Shades of Blue

These pictures were taken at one of the academic buildings on my campus that is made out of limestone from the Shenandoah Valley and nicknamed "bluestone" for its dark blue-gray color.  Some of the buildings on my college's campus were built from bluestone that came from right beneath the university itself!  We have a "Kissing Rock" on campus made out of bluestone that has a fun story and legend behind it, which you can read about here.

Before taking these pictures and writing this post, I already knew and cared about my school's history.  However, this semester my appreciation for JMU in general and the school's past, present, and future has grown even more.  This year I was accepted into the organization Student Ambassadors, which is a group of students that represent James Madison University through service to the Office of Admissions and the JMU community.  Basically, I'm one of the tour guides for my university now!  I am very blessed to be given this opportunity and privilege.  I recently finished my training, so I am now "polo official" and able to give tours.

Besides the whirlwind of being a new member in Student Ambassadors, I have had a very busy semester in my business classes.  Once you are accepted into the College of Business at JMU, it is required that you take the "COB 300" level classes.  This semester I am taking COB 300 A, B, C, and D respectively.  These letters stand for classes in the subjects of management, finance, operations, and marketing.  What is interesting and challenging about these classes is the way they are structured. Besides the normal individual schoolwork for each subject, there is a project throughout the semester where you create a business plan with a group.  These groups are randomly assigned.  Your class schedule is also assigned to you, so that you are in the same classes with all of the members of your group.  So for the past eight weeks, especially the last month, I have been with my group in class from 8-10 or 11 a.m. and then meeting with them for the majority of the afternoon to work on our project. 

I have heard horror stories about these classes and how you don't have a life when you're taking them. While it is true that I have not had a lot of free time this semester, the project and classes themselves are not as difficult or terrible as some people make them out to be.  So far, my group has turned in the draft of our business plan and done a presentation about the businesses we created.  Once we get our grades and feedback from our professors on these assignments, we will edit the draft and turn in the final business plan.  The hardest part was putting together the draft because we were creating everything from scratch, so now it's a downhill slope editing the draft into the final plan.

This semester has been demanding in many aspects of my life, but I am so happy and proud of all that I have learned.  What has made my experience in COB 300 so good are the amazing people in my group.  I am so thankful to have such hard-working, funny, smart, and loving people by my side during this process.  (Shout out to the Barnyard Bunch!)  This made me realize how great random groups can be, just like my suitemates who were random this year, but I'm living with again next year!

When my group presented our business plan to our professors this past Tuesday, it was so warm I was sweating in my suit jacket (and I'm sure I was sweating from nerves too).  The weather took quite a dramatic downturn since then and now it is back to about 30 degrees with a chance of snow tonight?!  Where did that come from?  These pictures were taken a while ago in January during a few snow flurries, but are still very appropriate for the weather even now in March.  

Sweater | Jeans | Similar Scarf | Boots | Socks | Pearl Necklace | Earrings

This post had a boatload of information about my university!  Would you all be interested in more posts about my school or information college in general?  Let me know!

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All photos were taken by Lauren of A Lil Style.