"This is Broken"

I'm sure everyone has seen something that they saw as "broken" in Seth Godin's terms. The one thing that I see as "broken" happens to relate to school, so it's kind of like a two for one deal! I can answer both questions by my story! So when I was still going to school in Gwinnett, I noticed that many of the kids who got in trouble the most were the students who were recognized by the staff the most. Of course, this makes sense because they see them in their office all the time so of course they recognize them... But when I say recognize... I mean they will be called out of the hallway just to have a chit chat and joke around! This seems broken to me! You would think that in high school, the people who would get the most recognition and who the staff would like the most would be the kids who stay out of trouble and do well in school... but apparently not! The reason I think this is broken is because by acting like their friend, the staff is only promoting the students to keep coming back to their office. I believe that in school, the staff should obviously help the bad kids stay out of trouble, but try to encourage the good kids to keep trying and show some interest in them since they are going to be going places with their life! I believe this is something that needs to be fixed ASAP because it seems to be becoming more and more common that the staff are forming relationships with the bad kids while the good kids just slip under the radar!

HMP Essential Question

For my project, my question is "What physical ailments can swimmers anticipate to encounter?" 

Why did you select this as your essential question?  
I have been swimming since I was 4 years old. It has always been a major part of my life, but I have had many injuries and infections due to the work outs and the chlorine. I think it would be interesting to find out what swimmers can expect and also how to avoid these many injuries. Also, in my research, I hope to find out what swimmers can do to rehabilitate their injuries or cure their infections once they have them.


What excites you most about finding the answer to this essential question?  
I am excited to find out all the different injuries that swimmers are prone to! I know I have lower back problems, shoulder problems, and have had swimmer's ear many times. However, I would love to see what the professional swimmers have to deal with. Also, I am excited to find out the many different cures to everything there is. Maybe I can find out how to help my back and shoulders with my information!


Do you feel that this question accurately reflects a desire/need that you have to find out more about this topic?
Swimming is what I do. I have always swam and just accepted the fact that I will have injuries. However, because swimming is such a big part of my life, I believe it is important that I find out what steps I can take to make sure I don't injure myself further. Also, I think it is important to spread information about the effects chlorine can have on you not only physically but find out if it can affect your body chemistry! 

Two Period Assignment: My Hero

From my childhood, I can only think of one person who really stands out as someone who has always been there and has never given up on me, and that is my wonderful mother. I wouldn’t describe her life as “hard”, “trivial”, or “underprivileged”, but she has certainly had her fair share of hard times, and she has always remained strong and made it through. When she was a thirteen year old seventh grader, she moved with her parents from Kettering, Ohio to Peachtree City, Georgia. By then, her older sister and brother were already married or away at school, so she was basically an only child. She says that the hardest part of the move was moving away from her entire family to a new state where she knew no one. She says that her parents helped her through this time the most. Before she formed her own group of friends, she went shopping, on vacations, and to dinner with her parents. However, the move made one major negative impact on her life, she developed anorexia.

The winter after she moved, my mom caught chicken pox. She had a really bad case and lost her appetite almost completely. My mom was chubby as a child. When she was better, she thought “wow, I’ve lost a lot of weight!” and decided to continue with her “diet”. She would eat an apple or an ice cream sandwich every day to calm her hunger cravings, at least a little bit. My granny knew that my mom had a problem, but she didn’t know how to handle it. My mom says that Granny never forced her to eat, but they would go to Burger King every Friday and my mom would binge. That next Thanksgiving, my mom’s family went back to Ohio. Seeing her family and friends again, my mom realized how many people loved her just the way she was and she ate a full meal, and never went back to her habits. Throughout her yearlong battle, she lost 30 lbs. She got down to 90 lbs.

