Author Archives: Khristen

Fall

Posted on by

Attending TU has so many benefits such as a great education, wonderful one-on-one time with professors and numerous internship opportunities. While these things are all great and a wonderful reason to consider attending TU, there is more to TU and the city of Tulsa than just educational benefits. Tulsa is full of so many opportunities both in and out of the classroom.

One of the many benefits of being a TU student is free admission to the Gilcrease Museum, home of the world’s largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West. While there is definitely an educational element in the museum, it is a ton of fun! The Gilcrease has a lot of paintings and such inside and beautiful nature and art outside. I went with a bunch of friends and we had an absolue blast, besides getting to work on our archery. :)

 

A lot of cool opportunities can come out of simply paying attention to all of the free things about which the college sends e-mails. I had actually never seen Pirates of the Caribbean before (I know, crazy), but the TU Student Association purchased some tickets to the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra’s performance of the score with the movie being played on the screen behind them. So my first time to see The Curse of the Black Pearl was with a live orchestra! It was pretty incredible. Here is a photo of the screen at intermission along with the orchestra’s seats.

 

On a completely unrelated note, one of the things I really enjoy at TU are all of the gorgeous flowers that are planted around the campus. Here is a photo of some really pretty flowers with the library in the background!

And with that I will leave you with wishes for a happy and relaxing Thanksgiving!

Khristen

Homecoming 2011

Posted on by

Khristen
Hello everyone!

I’m sure that many of you have heard that the last weekend in October was the University of Tulsa’s homecoming / parents weekend! So many different festivities going on the last week in October, and keeping up with classes on top of it all is quite a challenge but such a blast!

One of the activities that TU does for the week of homecoming is street painting. On one of the streets by the football field, all the different fraternities, sororities, and other campus b get different sections of the street and paint different TU related pictures. Some very cool looking Captain Canes! Then the winner was announced during my favorite part of the whole week, the bonfire. On Friday evening, there is a GIGANTIC bonfire that lights up the entire sky. My family got to come down for the celebration. Me and my siblings started out in the very front, closest to the bonfire but soon had to scoot way back because of the intense heat!! But it was so awesome. And after they lit the bonfire, fireworks started going off behind it. What a wonderful display for all of the TU students, alumni, and families!

Today I got to do something that I rarely do during the middle of the day on a weekday: I went out into the city of Tulsa and saw a movie! There was a French film playing at one of the theaters in Tulsa and to add to the culture of my life (and possibly for a little bit of extra credit) I got to enjoy a heart wrenching French film. Some fun!

November’s here and we approach the end of this semester. However, there is still a lot to do! Going to visit the Gilcrease Museum this weekend and who knows what else! Until next time,

Khristen

We’re too Young to Know Certain Things are Impossible- So We do Them Anyway

Posted on by

Hello!

Today, let me give you some encouragement and roommate situations and tell you about an awesome opportunity I had because I decided to get involved!

So I’m actually writing this post having gotten off of a plane from Chicago a few hours ago! I am a part of the Society of Women Engineers and had the opportunity to go to a conference this past week in Chicago! We got to go to sessions about everything from how to interview to how to know if a company is right for you. We also got to go to a job fair with about 250 different companies. I got to learn about different internship opportunities for this summer and a TON about jobs in the real world. While I am only a freshman, I thought that this was such a great experience to get to learn about the engineering world beyond school. I went with six other girls and while I learned a LOT form the sessions and the job fair, I probably learned the most simply from advice the other girls gave me throughout the week! The reason I got to go to this conference as a freshman was that I was eager to be involved in activities and learn about engineering and life. I say this to encourage you, a junior or senior, to start thinking about what you would like to be involved in at TU or wherever you decide to go. I decided I want to be involved in the Society of Women Engineers and pursued an officer position, even my freshman year. As a result, I got the AWESOME opportunity to go to a job fair in Chicago!

First, let me start by talking about something that I was nervous about when I came to college. I came to TU as only the second student from my town to ever come here, so I was uneasy, to say the least, about the roommate situation. I did not know anyone who was going here and had to sign up for a random roommate. Terrifying, huh? Let me tell you, though, my story has been a great success story!! My randomly chosen roommate and I love living together, and while we are very different people (I’m an engineer and she’s in musical theater!), we get along very well. And though we don’t always get along perfectly (I have an eight am class on mornings she wants to sleep in), we are both freshman and are both just as lost as the other. We have had so much fun figuring out how college and life without parents works! We’ve cried together, eaten PB&J on the floor together, and stayed up half the night together. I say all this to encourage you that while everything doesn’t always turn out perfectly, your roommate is probably just as nervous and excited about college as you are and, chances are, you’ll have a lot more in common than you think!

 

Because We Can Conquer the World!!

Posted on by

Wow, these past couple weeks have been so busy and so exciting!!

Things I did in the past two weeks:

1. Went to a job fair and talked to a lot of people about internships this summer and different job opportunities. I’ve decided that I would love to have an internship this summer and am going to pursue that.

2. Went to the Tulsa State Fair! I’ve never been to a fair before, so this was a ton of fun. I went with a bunch of friends and we got to do the whole fair thing: rode a Ferris Wheel and ate a funnel cake! We definitely had a blast there.

3. Had my first internship interview! A speaker came to one of my classes and I went to introduce myself to her after her presentation. She was very interesting and friendly and helped me to schedule and interview with ConocoPhillips. The interview went very well and now I’ve got my first interview out of the way!

4. And I got to see my family and go to the Tulsa Zoo with them! I haven’t seen them all in quite a while (it seems like forever) but I loved getting to spend time with them and catch up on their lives and share some about mine.

Overall, the past couple of weeks have been incredible. Being in college is such a fun experience and I feel like I could go anywhere from here. The world is here waiting for me to decide what I want to do with my life. I change my mind all the time about what I want to do with my life, but I’m learning that’s okay! I still have so much time in front of me to figure out what I like and what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. Right now, I am very much enjoying where I am!

Thanks for reading!

Khristen

Hello TU!

Posted on by

Hello all! My name is Khristen and I am a freshman Mechanical Engineer here at TU! I am very excited about getting to share some of my adventures at TU on the TU student blog! Let me use this first post just to introduce myself and talk about how I have adapted to the booming city of Tulsa!

I am from a small (but growing!) town in Southeastern Oklahoma called Durant. Durant has about 16,000 people compared to Tulsa’s almost one million! I chose to come to the University of Tulsa because I wanted to attend a college in Oklahoma and TU’s engineering program is ABET accredited, meaning it is very prestigious. One of the things that really pulled me to TU was the small class size and the personal attention of the professors, something I have already greatly felt in just the first few weeks of school.

Coming to TU, I was a little worried about adapting to college and making it without my family. However, I have met so many great people through the different organizations and church groups that I am involved in that the move to college has been surprisingly easy! Another very helpful thing is the personability of the professors. They are so eager to help me with anything I need. From showing me how to do homework problems to helping me write a resume to talking about their families, all of my professors have been so easily approachable and helpful.

Over the first four weeks of college, I have learned a few valuable lessons:

  1. No matter how much you have to get done or how busy you are, sleeping and eating are NOT optional!
  2. Do not be afraid to ask for help or advice when you have a problem. So many people would love to help out with anything you need!
  3. While studying is a huge commitment and takes up so much time, it can be so much fun! Learning with a group helps information stay better!

Thanks for reading, and until next time!