Freshman Year: A Year in Review

This isn’t the end, nor will it be for a while. However, I am bone dead tired after this academic year! I can’t believe how long its been, yet it feels like I just unpacked my suitcases just 3 months ago. I am thankful to have spent my time here at Central Michigan University. I am though in need of some tender love and care. My mind has been frazzled, but the long complexity of these two semesters. It’s also hard to believe that I am a quarter of the way done with college! I am most likely going to finish with a bachelors, for I don’t have time to do a doctorates or a masters. It would seem like a lot of fun, but unnecessary.

Things that I am proud of this year is signing my major and minors. I didn’t even have to switch! I don’t plan on it either, for that would take away time and money. These two things are limited, so I better to have hoped that by choosing Environmental Studies as my major and Geographic Information Science/Leadership for my minor was a well thought out plan in the beginning. I am not about to change anything that I already put my mind to. Another few things that were accomplished was getting an adequate GPA, meeting friends, and making good relationships with my professors. I know though I can do better in all three of those categories, for I want to make stronger friendships, a higher GPA, and meet more fascinating professors.

A few things outside of college that I have done was spending many volunteer hours with my Order of the Arrow group. We have put in at least 1100 hours together so far for this new year. Last year, we had a group 6,000-15,000 hours all together. As for myself I would say I put in 50 hours with them. What we did was we did projects throughout camp, got new leaders appointed to positions, and we also awarded people for their contributions. I was one of the individuals who earned an award. I have continued my interest in the OA and I am now serving Elangomat chairman and Chapter Chief for my lodge and chapter. As for Boy Scouts, I keep in touch with them and make sure to come to the troop meetings when I can. I recently was also initiated into the freemasons. This past April, I accomplished the Master Mason degree which makes me free to visit other lodges and make strong bonds with my fellow brothers.

This summer, I am going to D-Bar-A scout ranch which is a summer camp for Boy Scouts. I am the director of Eco-Con which is the nature arena. I hope to give back to scouting more than it gave me. I am very particular about giving and receiving. It makes me feel better and it allows campers to get a better experience than I had. Even though, it was great for me I truly care about the next generation of scouts. Also, over the summer I will be mentoring an OA member to take over as me a leader for my time as a youth is drawing near. I rather see someone bloom than to see my lodge doomed.

This goes hand in hand with my leadership theory of power & leadership. I admire this theory for it is relatable to what I want to do and be. The power of a leader is broken down into 6 traits that they can be. A leader can be referent which is someone who people like and are willing to be lead by, a leader can be an expert which is how people view that leader by their accomplishments and skills, a leader can be coercive which means they give punishments for everything wrong followers do, but they can also be rewarding to everything a follower does right for them, a leader can be legitimate and have an authoritative status, and finally leaders can be informative which means they have information that people want or need. I want to possess all these abilities equally. I would love to however be more informative than any other trait. I believe if I hold information people want or need they will come to me more often and listen to me. Thus, this allows me to give rewards/punishments to follows. Followers will also view me as legitimate and an expert in my fields of knowledge. I look forward to using these traits. I believe I am still a novice, but I am sure I can work this out.

I can’t wait for next semester to roll out though. After I have rested and let myself breathe the summer air I will be ready to tackle the new year as a sophomore. I am grateful for this year. My hopes and dreams to come to a university have come true. Now I just have to keep this status for another 3 more years as long as finances are in check. Peace and Love to my faith, family, and all the friends I have made throughout my life thus far!

Mentor Reflection

At first I was afraid, but then I got by with a little help from my friend Hannah Bastian. She isn’t your typical student at Central Michigan University, for she was chosen to become part of a contingent for the Leadership Institutes LAS program. The Leadership Institute seeks out 50-60 new members each academic year out of 2,000 applicants who applied. The process involves filling out an application sheet that lists involvements and other extra curricular activates that a student has done along with two recommendation letters from one teacher and one outside source. The next step is being picked among the remaining 80 students who received an invitation for competition day. Here at this point interviews are made as well as measuring performance levels among competitors. Finally, the last step is waiting for the call. This happens a week later, and thus determining if you are in or not. Luckily, Hannah Bastian was chosen and I was too.

Hannah Bastian is from Clinton, Michigan, and she is currently a sophomore and soon to be a junior next academic year. Her time in LAS has given her an opportunity to grow and support all people. She went Greek in her Freshman year and was chosen to be in Alpha Chi Omega. Her sorority deals with women’s health and lifestyle. They raise money, promote fundraisers for women, and make a good name for their organization. She is also going to Central Michigan University to get a secondary education in English. At the end of her freshman year the mentee draft was in full swing. She wanted her mentee to have a better time, better relationship, and better opportunity in LAS than she did with her own. She told me that our family tree is blended and is beautiful, for she was adopted by everyone. I love this reasoning to why we got a big family tree. When it came time for her to choose she was happy with anyone and chose me. I love it.

Since then Hannah Bastian isn’t just my mentor, but is a friend whom I can look up to and get the chance to talk to. During our time at Eagle village I made it a goal to make sure that Hannah got what she deserved and that was to spend time on the high ropes course. She loved it and it made me really happy that we can work together and bring each other to a smile. Also, before the trip she got me coffee and a bag of goodies. I proudly display the painting she made me above where I sleep. It says “Carpe Diem”. I have no clue how she knew it was my favorite saying, but I say I am blessed. After the trip, we kept in touch and we went out to dinner at the café. It was neato to have someone to eat with. I made sure to always ask questions and listen to her stories. It is with proud honor to know that she is chief at Camp Timbers. This is a great honor for her and I am happy to have someone dedicated to helping kids. Whenever I need her she is always there. When I am having trouble she understands. The compassion and the lengths she goes for me are phenomenal. I want to say she deserves just the same.

Soon my mentor will be a “G” which is like a grandparent to my mentee. I know Hannah will love her. I know I will have an awesome time with her as I show her the ropes that mentor showed me. I hope that Hannah Bastian knows that I could never top her, but I will let her know that I will make her proud. What I am to do now is to keep a good smile on my face and get ready to mentor my own. This LAS program protocol to mentor a mentee during their freshman year sounds cool and looks cool. I am no skilled mentor, but I believe I will make my little mentee strive for greatness. It’s not about me anymore, but what I can do for them. I can go the distance, and I will carpe the heck out of my diem next year. THIS IS FOR YOU HANNAH BASTIAN! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!

Leadership Safari Reflection

I loved Leadership Safari, for it was my first inside look at CMU. It was August 20th, 2016 and I arrived around 1:00pm. My family and I got my room all set up, and I felt very cozy. It was a good day. I talked to some neighbors and made new friends. That same day I was split into my animal group of Iguanas. My leader was Owen Wood and he was rad. The one event that we did that stood out the most was learning about hunger. It was ghastly knowing how many people benefit from hand outs in Mt. Pleasant. What I will do in the future is try to be involved with humane society projects.This was an amazing experience as we celebrated leadership safari’s 20th anniversary.