Recently in M01 Category

Hello, my name is Jen Neal. I recently moved to from Glen Rock to Bellefonte just outside State College. I grew up and lived in York County my entire life so I am still adjusting to being on my own and living outside of my hometown. I have been a server at Texas Roadhouse for over 2 years now. In my free time I like to scrapbook, fish, or go kayaking. I love anything that is fun and can take my mind off of any stress for a while.  I am currently pursuing my degree in Early Childhood Education with a minor in Special Education. I have always wanted to work with children and have an impact on their lives. My brother has Autism, which led to me minoring in Special Education. I am taking this course because my major requires it. I'm not that knowledgeable about geography so I hope to learn new and exciting information that I can one day teach to my students.

            A current issue I hope to be addressed in this course is how humans impact the environment. Everyone hears that you should not liter or the o zone layer has a hole in it. I hope to learn what specifics are contributing to this, and how humans can change their negative effect on the environment into a positive. I read about sustainability that I felt connected with my topic, because humans need to learn how to function without disrupting the performance of the environment. I am interested in learning about this information while taking this course over the summer. 

Hi there! My name is Thomas Jay Marsden IV but I've gone by my middle name, Jay, my entire life. I currently live in State College but I am originally from the beautiful town of Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania, which is about three hours west of State College in the Pocono Mountains. I'm currently pursuing a degree in Social Studies Secondary Education with a focus in Geography. Outside of working towards my degree I am a part time employee at Appalachian Outdoors, which is an outdoor store on Allen Street in State College. I am also an avid cyclist, outdoor enthusiast, and Crossfitter. I try to be as active as possible on this beautiful planet, which is one of the main reasons I am pursing a focus in Geography. I find it fascinating how we all move in sync with the planet on which we dwell.

            Like I previously mentioned, I really enjoy the movement of humans on the planet. The ways that we all interact with grand landscapes, in cities, and small towns and somehow finding a rhythm throughout these landscapes and ultimately living as one is truly a spectacular phenomena. This study of human environment interaction with different landscapes is an excellent issue for a course such as this one to focus upon. Module 1 seems to outline a means to study this movement with the use of Social Sciences, how humans are impacted by their environment, and even environment policy.  Although this may not be a pressing issue in everyday life it will be for the future of our planet. Without monitoring our movements and actions towards this planet we would not be able to insure a promising future for generations to come. By studying this natural flow through the landscapes that we have developed we can hopefully sustain a strong future for our children and future students. 

      Hi everyone! My name is Caitlin and I currently live in a small town south of Pittsburgh called Uniontown and this is also where I grew up and have lived my whole life. I go to school up at State College though and am currently pursuing my degree in Early Childhood Education. I am taking this course because it is required for my major. I do not know much about geography and the environment and am looking forward to getting to know more in this course. I am interested in knowing more about how us as humans have an effect on the environment and how we have caused this change. When I am not taking this class, I work at Bon Ton, enjoy spending time with my family and friends, and am involved in church and worship.

   My name is Millie McCormick and I am a 46 year old mother of three girls. I live in Saint Clair, PA and have lived there most of my life. I have been teaching preschool for the past 26 years and I am working on finishing my bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education. I love working with children and often find myself talking loudly and quickly like the little ones I teach. Geography was a subject that I found interesting, and while it is a requirement for my major, I thought it would be a subject I could learn some important information pertaining to our environment that has an impact on the safety of our world. When I am not taking classes, I am teaching or doing things with my daughters.

   The topics of the human impacts on the environment and the environments impact on humanity are two things that really stuck out to me. The effects that humans have caused on the environment through air and water pollution have led to illnesses and detrimental consequences. Trash (liter), cogeneration plants, landfills, illegal dumping sites, etc. are just a few examples of things we need to investigate and become more aware of. The environment's negative impact on humanity stems from being apathetic in regards to our own personal responsibilities. We take too much for granted and do not appreciate the gifts nature has given us. I feel that this class will enable us all to learn to be more respectful of the earth's bounty.

