It feels pretty strange to already be December, but the colder temperatures keep reminding me of the fact. Early December will be a pretty busy time period. My mother’s 45th birthday is on Friday, something she is not happy about. My grandmother had my family over for dinner and surprised my mom with a birthday cake so we could have an early celebration while I was home for Thanksgiving, My grandmother makes a great pound cake with the best icing, so I was glad to be there and to also be able to bring back a couple of pieces with me to Tech. Of course, it was eaten by Sunday evening. As a little birthday surprise, before I left, I put a large magnetic “VT” on the rear of my mom’s SUV, just under her UVA and AXO sorority stickers. I don’t think she has noticed yet, but it’s pretty funny because she said her and my dad’s college stickers go on their vehicles and mine and my brother’s will go on the car we share.

Since I have left, my mom said she has started putting up Christmas decorations. Decorating the tree is slow for her because of the number of ornaments we have. (Every year, she and my grandmother buy special ornaments for me and my brother to represent things that occurred during the year, like a guitar for guitar lessons, or a car ornament the year we got driver’s licenses.) This year, my mom did say it was weird hanging both UVA and VT ornaments on the same tree, but she was just kidding me. I think my brother will go to VT next year, so she will be outnumbered by then.

It’s weird knowing how much has to be accomplished in the next couple of weeks. Adults are feeling stressed getting ready for the holidays, and students are feeling stressed with final projects, papers, and exams. I just had my Chem Lab final on Tuesday, so I am glad to have that behind me. One less thing to worry about. I will have to stay focused and pace myself so that I will be prepared enough for Linear Algebra. That’s a final I can take any time, but taking it too soon, I may not be prepared enough, but if I was too late, I may be too tired from all the other finals and also may have a difficult time finding a computer at the Math Emporium. My parents say they used to get real stressed during finals and how easy it is for grades to drop an entire letter grade if you aren’t careful. I don’t plan on letting that happen.

Another thing I am thinking about is employment during Winter Break. I tried meeting with the Costco manager when I was home during Thanksgiving, but he was too busy and would not even take my resume. I completed the online application and lots of goofy questions (work scenarios), but since they require tons of screening and drug tests, I don’t know if they’ll even bother hiring me for four weeks of employment. It’s been about a week now since I filled out that application. The other place I applied to was Best Buy. Again, I went into the store to make a personal contact with the manager, but he was too busy to speak with me but someone told me that he usually contacts people within a week of submitting an application. I then filled out the online application at the end of last week, so I hope to hear something soon. I would rather work at Costco, but I will feel lucky to get either job. Unfortunately, the online applications do not allow applicants to submit a resume, and their questions and the space provided does not let an applicant provide much detail. I feel that my resume is a lot more impressive than the applications would allow. I do not have job experience due to spending one summer at Governor’s School and Boys State, and then last summer, my job at Fort Belvoir fell through at the last minute, and no one else was hiring by that time. But I do have a lot of leadership experience through volunteer activities. For example, I was my Order of the Arrow (OA) Chapter’s Community Service Chairman for one year and Co-Chairman for two years, where I organized a year round program for youth and adult Arrowmen to support BSA Troop and Community programs. But when the online application asked if I had ever used a cash register or floor buffer, I had to say “no,” even though I am more than capable of doing all the things they asked about. I hope they give me a chance, and I can really use the money.

I need to get my mind back on studying. This is a shorter blog than I normally write, so if I think of something to add, I will do so later.

Thanksgiving Break

It’s Tuesday afternoon of Thanksgiving break and as busy as I have been since my last class on Thursday, I had better get my weekly blog completed or it may not get done. My mom came down last Friday morning to get me and my roommate. She wanted to eat lunch in D2, and after we were done and my roommate got out of his class at 12:30pm, we loaded the car and headed for home. Would you believe we did not arrive home until about 7pm? There was an accident on Route 81 near Harrisonburg and we were in standstill traffic, so we took rural Route 33 into the mountains and across Skyline Drive and picked up Route 29 just north of Charlottesville. No one got car sick, but it was a crazy route. After dropping my roommate off at his house, we arrived home for a late dinner. (My mom left a roast cooking in the crock pot.) My brother and I stayed up real late talking and playing Modern Warfare II on Xbox.

