It's The End As We Know It

Since coming to Southern, I’ve definitely learned a lot about myself as an individual. I’ve continued to work hard like I did in high school and have been successful thus far in my college career. I have had a lot to deal with in my first semester from juggling athletics, athletic study hall, time management, and rehabbing from an injury I incurred this past spring. I think the thing that has made me most successful managing all these things is the fact that I don’t complain about having to do everything. There are a lot of people on my team who complain about having to go to study hall, but the fact of the matter is that I understand it makes me a better student. I know that if I didn’t have the study hall, I would still do all the work because I understand from Millbrook what kind of time it actually takes to get a college workload done. I like the fact that though that after a long day, I have a place to go where it is quiet and can get some work done.

            Managing athletics has been difficult since coming to Southern. The fact of the matter is that I’m going to be consumed by athletics once my classes end at roughly twelve every day and won’t end until five in the afternoon. That is a lot of time to dedicate towards something every day of your life. I love the competitive atmosphere though and everything that it has to offer. It is so much fun every day to go and blow of some steam hitting baseballs and fielding. Not only that but there is great camaraderie on the team which makes every hour I spend after classes worthwhile. After talking with the team for a little bit one evening, everyone came to the conclusion that even though we spend so much time playing and would like a break every now and then… playing a college sport makes the days go by so much faster and keep us busy so we aren’t bored.

            I think that my time management skills have been my biggest achievement since coming to Southern. I honestly don’t fear any workload that I’ve gotten so far. I haven’t procrastinated on anything that’s been too far over my head. I have done a good job of knuckling down and understanding that if I get done what I need to, I will have extra time to do things that I would like such as just chilling out and watching a show or playing Xbox with people on my team in the suite. I have to admit that I’ve definitely come to appreciate getting my work done ahead of time so I have time for myself every now and then to just decompress.

            My biggest goal at the beginning of the semester was to start off strong in college. I didn’t want to start off with bad grades and have to work myself out of a rut that I could have easily prevented for myself. I think for athletes to there is a lot more pressure because we have to meet a certain academic standard in order to maintain our eligibility with the NCAA. If we don’t get the grades and work hard in the classroom, the offseason will be the closest you get to play an actual game. I know for some players on my team this academic semester has been a stressful one, but everyone has managed to get by. I am honestly just happy that this first semester didn’t have to be full of stress and I could go to class everyday knowing that I didn’t have to worry about doing bad in the course.

            I tried to go over some things that I’ve enjoyed about Southern thus far and how they’ve affected me. I don’t want to focus on the negatives because I’d rather dwell on the positive things on my final note in the course. I expect to have a lot more success while I’m at Southern and at the same time some difficulties. I understand that everything won’t be so clear cut every time, but with the way I handle things, I can figure out just about anything.

The Final Assessment

When it comes to evaluating how I’ve done this past semester I can think of several things that I’ve excelled at and some areas I lacked in. On a positive note, I have gotten very good grades through this first semester. I am fairly sure that I have all A’s and one B so far (not including finals…). Regardless, I am very proud of that. When I first walked in the door this semester I had heard countless people say that your first semester/year is always going to be the hardest in your college career. I’d like to think I’ve taken that preconceived notion of college and put it rest even though I’m sure there are other people out there who might say something completely different with reference to first year academics in college.

            I think the second thing I did well this semester was balancing schoolwork, my athletics, and personal well-being. I have been extremely busy this semester with academics, athletics, and taking care of an injury I incurred this past spring. For me this meant a lot of running around and very little down time. Personally I like moving around and getting things done because it makes me feel like I’ve accomplished a lot throughout the day. Going to school though, straight to athletics, then physical therapy, and study hall at night, I’m just absolutely exhausted. I think the thing I’m most proud of regarding all this is that I never once complained about my daily schedule or even questioned it. I merely went to everything that needed to be done and put my best effort forward.

            This last paragraph should be about something negative that happened this semester or something that I need to work at. I think though for once in my life I’m going to give myself a break on this section and say that I did a pretty good job. I can be my own worst critic at times and fail to give myself credit for the good things I do. For once I just want to leave something on a positive note.

