It's Tuesday, and Reeve Union is lacking its most important piece...the students. Here's an FYI for you at home in case you are curious when you'll be seeing your final grades from this semester.

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1. Modern Family

No show has ever made me laugh out loud like Modern Family. The characters pretty much make it great because of how strange but relatable they are. Really, you can't go wrong by tuning into a show that have managed to win 11 Emmys.  

2. Pretty Little Liars

If you're looking for a little bit of suspense and a lot of girl drama, Pretty Little Liars is perfect for you. Start from season one and be drawn in by all of the lying, secrets and mystery. 

3. How to Make it in America

This HBO hit is currently on its second season. The healthy mix of comedy and drama will keep you watching as the main characters struggle to get rich in New York. 

4. How I Met Your Mother

In my opinion, this show will never get old. Every episode starts with the main character, Ted, telling his children about the way that he met their mom. This leads into story after hysterical story of Ted and his best friends.

5. New Girl

New Girl can definitely be described as quirky. Jess (aka Zooey Deschanel) is the awkward star of this new comedy.

Are there any epic shows that are missing from this list? What else are you doing over break to keep yourself entertained?  

For those of you who follow our blogs you probably already know that I'm studying abroad to Australia in January. I've started my countdown and let me just say I am beyond excited to go! As I've said before I am a huge Crocodile Dundee fan so this is where I've always wanted to go. My countdown is at 22 days! I can't wait to be somewhere warm, but don't worry, I'll post tons of pictures while you enjoy the snow!

The thing I am most excited for is our trip to The Great Barrier Reef. Something I learned in one of our classes is that The Great Barrier Reef is actually dying, and they can't do much to fix it. Luckily I'll be able to scuba dive there while I still have the chance to.

Some other things I'm extremely excited about is learning how to throw a boomerang, learning about their culture, meeting new people, and of course the kangaroos which are apparently like deer. It's not uncommon to see them dead along the road but I'll still be that tourist who snaps a ton of pictures when I see them.

Be sure to check back for my blog once I come back so you can hear all about my trip.

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With Emmy Marvin, UW Oshkosh senior and OrgSync "guru-in-training"

13,000...This is approximately how many students attend UW Oshkosh

183...This is the number of student organizations that exist on our campus

1...This is the number of ways to get fully connected to all of the organizations

Now...This is the time to start your journey here and take full advantage of everything that our campus has to offer

Everything you have to do to get involved starts with a simple click. There are only three easy steps between you and the organization that you wish to be part of. We have complete confidence that you will undoubtedly find an organization to tickle your fancy! 

Step 1: Go online and register with Orgsync (Username must be your uwosh.edu email)

Step 2: Complete your student user profile

Step 3: Start to browse and join organizations

Congratulations! You're now an active member of OrgSync. You can start browsing through the archive of all 183 organizations. When you find one that meets your interests, all you have to do is click "Join Now" and a notification will be sent out to that organization's president saying you'd like to become a member. Here's the best part... you can join as many organizations as you want! 

Not sure what the organization is all about just based on their name? Go ahead and click on the name (highlighted in blue) of the organization to learn more about what they are all about! 

Overwhelmed by the number of organizations and not sure where to start? Narrow your search based on your individual interests by browsing each of the 17 categories. There is sure to be something that appeals to you. 

Still not finding anything that you like? Stop into the Student Leadership & Involvement Center (SLIC) in Reeve and talk to the SLIC desk worker. They will help you create your own student organization here on campus! All you need as at least five of your UW Oshkosh peers, a faculty advisor, and a little bit of paperwork to get started. Yep, it's that easy. 

Already involved in an organization? Well then let's take it to the next level. 

Here's what OrgSync can do for your organization...

-Help you keep an up-to-date calendar of meetings and upcoming events for your organization

-Allows you to invite new members to join your organization and view a full list of current members

-Provides your organization with a place to store documents, files, photos, videos and more

-Helps you keep an archive of past members/alumni

-Gives you an online means of letting everyone on campus know just what your organization is all about

So there you have it...all of the reasons why you and/or your organization should become more involved with OrgSync. If you have any questions about the program and how it works or what it can do, stop by the SLIC desk. You can also email us at slic@uwosh.edu or call 424-0847. We'll be happy to help out! 

I remember back to a day when I was six years old. I was finally gaining some responsibility and had just recently converted from baths to showers. At the time I lived just a few blocks from a Piggly Wiggly, and for the first time ever I was charged with going to the store to buy a gallon of milk.

            Purchasing the milk wasn’t the difficulty. However transporting the milk was much more perilous. Like any six year old, I was quite confident in my bike riding skills. However this trip proved my fallibility, because I dropped the gallon of milk and it exploded all over the sidewalk.

            From my prospective I saw this situation as the end of the world. A gallon of milk cost about as much as four candy bars, and four candy bars cost a small fortune. I bust into my house and ran to my mother shouting, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please, I’m sorry.”

