To end this blog, I decided to center my final multimedia project around the coexistence of college students and community members in a small town like San Luis Obispo. To my surprise, the results were NOTHING like I expected. Turns out, everyone gets along just fine… and are happy sharing this little beach town together. Check out the video below to find out what people have to say.
On Tuesday, November 15th, Vice President of the Graphic Communications Industry for Xerox, Gina Testa, came to speak at Cal Poly. Her presentation was focused on women in the business world, emerging trends in consumer habits, and future technologies that will improve overall communication through graphics.
Many students attended the presentation to get an inside look to possible future career opportunities, and to hear how professionals, like Gina, came to be where they are today. Fourth year Graphic Communications student, Taylor Aronson, said, “I do get extra credit for being here, but I would have come on my own anyways. Its really cool that we get opportunities like this through our major. I’m really hoping to learn more about how to get involved with Xerox and to network a little bit.”
Over 50 Graphic Communications students attended the Xerox presentation. In the picture above, students listen to GrC Department Head, Harvey Levonson, introduce Gina Testa.
Gina Testa opened her presentation with her position as a woman on the Executive board of Xerox. She predicts that the currently male dominated print industry will soon change to reflect the growing female talent. She also noted the Xerox has the first African American Woman to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company; which adds to the company culture of diversity and open mindedness as it relates to gender issues in the workplace.
After presenting on women in the workforce, Gina spoke about emerging trends for reaching the customer; a topic that greatly pertains to many of the Graphic Communications students and their classes. “It used to be really easy to get in touch with customers,’ said Testa,’there were only three channels on TV. Today, the quest for mindshare is a game.”
According to Testa, the number one goal is that we need to be collaborative. We need to understand the strategies of marketing department, as the company is no longer the one in the driver seat and the consumer is the one the ultimately controls the market. Our biggest challenge will be changing the current business model to reflect the need for a change of focus; and an addition of social media marketing.
Pertaining to the printing industry directly, there has been a recent decrease in the amount of printed materials, but a growth in the digital printing industry. According to Testa, joining the two together is the best means for success. “No one technology has the capability to dominate on its own. We need to learn to merge personalized printed materials, with online journalism, with digital printed technologies, and add in some social media networking to be really successful. Successful companies offer everything that the customer wants, and will reach the customer every way they possibly can.”
In the future, Gina predicts immense growth in cloud technology. “This will be the biggest new technology, by far,’ said Testa, ‘I’m telling you this now. Learn it now, and watch for it.” Testa also suggests that while print on its own it critical, we need to work on other value added skills to be successful. Before ending her presentation, Gina offered her five tips for success in the working world.
Gina Testa graduated from Colgate University with a degree in English and an MBA in Economics, Statistics and Finance. According to Testa, even though her undergraduate degree focused wholly on English, having an educational background in Finances has greatly helped her move forward as a woman in the working world. Said Testa, “over the years I’ve come to realize that what you learn is one thing; how you apply it is another.”
Gina started working at Xerox as an intern 25 years ago, and credits internships as the best the way to network and the only was to snag a successful job out of college. Said Testa, ” Recent interns have really helped to build our recent Social Media Plan. There’s no way that I, or any of my older coworkers, know how to do it – and thats why interns are useful. I’ll hire anywhere from one to four interns at a time. Its the only way to test someone and not be trapped into having to fire them if their work isn’t up to par; and if it is – they’ll get a job offer.”
Many Cal Poly students who attended the presentation did so for networking opportunities, and were pleased by the overall presentation. Fourth year Graphic Communications student Michaela Tutor said, “I came here really hoping to get an inside look in to my future career path. As a woman with a GrC degree, it’s inspiring to see what opportunities are out there, and its really helpful to hear what choices she made, and the challenges she faced into getting where she is today. I was really happy with what I saw today… and I got a sweet new backpack.”
Graphic Communications Senior, Michaela Tutor, shows off her new Xerox backpack, a gift given to those who attended the presentation.
Everyone knows that the go-to way to find a new place to live, or a person to live with, is Craigslist. Craigslist is a website dedicated to providing local classifieds and forums for jobs, housing, for sale, personals, services, local community, and events. Since the search can be done locally, Craigslist is a really useful tool for finding a living accommodations in your area.
