Kris Jordan

Second semester of my senior year has arrived. There is nothing like realizing you are within striking distance of the finish line to motivate you, depress you, excite you, and scare the heck out of you all at once. With an end in sight I’m looking forward to what is on the short-term horizon. Courses, projects, a cruise, a few more months with the 2nd floor Everett guys in the house, a girl, and decisions are all hastily on their way. One more semester is all that is left for me; there is no time for lethargy.

I will open and close my college career with 17 credit hour semesters. This Spring I am enrolled in the most challenging course line-up yet. Senior slacking isn’t exactly an option for me. In many ways I am glad about this, though. It took nearly all of last semester to get back into the grind of school. I have put off “Physics 27: Electromagnetism and Optics” for far too long. It’s the only serious barrier to graduation. Just today I was able to sign up for Prasun Dewan’s Graduate-level Operating Systems course. Having another course with him will have brought me full circle from the “Foundations of Programming” course he taught Fall of 2003. The other courses include Religion in America, Philosophy of Science, Algorithms & Analysis, and an Independent Study in Computer Science focusing on my honors thesis. I have a sense of eagerness about my class load. This will be an academically rewarding semester.

A variety of voluntary projects and involvements are also sprouting up. I am delighted to be revisiting the NCKidScience.com project with the KidSenses Children’s Museum. Over the past three years thousands have teachers found the website helpful. Now, through coordination with KidSenses, we will be refreshing the resources and expanding coverage to K through 2nd as a complement to grades 3 through 5 which we started with. AidingAfrica.org is another small project I am helping out with. Kelsey Smith, fellow alumnus of RS Central High School, has been planning an aid trip Africa with a collection of other students at Appalachian State. I will be setting her up with a website, blog, and some other basic tools. My hope is to do this in a generic manner that will allow other student groups or small non-profits to use the same tools to communicate on the internet with minimal effort. The Foothills Connect Business and Technology Center is spearheading an entrepreneurial education program focusing on technology for students at the high school level. The details are sparse but I hope to be giving regular presentations and providing help where I can. Finally, my senior honors thesis is more technically driven. It regards “access control” or the permission systems we use to protect or share files on our computers with others. Doing work because it is helpful and because it is interesting, not because it is going to make money, is very refreshing. I have shied away from voluntary projects over the past year and a half. Moving forward with these projects is energizing.

For three and a half years I have lived with Joel, Ryan, Deaton, Rich, MikeK, and Dan. Everett dorm brought us together and together we have traversed our college experience. We have become quite close. Our house on Coolidge street has suited us well over the past year and a half. This semester we’ve got a mix of birthdays, including my own, a highly anticipated basketball season, a variety of unknown nonsense, and a spring break cruise still being planned. I hope to make my birthday a bit different this year: wine-centric and classy. The Italian “Kris” pinot grigio will be on the house. Carolina basketball is loaded again this year. Somehow it doesn’t have the same magic the 2004-2005 team had. I miss McCants. It is still fun, none the less. The Caribbean cruise over spring break is highly anticipated. This will be my first year spent legitimately “Spring Break-ing” as opposed to working. It is about time! Another highlight of the upcoming months is the girl I’ve been spending some time with as of late. A chance exchange of messages has led to a unexpectedly compatible and enjoyable pairing.

Five months is all that remains. Beyond that there is much unknown. I am sure my post-graduation opportunities will open up in due time. For now, I am concerned about the next five months. I have got a whole lot a living and not a whole lot of time left in this college career. I am taking the Caseboltian approach: soak it up senior year. Soak it up. With the right mix of courses, projects, and social distractions I believe this semester will likely be the most difficult, the most enjoyable, and the most memorable.