UPDATES!!!

Hello, Fellow Steno Nerds!

It's been way too long since I've given an update... and a lot has happened!  I have good things to share! :)

Biggest one is...

I QUALIFIED TO TAKE THE JULY 19TH CSR EXAM!!!  WOO HOO!!!  I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH COURT REPORTING SCHOOL!!!  I DID IT!!!  I FINALLY ACCOMPLISHED MY GOAL!!! :D :D :D

 After a long, long time -- because of my awesome, supportive husband, family and friends, with GOD's help and the burning passion HE placed in my heart about stenography years ago, and my perseverance and never-say-die optimistic bulldog stubbornness -- I passed the Qualifier TWICE (so far!) from Downey Adult School's Court Reporting Program.  First time was on April 25th and second time was on May 7th.  There were a handful of other times when I missed passing it a third time by a few points... darn!  There's still a few weeks before the July 19th CSR exam date, and my goal is to pass at least one more Qualifier by then.  Let's see if I can do it!  If not, though, I'm really happy and satisfied that I was able to get two under my belt! :)

At DAS, we have a total of SIX newly qualified students who will take the CSR for the first time, myself included.  I'm blessed to be able to go to the LA CSR with an awesome bunch of great gals!  BIG CONGRATS to Joanne, Caryn, Michelle, Mindee, and Allison.  Let's see who else will qualify before the deadline for this upcoming CSR exam!  Hopefully, lots more will join us! :)

 Other awesome news...

I won a $500 scholarship!!!  It was given by the Woman's Club of Downey, and I received it on June 5th.  What's amazing about this is I never even thought of applying for a scholarship since I'm exiting out of the program.  But my awesome teacher and court reporting director, Cindy, encouraged me to apply anyway, so I did... and they chose me!  That same week that I wrote my personal statement, I was stressing out big time about having to soon upgrade into a professional steno machine AND a professional CAT software... which cost approximately $5,000 EACH!!!  GOD totally provided by giving me this scholarship! :) It's not the full amount of what I need, but, hey, $500 is better than 0! :) I'll gladly take it! ;)

The women at DWC were soooooooooooooooo friendly and cute!  It seems their club exists simply to raise funds so that they can give back to the community.  How awesome are they???

Click here for the article about the scholarship ceremony on June 5th.  The same article will be printed next week in Downey's "The Patriot" newspaper.  I'm getting loads of copies!  Haha!  

DWC chose one student each from Downey High School, Warren High School, and Downey Adult School to award these annual scholarships to.  The high school grads will be attending Harvard and UCLA respectively this fall.  I, of course, plan to work as a freelance depo reporter in the fall... given I have my CSR license by then. :) The young lady in the blue dress (see pic below) won a recurring scholarship, which DWC renewed every year!  She just graduated from Brigham Young University and came to the scholarship ceremony to give her thanks.  The lady in the red is the immediate past president and the lady in the cream pant suit is the immediate past secretary.

 The Woman's Club of Downey Foundation board members, Linda Dong and Shirlee MacDowel.

I really wish I had applied to many more scholarships in the past!  You will always get a "no" if you never submit... but if you do submit, you have a chance... and you just might be the winner!  Lesson learned.

So yeah, good news all around... I can't complain! :) THANK GOD FOR ALL THESE BLESSINGS!!! :D Right now I'm keeping busy with trying to hone in my nerves and tighten my skills for the July 19th CSR exam.  Right after that, I'll be studying for the WKT (written knowledge test AKA academics) portion of the CSR exam.  So study, study, study... then hopefully, by the end of the year, I'll have my CSR license!  If not, though, I will NOT sweat it... because another CSR exam test is roughly 3 months away... and I'll keep taking that sucka' until I pass it!  No worries! :) Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers for the CSR exam... and if you have any tips for the big day, please let me know!!!  THANKS! :)

YELP REVIEW OF DOWNEY ADULT SCHOOL COURT REPORTING PROGRAM

Hi, all! :)

I just posted a Yelp review of my school, Downey Adult School of Court Reporting.  Somehow, though, Yelp isn't showing my review... plus I want to endorse DAS here too so... here it is! :) I know my praises for DAS may sound "exaggerated," but I assure you... I really am THAT excited about DAS!  It's the best court reporting school in So Cal in my humble opinion! ;)

6/13/2013

 

I've gone to 2 other court reporting schools, including 1 online program before coming to Downey Adult School's Court Reporting Program.  What a huge difference!

- There are way more speed classes at DAS, including a Qualifier given EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!  At the other schools, they didn't have that... plus the other schools were MORE EXPENSIVE!!!  How does that figure???

- DAS has a great, updated, and well-stocked practice lab full of free resources, as well as student website full of free briefs galore and other helpful handouts.

- DAS has an amazing CART class (taught by Maggie O.) that provides hands-on training and really opens the way for students to enter a fast-growing niche in the CR field.  I found this class to be extremely helpful as I was in the dark (like most of us are!) before taking this class.  Maggie also scheduled many guest speakers to talk to us about their CART experiences, which was awesome!

- DAS has some of the friendliest staff around!  Cindy G., the program director, is always on top of everything yet is so chill. :) Suzi C. reads high-speed dictation like a boss! :) They drill, throw in briefs and tips, and warm us up well before giving out dictation tests, which I feel is super important!

- Not only are the CR teachers nice, but even the janitor (Greg) is super friendly!  The CR students are also generally very helpful and supportive of one another, which is a positive, especially getting through a difficult, intense program such as court reporting!

I'm SO GLAD to have found DAS!  I just wish I had found it sooner!  I always encourage other CR students or potential CR students to ALWAYS check out DAS first!  They even give a free week of sit-ins, so you can really get the "feel" for the program before you commit.  How cool is that???