Saturday morning, my mom got us all up early for swine flu shots. I did not want to get one and pretty much insisted that I would not go because I do not trust the H1N1 vaccine since it was manufactured quickly outside the US where they did not have to follow normal safety standards. But my mom then told me and my brother that my grandfather just found out that he had cancer and that we would needed to stay healthy so that we could go around him during his treatment this winter and early spring. There were hundreds of people at the county government center for the shots, but the lines moved pretty quickly. After that, we went in search for a Donnie Darko DVD for my brother’s Design MultiMedia class project, and for a LAN hub so I can get Internet on my PC in my dorm room. After lunch, I went to see the Costco manager about employment during Winter Break, but he did not want to talk to me or see my resume and said I had to apply online. (I thought making personal contact first would be good, but I guessed wrong.) The Costco application required my social security number, which I felt funny about, and had a long series of scenarios and questions of what I would most and least likely do in a given situation if working in the store. Our Internet connection was not good that afternoon and this took a long time. Saturday night we had a nice steak dinner and then watch Donnie Darko. When everyone else had gone to bed, I talked on Skype with some of my college friends who were also still up. (My local friends have still not returned home from college.)

I slept in some on Sunday and then went to the Nutcracker with my grandmother. She was real glad that my brother and I would still go to a ballet with her, but we knew it meant a lot to her, so we went. It was something we did when we were very young and she said she would like to go again when I was home on break. One of the dancers was the daughter of my former Sunday school teacher, “Mr. Bob,” who had died on 9-11 at the Pentagon. My mom made another good dinner and I started studying for my Calculus finals that evening.

Monday was a packed day. I had a 9am dental appointment and at 10:30am optometrist appointment, which meant that because of traffic, we had to leave the house just after 8am. After that, we searched for a pharmacy with seasonal flu vaccines in stock. The third place had some and after a wait, the pharmacist gave me a shot. (I made a mistake of letting her give me the shot in the same arm as Saturday’s vaccine, which made my arm really sore.) After that, we went to four or five stores in search of pants. (I thought my dirty pants from school were in my laundry basket, but it turned out that I only had the pair that I wore home for the week, except for church clothes I left at home in my closet.) That was frustrating shopping for clothes, something I do not like to do. We had a late pizza lunch with my grandparents, and then went home around 2:30pm. It was a cold, rainy day, and I was feeling exhausted by then, so I went to sleep around 3pm. My mom woke me up for dinner, and then I went back to bed. I pretty much slept until morning, ate breakfast at 6am, and went back to bed until 11am today! I could not believe how much I slept. My mom thinks it’s a result of having two flu shots so close together. Basically today, I have only gotten a little studying done, so I feel a little behind now from where I wanted to be at this point. Since my best friend will be home from the US Air Force Academy later tonight and we will spend tomorrow together, and other people will be around this weekend, I had hoped to get a lot done by now, especially since my Chem Lab final will be Tuesday right after I return to school. Soon, I will run over to the high school to visit some of my old teachers, and then I will try to get more studying done.

Basically, Thanksgiving Day will be pretty quiet. My mom will be making a huge dinner here and my grandparents will be coming over. We have also invited some neighbors whose son died of a brain aneurysm in October, but I am not sure if they will be coming. (The father has had high blood pressure and heart problems since the death and may not be well enough to travel to visit their married daughter.) It’s sad that we are entering a holiday season and there are people who are dealing with grief because I know it’s going to be a difficult time for them.

