Last Tips for Incoming Freshmen!

By Brooks Goodwin

For all the graduating high school seniors who will be coming to Baylor to start of their college careers in the fall, I thought it would be nice to give some tips for how to make the most out of your summer.

First off, be sure to spend plenty of time with your family and friends. Heading off to college is a very exciting time. You will meet plenty of people and develop new friendships, but don’t be so eager to leave home without spending some last moments of quality time with your closest friends and, of course, your family. There is no telling how long it will be before you see them again once you move to Baylor, so make the most of your time with them while you can this summer.

Secondly, GO TO LINE CAMP! Seriously, I think that anyone you meet who finds out you are an incoming freshman will tell you to make this a priority. Line Camp is a really fun experience and definitely gets you excited to be a Baylor Bear. Line Camp will not only allow you to get a feel for living on Baylor’s campus for a week, but it will also allow you to meet many of your fellow classmates before classes even start, which can be beneficial if you don’t know anybody else attending Baylor. You also learn a lot of things about Baylor, such as it’s history and the chants/cheers done at football games, which you absolutely have to know. For more information, check out the Line Camp website.

Line Camp Group

My Line Camp Group!

Lastly, get excited! You are about to start the experience of a lifetime and join the wonderful community that is the Baylor family. College is a fun, challenging, life-changing and rewarding time, and I honestly believe that Baylor is one of the best places to make home for the next four years. Enjoy your summer and have fun when August comes around and it is time for move in. I look forward to seeing you all on campus, Class of 2018!

Ranking the On-Campus Dining Halls!

By Brooks Goodwin

As somebody who has lived on campus for the past two years, I have had plenty of experience with on-campus dining and thought it would be nice to share some of my wisdom. While most of the food on campus is pretty good, there will be the occasional day of lackluster food. So, here are the best dining halls (in my opinion) in order of where you should go for the best possible dining hall experience:

1) East Village Dining Hall

This is the newest dining hall at Baylor, and it is definitely equipped to prepare the best food you can get on campus. I am pretty sure that it is now the largest dining hall, and because of this, it offers one of the largest varieties available. The food is always cooked well, the staff is very friendly and the facilities are new (obviously) and extremely clean. This is the place I would definitely recommend to eat when asked where can you get the best food on campus. It is especially good and convenient for students at Baylor Sciences Building, and it is also fairly close to the Business school.

2) Memorial Dining Hall

While I do rate East Village as the top dining hall, Memorial is a very close second. Some of the best things you will find at Memorial are its stir-fry, chicken fried steak and some of the best and softest chocolate chip cookies at Baylor. Other options include a tasty create your own pasta line and a nice salad bar. The great thing about Memorial, for me at least, is the location. It is a short walk from Old Main, Waco Hall, Carroll Science and many other common buildings, which make stopping at Memorial an easy choice.

3) Penland Dining Hall

First off, yes. It is true that many students at Baylor refer to this dining hall as “P-Nasty.” But, don’t let that deter you from going here. I heard that name when I first came to Baylor and didn’t try out Penland for a while, but it is actually pretty good. The sandwich station is one of my favorites on campus, and the omelets are insanely good. This is also the only dining hall that is open on the weekends, which can be really nice at times. Really, the only bad thing about Penland is the facilities themselves because they are a little dated. However, Penland is undergoing a renovation over the summer and will supposedly be almost brand new in time for the fall. You lucky freshmen.

4) Brooks Dining Hall

Now, prospective students always deem this the “coolest” dining hall because of the resemblance to the Great Hall in Hogwarts. But in reality, it doesn’t have much more going for it than its looks. I have lived in Brooks during the past two years (insert joke about me living in the dorm with the same name as me) and usually eat dinner here every night. Let me just say that I don’t feel using a meal swipe to eat at Brooks is worth it. I mainly do it for convenience, but Brooks has the smallest variety available. It is the smallest dining hall and often has a poor selection of food from the already small variety. Occasionally, there is something that is very good, but I wouldn’t really recommend eating here often.

