New Plan for the Semester Project

            Previously for my semester-long project, I was working with a classmate to go out to local schools to teach them about wellness and nutrition. However, we ran into a pretty major issue—we only got one response back from schools. We got an email written and sent out to around five schools near campus. After four or five days, we got a response from a school saying basically that they already had a sports trainer at the school to teach the athletes. Well, we had hoped to not only help athletes, but also the general physical education classes. Also, we had figured it would be better for the kids to hear from people closer to their age to help it sink in and be more relatable. But no matter, if they didn’t want us to come, that was fine, because we had other school options that we could visit. We thought this until we never heard back from any of the other schools. So, it was back to the drawing board for our project.

             I wrestled with the idea of writing a little book, like a “Wellness for Dummies” type thing or making a wellness pamphlet, but I felt like that wouldn’t be as impactful as I would’ve hoped. I struggled to figure out what to do until I talked to some of my other classmates about what they were doing. In our class, a small group of people are spending their twenty hours on learning a second language on a website/app called Duolingual.

            When they told me about this, I knew it was exactly what I wanted to do. I had fallen in love with Spanish in high school. Originally, I signed up for Spanish because I was required to take two foreign language classes, and I felt that Spanish was the most logical language to take. However, soon after joining the class, I was hooked. I ended up taking Spanish 1, 2, and, because enough of us signed up for it, they created a Spanish 3 class for us. Then, once again, because enough of us wanted to take it, they created an AP Spanish class. The idea of learning a whole new language, one that most people in your area did not know was crazy. The notion of how cultures in different areas developed a way of communication totally different from the one you know, and the fact that it’s just different ways of moving and using your mouth to communicate with one another in ways that are no way similar but meaning the same thing blows my mind to think about. Also, the idea that other people think in a varying language is amazing.  The fact I could learn a second language and be able to experience this was exhilarating.

            Languages are really cool.

            So, my plan now is to spend my twenty hours working on Spanish. So far I have an 11-day streak on Duolingual (which is a really helpful and easy way to learn the language), and I will continue to take the lessons to hopefully better understand Spanish.

The Compassion Experience

As part of the Honors Colloquium class, we have to get out of our dorm rooms and get involved with something on or around campus. My wonderful Resident Advisor is always trying to give us opportunities to get out and have fun. We have done and or are trying to set up activities like volunteering at the local animal shelter, going bowling, doing trail cleanup, and working at the Boys and Girls Club that is in town. We always have a really great time, and it’s is nice to help out the community and get to know people better. So, when my RA told me about an experience called Compassion, I was very eager to go.

The Compassion Experience’s slogan is “Experience Another World Without Leaving Yours”. This is because the purpose is to give you a glimpse of what it is like for children living in poverty-stricken, violent countries in South and Central America, Asia, and Africa. They set up rooms you walk through to resemble those of the children’s. From the floors to the ceilings and everything in between, they had props and actual possessions and pictures from each child to make it feel real. They also gave you a pair of headphones attached to an iPhone that would play a different recording of the child talking and telling his/her story based on the room you were in. I felt like I had walked into a different world. There were three childrens’ stories that you could go to when we went: Carlos, Kiwi, and Olive. We were only able to make it to Carlos and Kiwi; unfortunately we ran out of time.

Carlos was from Guatemala. He was forced to work with his father at a very young age and for many hours a day to get by. His father dealt with their rough situation by turning to alcoholism. It was this alcoholism that killed him, leaving Carlos and his mother to fend for themselves. They struggled to make enough money to survive, but there was never enough to fully feed them. Carlos felt like he had the obligation as the man of the house to work and provide for them, so he worked as much as he could doing anything for money. Eventually, he was able to go to the center that Compassion International had set up in the town, where he was able to eat, be sponsored by a family in another country, and learn about God’s love for him, which helped both he and his mother to stay strong enough to survive. Carlos made it to adulthood and was able to get a good job to make enough money to live a good life.

Kiwi lived in the Philippines with her younger sister, mother, and father. She had three older brothers, but none of them survived past childhood. Her father is an alcoholic and her family struggles to get by through selling fruit at the market. Her mother often considers moving to another country, where jobs await, but Kiwi and her little sisters talk her out of it. They move to another city in hope of better job opportunities, where they have to deal with bad flooding that brings sewage, trash, and dead rats into their house. One day, their father attends a sermon dealing with how God will protect and take care of them. The revelation makes him stop drinking, and they become a Christian family. They are helped by Compassion International, along with Kiwi’s sponsor, and Kiwi eventually grows up, goes to college to be a physical therapist, and gets married.