Last Weekend's Nomination Interview

At 9 am last Saturday, I went to my local Congressman’s office in Annandale, Virginia for a 45 minute long interview. There were two days with three time sessions on each day to do the interview. Each one of the time slots had about three candidates who were being interviewed. I was the first one of the three candidates to arrive at the congressman’s office at around 8:40. The two others showed up before 9 but one of them was almost late. We were greeted by a woman who works for the congressman and then by a member of the Military Academy Nomination selection board. He is a 1967 West Point graduate and further explained how the interviews were going to work. What he explained was how we would interview with three people for fifteen minutes each. Once we were done with each of the three interviews, we could then leave.
I was the first person to be called back by one of the interviewers. He asked me several questions about why I wanted to attend West Point and some more questions about my application file. I was surprised when we finished after only about eight minutes of talking because he didn’t have any more questions for me. He didn’t have to question anything that was in my application file, which is good, and he just asked me to explain some things further to him, such as my Eagle Scout Project, because he was curious and wanted to get to know me better. I have found situations like this good in an interview when they can discuss things other than the basic requirements for admissions to the academy, because it means that he thinks I have met all of the requirements and just wants to know what type of person I am.
The second person who interviewed me was a retired Colonel who I had known from applying last year. He was very friendly with me, and asked me how things were going. He, just like all of the other interviewers mentioned how strong of a candidate I was, and hardly talked about my application file, and focused more on me as an individual. We discussed college for a while and how well my classes were going this year, as well as scouting. He had been involved with scouting, but couldn’t earn the rank of Eagle Scout when he was younger because his family was having financial problems and he had to get a full time job to support them. We talked about the Order of the Arrow, which is scouting’s honor society, and which I have been awarded the highest honor in the organization. I was surprised to find out that he was a “Brotherhood” member, and he was very impressed that I had earned the Vigil Honor, which is the highest honor. We talked for the entire fifteen minutes and he wished me good luck, and said that he thought I should have gotten in last year and that he was sure I would have no problems getting in this year.
I was not surprised by what every one of the three interviewers asked me. Each one had asked me why I didn’t get in the first time. Each of them were surprised that I hadn’t gotten in, and wanted to know if the admissions team at West Point had informed me why I wasn’t selected. I told them that I had failed the running event on the Candidate Fitness Assessment the first time I took it last year, and my Regional Commander had informed me that it had pushed me far enough away from failing that one event and having to retake it, that it kept me out of the academy that year. I was only about 20 people away from getting in. They rank every person applying and accept them based on that ranking. This year, I had greatly improved my CFA scores and maxed out on several of the events, and they were very impressed with my new scores.
The third person who interviewed me was another retired officer. She was impressed like all of the other interviewers. She had commented on how good my recommendation letters were, but focused on one of them, which was written by my AP Physics teacher from high school. She was a West Point graduate in the class of 1999 and served in combat in Iraq two years ago. She had written about how she thought I would make a great combat officer, and the interviewer was really impressed that a combat veteran had said that I would make a great combat officer.
After the interview was over, I find out that the West Point graduate who was greeting people worked with people that my dad knew, so he was talking with my dad for the entire time. That man is also in the group of people who decides who receive a nomination, so hopefully having talked with my dad for 45 minutes, he will think positively about me even though he didn’t interview with me. I received a nomination last year from this same group of people, so I think that I should receive one this year as well since all of my scores have gone up.
My congressman has decided to let West Point rank the people applying for nominations in his district so they can evaluate who are the most qualified for admissions to the academy. This is really good because politics no longer is a factor in who gets a nomination, and since I have a good relationship with my Regional Commander, who is one of the people who gets to make the decision now, I think that I am even more likely to receive a nomination and an appointment from West Point.