Now, these are obviously just my opinions, but I feel that this is a general consensus among students that I talk to, aside from maybe Brooks and Penland switching back and forth between 3 and 4. I didn’t include Collins Dining Hall, because it will actually be shut down before the fall semester. Overall, the food on campus is good and you should not be worried. It doesn’t match the quality of a home-cooked meal, but you will be satisfied. Feel free to take my advice when you first come onto campus in the fall, or just see for yourself. Or…there is always the option of ditching the dining halls for the SUB.

Spring Fever (Literally)

By Brooks Goodwin

My last blog post was about how much I enjoyed spring time here at Baylor, and that is still very true. However, I seemingly forgot what spring brings with it, which my body very quickly reminded me of – allergies. Not just everyday allergies though, but allergies bad enough to actually get you very sick, where you have to do something about it.

During the first couple of days after Spring Break, I got a bad case of allergies and was constantly coughing. On top of that, I ended up with a fever and just felt awful. Then, to make things even worse, both of my roommates happened to get sick at the same time. Now, I have been living with my current roommates since the first day of freshman year, and this was the first time we have all been sick at once, which I guess is a good thing. However, it does make things a little complicated to have a room full of sick people, constantly filling up the air with germs and whatnot. This made it very difficult for any one of us to get completely better as there was always another person still sick in the room. We ended up disinfecting the shared spaces and tried to keep it as clean as possible. We all seem to be getting close to 100 percent now, which is a good sign for the upcoming weeks.

After reading about my experience, here are some tips if you are ever unfortunate enough to end up sick during your time here:

  1. Get plenty of rest! Seriously. Your body needs time to recover, so you need to stay in bed as much as you can. I’m not necessarily telling you to skip class, but if you have the option, it won’t be the end of the world. Just make sure you aren’t missing any quizzes/tests if you aren’t feeling well and get notes from someone in your class.
  2. Take medicine/home remedies. There are plenty of allergy/cough/flu medicines available, and the Baylor Bookstore actually has some in stock for students. Take advantage of these or make some remedies at home such as tea with honey for a sore throat.
  3. WASH YOUR HANDS. I feel like this one is obvious, but I’ve seen more than enough people walk out of the bathroom without doing it. Just do it.

Hopefully, you never get sick while you are here, but if you do, just be sure to take care of yourself. Don’t force yourself to get out for one day when you really aren’t feeling too great and cause yourself to be sick any longer. Take my word for it!

Spring at Baylor

By Brooks Goodwin

Outside

Finally, after months of walking to class in bipolar, sometimes miserable weather, winter is over and spring has arrived! I have to say that spring is my favorite time of the year on campus. Especially after all of those rainy, dreary winter days, it is very refreshing to realize once again just how beautiful our campus is. From the sun shining off the top of Pat Neff to the crisp green grass of Fountain Mall, walking around campus has become instantly more enjoyable thanks to the change in weather.

There are some definite signs of the changes on campus, and I thought I would just give you all a preview of what to expect around this time of year. First off, the number of hammocks on campus spikes immediately once the first day of sunny weather rolls around. Hammocking is a common activity amongst many students on campus, pretty much at any point during the day. It is rare to find an empty tree without a student relaxing/studying in a hammock. So, if you already own a hammock and enjoy putting one up on a nice day, you will fit in very nicely. Or, take this as your heads up to possibly invest in one.

IMG_4872

It’s also not uncommon to see students passing time by playing pick-up games of various sports. You will often see a quick game of ultimate Frisbee, football or soccer going on when the weather is nice and when the majority of people are out of class. This can be a great way to not only get active, but also meet some new friends by asking to join in. So, be sure to get outside!

Overall, as I mentioned before, spring is my favorite time of year here at Baylor, and I’m sure many of my fellow students agree. It’s a great time to get out and enjoy the weather, possibly meet some new people and be thankful that winter is gone for a while. It is also a time to look forward to Diadeloso, the approaching end of the semester and the great thing called summer.

