The Behrend beacon. (Erie, Pa.) 1998-current, March 19, 2010, Image 8
81 Behrend Beacon March 19, 2010 I yyww.thebehrendbeacon.com MY VOICE "Live Like You Were Dying" Lately, I keep hearing people say things such as, "what would you do before you die'.’" or “live like you were dying." These messages might be everywhere, but not many peo ple actually do this. People don’t have time. Recently, on MTV, they had a show called The Buried Life. It’s a show about four boys who made a list of 100 thing's they wanted to do before they died. The show documents the boys trying to accomplish some of the things on their list. Realistically, no one does this. In my opinion, they did it because MTV was going to pay them to have a show. Who wouldn't want a show on MTV? Some of the things on the list that they did or wanted to do, seem so unn playing bask< ident Obam, makes me ri was only dom was paying t 1 show. People don if they were' or actually the thing: they say the; want to do be fore they di On The Bur Life, for thing the bo; they helpi stranger a< something oi By doing thn made a few pi happy, but th: this just don’t today's sociei There are songs that pr sage as well, “Live Like You Were Dying, being one of them. McGraw’s song is about a man who knew THE EDITOR’S BLURB The Internet is not that peaceful What’s the first thing you think of when a person says. "Internet?” Regardless of what you might have thought. I'd imagine that the one word that did not come up is “peacemaker." So imagine my surprise when I caught wind that the Internet was nominated to win the Nobel Peace Prize. If you are like me, then each of your brain cells just simulta neousness imploded on them selves, causing a cornucopia of miniature blackholes to erupt within the confines of you skull and open your mind to he won derous world of quantum physics only realize that it makes no sense. Acid trips aside, this idea was introduced by Wired magazine in Italy, claiming that the Inter net is helping to advance "dia logue, debate and concerns," However, anyone who has ever played online video knows that the only thing vanced in those lobbies is t development of creative nev racial slurs and terrifying new ways to defile one's mother. Hell, whenever 1 play Left 4 Dead online. I feel like I’ve time traveled back to the 1920 s and that everyone has been stripped of their frontal Some of you may agree with Wired, and to you 1 ask, “Have you been on the Internet lately?" Just check out 4chan.org or the com ments on any You Tube video. If you can find one that doesn’t turn into a hateful word war, I’ll per sonally give you a dollar. Doubt my claim? Try it! Mock a person on a forum or just misspell the word “they’re.” All you have to lose is any scrap of innocence that you have left. And if that didn't emotionally scar you enough, just search any of the Web’s 48 billion fetish/porn sites. The things you might see will ha; dreams for the rest of your life. After that, just head right he was dying and the song lists everything he did before he died. These songs are more of a fantasy than reality. If you knew that you were dying, you wouldn't be out trying to do daring things. I think one of the main rea sons for this is that people don’t care, nor do they have time. Al most everyone today is too busy to be attempting to do things they want before they die. We are more worried about a lot of different and more important things. I think the idea in general is a good one, but 1 think it trans lates more to live life to the fullest. You never really plan your death, and most say it’s bad to even think about. So if we HEATHER VROMAN down to Personal Counseling and make an appointment. You're going to need it. Granted, the Internet has done a lot of good for the world. By connecting the world, it has positively im pacted nearly everything. We can keep in touch with friends like never before with social networking sites. It also has created limitless outlets for cre ativity. Imagine how lame life would be with out You Tube or College Humor! I will give credit where credit of due. Our lives would be ter rible without the Internet. I honestly couldn't function. What would 1 do with my time, if I wasn't answering inane questions on Social Inter view in a passive aggressive at tempt to get attention? However, all jokes aside, in the quest for peace, there must be much more deserving candi- NEIL JAMES opinion rilitnr MY VOICE We are college students. By definition this means that we are devastatingly poor, danger ously overworked, and con stantly sleep-deprived. Giving back to the commu nity is for other people, right? What can we possibly have to give when we ourselves are just barely hanging on by a thread? We have no time to volunteer, no money to offer. Maybe altru ism is just going to have to wait for our post-graduation lives. Sometimes, though, a little goes a long way. If you know where to look, there are a hand ful of opportunities that allow nearly everyone a chance to give back. The campus is hosting a Red Cross Blood Srive on Friday, March 26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Most students are eligible, but remember to eat foods that are high in iron leading up to the blood drive, and make sure you stay well hydrated that day. After you donate, make sure to stop at the refreshment table for some juice and cookies, and refrain from heavy lifting or in «Sjfeg»\ MY VOICE Want an AHMEDABDALLA t nnlnhutmi’ w titer What I’m going to tell you is a method that I think can help you get into any or at least one company of your choice. Have you ever wondered what kind of students do and don’t get internships? Are the people that land internships super amazing with obnox iously cool accomplishments on their resume? Did they save the Amazon rain forest, find a cure for cancer, or create artifi cial ozone in their basement during high school? No, they’ve done none of that. But, how is it that there are a few lucky college students that are making serious dough with the raw education or skill they have? The answer is simple and it comes down to something you’ve known about all your life. The secret is in connections and good networks. During the summer after my freshman year, I had an intern ship at GE Transportation, and 1 was walking