Diversity Event

For my diversity event, I attended a lecture on AIDS awareness, on November 29th. It was held in the Memorial Union South Ballroom, and many had came to hear the speaker inform everyone on the effects of AIDS on Africa, as well as everyone in the United States and throughout the world. The event was held during this week because of the country wide, AIDS Awareness Week.

I learned many new things upon attending this lecture, and it was very eye-opening for me. First off, she explained the purpose of AIDS Awareness Week, and why it is scheduled for this week (It was chosen so that after the elections in late November, the media would have openings in the schedules to cover new material, such as AIDS Awareness). And of course, everyone has heard horror stories on the disease, as well as the effects it has on developing countries such as Africa, but it is a much different story coming from someone who is/was directly impacted by the disease.

The speaker herself had eleven children. She explained how in Africa they kept having children until their body wasn't capable anymore, because they view them as God's gifts. After realizing that, it made more sense to me how much harder it is on the victims of this disease, when people attack them for putting their children at risk. Most of those who are free of AIDS believe that once a women contracts AIDS, she should no longer birth children, in order to avoid passing along the disease. But because of their beliefs, along with the outstanding desire to be a mother, the rewards still outweigh the risks for the.

Overall, I believe that events like these are good for the general public to attend. It goes to show how "blindsided" we are when it comes to world issues like these. Of course we know the effects of AIDS, but few Americans can say that they wake up everyday, fearing of contracting the disease, or even being effected by it in any way in their family or friends. AIDS Awareness Week, as well as other nationwide acts to spread knowledge and awareness, are very important to us whether we realize it or not.

What I've Learned

It is hard to believe that my first semester at Iowa State University only consists of one last week of classes, followed by finals week. It seems like just yesterday I refused to sign up for Destination Iowa State, and met my roommate for the first time. A lot has changed for me since moving to Ames, and it has been nothing short of a huge adjustment for me, but all in all, I can sort-of say that I have grown from my experiences in the past sixteen weeks.

There are many classic examples that High School seniors hear from others about the differences in college, but it never really hits a person until they go through it. I had been on five campus visits, stayed two weekends with my sister in her dorm on campus, and explored Ames numerous times before this fall, and as ready as I thought I was for the change, it still hit me. I learned the hard way, as much of us did, that my study habits were crap: on a good day. Crazy enough, with only finals left to be added to my grades in almost all of my classes, I can say I have learned from my stubbornness, and I'm satisfied with my grades.

I have also been able to expand my horizons, and make new friends. As fun of an experience college is, it would be one boring day after day if you did nothing but studied and went to class. By socializing and trying new things, my new friends and I have made it a transition to the "free life," and yet I still have been able to keep up my grades which is an accomplishment considering how easy it can be to fall behind. All in all, I look forward to even more opportunities moving forward through college, because of my experience in the past few months. I have seen the vast opportunities presented in college, and one semester is nowhere near enough to find your belonging at Iowa State University.

Hixson Award

It is hard to explain what the Hixson award really means to me. There is the obvious appreciation financially, the approximate $15,000 in funds for college will help enormously toward my goal of graduation debt free form college. Then, there's another well seen fact of it being the largest independently funded scholarship at Iowa State that makes one proud of being apart of the Christina Hixson Opportunity Awards, but if you ask me, as a recipient myself, the Hixson award goes deeper than that.

In my short time at Iowa State University, and with the Hixson program, I have a couple of reasons to believe that what Christina Hixson is doing at Iowa State, as well as at other colleges, is no ordinary donation. After meeting with Christina herself, I can see for myself her expectations for all of us in the Hixson program. With less than 1.3% of Iowa State students being Hixson Scholars, we represent a small, but powerful group of people.

Because the Hixson Award is seldom among college students, I'm very thankful for the opportunity   , but I sill feel something more from this scholarship. I won numerous other scholarships upon graduating high school, but it seems that none have pushed me as much as this one. I feel obligated to succeed as a Hixson scholar, and not only when I take a miss-step do I feel I let myself down, but I also feel that I let down my peer's, and maybe even Christina Hixson. This scholarship is a tremendous opportunity  and step in the right direction toward the direction I wish to proceed my career, as well as my life. I don't only wish to be thankful, but I want to be a good representative of  my peers in the Hixson program, to prove what a tremendous thing it is to be apart of.

Cultural Diversity

Last Tuesday's class consisted of a quest speaker, on the topic of diversity. From my point of view, the speaker really caught me off guard. Not only was it a much differently structured class period then the previous ones, but also in his presentation. Just like Denise had said himself, we all have a general idea of what the word diversity means, but not all of us get to experience what it really is; including myself.

I grew up in a town of just under 1000 people, much like many other Iowans. But not only is my hometown small, my entire county is small.  Clayton County, Iowa's population has been decreasing steadily, since 1982! In 2011, just over 18,000 people lived within it's boundaries  To put that in perspective, the county contains 408,987 acres of land. If you spaced that out, 1 person would live more than 22 square acres away from the next. My county also consisted of only 3 school districts, including my for,er high school, Edgewood-Colesburg. I had the biggest class in school history, with 56 kids, and non of which were any race except Caucasian.

Now, being at Iowa State University, my horizons have opened vastly. Never, outside of my Spanish class for two years, had I heard someone speak another language in a real conversation. At Iowa State, I hear it every day. Many other changes in diversity around me have forced me to adapt to the new surroundings fast. My outlook on diversity before college, practically didn't exist outside of my textbooks or television, because in my everyday life it hadn't mattered before college.