Baylor Moving Forward Update – Parking Crisis

By Brooks Goodwin

Earlier this week, students were given the information that to accommodate for game-day parking in the fall, the Dutton parking garage (also known as the Garage-Mahal by students) would be used for visitors holding game-day parking passes. Numerous students have taken to social media to express their disapproval while others are OK with it. I just thought I would give my two cents on the topic.

First of all, I definitely disapprove of this move. There is already a shortage of on-campus parking, and the Dutton parking garage is the largest garage on campus and holds many student vehicles. In addition, parking permits are not free, and students pay to have the chance to park on campus, which has always included the weekends. But now, with this move, students who park in the Dutton parking garage will be forced to move their vehicles to another location on Friday afternoons to leave the garage vacant for game-day visitors. If students want to leave their car in this garage, they will have to buy an additional parking pass, or they will be towed. To me, this is not right since students pay for the parking permits that have not included the stipulations that vehicles will be forced to move at any point, unless you are in a reserved area for faculty.

What really irritates me is this last-minute decision to just use up the already lacking pre-existing parking rather than the wise decision to build more parking. Surely, in the discussion and plans for the new stadium, somebody must have mentioned the idea of building parking near the stadium. There are so many options that could have been moved upon and completed by the opening game. A new garage across the Brazos next to the stadium could have been built, which would serve on game-day for visitors and could even be used during the regular year by athletes and/or the adjacent law school students. Another option that could be put in place would be to take advantage of space in downtown Waco or even build a garage there, with game-day shuttles taking visitors to the stadium like the shuttles that took students from campus to Floyd Casey Stadium. This would remove the need for the Dutton garage take-over and give greater exposure to downtown (credit to my roommate for that idea).

Sorry if you disagree with my opinions or feel that I am too critical of Baylor here. But, other students share my feelings, and I wanted to show that it is OK to not necessarily approve of every move that Baylor makes. Like I mentioned in my last blog post, Baylor is growing fast and making huge decisions. Obviously, not every decision they make will make everybody happy. However, this parking decision is one I feel they should have considered more carefully. Students knew there would be sacrifices to move the stadium back to campus, but this was not one that was expected. Time will only tell how this situation will play out, but students can only hope that Baylor will make adjustments in the future to make the parking situation more acceptable for everyone.

Baylor Moving Forward

By Brooks Goodwin

There are definitely some exciting times ahead for Baylor University. It seems like there is news about an expansion to campus every week. If you don’t quite follow Baylor news yet, here are some things you might want to know about when considering Baylor:

McLane Stadium

McLane Stadium artist rendition

This is definitely the biggie. In Fall 2014, Baylor’s football team will be moving back to campus right across the Brazos River in the newly built stadium. The first season in the McLane Stadium looks like it could be a special one. The Bears are projected to start off the season high in the rankings as they look to repeat as Big 12 Champs and hopefully end with a better result during the postseason. If you are curious as to how the progress of the stadium is going, there is a constant live stream of the construction available here.

Paul L. Foster Campus For Business and Innovation

Business School Rendition

In fall of 2015, Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business will be moving to a new location on campus, a brand new facility that will expand the size of the previous building by almost 40 percent. As a business student, this is something I am very excited about. The current Hankamer/Cashion building can definitely use an upgrade and more size, which this new center will offer. If you are considering business at Baylor, just know that this is on the way.

Baylor also just announced that for the first time the Hankamer School of Business will offer a full MBA program online, which could be a sign of even more things to come not only for the business school but for other schools at Baylor as well.

Other info about the new business school can be found here.

Other Various Additions  

In addition to what I consider the two big projects, Baylor also has plans to add a new track and field facility next to McLane Stadium. On top of those, Baylor will also be improving various things on campus, such as installing Wi-Fi capabilities in certain residential halls and renovating Penland dining hall. Although it’s not official, there is also talk of adding a new Student Union Building to accommodate the campus expansion and expanding the Student Life Center. With all of these new additions in the future, it is easy to forget that Baylor just recently added two new dorms, Earle Hall and Teal Residential College, this past fall as well.

