[Tie Bow Here]

The semester is almost over, and look at how far we've come! We started off the year with a warm UNA Welcome bomb threat, and now we're ending the semester with a new wealth of knowledge and a mind full of enlightenment. I've learned a lot about myself from listening to these speakers and writing all of these blogs. First off, I like arguing. In almost half of my blogs I am arguing with the speaker. But I also argue with myself entirely too much, and my roommate would agree with me on this. Life is full of paradoxes... (paradoxi?) to be debated and analyzed. It's really quite interesting. Secondly, I am a decent writer. Or at least I entertain myself. Going back and reading my blogs for this final blog was a fun time. Some things I said were less than brilliant, but overall, the forced weekly blog ended up being a pretty cool end product.

In Honors Forum, everything revolved around one underlying theme for me, and that is that everything is an experience. Yes, EVERYTHING. Whether I was pondering on the fact that "I'll be dead soon" or that "my career path will take some twists and turns," every step in my life is an experience. Experiences are all about attitude. And if life is experiences, then life is all about attitude. This is a new perspective I have with everything I do now, and because of this, I think it is so important to take advantage of any opportunity you are offered. That one opportunity might just be a new door to your future, and you never know if you are at that door until after you have gone into it. So don't race through life, notice all of the opportunities in front of you and take advantage of them.

Each Honors Forum class began with a "warm Honor's welcome" and ended as an experience. I have learned more in my first semester of college than I did my last 2 years of high school. I'm not going to say that I'm a totally different person now, but I will say that I have opened some doors of opportunity and gained some perspective.

I wish I knew everything that I know now, when I was in high school. All of those little things you worry about in high school like stacking your resume and getting an A in every class are good, but they mean nothing if you didn't make it an experience. And admittedly, I was the kid that did just that. I tried to do everything right, but I didn't always stop to enjoy everything I did. That being said, I think that college is an opportunity that everyone should take. I know that college is not for everyone, but taking one class is an experience that no one should avoid. College has been an amazing experience so far, and I know it will only get better.

So just a few pieces of advice for future college-goers:
~Have fun.
~Always remember your values. When all else fails, remember the golden rule: "If it would embarrass your momma, don't do it."
~It's okay to not agree with people. Be able to give your opinion and stick up for yourself.
~Have a vision for yourself and activities you participate in.
~Don't be afraid to make an unpopular decision. And if all else fails, it's fun to argue with people.
~Your career path may take some twists and turns, but the best thing is that you get to choose where you end up.
~Most importantly: You can do anything. We heard this all the time when we were in elementary school, so much so that it became cliche, but it's so easy to forget. No matter how old you are, what stage of life you're in, you can do anything.

So there is my Greatest Hits from the semester all neatly wrapped up. May you survive all of your finals and have a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

51% is the new A+

Today Mr. William G. Hargett spoke to my class about qualities of a successful employee. Some listed were be prepared, be on time, be professional, exceed expectations, and capture opportunities. A business exists to make profit and a successful employee, does what they can to make that happen.

One thing that stood out to me was when Mr. Hargett that a successful employee fails often. He said that a successful employee only needs to be right 51% of the time. Successful employees do not just know failure, but they learn from it and are better off because of a few failures. As an honors kid, I have a little problem with being a perfectionist sometimes, but this is comforting to hear. Being able to learn from mistakes is what makes someone successful. But to make these mistakes, you have to take risks.

So be risky; throw out that crazy proposal at the next company meeting. After all, you have 49% of failure to start working on.

One other point that stood out: "Perception is reality." An employee chooses what their perception will be to others based on their actions. Co-workers and your bosses think you are who you act like. It matters what people think of you, your reputation matters. Your reputation is what others think you are, and if that "perception is reality," then you are your reputation. This emphisizes the importance of the way you portray yourself with you appearence, words, and actions.

So let your talent shine through, let your drive push you. Make that 51% of success mind-blowing success.

