Finally! ByFoCS!

by John on April 19, 2010

ByFoCS is finally built and up! What a relief. Zach, Jillian, and I have been working hard on it for a couple of weeks now, so it's great to see a finished product. Well, as "finished" as a website can ever be, which is certainly one of the unique things about them: even when complete, websites are constantly changing and growing.

If you're here now, then you're probably in our Writing for Alternative Media class. Thanks for checking us out! Take a look around, answer the poll, post a few comments--the site is yours, so use it! Also don't hesitate to follow us on Facebook and Twitter (look for the little icons on the top-right of the page!).

I hope you enjoy the site, and that you'll tell all your friends about it! ByFoCS may have started as a class project, but that doesn't mean it has to end as one!

Summer around the corner

By Zach on April 17, 2010

Has summer already arrived? If the recent weather was any indication, the answer is yes. If you judge off the significantly colder weather of the past 36 hours, the answer is most definitely no. That said, when the mercury rises and the sun starts to shine once again, the quad is the place to de-pale-ify yourself. Thursday was a glorious 80 degree day, and while the sun wasn’t shining at its brightest, that didn’t keep people away. Now lets see if we can focus for finals in the coming weeks.

Make a Buck: Video contest for college students

By Zach on April 17, 2010

There are tons of scholarship opportunities out there, but none of them seem quite as much fun as the dozens of video contests I’ve seen for students. So to get you ready and motivated to fill out those scholarship apps this year, I threw together a few contests I came across this week that have upcoming deadlines. Happy filming.

Spring Weather

by Zach on April 2, 2010
With spring break behind us, and summer lurking right around the corner, students, especially college students, are starting to slack on their studies. It seems that when the weather begins to heat up and the wardrobe starts shrinking, education seemingly fades into the background. The lure of a soothing, cool summer breeze and the lovely, warm rays of true sunshine will soon beckon everyday until students can no longer focus.

But pushing away the books to catch a nice tan can have tragic consequences for your educational career. These wonderfully warm months are the last chance to make up for any mistakes that occurred in the beginning of the semester and to go out with a bang. Teachers seem to realize how contagious this college version of senior-itis is and become just a tiny bit more compliant toward student issues. However, just because your professor is being nice doesn’t mean it’s an excuse to forget about all the hard work you already did. Besides, that once fabulous GPA can turn into a pile of rubbish with just a few missed assignments. Stay on top of the educational game or you may be spending your sunny vacation in taking classes during the summer!

March Madness

by Zach on March 31, 2010
People have historically dubbed the NCAA College Basketball Championships as “March Madness” because of the ridiculous results that occur during this annual tournament. In the same vein as David slaying Goliath, lowly seeded teams knock off favorites left and right, generating much excitement. In the tournament, also known as “The Dance” (because the small schools who advance are known as Cinderella teams/stories), the best 64 teams in the nation give it their all for a shot at the title, and a few even use the additional spotlight to increase their potential to be selected in the NBA draft.

The 2010 edition of the tournament already looks promising as #1 overall seed and tournament favorites and three time champions, the Kansas Jayhawks, were eliminated from title contention by The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Panthers en route to a spot the Sweet 16.

Who will win the championship? Michigan State, Kansas State, Kentucky, and Duke looked primed to make a run to the Final Four, but St Mary’s, UNI, and Cornell just might be able to pull off some epic upsets. Tune into CBS from now through the championship game on April 5th to see who will be crowned as national champion.