Go! Diversity Event Supplemental Assignment

Okay, this assignment is extremely rough for me, because I have spent many a day listening to women complain about how “underprivileged” they are. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for women having the same rights as men, but I feel like there are a lot of double standards being created because many issues they don’t actually care to make equal. For example, mandatory signing up for the draft at age 18, a thing only men have to do; I don’t see women pushing for this to be for both genders. I believe that feminism really started as a good thing, and I support it’s principles with the utmost respect, but that is not what it has become anymore. Feminism has, if anything, become a way to only bash on men and complain about their advantages, when in reality, women have some privileges that men don’t. All in all, each gender has thing that they have to do or don’t get to do that the other one does, and it’s unfair to each other to only address one side of the problem. This is my main problem with this reading assignment, and I knew it after 2 sentences of reading. If you really care to gain my support, DO NOT start off the freaking article by bashing men! The world is tough out there, and nobody is gonna get any breaks. Instead of complaining about it, let’s do something. I would love for women to get every single privilege that I have, and vice-versa. It’s only fair. I feel that this article was written very ignorantly and biased. I thought the quality of reasoning and idea presenting was very poor, and I became frustrated enough with the article to quit reading multiple times.

I also took some positive things out of this article, even though I totally disagree with the approach taken. I think that women are a very undervalued group in our society, and it is completely unfair to them. This article, abeit terribly written, helps people understand the problem of sexism in our society and want to change it.

Blog Post #7: How I’ve grown, what I’ve Learned

Coming out of high school, I was already very independent from my family and I knew how to care for myself. But like any normal person, I was nervous about fitting in and making new friends. At the start, it seemed like I couldn’t make friends with anyone and I began to feel very alone. Then some of my most important relationships from high school fell apart, and I was that much more alone. This semester was very rough for me at times, but I somehow managed to pull through.

I am big on loyalty when it comes to friendships, and I’ve always been there for my friends when I need them most. Well, this semester showed me who was there for me when I needed them. My best friend from high school up and quit talking to me, although she is here at ISU as well, and I’m still struggling to come to terms with that. But as some friends have left, I have built new relationships and strengthened a few older ones. I have learned to step out of my comfort zone and take chances when meeting new people, and it has really paid off. I’m a very social person, and I have always felt the need to have some people in my life. I have also wanted to be needed by someone. Nothing makes me happier then knowing that I can be the reason someone smiles, and over this semester, I have realized that I have a few friends here that do really need me in their lives. As people come and go, I have learned to ignore the hurt, and focus on the brightness that the new people bring into my life. I love that I can finally be happy everyday and not worry about depression sinking in.

In high school, I was known as the procrastinator that could whip up a 6 page paper in 2 hours and still get an A for it. I was good at writing what the teachers wanted to hear, and I was intelligent enough to finish assignments in a matter of minutes, so I never really focused on my school work. I was in 40 extra-curricular events yearly, and I had decided to focus on those, because they were what had created all of my greatest memories in high school. Now when I came to college, everything changed. I have a MUCH busier schedule now, and the school work is nearly tenfold. Because of this, I have learned how to manage my time better and now have a somewhat balanced life between studying, being social, and participating in extra-curricular activities. I’m still not the best student, but I am getting better each day, and I plan to continue my growth as a student.

I realize that now is the time that I need to be independent and make my own decisions as an individual, and this past semester has been me learning how to do so. I have been slowly stepping out of my comfort zone, and I feel as if I have had a nice amount of success this semester. I still have some doubts about my career path, but I am enjoying music classes. I just miss the agriculture side of life right now. I am considering picking up a second major in animal science or ag studies, but I’m not sure since I already have a pretty big schedule. This semester has been a huge learning period for me, and I feel as if I have made a lot of progress in becoming a better student and finding what I want out of life. I look forward to my next seven semesters here at Iowa State.

Blog Post #6: What Does The Hixson Award Mean To Me?

