Editorial -- Taking your time

Recently I've spent a lot of time thinking about why people expect a person to finish college at a certain time. People aren't the same, and they don't learn the same, so why would they take the same amount of time through college?

Anyway, that is why I wrote this editorial. Enjoy :)

P.S. Sorry I haven't put up a new post in a while. Things are getting crazy at school, what with trying to study for Midterms and completing scholarships by their deadline! Gotta pay for all this college somehow! I'll be putting up some more posts soon I swear!

Tick... tick... tick... taking your time

Published in the February 25, 2013 issue of the Kishwaukee Kaleidoscope

First I have a question to ask you, Kougars, and then I have a confession to make.

Raise your hand if you believe that Kishwaukee College is a two year college. 

Yep. Just like I thought. Everyone, including myself thinks that.

Now for my confession. This is my third year at Kish. 

I came to Kishwaukee College with the totally rational expectation of completing my associates degree in two years, and then transferring on to another school. That was my plan, and most people probably have the same plan when they enroll here. Every semester I enrolled in at least 12 credit hours, 12 being the minimum number of credit hours needed to be considered a full time student. In fact, that is the number I based my enrollment on every semester that I've been here. 

When I came to Kish for my orientation day and they showed me how to register for my classes, the counselor who helped me told me specifically not so sign up for any more than 12 credit hours. She told me I would be overwhelmed.

Naturally, I thought that as long as I had twelve or more credit hours I was fine, and was doing exactly what was expected of me.

But I've been doing some math. It takes 64 credit hours to graduate from Kish, right? So I divided that by 4, which would be the number of semesters if you were here for 2 years and didn't take any summer classes. I ended up with 16. You would have to take 16 credit hours each semester to graduate in 2 years. 16! That is four more credit hours a semester than is needed to be a full time student, and unless you are taking some sort of advanced math class, that is two more classes to add to your schedule.

I don't know about the rest of you, but with the class schedule I already have I really don't know where I would fit in two more classes. Besides I think I would drown in homework every night trying to keep up with all of those classes. I'd end up failing at least one class, if not several, and would have to retake them, and ultimately wouldn't end up graduating on time anyway.

Up until recently I felt ashamed that it was taking me so long to get through Kish. I felt like I didn't measure up somehow. The feeling became even worse when my little sister started college. How embarrassing would it be if she managed to finish college before I did and she started two years after I did. I really struggled with these feelings for quite some time. Then suddenly I realized something.

College isn't a race.

Sure there might be a "typical" path to follow, but why would I want to be typical? I'm a special and unique person, and my college experience is going to be unique. So even if it takes me longer to get through college than is expected, that is okay. The important thing is that I don't give up, and that I eventually reach the finish line and am handed my diploma, whether that is next year, or 10 years from now. 

Reflections on Valentines Day-- Editorial

In honor of Valentines day, I decided to write an editorial about a guy dying from injuries incurred during a snowmobile accident.

Yeah. It makes perfect sense.....

Published in the February 11, 2013 issue of the Kishwaukee Kaleidoscope

Valentines day is fast approaching. Valentines day, is of course, is that special day during the year when people who are in a relationship take an extra moment to tell the person they love that they do in fact love them.

Myself? I've been in a relationship for two years. My boyfriend, Austin, is a farmer, diesel mechanic, and a Motor sport enthusiast. Austin races motocross in the quad b class at as many race tracks as he can make it to. He spends half his summer thundering around the farm, and the other half in the shed, wrench in hand, trying to eke out every last horsepower from the engine. He loves to jump his quad. I'm quite certain that the four wheels of his quad spend more time in the air than they do on the ground. What makes Austin the happiest is what scares me the most. 

Watching his races can be hard. Often times there is no place to stand where you can see the entire track, and some of it is always hidden from view. Waiting to see him come back around a turn can be extremely nerve racking. I can't even describe to you what I felt the couple times he didn't come around those hidden corners at the time I expected him to.

In the winter his life is a little more subdued. He spends most of his time composing lists of parts that he would like to replace and being nervous about the upcoming season. A couple weeks ago we stayed up a little later than we usually do to watch the snowmobiles during the winter X-Games. Caleb Moore, one of the first riders, took to the ramp to execute a back flip on his snowmobile. At least, that was the plan.

Anyone with a computer and access to the Internet can look up that fateful back flip online. I'm not going to describe it here. What I can tell you is this. The camera angle that they showed as it happened live didn't do that crash justice. 

It really didn't look like it was that serious. Taking Moore away in an ambulance seemed like it was just a matter of routine. Just double checking that he was okay. The camera angle they kept showing on TV made it look like the sled has missed him when it landed. Later, Austin showed me another camera angle of the crash that he had found online that fully explained the extent of Moore's injuries.

The injuries that Caleb Moore sustained in that snowmobile crash proved to be fatal. One week after the crash Caleb Moore passed away. He was just 25 years old. Moore's death is the first in the 18 year history of the X-Games.

I like to hope that in many ways Caleb Moore and Austin are very similar. I like to hope that just like Austin, Caleb was never happier than when in Mid-air. I like to hope that his last memories are of that moment, and not of the crash.

This valentines day, I'm going to take an extra minute to be thankful that my adrenaline junky boyfriend is safe with me. Although I know how dangerous this sport is, I know I can't keep him from it, because it is what makes him happy. I suggest that everyone here at Kish does the same. Not just for your significant other, but for everyone you love.

Spring Semester Resolutions

        

My first editorial of my last semester on the Kaleidoscope. Wow. Can't believe it.....