A successful employee only needs to be right 51% of the time. This is an A+ is the business world, so fail hard and work harder.

Go Get Cultured!

Will your life be impacted by other countries?
Do you want to be a productive citizen in today's global world?
Do you own any products from China?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions- and you better have- then you should study abroad with UNA!!

Today my class's speaker was Dr. Chunsheng Zhang, the Vice Provost of International Programs. He encouraged my class to study abroad while attending UNA. Studying abroad is a great program, and it sounds like a lot of fun. Communication is the most important trait for a person to have when working in a global world, as we are today. People need to communicate effectively and in a culturally sensitive way. And what's a better way to do that then go study in some really crazy, awesome country?!

We also had some older, wiser honors kids talk to us about their study abroad experiences. I learned that if and when I study abroad, I need to immerse myself in the culture and try anything when given the opportunity. And don't believe all stereotypes, such as British food tasting awful... Fun fact: Fish and chips is like a glorified Captain D's meal. And if all else fails, go to China and find a McDonald's, there's about a bajillion of them. Except I'm totally kidding because immersing yourself in the culture would not involve eating McDonald's for every meal.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to go to Australia. How cool would that be?? Swimming in the Great Barrier Reef would probably be the best experience in my life. But I'm pretty sure UNA doesn't have any science study abroad opportunities, so I'm going to have to figure out something else, maybe literature.

So add Study Abroad to your list of things to ponder. Yay for other cultures!

Helen Keller Always Wins

Currently I am living in the wonderful city of Florence, AL aka Helen Keller's birthplace. Hopefully you are already aware that when playing Apples to Apples (aka the coolest game on the face of the planet) that the Helen Keller card always wins. What you might not know is why. Well, it's because she's awesome. Why is that, you ask? Cause she's Helen freakin Keller!! If that doesn't answer your question, here's the low-down on Helen Keller: Helen Keller was deaf and blind, but still learned how to write and speak and even graduated from college. She dedicated her life to improving the conditions of blind and the deaf-blind around the world. But what I appreciate most of Helen Keller is her perspective on life.

"What a shame is is to have sight, but to have no vision." ~Helen Keller

As students in the Honors Program, my class is encouraged to be the best leaders we can be. But what is the definition of a leader? Trustworthy, honest, encouraging, exciting, creative, respected... Those are all the easy answers, but what about risky? A leader is someone who can think outside of the box and do something that might not be popular. A leader can make a decision that others might not like, but that might improve the future of those being affected by the decision. A leader isn't afraid to make an unpopular decision. A leader has a vision for the future.

Vision. It gives you a purpose. It drives you. It gives you a goal to work towards. Don't be afraid to go against the grain, don't just agree with everyone. Be your own person and be able to defend your beliefs. Be able to defend the ideas that make you, you. Be the Helen Keller card- always win.

Speaking of winning: Here is Helen Keller's theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VigbSoo0FEY

What's Your Purpose?

Our last speaker was Mr. William Lee, a commercial farmer in the Florence area. He owns and operates his own 3,000 acre farm, where he grows cotton, corn, soybeans, and wheat with only 5 employees, including himself.

Mr. Lee graduated from Auburn University, and didn't have a specific career goal throughout college. In his mid 20's, he decided to try the family farming company and then change his mind later if he didn't love it. Some people would say that college isn't important if you're planning on doing farming, but Mr. Lee said, "I wouldn't enjoy what I'm doing today if I wasn't educated."

For any college student, these are comforting words. A lot of students in college have absolutely no idea what they want to do for the rest of their lives, many doubt their plans and will change their major a thousand times, and some don't know if they even want to go to college in the first place. But we can all learn from Mr. Lee. Not knowing what you want to do is life. We don't know our future, we don't know our path, we might not even know exactly where we're standing right now, but that's okay. College is about experience, it's about education, it's about finding yourself. Take some crazy class, try a major, change your major.

