Tom's Blog

This past year at Lewis, I decided to live on-campus. Many people thought I was foolish for this reason mainly because I currently live only 25 minutes away. I was able to afford it and the curiosity of experiencing college for real made me want to live on-campus for my freshman year. Overall, it was one hundred percent worth it. I made many friends that I hope to be friends with for life, slept at least 3 times a week, learned to take care of myself, did whatever the heck I wanted to do. Living on campus may seem not completely worth it for people who are looking for the college experience of partying all the time. However, if you are that person, which I am not, it is what you make of it. I was looking for the college experience of being under my own room. Coming home right from class and laying in bed or doing homework, feeding myself etc. There are many opportunities and skills you build living on campus and I feel that the pros definately outweighed the cons. I'm exhilirated f...

Recently, I had my first solo flight in the airplane. It was very nerve wracking when my instructor stepped foot out of the airplane, endorsed me to solo, and hearing his final words to me before he closed the door. "Don't die". These were the words that absolutely NO mother would want to hear, especially mine. So I started the airplane up and taxiied to the runway as carefully as I could because I was so nervous for this moment. I went through my last checklist and was airborne in no time. Flying alone for the first time surprsingly was not much different than having an instructor in the cockpit next to you. I was feeling a lot better once I successfully completed my first out three landings soon after. This experience was surreal. Having an airplane under my complete control is something so cool that is just something special to remember forever.

So in college writing 2 for this final project, I am writing about student-athletes and if they should receieve additional compensation ontop or instead of their scholarships they already obtain from the school every academic semester. The main reason being behind choosing such a controversial topic is because I believe it is one that I have no bias towards, and quite frankly, I do not have a stance at all. As I have researched for articles and summarized a number of them, the decision of what side to take is still very hard for me.If you're reading this, how do you feel about this idea of a student-athlete getting paid a salary just like the professional athletes? Did you know that these student-athletes generate over billions of dollars for the school in tickets in sales and do not receieve any of that profit? That is basically exploitation in some people's eyes. However, why should student-athletes get paid more money on top of their tuition? Receiving scholarship money is e...

Throughout the second semester I have been taking flying lessons. As an air traffic control major, I only planned to earn my private pilot License just because it has always been a dream of mine. However, after flying for over two months so far, I have fallen in love with flying. My instructor even mentioned to me that I should consider switching my focus from being an air traffic controller to being a pilot. I have continued to do reasearch on the matter and the decision of which path to take will be one if not the biggest decision of my life. My family thinks that I have a lot of time to think and decide which one is for me. But the reality is, there is not much more time left to decide. This reason is because after I earn my private pilot license, which will be around mid-summer, I will be working to get my Instrument rating. After my sophomore year I will have obtained my instrument rating, the decision to either continue flight training to work on my commerical rating or to stop f...

The advertisment that speaks to me the most is the short story made by Apple during the Christmas season. The theme of the short story is acceptance. Frankenstein is shown recording a wind-up music box that plays the song, "Theres no place like home for the holidays". He walks into a little town similar to who-ville and walks into a crowd of people with his iPhone and starts to sing along with his recording. He sings nervously as he looks around everyone, frightened of him. Frankentstein pauses singing when he is embarresed that no one wanted to join in with him. Then a little girl waves over to him and starts to sing along with him. As she sings with him, he joins back in and then eventually the rest of the croud. The message of this short advertisment is to remind everyone to accept everyone for who they are and be happy especially around the holidays. Apple was able to excelently implement their iPhone product with the voice memos application that Frankenstein used. 

Every resident on campus knows about the conversial Sodexo food company. "They're too expensive", "The food is terrible", "They don't make the food properly." I have a similar opinion on the company as well because they are the primary food source here at Lewis University. However, I actually feel as if Sodexo has a lot of positives that could match the negatives. They have made a comeback over the past couple years with providing new different kinds of food choices such as the Fry station, where they make egg omletes for breakfast, pasta bowls, stir fries, tacos and many more that change every day. The fact that residents have to pay for over $3,900 in food for an entire year. That is just absurd. Lewis claims they force this much money upon students because it "encourages students to eat no matter what." This is not an accurate statement because it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to keep a consistent busy college schedule intact while trying to fi...

One of the first shows I watched on Netflix when I bought a subscription was Prison Break. The show came out in 2005 and only lasted until 2009. It was my favorite show throughout high school and I have watched it all the way through about 4 total times. My obsession comes from the main fact that it was filmed here in Joliet at the old prison right off of Collins street. The t.v. show is very thrilling and has an interesting story-line that makes you question your own government and how they run operations. Even though it is fiction, this hit t.v. series shows a great deal of compassion, love, and dedication to love and family. The show is about how Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), was framed against the United States secret service for committing a crime he did not commit for the purpose of revenge and cover-up. Michael Scofield (Wentworth Miller), Lincoln's brother, sets out on a mastermind plan to break his brother out of Fox River State Penitentiary (Old Joliet Prison) in a w...