I’m not exactly sure where the rumor originated, but it has been spread around campus that Baylor’s overall plan is to expand campus to make President Starr’s home the new center of campus, which would take quite some work. As far as the validity of that rumor, I’m not sure. I know one thing for sure, and that is that Baylor has a bright future heading forward and shows no sign of stopping.

To Work or Not to Work?

By Brooks Goodwin

A big decision I had coming into Baylor was choosing whether or not to work while I was in school. I qualified for work-study and could have definitely used the extra money to put towards paying for tuition, room, books, etc. However, I ultimately decided to wait on getting a job during my freshman year and focus solely on my classwork. This worked well for me, and I had a successful first year in college. But, at the end of the year, I decided that I would make the change and get a job during my sophomore year.

I kept looking at the student employment job listings over the summer before my sophomore year and found one position that sounded like something I would like to do. The Baylor Admissions office had an opening for a data processor. Basically, I would deal with processing the transcripts from high school students who were applying for admission. I applied, got an interview, and ended up getting the job! I started the first week of classes and worked nine hours per week, which was very manageable. After working for a while, I found that I became a lot better at prioritizing things and staying on top of my schoolwork. Knowing that I had work made me take advantage of free time I had earlier in the week to get things done that weren’t necessarily due right away. This prevented me from scrambling to finish them the night before, after I finished work.

This semester, I have even added an extra shift at work and feel confident that I will still be able to manage my time well. If you are thinking about working during the school year but are not sure how you will handle it, let me tell you that it is very possible. You might want to take a semester or two like I did to adjust to college and see what your workload will be, but don’t let the fear of having too much schoolwork keep you from getting a job if you want or need one. You will be more than capable of handling it and find that your time-management skills will improve greatly!

In conclusion, I would highly recommend trying to find an on-campus job if you are thinking about working during your time here. If you qualify for work-study, you get first priority when it comes to these jobs. Even if you don’t qualify, there are usually spots left over. You can find more info about all of that on Baylor’s student employment website. Working an on-campus job is great, because the hours you can work are limited, which leaves you with plenty of time for studying or socializing while also providing you with a steady paycheck. This might be a little more difficult if you were to look for a retail or restaurant job, even if the pay might be a little more. Just a friendly tip!

New Year, New Habits

By Brooks Goodwin

Coming back to Baylor for the spring semester is always a difficult thing. Not because being at Baylor is a bad thing, but because a whole new set of classes are about to begin. After enjoying a nice month of either relaxing at home or vacationing with family, coming back to campus and getting yourself back to “school-mode” can be quite the hassle. Starting a new semester can also be a bit of a blessing in disguise, however. If the previous semester didn’t go exactly how you wanted it to, this new semester is your chance to start off fresh and get things going in the right direction.

To make this semester better than the last one, I find it to be helpful to immediately try and correct some of the bad habits you had last semester. Usually, these are things that are pretty obvious and you know you can improve upon. For instance, you may need to get more sleep, so you can focus in class. Maybe your problem is making sure to eat the right amount of meals everyday. It could be anything that might hinder your school performance. Because you are coming into a new semester and will have a different routine than the previous year, it’s the prime opportunity to insert a new habit into your schedule. Then, it will be second nature by the middle of the semester.

Coming into this semester, I knew my biggest problem was studying. I usually stayed in my room to study, because that is what I had done since my freshman year here at Baylor. First off, I know that pretty much everyone will tell you to NEVER study in you room, because it’s distracting and near impossible. However, I had never had problems with it up until last semester. But something changed. I don’t know if it was the difficulty of the material or something else, but my old study habit didn’t seem to work as well. Yet, I didn’t change it. So, this semester I decided to find a new study spot and even schedule in some study time to make sure I was getting it done. My roommate actually had the same problem, so we looked for some places to go this semester.

study spot 1

The first week of classes, we found this quiet study area tucked away by the Armstrong Browning Library that we never knew existed. As long as the weather is favorable, we decided to give it a shot as our new study spot. So far through the first two weeks, we have made it a point to go there on Mondays and Wednesdays right after lunch to study and get extra homework done. This seems to be working so far, and I can already tell it’s helping my study skills. Only time will tell exactly how well this will work this semester. The good thing is that I set this up so early in the semester. Now this habit has time to sink in, which will hopefully be very helpful.

