The Student Recreation Center

      The Student Recreation Center is one of the most underutilized facilities at UAF.  As student employee of the Rec Center, I get to see first hand how many students are uninformed about our facility. Most students don’t even realize that they have access to the gym, and that they have already paid for it in their fees. Every semester if you are a full time student, that fee is automatically added onto your account. This fee allows you to use not only the SRC, but also the Patty Center pool for both the lap and recreational swim.

            The SRC has many different workout options to give you anything from great overall workout to a specific type of exercise, such as focusing on cardio or building muscle. We have a cardio section with treadmills, spin bikes, computerized stationary bikes, varying ellipticals, and rowing machines. We also have an indoor 1/8 of a mile track that circles the upstairs portion of our facility with three lanes for people walking, running, and passing others.                  

For weights, we have machines that vary from free weights in the downstairs weight room, to Life Fitness resistance machines up by the cardio equipment. We also have a Fitness Studio that was remodeled along with our lobby this summer. The room is completely walled in with large windows, and an entire wall of mirrors. There is a sound system in the studio, as well as an assortment of exercise balls, low weight dumbbells, and BOSU Balls.  When there are no classes going on, the Fitness Studio is open for individual and group use.

There are also three multi-purpose courts available for student use. One court is typically used for pick-up basketball all day, and the other two can be rented out for free by students for volleyball, soccer, cricket, badminton, or any other activity.

In addition to all of these resources, we also have an Indoor Rock Wall and an Outdoor Climbing Tower. Certification for both walls is easily obtained through a quick class, and there are even classes available to further your skill and teach you more about climbing. The Outdoor Tower is a regular Outdoor Wall in the summer, and turned into the Ice Wall during the Winter! Check out Logan’s previous post for more information!

Finally, this year we added a Wellness Coordinator! She is available to answer any fitness or nutrition questions, as well as make appointments to sit down and discuss different strategies for you overall health and wellness. Here at the SRC we like to focus on Individual Health and Wellness, and try to give you a comfortable environment to reach your goals!

Nanook Terrain Park: Coming Soon!

While terrain parks are commonplace at ski and snowboard areas and resorts, they are not so often seen on college campuses.  Luckily for any of you winter sports enthusiasts, UAF strives to be anything but commonplace. Opening this coming semester is the new Nanook Terrain Park. While it may not have all the features of the big mountain resorts, it will be complete with freestyle jumps, rails, and boxes. Snow permitting, the terrain park will be operational early next spring semester!  As if rock climbing, ice climbing, cross-country skiing, intramurals, and snowshoeing weren’t enough fun for the UAF campus? They decided to go ahead and add yet another awesome activity for students to do in their time away from the books and classroom.

The terrain park will be located south of the Museum of the North, on the hill above the roundabout and Tanana Loop. A basic outline for the terrain park can bee seen below. This will not disrupt the cross-country trails, as there is a fence between the bottom of the park and the trail. Also, the community use sledding hill will remain as it is, on the other side of the trees. The terrain park is coming after several winters of student made jumps on this hill that did not meet safety standards.

Risk management did not welcome the idea of an actual terrain park at first, but the US terrain park council was consulted on the new design for jump, boxes, rails, and traffic flow in the park. Helmets will be required for participation in the park, and all users will need to sign a waiver and watch a safety video in order to use the Nanook Terrain Park.  Those are pretty reasonable requirements for having the first real on campus terrain park in the United States. Stay safe, and hope to see you on the hill!

 Photo courtesy of Department of Recreation, Adventure and Wellness

Blogging Duel: The New UAF Branding

UAF recently decided that we needed to spice-up our image that we portray to perspective students. How will we do that? Pffff! By focusing on what makes Alaska unique: Nature.
This blog will be a duel between two ambassadors, Teal and Shaun, as they duke it out in a hand-to-hand keyboard combat over the new branding.
Coin Toss! Well, we didn't have a coin, so we used a seal notepad. Shaun called heads, and it was heads. *Note*: No baby seals were harmed in this coin toss.

Shaun: So, as we're looking through the office at old brochures that were used for advertising the university, there wasn't anything to unite them all together, nor even a standard model or even a design element. This new logo creates one single image and logo that is applicable to our university. First Question: How do you think this will help out the university on a level of identity as well as on a level of recruitment?