This past week has been really busy with school work. With an engineering curriculum, I am already very busy, but I have been even more so this past week. Last Thursday afternoon, I took my third Chemistry test. In most of my classes, I have very high grades and am doing quite well. The effort I am putting forth in my studies are paying off there. However, Chemistry is a different story. It isn’t that I am having problems understanding the material, because I am not. And my Chemistry homework scores are high and reflect my effort and that I understand the material. (I have even consulted different text books, outside my class materials, for extra practice and review.) My problem is with the actual tests themselves, the formatting of which seems to cause me trouble.
Each Chemistry test is only 30 problems long, which already does not allow for mistakes without impacting chances for high grades, and for the first two chapter tests, each of those problems required many steps of detailed work to get to the solutions. Test answers are also either right or wrong. There is no partial credit. These tests have to be taken very seriously.
Whenever I do Chemistry problems for homework, I am very methodical and always show all of my work so I know exactly what I am doing and what the next step will be. (My high school AP Physics teacher always commented on how good my habits are and that they will make me a successful engineer.) This process of showing each step helps me to avoid errors while I am calculating an answer. On the test, however, my professor does not allow the use of additional paper to solve problems and says that we have enough space in the borders of the test if we really need room for calculations, which is ridiculous. (He seems to think using calculators eliminates work on paper and that we should do the rest in our heads.) The students in this particular professor’s class are very upset with his rule and most say they cannot solve complex Chemistry problems in their heads. I know that he is an exceptionally bright man as he earned his PhD when he was only 20 years old. Some have even referred to him as being a genius. It seems to me that he is orienting the class towards people who are only like him and who automatically grasp the material, and it really makes it difficult for the rest of the students who are either having more difficulty with the material or who have a different method of working through problems.
The professor also does not do a good job of explaining the material. In lecture, he will simply read the material from a power point presentation that another professor had created, without providing any comments or elaboration. He will then show us some practice problems but does not explain why he does certain things. He just speeds through examples that rarely make sense. So, his lectures are almost pointless to attend. (I have never skipped one, however, because I keep hoping it will pay off at some point.) The only students in my class who seem to know what is going on during lectures are those who were in AP Chemistry in high school and already came in with a good understanding of the material. Unfortunately, I did not take AP Chemistry, so I do a lot of outside study and practice to keep up in this class. If I had the time in my schedule, it would be worthwhile to also sit in on another professor’s lectures, but I really don’t have the time, and Chemistry lectures are one of those classes that always seem to be full.

On a more positive note, I had a great time on Halloween this past weekend. Most of my friends went out to parties on Friday night, but I declined so that I could complete all of my schoolwork so I could go out on Saturday night instead and also not have to worry about much schoolwork on Sunday. On Saturday night, one of the guys living in the room next to me dressed up as Paul Bunyan and rode his bike to parties while carrying an axe over his shoulder. He actually got stopped on his way by one of the VT Police Officers, who suggested that he find a better way to carry the axe so he didn’t scare others on campus! The officer explained that he could not stop my friend from carrying the Halloween prop since it was technically a tool, and not a weapon. Because of that fact, my friend has decided to keep the axe in his room since it against no rule and looks pretty cool.
One of my other friends got together with several other guys and dressed up as those miniature plastic green army men that have been around forever and can be bought at Dollar Stores. They looked exactly like the toys, but life size. They spray painted themselves green and made cardboard weapons and plastic stands so they would look exactly like the plastic green army men, and then held poses representative of the little toys in different places around campus and downtown Blacksburg. They actually did this both nights and had a lot of fun.
Back to Friday night. My roommate came in drunk and decided to hand out all of his candy that he had purchased at Wal-Mart earlier in the day. He’s a pretty happy/outgoing guy, but still, I had never seen him this happy before. It was really funny to watch. The next morning, when he woke up, he was wondering why he had given out all of his candy the night before. He’s a ‘funny drunk’ and always provides entertainment when he comes back to the dorm after a night out.
On Saturday night, I went out with a large group of people from my building in search of a good party. After about a half an hour of searching, I split off from the main group along with three other guys from my floor. We went to an apartment building above Gumby’s Pizza and ended up staying there for three hours. It was the best party that any of us had been to. It was mostly dancing, and the DJ was really good. Once we returned to the dorm (around 1 am), we were all pretty tired, but stayed up talking until 3 am before heading to bed. One of the guys we had been with, whom I had just met that evening, had been drunk for 28 hours straight. He was a friend of one of my friends on my hall who had come from his college in West Virginia to party at Virginia Tech for the weekend. He is also a ‘funny drunk’ and pretty entertaining to watch him, especially for those of us who had not been drinking.
Overall, Halloween night was the best time that I have had while at Virginia Tech so far. I can’t wait until the next time we find a really good party to attend. Every couple of weeks they say there’s a pretty decent party, so I am hoping to join this group again soon.

