What Happens at College Part 3

Junior year you grow deeper; deeper in your relationships and more deeply involved in your studies. If it hasn't already, school will likely feel overwhelming. However, the study skills you've developed in your first two years and the friends you've made in and out of class will help you pull through the tough times. Classes will be specific to your major and will really open your eyes to your area of study.

Despite the seemingly insurmountable amount of work and activities you'll be involved in, you'll find time to give back as well. If you're involved in student clubs or organizations, you'll be encouraging freshman to join or helping to organize events. As a Junior, you'll have established your priorities in college and will invest heavily into those areas most important to you.

Reflections on my time in Davis Christian Fellowship

Sunset over lake Berryesa

More than any professor, class, club, sport, or hobby, my involvement with Davis Christian Fellowship has made the most impact on my life during my time at UC Davis.  I was first introduced to DCF my freshman year when a high school friend of mine, Jason Pope, invited me to his core group he co-led with Will Klier.  I didn't attend Friday night worship gatherings or go to many events, but I was connected to the small group in the Tercero guys core.

The DCF house at 312 A street

When I began looking for housing for Sophomore year, I was introduced to Jason Conklin who was then apart of a Segundo core group.  Together, along with Matt English, who was in my Tercero core group, we began looking for housing and found a place at Sundance, apartment 216.  Sophomore year I continued to infrequently attend Friday night gatherings and other events.  Towards the end of my sophomore year, Jason, Matt, and I began looking for a fourth roommate to help share the cost of rent.  Unable to find another person, we signed the lease anyway to live there another year.  Just after this, Jason Pope, asked if the three of us would like to live at 624 Villanova.  Wanting to move to Villanova, but having already signed our lease, it seemed as if our timing could not have been worse.  It was then however, that fellow DCFers Gabby, Shannon, Joanne, and Caralee contacted us hoping to take our apartment.  The transition went smoothly as we signed our lease over to them and moved into our new place at Villanova where Jason Conklin, Matt English, Jason Pope, Ian Dick, Marc Madrigal and I lived Junior year.

Dinner with the girls of apartment 216 and the villanova boys

Junior year I became more involved, attending Friday night worship, weekly core group, winter retreat, and many other events.  I felt apart of the community, able to contribute in a meaningful way and grow spiritually as I was encouraged by those in the community.  Jason Pope married his high school girlfriend and left Villanova to live and work in San Diego.  Senior year came and Jake Hosier, Harry Jin, and Tim Oldenkamp joined our house.

Villanova house fiesta to discuss a few items on the house agenda

Senior year I was continually blessed with the love, guidance, and support of my roommates and friends in DCF.  The more I gave, the more I was able to receive.  It wasn't the activities, or places we went, or things we did that influenced me so much as it was the people, with their concern, generosity, and love.  Their concern for my spiritual growth, selflessness in time and attention, and love that wasn't afraid to confront or admonish.  I have never seen or experienced this kind of love anywhere else.  Davis Christian Fellowship is a Christ centered community where the power of the Holy Spirit is alive and active, working in and through the lives of those in the community.  I am thankful to have been apart of this community and hope that I will be able to show others the love of Christ that was so selflessly shown to me.

What Happens at College Part 2

Sophomore year determines your direction.  After having taken some classes, you might find the major you chose as a senior in high school isn't all you thought it was.  Or maybe the weeder classes you thought you could push through, turn out to be more than you can handle.  Having been introduced to classes, professors, and the general workings of college, sophomore year you'll establish the course you'll take for the rest of college.

At this point you're not likely to be living in the dorms and have chosen some of your dorm friends, classmates or club friends to be living with.  This selection effects who you'll be looking to for support and how you'll be spending much of your nonacademic time.  By the end of sophomore year, you'll have an established group of friends and classmates that you'll be living and working with through graduation.

What Happens at College Part 1

Freshman year relationships are built.  Yes, you'll be taking classes and adjusting to life away from home, but the first year at college is really about building relationships.  More importantly, you learn how to build relationships.  Relationships with people from very different walks of life and very different world views.  This is the most important thing one learns Freshman year.

Living in the dorms introduces you to more people, faster than any other time in college.  Many of these friends will continue to be your friends for the rest of your time at college and quite possibly the rest of your life.

Upon leaving home for college, a former scoutmaster of mine told me, "If you survive freshman year of college, you'll get through the rest of college just fine."  Indeed, your first year at college can be a taxing time of change.  But as a general rule, if you can manage the first year, the remaining can be done as well.  And, more likely than not, they will go by faster than you'd like.

About Me

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley and studied aeronautical and mechanical engineering at UC Davis.  I work as a medical device manufacturing engineer in Tustin, California and enjoy a variety of ever changing hobbies, some of which I write about here on my blog.  Hope you enjoy!

~Glenn


"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye." -Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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How to write a great blog post: or, how I chose a topic for my first blog entry

Google provides answers. Tonight, it showed me how to write a great blog post.  Here is what I learned:

1. Create an appealing title and topic
2. Stay on topic and opine honestly
3. Keep it clear and simple
4. Keyword and link like crazy
5. Proofread
6. Engage in discussion

While pondering a good first entry, I thought it best to research then summarize how to make a good blog entry.  Thus my first post came to be.