Teal: UAF has launched the new branding campaign "Naturally Inspiring." What does this mean to me? Alaska is one of the most unique places you will ever see. We are surrounded by nature in every direction.Why not emphasis on it! Students here are involved in our community, going out to sample trees, foxes, satellites, the Aurora...you name it. Our campus may look small, but we have the vast land to explore! I believe this is a crucial marketing strategy for the University. Our identity is our natural atmosphere, we are isolated, but we find fun things to do! The new branding shows images of students hands-on having the "fun" through several of our outdoor classes as well as research intensive undergrad courses. If I saw these images when looking for a campus, I would hands-down choose UAF. How could biking to a rock climbing class not be fun?

Teal: UAF has also been focusing on social media recently. Shaun, do you feel like the social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc. are beneficial to current as well as future students?

 Shaun: Totally! These two media outlets are really more of community bases, in which people can talk about what is going on in their current lives. Pictures of things people do, from that aurora last night to the hockey game, or even to a cool guest speaker in a class. The university likes to show off events that have been happening on campus (ComicCon, TechFest, Starvation Gulch) and post tons of photos from their photo booth that accompanies them to tons of events; it's not very hard to find yourself in a bunch of the university's photos! Though on a student-community level, people post what is currently happening in their lives, which shows a bigger and better picture of UAF to perspective students looking to study here at the University.

This is it for the first of (hopefully) many Blogging Duels between us two, or between other UAF ambassadors. Keep watching for more in the future!

Series: Living on Campus

            Campus life is one of the most exciting parts of attending UAF! Whether you live in the dorms, student apartments, or family housing, there is always SOMETHING going on. I grew up in the Fairbanks area, and decided that UAF was the place I wanted to be when I graduated high school. At first, I was hesitant about living on campus and being “on my own”.  I worried about who I would be living with, sharing the bathroom with a lot of girls I didn’t know, and what I was going to eat. Little did I know I had absolutely no reason to worry! My roommate was so awesome (I still live with her today!!), the girls on my floor were really nice, and the food at the Tilly Commons (thankfully!) wasn’t as bad as all the horror stories I have heard!

I lived in Moore Hall my freshman year, Bartlett Hall my sophomore year, and this year I live in the Cutler Student Apartment Complex. Over the years I can honestly say that living on campus has made my time here so much more enjoyable. You get the opportunity meet and connect with so many new and interesting people solely because you live in the same place and go to the same events.

  

Aerial views of Moore, Bartlett, and Skarland Dorms, and the Student Apartment Complex

         Living in the dorms gives you different activities to attend every other week, if not every week. R.A.’s are required to host “programs” that bring the floors together for things like movie nights, tie-dyeing, or even group trips to the store. Not only do these allow you to meet people, but they also give you an opportunity to get out of your dorm and take a much-needed break from your homework! 

Besides the obvious social aspect of living on campus, you also get to experience the convenience of being minutes away from your classes, and the majority of buildings on campus. This is especially helpful for those late-night library cram sessions before finals week. Of course, I’m sure that living off campus has its perks as well, but I would like to see those guys oversleep their alarms and still be able to make it to class on time! 

Series: Why I Chose My Major

One of the first things everybody asks you in college is: “What is your major?” They ask this question because the major you choose to study is a sort of identifier that people use to remember you. Your major is important. Your major defines what you will be studying for the next four or more years and possibly even what sort of career path you will take later on in life.

HOWEVER, your major does not need to be decided upon immediately, nor is it set in stone. Plenty of people wait a couple years to decide their major and plenty of people change their majors several times before they find one that suits them. While you should generally try to find a major that you enjoy by the end of your sophomore year, that still gives you an entire two years to figure it out.

Whenever I talk to someone about choosing a major, the first thing I ask them is: “What do you do for fun?” The reason I ask that question is because if you want to truly enjoy college and your future career, you need to study something that you are interested in and have fun doing. When I was in high school, I played video games and browsed the Internet for fun. It isn’t surprising that I decided to major in computer science.

I am currently a computer science major, and I love it. I’ve loved computers all my life and have always wanted to have a career that reflected my interest. Interestingly enough, my high school did not offer any computer science classes, so I had almost no background in the subject coming out of high school. The only time I had ever programmed prior to college was at a summer camp hosted at UAF called the Alaska Summer Research Academy (unfortunately I can’t talk about that now, so click on the link). Fortunately, I understood that picking a major didn’t rely on prior experience. All that mattered was that I loved computers and knew that I wanted them to be a part of my major. However, I was not always a computer science major!