I'm so proud to be graduating this July from DAS' CR Program and taking the CSR exam.  I couldn't endorse them any higher! :)

P.S. Don't worry that DAS is not an NCRA-approved school.  My 2 previous schools were BOTH approved by the NCRA, and I feel that they were actually LACKING as a CR program!  When you get hired as a court reporter, especially here in California, the agency or court that hires you isn't going to ask if you went to an NCRA-approved school! :P They just want to make sure you have the necessary SKILLS with the appropriate accreditation to do the job... which is your CSR, RPR, CBC, CCP license and whatnot.  There's a REASON why several, several students transfer from other schools to go to DAS.

So yeah... like I said, I really wish I had found DAS sooner to avoid student debt. :P Oh well.  I guess that's why I REALLY appreciate DAS for all it is and probably love it more than those who started theory at DAS.  I know how "rough" it is out there with NCRA-approved schools and their RIDICULOUSLY high tuition fees.  Haha!

THE SUCCESS INDICATOR

Great infographic on what successful people do vs. what unsuccessful people do.

Can I use my brief notebook as my journal??? :)

Happy Friday, all!  Hope you have a good weekend!

~ Christine (Steno Nerd)

NOT FEELING "BEAR-Y" WELL

 

I decided to stay home today since I've been fighting a bad head cold since last Friday without any real rest... plus it was raining this morning.  We Angelenos are terrified of rain! :) Walking about from class to class in the cold at school doesn't sound like fun either when you're already struggling to get out of bed because of nagging, constant headaches, cough, and nasal congestion.  No thanks!  I'll take at lease one sick day!

But of course, since Spring Break is looming in the distance and I really, really, REALLY want to pass Qualifiers before then (please, GOD, help me???), I'm on my steno machine at home... and I'm working on briefs, which I haven't worked on in a while since I've been focusing lately on speed and reading through my sloppy notes in order to produce a transcript (trying to pass that Q!!!).

Anyway, here are the briefs that I've gleaned in the past hour.  I know a lot of them already but only through text... not muscle memory yet, which is where I need them to be. If I find out later that I simply cannot get my fingers to write out a brief, I'll scrap it and find another way... or simply write the word out.

In no particular order...

handgun: H-G
handguns: H-GZ
horizontal gaze nystagmus: HORG
police car: PLAR
particular: PLAER
particularly: PLAERL
police vehicle: PLAOEK
patrol car: PRAR
patrol vehicle: PRAOEK
police unit: PLAOUNT
patrol unit: PRAOUNT
pertinent: PERT
microphone: M-F
miles an hour: MAF
miles per hour: M-RP
traffic conditions: TR-NS
based on your: BOUR
training and experience: TRAEG
discover: DOFR
discovery: DOIFR
bilingual: BLEL
blood alcohol: BLAL
blood alcohol level: BLAOEL
certify: KREFR
certified: KREFRD
certifies: KREFRZ
certifying: KREFRG
certification: KREFRGS
something like that: SLA
something of that nature: SAOFP
rephrase: RAIRZ
rephrased: RAIRDZ
rephrases: RAIRZ/Z
rephrasing: RAIRGZ
the witness has identified the defendant: TWOIFD
raise your right hand: RAIZ/RAIZ
raise your right hand to be sworn: RURDZ
pertain: PRAIN
pertained: PRAIND
pertains: PRAINZ
pertaining: PRAING
pertaining to: PRAINT
pregnant: PRANT
pregnancy: PRAENS
prance: PRANS
if your Honor please: FORP
for the purpose of: FURP
for the purposes of: FURPZ

CCRA MOCK CSR'S... TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO REGISTER!

Hi, guys.

I'm so sorry I haven't been blogging... in forever. :( But I just wanted to pop my head in here real quickly to give you an important link.  (Another sorry for not blogging about this earlier.  I've had a really bad head cold for several days, and I haven't been on my computer at all.)

CCRA (California Court Reporters Board) is offering Mock CSRs to be given at three California schools on March 16th, Saturday, from 8:30AM to 12:00PM.  

In addition to the skills portion (live panel of 4 voices at 200 wpm... just like the real CSR), the Mock CSRs will consist of two WKTs (Written Knowledge Tests):

1) English
2) Legal / Medical / Vocab

Grading won't be done on site, but participants will be given materials to grade their transcripts from home.  Also, a minimum transcript review will be given.  (I've heard of CSR test-takers getting an automatic fail simply for using an incorrect format.  Yikes!)  At the end of the session, there will be a Q&A with a panel of professionals.

The three schools where the Mock CSRs will be held are:
Northern:  College of Marin, Novato, CA
Central:  Humphreys College, Stockton, CA
Southern:  Downey Adult School, Downey, CA


I also heard that my school (Downey Adult School) will have professional vendors on site to talk with students about their products (steno machines, steno software, etc.).

Cost is $30 for Student CCRA members and $40 for non-CCRA members.  If you pay the $40 as a non-member, that fee will also INCLUDE a ONE-YEAR Student CCRA membership!!!  Win-win!  Such a great deal!


Here is the important link:  http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=tmik9a44&v=001QGVxMVttOOZeuZiy2WICzm-qwhWuYAvEMsw4GKDg7CZz-8nbOrKeNFeNT47d3eiqXEFmaEX37qMqV7hahQ3_xiATYUeJVQdbr_duahTG0WjyHq7QHdlEmFbqbGoGGBTX5jMVj2gzxTk%3D

Today is the LAST DAY to register... so do so today!!!

THANK YOU TO THE SUPPORT OUR STUDENT COMMITTEE OF CCRA!!!  
YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME FOR DOING THIS!!!