Getting into the swing of things

Although i am still sick (and even worse now) i can honestly say that i am finally getting a grip on things in school! i am starting to realize how much i love my program and the people in it! All my fellow second years are turning into family members and all of my professors are turning into very influential people (i don't want to say parents because they are far from that but there is a connection quite similar in the idea that they are leading us to grow to be what is best for us). As each class passes i am beginning to feel like i am really learning where i am heading and where i want to end up in life. Professors like Ben Tew have been informing us what the reality of design in real life is. Although it is scary it does help me understand what i need to accomplish here at SU before i get out into the "real" world. He tells us about how, as a designer, you mostly work in teams, and put in many hours and various other facts like this, which may be scary but i feel like if i put time into it, i can do it.

The main thing i find pretty funny is watching myself grow apart from the rest of the students around me. For once i am actually putting school as my major priority because i really love what i am doing here. i'm not saying that they don't care about school but i sit around at night actually taking time and effort to do my work instead of screwing around for once. Now clearly i'm not a professional adult and i still want to have fun, but i believe that i am just saving that for the weekends and my free days. Basically, all i want to say is if you find something you want to do for the rest of your life, don't let anything else get in the way!

Sick

As you can guess, I am pretty sick. It all started when my friend from the dorm got a cold, and then I knew eventually I would as well. While living in the dorms you notice that if one person gets sick, then everyone does just because of the fact that we are all living together. So, as of Monday I have had the same nose running, throat scratching congested cold. Instead of complaining about how miserable my week has been, I'm going to instead tell you what i have found out to be really helpful. Drink lots of water and orange juice, keep away from milk and coffee because it just adds phlegm to your system, get as much sleep as possible (even though as an art student that is very difficult) and keep yourself motivated. The rest is all up to your immune system. I am not saying these things will make you better right away, but they will help you feel better and get over the cold quicker. Besides the cold my week has been awesome though. I have had the best time in my classes and our industrial design group is finally turning into a family. It's a beautiful beginning of the fall and hopefully I will not be sick that much longer in it!

Paper Camera

Hello everyone! I am very close to wrapping up the second work week and oh boy it couldn't end any sooner. This week has opened my eyes to what the rest of this semester holds for us industrial design students. Seeing as how I only have five different classes total you would think I have a lot of free time, but every class is over two and a half hours long. This gives us lots of time to get work done in class, however, seeing as this is an intense program we still end up with mounds of work to do outside of class. Last night I spent two hours at the screen printing studio just to start my project. Before that however was the most interesting part of my day. For my principles of form class my professor asked us to bring in a hand held tool. Of course I had to try to look good so I brought in my brand new Nikon d5000 camera. So there I was thinking I had this awesome tool and I had everyone beat. But as soon as the professor walked in and told us why we needed to bring them in I was stunned. He wanted us to build a paper replica of our tools, which meant that I had to build a paper model of one of the most complex looking cameras you can imagine. After working on it all class I didn't even put a dent in the amount of work that needed to be done. When I left, he took me aside and said that I can just do the lens instead if I really didn't want to spend my entire weekend working on one thing. I still have the paper camera, but I am done with it and am moving on to the lens instead. the moral behind all of this is that I realized that this year was going to get much more advanced and there will be much less time for other things in my day.

Sophomore year

Hello everyone, my name is Jason Ketcham and I am currently a second year industrial design student. I've lived in Syracuse my whole life but only since I began at S.U. last year did I realize what an amazing place central New York can be. Sure it may be cold and snowy in the winter months, but that is why you should try out something new like skiing or snowboarding, then you may even love the winter like I do. A little bit more about me, I am a twin (my brother is a sophomore as well, but in mechanical engineering), I love the outdoors and I love partaking in physical activities such as snowboarding, hiking and running. Although most of my background in high school is from drawing and painting, I love design (mostly industrial design and graphic design). As an industrial design student i have 156 credits needed to graduate with a degree. therefore, I.D. students have five years to accomplish that. If you are interested in I.D. however, don't let that slow you down, the program is amazing. Furthermore, I didn't go into my major for the money, I do it for the pure joy of making and changing things for the better.

One of the biggest tips I can give to anyone who is worried about their future is don't worry about the money so much. Do what you love and if you become engaged in it enough the money will follow. As for now just enjoy your classes and learn as much as you can.

We are almost done with one full week and I have already loved every bit of my life. Besides the 20 minute bus ride to the warehouse every morning at 9!!!! everything has been going as I expected it to be, the warehouse is a beautiful place and I am glad to call it my home! The professors are everything one would hope for and my fellow peers are just as intrigued by design as I am. I feel as if this will be a good year! So good luck to all!!!

-Jason Ketcham