Published January 28th 2013

Here we are. The beginning of a new semester, and the beginning of a new year. The new year is an excellent time to take a look back at your life, find the aspects of your life that you don't like, and form a resolution to change yourself for the better. I myself made some new years resolutions. I, like just about everyone in America, have decided that I'm going to be healthier this year. I also want to become a better blogger. I started a blog a while ago, but I never really accomplished anything with it. This is going to be the year that changes.

The sad thing about new years resolutions is that they are so hard to keep. If you've ever made a new years resolution and then failed trying to keep it, you are definitely not alone. I know that I've made many that I haven't kept. A year can be an intimidating length of time, and I think that might have something to do with the high failure rate.

But what about school? School is a big part of my life, but neither one of my resolutions have anything to do with school. So recently I've decided to make some Spring Semester Resolutions. For instance, I want to devote more time to my homework. I want to put some more effort into my homework and be prouder of my work in each of my classes. I also want to be on time to all of my classes. I hate showing up late and having to walk into class with everyone glaring at you as you try to find your seat.

I'm hoping that these Spring Semester Resolutions will be easier to stick to because it is for a shorter time than a New Years Resolutions. I only have to stick with this until May. I'm hoping that this makes me more successful with my goals.

What about you? Did you set any New Years Resolutions? How about Resolutions for the Spring Semester? Tell me about them through email at kscope@kishwaukeecollege.edu or write on our Facebook wall.

So I've Been Thinking...: College is the time to become an adult

Published in the September 24, 2012 Issue of the Kishwaukee Kaleidoscope

It was the summer after I graduated high school. I had just turned 18 a couple weeks earlier, which enabled me to get a job as a counselor at a local summer camp. I think it is safe to say that job changed my life forever. There has never been such a short amount of time in which I have learned so much. In fact, I'm pretty sure I could fill the whole newspaper with all the lessons I've learned. There is one lesson in particular that I learned that summer, though, that I think can benefit everyone on this campus.

A couple weeks into my job, my coordinator dropped a copy of a letter into my mailbox. It covered some general guidelines that, in her eyes, would make us the best counselors we could be if we would just follow them. Although I forget the exact language now, she had written on the bottom of the page something along these lines: "Remember, you are an adult. Act like one, and don't let anyone treat you like a child."

"Wow," I thought. I think that reading that note was the exact moment when I realized that I actually was an adult, and needed to start acting like one. But how? Being an adult was still an entirely new concept to me. I had only legally been an adult for a few weeks. I didn't even really know what being an adult meant, and I wasn't sure what to do with myself.

Figuring out how to be an adult is hard. Everyone has to follow their own path to get there, so to speak. No one can just tell you how to do it. There is so much more to it than that. For me, it was realizing that I can't do everything myself. I need to ask for help. There are some things that I just physically cannot do. I hate having to admit that about myself.

The other part of my coordinator's message is the hardest part, I think. Sure, you can act like an adult, but how do you stop other people from treating you like a child? You can't control what other people do or how they act. I think what my coordinator was trying to let me know is that I should never let someone take advantage of me. I should never let someone put me down or intimidate me. We are all equals. I might not know everything, but neither does everyone else, and I shouldn't let them make me feel inferior or unintelligent, because there are things that I can do that no one else can. If there is someone who is attempting to treat me like a child, I need to stand up to that person, and let them know that I am not happy with their treatment of me.

Kougars, what I am trying to tell you is this. First, we are in college now. It is time to grow up, and act like we belong here. Start taking responsibility for yourself. You can start by showing up to class on time or getting your homework done when it is due and grow by degrees. Everyone learns how to be an adult at their own pace, but it is important to start learning now. Secondly, we are all in college together. Treat those around you accordingly, whether it be your teachers or your peers. We all deserve the same respect.

Growth and Change (An Editorial)

This was published today in our school newspaper, the Kishwaukee Kaleidoscope. Enjoy :)

       The other day I ran into my seventh grade home economics teacher. We stopped and chatted for a while about what was new and how college was going. We talked for about 15 minutes and then went our separate ways.

Later that night as I was falling asleep I did what I always do when I think about that class and that teacher. During the year she would ask us questions that were meant to make us think about something bigger than ourselves and one of them has always stuck with me. "Are you really the person that you think you are?"

When she first asked, I must admit that I was mystified by this obscure question.  What could that possibly mean? "Of course I know who I am", I thought.  "I am Grace Martin. I live in a tiny town in the middle of a cornfield. How could I not know who I was?" The answer seemed so simple. As I looked around the rest of the class I could see the other confused and awkward looks on the faces of my classmates. No one had any idea what she was talking about.  

Luckily for us dumbfounded seventh graders it was a rhetorical question and she continued on with her lesson but, for whatever reason, I never forgot her asking it. Every once in a while I come across a situation that makes me think about it and what it means. Could you ever really possibly know who you are? 

As I was looking back to seventh grade I began to think about how much I've changed as a person and about everything I went through in Jr. High and High School. I'm definitely not the same person that I was in  seventh grade or as a freshman or even as a senior in high school. Those experiences shaped the person I was then into the person that I am now. 

In Jr. High the answer to that puzzling question seemed so simple. I was Grace Martin who grew up in the middle of a cornfield.  Though now I realize that the answer was much more complicated than that. There is so much more that defines who you are. The experiences you go through in life change how you view the world. Sometimes in big dramatic ways and other times in small, almost insignificant ones. But they still change you and that change is constant.

So this makes me wonder. What will I be like in a year? What about in five years? How much will I have changed from the person I am now? What will I think of myself when I look back? This probably sounds strange but when I look back, I hope I see all kinds of things that I could have done differently. Not that I will regret them, but I hope that will mean that I have grown for the better.