Now that I have been exposed to a wider diversity of people, events, and situations from my time at college, I can see the benefits of having some sort of background in diverse surroundings. Being an engineer, I will be working with numerous groups in my career path, most of which, if not all, containing multiple races/genders and so on. It is important to esatablish some sort of an understanding and familiarization of diversity before your career, to be able to work in a professional manner when the time arises, as well as to be able to use your differences with each other to your advantage. Learn from each other and work together with the many different point of views to accomplish your task at hand.

Social Media Week

Engaging in Social Media Week was eye opening for me. When I hear social media, of course the Facebooks, YoouTubes, and Twitters come to mind, but not the professional sites or sites like Linkedin were way over my head until this past week.

I myself have a facebook account, often use YouTube, and hear much about Twitter, but it was very unfamiliar territory for me to engage in a site like Linkedin. Making a profile compared a lot to one such as facebook, but it makes you think twice about all of your internet connections. It just appears to be so much more of a "job-seeking" site, or work connection place, that you wish to put as much professional information about yourself as possible. Then to sit back and think about it, companies and employers think of Facebook's profiles similar to what I just thought of my new Linkedin profile. It for sure makes you wonder about what you have posted before that would turn employers away.

The internet, along with social media, are very helpful resources for anyone looking for connections with employment and careers. There are so many opportunities out there that you would not be aware of without these social media sites. Perhaps the biggest challenge behind these sites is merely finding out about them! The most obvious ways that you can use these things to your advantage is to find new opportunities, and to connect globally with employers. If you had to search for a new job by travelling to each job site and interview and such on your own, it could take years and you still probably wouldn't find the best job for you. With social media, you can connect to hundreds of opportunities, and find what's best for you. Also, it expands your horizons globally. It is not realistic to travel throughout the world, connecting to consumers or employers. With the internet, you practically can for less than the price of a full tank of gas!

My MBTI

From my MBTI results, I found out that I was an ISTJ: Introversion, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging. These results mean that I am usually seen by others as calm, serious, orderly, logical, orderly, and traditional. Not much of these results came surprising to me except a few things.

If I had to take a guess at my systematic ways when coming to school work, I would consider them more messy and unorganized, but effective for the most part. This varies from my MBTI results, because according to them, I am orderly and structural. Although  I agree that I try to apply a more structural system to my life, it tends to fall off track when it comes to my school work. That being said, I have been called a perfectionist before as well.

When rating my personal thoughts vs. my test results, they were identical, excluding the Sensing/Intuition category. Guessing my type, I chose Sensing, but my test results showed I leaned toward Intuition slightly more. This was also my closest category by far, with just 1 more point toward Intuition over Sensing, which would explain the difference in results (that I was unsure of my type).

Overall, I think my results are pretty accurate, and you could say I am satisfied with them.  I would like to agree that I am dependable, and do have strong ties to my family, as my results would support. I also learned that one of the most common categories in the Myers-Briggs for 2012 Hixson Scholars is the category I belong to, ISTJ.

My Bucket List

Its hard to believe thinking about my final days on earth at such a young age, let alone trying to guess where I'll be in the next five years. Even so, everyone has a few things they wish to do before they die. Keeping in mind that I may never have as many vehicles as Jay Leno, I try to keep my "Bucket List," to things that I will actually have a chance at doing at some point in my life. Whether it be in the next week or fifty years from now, someday I would love to do the following:

The List (in no specific order)
1) Go to a world series game or super bowl
2) Ride in a plane
3) Take an unplanned vacation
4) Start a scholarship in my parents name

ISU Bucket List
1) Have a 4.0 semester
2) Get at least two internships
3) Storm the field at Jack Trice
4) Hold an office in a club

I have always been a sports fan, and some of my most fond memories are sports oriented. Being  an Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Cubs fan, number one on my list appears to be something I'll be doing later rather than sooner, which is fine with me. Along with that, I have always wanted to travel. As of today, I could count the number of times I have been out of the state on one hand. Someday, I would not only like to leave the state, but possibly somewhere overseas. I have had Venice, Australia, and many other places in Europe in mind, and look forward to someday spending some days away from home there. On  the same token, I have always found spontaneous interest in going on a unplanned vacation with my significant other, or perhaps my own family someday. I feel that the open road and freedom that would come along with the vacation would be very relaxing as well as a great experience.

Lastly, I wish to start a scholarship in my parents name. They have left me with a great gift, allowing me to graduate college debt free, which seems to get harder and harder for students as the days go by. Along with that, I would like to return the favor that numerous people have done for me, in their generous donations to help me get my continued education. Everyone should be granted a chance to pursue their dream career, and I could somehow enable someone to, I would be glad to help.

As I look ahead to my days at Iowa State, I have some things I would like to accomplish before I leave for my career. First off, my GPA is important to me, and although I'm sure it will fluctuate throughout my time here, if I take it one semester at a time I should be happy with where I am at in the end. If I could obtain a 4.0 in at least one semester here, that will help a ton. Along with my GPA, another important aspect to my future career is experience. If I could get two internships before graduation, I should have the work experience needed to walk into any job.

Even though in college I am not on a athletic team since kindergarten, I still very much enjoy athletics still. You will find me in Hilton, as well as Jack Trice on many occasions watching many events. The experience is amazing, not one of the benefits of live vs. tv is the ability to storm the field after an upset; I will be looking for my opportunity. And because I am so used to being busy with athletics and the like, I wish to become active in some clubs on campus. Someday I hope to hold an office, and meet many new people, and make friends, along with many other benefits that come along with the organization.