with my manager from one building to another on the way to a meeting. We started talking about how people get into large corpora tions whose headquarters are the size of campuses (like GE). My manager, Todd Kindel, told me that the Human Re source team hires people who have a champion. What? 1 was confused. A champion? He explained that a cham- What do we have to give? tense exercise for the rest of the day. Every two seconds someone is in need of a blood transfu sion, and each donation can save up to three lives. It’s a great way to contribute if you feel that you have little else to offer. The donation process will only take a few minutes, so stop by between classes if you get the chance, and keep a lookout for more information. Ever heard of microloan? This is one new way where a lit tle money can go a long, long way. Jump online and check out Kiva.org, a nonprofit organiza tion that loans money to entre preneurs in developing countries. With these loans, business people are able to buy what they need to start their es tablishment. For example, one entrepre neur needs a sewing machine to launch a tailor’s shop. In many cases, this can be the first step to getting these people and their families out of internship? Follow my lead. pion is someone inside the cor poration who promotes the po tential hire’s application to the company. That is, a champion is a connection of the potential hire. This person could be a family relative, friend, or old acquain tance. Someone who’ll go up to bat for you. They’ll tell HR that they’re willing to take a bullet for you and you should really get hired. But most students don’t know people inside the companies they want to work at. How can you solve this prob lem? Don’t give up. This is es sential to successfully garnering the internship of your dreams. My former manager told me that HR doesn’t like to just pull resumes off the Internet and call people cold. Think about it. With the mil lions of people searching for jobs online and an endless sea of resumes out there, it’s often too hard and unrealistic for HR teams to reach out and inter view someone on the mere basis that their application on Monster.com looks flat out amazing. I mean, how you can even trust people online? My suggestion for people to get an internship is to start by building relations with people inside the company you desire to intern for. When I was a senior in high school 1 shadowed an engineer at Lord Corporation. It was mostly set up by my high school (one of those op portunities structured by the poverty. So far, Kiva has loaned $126,128,535 to 317,779 entre preneurs in 194 different coun tries. It doesn’t take a lot. Most loans in full are about $4OO, but if you donate $5O or $75, it will be lumped with other small do nations until a loan can be funded. And the best part is that these entrepreneurs will pay you back. Kiva currently boasts a 98% repayment rate. Once you put $5O into the system, it will keep coming back to you and you can continue to jump-start busi ness after business with no fur ther damage to your bank account. How’s that for a smart invest ment? Also, if you run into a lit tle bit of free time, you can always drop by the Smith Chapel and see what volunteer opportunities are available. The Center for Service is there to connect you to an op portunity that suits your abili ties, schedule and interests. For example, right now students THIS FPOM A GUY WHO ' DUALLY CAP! OUP school for you to find your field of interest, and blah blah blah). My suggestion? Go out and shadow companies (that is, em ployers in companies). Shadowing a company in the field of your interest is the eas iest and friendliest way to get into a company. Just call up or email their HR department and with lots of in nocence and serenity, tell them that you’re interested in pursu ing this career path and ask if their company might be able to give you the opportunity to shadow a person in the same job position so you can learn about what you want to get yourself into. Trying this method gives you several advantages. 1. As I mentioned earlier, you’ll get into a company on a friendly basis. The people will be welcoming, friendly, and in trigued. 2. You’ll have a warm rela tionship with Human Re sources. HR people usually meet out siders in times of tension: heavy paperwork, interviews, busy schedules, positions need ing filled. So meeting a person outside of these modes is only a good thing! 3. You get inside the com pany, HR connects you with someone so you can make a connection! This is when you use your people skills. Connect with the employee your assigned to shadow, meet All profile photos taken by Daniel Smith / Behrend Beacon can volunteer at Heartland Hospice, the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, or Therapeu tic Riding Equestrian Center of Erie County. Studies have shown that peo ple who give what they can to others tend to be happier peo- Ptwo AjORUIV TTJPAYJfTr cas:*:** TOONS.COW njjfo the people in his/her office place, get a good rapport with them, try hard to establish a good relationship and then af terwards follow up with that friendship to make it more solid via e-mail or a phone call. Then update them on you and how much of a good time you had, all the stuff you learned. Of course, I can’t guarantee it’ll work, but your chances are a lot better than submitting your resume to databases and waiting for the responses that may not come. The tough part is getting in side a company. No company has any reason to help you learn about them. You’ll most likely get rejected from shadowing from compa nies due to company rules, busy schedules, or information privacy, etc. But you can try to grease your way in. Tell the company you’ll write about your time with them in to your college/local newspaper, blog, or whatever. Use your creativity here. If you’re looking for an in ternship and don’t believe there are a lot of opportunities out there for you, I want you to try this out: Whatever your major, be it engineering, business, meteor ology, sports broadcasting, I want you to call a work place in your career field and tell them you want to shadow someone, even if they don’t offer intern ships. You never know, they might make an exception for you! inion ( ontnhuW)" wiitor