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Back for orientation and I got my first job working in the greenhouse. Woot!

Clint

Stay chooned in for more!
How cool is that? I got interviewed and accepted to work at the GH an Berry. Pretty excited about that. And luckily for me, it's all ornamental plants and a few herbs. No boring crap like corn. I'm not a farmer. Mostly temperate and annuals, but she said we do get shipments of things like Heliconia and other cool stuff from Florida.

The max I'm allowed to work as a freshman is 15 hours a week. I'm glad the Dean of... jobs or whatever his title is recommended me. No uniforms, get to pick my own hours ( as long as I stick to those hours for the rest of the semester), which is good since I can walk directly across the street and use the gym for a couple of hours since I'll be all gross anyway from being in the GH. AND I get to play with all kinds of chemicals and hormones and stuff :) She said they used to use a TC lab, but no one ever uses it anymore. I'm pretty excited. Apparently I'll be working with thousands of individual plants. She said I'll know I'm trusted to know what I'm doing once I'm asked to water lmao. Best of all, It's about a seven minute walk from my dorm! Of course it's attatched to the science building, so it's really even closer depending on when I choose to work. She stressed the fact that if I'm ever late, I'm fired. Like... first time. I do have to work three weekends a semester, but that's no big deal. And I don't have to take care or plant the plants when they're ready to go out! The people who work for the campus maintenance department do that.

I'll be making around three grand per school year. Rents are paying for my education so I can spend that however I want. I guess, with taxes, I'll only really be making two grand per school year. Plasma TV here I come :)

It's a beautiful, school. Like... Hogwarts. Sweet Home Alabama, Perfect Harmony and Remember the Titans were filmed there. Had the reception banquet in the castle, I mean building, where they were singing some song the dude said.... I've never seen the move. I should take some pictures. That, and the fact that it has the largest campus in the world, and the fact that I get to play with flowers, and the fact that I'm in love with their gym (vaulted ceilings and chandeliers in a gym where everything is brand new, and it's all totally free! I get to use a 32 million dollar gym for free. I am SO lucky.) Almost outweighs the fact that there are so many less-than-secular Xtians there, and that only two others beside myself were democrats in a group of fifteen or seventeen people.... but that was just my group. It could be a coincidence, because I've only seen Obama bumper stickers and no republican ones. Still. I'm making premature judgments about republicans, and I'm working on that :) , and I'm sure out of like 2000 people I'm sure I'll meet enough liberals. Plan on joining the Young Democrats.

PLASMA! WOOT! I'm going to love college. Coming and going as I please, all my classes ending at noon at the latest (except for one, which is from 3-5 one day a week!)....I'm really going to like coming and going as I please.
 
Congratulations Clint! That sounds like a fun job. I'm sure you'll really enjoy it.
 
Great Clint!! Hope you enjoy it. Congrats!
 
uhhhhh speaking from experience 2 grand aint going to amount to much screwing around money in college even if your 'rents are footing the bill for the dorm and classes.........dont take long to blow through $2,000
 
You sound very excited. I am happy for you! I ALWAYS get the back-to-school jitters whenever summer or winter break come to an end. Hopefully your excitement isn't also making you nervous. :)


If you don't mind me asking, what classes will you be/are planning on taking?
 
Lol, what's there to not spend it on? They're paying for my education, insurance, personal crap ( vitamins, like... mouthwash, toothpaste, facial stuff.... uhh...clothes... basic necessities) and all freshmen are required to have an unlimited meal plan... which they paid for. I can't think of anything that would eat up most of my money, except the cool crap like a plasma TV I want to buy. :)

I'm not nervous. At all. Not even a bit. What's to bee nervous about? I really can't wait to get the hell away from my overprotective parents. I'm going to major in biology. Right now, my classes are:

First Year Seminar, which is like a free A that all freshman have to take
Principals of Cell Biology
Principals of Cell Biology lab. These are the same but they're listed separately and I just take the lab once a week.
Principals of Economics I
Seminar in Rhetoric Writing
Introduction to Psychology. Replaced Theatre Appreciation with this. I don't appreciate theatre. Supposed to be hella hard.