But more important than the classes you take, the major you choose, and the career path you take, find a purpose for yourself in what you do. Mr. Lee told us that his goal was to leave his land in better shape than how he found it. We are given gifts and resources to use everyday, and we should make it our goal to be good stewards of these resources so that they can be used by future generations. So don't worry about your future, just know your purpose. Be rewarded in knowing your purpose, even if you don't know your path or future.

Fun with Liquid Nitrogen

Dr. Mike Moeller opened our class with a demonstration of using liquid nitrogen to freeze and reanimate flesh. He put a laytex glove on, and then added one more glove over that for good measure. He then put his index finger in the liquid nitrogen. When it was good an frozen, he proceeded to take a hammer to his finger to reanimate it. Chips of things came flying off of his hand and soon after my class was done freaking out, Dr. Moeller explained to us that the trick of this experiment is to freeze a hot dog and not your finger.

Which brings me to the point of this blog... Values in science. Most speakers come to our class and use morals and values interchangably, but science is where this would be inaccurate. Morals are chosen by an individual, but scientific values are universal. Science values facts. Science values precision, accuracy, testability, controlled and unbiased observation, peer review, repeatability and statistical analysis. Science values confirmation of predictions and simplicity in explainations.

At first thought, simplicity in explainations as a scientific value sounds very incorrect. Science is hard and there's nothing simple about it. For example, during my last biology class, my professor explained Photosynthesis.

The redox reactions among Q2, pheophytin, plastoquinone, cytochrome, plastocyanin, ferredoxin, and flavoprotein in Photosystems of Photo Phosphorylation Non-Cyclic and Cyclic Light reactions of Photosynthesis allows for an electron to move to make ADP into ATP (whichis known as phosphorylation) and NADPH, which are then used in the Dark Cycle to produce C6H12O6 aka Glucose.

And that was only the first 5 minutes of class. It's just not a simple explaination. But the simplicity in science is the repeatability of statistics. Simplicity is Occam's Razor, the rule that if there is one explaination in science that can equally satisfy a set of observations, scientists tenatively adopt the simplest explanation. This long explaination is better than saying some magical photosynthesis fairies make the plants grow. The simplicity of science is the use of logic to prove an explaination. Simplicity is unbiased, repeated observation that can be used in the future to discover new scientific breakthroughs. Simplicity is this proven pathway in Photosynthesis. Simplicity is freezing a hot dog in liquid nitrogen and not your actual finger. Simplicity is science and what it proves in our daily lives.

You can do Anything

What person fits the following statements?
1. taught criminally insane people how to swim
2. refused a phone call with Oprah
3. works in education

Ladies and Gentlemen, this was our last speaker, Dr. Donna Jacobs, the Dean of the College of Education. And might I add that she is also a very sweet lady. She talked to our class about teaching as a profession and the values that go with it.

First, lets talk about values for teachers. Teachers can be awesome. They can also be plain awful. And let's face it- we've all had that one teacher we just couldn't stand. Well, these terrible teachers (alliteration!) are like this because they didn't follow Dr. Jacob's list of values for teachers. Perhaps if they did, they would be much cooler teachers, or not teachers at all. Maybe they'd be working at an asylum for the criminally insane or some other awful job far away from children. So here's the list of values teachers should have:
1. Honesty- Don't be a Pinocchio- it's quite unattractive. Who wants a nose that large? No one.
2. Intelligence- How can you teach if you don't know anything yourself?
3. Good communicating skills- This one is easy peasy. Get ur students learned with proper English and such.
4. Fluent in sarcasm- All of my favorite teachers are Pro's at this value. Muy importante!
5. Committed to the job- Pretty self exploratory, right? Teachers should want to teach. But this is where those terrible teachers fail. They just don't want to teach. This is also a fail for Value #2. If you don't like what you are doing for the rest of your life, you will be unhappy and make everyone around you unhappy. In other words, you'll be a complete fun-sucker of life. So do society a favor and don't choose a profession that you absolutely hate. That's just some common sense, people!
6. Never talk to Oprah- Not sure exactly that this fits as a value, but it is some fun words of wisdom, I thought. If you talk to Oprah, things get blown wayyyy out of proportion and it's just a big, nasty mess. Oprah can't fix your problems- she just publicises them.

