What a Stud

On October 7, 2009, the Vet Tech Club and the Kappa Beta Delta organized a presentation regarding training guide dogs. Great Bay's own Professor Dan Murphy has been training Sebastian, an 18 month old yellow lab for the Guiding Eyes Organization.

http://donate.guidingeyes.org/site/PageServer?pagename=homepage

Sebastian is a stud. He is just about ready to be given back to the program so he can begin work. Throughout the presentation Professor Murphy demonstrated how Sebastian was and is currently trained. He fed Sebastian cooked chicken and constantly gave him positive reinforcement. Prof. Murphy informed us that when training a dog, you always want to be positive and never reprimand or punish the dog.



Here were some of the commands that Sebastian knows and some no-no's when you see a guide dog in uniform:
Stand - right at side
Heel - touching leg
Sit Stand - Sit - Down - comes to owners' side, sits, and then lays down
Close - dog will come
Place - will sit or lay anywhere that owner wants
Free - dog can go wherever they want

Common Guidelines: when the dog is wearing his vest - ignore the dog, do not pet the dog, and please do not to ask if you can touch or feed the dog.

Professor Murphy described his job as a dog trainer like being a foster parent. This (hopefully) will make it easier when he has to give up Sebastian. One of the students at the presentation informed us that guide dogs cost about $20,000. Most of the time hearing and sight foundations will help to offset these costs. Adopting a guide dog can be frustrating because the waiting list is long. Prof. Murphy was very thankful to the school administration, staff and students for letting him bring Sebastian to class with him.
Training Sebastian is a "good thing" and we thank Professor Dan Murphy for sharing his experience with us.

Life After Great Bay

At some point or another our time at Great Bay is going to end. For some of us that’s in the near future, while others have just began their journey. Either way we need to know what direction we’re heading in for the future. For those of us continuing on and furthering our education it’s hard to know what is the best decision to make. Knowing which credits are transferable is important and will help students choose the right classes for their future. It would be frustrating to find out, after all the hard work has been done for a class, that the credit isn’t transferable. This would mean retaking the course at a different College or University, or a similar class that fits into the schools curriculum. Fortunately for us, in addition to Erica Brown (the "go to" person for transfer information) there is a website that will allow you to see where your Great Bay credits will transfer to most NH Colleges and Universities. It’s a great tool to help in making your decision about where you want to go when you're ready to transfer or when you’ve received your Great Bay degree. Check out the website to see all it has to offer http://www.nhtransfer.org/ .

Need a Lawyer??

Business Law - BUS211. This course is required for most business students and is offered in the fall term. I am finishing up on my associates degree in accounting and was left with a few business classes, this being one of them. After taking my tax class last spring I have been toying with the idea of going to law school. I thought, "excellent... business law..what a great place to start." This class is GREAT! My professors name is Alex Yiokarinis, Esq. Alex is an adjunct faculty member. For those of you who don't know what that is, he a "teacher for hire." I am never sure what to call my professors...Professor Alex, Mr. Yiokarinis (try not to butcher that name), or Professor Yiok, Esquire?? Anyway, we call him Alex.


I get a kick out of Googling people so here is some interesting tidbits on our professor:
1. Alex has a blog. http://exeterlawyer.blogspot.com/ Alex is a lawyer in Exeter, NH at a firm called Taylor and Yiokarinis. The blogs opening page is a list of things to do, or not to do if you get arrested. Very informative and funny.
2. I then went over to his web-site. http://www.exeterlawyer.com/ I learned what kind of law he practiced and where he graduated from and when. Alex has defended hundreds of clients in trials for assault, burglary, DWI, forgery, theft, murder, arson, identity fraud, robbery and other felony and misdemeanor offenses. One of the most interesting cases that Alex has been involved in is the case of Shelia LaBarre. This case made headlines this past year.
3. Alex has a Facebook page and has a profile set up on Linkd. http://www.linkedin.com/in/ayiokarinis.

Alex seems to be utilizing technology in terms of getting his name out there. He also has a more personal blog where he blogs about legal issues and new statutes and other blog sites that the average Joe or lawyer might find useful. That blog is called the Legal Pad. http://alexlegalese.blogspot.com/.

