Senior wisdom

Weather permitting, in about 10 weeks writing and rhetoric major Anthony Baracat (’13) will walk across the university’s historic Quadrangle for the last time as an undergraduate to collect the diploma he’s worked toward for the past three and a half years. As he walks, he  — like so many seniors before him — will reflect on his Madison years and the change that commencement will mark. I asked Anthony, who interned in the Be the Change office last semester, to think about what he might tell a newly admitted student. This is what he had to say….

Some senior wisdom

by Anthony Baracat (’13)

Anthony Baracat (’13) in the red Capital’s shirt and JMU friends.

James Madison is the only university I have ever attended. So while it may be true that I cannot adequately compare JMU to other colleges, I can tell you we have some great stuff. Look at a cork board anywhere on campus to see some of it: author and poet lectures (both Donald Miller and Sean Thomas Dougherty are visiting in the next two months), free concerts, great food all over the place and, if you’ve taken a class, quality education and professors. I mean it. And as a graduating senior, there are surely some more of these things I wish I had done earlier. Here are a few:

1) TAKE ADVICE   Listen when professors and involved students make announcements, write down the date and time. You never know whom you’ll meet at a show or friends you could make joining a club. My prime example would be visiting professors during office hours. I was adamant about not doing such a thing until this year, but now I have two “mentors” I talk with regularly. We talk about jobs, writing and even share books. Of course they’re great “connections,” but they’re also great friends. In essence, if you try something and don’t like it, fine. But try it first.

2) LIVE IN HARRISONBURG   Don’t just go to JMU. Stretch your mind and consider that maybe, just maybe this is one of the most beautiful spots in Virginia. Volunteer at Skyline Literacy as an English tutor, help out at H.A.R.T.S., a local homeless shelter, or even attend a high school football game or play. The point is, meet folks who have been here a while and be in settings uncomfortable to you—it’s worth the trouble.

Rose Library

3) BE ALONE   Get some time to yourself. College is a time to meet people, hang out, go to six events a weekend, sleep for four hours, study, and then do it again. But between social events and school, it’s okay to need recovery (if that’s how you get it). Tuck in a corner of Carrier or Rose Libraries or walk off-campus, read and get coffee. Take the bus by yourself to Target. Go for a walk or a hike if you can; just head toward the mountains. Turn off your phone even!

All in all, do everything you can and do it again if it’s for you. Be around people and try new things. Don’t be the typical college student (grown-ups sure appreciate that!) and when you’re tired, take a break until you’re ready to face the world again. This college and the city it’s in provide a great range of opportunities for anything you could want to do. We’re lucky.

And study! The real world awaits when you’re done with all this fun.

On the savory side

Dining at E-Hall

So much of what happens at James Madison University bubbles up from students whose enthusiasm is contagious and irrepressible. Other campuses may experience this, but I would bet that few institutions are as receptive to the ideas that students generate.

One of the many iterations of this highly valued student enthusiasm is the number and variety of clubs and organizations on campus. There are hundreds — literally hundreds — that students enjoy. On some campuses if you don’t belong to a fraternity or sorority, you don’t fit in anywhere. Not so at JMU. Clubs and organizations have formed around a dizzying variety of interests —  ultimate frisbee, fashion, climbing, golf, French, leadership, animal rights, astronomy, bellydancing, billiards, engineering, knitting, fly fishing, justice, peace, scuba. On the website (see embedded link above), the list goes on and on — 345 and counting. At JMU there is a place for everyone and everyone has a place. Even foodies.

Last week, Be the Change intern Tyler McAvoy (’13), caught up with a couple of Madison’s most enthusiastic foodies. One of those, Cameron Young, is trying to start a food club on campus. Here’s what Tyler learned about these two food enthusiasts.

A walk on the savory side

Tyler McAvoy (’13)

We live in a culture of convenience, and while this spawned the Keurig K-Cup coffee maker (by most accounts, the best use of electricity and hot water ever) it also means that most of us don’t eat as well as we probably should.  We live in a world filled with artificial preservatives, greasy fast-food, chemically dusted fruits and vegetables and meat filled with steroids and growth hormones.

The more we speed up, the more we use microwaves over ovens, the more we buy a weeks worth of frozen entrees instead of a week’s worth of fresh ingredients, the more we eat in the car, or at our work stations.  We’ve forgotten how to slow down, and we’ve forgotten how to cook.

JMU students Morgan Robinson (’13) and Cameron Young (’15) want to change that. (You may remember Morgan from earlier blog posts.)

For Morgan and Cameron there is more to food than just satisfying basic needs, to them food is about the experience.

“It’s sharing stories, laughter, and life with friends and family. Food bridges connections between people of all walks of life and of all corners of the earth — it’s the one thing we all have in common,” Morgan says.

Morgan plans to go to Slow Foods Institute, a culinary school in Ireland after she graduates in May with a degree in modern foreign languages. Then she hopes to travel across Europe studying with chefs in Italy and France to hone her skills. Food is a gateway to a globetrotting career; it’s a gateway to understanding the people of the world through experiencing their food culture.

Cooking is often considered a type of art, and Morgan believes that we’re quickly losing grasp of it.

“I think what our generation lacks is the foundational set of cooking skills; we resort to convenience over quality more often than not,” says Morgan. “I am all about real food.”

Cameron, a sophomore International Business major agrees. He’s working to create JMU’s first cooking club, Cooking at Madison. The club is meant to be more than just a place for hungry college students to indulge themselves; it’s meant to be a place for those who love food culture.

“I want to differentiate between people between people who want to eat and people who want to cook.  I want people who love food and love the culture,” Cameron says.

