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!

Psychology Reflection

Having Psychology was hard. I never had this class before. At a college level it challenged me in a good way. Before college I took sociology which is on the opposite end of the spectrum. It may be -ology, but psych was about why a person did something, and social was about why did they did something. Matt Prewett was a good professor, and Mindtap was a good education learner. However, at times it got really hard where I had to really think about the questions he was asking. It was because there was  definitions that were so similar to eachother. However, with time I got used to his questions and started to think outside the box. It was a good time. However, I got tired in the class though because of how hot it got in the room toward the end of the semester. I think I learned some good components from this class that I will use in my leadership in everyday life.