My Irish Vacation in Pictures

Okay, so this doesn't have a lot to do with non-trad issues, but I promised many of you that I'd share pics from my recent vacation to Ireland--which, for the record, was incredible. Long journey short: my wife and I landed in Dublin, grabbed a rental car and immediately headed off to Belfast. From there, Bushmills and the Giants Causeway, Letterkenny, Galway, then Cork, and finally back to Dublin. Lots of sheep, castle and church ruins, green, rain, and beauty at every turn. Give it a look, won't you?
https://picasaweb.google.com/113358986221883206829/IrelandSeptember2011

Check out the Non-Traditional Student Site [Link]

I've added this link to our permanent list in the rigthhand column, but I thought I'd mention the "Non-Traditional Student Site" in a separate post to let readers know about it. It's a little old-school in its design (think of the old web-ring sites from the late '90s), but it's full of useful state-specific  resources for non-traditional students. Here's the link to the Ohio resources (which includes a link to the OSUM page listing our own club): http://www.nontradstudents.com/ohio.html.

Tips for Maintaining a Healthy Budget

My family and I have to live on an extremely tight budget. With my husband and I both going to school part-time and we now have a pre-schooler on our hands, money needs to stretch in our house more than it would in a few other homes. We have to be constantly thinking about bills, tuition, supplies, books, car maintenance, Pre-school fees, baby sitting, grocery bill and household needs. It is enough to send most people to a padded room, but not this tough tightwad! I am a self proclaimed stingy student. I have found a few ways to wade through all the money issues we have and come out semi-unharmed on the other side.
I even started teaching a few power couponing classes and started a blog to share some of the things that worked with others. (www.the-stingy-student.blogspot.com)

Some tips I love to share with other college students is:

1. Shop around for your books. Our campus bookstore is great! and the staff is always wonderful and helpful when I go in there but, I shop around because I need to. Don't be afraid to use a used book they don't bite! Check a few website to see who will give you the best deal, sometimes you can get free shipping for finding most of your books from the same seller. Renting books works too. How many books are you really going to keep from your GEC courses. Check out e-readers too. One quarter it was cheaper for us to get a nook and get our books then it was to buy all used!

2. You DO NOT have to eat Ramen and Spam to get your grocery bill lower. Couponing and shopping the sales helps out tons. Stores have their sales in cycles and it always helps to stock up when thing are their cheapest.

3. Generics are ok, it is not poor quality. Nine times out of ten it is the same food just packaged differently.

Canuck Approved, Eh!

Looks like we are getting some international attention already! Ashley Scorpio, Executive Assistant to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and for the Atlantic Gateway, recently tweeted and gave a thumbs up to us!!

Great blog post about interning for @GeraldKeddy is.gd/900qr6 #cdnpoli #hoc #parl #ParliamentHill #Canada

23 hours ago via web

Thnx Ashley!

My Study Abroad Experience

When I first heard of the study abroad program, I thought to myself, wow, those young students are so fortunate to be able to have that opportunity in their life. I had forgotten about that until last November when a student told me he was considering going to Canada on a study abroad trip to learn more about the political system of that country. I travel to Canada for my son's hockey quite a bit and I thought to myself, how cool would that be to go to Canada for an internship and learn more about that great country. That was the begining of a once in a lifetime experience for me. This can happen for you as well. There are study abroad opportunities out there for you, they are not just for the traditional students, they are absolutely for the non-traditional students as well!

My Member of Parliament's Office told me that had not had a non-traditional intern before but they welcomed the opportunity when Dr. Baker presented it to them. Mr. Keddy, Member of Parliament for South Shore--St. Margarets, is a sincere politician for his riding, a man who understands the business side of politics along with the gravity of the importance in his position as well as being a great individual. His Executive Assitant, Ashley Scorpio, is one of the most energetic and intelligent young women I have met so far in my life, if not the most intelligent and energetic young woman who is a beautiful person as well. She was literally a walking encyclopedia and History Channel all encompassed in one human being. Being a NT in this internship created a wonderful opportunity for myself and Mr. Keddy's office, as I have the business and professional experience to take charge and complete the project he alloted to me: researching the Atlantic Gateway and other world wide deep water shipping ports. Alicia Swinamer, Assistant to the Parliamentary Secretary for the Office of the Minister of International Trade, thank you for all of your assistance and information from the Minister's side of international gateway trade along with the tour of Ottawa.