I have had first hand experience with using Craigslist and would consider it a success story. My sophomore year at Cal Poly I was all set with four roommates and a lease signed to live in Carhill Apartments on Foothill Boulevard. It was about to be a dream year; four best friends and our own place to live. Life couldn’t get any better. Until September 1st, FOUR days before we were set to move into the new place. One of my four roommates decided she wasn’t going to come back to Cal Poly, so that left three of us with a four-person house; and not to mention a four-person rent that was about to be split three ways. Since the price of the rent went from affordable to nothing but, we decided to look on Craigslist for a roommate to fill the void. Before doing any searching, we sat down as roommates to write out some agreeable ground rules for our search. it went a little something like this:
1. Had to be a female; there were already three of us and we were sharing bathrooms
2. Had to be a student; we wanted to make sure that she was our age and would respect our studying
3. We preferred a Cal Poly student so we would be on the same schedule for finals, etc. – but we weren’t took picky about that
4. Before we signed or agreed on anything, we HAD to meet them in person, and we had to be together.
5. It had to be a unanimous agreement.
That was pretty much all we had decided upon when starting our initial search; and we figured that anything else could be felt out when we met in person. So we set out; and we got lucky.
We met our roommate through Craigslist; she was our year, a Cal Poly student, and had also had her presumed roommate decide not to come back to Cal Poly. Things worked out perfectly and she fit right in.
Now that we know the selling points for writing a successful post, or reading one, I’ve decided to help you navigate through the actual website.
Here’s how it goes.
To Search:
1. Go to http://www.craigslist.org
2. Select your State and City
3. Choose from the many different options for housing (see below)
4. Start looking!
To Post:
Step 1: go to http://www.craigslist.org
Step 2: sign up for an account, and follow the steps (e-mail verification and accepting terms and conditions)
Step 3: click on “my account”
Step 4: click on “new post”
Step 5: type away and let the search begin!
Brenna Collins, junior Journalism major used Craigslist to find a roommate when she and her friends had to sublease when another roommate went abroad. “It’s actually a really easy website to use, and I was surprised how fast we were really able to find someone to live with. She was super cool and easy to live with. I was also surprised and how many “normal” people were on the website… if that doesn’t sound weird.”
Tam Lee, Junior transfer student, who attended SBCC but now attends Cal Poly, used Craigslist to find a house to live in when she moved into the area. “My parents wouldn’t let me live in a house by myself, and I didn’t really know a lot of people who went to Cal Poly, so I decided to go on Craigslist. It took me a little longer than I thought because I wanted to make sure that I saw every house that I was interested in. It made the process longer but at least I knew where I was going. Overall it worked really well, though.”
Rick Hill, owner and landlord of the Carhill Apartments, also had good things to say about Craigslist. “I always put my apartment rentals on Craigslist. I mean, thats how I found you girls. I’ll always be picky with tenants, but its definitely the easiest way to get information out there – and it’s kept me in business for 15 years!”
My last tip of Craisglist: don’t be afraid to let your personality fly – here’s a housing listing that was SO funny, even the Huffington Post picked it up.
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sfo/2549849730.html
Craigslist is used A LOT in college towns, since there are always roommates coming leaving, students going abroad, students transferring in, and more. Some of the most popular places to live in SLO are also on Craigslist – so be sure to use the website as a tool for finding an apartment as well, not just a roommate.
Good luck!
So we’ve looked into what it’s like living in the Cal Poly Dorms, but then comes the next big question – what to do after? Most students opt for apartments or condos around town, and some even go straight to living in a house on nearby streets.
Finding that first apartment or house is always a stressful time, as most renters are hesitant to rent to young, inexperienced homeowners. Not to mention finding the group of roommates to sign the lease with.
I decided it would be a good idea to take a poll of the most popular places to live as a sophomore in SLO. I sat at the downtown Starbucks for an hour, and in the Cal Poly UU for an hour, asking people where they chose to live and why. Here are the results…
11 lived in Poly Canyon
6 lived in Mustang Village
5 lived in Lee Arms
2 lived in Cedar Creek
1 lived in Carhill
Now that we know the most popular places, lets look deeper into the Top 3 and see why they’re really so awesome.
Number 1: Poly Canyon Village
According to Jeff Magnuson, sophomore Earth Sciences student, who currently lives in Poly Canyon, it’s really not all that great. “I don’t really like it actually. It sucks. Because we keep getting in trouble, the violations are just too much for second year students. We’re all 20 years old. And its actually really antisocial… we have an interesting mix of people living there.”