Lets break it down

            For the final project, I’ve decided to do the six hundred-word essay about how I’ve done as a student in my first semester in college and where I plan to go from here. I think the first thing that needs to be done is answer all the questions first listed on the blog for the essay. Once I’ve answered all the all the questions, I think the essay itself will be fairly easy to construct.

            The way I want to construct the essay is to begin with an introduction that lists several things I’ve done that are positive since coming to Southern, but also go through some things that I’ve struggled with. Once I have those basic ideas down in the introduction, I can use the body to explain each premise and how it has affected my college experience so far. What I want to incorporate though is the questions subtly in the text so it doesn’t seem like I’m just answering the questions one after another or to have an appearance like each paragraph is just based on a specific question.

            Even though this seems like a lot of work at first glance, I don’t feel as if it will take very long at all. I think the reason it won’t take long is because It’s all personal. It doesn’t require any research; the information is merely drawn from an analysis of you.

            I can already think of a lot of things that I’ve done well since coming to Southern, but at the same time I can think of some things that I need to work on. Not major things, but very simple things that require simple fixes. There is no worse critic though when it comes to evaluating yourself than you. You need to give yourself credit where credit is due, but at the same time understand what needs to be done to get better.

            

A little help can't hurt

For this weeks campus safari I decided to make a visit to the writing center. For our anthropology class we will have to write an essay for our final based on a point of view we have towards whether Black American English exists as a separate language or is it just apart Standard American English. I have a pretty good grade in the class and would like to keep it that way so I thought I would ask the writing center about something that I struggle with. I write thesis statements well, but I struggle with placing the thesis statement at the end of my introductory paragraph where it should lie. Instead I always begin with my thesis statement, which you really shouldn’t do, but is acceptable. The tips that I received were actually very helpful. I think the one that stuck out to me most was taking all my premises and describing them in brief detail to give the reader a general idea about what my stance is on the subject and where the paper is actually going. Once I have done that, I can express my position on the topic at hand. My introductory paragraph actually looks very good and is in basically the reverse order or what I would normally do.

The LAST video

For my last video project in INQ, I’m pretty happy with it. The assignment was to take something that college students have difficulty with and make a video that addresses the problem and then come up with a solution. Instead of doing a skit though I decided to make several comics and explain what they portray. The four problems I chose were healthy eating, money management, making friends, and exams. To me those seem like problems that first year students may have in college.           

            I had fun making the comics, but at the same time when I scanned them onto my computer, they didn’t come out perfect when I added them into the video. The text is somewhat difficult to read, but I think I explain the problems well enough in the video that a viewer can follow along. I always want to try something different than the norm so I thought this would be a good way to go about it. The last video I tried something different by hiking up West Rock and videoing it and that didn’t turn out the way I was necessarily hoping, but nonetheless, the thought was there.

            I think I did a pretty good job with this video by have a clear beginning and a clear ending. I know for the past videos, I was lacking in those two areas and for this video wanted to try and address that more. I also took out having music in the background with the narration because I thought it got a little overwhelming in the last two videos. Overall though I’m pretty happy with how the assignment came out. Even though I’m not a huge fan of sitting in front of a webcam and explaining the comics, It really didn’t come out that bad.

Criticism At Its Best

After finishing the Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp, I’m happy to say that I’ve actually learned a lot. The book itself to me doesn’t really delve into creativity or maybe I just don’t see creativity the way Tharp does. On the other hand, I see endless life lessons that are addressed in the book which are extremely important when trying to accomplish things in life. I have to admit that I wasn’t a big fan of some parts of the book more towards the beginning. I didn’t like the idea of Tharp blathering on about a “box” which I really couldn’t relate to.

             As the book went on though she talked about things like having skill in your field. Tharp says, “What all these people have in common is that they have mastered the underlying skills of their creative domain, and built their creativity on the solid foundation of those skills” (162). I thought this idea of skill which seems trivial at first glance is actually essential to even getting and idea of the ground.  You need resources that stem from some type of prior knowledge you have in your field of interest.

            I also liked how Tharp talked about the “Spine” of an idea. She defines it as the roots of the idea or the foundation from which creativity begins. The spine of the idea is what keeps you on track and able to ultimately accomplish whatever endeavor you may have. I also liked the fact of how Tharp includes ideas from earlier chapters related to how they affect the “Spine” of your idea. I thought that was important because at times I was having trouble figuring out how some of her ideas from earlier on in the book related to idea introduced later in the book.