Oh gosh. There are so many ways I can go about this…Well, this is kind of embarrassing…Starting off, I thought of the award as just scholarship money helping me to not have to pay for college. I didn’t plan on putting much effort into the class, and that was that. I had made my mind up. But then when I got here, I joined the marching band and many other groups, but I hadn’t really made any friends, and I was VERY discouraged. I am an extrovert after all, and I love to be social and hang out with friends (hint hint section members). So after classes had started up, I had kinda given up on making friends (I know this is lame, but keep with me, it gets better). That is, until I met, well, you guys and gals. The class that I was originally the most reluctant to participate in, quickly became my favorite. As I got to know everyone in the section, I liked the class that much more, and I enjoyed hanging out with them. Soon enough, I was friends with all of them and knew I could count on them to be there for me. As I built these friendships, I started opening up to what they were saying in the master classes, and I realized the value of what they were actually saying. Over this semester, I have learned mountains of things about myself, things about others, and important things about my future that I really need to think about. I learned to be more open to different personalities and how we can all coexist without butting heads all the time. This Hixson Award has given me far more than I ever bargained for, and I really don’t think I can describe exactly what it means to me. It’s new friends, it’s a financial safety net, it’s free snacks and printing (haha), it’s leadership, it’s personal exploration, it’s caring about others although we know barely anything about each other, and it’s probably the one thing that made me grow most as a person this semester. I think my section said it best when we said that the Hixson Award means that we have someone to lean on, whether it be our classmates, mentors, guest speakers, main leaders, or even Christina Hixson herself, and that’s quite amazing to me. I’m not really sure where I would be without this Award today, and I really cannot express how grateful I am to have been given this opportunity.

Blog Post #5: Cultural Diversity

Living in Iowa, diversity is DEFINITELY not something that we think about everyday. Living in small town Iowa, I lived with about 6,000 people that lived life almost exactly the same as I did and nobody really took the time to explain exactly how diverse this world is. Now that I am at Iowa State, I have been subjected to every kind of diversity possible, and It has really shown me a thing or two about diversity.

I think that my reaction to the conversation about diversity in class was not very strong. Not because it is a boring topic, but I feel that it was approached rather poorly. The given examples were rather controversial and everyone just ended up in a rather awkward argument about the logistics of the topic. I’m not 100% sure on how this could have been done better, but I feel that I did not learn very much from it except that there are many different types of people out there and that we need to make sure to try to be as inclusive as possible when planning events for a diverse group of people.

I don’t think I necessarily had my outlook on diversity changed, mainly because I tend to be a rather inclusive and diverse person in general. I mean, my two biggest loves are agriculture and music for crying out loud! Both completely different, yet near and dear to me. I think that when it comes to diversity, everyone should be valued and included in an event, and it’s the leaders of the group who have to work to make this happen.

I believe that diversity is VERY important to our culture and education. Being subjected to diverse crowds, we learn new things about different cultures, and see what life is like outside of our own. With these different types of people in our lives, we get to learn why people act the way we do, which can help us be more open to accepting their actions and trying to include others in activities. A society cannot grow without diversity, because everyone is virtually the same and cannot continue to learn new things and accept each others’ differences.

3 things I realized:

1. When I plan events, I generally plan them for me and others with similar characteristics of me. As we covered this, I realized that, when I plan events, I need to be more thoughtful of everyone in the group and try to include them all.

2. I usually like to stick with what I’m comfortable with, and diversity is something that can make people VERY uncomfortable. I realized that I need to be more willing to learn about diversity and subject myself more to it so I can grow as an individual and also help advance society.

3. I do not fully understand the concept of diversity quite yet, and I feel that I may learn more as the next 4 years progress. I am new to diversity and have a long way to go before I fully understand it.

2 Things I want to think about more:

1. When I hear something about a person that I consider odd, I want to take into consideration their cultural background and how different it is from mine. I don’t want to judge them, but to think about it more and recognize that their differences are what make the world so different and colorful.

2. When planning an event, I want to think about every person in the group and strive to involve everyone before I decide on a plan.

1 Thing I will do:

1. I plan to learn more about diversity so I can be more knowledgeable about differences among people. This will help me understand different people and possibly be able to make more friends because of it.

Well, that’s all for now. Ta-Ta-For-Now!