Basically, all I am trying to say is that each new semester is a new chance to do better than before. If you fell short of your expectations in the past, don’t make the same mistakes you did then. Instead, set out to fix them, and I am fairly certain you will see better results.

There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays

By Brooks Goodwin

Well, December has finally arrived. It’s time for bright lights and an assortment of decorations everywhere you look. You can definitely feel the excitement on campus, as students prepare for Christmas on 5th Street and look forward to the end of the semester. This time can also be very stressful, with finals looming over you. And somehow, the desire to simply be home for a whole month during winter break seems to grow more each day. So, what I have found to be helpful around this time is to bring a little bit of home with you to Baylor, to give you the little extra push to finish out the semester.

When you think about the holidays, whether that be Christmas or whatever holiday you usually celebrate around this time, there are definitely traditions that you and your family have that make this time of year special. What is pretty cool is to find out the traditions that other people have for the holidays that they feel are special, such as your roommates. This is what I have done with my three roommates from the last two years, and it has been a very nice experience.

My roommates and I talked about the fun things that each of us do with our families during the holidays and decided to bring some traditions to our room here at Baylor. For instance, we were all big on decorating the house, so we all pitched in some money, went out and bought a small Christmas tree, some lights and stockings to bring back to the dorm. We also talked about our favorite Christmas movies and shows and made out a schedule to watch some of them together. We’ve even started some new traditions just as roommates, which is neat in my opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, here’s the point. Bringing traditions from home and seeing what traditions your roommates have can be a cool experience. It’s fun to see the similarities and differences while also making your dorm/apartment feel more like home. The interesting thing to note is that the place you will live here, and Baylor in general, will become your home too. So, it only makes sense to bring traditions with you, but I also encourage you to make new traditions for your new home with the new people you live with. It makes this time of year so much more fun and rewarding. Not only do I have going home over winter break to look forward to, but I also get to look forward to walking into my room everyday because it really is home. And, there’s no place like home for the holidays.

No Pressure, No Diamonds…

By Brooks Goodwin

Of course, your first reaction to the title of this post might be to think of Robert Griffin III’s acceptance speech for the Heisman trophy. However, I have found that this quote can be motivation for my academics here at Baylor, and maybe you will too.

This is the point in the semester where you have a fairly good idea of what grade you currently have in each class and what you will have to do to get the final grades you want. You can find that you are doing pretty well in some classes, and in others you can find that you are really going to have to work hard the rest of the semester to get a decent grade. This can lead to some possible anxiety and put pressure on you to succeed…which is exactly where the quote comes in.

If you don’t find your classes difficult or aren’t worn down from the busyness of the semester up to this point, you might be doing something wrong. College is supposed to be challenging, especially here at Baylor where your professors expect the best from you. This isn’t supposed to be intimidating or scary; it just shows that they care about seeing you reach your potential and be the best that you can be. So, when each class seems to be getting more and more difficult and you find yourself struggling to manage everything, just know that it will be fine as long as you stay focused.

So, here’s the point. If you never feel the pressure that college can bring, you might never get the diamonds (or success) that can come from the work you put in. Even if you are tired and your mind feels worn down, you need to stay on top of your schoolwork and be sure to study for every quiz and test. You would rather look back at the end of the semester and think, “I did everything I could and earned the grade that I got” rather than “Maybe if I had studied a little more, I could have done better.” Embrace the pressure that is given to you, and work hard to get the diamonds you deserve.