West Point Interview

At 2:00pm today, I had a phone interview that was rescheduled from last week with my Military Academy Liaison Officer (MALO), Mr. O’Brien. The interview was primarily for him to assess my readiness to become a Cadet at West Point and an Officer in the US Army. Interviews of the sort can be as short as 45 minutes or can last an hour or two, depending on how many questions the MALO has to ask in order to satisfy himself that he has a good feel for the candidate. Today’s interview lasted about an hour.
Last year at this time, I had this interview with a different representative, who was very tough with his questions and the answers he expected. The interview was at my house on a Sunday afternoon and pretty intense. Since he was also assessing how much I wanted to actually attend West Point, it was obvious to me that he was trying to put me under a lot of pressure, in both the questions he asked me and by his arrogant manner. I remember one question in particular, when he asked me, “What does Honor mean to a Cadet at West Point and a US Army Officer?” I apparently did not express myself the exact way he wanted, and he badgered me until I stated exactly what he was thinking, even though what I first stated in response to his question was about identical to the answer he was expecting, just in slightly different words. The interview was possibly the hardest that I had ever gone through at this point in my life, and here I thought my Eagle Scout Board of Review was a feat to overcome because the District’s Commissioner sat on my Board, and he was tough. (I was only thirteen then, and being in that kind of position was good practice for last year’s MALO interview.) In the end, though, he wrote a very nice review of me and ranked me as a very strong candidate for West Point and said that I would even be an asset to help tutor other students. My father is a US Air Force Academy graduate and said that some interviewers intentionally try to fluster candidates in their questioning, and that it is good that I am calm and handled myself well.
Before the interview today, I was nervous. I tried to anticipate some of the questions Mr. O’Brien would likely ask me and came up with some answers so I would be able to give a well thought out response. I have been in contact with my new MALO for only two or three weeks now and most of that time was in trying to coordinate a date and a time for the interview. Just by the emails that we sent back and forth, I could tell that Mr. O’Brien was a much nicer person and not nearly as arrogant as my last Liaison Officer. I was hoping that I would feel more comfortable during this interview than I did last year, and thought there was a good chance it would go smoothly.
As it turned out, the interview went well. Talking over the phone and not seeing normal body language and facial expressions actually was not an issue since Mr. O’Brien was pleasant and nonthreatening. I felt like I was talking to someone who had a true interest in me and who was not trying to pick a fight or put me down. We talked as if we already knew each other and I feel like I answered his questions to his satisfaction. It was a much more comfortable experience than last year.
Next weekend is the big interview, the nomination interview. Without a nomination, there is no hope of West Point for me. In order to be offered an appointment to a US Military Academy (being fully accepted), a cadet candidate must obtain a nomination from either their Congressman, one of their two Senators, the Vice President, or the President. Presidential nominations are reserved for prior service candidates (people currently serving in the Army as enlisted soldiers) or children of career military personnel. The nomination is the legal authority for a candidate to attend the Academy as a Cadet.
Congressmen and Senators can nominate up to only ten candidates each year out of hundreds of applicants who begin the process. This process is very competitive in northern Virginia. Last year, Congressman Tom Davis gave me a nomination. Now I have to hope that Congressman Gerry Connolly will do the same. I will leave for northern Virginia after class on Friday, and have a 9am interview the next morning.
The Congressional nomination interview is supposed to take 45 minutes and is in front of a panel of people. Each one will ask me questions about my admissions file at the Academy, as well as my qualifications. There are always individuals on the interview panel who are like my first MALO, which is probably intentional. The panel is supposed to sort out the best candidates for the available nomination slots. From my Congressional District, nearly 45 people have made it this far in the process and will be interviewing for a USMA nomination this Tuesday evening and next Saturday. Like I said, ten is the maximum, and elected officials do not even have to fill those ten slots if they do not want to.
Hopefully the nomination interview next week will also go well. One of the retired Army Officers who is in charge of the nomination process in the area where I live had told me that since I had already been awarded a nomination last year and been found “fully qualified” by West Point Admissions, he did not see why I would not be awarded one this year as well. But having that nomination in my hand (hopefully by Christmas) will make me feel better. Then I can focus 100% on my school work and grades.