            It turned out that the milk wasn’t very important at this point.  Much to my surprise my mom just went and got a new gallon herself. My only consequence for spilling the milk was going back to the crime scene to pick the plastic remains up for recycling.

Life is full of lessons…. and the lesson learned here? Don’t cry over spilt milk.

           Finals start this week, so the days are stressful for everyone. One thing to consider though: don’t cry over spilt milk. Performing poorly on an exam isn’t the end of the world. The average student takes 30 college classes before earning a degree. Yes, it’s always encouraging to do well, but not all exams can be aced. Learn from your experiences, both successful and negative.

Let’s face it, you can’t talk to anybody these days without having them tell you how important internships are. It’s basically drilled into us as college students that without doing at least one of them our chances of finding a job are slim to none. As far-fetched as it may seem, it’s actually totally right.

Internships are easily one of the best things to have on your resume when applying for a job. Having one or two under your belt can show an employer just how serious you are about doing what it takes to be successful. Not only are internships a valuable way to gain real world experience and make connections, but they’re a fantastic way to gain an idea of how prepared you are for the real world. Plain and simple, having an internship can be one of the best steps towards getting a job after college.

Over winter break, I’ll be doing my second internship that relates to my career field.  Having been through the process a couple times, I know how daunting and scary the whole thing can seem. To help everyone out, I wanted to share with you my top tips to help you land an internship and be successful at it. This will be the first of a two-part internship overview. Here we go with the first five tips on how to land a great internship.

Part 1: Top 5 Tips for Finding A Great Internship

1. Start thinking about internships and searching for them early in your college career. While it’s true that some colleges won’t allow underclassmen to do internships for credit, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be exploring the option. As I started looking for opportunities my sophomore year I found that not only are there tons of businesses that are able to take interns that aren’t enrolled for credit—but some even prefer not to have to deal with the hassle of credit. The only challenge you’ll meet as an underclassman is having to beat out the more experienced juniors and seniors applying. But hey, lead with your passion and in my experience you’ll be just fine.

2.Intern where YOU want to, not where everybody says you should. As a Radio-TV-Film major I was constantly pushed by my professors to either just contact our alumni for internships or apply where students had interned in the past. Not the greatest advice. Sure, contacting your department’s alumni and “friendly” businesses can be a great tool, but it should by no means be your only one. If you limit your internship options to where alumni are and what others have done, then you’re also limiting your career options. Instead, pick the career path you want and FIND an internship in that field. It may be a longer process, but it will feel so much better to get an internship on your own merit rather than a favor from the alumni. Plus doing an internship unique from those of past grads makes you different and more likely to stand out in the job hunt.

3. Don’t focus on the prestige of the company when deciding where you want to intern. In any field one of the easiest mistakes you can make is only looking for companies based on how big or well known they are. Believe me, I understand the motivation. You think it will look so much better if you interned with a national company rather than a local small business. And yes, you may be right that an interviewer will be more likely to ask you about your internship if they know the company name, but remember that question will always be followed by “What were your duties there?” Internships at most larger companies will be nothing but filing, making copies and getting people coffee. I’m seriously not kidding. And that leads us to the next tip.

4. Make sure you actually get to do hands-on work in your field at an internship. Even if it means interning with a less prestigious company, always choose the internship that allows you the most hands-on work. Granted at any internship you’re probably going to have to do a good deal of grunt work like filing or getting coffee—it’s just a fact of life—but when you’re researching internships, make sure that’s not ALL you’ll be doing. A more hands on internship will help you expand your skills, get more items for your portfolio and give you more things to talk about when asked about your duties in an interview. This internship is your chance to valuable experience and see how your skills measure up to the real world so make sure that’s exactly what it is.

5. Remember that just because a company doesn’t have an internship opening listed, doesn’t mean they don’t actually have one. The worst mistake you can make is finding a company you like and after not seeing any postings for internships, cross it off your list. It’s not at all uncommon for companies to either fail to keep their job postings up to date, or just not list internships at all. If you find a company you like, CALL them and ask about interning with them. Even if they’ve never had an intern before, chances are they will make an opportunity for you. Successful professionals love helping those of us just starting out. And if it helps you be more confident dialing the phone, just remember, you’re basically offering to work for free. Who would turn that down?

And that’s it folks. My own personal words of wisdom based on my internship hunting experiences. I hope they help you avoid some of the pitfalls I encountered and land your dream internship.

Be sure to check back after winter break for part two of this blog “The Top 5 Tips to Being a Successful Intern”.

If you have questions about any of these tips or something else entirely, just shoot me an email. I’d be happy to help you out.

If you need a break from studying or just need a fun night come check it out. To those of you who are already starting to study for finals good luck and congrats to you graduating in a few weeks!