The first French word I learned was plié, to bend, followed shortly by relevé, to raise. As a dancer, my passion was communicating through movement, but I never realized that ballet class was preparing me for a future of communicating through language.

While my peers chose French because it was the “easy” language, I chose French because I was a ballerina, and ballerinas spoke French. Numbers for French classes began to dwindle as I progressed through the higher level courses, until I completed AP French V, and became the lone graduate of Central Dauphin High School pursuing a bachelor’s degree in French. 

My major is French and Francophone studies with a concentration in international business, and I chose a minor in Global Business Solutions for the Earth, Energy, and Mineral Industries. After graduating, I want to be involved in the international initiative for cleaner energy sources and hope to be living in France.

Until then, I am working on my communication skills mostly through French classes, but also through rhetoric. I was first exposed to rhetoric in the spring of my freshman year at Penn State in my LA 101H English class. On the first day my professor had me write what I thought the definition of rhetoric was, and I honestly had no idea. During the activity I rambled on about rhetoric, while beating around the bush and never writing an actual definition. Now that I have completed the course, I can say I know what rhetoric is. Rhetoric is the way we speak and the way we interpret what others say. There is rhetoric in how I present myself. Rhetoric is effective communication. All of these qualities of rhetoric will be important to me, as I advance in my life and career trying to communicate in a foreign language. Lucky for me, I had LA 101H to kick start my future as a rhetor, just as ballet fueled my future as a French speaker.

Elizabeth Thorwart's E-Portfolio

I say pass the budget cut.

On Monday, Penn State students were asked to walk out of their classes and attend a rally on the steps of Old Main in order to protest Tom Corbett’s proposal of a 50% education funding cut. According facebook over 800 students were supposed to be in attendance. There were only about 300 students and faculty on the steps of Old Main during this protest.

Eight hundred students is only one out of every 50 Penn State students. Only 2 percent of our student body cares enough about this budget cut to do the simple, non-committal action of clicking ‘attending’ on facebook. That’s sad. What’s even worse is that less than 300 students even showed up to the event.

So why is everyone in an up rage about the educational budget cut? It seems to me that if less than 300 out of over 40,000 care, this proposed budget cut isn’t really that big of a deal. If I was a legislator and heard about this walk out, where less than one percent of the student population showed up, I wouldn’t be too concerned that I was making the wrong choice.

That wasn’t the point of this protest. Students were trying to show the government that we care about our funding and that we need it, but this protest probably did the opposite. It showed that we don’t really care.

WE ARE… all talk.

Today in our small class, we had a decent amount of students raise their hands when asked if their Penn State experience could end if this proposed budget cut is passed. I love Penn State and I’m already struggling with the idea that freshman year is over and I’ll have to go home for the summer, but I get to come back next year. I don’t want tuition to go up, but whether it does or doesn’t, I’ll be back. I’ve heard many conversations about how students won’t be able to come back to Penn State if this is passed, but are there really only 300 of them? That’s what legislators saw on Monday.

If students want to do something about stopping the rise in tuition, then we have to do something about it. It’s called active citizenship, and we’ve all learned about it, yet it seems we’re still waiting to actually do it. Why?

They say college kids get stuck in their own bubble, which we do. This legislature affects our bubble, and we still aren’t acting.

Why weren’t you at the rally?

Exit Exams: Making Sure Students Are Prepared

The controversy of exit exams, which has been debated in my school district, points out a glaring problem with the Pennsylvania education system.

It is graduation night, everyone is taking pictures, people are crying, and diplomas are being handed out. A diploma means a high school education and the ability to succeed. Or does it? Diplomas in Pennsylvania currently have no real value. Students can graduate without having learned anything. Those students receive “empty diplomas”. They are given diplomas but the students have no skill and will not succeed in the real world. To prevent empty diplomas, equalize their value, and to properly prepare students, exit exams should be required by Pennsylvania high schools. Exit exams are not high stake tests, and they replace the final exams a student would have to take.

In Pennsylvania there are 501 different school districts. Each one of those school districts has their own different graduation requirements. Each diploma has a different meaning. To equalize the meaning of diplomas, graduation requirements should be the same all throughout the state. Exit exams would be the standard requirement for graduation. Then there would not be a diploma from Central Dauphin School District and a diploma from Central Columbia School District, both representing two different standards and levels of education. It would be a Pennsylvania diploma, not a district diploma.

Instituting Graduation Competency Assessments (GCA’s) would be extremely beneficial to the Pennsylvania education system. Graduation Competency Assessments are used to indicate whether students have mastered the skills necessary to succeed outside of high school.  The Pennsylvania Department of Education states that, “The GCA’s are a series of pass/fail exams-not one test-administered throughout high school.” The GCA’s measure the level of English, math, science, and social studies skills expected of students based on the state’s academic standards.

Students will take the GCA’s when they have completed the corresponding class.

Instead of taking a final exam, students would take the GCA’s. Then at the end of a student’s senior year there would be no need for one high pressure test.

What if a student does not pass the GCA’s? Students are allowed to take the tests an unlimited amount of times until they pass. Plus, students only have to retake the certain test(s) they failed, not the whole series again.

There is a problem with the Pennsylvania high school diploma. That problem is that diplomas have no value. There needs to be assurance that when a person is handed a Pennsylvania diploma, he or she has all the skills necessary to succeed. By adding Graduation Competency Assessments to graduation requirements, the problem can be solved. After all, “A diploma should be worth more than the paper it’s printed on.”

Writing a Resume

It seems like on my never ending quest to make this large campus small I am always doing applications for one club position or another. I’m supposed to be involved to get the most out of my Penn State experience, right? I love getting involved, I’m happiest when my planner is jam packed with meetings and activities. In getting involved, I’ve done my share of resumes and question and answer applications.