So far this class has taught me what a tort is, the difference between criminal law and civil law, and the rules of contract law. Lots more will be discussed and I can't wait. Alex gives really interesting examples that TRULY demonstrates how our legal system works in the country, especially in NH. The class benefits by participation of everyone and definitely seems to be the class to take!!

Online? In- Class? Hybrid?

The Business Department at Great Bay Community College offers its students a wide range of classes available at various times throughout the week. Perhaps the most convenient type of class is those that are offered online.
Online classes are great for students who feel that they have enough self-discipline to learn in their spare time. They allow the student to do all the work at home, sparing the student trouble of driving to the school, and saving money on gas. Also, the student can do the work at anytime during the week when they finally get a chance to accomplish it.
Although the on-line environment is very convenient, they can pose many problems. When participating in an online class, the student is basically just reading the book, doing the homework, and posting to the discussion board when it is required. The material can be dry and mundane if the subject is not of interest to the student. Online classes require independent work with minimal interactions with your teachers and classmates compared to an in-class environment. If you are a student who can learn in this setting, then this is not a problem for you.
I am a person who likes to get to know my class mates and I have trouble interacting with people in my online classes because I don’t know them. I cannot get a good impression of them and I fear that they don’t get the right impression of me, because for me it is difficult to show your personality through online conversations. Another problem for me, is that it is very easy to get sidetracked and forget about doing the homework assigned and I missed due dates. This became very problematic.
A perfect compromise between online and regular classes is hybrid classes. Hybrid classes meet once a week for an hour and fifteen minutes and then the students do the rest of the work online. This gives the student the opportunity to get to know your classmates so that you can feel comfortable interacting with them online. Hybrid classes also allot plenty of convenience and it adds a little spice to the reading because you get to hear your teacher’s opinions and stories on the subject that you read about in the book.
There are many things to consider when you are choosing your classes every semester. Hopefully this information gives you a little bit of insight into which type of class is the right kind for you.

Pease Golf Course Great Bay's Home Tournament

It was a perfect day for golf. The sun was out, a light breeze was blowing and I was extremely confident knowing that our team had a huge advantage because we playing at our home course. I played there at least three times a week this summer and knew the course so well I figured that not even my close friend Tiger could beat me today. I teed up the ball on the greenest most perfect spot and started going through my routine. I stood ten feet behind my ball and envisioned the shot I was about to take. I picked a spot in the center of the fairway to aim at and walked up to my ball. As I stood there everything went quiet. The twenty something other golfers from the different schools waited to see how the kid who recorded the chip in eagle the week before would tee-off. My backswing felt great and I began to accelerate forward to crush that ball 300 yards down the fairway. As my club face made contact with the ball I knew that something really bad was happening. I took a chunk of grass and dirt as my club slid right under the ball popping it straight up in the air. The ball landed about fifty feet away and rolled down into a ditch as I watched in disbelief. That first shot set the tone for my entire 18 holes of golf.

The tournament flew by and before I realized it we had come to the end. I had some good shots and my fair share of bad ones. Now only one hole was left, along with one last chance to show what we were made of. Each one of us stepped to the tee box and with the last little bit of energy we had left we embarked on our final challenge. My drive was struck well and went far, flying directly at the setting sun. I walked calmly alongside my new friends thinking about the next task at hand. I had my typical approach shot, about 150 yards from the green, in the rough and I had to hit over twenty foot tall evergreen. Even though it was almost dark and I could hardly see my ball I knew I had this shot down. After 17 holes of golf and with only a couple of shots left I finally found my confidence. I took no practice swings. I took a second to line up the shot and I swung away. It was perfectly hit. As it was soaring over the obstacles and floating down to the green I thought to myself:

This is what keeps me coming back to this aggravating and stressful sport. That one shot in each round that allows you to forget the last hundred bad ones.

My ball landed on the green and with two putts I recorded a par for that last hole. Just like Tiger taught me. After a tough day on the course something finally went smoothly. That's just the way it goes with golf, some days you would be better off just going fishing.