This Weekend

My weekly blog will have to be done in segments this week. I have my engineering group project presentation this evening, which will be interesting to see how it goes with the unreliable student, and a lot going on Friday after class through Saturday. The last time I wrote on the subject of the ACT testing for West Point, the transportation details made it impossible for me to retake the ACT in Roanoke this weekend. (The bus that runs from Blacksburg to Roanoke would get me to the bus station several miles from the high school where the test is being administered after the test is to begin.) I had communicated with my West Point regional representative and told him that the ACT people would not allow me to take the test at Virginia Tech because it is less than 50 miles away from the nearest testing location (it’s more than 50 miles if they look at the public transportation route I would have to rely on.) What surprised me is my regional representative suggested that I get a hotel the night before! Because the nearest hotel is 12 miles away from the high school and no hotels have a bus route to the high school, my parents will be coming down tomorrow afternoon and we will be staying in a hotel in Salem Friday night so they can drive me to the ACT test in Roanoke.
I think my regional representative is testing me or something, or not thinking. I did very well on my ACT test last year and have two friends from my high school who do not have the leadership or academic qualifications that I do, both who were shocked that I came close but did not get into West Point yet they got into an Academy. My regional representative is new and has told me to get “all As” in college this year and to retake the ACT, neither of which my old regional representative said to me. (He told me that I came so close, was in the top 12 of the South East US but they did not have enough slots, and to reapply this year, and continue to do well in school.) I am trying my best to get all As, but for engineering curriculum, that is very difficult and unreasonable, and the ACT test is just taking away time from sleep and studies this weekend. (I already have to travel to northern Virginia on November 6th to interview the next morning in an attempt to get a Congressional nomination, because since I am not in a military family, without a nomination, West Point won’t even be an option for me.) I know it sounds like I am complaining, but I do not mean to be. I know that reapplying to West Point is my decision and would be time consuming again without any guarantees, but something like the ACT test while I am already in college and proving myself as capable is silly at this point. (I was already over 90th percentile on it.) I am so tired from this week; I might even do worse on it. And taking standardized tests are long and draining, after which I will need to catch up on my normal work. Good news is my parents say they will take me out to Ryan’s in Christiansburg before heading to Salem/Roanoke on Friday. I ate there last month and the food is pretty good, especially the steak. A big meal and early night to bed will be nice.

This has been a pretty good weekend. I met my parents after class on Friday afternoon and went with them to dinner in Christiansburg and then to Salem to the hotel. We watched a movie and went to bed around 10pm. My cold is still pretty bad and coughing kept me up for a little while, but I slept ok after that and got up at 5:30am to eat and drive to the ACT test at Cave Spring High School. The lady checking me in did a double take when she saw my Virginia Tech student ID. She hesitated for a moment but continued the process. The test itself went well, except for having to blow my nose, which I tried not to do too often so I wouldn’t disturb other people. I got done around 1pm and went to Golden Corral near the Roanoke airport before heading back to campus. Since the weather was nicer on Saturday, my parents and I walked around campus before they left for home around 5:00pm.
I tried to get some homework done after that, but I was pretty tired and the dorms were rowdy. I worked on some math problems off and on until late, and then I lost my voice. I really don’t feel as badly as I did earlier in the week, but this cold affecting my voice had bad timing. Because I was supposed to have a 1:00pm phone interview today with my new Military Academy Liaison Officer (MALO), Mr. O’Brien, I had to send him an email to post pone it until my voice was better. He has had the flu this past week and said it was ok to call him later in the week when we both were feeling better. I am very disappointed to have to reschedule the interview because I would like to get everything taken care of as soon as possible. The biggest part will be the nomination interview with Congressman Connolly’s team on November 7 and interviewing with my MALO will be good practice. My group presentation last Thursday went well. A few friends said the two of us did a good job, so the instructor should realize who really worked on the presentation.

Group Project Problems

This past week has been extremely demanding, especially with an engineering group project on top of the normal work load. On a weekly basis, a group of three to four students presents a research topic of their choice to the class, keeping with the assignment titled: “How Stuff Works.” Each group presents on the technical aspects of whatever device or “thing” they choose. My group decided to research computer hard drives and will be presenting our project this Thursday. We chose this topic since it is straight forward and there is a lot of information on the Internet concerning hard drives.