When first reading through the list of majors offered at UAF, I couldn’t decide between computer engineering or computer science. I had read as much as I could about both programs and couldn’t decide on a single one. Naturally, I decided to try majoring in both. I took the introductory engineering and computer science courses and decided to see which I enjoyed more. Although I didn’t realize it until the end of my first semester, I hated engineering and loved computer science. I would much rather sit at a computer all day doing my programming homework than anything else. It also helped because double majoring would have added an extra year or two to my degree program, which I wasn’t totally okay with.

After deciding on a major and taking several required core classes, I realized that there were several other subjects I was interested in. The nice thing about college is that there are these crazy things called minors, which are like miniature version of a major. They’re nice because if you like a subject but don’t necessarily want to major in it, you can get a minor in the subject easily and expand your horizons! Since starting at UAF, I have added mathematics, economics, and accounting minors to my degree. Now I get to go to school to study computers, math, and money. How awesome is that?

Thanks to the small bump in my college road, I was able to settle on a major (and several minors) that I love. The computer science department, faculty and students, is made completely of awesome, and I wouldn’t trade my degree for the world.

Ice and Rock Climbing at UAF!!

How many college students do you know that can go ice climbing for study breaks? With an outdoor ice climbing wall on campus, that is a unique opportunity all UAF students have.  You don’t even need to own the gear! All the equipment one needs to ice climb is readily available just a few feet away from the roughly 40-foot tower. The tower has three to four top ropes set up, and great features to start ice climbing. If you’ve been to the ice wall and you want to try climbing on real waterfalls, check in with Outdoor Adventures about taking an ice climbing trip to Dragonfly Creek, or even taking the technical ice climbing class, in which they take 4 field trips to ice climbing areas outside of Fairbanks.  Use of the gear is included in the cost of the class and free with the eight dollar day pass if you’re just climbing at the ice tower. But students can’t have all the fun, so the wall is open to faculty and staff for ten dollars a day and the general public for fifteen.  What more could you ask for?

 If you’re a climber, but you don’t feel like getting out on ice, that’s not a problem either! Next door to the ice tower is the SRC, which houses our indoor rock climbing wall. With tons of bouldering routes, and ten top ropes, there is something for climbers of all skill levels. If you’ve never climbed before, but you want to get into it, it is as easy as taking the one hour orientation class for ten dollars. Rock climbing classes are offered every semester at the climbing wall inside the Student Rec Center, and if both rock and ice climbing interest you, there is a class that includes both!

If you are in Alaska, you might as well do some adventuring, right?!

Photos from the Department of Recreation, Adventure, and Wellness website.

No One is Invincible

I was so excited to meet new people and friends and to participate in all the New Student Orientation activities when I got to college.  It was a whole new world, a fresh start and I was ready for anything… or so I thought.  I would call home if I had free time and kept in contact with my family via Facebook, Skype, and texting.  It might have just been one small message home a day like “it’s snowing!!”

Homesickness then hit me like a semi-truck.  BAM!  It was mid-October, a Friday, I get a message from my mom to call her after my Calculus 2 exam.  I call her up to find that my father has been medevac’d off the slope to Anchorage, and that she is on the road driving up from Homer.  At this moment I felt so far away, helpless.  

Looking back, this is my advice from my freshman self:

1. Put trust in your new friends, and don’t bottle everything up.  People can’t hug you through the phone and most of the time someone can relate to what you are going through.  We are all human, and no one’s life runs as smoothly as it might appear from the outside.
2. Make sure to keep in good contact with your family and friends, because you never know when you’ll need them or they’ll need you for support.  Designating a time to call home once a week is a really good idea.  
3. Bring pictures to college with you or have pictures on your laptop that you can always go and look at.  My walls are always covered with pictures and whenever I look at them they make me smile and appreciate my family and friends.
4. Have fun and be happy, but don’t be afraid of your own emotions.  Don’t hide everything with a smile; be honest, not just with the people around you but most importantly yourself.

My Dad had a heart attack and was lucky that one of his friends at work took him to the medic when he did.  My Mom and brother were both able to make it to Anchorage that day and they kept my sister and I updated through phone calls.  It was hard for me to be away from them, but I was so thankful for cell phones so that I could know what was going on.  I just wanted to be there at the hospital with them, but instead I had to be the voice on the other side of the phone. 