Later in life, my mom had an ectopic pregnancy. She had married my dad and had my older sister, Katherine, by then. Katherine was almost three when my mom found out that she was pregnant again. Not long after, she began spotting and knew something was wrong. She went to the doctor and found out that the fetus was lodged in her fallopian tube and would most likely not survive. Her doctor gave her a drug commonly used for cancer treatment to force a miscarriage since the fetus did not have a heartbeat, yet. My mom took this very hard, because she became sick after and wasn’t sure if she would be able to have any more children. However, she was eventually cleared to try again, and she quickly became pregnant with another baby, me. When I asked her about this whole experience, she said that she prayed continuously and just kept faith that God would answer her prayers. She says that I am her little miracle. She realizes that if everything had worked out with the other baby, she never would have had me and her whole life would be different. She said that her family was very supportive of her throughout everything and that they helped a lot when it came to moving on and accepting her fate.

Although my mom has been through a lot, she says the hardest thing she has had to go through is the death of Granny. When Granny was put in the hospital after hitting her head, we were all in Kansas for my cousin’s wedding. The day she was hospitalized, we were scheduled to head home. However, my mom stayed behind for a week to spend time with Granny. When she got home, she planned another trip to see Granny, because Granny wasn’t stable and she knew she wasn’t going to make it. Two weeks later, right before my mom went back to Kansas, Granny died. It was really hard on my mom, but she stayed strong enough to plan the service and put Granny’s house on the market. After the service, my mom broke down. She wanted to be alone and slept a lot. She said that when she was lying in bed, she would pray and talk to Granny and ask her to stay with her to help her through it. She said that she had a lot of dreams about Granny and she knew it was Granny telling her that she was okay and my mom had to be with us. I know that these dreams and my mom’s alone time helped her through this hard time because she was able to think about everything and move on on her own terms. Although it is still hard not having Granny around, it is easier, because my mom has her family to support her and help her when she starts to feel the pain.

My mom is my hero not only because of the things she has been through, but also because of the things she has helped me through. I have certainly had my times where I felt like giving up and like I was going nowhere, but she has always pushed me on and helped me through. She has never told me that I can’t do something and helps me to believe in myself. She has been the best mother that anyone can ask for. Her hugs can make everything disappear and her back scratches are to die for. If an encouraging, loving mother isn’t a hero, I don’t know what is. Without her, I wouldn’t be attending Western Carolina University in the fall and I wouldn’t have made it through all of the drama of high school to become the person I am today.

TED talks!

Our assignment for this week was to listen to Sir Ken Robinson's speech about revolutionizing learning. He focused on how educational institutes should not just be changed around a little bit, but completely changed. After listening to his speech, we are to reflect on this video and to answer these response questions:

1. What would you pursue or study if you had unlimited time and resources?

 If I had unlimited time, I would want to study the psychology of young children. I am very interested in how specific events affect how a child develops. I also find it interesting how kids respond differently to things that happen in their life. I would love to have a career in that sort of thing, and to help the kids who may have a harder time adjusting to new circumstances. I would also love to discover how people can help change the effects that events may have on the children.

2. Which has more influence, Aptitude or Attitude, and Why?

 I believe that a person's attitude is more influential of where they will end up in the long run. A person could have a high IQ and a lot of potential, but not have the drive to put those talents to good use. If someone doesn't have the desire to use their talents and to go far in life, then it won't happen.

3. Do you think that our current grading system needs to be abolished? What alternative do you recommend?

 I think that our grading system should be based more on how we get our points across. The way math, science, and social studies are graded can't really be changed because those involve cold, hard facts. In math, if you get the wrong answer, it is because you didn't follow the formula correctly, that can't be changed. In science, life happens the way it does and you have to be able to understand those processes. In social studies, a president was president in specific years, and that can't be changed. However, in language arts, teachers shouldn't focus so much on if the student correctly uses MLA style or if they miss a comma or two. Teachers should focus more on if the student understands the question, and if they are able to explain their thoughts with valid proof from whatever work they are referencing. In the real world, when the student isn't writing essays to explain their thoughts, they will have to use their words and if they can't do that, they won't go very far.

4. Some of the HMP class goals are: to help students develop time management skills, foster a sense of independence and accountability, and real life problem solving. This class requires a lot of student motivation since you are not meeting with a teacher on a daily basis. What areas of improvement or areas of personal growth has this class brought to your attention (time management, procrastination, self advocacy, computer skills, writing or communicating deficits, etc.)?

