Tonight was the 2010 Scholarship Dinner for Douglass College. I was there to thank my donors for the two scholarships which helped put me though school for 2010: The Margaret Hastings Memorial Scholarship (which I also received last year) and the Lois Zapolsky Memorial Prize.

It always amazes me that there are so many generous donors who support students that they don't even know. If it wasn't for these thoughtful people, I would been forced to put school off. If I am able to graduate this year (which I hope I will happen), it would be because of the financial help I received from such donors since I am no longer eligible for financial aid and I already have a load of debt which I have put off. C has also been important and supportive to me, by allowing me to attend school full-time without putting pressure on me to return to work. All these people made it possible for me to become the student I am today and have helped me to be the best that I can be. It was awkward at first to meet my donors for the first time. I really don't like to rely on people for help, especially financial help, but it made me realize that in order for me to realize my goal, I will need to rely on the support of many people to help me through. It is a humbling experience. Once I achieve my goal, I plan to do the same for others.

I turned in what I hope is my last project as an undergraduate today at about 12:20 PM to the Art History Department. It was a 10 page essay which I wrote over the course of many months, but didn't really define until last week when it was urgent to work on it. Hopefully Dr. H will like the paper as much as she seemed to like my presentation (which I burned onto CD, as per her request).

I was only sorry that I didn't have time to do more research. There is a whole stack of interesting library books waiting to be read, but I didn't have the time to go through them since Dr. H kept us pretty much busy the entire months with different parts of the assignment to turn in. I am planning to take note of their titles, as well as photocopy the table of contents and indexes since they seem like good books that I might be able to use for future research. I'm also hoping to borrow these books again with my Rutgers alumni library card (I was thrilled to find out that I would still have access to the library!).

For the summer, I'm planning to study for the GRE as well as make an Access database for research. I thought it would be easier to scan and type notes as opposed to writing them down. I will also create a template so that I can print out the notes in a 3x5 format that I can stick onto index cards to file away. It much easier to look through physical note cards than looking at them on the computer. Technology is great in some ways, but it still can't replace the way I do things.

I volunteered to be the first to give my presentation today. Unlike other times, I wasn't nervous since I wasn't worried about how I was going to say everything or fumbling my speech. I had my slides keyed to text that I read. Knowing what I was going to say took a lot of pressure off me. I had found a text on the Internet about giving academic presentations and one of the suggestions was to read from a script, since academic information tends to be more condensed and the ideas can be presented in a more eloquent way. That was a great suggestion! I guess it is true too. I have been to at least one academic event where the speaker (an older and distinguished doctor of art history) read his presentation from a script and no one seemed to think any less of him. I was thrilled that the teacher seemed to like my presentation and even asked to have a copy on CD when I turn my paper in. I gushed about how I really liked the subject (magic and miracles) and was thinking that it would make for a great dissertation topic if I get into graduate school. I was a little embarrassed about saying that afterward because I might have sounded as if I was trying too hard to appear like an eager student (which I am, but maybe my enthusiasm should have been reined in a bit. I couldn't help it, I really like my topic!). I said something to the effect of, "The more I read, the more I found out that there is to know and the more I wanted to read." I'm sure I must have sounded like a complete nerd to everyone in class. Awkward! At the end of class, one girl actually said that she liked my presentation. Yay! Oh, and Dr. H said that it would have made a good honors paper too! =D