So I hadn't really planned on writing this blog tonight and I had definitely not planned on writing on the topic that I'm about to. Normally I just talk about my day and how things went, but due to some of the happenings today and that it's close to Thanksgiving I want to talk about someone I am thankful to have in my life. I doubt they will read this, but I think it's important to recognize the impact this person has had in my life and in my development as a leader and as a person.
The person I am talking about is Tina Powellson. I met Tina through my involvement in Undergraduate Student Government (USG). She serves as the advisor for USG and works closely with our executive team. I met her really for the first time my sophomore year when I was elected as the treasurer. Over the last year that I've had the chance to get to know Tina she has quickly become one of the people I look up to the most.
The first thing I admire about her is that she truly loves her job. She is one of the hardest workers I know when it comes to the office of which she is a part of. She is consistently in the office very early and works late. It's not uncommon to see her work a 12 hour day multiple times a week. The reason I feel she does this is because of her passion for students. I've sat in on many meetings or seen her work closely with student and the work she does with them is great.
She treats students as equals, which is something that is hard to find even in the university world. It is something that I really appreciate. I know that I can have a conversation with Tina and be taken seriously and not have to worry about trying to always say the right things, but can be honest and she understands where I am coming from. Today is a prime example of this. I had a meeting with a campus administrator in which I felt as if I was being talked down to because I was a student and that my efforts in trying to create something for this university didn't mean anything since I didn't have her title. There were multiple times that Tina jumped in and fought for the student perspective or I think realized how frustrated I was getting and interjected to help the conversation head a certain way.
I have taken so many things from Tina that I don't think she may realize. Her leadership skills and ideas on many aspects are things I have noted and continue to try to incorporate into my practices. I decided to take her leadership class this semester and I am so glad that I did. Overall a lot of what I have learned or talked about I knew a little bit about, but it has been great getting to explore some of the topics that she is constantly telling our executive team for USG. Simple things such as recapping saying "If I'm hearing you correctly" are things I catch myself doing, and I know that by doing them I'm setting myself up to be a more successful leader because I can see how they have helped her in her positions.
One of the last reasons I admire her is because she is always able to challenge me. Many times I think I have the right idea or even if I do she brings something up that makes me thing about what I'm doing. Sometimes I think about it and I would still do the same thing other times it makes me change my mind. Either way it's OK, but her ability to make people justify their actions is great. It is almost like a constant check on my actions and I often find myself wanting to do my best because I don't want to disappoint her. It's much like a child parent aspect in that disappointing my parents is so much more of a worse feeling that it is to have them angry at me.
I know that I would not be the same person I am today if I had not had Tina in my life and been able to model myself after her to help myself grow. I am truly thankful for the opportunity that I have had to get to know her and hope that the lessons that she has taught me will carry on throughout my life and not only the remainder of my collegiate career. And Tina if you do read this I just have this to say to you..."Thank you for all that you do. Your hard work does not go unappreciated and it has made a profound difference in my life and who I will eventually become."
Monday, November 23, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Getting Back in The Swing of Blogging
So here I am just sitting on my computer tonight having a great conversation with my brother, Areef, when he blurts out "so you're done with blogging I take it?"
Well you see, it's not that I'm done blogging, I just kind of always forget about it until he brings it up and I normally just don't get on to write something when he reminds me. However tonight is a different story and I decided it was time I get back into the swing of constantly updating this thing. I mean it is a good way for people to follow and perhaps I can get more "philosophical" like he does. :)
It's kind of hard to decide where to start on the updating so I'll start with some recent things and just go from there.
Well the great news that I got this week was that I got my internship in Chicago! I'm really excited about that and I already want it to be summer now. I will be working for McCrone Associates, Inc. It's a microscopy lab in Westmont, IL which is a suburb of Chicago. Not entirely sure what I'll be doing or what my research project will be while I'm there, but that's OK. I'm supposed to meet with the guy who hired me sometime between now and the beginning of the year. The lab definitely seems nice and hopefully I'll get some great experience. Dr. Siegel said he's really excited to hear that I got it and looks forward to hearing how it works while I'm up there. I've been searching for apartments this week. It's so expensive to live in Chicago. I found a studio apartment for around $600, which in Chicago definitely isn't bad, but it's sad to think I could pay that in Indy and probably get a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment. Overall though it's gonna be awesome. I'm excited because I'll get to hang out with some of my Phi Psi friends who live up there that I haven't hung out with in a long time.
