequently been cited as a reason for weight gain, and certainly the 1780 contributed to many Transy students’ freshman 15. This year, though, the 1780 has been updated! Not only do they serve healthier (and still equally satisfying) items, but they also list the calories of each item right there on the menu! I was so excited to see this change, because it gives me more control over my diet. Even though I may want that 700 calorie flat bread pizza at midnight, I can opt for the healthier 400 calorie wrap if I so choose.

2.) MORE VEGETARIAN OPTIONS! It used to be that I would go to the cafeteria and have the choice of salad bar, pasta, or cheese pizza for dinner and lunch every day. The options for vegetarians were limited to say the least. We might occasionally get a tofu dish, but it would not be the best. This year, though, the food service staff has made a ton of progress toward offering a more diverse array of meat-free options, and they’re great about identifying which dishes do and do contain meat! A couple weeks ago, I had a fantastic Mediterranean pita pocket with eggplant and other veggies and just the other day I had a DELICIOUS vegetarian Reuben sandwich!

3.) The staff is completely open to suggestions. I have seen more food service surveys go out this year than in previous years. They actively seek to bring us the best dining experience possible and constantly work toward improvement.

Needless to say, the food and dining experience at Transy is the best that it has ever been!