Silver Linings

[WheatFromChaff]

I've been really busy with school recently, which has slowed down my already pitiful volume to an average of about 1 box of halves a week, with some cwr thrown in if I'm lucky. I was also deliberately trying to keep volume low to stay on friendly terms with both my pick-up and dump banks, but after witnessing another hunter pick up 6 boxes of halves at one time, I decided I was being ridiculous and upped my own weekly order to a whopping TWO boxes [emoji23].
Skunk streaks happen to everyone and I know they're part of the hobby, but my pathetic volume means that I haven't seen a silver half in two months because I've only searched five smelly boxes and about $400 in cwr that equally reeked.
I was also recently rejected from most of the colleges I applied to, so that sucked, and it turns out that neither the federal nor state government has grants or loans available to me, which also soured my month.
But as they say, every cloud has its silver lining. I scored twice at Coinstar machines in two days, which yielded a total of $1.18 in clad, a cool foreign coin, and (hallelujah) a 1958D Rosie. It's not much, but boy was it good to see silver again! And even better than that, as a congratulatory gift for becoming an Eagle Scout, my godparents presented me with a brand-spanking new 2017 ASE!
And I also got good news from my local credit union: I won the $3000 scholarship I applied for.

Here are pics. I did find a 2006S proof and a Panamanian half in one of the skunk boxes. If somebody could identify the other foreign coin, it would be much appreciated.




Sorry for ranting, thanks for looking!
HH All,
WFC

 

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[FormerTeller]

If you've got the bankroll, 2 boxes a week shouldn't cut into your studies too much, nor should it aggravate your pick up bank. I try to dump no more than $500/week at any one branch, but it sounds like you've got more than one dump bank, so you should be ok.

Congratulations on the scholarship!

 

[GlenDronach]

Some motivational help: still going to the school you want isn't out of reach.

Find a state or community college that has credits that will transfer to your school of choice. You may have to do some generals, get a good GPA there and then transfer in.

 

[ArkieBassMan]

If you'll post a pic of the other side of the mystery foreign coin, someone on here will be able to more easily identify it.

 

[Quin]

Congratulations on becoming an Eagle Scout! That's awesome, would you mind telling me what you did for your service project?

 

[WheatFromChaff]

If you'll post a pic of the other side of the mystery foreign coin, someone on here will be able to more easily identify it.

Good call, here is the reverse

 

[WheatFromChaff]

Congratulations on becoming an Eagle Scout! That's awesome, would you mind telling me what you did for your service project?

Thank you, Ryan! I did my service project at a local nature center. They had a large lot of invasive plants and weeds growing adjacent to the walkway leading from the parking lot to the center that they wanted gone. I cleared them out, mapped out a new layout, and replanted the lot with around 70 perennials and shrubs native to the Piedmont region of Maryland. Then I mulched everything and put in a path through it so visitors can peruse the plants on their way to the nature center. The physical aspect of the project was simple, but I learned a lot about allocating resources, organizing people, and local flora.

Were/ are you involved in the scouting program?

 

[WheatFromChaff]

Some motivational help: still going to the school you want isn't out of reach.

Find a state or community college that has credits that will transfer to your school of choice. You may have to do some generals, get a good GPA there and then transfer in.

Thanks for the encouragement! I think I'll enjoy the University of Maryland once in there, it just wasn't where I wanted to go. If I'm absolutely miserable there for whatever reason, I'll definitely try to transfer.

 

[Zomotion]

Th foreign coin is from Pakistan. Congrats on the scholarship!

 

[Tommybuckets]

My two cents after spending 7+ years in college for 2 degrees and learning the ropes. Start at Community college for the AA degree then transfer those credits in to your school of choice. If you have something in mind make sure the community credits will transfer in to your school of choice. If you do well with community college and the GPA is good you will get scholarship offers. Community college isn't as 'fun' as a proper university but its a good way to go to not be saddled by debt. Plus all the best partying happens those last two years lol. Most of the bad students (my friends) dropped out in that first year and I made most of my worst mistakes freshman year. Congrats on the coinstar silver. My skunky streak just broke last week and seeing some silver rims I doubled my order to two boxes this week.

 

[TheMastermind]

I agree with the guys saying to look into community college and then transferring into a university. Great way for you to save $50k in debt.

Also, consider learning a trade. I have a buddy who is a welder, and between his regular job and his side jobs, he's pulling $150k annually. And that's without any debt to pay down. Plumbers, electricians, building trades, etc. all do very well for themselves with little to no debt.

Nothing wrong with learning a trade. In fact, with how inflated college tuition is and how useless degrees are becoming with this "everyone should go to college" mantra, the trades are sure to explode in coming years.

Don't get me wrong, STEM fields will ALWAYS be in demand. But there is something to be said for working with your hands in this day and age.

 

[Quin]

Thank you, Ryan! I did my service project at a local nature center. They had a large lot of invasive plants and weeds growing adjacent to the walkway leading from the parking lot to the center that they wanted gone. I cleared them out, mapped out a new layout, and replanted the lot with around 70 perennials and shrubs native to the Piedmont region of Maryland. Then I mulched everything and put in a path through it so visitors can peruse the plants on their way to the nature center. The physical aspect of the project was simple, but I learned a lot about allocating resources, organizing people, and local flora.

Were/ are you involved in the scouting program?

That sounds like a great project, I'm sure they appreciated your work quite a bit! Yes, I am an Eagle Scout; I earned the rank in February of 2015. For my project, I built and installed 13 wood duck boxes in the state land around my home. I've been maintaining them ever since: it's a lot of fun to venture out to them in the different seasons. It was actually a super involved project and took about 5 months to carry out to completion. Lots of legal concerns and paperwork in addition to the book that has to be filled out with every project. I actually filmed quite a bit of the process and hope to turn the footage into a documentary someday. It's definitely one of my proudest accomplishments.

Another quick question: have you considered the University of Michigan? Just curious because one of my best friends here at school is originally from Maryland and she told me that quite a few of her classmates considered/came to Michigan.

 

[WheatFromChaff]

That's an awesome project, Ryan! If I had not waited until near the last minute to do my project, I think I would have liked to do something more intimately connected to wildlife like you did.

Michigan was not one of the schools one my list, but I do know a couple of friends who are considering it. Michigan sounds really cold, which is part of the reason I wasn't looking at schools in the Northwest [emoji23] My first choice was Vanderbilt University.