I bottled everything up, and then it was too much.  I cracked and snapped at one of my friends when they teased me about being on the phone for so long with my family.  I blurted out that my dad was in the hospital and they could tell I was upset.  Well that was certainly one way to get rid of my roommates study group right quick—but I would not recommend this method.  That is why I have the above advice for myself and new students coming to college. 

Pre-Law Journey

Pre-Law Journey

As I approach the end of the semester, I find myself faced with a question that many high school
seniors most likely can relate to: where on Earth am I going after this. I came to UAF four years ago,
knowing that this time would come, the time for me to transition from my undergraduate career, to the
world of Law. I thought this would be an easy transition, but in reality nothing in life worth attaining is
necessarily easy.

As a freshman I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in the legal field. I also knew that my
desired career option left my decided undergraduate major wide open. It is a common misconception
that in order to be a lawyer one must major in political science, philosophy, pre-law, justice, or english
as an undergraduate. In reality you can major in basket weaving, as long as you have a decent GPA, a
Bachelors degree, and do well on the LSAT, in theory you can get into Law School somewhere. I chose to major in psychology, as in the legal field the ability to work with people is a must, and convenientlyI happen to love psychology. I would not recommend picking a major that doesn’t interest you; otherwise you are going to spend four years of your life incredibly bored.

Another important aspect in an applicant that Law Schools value is leadership and community
service experience. I would recommend participation in service to any student, whether this be through
a school club, a church, or a community center. Yes, service looks good on a resume, but there is more
to service than developing a resume. Personally I feel very blessed to have had the opportunities I have
had in my life, and feel it is important to give back to the community that supports me. The problem
that I have found in my journey of trying to give back is that I always walk away from “giving back”
having learned more from those I was “giving back” too, than I think I gave back to them. Case in point, I would recommend getting involved in service to any student, no matter what major or background. Believe me you will grow from it.

If you make through your junior year, and still want to be a lawyer, I have four letters that
should rule your life L S A T. The Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). My advice for the LSAT is that it is never too soon to start studying. I think this is where philosophy classes would help a pre-law student, as this is simply a test of logic. Learn how to identify argument structures, flaws in reasoning, and pick up a logic games book. When it comes to the LSAT the key is accuracy and speed, the sooner you start practicing the skills tested on the exam, the better you will do.

So now here I am, I have finished my LSAT, have a decent GPA, and am trying to figure out
where to go to school. The state of Alaska does not have a Law School, so the sky is pretty much the
limit. Law schools can be very persistent in convincing you to apply. Given the massive media age we live in, expect to get emails from schools encouraging you to apply to their school, some of which include fee waivers. I have a whole folder in my email devoted to the emails I have received from different schools, presently there are 62 messages in it. In the end I will probably apply to schools who sent me fee waivers, as well as to a few schools I have narrowed down as places I would like to go while considering the probability of getting accepted given my GPA and LSAT score. And I will continue to sit in limbo while I wait to hear back from all of the schools I have applied to.

Series: Why I chose my major

Deciding what you want to study in college seems like a pretty daunting task. What I mean to say is, you're choosing what you're going to be doing for the rest of your life. But no pressure.
In terms of ease, making this choice is different for everyone; for some it takes two seconds to answer and for others it takes two years. Peoples motivation factors are different due to our interests or aspirations; is monetary gain more important or is vacation leave more important?
Personally, I started off wanting to do mechanical engineering with an emphasis on aerospace engineering. This was in eighth grade though, and throwing a cool-sounding word like "aerospace" to a bunch of 13-year-olds is a sure-fire way to get them interested. So I had set my eyes on UAF since the get-go, as it is one of the top engineering schools in the Western United States and has low tuition costs to boot.
But the summer before my senior year, my interests changed dramatically. I took second place in a state-wide Russian-speaking competition in Anchorage and went to Russia for a month to study Russian. I went back to school for my final year before college and had a revelation: I don't enjoy math nor science. That was like the mid-life crisis of high school. It took a whole of two minutes of freaking out to realize that I liked Russian. After a quick check to verify the existence of a Russian program here at UAF, I was back to "normality" and psyched to get up here for school.
As I was applying for classes for my first semester here, I had the crazy idea to go a bit language-crazy; and that I did. My freshman year consisted of 14 credits in language: Russian 201, French 101 and Spanish 101, along with the continuation courses in the spring semester. The soupe du jour  was alphabet soup, and the letters were over-running the bowl. It was chaos up there (in my head), but strangely, a nice, organized chaos. My second year consisted of the continuation classes (though, slightly modified, as you may notice) with Russian 301, French 301, Spanish 201 and German 101 (just for kicks and giggles). It was during this semester that I changed my major from originally being a Russian Studies major to being a Foreign Languages major with a concentration in French.


