Now more than ever, I can finally see what I want for the future. Teaching elementary school students is the goal but I want to travel as much as possible. My immediate plan is to teach English abroad for at least a year. Then I will ultimately want to be certified to teach ESOL classes in the U.S. preferably somewhere new. Teaching on military bases around the world and doing some volunteer work also sounds appealing but I'm taking it one day at a time for now.
Dani Dennison:
I am born and raised in Central Florida. My mother attended UCF before it was even called such (Florida Tech University - I believe it was). Also, in high school I attended a camp for Color Guard / Dance held at UCF and felt a connection because of it.
I became an IDS Major because I wanted to add more to my degree than just Hospitality Management. I have a strong interest in learning, training, and development. Therefore, through IDS I was able to combine Education, English, and Hospitality Management.
Upon graduation I would like to earn either another Management / Supervisor role in the Hospitality industry, much like the one I am enjoying now. It would be great to get a position in the CVB.
Dani Dennison:
I am born and raised in Central Florida. My mother attended UCF before it was even called such (Florida Tech University - I believe it was). Also, in high school I attended a camp for Color Guard / Dance held at UCF and felt a connection because of it.
I became an IDS Major because I wanted to add more to my degree than just Hospitality Management. I have a strong interest in learning, training, and development. Therefore, through IDS I was able to combine Education, English, and Hospitality Management.
Upon graduation I would like to earn either another Management / Supervisor role in the Hospitality industry, much like the one I am enjoying now. It would be great to get a position in the CVB.
Pleased to meet you both, Dani and Natyeli. My name is Shari L. Weber. I was born and raised in a small farming community in Ohio near Lake Erie. I have traveled all over the United States. The only state I have not visited is Alaska and I am not sure that I intend to because of the cold. I have always dreamed of moving to Florida and finally, in 2005, I made that dream a reality. I moved to Florida and began work for Disney, all the while running two small businesses on the side. One of my passions is travel and the travel industry. So, it is no surprise when I tell you that one of my businesses involves travel planning. In 2008, I decided to leave Disney and go back to school full time to acquire my Bachelor’s Degree, at the time I only had an Associate’s Degree. I made my way through Valencia Community College to add the Gordon Rule writing classes to my portfolio. My first semester here at UCF was summer of 2009 (last 6 six week session). So, I have literally only been at UCF for a few months. I am a junior. UCF is still a difficult adjustment. There are more people on this campus than my entire small farming community in which I grew up (200 people total).
ReplyDeleteAs for my Interdisciplinary Degree, well, I sort of stumbled onto the degree at orientation. My goals in life include becoming a teacher, continued work on developing my main travel business by taking it fully to the internet, and finish writing my book. As you can see, several different career goals all wrapped up in one head. I am glad for the Interdisciplinary Degree program which allows me to focus on multiple aspects of my career plan. Now, how to focus on narrowing my areas of study within one Interdisciplinary Studies Major? I currently have my areas of study in Behavioral / Social Sciences and Commerce and my minor is in Education. However, there are so many options, I may like to change my focus to digital media (to help me create and run my own web page). I am also interested in building my knowledge of the travel and tourism industry (to help with my own business). I guess that I will have to speak to my advisor, as well as fellow Interdisciplinary students, such as you, to help me tailor the Interdisciplinary Major to my specific needs. Thank you for your time and participation in the Capstone / Cornerstone Program. Have a wonderful day.
Hi! I’m Jessica Jones currently a sophomore here at UCF. I was born in Denver, CO and in 7th grade moved to California with my mom. The my senior year of high school I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, and after about a year I ended up here in Florida. If you had asked me up until three months before I moved here, I would have never said Florida was on my mind. I have family spread all over the US and spend a lot of my time traveling to see them all. Currently, I work at Valencia full time making coffee drinks and smoothies.
ReplyDeleteMy areas of study are “commerce” where my focus is hospitality and business, “fine letter and languages” where I will be taking Italian and French, and my minor is Education. I figured education would be a good minor to possibly open up the ability to be a substitute teacher in the future or be able to get a job in another country teaching English. I had originally come to UCF as an hospitality major and the changed major to business, but neither fulfilled all the classes I would have like to take. I was still very interested in taking a language, but out of state tuition is not very friendly to taking extra classes. I was online one day reading through someone’s online “about me” section on Facebook (yes, I said facebook) and saw they were pursuing an interdisciplinary major and from there, I called the department and set up an appointment to see if what I was interested was an option. To my great surprise, I would be able to incorporate all three aspects of interest into one major and let for a lot of cushion. It couldn’t have been more perfect. So that is my background and I am looking forward to having both of you as mentors! We have a lot in common.
Hello All!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Cristina Gutierrez and I am a senior here at UCF. My major areas of study are Health and Public Affairs as well as Behavioral and Social Science. My minors are Theatre, Criminal Justice and a certificate in CSI. I am originally from South Florida and moved to Orlando in 2006 and plan to move out of Orlando by August =)
For the most part when people ask me what Interdisciplinary Studies is, I tell them it’s basically a Liberal Arts Degree and then explain to them what my degree and areas of study consist of, which usually helps them understand the degree much better. The advantages of this degree are that I am able to study everything I enjoy and have a certificate/degree to show for it. If I choose to follow my desire of becoming an actress I have a degree for it, but if that doesn’t work out I have knowledge in all of back up areas and a piece of paper to prove it. The most common disadvantage I hear from others about my degree is that it’s a “BS” degree and covers to broad a scope, which people seem to think will discourage employers from hiring me. I guess we will find out if these misconceptions are right in the future.
