I'm a GRADUATE!

Cheryl K. Dircksen

Bachelor of Science in Human Ecology

Magna Cum Laude (3.81/4.00)


Occupation: Work and Family Life Instructor at Piqua High School!! (teaching Parenting, Relationships, and Life Skills)





Big THANKS to OSU-Lima for contributing to my success! You'd be amazed on how many principals and supervisors commented on my involvement with the OSU-Lima campus.

What do I do on Saturdays???

My undergrad legacy at the Ohio State University will be ending in a couple months. Once I graduate, I don't know what I'll be doing on the weekends! It has been a great experience working for the athletic department and attending many athletic events. Every Saturday, I'm either at football, soccer, basketball, hockey, baseball, softball, and occasionally swimming and diving.

Pictured is the group of people I sat with during football season. All of us met at OSU-Lima and have kept strong relationships ever since.

Fun in the Sun

In my last blog you heard about how I've been studying and working on academic things this summer. No worries! I've been creating my own craziness and spontaneous adventures all summer.

I've gone to town festivals, weekends at Indian Lake, bachelorette parties, weddings, county fairs, and I've also made sure to "party like a rockstar" with all of my friends. I've also been playing softball on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Columbus co-ed leagues and hanging out at the apartment complex pool as the "unofficial" lifeguard. Haha.

**Pictured with me in the photos are fellow OSU Lima Buckeyes...minus the pig.

Leaving a mark at OSU!

Wow. I haven't posted in a LONG time! It's probably due to the fact that I've been extremely busy lately.

I'm in my last year as a Buckeye and I've realized that I've accomplished things that I've never even dreamed of. For example, what are the chances of me being president of a student organization at a school with over 50,000 students?

I am president of Leaders in Family and Consumer Sciences Education (LFCSE) here at Ohio State. This summer I have been working on ways to increase membership and market our program to the student body. For the first time ever, our organization will be participating in the Student Involvement Fair on the Oval. Flyers, give-aways, and decorations are in the process.

When I entered the Family and Consumer Sciences Education program, I noticed a flaw. This flaw was the lack of FCCLA (formerly FHA) knowledge being presented to future FCS teachers. These FCS students are graduating from Ohio State with minimal information about the organization and are expected to take over as FCCLA advisers in their schools. As president of LFCSE, I decided to make it my goal to make sure that my fellow classmates left Ohio State with the knowledge and confidence to take over their own chapter someday.

Right now the officers and I are in the planning stages of organizing a FCCLA Workshop in October. The National FCCLA president and his adviser will conduct one session, the Ohio FCCLA president will conduct the other.

In addition to organizing a program for FCCLA, I also gave advice on the FCCLA portion of FCS ED 640 course with the instructor.

Who would have thought that a small town girl who attended a regional campus would end up leaving her mark at Ohio State by making improvements in her major. As Walt Disney once said, ""All our dreams can come true --if we have the courage to pursue them." Therefore, don't be afraid to take chances. Never be afraid to do something new. And most importantly, never give up. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the titanic.

My Winter Quarter!

Winter Quarter = Most time consuming quarter ever! Here's what I've been up to:

Human Nutrition 314-->I'm in class with pre-med, med, or medical dietetics majors. We learn about the chemical and physical aspects to food preparation and use. Every Wednesday afternoon, I have a food lab. In the labs we conduct experimentations. For example, in last week's lab, we made custards using 2 yolks, 2 whites, 2 eggs, 1 egg, 2 tbsp sugar, or 1/4 sugar. We then determined which variation made the stable/least stable custard, best looking/worst looking custard, best/worst tasting custard, etc. We also compared the results of fresh custard with frozen custard. I love participating in the labs, but I hate studying for the midterms because I have to memorize numerous amounts of materials.

Education 306.07 --> I have an awesome lecturer for this class. Definitely enjoy being in her class. We are learning about the history of education, the different education philosophers and their theories/philosophies, the roles of the school board, principal, superitendent, state board of education, etc, and all the legal aspects of education ranging from teacher's rights to student's rights to separate of school and church.

Family Resource Management 260 --> I'm taking this class online. I turn in homework and take a quiz every week. I've been learning about financial planning, real estate buying, investments, credit cards, taxes, etc. Since the class is online, I defintely have to make sure to read all the chapters in the textbook. :(

Family and Consumer Sciences Education 289 --> Field Experience for my education major. I am currrently observing Kilbourne Middle School 8th grade FCS classes. Last Thursday, I conducted my very first lesson plan. My professor was also there to evaluate my performance. :S I have many observation assignments and teaching logs to turn in by the end of the quarter.

