Thank you guys so much for visiting my blog! If you have any questions regarding anything to do with Westfield State, please feel free to comment below and let me know! I hope this helped you guys and if it did, awesome! If it didn't, let me know what else you wanna know or what I can improve on to make the process of choosing colleges easier for you.
I hope you guys are able to come on down to WSU and see it for yourself and who knows, I may just see you next year!
- Amanda
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Dining Commons
Our last stop on the tour is our Dining Commons! Us students call it the DC and this is where your ID really comes in handy. When you enter as a first-year student, you have to get a 19-meal plan which means you have nineteen meals that week. After your first semester, you can choose between a nineteen, fourteen, or ten-meal plan and as a commuter student, you can either choose to pay for five-meal plan or no meal plan at all. When you get to the DC, you'll see someone at the front desk and they swipe your card. One swipe equals one meal. So if you swipe once that day but stay for three hours in the DC, what we call "DC-chilling" you can eat as much as you want during those three hours - like a buffet. A lot of people DC-chill and save their swipes for the weekend but each Sunday you start fresh.
This next part may be kind of confusing so I'll try to go over everything: When you buy your meal plan, you get $150 Sodexo bucks which is kind of like free-money from our school. You can use Sodexo at any of the other places to eat on campus: Dunks, Subway, Quixotes, the Grill, the Marketplace, Pandini's, the Garden Cafe (located in Horace Mann) and the Perch. Unfortunately, these don't roll over into the following semester but Owl Bucks does.
Now Owl Bucks is money that either you, your parents, grandparents, whomever, can put on your card. Owl Bucks is kind of like a debit card where you can put as little or as much as you like. With Owl Bucks you can use at any of the places I already listed but you can also use it for laundry, vending machines, and there are a ton of places in Westfield that accept it, too! To name a few: Domino's Pizza, Friendly's, Big Y, etc. I love Owl Bucks because if I'm ever low on money for laundry, I can simply log on and add money!
Pandini's is another eatery on campus that is actually inside the DC. Pandini's is open later than the DC, until midnight, so when the DC is closed, you can never go hungry. Pandini's has pizza, salads, and four meal deals a day. A meal deal is a meal that instead of costing money, you can actually use a meal swipe. Super convenient when you're low on cash and don't feel like eating at the DC.
After the DC is closed, the Perch becomes open as well. The Perch is right next to Pandini's, which was really confusing to me at first because there is no sign saying, "This is the Perch" so it took me about a month to find out where it was. They are open even later than Pandini's and I am in love with the Perch. 95% because it has mozzarella sticks and 5% because it's open until about 1-2am. They have wings, mozzarella sticks, burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, etc. If you're ever up late and are craving food, hit up the Perch. You'll most likely see me there munching on motz sticks and a smoothie at one o'clock in the morning. You may think I'm kidding...I'm not.
- Amanda
This next part may be kind of confusing so I'll try to go over everything: When you buy your meal plan, you get $150 Sodexo bucks which is kind of like free-money from our school. You can use Sodexo at any of the other places to eat on campus: Dunks, Subway, Quixotes, the Grill, the Marketplace, Pandini's, the Garden Cafe (located in Horace Mann) and the Perch. Unfortunately, these don't roll over into the following semester but Owl Bucks does.
Now Owl Bucks is money that either you, your parents, grandparents, whomever, can put on your card. Owl Bucks is kind of like a debit card where you can put as little or as much as you like. With Owl Bucks you can use at any of the places I already listed but you can also use it for laundry, vending machines, and there are a ton of places in Westfield that accept it, too! To name a few: Domino's Pizza, Friendly's, Big Y, etc. I love Owl Bucks because if I'm ever low on money for laundry, I can simply log on and add money!
Pandini's is another eatery on campus that is actually inside the DC. Pandini's is open later than the DC, until midnight, so when the DC is closed, you can never go hungry. Pandini's has pizza, salads, and four meal deals a day. A meal deal is a meal that instead of costing money, you can actually use a meal swipe. Super convenient when you're low on cash and don't feel like eating at the DC.