Being an RA has gone pretty well. I got off to a rocky start, but things have turned around a lot and I'm having fun. I've had a couple pretty successful programs. I took my residents to an Apple Orchard towards the middle of October and they had a lot of fun. I still have some apples from it. Jonathon apples are by far the best apples I've ever had in my life. The other program was "Thirsty" Thursday. We have a bar area in our lounge downstairs so myself and a couple other RAs were bartenders and made some "drinks" all night long. It was pretty cool and it was nice to have the residents come down and chill. This Sunday I have my Thanksgiving potluck. Hopefully my residents bring some food otherwise there won't be much since I'm not really cooking much at all.
Student government is going pretty well also. We had our last senate meeting today so that's nice. Means I'm able to partially reclaim some of my Fridays now. I'm still working hard with my committee to help plan Homecoming. That's a lot of hard work and I'm hoping that people start picking up the work that needs to be done and actually doing things instead of just talking about them. Still working with housing to try to get a Fraternity and Sorority theme house in the Campus Apartments. The survey results that I did showed that it actually would be supported by the NIC and NPC groups...now it's just a matter of knocking out the logistics on housing's end and I think it can definitely work for the Fall of 2010.
School sucks and I can't wait for this semester to be over. My classes are definitely not that enjoyable. The only classes I've really enjoyed have been those not associated with my major. Who would guess that. I've had forensic chemistry which isn't bad, it's just the structure of the class really frustrates me and I haven't had such a great learning experience in there. Instrumental chemistry lecture and lab both really suck. My teacher for that class (lecture) has changed the structure of tests both times so far. We went from an average of a 50 to an average of a 90. That is the most ridiculous average I've ever seen. I mean I like getting an A on a test, but not when I don't feel like it was deserved. The lab is dumb as well...it's all stuff I really don't understand and my lab professor will sit there and talk to you about an instrument and just assume you are following along. I always want to look at him and just go "I don't get it...at all." But I feel like that's not the best thing to say. Spanish class has been fun and I really like my teacher. She's really laid back and very nice. Geography is interesting to say the least. It isn't what I thought it would be so that's kinda cool. My favorite class is my exploring leadership class. I only took it since Tina was teaching it, but I'm really glad I took it. It has honestly made me rethink a lot about my career path for after college.
OK so onto my career thoughts. This semester has been full of a lot of changes for me as to what I feel like I want to do. I've obviously decided that I really don't want to do science/chemistry after college. I don't enjoy it for the most part. I mean there are definitely parts of it that I think are still fun, but I don't think I could do that for the rest of my life. Then I went into thinking that I would become a lawyer. Possibly prosecution and such and then eventually move on to be a judge. Lately however I've really been looking into just working with student affairs. Tina always jokes with me that I should go into it, and I always tell her I would never think about it. I even remember telling some of the graduate assistants in the CCL office that I could never do it because I would feel like I was in college for the rest of my life. But I think I've realized that I could do it, because the things I'm invovled in right now are things that I LOVE. I don't like doing all my school work, but I have no problem spending hours and hours getting something done for USG or Phi Psi. I could definitely see myself doing what Tina does or even being a Greek Life Coordinator. I have however decided on one thing. I will not go directly into grad school no matter what I decide on doing. I'm burnt out on school and I know that if I go directly into it, I will not do well. I'm going to take a couple years off of school and try to be a consultant for Phi Psi. If I get hired for that, that's pretty cool. If I don't, I'm sure I can find something to do for a couple of years. And to be honest as I've progressed through college, I realize I have plenty of time to figure out what to do with my life. I remember being in high school freaking out trying to determine what I thought I wanted to do with my life. Glad to see that I've grown in my understanding of who I am, and exactly what I enjoy doing. Because doing what you love isn't a job at all...it's just fun.
Quote of the Day
"Man only likes to count his troubles, but he does not count his joys." --Fyodor Dostoevsky
Well you see, it's not that I'm done blogging, I just kind of always forget about it until he brings it up and I normally just don't get on to write something when he reminds me. However tonight is a different story and I decided it was time I get back into the swing of constantly updating this thing. I mean it is a good way for people to follow and perhaps I can get more "philosophical" like he does. :)
It's kind of hard to decide where to start on the updating so I'll start with some recent things and just go from there.