            The final part of the book that spoke most to me was troubles you have along the way. Tharp makes it very clear that not every idea you have is going to be ‘fool proof’. There are going to be times when you fail. I think this is the hardest part of the book to address because most people in the world see failure as a negative extremity of creativity or as I would call it being goal driven. Tharp does a very good job of pretty much saying that just because something doesn’t go off the way you expected it that you were a failure. There are always going to be positive aspects with the negative aspects, it is on you to separate the two and analyze each.

            Even though I think Tharp’s and I idea of creativity differs, I feel we have a similar view in the way we approach each of our definitions. What she calls creativity, I see as book to help people with accomplishing goals they have in life. She delves into life lessons and where to start with becoming a more goal oriented person in life. This whole process is essential to people because without goals, we really have nothing to push us to greatness.            

The Buley Safari

The trip to the library was actually very informative. I had never been in the library until that point. I am sure I’ll be there more often though next semester because I won’t have mandatory academic study hall through the athletic department. It will lie solely on me to make the right decisions and fit in my own study time. I think the most interesting thing I found out about the library is that it has librarians dedicated to each graduate program. I personally think that is essential to the success of students because it makes the process of finding books you need for your major that much easier.

            The library also has a vast amount of resources for finding information that has been pure reviewed. Pure reviewed articles are extremely important when it comes to writing papers. I learned that firsthand while at Millbrook because I had to write a lot of research papers that required sources to be cited properly. If you look up articles on Google, you aren’t guaranteed every time to get the author for the article because the article either has multiple authors, or was written by an individual who writes for the website itself. When you go through a libraries peer reviewed search engine, most of the time they already have the article cited for referencing purposes which makes your job just that much easier.  Plus from personal experience, search engines that bring up pure reviewed literature is a lot more reliable that your standard Google search.

            The article I found at the library had to do with finding correlations between group and individual autonomy. The author wanted to know if people portray more positive behavior when demonstrating autonomy in a group activity or working individually. The article more or less came to the conclusion that autonomy is more self driven because of the fact that self reliance is driven more by what you have to offer. When you are in a group setting, you are more likely to put off on others when you could easily accomplish.

Works Cited- Jønsson, T., & Jeppesen, H. (2013). Under the influence of the team? An investigation of the relationships between team autonomy, individual autonomy and social influence within teams. International Journal Of Human Resource Management, 24(1), 78-93. doi:10.1080/09585192.2012.672448

Major Time

For this weeks campus safari I decided to go and attempt to finalize everything for my major. I went to the athletic training department and asked about declaring and how to go about it. They said that I need to fill out some paperwork that is fairly basic. Once completing the information, the department can set me up with an advisor who can further help with deciding classes and answering questions I have as far as catching up for lost time and how to make it up. I'm pretty happy to have this all cleared up because I'm kind of tired of worrying about it and it was better to just get it over with.

Troubling Realities

I did activity four on page thirty-two which addresses going a week without someone that you value. Since I don’t have a week, I decided to just go twenty-four hours without the object. I decided to go without my I Pod for a day. This may seem trifling to some people, but to me it was actually a big deal. I usually always have my I Pod with me because it gives me a sense of well-being and enjoyment in whatever activities I have throughout the day. I listen to my I Pod walking to class, on car rides, doing homework, workouts, running, even before I go to sleep. Without my I pod, I almost feel as if I’m missing a piece of me.

            I found that throughout the day I was much more social. I walked with several of my teammates to classes that morning and had a conversation with them. It encouraged me to ask more questions that involved doing everyday things I normally do alone like eating at CONN or walking to Moore field house for skills practice and lift with others. I found that I enjoyed doing the little things during the day a lot more with people around me rather than just going alone.

            While at Millbrook I rarely used my I pod except for workouts and when I came to Southern, I began to rely on it. I’m not entirely sure why, but I think it has to do with the fact that I moved to a new school, meeting new people, and starting something new as a whole. My I pod may be acting like a crutch at the moment until I can begin standing on my own two feet socially. It’s tough having realizations like this because they become concerning and you want to repair what damage has been done as soon as possible.

