Game Day

Im looking forward to seeing family. That is always what I looked forward to the most growing up. Also the food. No meal is better than Thanksgiving day meal. From the turkey to the cranberry sauce I love everything. This year starts a new tradition for me though; coming home. Since being away for college I learned that I've always taken for granted being home around friends and family. Now all my friends are going to be back in Lexington and my brother is as well. My brother will be graduating college soon and I'm going to be away from home from now on so this year marks the beginning of the tradition of coming back to Kentucky.

Leadership

I think my strength as a leader is my optimism. I am always able to keep the spirits up and make light of a situation. Also I think that my actions are a strength. When I lead I try to do it more through my actions and less with words of inspiration. While I am a loquacious person I do not often inspire people with my words. I think my weakness in leadership is some times I don't stand up for things when I should. I dont voice my opinion when I should. I aspire to be a leader and to be some one that people can look up to. I'm not going to try very hard to have a leadership position but if one presents itself ill take it.

World Is Flat

My mentee and I have talked about his and my academic success a lot over the last weeks. He is doing very well in school and has a bright future ahead of him if he keeps up his good work. Also he gets me thinking about my own academic success and what I should be planning for in the future. My student and I have connected pretty well. We talk about sports, music, school and other things in life. I try to be as open as possible with him to make him feel comfortable. I believe that he has learned that he can trust me. Truthfully I will be pretty sad to stop mentoring. It felt good to know i was making a difference. Also I liked being able to connect with some one who was kind of a little sibling to me. I never had a younger sibling so it was good to have that almost brotherly feeling. Being looked up to is always good.

Spirituality

Religion, faith, and spirituality are not the same thing. They are all components of each other but do not depend on each other. Just because you have one does not mean you have the other. As we talked in class I think that faith is the base for both religion and spirituality. Religion to me is how people express the spirituality. My religion is Christian, more specific I am Catholic. I have faith in God and I have a specific spirituality as well. The South is known as being part of the Bible Belt, mainly Protestant Christians. However I think that USC is a lot more diverse than that. Like many colleges there is a diverse group of people, with that I have met people and seen people of all different religions and beliefs. USC while being in the South is a great place to discover knew people and ideas.

Relationships

The relationships I have formed here at USC are new friendships. I have met many people that I really enjoy being with. It is a really good feeling to know I have made good friends. These friends are being an advocate for success because they are here for the same reasons I am. I am here to get a good education in and outside the classroom and the friends I have made are here for that too. To have a group of friends that are helping with my success is key for me to be successful in school and in life.

Week 11

So far I am very happy with my overall experience at Hand. The student I am mentoring is very smart, outgoing, and active. These three things have led him to be very successful so far in middle school. The school itself is very organized and involved with their students. I have asked my student about his study habits, his homework, and other things for school. I think that studying habits now are very important because it effects how you study for the rest of your school years. My three questions would be these: 1. What do you do outside of school? 2. What do you like doing outside of school? 3. Can you incorporate the things you like to do outside of school, with your school? I think that these three questions can get a student thinking about getting involved with his school. The three questions about academic success would be: 1. What do you want to do when you grow up? 2. What do you like studying now? 3. What education do you think you will need in the future?