Follow the values! If you break one, you pretty much break all of them. To all you future boring and monotone teachers: Stop your plans to torture students and find a job more fitting to your personality, like reading a commercial for Shane's Jewelry. I've taken the liberty of finding the application website for you: http://www.shaneco.com/careers/.

Now that I've weeded out those terrible teachers, let's look at teaching as a profession. This is for all of the awesome teachers of the world: You have a super fantastic job!! In my opinion, teachers are the most influential people in the world. Teachers lead children the way they should go in the world to be a functional member of society, but even more than that teachers are what make the world thrive. What would we do if we had no teachers? Probably be nomadic people who walk around poking animals with sticks and spend our days picking at the grass and wondering what those crazy puffy white things are in the sky... Okay, so maybe don't actually know what the world would be like without teachers, but I know it would be horrible. I wouldn't be typing this blog right now, and I wouldn't be in college, which would be a crying shame. So thank you, teachers, for existing! Other than the sentimental value of teaching, the working hours cannot be beat. Teachers work 180/365 days a year, give or take a week or so depending on breaks and how much extra time a teacher spends to prepare for school. But teachers also get breaks off for every holiday and sick days and personal days every year. And while a lot of people say how teachers are payed practically nothing, the pay is pretty good. Teachers only work for half of a year and an average teacher gets payed around $45K. $45K for half a year of work is decent.

My favorite value of a good teacher is how wonderfully encouraging they are. So here are some encouraging closing remarks: Whether you are planning on being a teacher or not, your career path may take some twists and turns, but the best thing is that you get to choose where you end up. Figure out what you want to do and put your all into it. And never sell yourself short, you can do ANYTHING.

Be a Boss

"Everyone at Harvard is inventing something. Harvard graduates believe that inventing a job is better than finding a job."

-Social Network

Well, apparently, so do UNA Honors Forum students. Our last speaker, Mr. Phillip Marks, talked to our class about making our own jobs, but more specifically on Understanding Government Contracting. He explained that the government spends hundreds of billions of dollars on contracting businesses, and at least 23% of that money spent is reserved for small businesses. The federal government awards a contract every 20 seconds of every business day- it is the world's largest market. Phillip Marks says that there is a lot of opportunity for small businesses with the government.

We go to school to graduate to get our dream job. Then when we graduate, we can't get a job. That's right... the economy is down, so no one is hiring. Bummer. But here's a crazy idea: Go forth with a brilliant idea and make your own company! Be your own boss.

Small businesses are great! And there are some incentives to the founder of the company such as an opportunity for great success and an early retirement and freedom to work when and how you want to. But it is also a huge risk to start your own company. You can't just be an expert on the service or product you want your company to give, but you also need to be able to handle the paperwork and financials of the company.

Mr. Marks made government contracting sound easy. And as an employee currently working on a government contract, it is anything but easy. The government must have at least 23% of contracting done with small businesses, but this past year, only 20% of government contracting was with small businesses. The process of making a contract with the government is rather tedious. First, the small business must be founded 2 years prior to application for a bid. Second, the small business must give 2 examples of every service they are offering in the contract. These examples must answer several questions in detail explaining exactly how the work is done, problems during the job and how they were solved, major milestones reached by the company during the project, and the list goes on. Third, you have to make a separate marketing plan just for the government along with almost a book of information on the founding of your company and other information. Lastly, you have someone walking you through the entire process who may or may not be competent. And P.S., all of this work doesn't gaurantee your company a contract. You very well could be wasting a whole lot of time if the government chooses to use another company for your service. The government does not work hard to work with small businesses; small businesses work hard to work with the government. Making a government contract can be beneficial, but it takes a lot of time and patience to complete. There is work that the government will give you, but nothing that a small business can rely on to stay in the black.