Compassion International goes and sets up places where kids get the chance to be kids and to learn about God. At the end of each story, they had another room filled with pictures of kids around the world in need of a sponsor. The sponsor would send money each month to help the child and his/her family get by in the name of God. Overall, the experience was amazing, intriguing, and eye-opening. It made me appreciate all the things, I realize now, that I took for granted, and made me aware that problems like this exist and are very real for many people. It brings me hope that organizations like Compassion International are trying to help. Maybe, one day, we can help all the people in need to have better lives, even if it means having a pair of shoes or a hot meal.

Semester Service Project

            For our Honors Colloquium class this semester, each person has to do a community service project that takes up at least 20 hours of his or her time and that has to do with his or her interests. My classmates are all doing really interesting projects. There is one creating a book on stress relievers, another making a suicide awareness video, a small group knitting scarves for the homeless, a couple volunteering at the local hospitals, one making buttons to raise awareness about sexuality, and the list goes on. With my interest in running and music, I had no idea what I could do. Thankfully, John, a nutrition major and also an ultra-marathoner in the class, asked if I wanted to join up with him to do a project together.

            So, our project will be to join our knowledge of living a healthy life to teach to members of the community. We are hoping to be able to go to local schools around the area and teach kids either in the regular physical education classes or athletes on teams like cross country or track or both about living active, healthy lives. We would discuss topics such as: nutrition/eating healthily, injury prevention, getting and staying motivated to exercise, why being active is important, and why we run, hoping to encourage people to be more fit. We are hoping to get to all age groups—elementary, middle, and high school. Of course, we would have to vary what and how we taught based on the age group, but I think the earlier we can get kids regularly exercising and eating well the better.

            Our first step is to email the schools around us. This will enable us to make sure we could even come to the schools in the first place, allow for us to discuss timing and days when we got permission, and then work out any other specifics that may come up. After we got the ok from the principles, John and I would have to really plan out what we would say and how we would go about teaching it. A PowerPoint may work for the older kids, but not so much the younger kids, so we would have to figure out how to accommodate for the ages. Once we get all that figured out, we would proceed to go to the schools and teach the kids.

Hopefully, all goes well with our plan. We do have some backup plans in case this one falls through, but I really hope we can do this. I think this would be really fun, because this kind of project is a lot like what I want to end up doing as a personal trainer. I want to help get and maintain motivation in people to help them achieve the level of health they desire. This kind of service project would not only be good for the kids to learn, but also for me to get some experience.

Reece Museum

            Today I visited the on-campus gallery called the Reece Museum. The museum has been around for more than 80 years, and it has showcased the history, stories, culture, and contemporary art of the Appalachian region. Honestly, I would have never gone into this place if I didn’t have to for class, but I was very glad I did in the end, because it was amazing. I ran out of time and didn’t make it all the way through the museum, but I wound up going back and finishing going through it.

            The exhibit I most enjoyed was the thought-inspiring FL3TCH3R Exhibit (Fletcher Exhibit). It contains social and politically engaged art, and it was made in memory of the former ETSU student Fletcher H. Dyer, who was killed in a motorcycle accident when he was 22. His works contain deep messages about societal and political issues like AIDS, rape, race, the most recent presidential elections, sex slavery, and violence. In the exhibit, there were all forms of art like paintings, sculptures, cloth use, wood use, mirrors, and interactive pieces.

            One of the pieces that struck me most was a black and white photograph. In this photograph was a black man sitting on the side of the road in a lawn chair with the confederate flag. With as much racial issues as our country and the world has seen, I was slightly taken aback by the idea that some blacks might’ve been on the side of the confederates when the civil war was going on. Now, I don’t know about that for sure, but the photograph was very thought provoking.

            Another work that I found particularly interesting was a piece done with a book. A large book lays open. The pages are dusted in black spray paint, and there is a half covered quote on the book that you can’t really make out. In the center of the open book are two smaller pages from The Catcher in the Rye and the pages talk about how life is a game. Placed on top of these pages are see-through mesh with words on it. You can’t out some of the words but one side says something along the lines of, “I am so deep in life I cannot hear the clear signs of morning.” I am not really for sure what this piece represents, but it is beautifully done and very intriguing as it draws you in as you try to figure out what the words are saying.  