From Dreams To Reality

            From what I can tell the exercise wants you describe some of your biggest fears and note them down. I don’t have a ton of fears.  Most of them are related to social anxiety. I often have trouble having conversations with people I don’t know and meeting new people. I think the reason for this is because I often worry about what people think of me. For some people a fear like this is extremely trivial because they honestly don’t care what people think of them and have no problem with just being who they are. As for me, it can be difficult sometimes to watch people who posses what I believe is a unique trait.

            Another pretty big fear I have is actually quite funny. It is actually a dream that I’ve had several times throughout my life. The dream is extremely surreal and literally almost lifelike. If you have never heard of lucid dreaming before, you may be interested to Google it and do some light reading. The dream is pretty simplistic as it starts off with extremely random things that aren’t of any significant importance. The dream always ends in the same way with someone chasing me. As the chase progresses though, I always begin to slow down and can’t control it.  I always wake up extremely distraught and always to think myself why I would have a dream like that again, and again, and again.  Thankfully the dream only re occurs over extended time horizons.

            I think the last thing that I actually really fear is being hit in the head by a baseball while batting. Even though this fear is subtle, it comes alive whenever a ball rides in close to my upper body. During my at bats though I’m so concentrated on hitting the ball that I completely forget about the fear, but every now and then when a wild pitch is thrown, the fear immediately comes alive. I don’t worry about the fear too much because it doesn’t affect my batting.

A Learning Experience

For this weeks campus safari I think I learned a lot about the school in terms of deciding a major and how to go about it. I also learned a lot of information regarding picking classes for next semester. I have been doing a lot of soul searching and have been trying to decide what I’d actually like to do when I leave college.

            I would really like to do something involving athletics. I am interested in pursuing a career that involves being in an environment where I get to work with athletes. I went to the athletic training department in search of information on how to get involved in the major and ideas for classes to take in the upcoming semester. I was told that I missed a fairly significant course because I came into the university undecided. I was advised to take a summer course that could be transferred over for the missed class along with taking anatomy and physiology one in an effort to complete a tier two course related to athletic training.

            I also learned how to obtain a course that is classified as needing department permission and who you need to contact. At first I thought you would need to contact that teacher for the course itself, but it turns out that you need to contract the department head and have approval before your pin will be accepted to sign up for the course online.

            After learning all this information, I know what I need to do in order to begin my journey in a career related to athletic training. Overall it was a pretty informative week and gives me something to talk about with my parents when discussing pursuing a career.

            

The Creative Genius

After reading chapters one through three of Twayla Tharp’s The Creative Habit, I have actually come to enjoy the book. Even though I’m not a big fan of all the dance jargon she uses in the book, she brings up some very relevant points that not only have to do with stimulating a sense of creativity, but also important aspects of life. The beginning of the book really interested me because it had do with rituals and the importance of them when it comes to getting anything done. Tharp portrays our biggest fears associated with accomplishing anything having to do with procrastination. She believes that procrastination is driven by five factors including,  “people will laugh at me, someone has done it before, I have nothing to say, I will upset someone, Once executed the idea will never as good as it is in my mind” (22). I believe that Tharp is spot on even though she is making a generalization towards “everybody” who reads her book. When I read that excerpt, I could definitely see myself fitting the mold she portrays with several personal real life examples.

            Another aspect of the book I came to appreciate that we have already gone over in class is that there are no natural geniuses. I really liked the fact that Tharp drove home this concept with examples of people who literally grind out the hours until they are good at something. Tharp then connects this concept with what she refers to as “Creative DNA”. Tharp draws a fine line between what it means to be a genius and what it means to be creative. Even though you can’t be born a genius, you can be born with creativity. She makes a subtle connection between the two points that stretches far further than what she actually explains in the text. She is making the point that creativity is what leads to people who are considered “geniuses”.