Glad there's no math this first semester. Would have made getting used to college harder. I hate math.
 
Awesome! Sounds like you are off to a good start. Rec Centers are interesting amenities, when you really think about it. When I was at KU they had just built a new, incredible Rec Center (and now they are expanding it). Nationally, only about 15% of any student population will use the Rec Center regularly. Now think about the investment of multi millions of dollars for 15% of a student population?! It really doesn't make sense. It's one of those things that is a great marketing tool, and great for overall campus awareness of fitness, staying in shape, and healthy lifestyles, and very beneficial for those students that use it; but, for the other 85% who don't use it, I wonder what they would rather spend that money on? lol. Don't get me wrong, I would never not build a Rec Center since they do rule; I just think it's funny.

It's like when you survey college students about what food options they want in the dining halls. Everyone wants healthier foods, light dressings, etc, but no one ever uses light dressing when it is served... They're buying it for people who want it but won't actually use it!

But I digress. I would've loved to have worked at a greenhouse while in campus. Although my horticultural bug didn't hit until I was graduating... Going on campus with a job already locked up is a huge advantage. Enjoy it. And use that Rec Center!!

xvart.
 
Lol, what's there to not spend it on?

just wait.....you'll find out....

BTW must be nice having parents that can pay for all that crap.....i might of stayed in college if mine did but every dime was coming out of my pocket and had issues paying to take classes i didnt have any interest in and had no connection to my major.......
 
  • #10
Well the gym isn't really free. I mean it is for you since your parents are footing the bill, but there's a hidden "gym fee" somewhere in your tuition. For us it was a couple hundred. Everyone had to pay it, regardless of if you ever use the gym or not.
 
  • #11
You're right. I am fortunate. Which is why, whenever I meet the criteria, I'd like to participate in DWOB to give something back to the world. They gave me an academic scholarship and GA gives everyone with like a B average like three grand every year if they maintain it, so yearly they're paying just just a few G's over half the cost of housing and tuition costs. Plus it's a cheap college anyway. It's just 20 grand for tuition (before scholarships). Other colleges are like 35. It would be nice to stay three years, then apply to one of the four prestigious (just want the name) colleges I'd like to go to to save money, but that's a huge gamble. I may have been accepted my second or third, but not fourth year...gamble. If I don't transfer, I can get a dept. scholarship, too, when I meet the qualifications and if I'm awarded. Even cheaper.

JC, Everyone is guaranteed a job if they want to work. You don't have to, but like 98% have a job some time. Most people would have a job anyway, and it's REALLY convenient to practically live next to your job. I wanted going to have a job regardless, I'm just happy I was recommended to work in the GH instead of cleaning puke-filled toilets. It really blurs the line between work and something pleasure.

It's 75% women, so I feel like the girls get the best dorms. Two of theirs are gothic-style and practically castles. All of the men's are modern and boring. I've heard that they're pretty on the outside but the rooms are noticeably smaller. I guess it evens out. The old dorms are same-sex, all the new ones are coed.... not gothic but they're modernized and in good shape, at least. To be honest, had they not had coed dorms, I wouldn't have even applied. That would have been the straw that broke the camel's back when it comes to religious..ness. What's so retarded is they don't even have the balls to call themselves a religious/Xtian school. They just say they were founded on Xtian principals. Wimps :)



They said it was included in the tuition when I asked if I had to pay monthly or anything (well.. I didn't know..). There wasn't any distinction that I'm aware of; I think it was just lumped in.
 
  • #12
Yeah they just put it in as a 1 time thing. Chandeliers eh? Pics?

I'm glad I already graduated. They increased tuition like $200 just for the rec fee to put in a SECOND pool.
 
  • #13
No pics. I start Aug. 20. I'll take pics. Tons of crap to take pics of. They say jellyfish live in the reservoir :0o: Maybe I'll hike up there one day.


It's not like crystal or anything :) Like giant dish-shaped glass thingies. I don't think it moves. Maybe it's not a real chandelier if it doesn't swing and move? Got me! They are huge, whatever they're classified as. Ceiling pendant? Hell, You can tell me when I take pics :) Chandelier to me.
 
  • #14
I'm glad I already graduated. They increased tuition like $200 just for the rec fee to put in a SECOND pool.