My name is Deniz Aksoylu i am currently in my first summer semester as a senior. I am living in State College currently and i have lived in Vienna, Virgina my entire life. After i graduate i will return to Virginia in order to pursue real estate development. I will work full time in construction and will take real estate classes part time. I am studying this course to try to obtain sustainability in business and think of creative ways to combine the wildlife with construction. in addition try to use techniques that have already helped out the environment such as using renewable energies into my starting career. On my free time i like to relax, think about the meaning of life, cook, and  study for other classes. 

Hello, everyone! My name is Jiangting Dong, and I come from China where is a really far country from America and the place I am now. I have an English name----Audrey. I hope it will be more convenience for you guys.  My major is childhood education and I just finished my first year in PSU a month ago. In my free time, I love dancing, playing with children, hanging out with friends , playing tennis, swimming and shopping! Honestly, I took GEOG 030 last semester but I late dropped it because it is a little tough for me. However, I felt this is a great class when I finished Module One. 

Actually, I am interested in visualization. I remember there is a point written in the article: a projection should be chosen to fit the purpose of the map, so the best projection to use will depend on the circumstances of the map. Just like the map of the Beijing, the capital of the China, subway system. Although it is impossible to know the accurate distance from the map, it is easy to understand how to get to the destination I want because of the different colors of the subway line. It is possible to create a map which is geographically accurate, meaning the distance between the stops are shown. However, for me, I would choose the current map rather than the geographically accurate one because the accurate one is more complicated and more confusion. 

Hello all! My name is Chris Meader.  I am going to be a senior in the fall, and I'm really excited about my last year as I finish up my degree in Early Childhood Education Pre-K-4. In the spring I will be student teaching, and Bradford Township that should be an awesome experience. This year was the first time taking classes up at University Park, and it was an experience I will never forget. I have met some amazing people, professors and made many more friends. Currently I am stating up here in state college for the summer working. When I'm not here up at school, my hometown is Jim Thorpe. It's a very small town located in the Poconos that no one really knows of. I have lived in Jim Thorpe for most of my life, and wouldn't want to live anywhere else, well as of now. I grew up with some amazing teachers in my hometown and with their support over the years I knew I wanted to be just like them. I love being around and teaching new things to children because I find myself a kid at heart so its going to be a interesting adventure. When I graduate with my certification in Pre-K-4, I hope to teach somewhere close to my home now. My dream would be to teach in the same elementary school I was once taught in. First grade has always been one of my favorite grades, so if I would receive a job in that area in the future that would be amazing. Either grade I know I will be excited about and finally start teaching. I have always enjoyed learning about the earth and the things that make it the way it is. Its been awhile since I have taken a course like this so I am very eager to learn more this material. When I'm not doing work for this class, I am doing class work for another online class, and working at Ferguson Township.  The times I finally get to relax, I enjoy just being outside relaxing with friends and family.

 

I thought that module 1 provided a lot of important information that we might often overlook in our day-to-day lives. While going through the module I thought the video on the "powers of ten" was interesting. With all the cars on the roads right now the amount of pollution going into the air is scary at sometimes. The scale of pollution can start off small in either a small town or other location, but once entering into a bigger location more factors have an affect on the levels. I thought that the section regarding cartographic projection, map reading was interesting as well. Whenever I try to read a map or even look at one, I find myself getting lost. The projection of a map can be different a few times which can lead to confusion. Regarding the maps pictures I thought that the standard was a lot easier to read, rather then the geographically accurate one. It is always good to have the most accurate map to look at but I feel it often confuses people on where they should even look. Moving forward into the module I have come across the term sustainability before in other classes. I think that this issue is very important to learn about and even teach about. There are many things that can be linked to sustainability. For example, in my one class I had to complete a lesson regarding recycling and what it does on the earth. Related to the module, sustainability seeks to understand the human affects on earth. I fully believe that it is important on teaching how to do the right things to help the world. 

