Quater by Quarter.

After everything is said and done, I am entering my sixth quarter. I am now beginning my sixth out of 6 quarters. The past 5 have flown by so fast, I cannot explain how much I have learned and how incredible my experience has been so far. 

What I have learned...

You can only get what you take.

Very quickly, I discovered this lesson. My first day in lab, I took a step back. First impressions mean everything. I could see the hard workers, the people who are self motivated, as well as the students that did not seem excited for the tasks at hand. The students I recognized as "self motivated" at the beginning of the quarter, had advanced to a whole new level by the end. The other individuals stayed stagnant, like luke warm water, and were just glad to pass. I realized you can only learn what you are willing to learn. That decision is up to you. 

Channel stress into productivity. 

II have always been a procrastinator. With Procrastination, comes stress, along with anxiety. By my third quarter, I had reached classical. You have not lived a day in the hi-paced baking world till you have survived Scott Turners lab. Through sweat and tears (a lot of sweat might I add,) I realized throwing a pity party over a mistake was not going to fix that mistake. I took my disappointment by the handles and drove it into a punctual tunnel of precision and self-motivation. Instead of crying, I chose to be great and strive for nothing less of perfect. 

Expect problems and eat them for breakfast

The best way to have a successful day,  is to wake up smiling like a sunshine ray. 

"I love to smile, smiling's my favorite."-Buddy the elf. Buddy is right.  Do not Murphy's law, change the outcome of your day. If you wake up feeling groggy and unmotivated, something needs to change. When something goes wrong, fix it and make it better; remember to smile like no ones watching. Live every moment aiming for success, and by my deffinition-success means nothing less than happiness. 

August 30th, 2012. <3

learn from every struggle!

Oh my! I have 2 finals between me and the end of my SEVENTH quarter! This is just complete nonsense! I now have my culinary degree and I am half way through my baking degree with just 2 quarters to go! This is just crazy to me! I cannot believe how far I have come through the past year and a half or so! To get on with all this, I had my baking 2 final this past week! I was so ready for it! 5 swans and 5 baguettes in 2 days, I had this no problem! Day 1 pastry cream and pate choux done and perfect! I was ready to get day 2 going! Tuesday morning came; I got my baguettes going and finished my swans. My swans turned out pretty darn good, not perfect but great! I just needed to finish my baguettes! I was on it, until I got my dough out of the proofer to weigh and bench rest. My dough was too sticky to even handle n deal with! Now baguette dough is sticky tacky dough, but this was like batter. I then realized I could work flour into my dough and rest it; I did this 3 times! I was also short one whole baguette! At this point, I had bad dough, not the right amount of baguettes, and I would be late putting my finish product up. You can imagine how frustrated and upset I was. I was ready to toss it and just cry! But being the positive person that I am, I literally told myself “it’s better to be late, then to not present at all” “it’s better to have something then nothing at all!” I persevered and pushed through it all! I kept going, I finally got my baguettes baked off and they turned out pretty good besides being 30 mins late! Chef told me she was proud of how well I handled my dough being so sticky and the struggle! I left my final practical beat; I felt I had lost it all! But in the end, it wasn’t about the grade I ended up getting, it was about the struggle, the fight, and everything I learned and overcame in that small moment! I ended up coming out on top and possibly better off than the people that did really well because I fought the battle and I won! :)  All the practicals you will have to go through aren’t just to test you and your skill; it’s also for your benefit of learning how to handle all situations and struggles! Look at everything in a different perspective, a positive one and learn from what you see, take it with you wherever you may go! :) And never I mean NEVER give up! Especially if it’s something you love!

                                                                Love and happiness <3

                                                                                Gabrielle! :)

Oy vey!!