From the start of my wife's freshman year to when she graduated (5 years) tuition had increased 100%.

JC, Everyone is guaranteed a job if they want to work. You don't have to, but like 98% have a job some time. Most people would have a job anyway, and it's REALLY convenient to practically live next to your job. I wanted going to have a job regardless, I'm just happy I was recommended to work in the GH instead of cleaning puke-filled toilets. It really blurs the line between work and something pleasure.

That's fantastic. Is it a work study program through the federal government supplemental with institutional funds? Programs like that are wonderful because students that work an on-campus jobs have higher graduation rates, retention, and school satisfaction, to name a few benefits.

xvart.
 
  • #15
Partly. The college has very little staff outside of the professors and administrators. The students do it all. You don't have to work if you don't want to, but it's encouraged so you're like... well rounded.


It would be easiest to explain by pasting from their website hehe.

"Berry College is committed to providing a well rounded education of the head, heart and hands. The hands component includes learning that comes from work experiences. While most students are employed through the on-campus work program, many students find off-campus jobs, internships or co-operative education opportunities. Students working on campus generally average 10 hours per week. The maximum number of hours a student is allowed to work while enrolled full time in classes is 20 hours per week.

At Berry College, because students work and serve each other, an extraordinary sense of community is created. Students are participants in the life and work of the college as well as consumers of the educational program.

In Berry's early history, all students worked because they had to. Today, though the program is not mandatory, many students work to gain the dimension to the educational program that most colleges cannot offer. The learning derived from the work experience ranges from basic work skills to educationally related skills. A Berry graduate can have several years of work experience reflected on his/her resume.

Over 90 percent of Berry's graduates have worked on campus, and nearly all the rest have gained work experience through off campus employment.

It is our goal that all Berry graduates gain a significant work experience while at Berry."

"Berry was founded in 1902 by Martha McChesney Berry as a school for rural youth at a time when few public schools existed in Georgia.Seven years later, a girls' school was added, with a junior college being established in 1926 and a four-year college in 1930. Graduate programs outside the liberal arts were added in 1972. Financial contributions from Henry Ford and from the Ford Foundation, and donations from others have helped the institution establish itself as a leading liberal arts college in the southeastern United States."

"Each student is guaranteed a job on campus through the Berry student work program which is funded mostly with college endowment earnings and subsidized by the federal government work study program. Students participate in all aspects of campus work, from grounds crew and dining services to secretarial assistants to the president."


So I guess it was originally meant for poor hillbillies, and that's why it's encouraged lmao. I'm mean lol. You know what's weird about the whole place? They are like buddy-buddy with the dude who created the Chick-Fil-A chains. They even have two dorms up the mountain. Yes. Chicken dorms hehe. Chick-Fil-A gives some religious scholarship (I think it's need based?) and you even have to sign a document saying you won't drink lmao. I didn't realize the chick-fil-a creator was so religious(but so is that pizza dude). They also bought the dairy mill and turned it into this adorable alpine-looking hotel. ANYWAY, what was SO ironic is that there wasn't a single chick-fil-a on campus. Not ONE! Or signs. I did get a coupon for a free sandwich, though... and they give berry students discounts in Rome... so that's cool I guess. If you like chick-fil-a. Which I do :)

I REALLY like the trees. So many trees. Everywhere. And they're monstrously huge. Like... so big it should be illegal huge. I've never even seen trees this big in the wild, and they're all covered with epiphytic ferns. That, and the fact that everything is flat, it's mind-numbingly hot (I thought ATL was hot!) and it's sandy, reminds me of coastal NC and SC. A few miles away from the main compound, near the reservoir where the road stops and the trails star, Theres a huge, HUGE area that's flat, water-logged, and IIRC had pine trees. Sandy black soil.... anyone thinking what I'm thinking? I saw it last time I was there when everything was dead. It'll give me a good place to explore, or get lost and eaten by a herd of deer. Actually I was seriously worried about hiking and getting lost if I get off the trails.... 26,000 acres is ridiculous.