That being said, I do believe that starting your own business or working for a small business is a great opportunity to take! It gives you more freedom than a corporal environment and is an opportunity to grow your own ideas and improve your skills. So if you want to start a small business, be a risk-taker, be driven, don't quit, and most importantly, do something you love. But remember that while the US government is the world's largest market, it's not small businesses' largest market.

Skepticize Statistics

Last week Dr. Santanu Borah, a Professor in the Department of Management and Marketing spoke to our class on Human Values in Globalization and New Global Order. Values are emotional and differ among different people. We have different opinions because of our past experiences or our upbringing. For us to further understand what values were and learn about our personal values, Dr. Borah brought up many popular political topics for us to discuss such as military spending, death penalty, abortion, gay rights, and gun control. Politics are good indicators of a person's values, but they do have a tendency to bring out the beast in some people. Dr. Borah gave us charts and data on a few issues to get us riled up. And before I go any further I would like to express my opinion on data: It lies!! Okay, so not really. It's actually really accurate, especially if it's from Wiki. But if a reader is not careful, they tend to speculate things that are not given on a chart. Many times the connotation a chart can give is different than what the data is actually saying. When given data, especially on political issues, it is important to be skeptical on the source and critical when analyzing the data.

In this post I will be discussing Gun Control: The chart below is the first thing Dr. Borah showed us on this topic.



So what do you think?




<--- OMG!! We're all going to die! Why is the US so corrupt and evil?! AhHHHHHhhhhHhhhhhhHhhhh!!!!!!


<--- How are Canadians on this list?! Perhaps they're not as Pacifist as you thought. :O




Yes. That's what the first look can make you think, perhaps a little less dramatic, but you get my point. But this chart is showing Gun deaths- not total deaths. The US has more Gun Deaths because we can use guns and criminals do not have to get creative with their weapon of choice. US criminals choose to murder quickly and less painfully. So I did a little research to see which countries have the most murders and if it correlates with Gun Control.
This is what I came up with.














The US did not make it on to this chart, but according to GunPolicy.org and their 85 cited sources, the US's total homicides is calculated at about 4.96 homicides/100,000 people. While our gun homicides are high in comparison to other countries, our total homicides are less than at least all of the countries in the above chart. And you don't have to worry about Canada anymore- they're just as Pacifistic(maybe a word?) as ever! Canada is at about 1.81 deaths/100,000 people, which looks like pretty good odds to me.

Now looking at some of the countries with the highest number of homicides and their Gun Control Laws I came across some interesting information.

Most of the countries on the above chart have strict Gun Control Laws. In South Africa, owning a gun is conditional on a competency test and several other, albeit ill defined factors, including background checking of the applicant, inspection of an owner's premises, and licensing of the weapon by the police. Minimum waiting period for a permit frequently exceeds 2 years from date of application. Mexico is also strict with Gun Control. Entering Mexico with a firearm, or even a single round of ammunition, carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, even if the firearm or ammunition is taken into the country unintentionally. And just a fun fact for you: Recent FBI reports indicate that crime rate in the US has gone down for the fourth year in a row while gun ownership has significantly increased.

So here's my opinion on Gun Control:
Those who kill are criminals. Criminals break the law. If there is no gun control, criminals will break the law and kill people. If there is gun control, criminals will break the law and kill people. Guns don't kill people- people kill people. So gun control isn't about guns- it's about control. American people need to keep their rights and not give the government anymore control on their lives. And a political movement based on angering gun owners probably isn't a good idea anyways.

Sometimes your future hits you in the face

Wesley is in high school, and it's Saturday night. Wesley gets out of cross country practice, which is his favorite activity, and heads home. He and his best friend are going to the movies tonight. Usually they have their moms drop them off, but tonight is different. Tonight is the night they've been dreaming of. It's the night every kid dreams of. Tonight is the night when they became older, wiser, cooler kids. Last week, Wesley's friend got his license, and tonight is the night they drive themselves to the movie theater. Tonight is the night they are not riding in the mom mobile.