           

            

INQ Video #2

Video #2 Reflection

I completed my video and am pretty proud of myself for how it came out. Even though it didn't come out exactly as I was hoping, it still portrays my initial vision. When I initially read the video assignment on the INQ page, I read about the hike up West Rock. I immediately thought to myself of how cool it would be to have the chance to go on a hike during a weekend when I had some free time from baseball. Little did I know, it would be probably one of the most relaxing experiences I've had since coming to school. The assignment though was to document something about Southern that is unique and distinguishes itself among other colleges. I think West Rock definitely does that. Even though I'm sure other colleges have surrounding opportunities for a student to become more in tune with nature, Southern has that opportunity right in its backyard. I thought it was amazing that all you needed to do was go in back of West Campus dorm to reach the trails for the hike up West Rock. It takes a little intuition though to find the trails because you initially won't find the trails for a good fifteen minutes after going in back of West Campus.
            When I first thought of the opportunity to go on the hike, I thought it would be a great idea to document large portions of the hike and fast-forward them for the video. The idea at first seemed like it would be really good and actually interesting to watch. When I had the footage though and came back to work on the video, I honestly didn't realize how shaky the camera would be during the hike. I thought the footage would be a little more stable than it actually was. Even though the footage didn't come out the way I necessarily expected in that sense, I still think the actual footage came out very nicely. I also really liked the way the video looked fast forwarded because you could take parts of the hike that were ten minutes and consolidate them to a minute or less. 

Journey To West Rock

Today I went on a hike for my project due next week. I went to

West Rock park and ended up going on the adventure with a fellow teammate. I asked him if he would go with me because I didn’t want to have to make the trip alone and it ended up being nice because I had some company along the way. I have never hiked a mountain or anything else for that matter so it was a first time experience. I actually had a lot of fun on the journey. I got to see some pretty amazing sites and get in touch with nature for a change. I think the best part of the entire hike was when we actually got to the top. The view was pretty amazing because you can see a fairly large portion of New, Haven itself along with the county Hamden I believe. The view at the end definitely made the entire trip worthwhile in my opinion.

            I think another great reason for going on the trip is that the assignment itself was to discover something about Southern that you never really knew. If I hadn’t read the INQ blog, I don’t think I would have ever known or even explored and opportunity such as taking a hike. I think it is very important at the end of the day to explore new things because of the fact that you may never really know what you are missing out on. 

Whata' ya know, half way done!

Midterms came out and I ended up doing very well. I got an A in Math, B+ INQ, A Web Technology, and an A in Anthropology. The only midterm that I can’t get at the moment is my Spanish midterm because my teacher has been busy and can’t release them yet. Overall, I am very happy with my success so far in the first semester. I have always been a pretty good student in school getting work done and studying for tests so I wasn’t that worried about it when the grades actually came out. I think though that people get way to caught up in the semantics regarding college. Everyone says that the first semester is always the hardest for incoming freshman. I think though that is just a poor excuse to set yourself up for failure. If you go into something with a negative attitude you are less likely to find success. I never really went into the semester initially expecting anything less than my very best.

            I think a lot of my success also had to do with how busy I was with athletics leaving less time to get actuall work done. It really helps in the regard that it allows you to really acknowledge what needs to be done so you can plan according and knuckle down to get the work done. I have to admit though also that a lot of my success stemmed from the mandatory academic study hall for first year student athletes. During those five hours a week, I have more than enough time to get a majority of my work done. Of course, it isn’t enough time to get the studying done for tests and some assignments that pop up every now and then, but it definitely gives you the chance to really apply yourself to your studies. A lot of the student athletes complain about the study hall saying that it is cramped and it is impossible to stay for the minimum hour and a half, but I have a funny feeling if you asked them what led to their success thus far this semester it would be because of that study hall. I think the hardest thing now is staying strong until the end of the semester.

I like the color blue

There is a piece of artwork that I see often is in the building called “Jennings” because I have to go there every week for academic study hall. The piece was created in 1986 by the professor of art as SCSU. Every time I walk through the building, I always look at the mural. I like the mural for several reasons. One of the reasons I like the mural is because it has so much going on in it. It has a sense of mystery associated with it because I can’t tell or even understand some of the things that are going on in the mural. The second reason I like the mural is because I really like the color blue. I’m often allured to anything with the color blue from clothing, sports teams, etc. I think the last reason I like the mural is because of the fact that I find the ocean calm, and tranquil so it kind of relaxes me.