There was something different about French. Perhaps the allure that was present for Russian left and was replaced by one for French (though, I had been to Russia twice before attending UAF). To keep with the idea of traveling like I had done before university, I decided to take some time on exchange to work on my French. Thus, the impending fate of a year abroad was looming over my head; I was on track to go to Switzerland.

UAF Dining Services

The University of Alaska offers a wide range of meal plans that meet any particular type of student. From the $90 Ten Block plan to the $2000 Nanook plan. There are plans that just include Munch Money – the fondly named term for money put into your Polar Express Card that you can use at any dining restaurant, shop, or vending machine on campus. Most plans, however, include a mixture of both Munch Money and a specific number (or unlimited number) of meals (to be used at both the Lola Tilly Commons for lunch & dinner and the Wood Center for breakfast).

The Lola Tilly Commons is the central cafeteria at UAF. It is located on lower campus, right next to the McIntosh and Nerland dormitories. It is open Monday – Friday 11am-8pm, and Saturday/Sunday 10am-2pm, and 5pm-8pm. The Wood Center breakfast is served 7am-10am weekday morning and offers a range of different dining options for lunch and dinner that may be purchased with Munch Money.

Bear Bucks are another medium of currency placed on the Polar Express Card. They can be used to purchase food and non-food items on and off campus at participating locations, including: Denny’s, The Cookie Jar, and Prospector Outfitters.

No matter what type of student you are, from a first year freshman living on campus full-time to a part time or graduate student, there is a meal plan here to meet your needs.

Here is a helpful link for more information about the dining services here at UAF:

http://www.uafdining.com/index.html

Series: Why I Picked My Major: Fisheries and Biology!

I guess I’ve kind of always known what I wanted to do with my life, at least to some extent.  Life sciences are what I’ve been interested since grade school.  So that’s what I went with when I started preparing to head to college.  A Bachelor of Sciences in Biological Sciences was the box I checked on my computer at home my senior year of high school.  Sounded like a great idea to me, because it would allow me to test the waters of other life science fields while still getting classes that counted towards my requirements.  When I got here, I started that testing in my first semester.  I took an Intro to Wildlife Biology class to see if I wanted to head that way with my studies, and as interesting as that class was, it just wasn’t quite my thing.  Then I went to the Natural Resources, Fisheries, and Sciences Career Day hosted by the university.  There I stopped to talk at the School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences table and I was hooked (pardon the pun!).  

Katie Murra-Straub told me there that with a Fisheries major, I would automatically have the classes to get a Biological Sciences minor.  Awesome, two for one!  It gave me something to think about.  And I did.  I thought about how I’d been fishing since I was a tot, how I love the water, and how I might actually get a job in the town I want to live in the rest of my life.  I talked to my parents about the idea over Christmas break and they agreed it was a good plan.  Sounds perfect.  So I went to Katie’s office during my second semester of college and told her I was interested in Fisheries.  That’s when I discovered it was not only easy to get the Biological Sciences minor with that Fisheries major, it was actually very manageable to get a double major! A couple extra classes and there’s a double major!  That’s how I picked my major.  And just this summer, I was able to confirm I was truly heading in the right direction.  I worked with salmon in the field as an intern for the AK Department of Fish and Game and I came to the conclusion that baby fish are cute.  Yup, I said it.  Slimy, scaly, big-eyed baby fish are cute.

Aren't they adorable?!  These are Sockeye Salmon juveniles.

Another fun thing with fisheries: boats!

The adults are beautiful too :)

I had it fairly easy.  I had a good idea of my direction from the get-go.  But even if you think you know where you’re going, be open to new ideas.  One of my good friends came to UAF for Electrical Engineering.  She’s now a History major.  College is your time to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life, and it’s entirely possible to be different from what you expected.

Going to School in Alaska!!!