          Hello, class! My name is Hope Trenga.  In the Fall Semester, I will be a fifth year senior at University Park.  For the majority of my undergrad career, I had been pursuing a degree in Kinesiology, but this past semester, I decided to add Elementary Education as a concurrent major. Through various practicum experiences in healthcare, I decided working as a teacher, instead of as a Physician Assistant, would best fit my desire to work with kids.  Currently, I live in Newtown, PA (outside of Philly).  I grew up here, but I also spent six years outside of PA, living in California and England, from 7th-12th grade.  As I mentioned before, I am pursuing the career of an elementary teacher.  I am interested in this course because when it comes to geography, I consider myself to be very ignorant, and I wish to change that fact!  When I am not taking this course this summer, I will be working on two other classes, one being a teaching practicum in an urban elementary school, in Philadelphia, and most likely babysitting.  I also like to spend time with friends and family, and I enjoy sports, music, and movies.     

          I am not very knowledgeable about geography so I have a lot to learn!  Aside from my experience with basic geography, such as physical geography of the USA in elementary school, my most structured geography-related instruction has been in my organic chemistry class last semester.  We spent a lot of time talking about people's usage of resources and how it affects different areas of the Earth.  This concept closely relates to the issue of "human impacts on the environment," discussed in Module 1, in addition to relating to the term sustainability.  After working through Module 1, I have become most interested in the geographical issue of how the environment affects humanity.  I feel like so much time has been spent (in the news, media, etc.) to discuss how WE affect the environment, that I have never really spent a great amount of time thinking how the environment affects us.  This issue is obviously important because the environment's effect on us contributes to the functioning of human systems.  Now that I am purposely spending time thinking about the issue, one example of how the environment impacts humans is most nearly through natural disasters.  The environment's effects can be small-scale, such as a day's weather forecast, or large-scale, like my example of natural disasters.  Natural disasters put people out of homes, and drastically damage lives.  Simultaneously, natural disasters also bring people together in a time of crisis, which is a more positive effect, or optimistic viewpoint.  I am very interested to learn more about this issue, so I can add to the slim background knowledge on environmental effects, such as natural disasters, that I currently have.

Hi Everyone!

Hi Everyone!

My name is Chelsea Stevens. I am located in Newville, Pa which is where I grew up. I am currently in the Major of Early Childhood and Adolescent Education focusing on grades PreK- 4th grade. I am interested in learning anything about GEOG during this semester because I haven't been exposed to this subject before. When I am not taking this class I am working on other school work or working my job at a daycare center.

Since I don't have much of a knowledge base for this subject, I would be interested in learning about mostly anything because I do find this subject interesting because it is new to me. One thing that really caught my attention was the pollution. I think it is surprising how pollution starts and how it is taking over our world. I am also interested in learning more about how we the people affect our environment. It seems as though we do things without realizing the affects of what we are doing onto our environment. I am excited to learn more about the material in this course and have a different outlook on things.

Hello all.  My name is Andrew McKenna.  I'm currently a senior at UP studying environmental systems engineering.  My wonderful hometown of Glenshaw, PA is just 10 minutes north of downtown Pittsburgh.  I've lived in the Pittsburgh area all my life and could not imagine a better place to grow up.  (We've even rated as US's most livable city!)  In my free time I enjoy a good TV drama (Breaking Bad!) or movie, scavenging for a piano to play on campus, social networking, a nice night run or walk, non-fiction literature, green leafy vegetables, and cleaning my apartment (yes, you can un-furrow your brow now).  I became interested in my field later on as I learned to more deeply appreciate responsible industry and its role in global prosperity.  I'm not positive what exactly I'll be doing once I graduate, but what I do know is that with the expansion of industry comes more responsibility and opportunity.  All of us realize by now that caring for our earth is essential, as we completely rely on it for everything we do.  But too often I feel we forget just how all the things around us, the things we created, the things we rely on, the things we may take for granted came to be.  We dug, drilled, carved, harvested and shaped the land to make our home; and we will continue to do so.  Have we taken risks?  Sure.  Have we made mistakes?  Absolutely.  Do we want to cause irreversible damage to what provides us our quality of life?  Of course not.  And that my friends, is where fields like ENVSE come in.  To be honest, I always thought geography just pertained to physical/political mapping.  Geography 030 is a requirement for my major, and I'm quickly beginning to see as to why.  While I mostly concentrate on the natural sciences, the social science aspects of geography will help me achieve a more complete understanding and appreciation of not just the physical ground we stand on, but how all of us share and interact on it as well.