After the DC is closed, the Perch becomes open as well. The Perch is right next to Pandini's, which was really confusing to me at first because there is no sign saying, "This is the Perch" so it took me about a month to find out where it was. They are open even later than Pandini's and I am in love with the Perch. 95% because it has mozzarella sticks and 5% because it's open until about 1-2am. They have wings, mozzarella sticks, burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, etc. If you're ever up late and are craving food, hit up the Perch. You'll most likely see me there munching on motz sticks and a smoothie at one o'clock in the morning. You may think I'm kidding...I'm not.
- Amanda
Horace Mann Administration Building
Again, the walk is not that bad. Since Horace Mann is further than Woodward, it is about ten to fifteen minutes so I would definitely make sure you leave enough time in your day if you need to head down there but other than that, enjoy the walk!
- Amanda
Woodward Center
Woodward Center is where the football, baseball, softball, and track field are located, along with intramural sports. Inside the building is a basketball court, volleyball court, indoor track, and a rock-climbing wall. It is also home to the second wellness center - remember the first one is in Ely. Woodward is home to the Athletic Training and Movement Science Leisure Studies Departments.
I currently have a class in Woodward since one of my general education classes is Intro to Exercise Science and I was really not excited about having to walk down to Woodward and back three times a week. What if it's snowing? What if it's cold? What if it's raining? I had already decided in my mind that it would suck, but I actually don't mind it as much as I initially thought. It's about a half-mile one way from my resident hall so walking to class and back is a mile walk, which I am totally okay with. I'm not exactly an athletic type of girl. Do I play sports? Yes. Do I like to participate? Yeah. Would I rather lay in bed reading a good book than go outside and play ball? Absolutely. I personally like the little bit of exercise it takes to walk to class every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and honestly, the walk is not bad at all.
- Amanda
Public Safety
We also have an EMT/EMS group on campus where you can join and night classes to become EMT certified. If you're a criminal justice major or really interested in public safety, you can join! We also have Student Security Officers who provide escorts and shuttle services. If you're ever not feeling safe walking back by yourself, call Public Safety and they will escort you.
Westfield State's campus is also covered with flood lights and low cut bushes but we also have blue lights. Blue lights are metal posts where if you push the button, Public Safety is notified and the blue light at the top of the post goes off. These are so if at any time you don't feel safe, Public Safety will come to you and assist you. We also have an Emergency Notification System which gives students updates via email, cell phone, or both with emergency information immediately. When you come for orientation, the orientation leaders will help you set up the notification system. So for example, if there was any type of emergency on campus, you would be immediately notified. I signed up my phone and email so my smart phone gets blown up with notifications whether there is a severe storm coming to when they conduct tests in case an intruder is on campus.
Being a young, female student here at WSU, I have personally never felt afraid walking around at night. If I'm coming back late from the library or a friend's dorm, I don't have a problem walking around campus by myself. Our campus is incredibly safe, which is one of the big reasons why I chose Westfield State.
- Amanda
Parenzo Hall
Dever Auditorium is where you we have a lot of our plays, hypnotist shows, comedians, and other giant meetings. The hypnotist and comedian shows are actually really awesome, I definitely suggest going to events like these, especially your first year. Grab a group of your floormates and have fun!
The Banacos Academic Center consists of the Reading and Writing Center and Disabled Student Services/Tutoring Center. If you any kind of disability, go to the Banacos Center and see what they can do for you. They can hire people to take notes for you and can help you when it's time to take tests in class. The Reading and Writing Center is so awesome because if you have an essay that you're struggling with or need someone to peer edit, they can help! They can help you with thesis statements, writing your essay, peer editing - pretty much anything and it is a great resource to use. The tutoring center is amazing, as well. It is free to you and we have tutors in every subject. They can meet with you whenever it is convenient and you have to have excelled in your class in order to be a tutor so it's not like it's a random kid who took stats only in high school - they know what they're doing!
- Amanda
Bates Hall
- Amanda
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