Whether you grew up in Fairbanks, or you had never heard of it until you
started your college search, UAF has something for you. While I grew up in
Fairbanks, it almost seemed like a new town once I started going to school at the
university. With 168 different degree programs, it is almost impossible to not find
something you are interested in studying. Personally, I am a big proponent of the
study break. While it is a great place to study and learn, Fairbanks is also great for
study breaks, getting out and enjoying everything Alaska has to offer. Whether it is
a weekend trip to the back country for hiking, climbing, skiing, camping or even just
sightseeing, or simply getting down to lower campus for a volleyball or basketball
game, there is always something to do. Growing up in Fairbanks, it always seemed
like there was nothing happening, but when I got to UAF, I realized that there is
always something going on. We have a great community of people here, and we even
have a Vice Chancellor dedicated completely to serving the students' interests. He has
done a fantastic job improving campus life for all students.

Of course it does get cold in Fairbanks too, but it doesn't take long to get used
to the temperatures, and each winter, students of all backgrounds embrace the cold,
shedding their layers and proving their status as true Alaskans, joining the forty below
club. The temperature sign on campus becomes the place to be on cold winter nights
as groups from two to twenty huddle up next to the sign as it shows a temperature of
both -40̊ F and -40̊ C. Once you have accomplished this, you can call yourself a true
Nanook, and you’ll always remember the first time you felt forty below!

Series: Internship Experiences

This past summer, I accepted my first internship offer with the village corporation in Barrow,  the Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation (UIC). I was a Human Resources (HR) intern working in the Barrow office for a good two months before it was time to return to UAF for another year J. UIC offers various services for their shareholders, shareholder spouses, and shareholder descendants. That’s what I am, a shareholder descendant. It has always been an interest of mine to be involved in Shareholder Relations within the regional and/or village corporations I am a part of. With this internship, I have been able to explore and gain experience, I was employed in my hometown, and it was one of my first office-type positions.

I really enjoyed my time in the office and the tasks they had me do were pretty manageable. My supervisor and I had good communication, which is one thing I think is very important in not only internships, but for employment in general. A lot of the tasks I had involved people and jobs, that’s Human Resources, helping people and employees find jobs or assist them with occurrences in their current jobs.

During the two months I was working, I was able to fly down to Anchorage from Barrow and work in the Anchorage office. It was definitely a shift from small town office work to big city office work. I got to sit in on HR meetings, create PowerPoint presentations and files for the Shareholder Development Program, and work with a few employees that are HR Administrators.

This past week, I attended the Alaska Federation of Natives conference and convention in Anchorage, Alaska, and while I was there, I was able to work with UIC again. We were set up at a booth and gave prizes away with our spin-wheel and shared information about the corporation.

                My advice for you, as a perspective student interested in an internship, would be to see what internship opportunities are available. Browse around & research the type of work you could be doing, and go from there. Explore your opportunities and remember… do what you enjoy! J

Every Question Answered at UAF's InsideOut

Thinking about going to college? There are well over 4,000 universities to choose from- and that’s just in this country. So do you know exactly where you want to go? No? Of course not! This is a big decision, and with so many options, a little guidance can go a long way. As one of your options for education, UAF presents an event that can shed some light on the unknown: Discover UAF: Inside Out for Fall, 2012. Whether you have chosen UAF as your school of choice or not, Inside Out is an opportunity for high school students to get a taste of college life, and for parents to see what their kids are getting into. It is a day on campus, packed with any and all information you might need to know.

8:00am – COFFEE!, Check-In and Registration                                 Come in to the Great Hall for an opportunity to meet with some of the schools and colleges of UAF, as well as some delicious morning snacks.

8:30am – Welcome                                 Join everyone in the Davis Concert Hall to get a taste of what you will experience throughout the day.

9:15am – Take a Class                                 Students will be whisked away to experience what a real college class is like, while parents enjoy an information session on helping their student transition into college life.

10:15am – A Trip Around Campus                                 Head to the Wood Center for the start of a wonderfully informative tour around campus that will show you all the good spots for whatever a student could need.

11:30am – Choose your Own Adventure!                                 Until 1:00pm, YOU get to decide what you want to see on campus. You can head over to the Honors House for a tour; check out the cool clothing in the bookstore; explore the police & fire departments; and/or have a delicious lunch! There is also an admission’s assistance session, and an informational study abroad session! You decide!