Cameron started cooking at a young age, and quickly took to it.  His grandfather is a chef and has been his biggest influence on his life and the way he looks at food.

“Cooking is my passion. It’s nourishment for the body. We have to eat three times a day, so we might as well enjoy it,” Cameron says.

Morgan and Cameron aren’t alone in their desire for better food either. We live in an area that is becoming increasingly diverse in its great food selection. Between Harrisonburg’s Friendly City Co-op, the Farmers’ Markets that are becoming increasingly popular, and the great local restaurants, we have all the right ingredients for fostering a vibrant food culture in the area, and slowing down to enjoy the experience.

You can learn more about Morgan and Cameron on their blogs, which you can access from the links embedded with their names.

Ten reasons to pick JMU

Photo by JMU’s Chris Velazquez

February and March are the longest months of a high-school senior’s life — the months before most colleges and universities announce who’s been accepted. After that comes the decision that will change their lives: What school to choose? It’s a huge decision and as deadlines loom, it doesn’t get easier.  So here’s a little help: My Top Ten reasons to pick JMU …..

1. You’ll earn a degree of substance and significance that will mean much more in practice than it ever will mean on paper. Madison has always charted its own path and never believed that the status quo or the experience of another university is what works best for us. In fact, Madison offers exceptional opportunities to students — from athletics and leadership to dazzling arts and undergraduate research. Many opportunities here simply aren’t available at other schools.
2. JMU is a fun place to go to college. Students love it here. In fact, more than 90 percent of freshmen come back for the sophomore year.
3. Harrisonburg has a little bit of everything: beautiful mountains (for climbing, biking, skiing), a lively downtown, great food (Ethiopian, Asian, Greek, Cuban, you name it), convenience (everything is close to campus), and shopping. (Well, maybe not great shopping, but there’s always Amazon.)
4. JMU students are ambitious but not obsessed. The typical JMU student wants to wring every drop out of college that they can. Many pursue two and three majors. They also devote time and talent to worthy campus and community organizations. Few students spend four years only studying. They work hard, don’t misunderstand me, but they look at life in balance, a philosophy promoted by the university. Here, it’s about the whole person.
5. It could change your way of looking at the world — literally. JMU is one of the top master’s-level universities in the nation for the number of students who study abroad. Almost all of these students returned “home” to JMU changed in some way. It is an enlightening experience to step out from the comfort of the familiar and venture into another world that is exotic, often challenging, but always interesting.
6. Here students are people, not numbers. The student teacher ratio at JMU is 16:1. At an institution of higher education with an enrollment around 20,000, that’s remarkable. Teaching matters here. It’s not an ancillary activity that professors endure so they can do their research. Over and over we hear stories about students whose lives have been changed by the diligent and dedicated mentoring their professors generously give. A top piece of advice that new grads almost always offer to freshmen is this: Get to know your professors.
7. You’ve got a great shot at landing a good job. That’s because there’s a very practical bent at JMU. I’ve heard SMAD students report that their professors regularly remind them that they are teaching them for jobs that don’t yet exist. JMU’s determination to respond to the marketplace sets it apart.  The combination of a liberal arts-focused college with a penchant for understanding the reality of landing a job is priceless.
8. You can make it through in four years if you work and plan well. JMU has one of the highest four-year graduation rates in the nation. And you can change your major if you wish. JMU offers 71 undergraduates degrees. The programs are strong and many are nationally ranked.
9. We turn out citizens. There’s more to life than education; and there’s more to education than academics. Eventually, all students graduate and what they do with the rest of their lives is important. We understand that, so from day one we cultivate the habit of thinking big, thinking broadly, and thinking how one person, one group, one JMU class can change the world. We’ll challenge you to do that—to start a meaningful life right here.
10. JMU has a spirit like none other. It’s an extraordinarily open and friendly campus. If there’s one stat to remember, this is it: 97 percent of students give it high marks. You should keep that in mind when making this all important decision. And if you are, by chance, leaning elsewhere, you can always change your mind.

There’s an app for that….

I was traveling around the blogosphere today and made a stop at Harrisonblog, a site run by JMU alum and local realtor Chris Rooker (’92). On the site, I noticed a great feature. While sitting at my computer I can take a virtual tour of most of Harrisonburg’s neighborhoods, as if I were driving through them. Imagine how cool that would be for someone moving here from Colorado or Italy. Instead of making an initial expense in traveling, take a virtual tour?

And imagine this: What if  you were a newly-admitted student DUKE and wanted a closer view of where you will live? What if you could virtually tour your room and your residence hall?

Right now — at the halfway week of summer break — a whole lot of members of the Class of 2016 are wondering just that. What will the rooms where they’ll be living look like — and the halls where they’ll be hanging out? Wouldn’t a virtual tour of campus residence halls be a great idea?

At Madison, that may become a reality.

Josh Smead (’12) has recently signed on to a position in Residence Life. Josh will coordinate social media for the office. He will work toward creating a brand new app for the university.

“The new app will feature a virtual tour of campus built for new and prospective students, which will also allow students to see a virtual tour of their rooms on campus,” he says. 

You may recall that Josh and a few fellow Dukes had already done a few cool things with iPad apps. Now Josh is turning that experience and the expertise he acquired as an undergraduate into building the new app for Residence Life.  He’s taking his education and paying it forward in a way. He’s making the transition smoother for future Dukes as they move from home to, well, their JMU homes.

A positive change. Definitely a positive change. Definitely.

To learn more about the app that Josh Smead (’12), Peter Epley (’12) and Matt Burton (’12) created click on the link above. There’s the link to a great Chris Myers (’11) video about Josh and his undergraduate experience.

To learn more about JMU’s Office of Residence Life, go to http://www.jmu.edu/orl/