            When I initially looked at the mural, I honestly wasn’t really sure what to think of it. I initially thought it was just a neat depiction of undersea life. Now that I’m asked to analyze it, I’ve come to the conclusion that the mural kind of represents the building that it’s hung in. “Jennings” kind of revolves around the study of the sciences whether it be physics, biology, or microbiology. When I think of the ocean, I kind of think about the biology of environmental science because of a class I took in high school.

            After thinking about the mural though I found a piece of signage that presents what the mural is actually trying to depict. The signage says, “It represents stages in human development: From left to right. The emergence of life from under the sea: The discovery of microbiology: The exploration of space.” I didn’t quite understand the exploration of space portion of the mural, but at the end of the day maybe it isn’t for me to get.

Community Service Trip

For this week’s campus safari, I did a community service trip with the baseball team. The team went to the Helene Grant Headstart School in New Haven. A teammate on our team has a sister who is a teacher at the school, and was in need of volunteers for the school’s fair that took place this past Friday on the 19^th.  Everyone on the team took part in the days festivities and helped out with various activities such as preparing food, hay rides, athletics, and arts & crafts.

            I ended up being put on an activity where I worked with the kids on making laminated bookmarks. The kids would basically take leaves and place them under a sheet of paper. They would then take crayons and push down on the paper to get the imprint of the leaf on the paper. My job was to basically hold down the paper for the kids so it wouldn’t move.

            Overall the day went pretty well and we got a lot accomplish on behalf of the school.  The kids were fun to be around and everyone on the team was in good spirits for the day. It was nice to get away from the baseball for a little bit and doing something different. 

Ray & Mike's

For my fun trip I didn’t do anything on campus but ended up going off. I didn’t really have time to do any activities on campus with our teams practice schedule so I asked a friend of mine on campus if they wanted to go off campus and get food. My friend played baseball with me when I was younger for the AAU travel team The Connecticut Blaze. Luckily he is a Sophomore and has a car so we could go off. We have stayed pretty close with one another since parting ways from travel ball and playing for our respected post legions later on in our baseball careers. Unfortunately my buddy Ryan doesn’t play ball anymore because of a should injury he incurred, but he still loves the game just as much as I do.

            We ended up going to a place in Hamden called Ray & Mike’s which is a place where you can buy sandwiches. Little did I know before going there that I would eat probably one of the best subs I’ve had in my life. We sat down and talked about stories from our past going on national trips in various places around the United States and the experiences we had. A friend of ours named Sal who we played with on the team came up in conversation who is currently in the Cincinnati Reds minor league program playing for the Billings Mustangs out of Montana. We talked a little bit about Southern in general and our thoughts on the school. He also had some questions about the baseball program, which was fun to talk about.

            Overall, I’m pretty happy I contacted Ryan because I hadn’t seen him in a while and it was nice to talk. It was also nice to get off campus with a friend and experience a little bit of different scenery other than Southern.

Subtle Differences...

            For the first part of the academic semester, I am actually doing very well. I haven’t had any problem with my classes as far as handing work in on time, or completing work to the best of my ability. A lot of people said that college is very difficult in the first semester and that new students usually find it very difficult adjust from their high school. This may be true for some students, but I think that because of the fact I came from a college prep school, I have a true understanding of what it takes to really make it in college. Coming from a school where teachers don’t hold your hand, and you are given a syllabus on day one to complete each semester, you really understand how to manage your time and get your work done.

            I’ve found that managing my time was actually harder in high school than in college so far. When you are kept busy during the day in high school to keep students out of trouble because they board with things like forums, formal dinner, chapel talks, playing sports every season, to a required two hour study hall every night of the week, school on Saturday, and lights at eleven every night. I’ve come to realize that college has been a breeze so far besides my athletic commitment. That isn’t to say of course that I have a ton of free time because I don’t. I have classes all morning every day of the week and then athletics taking up my entire afternoon with practice, inters quads, and lifts. I just think I have more time at night in order to get everything done that I need to.

            I think the fact that the extra free time at night I’ve had has definitely helped my academic success. I don’t feel stressed out when it comes to meeting deadlines and studying for tests. It is unequivocally clear that this extra free time I’ve had is reflected in my grades because at Millbrook I more or less maintained straight B’s and from time to me got and A. That is to say also that I feel Millbrook definitely expected a lot more their students academically than I have felt at Southern. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact thought that I’m taking general courses so far and less that actually have to do with my major.