Well the great news that I got this week was that I got my internship in Chicago! I'm really excited about that and I already want it to be summer now. I will be working for McCrone Associates, Inc. It's a microscopy lab in Westmont, IL which is a suburb of Chicago. Not entirely sure what I'll be doing or what my research project will be while I'm there, but that's OK. I'm supposed to meet with the guy who hired me sometime between now and the beginning of the year. The lab definitely seems nice and hopefully I'll get some great experience. Dr. Siegel said he's really excited to hear that I got it and looks forward to hearing how it works while I'm up there. I've been searching for apartments this week. It's so expensive to live in Chicago. I found a studio apartment for around $600, which in Chicago definitely isn't bad, but it's sad to think I could pay that in Indy and probably get a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment. Overall though it's gonna be awesome. I'm excited because I'll get to hang out with some of my Phi Psi friends who live up there that I haven't hung out with in a long time.
Being an RA has gone pretty well. I got off to a rocky start, but things have turned around a lot and I'm having fun. I've had a couple pretty successful programs. I took my residents to an Apple Orchard towards the middle of October and they had a lot of fun. I still have some apples from it. Jonathon apples are by far the best apples I've ever had in my life. The other program was "Thirsty" Thursday. We have a bar area in our lounge downstairs so myself and a couple other RAs were bartenders and made some "drinks" all night long. It was pretty cool and it was nice to have the residents come down and chill. This Sunday I have my Thanksgiving potluck. Hopefully my residents bring some food otherwise there won't be much since I'm not really cooking much at all.
Student government is going pretty well also. We had our last senate meeting today so that's nice. Means I'm able to partially reclaim some of my Fridays now. I'm still working hard with my committee to help plan Homecoming. That's a lot of hard work and I'm hoping that people start picking up the work that needs to be done and actually doing things instead of just talking about them. Still working with housing to try to get a Fraternity and Sorority theme house in the Campus Apartments. The survey results that I did showed that it actually would be supported by the NIC and NPC groups...now it's just a matter of knocking out the logistics on housing's end and I think it can definitely work for the Fall of 2010.
School sucks and I can't wait for this semester to be over. My classes are definitely not that enjoyable. The only classes I've really enjoyed have been those not associated with my major. Who would guess that. I've had forensic chemistry which isn't bad, it's just the structure of the class really frustrates me and I haven't had such a great learning experience in there. Instrumental chemistry lecture and lab both really suck. My teacher for that class (lecture) has changed the structure of tests both times so far. We went from an average of a 50 to an average of a 90. That is the most ridiculous average I've ever seen. I mean I like getting an A on a test, but not when I don't feel like it was deserved. The lab is dumb as well...it's all stuff I really don't understand and my lab professor will sit there and talk to you about an instrument and just assume you are following along. I always want to look at him and just go "I don't get it...at all." But I feel like that's not the best thing to say. Spanish class has been fun and I really like my teacher. She's really laid back and very nice. Geography is interesting to say the least. It isn't what I thought it would be so that's kinda cool. My favorite class is my exploring leadership class. I only took it since Tina was teaching it, but I'm really glad I took it. It has honestly made me rethink a lot about my career path for after college.
OK so onto my career thoughts. This semester has been full of a lot of changes for me as to what I feel like I want to do. I've obviously decided that I really don't want to do science/chemistry after college. I don't enjoy it for the most part. I mean there are definitely parts of it that I think are still fun, but I don't think I could do that for the rest of my life. Then I went into thinking that I would become a lawyer. Possibly prosecution and such and then eventually move on to be a judge. Lately however I've really been looking into just working with student affairs. Tina always jokes with me that I should go into it, and I always tell her I would never think about it. I even remember telling some of the graduate assistants in the CCL office that I could never do it because I would feel like I was in college for the rest of my life. But I think I've realized that I could do it, because the things I'm invovled in right now are things that I LOVE. I don't like doing all my school work, but I have no problem spending hours and hours getting something done for USG or Phi Psi. I could definitely see myself doing what Tina does or even being a Greek Life Coordinator. I have however decided on one thing. I will not go directly into grad school no matter what I decide on doing. I'm burnt out on school and I know that if I go directly into it, I will not do well. I'm going to take a couple years off of school and try to be a consultant for Phi Psi. If I get hired for that, that's pretty cool. If I don't, I'm sure I can find something to do for a couple of years. And to be honest as I've progressed through college, I realize I have plenty of time to figure out what to do with my life. I remember being in high school freaking out trying to determine what I thought I wanted to do with my life. Glad to see that I've grown in my understanding of who I am, and exactly what I enjoy doing. Because doing what you love isn't a job at all...it's just fun.
Quote of the Day
"Man only likes to count his troubles, but he does not count his joys." --Fyodor Dostoevsky
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