Every one says that stress in college is normal. It is, but the amount of stress that actually occurs is some what unexpected. Stress brings out so many emotions that one may not channel on a daily basis. Within a weeks time I felt anger, sadness, happiness, loneliness... just about every emotion in the book. Between school, homesickness, work, being an RA, and trying to live a happy, normal life I became just totally overwhelmed. There was a point when I felt like I just wanted to give up and go home. I sat in my room and felt as though no one was there for me, although that wasn't true. I had to push some of  the things that I wanted to do to the back burner, and that was hard. Something I had to keep in mind is that I'm here for a reason. I'm here to learn, grow, meet new people, and begin a life of adventure. I'm surrounded by the best possible people who want nothing more than to see me suceed. I believe that this rough time is coming from the fact that in just one more quarter I will be packing up and leaving the place I called my home for over a year, and the people that I basically called my family. I know that I'm ready to go and follow every dream I ever had, but part of me doesn't want my time at Sullivan to end. Sullivan has opened so many doors for me. They have been successful in helping me find a amazing job at the Brown Hotel, allowing me to be an ambassador and work closely with the chefs in helping bring students to Sullivan, and getting my name out there. Sullivan will forever be a part of me. As I continue to get over this rough patch in my life, I keep in mind that all the stuff I'm dealing with right now is molding me into an amazing person. The stress and emotions are going to make me tougher. Being a chef takes a lot of backbone, something that I have a lack there of. My future is bright and I just have to keep my head held high and my eye on the prize. These next 3 months are going to be a lot to handle but I know with the great people surrounding me and pushing me through its going to be fun! I couldn't be more thankful than to get to work with the people at Sullivan University.

                                                                                                 xox, Lori

I recently took up painting to relieve some stress. One of the best decisions ever. I have always loved to craft, and with painting I find that I can really express everything inside of me: the good the bad and the ugly. Remember: Be true to you.

Balancing

I've recently acquired a job at Rocky's Pizza and Panini, and it has definitely had an affect on my life and studies. I have had to learn how to balance homework, sleep, and work. There never seems to be enough hours in the day to balance them all equally though. I have had to sacrifice sleep just to make sure I complete all my assignments and take extra naps when I have the free time. Finals are coming up now and I will need more time for studying than usual. It's great that I have managers that are flexible and understanding. It's all about putting priorities in the right order and making sure that the important things aren't surpassed in favor of less important things. I still have a lot to learn about that!

Live, Love, Slay, Study!

-Nikkos

One More Quarter to Go!

sugar showpiece

This has been such an amazing quarter! I've had the opportunity to learn so much. Lab is coming to an end with practicals starting on monday! Plus friday really helped me perfect the skills i need to do great on it! :) Make sure you are taking advantage of these days when you arrive on campus!
    I started a new job this quarter! & i LOVE it! Captains Quarters is so much fun. It is my first job is a restaurant and so far im doing great! I love the kitchen atmosphere. It is fast paced and stressful at times but at the end of the day, it always a great feeling when you look back and see how well you did during the rush! This fall I get to help create the menu for the next season! I am super excited to have this opportunity! :)

Wedding cake

   Next monday, I start my internship at the Bakery! Thanks to competition team, I only need to complete 50 hours, but i am so looking forward to it. For the first time, i will get real bakery experience. No more classroom labs. It is all hands on deck and working in an actual bakery serving people! :) Competition team is starting back up for me here soon! its been a nice break being able to focus on school and work, but im ready to jump back in there and get back to competing!
  If you are dedicated and want to get the most out of your education, Sullivan U has so many things to offer you. There are unbelievable oppurtunities out there, but it is up to you to put yourself out there to better yourself! :)

-Allysa Taranto

celebration cake!

Learning Languages

     When people think of learning languages, most would think of spoken languages like French and English. In the computer program here at Sullivan, the languages we learn are programming languages. The programs that you use on your computer are all written in a programming language. The webpage that you are looking at right now is written in a language called HTML. The program will soon (hopefully) be expanding to include even more programming languages. Right now, when you finish the Associates degree you will know:

• HTML
• CSS
• C#
• MySQL

      They are hoping to expand it to include Java and JavaScript programming. There will also be a higher level class that will focus on Android mobile programming. I am excited and looking forward to be able to take those classes.

Thanks

Elisabeth