Academic Dishonesty

Although I have done a few things in my past to get an extra point or two on a test, I am strongly against cheating in any form. It hurts the person cheating as well as the person they're cheating from. It builds a negative character on that person, and they will soon begin to rely on cheating to pass certain tests or finish essays. That person will end up not knowing what they're doing in the future, and will get to a point where they can't cheat to get passed a certain area. Their life will soon fall apart and they will most likely have to start back at square one. Whenever a person tries to cheat off of me, or asks if I can, I agree to let them. But as soon as the day of the test comes around, I won't let them. Not only is it funny to me to watch them suffer for their own ignorance, it also teaches them a lesson. Cheating is wrong, and there are a few people out there that truly believe in that.

This I believe

I believe that a person shouldn't be judged by how they look.

Through all my life in high school, me and my friends were judged by how we looked and by what we did. We all got the label of "geek" and "nerd" and all of those grossly overused stereotypes. Most of my friends shrugged it off, but some of us, including me, took it rather personally. I would lash back at people, insulting them and sometimes hurting their feelings back. Of course later I would feel bad for what I did, but I felt a sort of dark sense of satisfaction out of doing it. While I did get a bad rep with the more popular folk, my name was spread across campus and became a well known person. People I never even met knew my whole name and where I hanged out. This just made me more and more shy, as I was bad at meeting new people. In the end though, I finally stopped attacking back and sorta just let it happen. It has affected me to the point where I can barely talk to people anymore, let alone make eye contact. This makes it hard for me to make new friends and get used to new surroundings. In the back of my mind I'm afraid that if I make the smallest mistake, they will taunt me. I hate having attention drawn to me, because if I make the smallest mistake, I think they will talk about me behind my back for weeks. If I see two people looking over in my direction and whispering to each other, I automatically assume they're talking about me, making fun of me or something. Nowadays, I try my best to not be so paranoid about people. I don't talk much to other people, and just try to keep to myself. Usually someone notices me and that we have the same interests in computers or something else, and we begin to talk. Of course they have to start the conversation.

Community service

While driving around the Wichita area, I notice that there is a lot of trash laying around the outskirts of the highway. Although many groups spend their time cleaning up all that garbage, there is still much work to be done. I would start by organizing a group of people to help me with the project. Mostly my family and maybe a few of their friends with mine. We'll start on an early weekend day and clean up for almost the entire day. The community would benefit from this as there won't be as much trash floating around and make our roads cleaner and safer to drive on. There is also a problem with the youth using drugs and drinking more and more. This is catastrophic, as at such a young age their bodies will be completely shot if they continue those bad habits. I would organize a small group of people by putting up posters around town, and get some naturally kind and understanding people. This people would have to be able to talk to kids and help them understand the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

Butler Resources

Brook is an 18 year old college student. In high school, he never finished his work on time, and studied for tests the night before. He always knew he was more capable than what he was doing. When he started college, he took his bad habits with him. Study at the last minute, slack off on assignments, etc. Two months into school, he had all D's in his classes and was in danger of losing his study job on campus, which was paying for his costs of going to college. His parents told him that not going to college was not an option, so he had to pass all his classes. On top of that, he got pulled over for a DUI last night when coming home from a off-campus party. In order for Brook to pass all his classes, he would need some help with his assignments and work habits. There are a variety of different tutors that will be more than happy to help him with his work on Butler Campus. As for his drinking, there are also counselors that will help him with his life outside of campus, and help him get his life back on track. There are also counselors outside of campus, that would also help him with these problems. While they may be more harsh than the Butler cousnelors, they will still be an effective catalyst to help him get back in line.

Academic Plans

I plan on becoming a computer graphic artist in my future, seeing that my interests lie solely in computers and different video games. I'll need to take a lot of computer and art classes. These are the classes I look forward to the most, as I like computers and using my creativity to draw or form things. I'll still go to school at Butler, and still live at home, as it saves money. Once my basic is all passed, and I have my money saved up, I'll go to WSU to start my classes that will help most towards my profession. I hope to move out on my own when I got to WSU. This will help me build more sense of responsibility and probably make me do my work earlier, not the night before it's due. Hopefully once I get out of college, I've gotten my act together and got all my work done in time. I want to get a good job at a computer game company and make games for different consoles and computers.

Time Management

In my life today, I have different things that I need to manage my time with. School is a big one, I have to go to bed early so I can wake up in the morning without hitting my alarm clock several times and still falling back to sleep. I devote at least 2 hours to homework every night, and try to finish assignments ahead of time if possible. I have a job too, 20 hours a week 5 days a week. I work 4 to 8, so I finish my homework before that, so I'll have free time later that night. My family is very important to me. Whenever they go out to do something, I put everything aside to go with them. I'd rather see them because I've barely been with them throughout my life, and I want to spend as much time with them now before I head to my main college. I work at a grocery store about 15 minutes away from where I live. I leave about 20 minutes early because Cessna gets off of work around the time I leave anyway. I finish my work fast so I might get a chance to leave early and get home to relax. I don't have any friends out here, on account that I've only lived here for about 8 months, and the first 6 I was working 3rd shift to get money. So I hang out with a few of my cousins sometimes. We go see movies and hang out at each others houses with our computers. Sometimes I like to drive around and unwind, just get out of the house and get some fresh air. It helps me concentrate when I get home and I can finish some things a lot faster.

Coping With Change

One of the biggest changes I've had to cope with in my life is moving out to Kansas to start a new life. School was just not going to work for me out in California, so I wanted to move out here and start my college life. I had to leave all my friends and family I had out there, and my girlfriend too, which was very hard for me. Now I have to make new friends out here and get to know all the family members with whom I've had no time to spend with. Making new friends is hard for me though, because I tend to be really shy when it comes ot new people. I just try to be nice and hope someone comes and talks to me first. Starting school has been difficult as well, for I'm used to staying up late at night, and now that I have to get up in the morning. I've had to go to bed earlier, which is something I haven't done in a while. I have had trouble falling asleep, but I'm slowly, very slowly, starting to get used to it. The change of seasons is also one thing I'm really looking forward to. Out in California, there were no season changes, it was always the same. Now I get to see different changes in the landscape and get to enjoy them too. Despite all these new things, I still see myself leading a normal life through college, and finishing it to the best of my abilities.