Crisitna Gutierrez
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ReplyDeleteHello everyone! My name is Cassandra Perez, but I prefer to go by Cassie for short. I was born in Seattle, Washington and after four years there my family and I moved to south Florida for a bit until we ended up in central Florida. After I graduated high school I went on to Florida State until I realized I missed home too much and transferred to UCF a year later. I am now a junior here at UCF and I just recently decided to switch my major from just Humanities to Interdisciplinary Studies. My areas of study are Humanities and Communication with a minor in Hospitality Management. I also work full-time at Publix in the customer service department where I may or may not start my career at after I graduate.
ReplyDeleteWell, most of the time when I get asked what my major is at UCF, which is usually by random customers at Publix, I tell them it is called Interdisciplinary Studies and they never know what I am talking about. I explain that it is basically a liberal arts degree and that I am studying three areas of study instead of just one. I then tell them that what those areas of study consist of, how I hope to use them in the future, and also how having knowledge in three areas instead of only one is a lot more beneficial then just having knowledge of one. I believe that right there is the main advantage of this degree. I will be diversified in three areas of study instead of just one and I can then have an upper-hand over someone who doesn’t. Also I can study three things that I like to learn about and not limit myself to only one area of study. If I decide to stay at Publix to try and move up that corporate ladder then I will have a degree that has three areas of study that can be utilized there. I believe that if it came down to it and Publix had to decide between myself and another employee for a promotion and they only had a degree in one area, I would think they would see that I have knowledge in so much more and pick me for the job. I haven’t heard many disadvantages actually but if I had to guess I would say that maybe most people have not heard of an Interdisciplinary Studies degree and would feel that it isn’t as respected as say a degree in business or medicine or something else that is widely known. I am excited to see what this semester has to bring for all of us and I am glad to meet everyone!
My name is Erica Lowe and I am a senior at UCF studying Interdisciplinary Studies. My minor is Science Education and my areas of study are Behavior/Social Science and Life/Biomedical Science. I was originally a Nursing major, then a Communicative Sciences and Disorders major, and I have recently decided to graduate as an IDS major. I have had difficulty in figuring out what I want to do in the future. I have a passion for Jesus Christ and ministry, so I hope to do that full time when I graduate. I do have a desire to teach someday and to travel overseas. My idea with my IDS major is to be able to take my teaching experiences overseas and teach science or anything related to cultures.
ReplyDeleteI am Stuart, FL, but have lived in Orlando the past ten years. I love Orlando, but I have a desire to travel overseas and learn and experience new cultures. I spent my first two years of college at Valencia Community College and this is my second year at UCF. I love UCF and am proud to be a Knight!
I have struggled in the past trying to explain the IDS major. Since beginning the Cornerstone class, I have a better understanding of how to communicate and explain what the IDS major is, the components of it, and how they can relate to each other. I now explain the IDS major as a major that is very helpful when you have a few different passions and they don’t all fit into one standard major. IDS is created to help you create your own major (in a sense) to cater to your specific passions. An IDS student chooses a minor and two areas of study to focus on. For example, I am a Science Education major with other focuses in behavior/social science and life/biomedical science. With this, I gathered a couple of my interests to create a major that best fits my desires of what I want to do when I graduate and that is to teach science overseas. I am able to take courses that teach me how to be an educator, courses that allow me to learn about people’s cultures and personalities, and courses in science.
The Interdisciplinary Studies major has advantages as well as disadvantages. One may assume that because you do not have one specific focus, you will not be as marketable in the workforce after you graduate. Although this can be true, an IDS student will also have much evidence to prove how well-rounded he/she is in his/her areas of interest. An IDS student has the advantages of broadening his/her horizons when it comes to knowledge about specific subjects. From experience, initially, an IDS student may not have an idea of how their focuses may relate to each other or how to relate them to each other. This can become a problem post graduation and not having an idea of how you will use your experiences from three different focuses. I have found that the Cornerstone class is a very important and helpful tool to determine how you will use your IDS major.
Hey!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Amber Nehme, I am senior at UCF. I was born in Fort Lauderdale Florida. I moved to Lebanon when I was a few months old, but moved back to Florida when I was four because it was a little dangerous back then. Arabic was my first language, but I don't speak it anymore (so I can relate Natyeli):( I am currently taking Arabic as a part of IDS. One reason I changed my major.
I am now able to explore more options. I was a Early Childhood major, then switched to IDS this summer. My concentrations are Psychology and the Arts, which I have most of my work in the dance area. I turned all my ECE credits into a minor. After changing my major several times, I am happy where I have ended up. I plan to open a dance studio with an after-school program. I love working with children and I want to incorporate all my passions in one.