I have definitely learned through this experience how to communicate with others. I have learned that to be efficient, you need to have more than one way of getting in touch. If an emergency comes up and I am not near a computer, I need to be able to call my mentor and let them know that I won't be able to come in. Also, I have learned how to balance my mentorship and my crazy school and swim calendar to my best ability, of course, I have some improving to do, but I'm getting there! Finally, I have learned the VALUE of communication. If I never spoke with the women I mentor with, I wouldn't have the same experience. Not only have I gotten to see a little bit of what a nurse does, but these wonderful women have taught me life lessons that I will never forget. If I had just done what I was told to do, and not tried to get to know them all, I wouldn't have learned the value of a tight family-like atmosphere in the work place.

College!

The assignment this week was to complete a survey on collegeboard.com to find the perfect schools for us. Of course, I already know what schools I want to go to and have already applied, but it's still a good idea to look at these kinds of things. In the survey they asked what size school, if you want sororities or fraternities, what majors, what kind of scholarships, etc. In my results, I received many schools I had heard of such as Alabama and Tennessee, but also schools I had never heard of such as Winston-Salem University and Alcorn State University.

 

 

1. List 3 colleges you would apply for with the degree program you will need to enter the field you are studying in HMP.

-University of South Carolina

-Western Carolina University

-North Georgia College and State University

 

2. What will be your criteria for a quality program of study?

-The Graduation rates from the nursing program and scores on the final exams are very important to me because they show if a program is successful or not. Also, a hospital nearby with an intern program through the school is very important to me.

3. Which universities would have the criteria you came up with?

-University of South Carolina and Western Carolina both have very high scores on the final exam and both have wonderful intern programs.

4. Is there additional entrance requirements for your field of study?

-At Western Carolina, it is necessary to have at least a 500 on the writing portion of the SAT, and usually extra curriculars and a high GPA are important to be considered for any nursing program.

5. What is your criteria for a "quality" ranking and educational program (size, location, diversity, funding)? 

-I would say that at least 30 people accepted each year would be ideal in a smaller school and near a hospital is very important! Also, scholarships for the program may be necessary for when I go back to school to specialize further.

6. What is the ranking for this program nation wide and what criteria is used to determine that ranking?

-Nursing programs nation wide are very popular. The University of South Carolina has a nursing program that is ranked 79th in the nation, and Western Carolina University has a program with a ranking of 295, but they have a very good program.

What's Your Sentence?

I'm late, I'm late, I'm very very late!

    Being a Senior, I have to worry about applying for college and it is a stressful time! I have to decide where you want to go, how I’m going to get there (scores and transportation), and if it’s where I want to spend the next four years of my life. It’s hard to decide these things. I am super close to my family and am afraid of being too far from them, but my dream school is 3 ½ hours away! I also have to decide if I want to be in a sorority, if I want a single or double room, and which meal plan I’ll get! I’ve never had to make such big decisions on my own in my entire life. I have had to grow up so fast and it’s scaring me to death! However, that’s not all I have to worry about. I have school… then my mentor… then homework for an hour… swim practice… more homework… then bed. But, on top of all of this… I have to find time to be a teenager! Through this experience, I’ve learned time management skills that I’m sure I will keep for the rest of my life. I have to manage it just right to fit in everything that I want and HAVE to do.  So now, not only do I have to grow up in just a matter of months, but I also have to manage my time as if I am already an adult! I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I know that I can!


How I feel now:

How I'll feel when this process is over:



Money Issues

   This weeks assignment dealt with an exerpt about money problems that we had to read and respond to. These questions and answers are my responses to the exerpt.

1. What do you think this means?

         I believe that “We do not break the bad habit of debt through earning more money, but rather we break any habit by replacing it with a better one” means that those who have problems with money need to decrease unnecessary spending, rather than just getting more money. If anyone is irresponsible with their money, then having more money just means that they will have more money to be irresponsible with. Also, if someone is in debt already, having more money won’t necessarily help, because they are still in debt, regardless. If people replace their bad money habits with good ones (such as only spending on necessities, looking for sales, etc), then they will have less debt and be better off in the long run.