Stay tuned as I will recount my Canadian Parliamentary Internship experiences in upcoming posts along with great pictures.

I thank Dr. Randall Ripley, Political Science Department of OSU, Leslie Anderson, Office of International Affairs of OSU, and James T. Baker, Ph.D., WKU, for having faith in this non-traditional student and accepting me to participate in this rewarding program.

More info here: http://oia.osu.edu/study-abroad.html

Val Walton, OSU-M, senior rank

I don't know what happened..

You know I really don't know what happened, one day I became old-ish, was married, produced the most awesome offspring ever and to top it all off I was a college student. Yes I am one of these things we refer to as a Non-Trad. No I am not a creeper from under the stairs, I am a living breathing college student. I just happen to have a few more labels than others. I mentioned being married and having a child because it helps out a little when being a college student. Now before you reach over and scroll past my post, I am not promoting getting married and having kids as a means to do better at college. I am merely suggesting I am playing the cards I have been dealt and doing mighty fine job (if I do say so myself).

My husband and I have been together for six very exciting love filled years, we have been married for a year and half and have a four year old little girl. For those of you doing the math yes we did things a little different in our personal life so why should college be any different.

I started school back in 2009 after I had lost my job. While scared I made it through my first year with his support. I later talked him into coming back to school. We both found a place in college and love it, I know who would have thought college would be great! We have now accomplished talking his siblings into coming as well as a few friends. So watch our traditional students the Non-Trads are taking over! Being a college student definitely puts your life into hyper drive at times but it is having this support from each other that makes it easier to handle.

We have to schedule classes like everyone else but we just have to juggle two work schedules, babysitters, preschool, my classes, your classes and through in a dash of social life. Most nights we are in our living room eating dinner, juggling homework and entertaining our little one. We have found she does not like Plato's Symposium but she loves History 152 books. It is not unheard of one of us reading while cooking, folding laundry or while having a few short moments of solitude in the bathroom. We have to take a tag team approach to studying. I do the house stuff and entertain our munchkin while he works and then we switch, or we call reinforcements from other Non-Trads.

Finances are always tough when going to college but, my OCD and being a heck of a tightwad gets us through. Yes I am one of those crazy couponers! I search for the best deals on books and supplies, because I am a tightwad. We picked OSU at Marion because it was close to home, so we don't have to pay as much for gas or a sitter, because I am a tightwad. We also get a main campus education at a regional price. Did I mention I am a tightwad? We work on campus which helps us immensely on finding a work schedule that will work around our class schedule.

Going to school with my husband and his family and friends gives us an understanding of what each other is going through and the stresses we deal with. We help each other out when we stress to much about class or a paper. We vent on each other to get rid of frustration and work it through together. With the support we give each other we are able to do things on campus or get away for a few moments.

Internships for Non-Traditional Students (Link)

Will Smith, Career Services Coordinator

 

Hey all you non-trads out there…here's some potentially useful information I found at AccountingSmartPros.com about the unique challenges non-trad students may face if they undertake an internship... Remember, internships are great professional opportunities, but think about how it'll fit into your overall academic schedule:

Internships for Non-Traditional Students

Q: I'm a non-traditional student with work experience in bookkeeping and accounting. Should I be considering an internship?

A: One of the main reasons college students are advised to pursue internships is they have little work experience and few contacts. Since you have bookkeeping and accounting experience you may already be one step ahead of those students who either have no work experience, or who passed up the internship opportunities.

You have benefited from your work experience if you have made contacts that will serve as excellent references, and if you're fairly certain what accounting designation you want to work in. You want to consider an internship if you feel you need more experience and strong references, or if you don't know what career path to pursue. Of course, experience can't hurt you, so if your goal is to get as much experience as possible, an internship is the right way to go.

As a non-traditional student, however, squeezing in an internship may be tough. A full-time, non-paid internship may be impossible, and finding flexible internships will require more effort on your part. So consider the alternatives. Tutor accounting students once a week through your college. Shadow professionals in the field whenever you have a free day. In short, volunteer your time however and whenever you can to meet people in the field.

More here:

http://accounting.smartpros.com/x14429.xml