1:15pm – Current Students Answer your Questions  Next, there will be a UAF Student Panel, where some of us current students will tell you all about what to expect, where to expect it, and how to handle it. In the meantime, parents will be off learning some of the logistics behind going to college (admissions, financial aid, residence life, and business).

2:30pm – Fun & Games                                 Everyone will regroup in the Wood Center Ballroom to play games and find out how much we learned about college.

3:30pm – One Grand Finale Finally, the Grand Finale will conclude the day’s events in the Wood Center Ballroom.

Come see what this university has to offer and how wonderful college can be. The event is free, and you even get lunch out of it! Register here: http://www.uaf.edu/admissions/insideout/ . Come to campus Friday, October 26th, 8:30am to 5pm, and get every question answered, and possibly every answer you’ve had questioned!

From High School to UAF: The biggest differences

Now, as a well-adjusted college student, looking back on the months leading up to the move from high school to college, I remember the anticipation and excitement. I was leaving my well-established group of friends and my family behind and heading off into uncharted territory.  I was super excited!

Upon arriving at UAF I checked in and started moving into my room. I got all set up and soon realized that living in a dorm was going to be a bit of an adjustment. I was used to a relatively quiet household; I soon realized that some people never sleep. There was always someone awake hanging out in the lobby or watching a movie in one of the lounges. I thought it would be hard to get used to, but I was pleasantly surprised. The noise that I thought would keep me up all night soon lulled me to sleep.

Then the real work began. Classes started. But it wasn’t all bad, in fact most of it was good! I got to pick which classes I wanted to take for that semester within my major, which was a big change from high school, where I was handed a schedule of the classes I had to take that year. And, in picking my classes I got to decide when I wanted to start and finish class for the day. If I didn’t want to start class until 11:30am, I would just plan my classes accordingly. It’s great! Of course, now that I’ve settled into the college schedule, I take earlier classes, like 8am Biochemistry classes… It’s not as bad as it sounds trust me.

In high school I got used to seeing the same faces every day, every year, for four years. But at UAF, almost every class had at least one person I hadn’t met, usually more. Through the course of group projects and class discussions I got to know some of the people and still see them around campus.

Probably my favorite thing about college is the friends I’ve gained in the few years I’ve been here. There are several people I met my freshman year, that I am still good friends with today. The cool thing about the friends you make in college, they more or less become your family.  They’re the friends you’ll have for the rest of your life! 

Navigating UAOnline

Whether a current or potential student at UAF (or any of the other University of Alaska campuses), UAOnlinewill be your main administrative tool for admissions, financial aid, academics, and the like. Fortunately, UAOnline is built with a plethora of helpful features. However, it can be daunting to figure out at first glance, so I will give you a few hints as to how to use this academic beast of a website. UAOnline goes through major changes about once or twice every year, but this mini-tutorial will go through release 8.3 (you can find out the version at the bottom left of the page).

I’m going to start by assuming that you are not a student at UAF and have not yet applied for admissions (for students who have been admitted, please see the paragraph below). Once on the UAOnline website, you will want to click “Apply for Admission or Check on Status of Application.” Fortunately, there is already a helpful video about applying for admission for new students, located here. The video link can also be found on the “Apply for Admission” page. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I will let you watch the video to learn about applying for admission.

Congrats! You are now a UAF student and can access UAOnline fully! Going back to the UAOnline homepage, you should now click on “Login to Secured Area (Students, Staff, & Faculty).” You will be brought to a page asking for your UA ID and PIN. Your UA ID will be a series of 9 digits that represent you in the University of Alaska system. While your UA ID may not be as important as your social security number, only give it University of Alaska staff when they need it. If you do not know your UA ID or PIN, you can visit <a href=” http://elmo.alaska.edu/?elmo_option=3”>this website</a> (which is also on the UAOnline login page). It has several helpful options to choose from. As a side note:

UA Username: The name of your ‘@alaska.edu’ email with the first letter of your first name, first letter of your middle name, and last name. Example:jasmith

UA ID: The nine-digit number that represents you. Example: 3########

Password: A password that YOU set for use with your UA Username. Example:cats03 (choose a STRONG password!)

PIN: A five-digit number that YOU set for use with your UA Username OR UA ID. Example: 12345 (BAD idea for a PIN!)

