The Universities at Shady Grove (USG)

As I previously told everyone, I am a Kendall Scholar. My story was one of my posts on here. As you may also know, Mr. Clifford Kendall passed away a couple weeks ago. Mr. Kendall was a very kind and generous man. He not only helped many students financially, but he was inspiring as a person. I got the chance to see him and speak with him about three times. But every time I did speak to him, it was like talking to my own grandfather. He was always interested in how school was going, what I was doing with clubs and organizations on campus, how I was helping the community. He would take that time to speak to everyone and really make that conversation. He was one of the very first people to believe in me, then became one of the first people to help me achieve my dreams. Little did I know the last time I saw him, was going to actually be the last time I got to thank him. So I will take my time here to do so.

Thank you, Mr. Kendall. I know you are gone, but your helpful, generous, kind, silly, loving personality is still here. The USG community will always be grateful to have gotten to know you. I will always be grateful to you. You have made such a difference in my life and the lives of hundreds of other students. You have started something with each and every one of us, as scholars and students. I hope that one day I can be just as amazing as you were.

The first time I got to met Mr. Kendall

The Joy of Giving Back is tonight. This is going to be my first one, and I was looking forward to seeing Mr. and Mrs. Kendall, and be able to have that full experience of giving back. Now, in addition to giving back to our community, we will make sure to give back to Mr. Kendall and his family. This will be a joyous occasion where we will celebrate his life, and acknowledge and appreciate everything he has done for us.

So I know I can speak for everyone at USG, and say this once more.

Thank you for everything, Mr. Clifford Kendall. You will always be a part of our family here at USG.

Congratulations to those graduating next month! You made it! Most of you are probably busy finishing up your final papers and projects as well as searching for jobs after graduation. Today, because everything is online, most of you probably already use the web to search for potential employments and apply online. How many of you have a LinkedIn profile and keep it updated? If you do not have one, I highly recommend that you create one because this is another avenue for you to use to apply and/or search for jobs in your desired field.

Benefits to Having a LinkedIn Account:

• Create a network or use it to connect with others in your career field
  • This is a great way to stay in contact with your professional network
• Utilize it to have a professional presence online (when people search for you, they can see your profile)
• Other people could recommend or endorse your skills
  • People who worked with you could help endorse the skills that you acquired which could help when recruiters are searching for their potential candidates
• Show off project(s) or any piece of work by adding links or images related to your project(s)
  • For example, I posted the research studies that I conducted and the studies where I served as a research assistant to show my experience in the field of research
• See other people’s job description or what they do in their job that may be of interest to you
  • This is a great idea especially if you are not sure about what you would like to do as your career. By reading other people’s job responsibilities, you could obtain some ideas of what you truly want to do for your career.
• Use it as a way to search for job or apply online
  • Recruiters would post jobs on LinkedIn and would accept job applications using your profile.
• Use it as your online resume that you can use in your email signature
  • Definitely include your LinkedIn profile in your email signature because you never know who is looking for someone like you for one of their vacant positions.

Now that you know the benefits of having a LinkedIn profile, what should you do next? Check out this YouTube video on How to Make a Great LinkedIn Profile. This short video will help you get some ideas of what you should include in your profile.

Did you know that the Career and Internship Service Center provides year-long LinkedIn related services. In fact, today they are provide professional head shots for students that they can use in their LinkedIn profile! They also provide students services to help you have a great professional online presence.

Below is the information about where and when they will be taking your professional head shot.

Location: Bldg. III—Student Lounge
When: Wednesday, April 11, 2018 – 2:00pm to 6:00pm

It’s been about 3 weeks since spring break ended and I’ve only been greeted by tests, projects, and papers. Although it has been 3 weeks, I wanted to share my experience!

For spring break, I traveled to San Diego, California with my best friend! Last summer I went to California for the first time and fell in love. So I knew I couldn’t stay away for too long and it was even better to share it with a good friend of mine.

The week was filled with the sun and a refreshing Cali breeze. We did tons of tourist things but the two main highlights were the San Diego Zoo and La Jolla Cove. Before arriving to San Diego, anyone who had ever been told me I HAD to go to the zoo. I knew it was well-known but at the same time I kept telling myself it’s just a zoo!

IT WAS NOT JUST A ZOO! I mean it was but in comparison to the DC Zoo, it won! There was a Skyfari which was similar to a ski lift that took you from one end of the zoo to the other. There were koala bears, pandas, polar bears, lions, cheetahs, giraffes, orangutans, turtles, kangaroos and so many more! There were sit down restaurants and the café food was even good! I feel like the zoo is definitely for every age group and now I’m an advocate for the San Diego Zoo as well.

La Jolla Cove had so many seals! It’s a beach town where all of the seals come up on the shore from swimming. They look for food and even the babies are feeding off of their mothers! They don’t smell too pleasant though; almost like a dog from the sea! Of course we had some good food and called it a day!

The seals at La Jolla Cove

Wow – this was a heavy class (business ethics course on 3/27) and we definitely couldn’t have enough time in the world to do more than scratch the surface on this topic of reporting wrongdoing. I recently travelled to Germany over spring break and visited the Dachau concentration camp. When I visited this place I was horrified to be stepping on ground where thousands of humans were murdered and treated with little regard for their dignity or rights. It was interesting to see parallels in my business ethics class and also my personal experience with German history. I was reminded of two things from that visit:

1. The camp was in the backyards of several residents in the area. This was no secret. I learned there were people (in nearby residences) belonging to three different groups: those who didn’t know what was going on (small percentage), those who turned a blind eye and didn’t bother learning more about the conditions in the camp, and those who somewhat supported the regime and all that came with it. This was from 1933 – 1945. All those years and no one said anything? Anyway, this week’s business ethics class discussion reminded me of this moment on my trip. It reminded me that without safety guaranteed, it is nearly impossible to expect someone to blow the whistle – no matter how inhumane the wrongdoing is. After the camp was liberated, the nearby inhabitants came to view the dead bodies piled inside the crematoriums. This reminded me of the eerie, yet true idea that the sins of our fathers will haunt generations to come. I know for the residents of Dachau those images will never be erased.
2. Human experimentation in WWII and in 2018 – two vastly different methods, but still happening today. When I was leaving the concentration camp I had a discussion with my boyfriend about how terrible it was that humans were used for scientific experiments. After discussing for a few minutes this physical abuse he mentioned that we are also experimented on a daily basis in 2018. Of course, not in the same manner that the camp prisoners were (and I am by no means trying to belittle their suffering or injustice so please do not take this comparison that way). The recent privacy scandal with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica  reminded me of this conversation with my boyfriend. He spoke about how we are still being experimented on no matter how “free” we think we are. I found it interesting how the data privacy breach could be likened to a human social experiment with elements of manipulation, propaganda, and invasion of privacy.  We want to be hopeful that we’ve come a long way, but maybe groups are just smarter and more discreet about how they manipulate people.

All in all, I learned that no matter how grave the wrongdoing, people are still unwilling to speak out. The class truly reveals to me how imperfect and selfish we are as humans. I think if our systems provided more protection / safety nets, maybe it would encourage our society (the people comprising it) to act with more integrity, honesty, and fairness. What is most important though is ensuring students take classes such as these to really become more self-aware how we act in situations presenting and ethical dilemma.