Pep Rally Fun

For this weeks campus safari I went to the pep rally. I kind of had to go though at the same time because the baseball team had to walk out along with the other athletic teams on campus. Overall though I had a pretty good time at the event. The night was geared towards creating a sense of school spirit among the school population. There were raffles and prizes given away throughout the night in an effort to raise money for the schools athletic programs. Some of the prizes were actually quite nice like the 32’’ HD T.V, or the brand new Xbox 360. Both individuals who hosted the event did a very good job of creating a strong sense of enthusiasm and excitement in the field house. 

      Even though I though Southern did a good job of presenting the pep rally, I feel it also could have been better. I definitely think they need to create a stronger sense of school spirit. A friend of mine that goes to Alabama went to his pep rally and said that thousands upon thousands of students come out for the event. Even though I realize Southern isn't a top tier D1 institution, I believe there could have been a better outcome of students who came to the event.

Mix in a word every now and then..

What was most difficult for me to accomplish this week may seem extremely trivial to some people. The hardest thing I had to do was go up to my CSC teacher and ask him to change my grade upon the grounds that my work was completed on time and fully. Ironic though isn’t it asking for credit that you deserve, but having a difficult time asking for it. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been the type of person who tries to please everyone to the best of my ability. Even if it means I may lose every now and then in some sense.

            I think an excellent example of this was this summer when I worked at a construction company for an internship. My job was pretty basic and was simply to do what I was told. Sometimes I would have to pick up around the jobsite and at this time I was still heavily recovering from my UCL (Ulnar Collateral Ligament) reconstruction. Even though I was well aware that I couldn’t pick up objects that were heavy at the time it never really crossed my mind to tell someone that I couldn’t do it. I sometimes feel a normal person would immediately confront the problem and tell the person “no” I can’t do that. In my mind though, I feel like I’m letting someone down in a sense. Even though that isn’t the case I still feel that way from time to time.

            I was very proud of myself going up to my teacher and at least inquiring about the grade. Normally I probably would have just taken the grade and that would have been it. I thought though that since progress reports were going to be delivered my coach soon, it would be in my best interest to at least see what my teacher could do for me. Lone behold, it doesn’t hurt to get up and say something on your behalf from time to time. My grade ended up being changed and I now have a much higher mark in the class.

Failure Is My Success

After reading Mindset and the articles posted from Harvard and the New York Times, I’ve decided that they don’t really change my view on failure. Mindset more or less says that failure is a difficult thing no matter what. If you have a growth mindset failure isn’t going to be fun and if you have a fixed mindset failure won’t be fun. That appears to be a pretty fundamental feeling towards failure by most people, but I often see failure much differently. Furthermore, Mindset makes a clear distinction again about how people with growth mindsets and fixed mindsets differ when they experience failure. The author more or less states that people with a growth mindset would make a mental note that based on whatever outcome that they had failed. It then delves on the fact that people with a growth mindset then approach the failure as a chance to explore a different approach and find success. People with a fixed mindset though see a failure more as a moment to blame the failure on themselves personally and come to the conclusions that they failed and that’s it. People with a fixed mindset are much less likely to explore a different approach than an individual with a growth mindset and seek a different outcome to a situation.

            Personally I believe failure is a great thing. Failure is what creates growth in individuals and allows them to show their true colors. I can’t even begin to describe how many times in my life that I’ve failed at something and only seen it as an opportunity to go back and be successful. I use a lot of baseball analogies in my blogs, but that is merely because I’ve grown up around it and have a fairly decent understanding of what failure is. Ted Williams said, “Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.” This quote has always stuck with me and I feel fits in great with these readings because this quote demonstrates that the other seven out of ten times, as a baseball player I’m going to fail. This failure though is not something I dwell on or get feelings of disappointment. I take the failure and go out everyday to the field and try to beat the odds. Even though the likelihood of an individual beating the odds by a large or even small margin are unlikely, it is our fuel to the fire. It is what keeps me going everyday. Failure is my success.