UAF has many uses for your UA Username, UA ID, password, and PIN. UAOnline only uses your UA Username and your PIN to log on. In other instances you will be asked for a combination of your UA Username OR UA ID and your password OR PIN.

Hopefully now you’ve actually logged on to UAOnline. There will be a large page with five big blue links. The first place you should head to is “Personal Information.” Make sure that your PIN, security question, addresses, phone numbers, emails, emergency contacts, name, social security number, UA ID, UA Username, preferred first name, ethnicity, and race are all properly set up. After that, click “RETURN TO MENU” near the top of the page.

If you want to set up a direct deposit services (which means that if UAF ever needs to send you a refund or whatnot, it will be sent directly to your bank account rather than by check in the mail), click on “Financial Information” and fill out your direct deposit information (which will require some information about your bank account, but UAF has safety policies regarding this information so there is no need to worry).

There are only two steps left! You can sign up for classes and check your academic records or apply for financial aid. Because you need money to go to college, I’ll assume that you’ll want to check out the “Financial Aid” tab first. After getting there, you should first click on the “Eligibility” tab and then click on “Holds.” As the name suggest, holds are holds on your account that prevent you from doing a lot of things like getting financial aid. Usually these holds involve a late payment or other similar academic issues. Assuming there are no holds on your account (if there are, you can contact the Financial Aid office at 907-474-7256 about them), you can return to the main “Financial Aid” menu and click on “Scholarships.”

Here you will find a questionnaire including several checkboxes as well as a large text box for a personal statement. Your answers to the questions here and your personal statement will be a major part of your scholarship application. There will also be links at the bottom of the page for various other University of Alaska scholarships. You can apply for specific UAF scholarships as well as broader University of Alaska scholarships; these scholarships vary in eligibility requirements as well as application materials, so spend some time preparing for them. The deadline for ALL UAF/UAA/UAS/UA scholarship applications is February 15^th(unless otherwise stated) before your first semester at UAF, so it is highly recommended that you fill out this page as soon as possible.

Now that you’ve applied for financial aid, let’s sign up for classes! Go back to the main UAOnline menu and click on the “Student Services & Account Information” link. This is one of the larger pages of UAOnline, so I’ll give you the gist of what each link is for.

“Important Dates and Deadlines” shows you where to find your respective school’s academic calendar. The academic calendar has all of the important dates and deadlines you need to know about, like when the last day for registering for classes is. “Admission” essentially does the same thing that we talked about earlier and helps you apply to be a student at UAF, but we’ve already taken care of that so its only real use is to review the status of your application. “Registration” is one of the more important tabs on this page, as this is where you go to look for classes and apply for them. For the sake of time I’m going to let you search through this on your own (but if you ever need more help, you can always call the Office of Admissions and the Registrar at 1-800-478-1823). The next link is “Student Records”, where you go to view things like your GPA, grades, transcripts, and holds on your account. Always make sure that you have no holds on your account before doing anything else. “Degree Works\Electronic Degree Audit” is an extremely helpful website that lets you see the progress you’ve made toward your degree, as well as answer some important ‘what if?’ questions you might have regarding certain classes or degrees. “Enrollment Verifications” is for students who need to provide proof of enrollment at UAF to some outside company like a scholarship committee or the like. “Official Transcript Request Service” allows you to send out official transcripts to other schools or scholarship committees for a small fee. “Scholarships” is essentially the same as the previously discussed page on the “Financial Aid” page. “Direct Deposit Services” were discussed earlier and can also be done here. “Student Account” is where you go to see what your monetary balance with the university is; if you owe money, this is where you go to pay it. “Contact List” is a huge list of phone numbers and emails for various important departments on campus. “Student Feedback” is a cool way to win free stuff by giving UAF helpful feedback. “Change Confidentiality/Directory Hold Option” will help you change your student records privacy settings; usually this is not recommended because your existence as a UA student will not be acknowledged even to you. If you are an active or reserve military member, “Additional Resources for Military Students” will give you all of the extra information you may need regarding tuition or the like.

Even if you understand everything in this guide, I highly recommend that you take the time to explore UAOnline for yourself. Everything I’ve learned was simply from exploring and seeing what certain areas did. Again, if you have any other questions that weren’t discussed or poorly discussed in this guide, feel free to contact the Office of Admissions and the Registrar at 1-800-478-1823. Hopefully now you have a better understanding of UAOnline and what it is used for. Keep calm and carry on!