2. Are you worried about getting into financial trouble as you get older?

            I am kind of worried about getting into financial trouble only because I have never had a credit card and I don’t really know much about how they work. Also, I want to be able to spend my money on fun things, but as I get older, I’ll need to be more careful about what I spend my money on, which will be an adjustment. However, I know that my parents will always be there if I have any questions about how to spend my money or how credit cards work, so I’m sure I will be fine!

3. Does money factor in to your culminating project/or career path you have chosen? If so, how? Should money be a major consideration in choosing your life’s path?

           As a nurse, I will not be handling money directly, however I may do some charity work on the side, which will deal with money. When I grow older, I hope to be involved in volunteer work to help raise money for children who have terminal illnesses which will involve fundraising which directly deals with money.
            I don’t think that money should be the reason that you follow a certain career path. If you get stuck in a job that you don’t enjoy but gives you a lot of money, you will just be rich and miserable. I would rather have a job that earns me a fair amount of money but that I am extremely passionate about.

Personal Statement: Goal for the Future

I will find the humor in life, when people try to break my down I will laugh it off and be secure in the person I am.
I will help those in need in whatever means it takes, everyone deserves a chance.
I will love unconditionally and forgive easily, there's no point in holding a grudge, people can change.


     During this adventure otherwise known as Honors Mentorship, I hope to gain knowledge of what is expected of me in the nursing career. I hope to form a bond with my mentor and the other people I work with so that in the future if I ever need to get advice from someone, I have a good group that I can trust to give me the best professional advice about my problem. I will accept the challenge of reinstating my mentor’s confidence in my generation and proving that one bad seed doesn’t affect how the rest of us react in the same situation. I will do everything that my mentor asks of me, and never let them down. If I feel like I’m just sitting around, I will find someone and ask them what I can do to help out; I never want to spend my time doing nothing, I want to get everything I can out of this experience.
    From this experience, I hope to discover if nursing is truly my passion. Also, I hope to learn all of the different kinds of nurse I can be, and to find out if there is another specialty that I feel will fit me better than anesthesiology. During my time with my mentor, I plan to see many different cases and how to treat each one specifically. When I go to college, I know that this journey will make me more secure in my passions and help me to achieve my goals in the nursing field; I will have a one-up on the competition.

Do You Accept The Challenge?!

    I just watched a video and read an article of Shawn Achor talking about how to be a happier person. In the article, Mr. Achor pointed out that many people base their happiness on success, he then said to look at all the famous actors of Hollywood and see how many of them are actually happy. I never thought of this! I, for one, am definitely guilty of saying “I’ll be happy when…” but then once I achieve that, “I will be even happier when…” I never realized how toxic that can truly be. In the video, he tells a story about how his sister “magically” falls off her bunk bed and hurts herself, and he consoles her and tells her she must be a unicorn based on the way she landed. After this entertaining story, he relates it back to the main idea of the video which is the advances in positive psychology. Positive psychology focuses on avoiding being average and focusing on being different. He encourages people to focus on the positives, rather than the next challenge. Mr. Achor then says that only 25% of jobs are acquired based on IQ, while the other 75% is based on positivity, performance, happiness, and intelligence. At the end of his video and article, Mr. Achor discusses five different things you can do for 21 days to train your brain to be more positive. The 21 days challenge is to pick one of these ways, and to focus on it, and do it.

The five things are:

1. Write down three new things you are grateful for each day.

2. Write for 2 minutes a day describing one positive experience you had over the past 24 hours.

3. Exercise for 10 minutes a day.

4. Meditate for 2 minutes, focusing on your breath going in and out.

5. Write one, quick email first thing in the morning thanking or praising a member on your team.

I am very interested in taking part in the 21 day challenge. For the next 21 days, I am going to write down three things I am grateful for, because Mr. Achor says that this will help my brain to look for the positive things in life automatically rather than the negative. Any of these activities would be beneficial to someone who is in search of happiness, and let’s be honest, who isn’t? Doing any one of these things for 21 days will help improve your mental health and in effect, make you a happier person.