Then why is it so popular? Because it’s easy. And it’s right on campus. Says Magnuson, “all we really had to do was fill out a form and turn it in. All my other friends were paying last months rent and doing inspections and setting up water bills and stuff like that, we didn’t have to. I can also wake up like ten minutes before my class too.”
Learn more about Poly Canyon at http://polycanyonvillage.calpoly.edu/.
Located right off of Foothill Boulevard is Mustang Village, the second favorite in the poll. According to http://www.livemustangvillage.com, there are a variety of floor plans that are available for students, ranging from one-bedroom studios, rented for about $750/month, all the way up to 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom townhouse, renting for about $640 per month. Mustang Village also offers a basketball court, pool, recreation center, and a study room.
According to Alex DeVries, senior Business Finance student, who lived in Mustang Village as a sophomore, “I liked being able to walk so close to the Business building… it was just across the train tracks. I lived in the nice ones, they were newly furnished so it was really nice inside. I also didn’t have to share a room which was really nice.”
Sarah McAtee, Sophomore at Cuesta Junior College, lives in Cedar Creek. Says McAtee, “they have a pool so that’s really fun because it’s been so hot. There’s also a lot of people who live there so it’s a very social place to live and I have fun meeting my neighbors. There’s always something going on so I’m never bored either. I’m just excited to finally be living out of the dorms and on my own!”
Cedar Creek is located off of Stenner street, across the California train tracks. Typical floor plans are two bedrooms, two bathrooms, but have enough room to sleep four people; two in each room. Some rentals within Cedar Creek are available through Farrell Smyth Rental Company, and others are privately owned, so obtaining an apartment might be a little more difficult in this complex.
Check out the Map below for directions, locations and more information about the other Apartment Complexes that made the list for Sophomore year living!
We’ve heard a bit about places to live on-campus and around SLO; now here’s a little taste of what you might hear when walking around campus. Enjoy!
Once you’ve lived in the dorms at Cal Poly and have experienced the good old “dorm life,” its time to move on… but to where? Here is a map of the most popular places that second year students choose to live.
Stephen Berger, freshman mechanical engineering student enjoys his Cup-o-Noodles
We’ve all been there… most of us, at least. Sitting at our computers waiting for the e-mail that holds the golden information so crucial to the beginning of our college career, the e-mail that tells us what dorm we’re going to be living in, and who are going to be forced to occupy overlapping space with for 285 days.
Moving into the dorms is an overwhelming and exciting experience. Everyone is carrying loads and loads of paraphernalia into the buildings at the same time, trying to sort out who gets what size of the room and who gets the better closet space. (This part is much harder for girls, as you might expect – priority closet space is a big deal).
So, you’ve moved in your stuff and laid out the blue tape on the floor designating “your side,” but now what? You’ve found yourself in some type of hotel-esque living quarters surrounded by people you have never met before, all of whom are trying to make the place their home too.
So we’ve asked for some advice. Advice from three very different people, and from three people who will give real, experienced, and legal knowledge that you’ll need to know when living in the dorms.
Freshman Engineering student Brooke Bernardy, and current resident of the Sierra Madre Tower at Cal Poly, gives us her “Top 10” list of “Things You Need to Know When Living in the Dorms.”
So we’ve heard from a true freshman, someone who is going through the motions of living in the dorms as we speak. To contrast Brooke’s advice, I decided to get a “Top 10” list from some senior Cal Poly boys, asking them what most valuable knowledge they took away from living in the dorms four years ago. Here is what Nick McCracken, senior Architecture student, and Michael Franceschi, senior Business Finance student, had to say:
There you have it boys… and girls; experienced advice from two senior boys who have been through it all. If you want the down and dirty facts and secrets, I suggest talking to the seniors.
For the last point of view on dorm living, I had to talk to an RA, or Residence Assistant, too see what Advice she had to give.
Ryanne Haught, sophomore Recreation major and Resident Assistant, gave me her best “Top 10” suggestions for living in the dorms AND pleasing your RA.
Now that you’ve been given the “Top 10s” from every different viewpoint, you’re set to go for living in the Cal Poly dorms.
Freshman boys entertain themselves with an afternoon game of Call of Duty. Since so many rooms were converted to "triples," students are forced to get creative with room set-up and TV seating.
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