Blog Post #4: Social Media Week

Okay, social media week. Well, needless to say, I’m not that big of a fan of it. I prefer to spend my time out and about with friends or getting my hands dirty while working. Social media, although I have multiple accounts, is not a huge part of who I am, but I did learn a few things from social media week that just might help me in the future.

The social media account that I decided to create was a LinkedIn account. Starting the profile and filling out the information about myself was easy enough, but once I got to looking for connections related to my major, things got a LOT more confusing. The page wouldn’t let me connect to other people of similar majors to mine, and finding them wasn’t exactly the easiest thing either. After a while, I found a few things and pages that were similar to my interests. I learned that there are MASSIVE amounts of people using LinkedIn, and I learned that this website is a great way to find connections in your field of study. I also learned how to describe myself as a person in the most professional possible way, and how to make myself the most marketable I can. I would say my favorite part of creating the LinkedIn account, is how extensive of information it asks from you. This creates something much more in depth than a regular resume, and it really shows employers what kind of person you are.

At the beginning of the week, I was very against this project due to it’s requirement to spend so much time staring at a computer screen, but as I learned more about social media, I realized how vital this can be to my future. I’m still not too big of a fan of LinkedIn, but it did help show me the importance of social media when it comes to careers.

One way I think that social media can help me reach my goals is that it can connect me to virtually anyone in this world that can help me land my dream job, and do what I love for the rest of my life. It creates the ability to speak with potential employers, and see what is out there for jobs.

Overall, I think that social media week really helped me learn how to connect online and really view my options for employment from a completely different point of view. It also taught me how to put myself out there and show future employers just how valuable of an employee I can be. I’m glad for this week’s project because I feel that it will help us someday in the future.

Blog Post #3: My Goals/Bucket List

Alright, so, goals. I’ve never really thought very far into the future, but I do have an idea of where I want to be and where I want to go. I am a person that likes to be free of schedules, and sticking to one single plan for the rest of my life, seems like an idea that I’m not partial to. With that being said, I do have a general list of things I wish to do in my life.

One of my biggest goals has always been to be successful. I’m the first person out of my family ever to go to college, and there’s a lot riding on how well I do here at ISU that determines whether I make something out of myself, or become like the rest of my family. I have found a large love for music over the last few years, and I decided that I want to share the wonderful world of music with other people, so my goal is to leave here with a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in music education. I plan on doing both degrees right away so I can get a better job right away, because, in the music world, the higher the degree, the better chances you’ll get a job. Most music jobs require a P.H.D. so getting my master’s now, will really help me in the future. I think that music is a valuable part of everyone’s lives, so sharing it with people will be the perfect career choice.

I also have a few more goals. I plan on finding a wife and having four children, and may adopt more. I grew up with my mom in and out of the hospital, so I stayed in many foster homes that helped me grow and develop as an individual, and I feel that it’s my responsibility to pay that back to society, and give a child like me, a chance to feel loved and like they have a home.

I plan to graduate college with at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA, get a job at a college or high school teaching instrumental music, make $60,000 starting salary, eventually get my doctorate degree in music, get a country home, have livestock, be an active member in the FFA, and spend my days in a small country town with a quiet type of living.

Another one of my goals is to find who I am as a person. Often times, I leave decisions up to the people around me in an attempt to make them happy, and I want to improve my decision making skills and become a better leader. Okay, so those are my goals, now for a list of things I want to do that I keep in my “bucket”.

I am a very….colorful person, so my bucket list has a lot of flamboyant things that are probably unrealistic, but you never know. A big thing to do is travel the world. I love seeing beautiful places that God created for us, and I’d like to explore different cultures to see how the world is so different from the life I know. Some smaller things would be to have an AWESOME marriage proposal plan for my future wife, hit every big amusement park in the continental USA, and write a song for my family someday. As of right now, I think this is about all I have for goals and “buckets” so….yeah. Bye!!!

Blog Post #2: What I learned about myself through MBTI

So before classes started, all the Hixson scholars had to take a test that pinpointed certain aspects of their personalities to show what their tendencies were. This last week, we got the results and went over what the letters each of us got really meant while in class. The four letters used to describe my personality  are ENFP. Each of these letters mean an individual thing about me.