What's My Directionality?

    Recently, all of the students in the Honors Mentorship Program took a survey about what our communication styles are and how it affects the way we interact with others. The results of my survey told me that I am considered Spirited. Being spirited means that I am not only opinionated, but I am also persuasive, it also means that I am very animated in my speech and use a lot of movements when it comes to my body language. In the packet that we received talking about the different styles, it covered all four of the different kinds. Using this packet, we learned how to communicate with others who may not share our communication techniques. For example, if I wanted to communicate with someone who is Direct, I would need to just get straight to the point of what I want to talk to them about and make sure that I maintain eye contact and act sure of what I’m saying. Learning how to talk to people with different styles will help me to be a great leader. When I am talking to a huge group, I could use aspects from all the different styles. Also, to be a leader, you have to be able to understand why people react the way they do to things you say, and how you can reword it to make it easier for them to understand. When it comes to my style, however, there are disadvantages. I may generalize when talking about something or gloss over details that I feel aren’t important but are important to whoever I am communicating with. I may also be overdramatic and respond negatively to criticism that could be beneficial to me in the end.
     Last week, all of the students went to a church near our districts and met up for a Lapdog Retreat. I believe this retreat brought us all together but also helped us apply everything we learned from our directionality results. We broke up into groups and took part in multiple activities. I believe the most important activity was this one where we laid dots on the floor and basically played “don’t step on the lava”. After each round, we would take away 3 dots and move 1. We set a goal in the beginning to get it down to 15 dots. In this activity, we all had to work together, get close, and share ideas about how we were going to reach our common goal. This was really fun because we got to hear how everyone else thinks, and we all worked together and finally reached our goal!

     When it comes to trusting myself, I have a hard time sometimes. I feel like I can achieve whatever I want, but when the time comes, I may psych myself out and feel like I can’t. However, I also have a hard time trusting others. When I open up about myself I worry that the person I am talking to might judge me, or twist my words and cause me problems. Once someone has my trust, they have it forever; if they break that trust, then it’s really hard to get it back. But I think it’s harder to be the person who is being trusted. When someone enlists their trust on you, it is a very important thing to fight to keep. If you let that person down, you could cause problems for them or they may decide that you aren’t the person they thought you were and it can result in a conflict. Also, sometimes you feel like someone has told you something that you feel you shouldn’t keep to yourself and then you have to decide if giving up their trust is worth it or not, which is a stressful situation.

Opportunity Knocks

  This is my first time blogging, and I feel like maybe I won't do so great, but it's all a learning experience, right? I recently read a document about how I should act and how I should look when I meet my mentor for the first time. It's kind of a scary thought, I don't know anything about who I am mentoring with, I don't even know their name! But some of the points in the document stuck with me. For example, it said to smile when I meet my mentor. That makes sense! Of course I want to start on a good note so I would definitely have to smile! Another thing was to have a firm handshake. I've been told this many times but I feel like my handshakes always fall flat because I get so nervous. It would probably be a good idea to start practicing so that when I meet my mentor, they'll know that I am a confident individual and that they have nothing to worry about, I'll be the best student they'll ever have! The document said to talk about school and myself rather than friends and family. I don't think I would have originally thought of that, I always seem to talk about my family! But it does make sense that my mentor is going to want to get to know me, not necessarily my family!
   Another part of my assignment was to listen to a podcast called Opportunity Knocks from Fox Buisness School. The podcast talked about how to approach your first job or, in my case, a mentorship. The woman said to dress appropriately and to seem professional at all times. I'm going to have to be sure to act professional because I will be a high school student working with older educated people in a hospital environment, I don't want to be looked down on! Although she had a lot of good points, I think the one thing that really stuck with me is that she said to "talk 20% and listen 80%." I thought that she had a very good point! I know how easy it is to get carried away and start adding your own opinion to things, but when you are taking part in a learning opportunity as great as Honors Mentorship, you want to get everything you can from it. I feel honored to have this chance and I know that by listening to my mentor and soaking in everything he/she has to teach me, I can get a great experience out of this!