I have had experience in group projects going back to elementary school, and especially in middle and high school. (Fairfax County is big on projects, and many teachers think group projects are valuable.) From my experience, however, group projects are unfair to the students who care about their grades. I have leadership experience from scouting and school clubs, and understand planning, organization, and delegating tasks between members of a group, or following another leader and being an active and valuable group participant. But with school group projects, it most always seems that one or two people end up doing all of the work because at least one individual ends up contributing nothing. I thought that this would be different in college, especially since people who may not typically care would have probably been weeded out through the application process. I was wrong.

My engineering group consists of three people, and I am extremely disappointed and frustrated with one member. I am surprised that this individual got into Virginia Tech or in any college for that matter. It is known that he cannot grasp even the simplest concepts in class, but I thought that a group project that involved research would be an opportunity and he would appreciate working on something non-mathematical or theoretical with hopes of bringing up his grade. Unfortunately, he either does not know how to research or create a PowerPoint presentation, or he does not care to contribute and only wants to benefit from what the other two of us do.

The funny thing about this individual is he desperately wants people to think he is knowledgeable. In class, he corrects people all the time, even though he is usually incorrect himself. On the first Engineering test, known to be a ‘weed-out’ course for engineering students, he mentioned to me that he had gotten a grade in the 40th percent range. I did feel badly for him when I heard that because I am working very hard and know that some grades do end up being lower than the effort put into the class, but I am seeing more and more that he is both dense and not putting forth any real effort. For instance, on the first day of class in our assigned groups, each group was told to build a tower out of straws and paperclips and to go for an efficient structural design. Each group had certain materials and quantities that were available to us, which placed limitations on our design, and our goal was to make the most efficient design possible out of what we had. (Our group was going to go for height, using the least amount of materials). We decided that a pyramid structure would be an excellent base, since pyramids are very sturdy and can support a taller structure. This individual wanted to build a second pyramid to put on top of the first to make it even more structurally sound, which is a good idea, except he had already forgotten our limitation on supplies. Yet, for some reason, even after we pointed out the lack of supplies, he had to be right and kept insisting that we should build a second pyramid structure to put on top of the first. This wasted a lot of time and was very annoying, so we finally let him try to build his second pyramid. His attempt failed of course (he wanted to sneak and get extra material!), so we stopped him and spent five minutes trying to convince him that using any more material would be cheating and would also defeat the purpose of the assignment. He just never seemed to get it, and these sorts of struggles continue to impede any group progress.

Fortunately, the other member of my group is reliable and knows what he is doing and cares about his grade. Unfortunately, his and my being good students still does not make up for what the third group member is lacking. I have just gotten out of a group meeting this afternoon to discuss the PowerPoint that I had made last night using information that I and the reliable team member had gathered. The third member was to have researched certain parts of the assignment and have his part to me by yesterday afternoon like the rest of us, but because he did not, I ended up putting aside work I needed to do for other classes so that I could get his share of the research done and create the PowerPoint. It was 11pm on Saturday night when I got done. The unreliable one told me today that he had found some good websites with information, but never showed it to us or explained why he did not meet our deadline.

At our meeting today, we went through the PowerPoint, making edits as we went, and decided on more detailed talking points to fill the five to eight minute presentation requirement. The unreliable student kept trying to edit the wording on the PowerPoint, which was fine, except none of his suggestions made any sense to the other two of us. It was as if he was looking for things to challenge us on and was detracting from what we needed to accomplish. The PowerPoint was written as snippets of information which would be used as talking points for our group presentation, where the finer details will be discussed. I am wondering if his insistence of adding complete sentences and every last detail is because he knows that he does not know the material and simply wants to read from the slides. We met for almost an hour and a half and accomplished what would have taken just the two of us about fifteen minutes to complete.

Working with this student is the most frustrating thing that I have had to deal with so far in college. Luckily, after this week’s project presentation, I will never have to work with him again on any more projects. (At least I hope not!) We have another project assigned as larger groups that I am also currently working on, and so far, no one in this group seems useless or counterproductive. It’s unfortunate that this individual is having some of the issues he is having, and I am normally concerned for people who are struggling, but he does not seem to care to do anything but put on a front that he is knowledgeable and to create a ruckus, which somehow must make him feel like he is important or something. It’s Sunday afternoon already, and I feel like I need a weekend to recover from this past week and weekend.