The letter “E” stands for “Extroversion,” meaning that I tend to focus my attention on the outer world of people and things. This is the opposite of introversion. It means that I am a social person, and I tend to be stimulated by outer world things. My second letter, “N,” stands for “Intuition.” This means that I tend to take information in by seeing patterns and the big picture, with a focus on future possibilities. It means I tend to be quite imaginative and I have ideas come out of nowhere. My third letter is “F.” This letter means that I tend to make my decisions based on how I’m feeling rather than what I’m thinking. I apply my values and morals before making a decision, I am trusting, and I value warmth in relationships. My final letter is “P.” P stands for perception, the way I deal with the world. This letter explains the way I take on life every single day. The packet says that I am open minded, I adapt and change, I am curious and spontaneous, and I sense outwardly. These letters together, stated that I value a life of variety, I brainstorm to solve problems, I am optimistic and and enthusiastic, and that I am creative. It states that I am a person that makes work light and playful by inspiration.

I was quite amazed at everything that I learned about myself through this activity. I have always known myself quite well, but I never realized some of the things I’ve done in my life have direct relations to this, and I find that crazy. I also found it really awesome how our instructors talked about how we didn’t always stay at those four letters, and we try other ones, but return to our favorite ones where we are most comfortable. I feel that this activity was really helpful in helping us scholars understand who we are as individuals a bit more, and why we get along better with certain kinds of people, and not so well with others.

Blog post #1: Me at My Best

So apparently I have to write about a time where I was at my best in life….Well, here goes nothing. I would say that the time I was at my best would have been my Junior year in high school. It had seemed like everything in life was going for me at that time, and I’m not 100% sure why. I definitely remember this being the happiest year of my life, so let’s reflect back on some of the possible reasons for that. I attended Aplington-Parkersburg High School, and I was a very active student. At that time in my life, my extracurriculars included concert band, jazz band, junk percussion, solo/ensemble competition (I was in 5 events including a solo), marching band, honor bands (Including All-State for my second time), FFA, Student government, Large group speech (group mime and one act play), Fall musical, Spring play, football, wrestling, tennis, 4-H, RCYF (youth group), 180 (another youth group), book club, TAG, and National Honor Society. Although all of these things kept me very busy, I was making a large amount of my favorite memories while participating in them with some really amazing people. I was big on playing my trumpet at the time and, in my own opinion, I thought I was pretty darn good at it too. I also was very close with God at the time, and that really helped me alleviate any stress I had almost immediately. Aside from all those extra activities, I spent most of my free time with my best friend, Jodie. I would go out to the farm and help her family with chores, and then just hang around their house and just hang out with her. We got along very well and we knew each other better than anyone. Jodie was 4.0 and at the top of our class, so I ended up looking up to how she went about doing things, especially school stuff, and I tried to emulate that to make myself a better student. I actually ended up noticing a huge improvement in my grades, and just an overall better sense of organization over my life. At this point in my life, the feeling I had at my “best” is really indescribable. I had felt like God had given me everything that I could ever want plus some. The way I always felt so happy was almost overpowering. At that point in my life, I had everything set up together and  just the way I wanted them to be, and I feel like that may be why I view my junior year of high school where I was at “my best”.

And now I’m supposed to write how I can translate that feeling of preparation and accomplishment into my first college semester? Boy, you folks don’t make this easy, do you?

Well, since my junior year, I have become more organized and I’m definitely a better student now. I actually study and make sure I have my homework done, and I really give my best effort on my assignments, which is something that DEFINITELY never used to happen. I notice, as this semester starts, I am getting my assignments done and I’m really focused on doing well in my classes. My junior year was also a big turning point for my social life. I used to tend to be a social misfit (still kind of am), and my junior year was really when I started to talk to more people and make lots of new friends. Coming into college, this has helped as well because it’s really helped me start to fit in right away here and make some new friends. The preparation that I had also helped me get into the Symphonic band, Jazz 1 band, and the Varsity Marching band which I am extremely grateful for. I feel that my junior year of high school really helped me out, and prepared me for college as I started a new chapter of my life here at Iowa State.