While completing these applications I’ve learned to be a more skillful rhetor in order to make myself sound as amazing and competitive as possible.

Some tips:

Details, Details, Details

      People will remember a more detailed sentence over a bland general statement. In order to be the most memorable candidate details are of the upmost importance when constructing answers to questions on an application.

Confidence is Key

      You’ve done a lot of great things in your life; don’t be afraid to admit it.  While you don’t want to come off as overzealous, you also don’t need to down play your achievements. Don’t leave out extracurricular activities because they seem unimportant. Every little thing counts. Be confident in what you’ve done and word your answers so your pride shows.

Strong Language

      As young rhetors we’ve focused on this one in class. The point of an application is to show off yourself intelligence, and if you use simple language and sentence structure, astuteness isn’t going to come across. Anyone remembering one of the many conversations we’ve had on choosing strong verbs?

Hopefully these tips can aid the rest of you on your journey to Penn State involvement.

Everyone Makes Mistakes

On Sunday I was inducted into one of Penn State’s honors societies, Phi Eta Sigma, and as is customary for important events that involve giving speeches to young people, we had a key notes speaker whose purpose, I assume, was to inspire us.

Had I read what this Penn State alum had written, I am sure I could have been better inspired, however his public speaking skills made it hard to focus on what he was actually saying. Someone should have shared with him the speech tips given to us in class and from our book.   

As a self-diagnosed air quoter, it breaks my heart to see other people making my same mistake and struggling with their own addiction. In my defense though, I am an eighteen year old girl, who grew up in the 90’s when all the cool kids used air quotes. I am not a fully grown man, with a college degree and an important accounting job.

Our keynotes speaker air quoted not once, but twice during his speech. First when he referred to the freshman induction class as “young professionals” and the second time he used air quotes was to emphasize “cup of tea.” This was a very nicely organized induction ceremony and I do not think it was an appropriate time or place for air quotes.  

Another thing he did while speaking that bothered me, was the way he phrased his sentences. It was not natural or even correct. He threw away the end of his sentences and introductory clauses, often pausing between the two. When someone stops midsentence, I tend to think about the awkward pause and phrasing they are creating instead of processing what they’ve begun to say, then when they stumble on to the rest of the sentence I have already forgotten what was said to begin with. It is very distracting for an audience and made it difficult for our speaker to hold our attention.

I finally have an appreciation for the CAS requirement at Penn State. Thank you for trying to make me a better speaker. I want to learn as much as possible so I don’t end up like this guy.

The Girl Effect

You know those pesky little advertisements that pop-up on the side of your web page? Well, sometimes I click on them depending on what it is (shoes on sale is a definite must!) I’d like to share with all of you one of the more serious ads I clicked on. Simple white words on a black background that read, “The Girl Effect.” intrigued me.  After watching this video a few years ago, I became passionate about this issue. This video expresses the effect one girl can have on a world issue; poverty.  

While I watched this video, I quickly became concerned for the safety and well-being of the little cartoon girl, who represents over 600 million girls in poverty in the world right now. This means this video achieved its goal of getting me to feel personally invested in 600 million people, in only 3 minutes.  

Because there is no narration, the music plays a key role in the audience’s feelings. The music has a sense of urgency to it. You can hear the clock running out of time within the beat. There are also two different moods; daunting and optimistic.  While our little heroine struggles to avoid all the obstacles that life has thrown her way, the music matches with a serious, almost haunting tune. Then once she receives the help she needs, the music changes. The same song is being played but in a different mood. Now the little girl has hope, reflected in the change of music. There is also a brief pause where the audience is asked, “Not the life you imagined for a 12 year old right?” This break, that only lasts a second, offers a moment to reflect on the horrors this girl has just gone through. After having a moment to let us digest, the video goes right on with the solution.

In this video, the importance in the selection of music is evident.  Although our project has to have narration, I will be keeping in mind the importance of the music that accompanies.

Interested in The Girl Effect? Check it out.

The Good, the Bad, and the Bobbler

Before I continue with my remarkable blog realization for the week, I want to congratulate everyone on a speech well delivered.

That being said, I noticed something not so wonderful about our speeches. As a class, we tend to bob. If you just read that sentence and said, “pshh… Not me,” then I am probably not talking about you (or maybe I am and you should better analyze your presentation skills). No one was doggie on a dashboard bad, but more rehearsal would have benefited most.

Ask yourself, is this you?

I am included in this bobbling group too. I knew it while I was giving my speech too. No matter how focused I was on what I was saying, it amazes me that I was still able to have a running dialogue with myself while presenting.

A brief glimpse inside my head:

…I am looking down at my notes too much. I need to make some eye contact. Okay, I should make eye contact when I actually know what I am saying so I don’t get lost. I don’t like the way I’m standing right now, but I can’t move too much, that’s distracting. Eye contact. Notes. Eye contact, eye contact, eye… don’t know what comes next, notes. I’m still not comfortable with the way I’m standing, but eye contact…

It’s not that I didn’t know my speech, because I did. I don’t even know what makes me feel this need to look at my notes. You could say it was nerves, but that doesn’t make sense to me. From my ‘this I believe’ many of you know I’m a dancer. So putting myself ‘out there’ isn’t really that big of a deal for me. I’ve performed a half-time show, learned in about a week, in front of 110,000 of my closest friends at Beaver Stadium, multiple times. Before those shows I didn’t have a second though. It’s just half time. But fifteen people, who also have to give practically the same speech, makes me cling to note cards.  

{I know, I don’t get it either.}

I’m just going to have to prepare more for the next speech, so I can kick the bobbling habit.