On the way back home, Wesley is pulled over by a police who is patrolling the area. This doesn't come as a surprise because police are always around here. Wesley gets out of his car and answers some questions. A split second later, Wesley and his friend are hit by a car.

They go to the hospital, and Wesley's friend is okay, but Wesley is told that he might have to get his leg amputated. This comes as a shock to anyone, but to Wesley, a runner, this is traumatic. It's horrifying. Unfathomable. Wesley had 7 surgeries in attempt to heal his leg. And after recovering from his 7th surgery, Wesley was told that he no longer needed an amputation. In fact, he could walk just as well as he did before the accident.

Wesley wanted to somehow repay the doctors who healed his leg. He wanted to be able to share that same joy with someone else. Wesley decided to be a doctor. He would heal others, just as he was healed. Wesley, better known as Dr. Wesley Desselle, spoke to my class a couple days ago. He first worked as a trauma surgeon and then as a community surgeon. Now he owns and manages his own small practition in Florence, AL.

While this accident was a terrifying part of Wesley's life, he took something positive from it. Dr. Desselle used this hard time in his life to find hope. If he never had hope, his leg might have never been healed. He might have never become a doctor, never saved a life, never returned his same joy. Sometimes life hits us with the unexpected. But we can't let it get us down. We can't let it defeat us. We can't let ourselves quit. We should take every experience we are in and find the positive, find hope in it. Every experience in life can be positive. Those that seem negative are just making us turn down a different path. Sometimes our future has to hit us in the face and point us towards the right direction.

We don't know where life will take us. We can't see the big picture. So when you find yourself in a bad situation, look for the positive. It's ahead somewhere. There's always something positive waiting for us past the hard times. Never give up. Be inspired. Rise above the circumstances. Maybe your future is hitting you in the face.

"In Him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will."
Ephesians 1:11

An Honest Politician.

At our last Honors Forum, Tammy Irons, Alabama State Senator and attorney, spoke to my class. Rather than spending her time giving us her platform and trying to win over our votes, she talked to us about ethics. To some people, this was an interesting topic to choose to speak about. A common idea in America is that that politicians and lawyers are the least ethical of any job.

"I hate politicians. They're a bunch of liars." Ever heard that before? I know I have. In fact, a recent poll states that 78% of United States citizens agree that politicians are dishonest. Why do so many people believe this?

Well, the common idea is that politicians lie about their platform to gain approval so that they can win approval of voters and in turn, win a vote. Here's a flaw in this theory. Politicians run for office to encourage their beliefs. What's the point of running for office when you have to lie or change your beliefs? Maybe for power, but is it really worth it if you're hated by half the country? Not to mention the time and money politicians must spend on campaigning.

Politicians exist to have opinions and convince everyone else that their opinion is the right one to have. Their opinions are on "touchy subjects" like the economy, death penalty, abortion, gay rights, school curriculum, and the list goes on and on. No one likes being told to follow this opinion or that opinion because no one likes to be told that they're wrong. Because of this, we get defensive and begin to dissect everything politicians do.

Politicians are in the public eye. When a politician is in the public eye, it is easy to dissect every little thing that person does, whether it be pertinent to their campaign or not. Not only do we pick at everything politicians do with their campaign, but we also scrutinize their personal lives and judge them on their bad habits.

Don't all of us have bad habits? Aren't we all dishonest at one point or another in our lives? The only difference is that our actions aren't being looked at under a microscope. Maybe there are some dishonest politicians out there, but there are also dishonest bankers, store managers, police, journalists, and even teachers. Politicians are not anymore dishonest than the general public.

The Honorable Tammy Irons spoke about the code of ethics given to her as an attorney and public official. These codes of ethics are in place so that over time, people don't lose sight of their values from the pressures to receive public approval. Maybe we can all learn from this. The public will look at us and judge us. But as long as each of us stays strong in our values, they can't bring us down. Just live by this one rule, and your ethics will be golden:

"If it would embarrass your momma, don't do it."