It's just... weird. Everyone is religious... but it's like total opposite of what I'm used to. I don't really know what to make of it. It's not "religious" as much as "spiritual"....The staff has a prayer before a speech and we're all asked to bow, and that's really uncomfortable and weird (for me), but that's really about it as far as any religion of any kind, except the motto (comes from some part of the Bible.... and even they don't show the book line or verse.), being displayed by the college. Not even any crosses other than on top of the several churches (met inside one of them the first time earlier this year. Wow. Beautiful. They even had the original windows. You could tell because the glass was wavy and distorted the view. It's really not what I expected. Everyone seems like hippie republicans, if you can possibly imagine that. It's w.e.i.r.d. Like twilight zone weird.




HEY! Here we go. Found this about where I'll work on the website.

The greenhouses include a 42' x 96' Dutch Venlo Greenhouse with a 21' x 36' attached headhouse, a 28' x 48' Quonset greenhouse, and a 28' x 36' Quonset shade house. The greenhouses, as well as additional outdoor growing areas, facilitate the Berry Horticultural Services. Students and community volunteers make up the team of workers, and are involved in every aspect of quality plant production for campus and community use.

Sounds pretty big.
 
  • #16
I'm happy for you. It's an exciting time. Enjoy it...cuz you'll never be this free again unless you invent something amazing and live off the royalties the rest of your life. lol

I'm going to love college. Coming and going as I please

I can't TELL you how much I loved that. I ate when I wanted to, went to bed when I wanted to, went where I wanted to. It was all my choice. *sigh* Carefree days. Only you don't really appreciate them until you don't have that any more...
 
  • #17
Ahh, that reminds me of my own youth! I had a similar job as a greenhouse caretaker myself when I was in college (sometime back in the 12th century), and brought in many of my Nepenthes, Tillansias, Playceriums, and other unusual ferns, Dros, Pings, and other CPs.

I had prepared several areas for classroom presentations of prothallia and gametophytes of mosses and ferns.

It was a lot of work, first getting rid of all the scale and mealy bug infestations, then dumping all the "lame plants" like the garden varieties of impatiens and petunias, also all the cleaning, and watering chores, adjusting the humidity, and ventilations. I actually put in a lot more hours than I was allocated and allowed, but I didn't complain, and the best part was I got a lot of recognition, accolades, respect and adulation from the staff and faculty for doing what I loved to do anyway; hey I would have done it for free, if they had known! ;)

Congrats and enjoy Clint! - Rich
 
  • #18
Berry is about 30 minutes from my house; I live in Cartersville... you'll pass it on your way to Rome. Rome seems like it could get kind of boring; are you planning on going home or anything on weekends?
 
  • #19
Berry is in Rome? A few of my friends during my time in Atlanta were from Rome and called it God's country. Not for being stuffed to the gills with churches, like Lubbock, TX, but because it was better than everywhere else. So they said.
 
  • #20
Legally, it's Mount Berry. Berry is part of an unincorporated community called Mount Berry. The college is pretty much it's own town and there's like a little shopping mall and movie theater and that pretty much caters to the college more or less. I'm sure students are their main source of business, but it's de-facto Rome. I will refer to Rome as where I live, even though my address says Mount Berry. I think it's like when a gated community gets so big, they get their own "city" name and zip code.

It IS stuffed to the gill with churches :p I was told it has more churches per capita than any other city in GA or the SE or something like that. It is boring. There's only one night club, and I'm almost positive it's not a not club, but just a bar. Whoop-di-do. I'm equal distances from ATL and Chattanooga, but I can't drive yet anyway lmao.....still an hour. It's a small city, but it's big enough to find plenty of trouble to get into, I'm sure. ten times more urban than the one I live in now, so anything is a step up for me. I hate small towns. Berry is a dry campus, and has no greek life at all. The students who's job it was to answer our questions said someone throws a party every weekend, or at least every other weekend Said if you want it you'll find it, if you don't you'll never hear about it. It's a really laid back place... and by that I mean if you like to party you'd have more fun watching paint dry. But, it'll keep me from overindulging. Probably what I need, anway, and I won't be doing without. Atlanta and Chattanooga are just an hour away, now to get some friends with cars.....

My father is from Cartersville. Or Dalton. I forgot :p
 
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