OSU Cancelled Classes??? What!?!?

Winter weather hit Ohio and forced many schools and universities to close. Ohio State Lima and Columbus campuses were both closed on Tuesday and Wednesday (Feb 13-14). Former Ohio State Lima students from Putnam, Auglaize, and Hardin county areas were extremely bored during these two snow days in Columbus. They didn't have their snowmobiles, 4-wheelers, tractors, sleds, etc to play with, so they got a little creative. They went shopping for sleds at local retail stores, but they were all sold out. So they decided to buy storage containers with lids. A Putnam county girl had a tow rope in the trunk of her car and a Logan county kid had his Chevy pickup truck. Containers + Tow Rope + Truck = hours of entertainment sledding around a Columbus apartment complex. By the end of the afternoon, many apartment residents stood outside their doors to watch and take pictures of these small town kids having a little fun in the big city.

Zoo Wildlights

At Ohio State University in Columbus you can....

• study in the halls, go to bars/parties, attend sporting events, go to concerts, workout at the RPAC, etc....
  

and in December you can.....go to the ZOO WILDLIGHTS!!

A group of friends and I decided to head on over to the Columbus Zoo to check out the christmas lights. Holy Cow! There are a lot of lights. It had to take them a couple months just to put them up. There was a Polar Express model train display, we got to visit Santa, make cookies with Mrs. Claus, and ice skate!!! I was highly disappointed that the monkeys left for the winter, so the only thing close to a monkey was a statue. :( But don't worry....the funny elephants are still roaming around!

What I Miss About OSU-LIMA (10/10/06)

Well...I've been in Columbus for over a month now. My job at the Official Team Shop is going well. I love to see familiar Lima faces come into the store. One person that came into the store was Dr. Ackerman. It was great to see him again. When he left, my co-workers asked me how I knew my professor on such a personal level. They were surprised that he even knew my name! That's one of the things that I miss about OSU-Lima. Your professors actually know your name. In Lima, your professor will be able to tell whether or not you weren't in class. When you have a question on homework and other assignments, you could easily visit your professor's office in Lima and communicate with them.

Summer is Ending!

My summertime was filled with lots of friends and good times. Here's some of the things I did:

~Botkins Carousel: Danger Brothers concert. Awesome! Check them out at the Hineygate sometime.
~Maria Stein Countryfest: Free Rider concert. Totally Insane! The crowd was out of control! Tractor Square Dancing = The most amazing thing! Yes...the people that live only 2 miles away from me know how to make their tractors dance. ;)
~OBM Fireworks: I was sitting on a roof in Botkins watching those.
~New Knoxville Picnic/Fireworks: My heel broke, so I walked around like a barefooted hillbilly child.
~Indian Lake: Spent some of my summer nights at the 7 bedroom lake house. Went swimming, boating, tubing, partying, and more!
~Auglaize Cty Fair: Partied behind the Auglaize Cty Jail. Ha! Got thrown into a hillbilly hot tub that my friends invented.
~Shack Anniversary: Decided to climb the roof and sit up there on a lawn chair. And then more people came up, so we all partied on the roof!
~Relay For Life: Was in charge of activities under the Kids Entertainment Tent. I was the crazy one dancing around and singing at about 3AM.

Right now I am packing and getting ready to move to Columbus over Labor Day weekend! I will be working at the Official Team Shop in the Schottenstein Center starting Sept 2nd! I can't wait! Make sure to stop by and say hello to me sometime!

THANKS OSU-LIMA!

Well, it's the morning of finals! When I woke up this morning, I realized something. This is my last day of class EVER at OSU-Lima. It's actually pretty sad. I feel like a senior in high school all over again. I won't get to see all the great professors (Ackerman, Nimps, Recker, Sutton-Ramspeck) anymore and I'll be leaving behind some of the greatest people I've met when I move on to Columbus. I will definitely miss the admissions office staff though! I've had tons of fun working with them. Leaving OSU-Lima means no more ultimate frisbee during the lunch break, no more karaoking in the courtyard, no more messenging the person sitting next to you in the Galvin computer lab, no more tailgating trips to football games, no more crazy volleyball classes, no more random trips to wal-mart, and tons more! My two years at OSU-Lima have flown by so fast! It's like the old saying, "Time flies when you're having fun." It's going to be hard to replace all the friendly and helpful Lima students and staff. I hope that I meet people like them in Columbus.

THANKS OSU-LIMA FOR MAKING MY FIRST TWO YEARS OF COLLEGE MEMORABLE!

I'LL MISS YOU ALL!!