Knock, Knock. Who's there? STEM!

"This is not grade 13."
These were the first words of Dr. Thomas Calhoun Jr., the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at UNA. College is not just grade 13. It's not just more school. It's not just more learning, more classes, more homework, more studying. College is a hallway of doors to our future, with each door holding a unique opportunity. And with each opportunity is a new experience and a new perspective waiting for us; it's ours so long as we choose to open that door.

There are some doors that stay closed and grow old with only a few individuals daring enough to enter. The path to these doors is one less taken. But these doors do not hold a lesser opportunity for experience or perspective than what is behind the other doors. In fact, these doors give individuals the opportunity to advance medicine, improve air pollution, or even be the next Einstein. Yes, you guessed it: behind these doors is science. Specifically STEM learning: science, technology, engineering, and math. Less than 20% of all degrees in the United States are in STEM subjects. But why? There is so much opportunity in STEM learning, so many experiences to be had and perspectives to be seen.

Maybe you had a bad teacher. Maybe you got a bad grade. Maybe this class took studying and you were giving up too much of your weekend. Maybe you were being different and you opened the door less taken. Maybe you were afraid. People get discouraged. It's just how we are. We want constant encouragement and get defeated when something doesn't go the way we plan. Sciences and math take a whole lot of patience and studying. And it's a whole lot of patience and studying we don't want to give. It's hard and we don't want to fail. When you are going to fail, there's no point in trying.

There is not no point in anything. Yes, I know, crazy double negatives, but here's the deal... Every door, every opportunity, opens up a new experience and a new perspective. We are affected by every choice we make. Whether it's positive or negative is our choice. It's all based on our attitudes. Never turn down an opportunity, never leave a door closed. Look at everything with an open mind and you'll have a familiar hallway before you rather than a million closed doors.

Now as you probably know, I'm a STEM major, but I'm not saying everyone should go take all STEM classes and get degrees in STEM. I'm just saying it's an option. It's an option that most people avoid. It's a door they avoid, a door they completely throw away the key for. This is not just grade 13. STEM is not just another class. It's an experience. It's a perspective. Don't keep the door locked. Open it and give it a chance. Maybe something amazing will happen.

It's Friday! Let your Freak Flag Fly!! (Ooo, Alliteration!)

Somehow Jacob ended up in this picture. This will not be explained in the following narrative of last night's events.

Last Friday Night... Fun times that was. Very fun times.

This past Tuesday, our Freshman Honors Forum class was brought to a roaring hault when we had no speaker due to scheduling issues. It was the Worst of Times. But we decided we would make it the Best of Times. (Tale of Two Cities allusion!!) We were planning to go dancing with a group of 10ish of us, and it was going to be awesome. Friday night rolls around and we have found 0 places for non-sketchy dancing. I guess Florence isn't known for dance parties for a reason. Long story short- our plans failed.

But no fear! I wasn't going to have another boring Friday night. and neither were Alyson, Elise, or Jacob. Our group of 4 decided to go to the train bridge. We heard it was nice, and we were ready for a nice stroll in the night. Here's a little warning for you nighttime trainbridge goers- don't go. Or do go in a large group with big strong people and lots of pepper spray. Perhaps we were being pansies, but when there are a couple of questionable figures walking towards you in the dark, running in the opposite direction sounds better than a nice relaxed stroll towards them. And that's just what we did. We acted like 4 year olds and ran back to the car. But we decided we would get something to eat instead.

We went for ice cream. Did you know that if you have 2 spoons, they can spoon eachother? Also, ants can be easily confused with moving sprinkles. Just a couple fun facts for you.