Hey everyone! I'm Cameron DeCock. You can just call me Cam. I'm from Hershey, PA - The Sweetest Place on Earth. I love my hometown and I love chocolate. For being born and raised there, it's kind of hard to not like chocolate when you're surrounded by it - the air even smells like chocolate sometimes! I've been living there for 20 years and still am when I'm not here in State College for school.  I plan to one day leave Hershey and move up to Boston to pursue a career in Elementary Education.  My interest in the course is to get a general idea of all the geographic perspectives to help open my eyes to this area of study.  When I'm not working on this course, I like to eat, sleep, hang out with my friends, and relax.

I wouldn't say I'm very familiar with the subject of geography, which is why I'm excited to learn about some of the issues in geography that this course will hopefully address.  More specifically, I'm interested in subjects within Physical and Human Geography as I have taken classes in both of those, so it will be cool to see what I can apply across these courses.  Hoping to learn lots with all of you this summer!

Hi everyone! My name is Kaylene Valencia and I am a junior at Penn State. I live in Lancaster, Pa where I was born and raised. I am majoring in Elementary Education, so I am taking this course for my economic geography requirement. I don't know much about geography, so I am expecting to learn a lot in this course. When I am not focusing on geography I like to spend time with my friends playing soccer, shopping, or just hanging out and having fun. I also spend a lot of time with my family. We enjoy being outside and having big family picnics.

While reading module 1, I found the scale section really interesting. I know air pollution exists around the city this is giving it off, but I didn't know it would affect many others outside the city by spreading further by the wind. Watching the video was cool. It was hard to imagine being so far in space. The scale was a wide range, but it made it easier to understand the distance. The deforestation example was a good one because you don't realize it but it might not hurt you locally to cut down a tree, but globally it affects others.   

            Hi everyone! I am Barbara Ryan. I am from Long Island, New York- where I have lived my whole life. I love my hometown of West Islip, which is only a few minutes away from the beach. I am going into my senior year at Penn State University. My major is Elementary Education and a minor in ESL, it is my dream to have my own second grade classroom one day! This summer I am working in an office, as well as babysitting. In my free time I love being with my family and friends. I am excited for this course to learn more about the world I live in, and the different people that are in it!

            I am honestly awful when it comes to geography, so this course is going to be great. I find it exciting to know that this course will not just be about identifying places on a map, we will be learning about nature-society geography, and the interactions between the human world and the natural world, which includes human impacts on the environment and environmental impacts on humanity. My other summer course I am enrolled in is EGEE 101 which talks about the role we play in the environment, so it is interesting to see how the two classes relate to one another. I hope everyone enjoys their summer and we get to learn from one another throughout this course.

Hi everyone!! My name is Elizabeth Rabuck and I was born and raised in Altoona, PA where I am currently residing. In the fall I will be starting my 4^th year at Penn State Altoona, although because I am pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Early Education and an Associate's degree in Business Administration, I will be spending an extra semester at PSUA. My future career goal is to become an elementary school teacher or preschool teacher. I love working with young children because they are open-minded and excited to learn! I currently work at a before-and-after school program with one of the local elementary schools and I love every minute of it! When I'm not working, taking classes, or studying I can be found spending time with my friends, family, and fiancé, walking my dog, or shopping! I am interested in this course because it is different from the "typical geography" class that constantly has students identify different countries, lakes, rivers, mountains, etc.

The topic that caught my eye during Module 1 was the human-environment interaction and specifically the way the natural environment effects humanity. I am interested in learning out how natural events shape, control, and constrain human systems. The more I thought about this topic the more I realized how even just the weather in general effects my life in particular. It affects my outfit choice, whether I will be doing activities outside, etc. On a larger scale where people live in the U.S. greatly influences their lives. For example, if I lived in Outer Banks, North Carolina the location would influence what I eat (limited food supplies) my career choice (I'd want to be a real estate agent or hotel manager), etc. Similarly due to the location of Outer Banks and the natural environment of hurricanes, rain, etc., I would need to prepare for things I wouldn't typically do in Altoona, PA. For example, my house would be built on stilts. I am interesting in learning how the environment affects different aspects of life including the economy, cultures, and lifestyles.

Hello Everyone!