            One of my favorite pieces separate from the FL3TCH3R Exhibit were two side by side works. At first, I was very close so I could see what these pieces were made with. It was like a mixture of layers of paint and pulled-apart pieces of some sort of cloth or cotton. I was interested in the materials in the beginning, and because I was so close I had no clue what the layers of fused paint and cloth colors made until I took a few steps back. It shocked me the beauty of the picture that the artist had created—a forest at sundown, with light shining through the trees. I liked the fact that the art made you look up closely, then far away, and then drew you back closely to see how all the little pieces and colors made the full picture.

            Overall, the Reece museum was a great experience to see thought-provoking art and simply complex. I really enjoyed all the art and appreciate the time, thought, and effort that each artist put into their pieces. I will definitely go back to the museum for the next exhibit!    

Where Am I Going?

            What are five, concrete and specific things you want to do in the next ten years? Ten years is a lot of time but also, in the grand scheme of things, not much time. The options are endless, and, being in college, especially open as I am still trying to figure out the course of my life. So, the five things I want to do in the next ten years are to finish an Iron Man race, to help someone who is morbidly obese become healthy, to train an Olympic athlete, create a stable financial situation, and enjoy life and relax a little.

            My first goal is to finish an Iron Man race. This race consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and then a 26.2-mile run, all raced in that order and without breaks in between. I always want to push myself to do stuff that seems impossible. Just to be part of that elite few that have finished the race would make me very proud of myself for conquering the challenges in front of me. The first step I need to take to reach this goal is that—a first step. I need to train harder than I ever have by swimming, biking, and running more all without breaks. I need to put on some shoes and go take the first step. I will make this happen, and be very happy when I have accomplished this feat.

            Another thing I want to do in the next ten years is help an obese person become healthy and cerate healthy habits as to not gain the weight back. This kind of thing is why I am studying Exercise Science. I could only imagine what it would be like for a person to lose all that weight. Just the happiness and pride for a person to say, “Yeah, I did that.” I can’t do it for them—losing weight is something a person has to decide to do for themselves. I would just be there to guide and motivate them on their path to a better, and probably longer, life. Just the idea of being able to be a part of something like that, someone’s journey, fills me with so much awe and amazement that always puts a smile on my face. To obtain this goal, I have already taken the first step by signing up for Exercise Science classes.

            To switch gears and visit the opposite side of the spectrum, I also want to help train Olympic athletes, preferably the track and field athletes or marathoners. Once again, just to be able to be a part of that in a person’s life would be really cool. To be there with them through their training, watch their progress, and then watch them compete for a medal for their country would be a fantastic experience that I wouldn’t trade for the world. I am already signed up for training classes next semester, which is my first step in achieving this goal.

            In the next ten years, I would like to create a stable financial situation by getting a steady job, a house, with having enough money for recreational enjoyment. I am extremely paranoid about money, so having a steady income would lift a weight from my shoulders. I am not for sure what kind of job or house or where I would want to be, but it is very exciting to think of the idea of being financially stable. To get to this point, I will stay in college, get a degree, and either go to graduate school or get my masters in whatever I end up deciding to do.

            The final thing I would want to do would be to relax and enjoy life more than I am now. Right now, I am going at full panic speed trying not to drown in the sea of social life and college work. It is already November 13^th, and the last day of the semester is December 8^th.  It is crazy to think that we are already to this point in the semester. Everything is going way too fast and way too slow at the same time. I need to slow down, relax, and try to enjoy. It may seem like I am dealing with a lot right now, but I know that college is supposed to be one of the most fun times in your life when you don’t have many responsibilities other than going to class and turning in work on time. Life’s going to pass me by before I know it, and I want to be able to look back and say that I lived life to the fullest and enjoyed every moment of it. The first step, I guess to take, is to force myself to have leisure time. Usually, I am working on school stuff non-stop, even trying to get ahead when I have already finished other work. I have to force myself to go hang out with friends and enjoy a movie or even just go on a walk outside. To relax, I have to push myself.

            The future is both terrifying and exciting at the same time. I worry about a lot of stupid things, but I also know that I don’t know what the future has in store, so it is an adventure. I have no idea where I will be in ten years, what I will be doing, or who I will be with. The future is filled with possibilities to help me grow as a person and grow in my profession, and I can’t wait to start my professional life. . . (well, I guess I should stop and enjoy the present a little more before I worry about the future).