After ice cream, we were driving back to the dorms and drove past the rollerskating rink. We, being all spontaneous and such, went rollerskating with a bunch of 12 year olds. But I don't rollerskate. It's actually a little embarrasing at how bad I am at rollerskating. And here are all these fancy 12 year olds doing their fancy tricks. They thought they were cool because they could skate better than us, but they were the ones who were sitting outside of the rollerskating rink waiting for their parents to pick them up as we drove off in a Jeep.

When we got back to Lafayette, we had a dance party in the parking lot. We were just minding our own business, blasting our music, and dancing like crazies in the parking lot when we realized there was a group of strangers staring at us like we were freaks. That's when we let our Freak Flags Fly, I suppose. So after thoughouly embarrasing ourselves, we went to chat in the lobby with fellow honors students. Someone had a brilliant idea to fit 7 people in a bug. We might have been all on top of eachother, but we did it! I think it should be some type of record. Ripley's Believe It or Not might put us in their book as a real-life clown car... Or as Best Friday Night Ever! If only they knew...

Tips from John Barnell, Vice President for Academic Affairs

We go to college to get a degree. We get a degree to get a job. Easy peasy. But now a days, degrees don't give you a job. Now, employers expect college students to have a stacked resume. We're expected to go through classes all day, go to our dorms and study, do hours of homework every night, and get really good grades. On top of that, we need to get a job to pay for all these tuition bills piling up and try to balance work with our study schedule. We also need to get involved on campus by joining any club we can fit in our already busy schedule, and try to remember to do everything you just added to that schedule. You might also want to try to get experience with your major to see if you really like it. Oh, and P.S., don't mess up or stress out because then you fall behind and you'll just be fighting a losing battle. Maybe that's not so easy.

I want to get super involved on campus. I'm actually really excited to join a million clubs and start stacking my resume. But is it really worth all that work and stress? I think it is. Everything on your resume isn't necessarily just so employers like you. Of course, it's great for jobs and networking, but it can be for yourself too. You can make every event on that resume mean something to you. My goal is to let everything I do in college be an experience. And I know that each experience will teach me and change me for the better.

Mr. John Barnell told my class to work our hardest in college at these 4 points:
GPA- My goal is a 4.0, or pretty close to it. We'll see how my two science classes will treat me by the end of the semester.
Community Service- I just went to a Circle K informational meeting, and I'm definitely thinking about joining. But I'm pretty good with joining just about any club.
Clubs and Organizations- As I've already said, loving lots of clubs. Looking for anything else that seems fun.
Travel- I'm definitely open minded to studying abroad or even just going to a conference about marine biology. I've been to Career Camp at Sea World, which was amazing. And I would love to do something related to my field like that. Maybe working in the gulf with BP's oil spill...

The most inspirational phrase?

In Honors Forum last week, my class was told to look up Steve Job's Commencement speech at Stanford. For those of you who do not know, Steve Jobs is a college drop out who started Apple, was fired by his own company 10 years later, and then started Pixar.

He said that the most important phrase to make choices in his life was "I'll be dead soon." For some, this sounds depressing. Why even bother? I'm just going to die. But to me, this is an inspirational phrase.

I don't want to just die. I want to make my mark on society. I want to be remembered. And this hope to be remembered is what I think drives Steve Jobs and many other people to success. So what is this success? Some would say money, wealth, owning a valuble company like Apple or Pixar. But I think it's doing whatever you are happy with in life, doing something that you love, doing something that you care about, and settling for nothing less.

My goal is to be a marine biologist, and right now I am studying at the University of North Alabama in Florence, AL. I'm not getting my degree for my health or because my mom told me to; I'm in college because "I'll be dead soon," and I want to reach my goal. I want to become a marine biologist. And while I'm here studying, I want to make my mark. Maybe not in a huge way, but just to inspire one person. I want to get involved and succeed. And I'm excited to accomplish as much as I possibly can because "I'll be dead soon."

If you're alive, you're alive for a reason. God's not finished with you yet. So strive to reach your highest goals, strive for the best. Life isn't about dying, it's about pushing yourself to make a difference.