I'm Katie Slay and I am now a senior here at Penn State. I will be in State College all summer taking classes, working volleyball camps, and training. Originally, I'm from Raleigh, North Carolina. I miss home a lot as I only get to go home for about four weeks out of the year. Whenever I do get to go home I enjoy spending time with my friends and sometimes going to the beach. I'm a CSD major and I plan to go to grad school to become a speech pathologist. That is somewhat of a fancy name for being able to help people of all ages who have some type of difficulty or delay with speech and language. I thoroughly enjoy learning in this department. I'm taking this course because I thought it would be interesting to broaden my knowledge. Geography isn't a topic that I often think about, and therefore I don't know much about the subject. This course interested me specifically since we will be talking about how humans impact the environment. I hope to learn something that will help me change my lifestyle so I can have a positive impact. While I'm not taking this class I'm busy training with my teammates. I am on the Women's Volleyball Team at Penn State and it is like a full-time job that I, luckily, enjoy!
The idea of scale resonated with me as I went through the course module. The video that referenced the power of 10 really struck me. It was wild to see how far out the universe and particles went. I think this can relate to a lot of problems we face today with human's impact on the environment. Many times when we do something that could be potentially harmful to the environment, like littering, we may think 'Oh I'm only going to do it just this once.' What we don't consider is how that can have a broad impact on our area and possibly a global scale. This concept of scale helped remind me that there is a bigger world out there. The actions I take against the environment don't just effect me or my immediate surroundings. The idea that we are a part of something so much bigger than ourselves urges me to have a positive impact. Maybe, if more people understood this concept of scale they would realize and be more willing to change their was even just a little bit to contribute to the common good of the environment.

     Greetings class.  My name is Douglas Walsh.  I am currently living in State College, near the YMCA.  I grew up in Chicago, but have lived in Detroit, Seattle, Philly and in a van down by the river.  It is my intention to put an end to my undergraduate studies by next summer.  Once released from sarlacc pit of Penn State I will have a degree in biobehavioral and global health.  Because these degrees are utterly vague to the outside world, I will attempt to pry my way into medical school by playing the "non-traditional student" card.  (good luck with that, dipnut)  I want to work in emergency medicine, but on a global scale: Disaster relief, NGOs, etc.  I was given several options for classes to tie to my minor.  The discipline of geography was the topic about which I knew the least, but also piqued the greatest amount of interest.  Outside of this class, I work tirelessly at spreading myself to thin.  I work two jobs and teach drum lessons.  I also spend time on the road (Chicago, Detroit and Philly) playing and recording music.  I am a founding member of Penn State Taiko and also play drums and wear a kilt with the Nittany Highland Pipe Band. 

     One thing that caught my attention during the reading was the idea of the Anthropocene, an era of earth's existence where man began to affect the planet's ecosystems.  In the previous paragraph I made mention of how I would like to work in disaster relief.  The word relief implies that there is only action taking place after something happens.  This is actually a misnomer.  Being able to respond efficiently to a disaster site demands a level of preparedness.  There are always things that can be done before the fact.  In the case of the alleged Anthropocene, steps can be taken towards understanding the cyclic nature of human interaction and the environment.  At what point does the human footprint begin to cause a negative impact on an ecosystem?  Further, if human beings are a part of the ecosystem, is it ethical to argue that human actions are neither positive nor negative and that nature will simply recalibrate its equilibrium and run its course?  This class should be a hoot.  Thanks for reading.

Hi! My name is Kelly Strada, and I currently live in Berwick, PA. I've lived here for the past nine years, and before that I lived in the Poconos and in Staten Island, NY. I am pursuing a degree in Early Childhood Education to become an elementary teacher. I'm interested in learning about ways that we can help the environment and how humans impact the environment. I'm also interested in becoming more knowledgeable about geography so I will be better prepared for my future students and can come up with fun geography lessons for them. When I am not taking this class, I am working on my other online class, at work, hanging out with family or friends, or watching hockey.

            Something that I read that was interesting and surprising to me was the fact that all maps are slightly inaccurate. I guess I have never noticed the difference between different maps that much. Also, the video clip from the TV show The West Wing in the Visualization section was surprising to me. They showed that countries/continents were not proportionately accurate, nor were they in the correct position. I thought this was really interesting, and I'm looking forward to learning more about it. 

Hello, my name is Leah Werner. I am a student at Penn State University studying Elementary Education (Pk-4). I am going into my Senior and final year at Penn State. I currently live in Harrisburg, PA but I do live in State College during the Fall and Spring semesters. I hope to one day be a second grade teacher and help children become the best student they can be. In this course I would like to learn more about our Earth. I am not very familiar or usually interested in these types of things but I feel that it is important to know because it is where we live! When I am not taking this class I am either working one of my two jobs this summer, reading, or relaxing with family and friends.

My name is Maggie Stoltz and I am a junior. I am from Hollidaysburg, PA, which is about an hour south of State College, and I have lived there my whole life. I am a Secondary Education Social Studies major, which means I hope to teach high school history. I am interested in geography because it helps me to understand and visualize events in history. This course specifically seems interesting because I enjoy learning about human-environment interaction and what can be done to benefit humans and the environment. When I am not taking this class, I enjoy spending time outside with my friends or I am working at Coldstone Creamery and as a Day Camp Counselor for elementary school students. 

Hi! My name is Jamie Black, and I will be entering my senior year this upcoming fall. I am a native of the Philadelphia area, where I have lived for my entire life. I am currently living in my State College apartment at school for the summer. As a Childhood and Early Adolescent Education major, I plan to pursue a career as an elementary school teacher. I am also planning on pursuing my master's degree in special education. I think that the sustainability aspect of this course will be interesting, and I am looking forward to learning more about the ways in which humans and the environment interact with one another. Outside of classes, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, going to the beach, traveling, and running.

In this first module, I was very intrigued by the information regarding scales and maps. While I may be naïve, I never thought about or acknowledged the fact that maps often distort and omit information. In the excerpt from The West Wing, the cartographers highlight the flaws on a map, explaining that countries, like Africa and Greenland, are distorted in relative size. Even in elementary school, I was learning the basic components of a map. I learned the relative locations of the 50 states of the USA. As I went on to middle school and to high school, I learned more about the geography of other countries. This module has made me realize that what I have been learning from a young age may not be very precise. To me, this emphasizes the human need for perfection. As was stated in this module, maps and geography are not perfect: there is rarely a straight line for borders and other boundaries. Still, maps demonstrate to the public that there are clean and cut dividing lines. While this may be easier for the average person to interpret, it is difficult for me to fully comprehend why cartographers would skew the general public's understanding of maps. 

       Hi everyone, my name is Cassandra Pantano and I am a junior.  I am taking classes for a potential Global Health minor and that is what brings me to Geo 30.  I live in Collegeville PA which is about ten minutes from the King of Prussia mall and have lived here since I was three.  I am a nursing major and my goal is to work abroad with a global medical program before going to grad school to become a nurse practitioner.   After this first module my interest in this course has grown, due to the relationship of geography with global issues such as war crimes or genocide.  When not taking this course I am working, taking other classes and enjoying a State College summer.

       When completing module 1 the article "Office of the Geographer Makes Information Visual" really peaked my interest.  The article had brought up the examples of using satellite images of Sudan to locate areas with evidence of the genocide in Darfur.  I really was not aware that this was something that the United States (or any country) was doing on a global spectrum.  However I am curious to know if this would add tension to the US' relations with other countries.   For example I don't believe that officials involved in the genocide would appreciate our having this knowledge and therefore not react well if our, or any other, government went to give aid.  On top of that I can only imagine that other countries may be using this same technology to look at our country.  While they may not find signs of genocide it could be seen that a good part of the country is not doing all we can to increase our sustainability.   You can hear examples all over of negative human impact on the environment.   If anyone knows any more information on this please feel free to comment.  However (not saying it's good or bad) I can only imagine that other counties with more improved environmental policy would use this same geographic technology to point the finger at the United States and our cultures' effect on sustainability.    

Hi guys, my name is Edwin Jallah and I am a junior majoring in Economics and minoring in Political Science. I live in Maryland, not too far from Northwest Washington D.C. I'm taking this course as an elective because I'm very interested in the world and found several topics, in previous geography courses, quite interesting.