Theshoe4's Blog

Reflective essay Breanna Reffel

theshoe4 — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 02:06:53 +0000

Breanna Reffel

English 110

Kinney

6/4/10

Reflective essay

Whenever people ask me what I want to be when I grow up, I always gave them an honest answer, “I have no clue.” I really had no idea what I wanted to be during high school. People would tell me, “Oh go into nursing”, or “do something medical related because the money is good”. I would always respond to that by saying, “no that’s just not for me.” I was so dumbfounded that no occupation really interested me. I took test after test to see what would fit me best, I looked through books of college majors and nothing ever sparked my interest. It wasn’t until the summer of 2008 that something finally sparked some interest in me.

It was the weekend of the Izod Indy Car race out at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Every year on the Thursday before the race my favorite driver Marco Andretti, the driver of the number 26 Venom Energy Andretti Autosport car, makes an appearance at Meijer for an autograph signing. The previous year I had noticed while at the track that all the drivers had people that went everywhere with them and made sure that they had everything they needed for autograph sessions and for when they were on the track. While I was at Meijer I noticed that Marco had someone that followed him around and laid out everything that he need for the autograph signing and she dealt with the media before he did. I really took an interest in this, so I asked around to see what her title was and I was told she was his PR, I then talked to her a little bit and she gave me her card just in case I had any further questions. On my way home that night I kept thinking, “Wow she has the sweetest job ever, I want her job.” That’s when I finally realized I might have something here.

I went through my senior year still pretty much undecided, but PR was still in the back of my mind. I knew for sure that I was going to go to The Ohio State University. It has always been Ohio State for me, no other school. Once I got excepted every time someone asks me where I was going and what I was majoring in I would tell them, “I’m going to Ohio State and majoring in football.” People might have thought that it was funny that I say that, but all I wanted to do at Ohio State was go to the football games and date a football player.

All throughout my senior year I kept researching Public Relations to get more information about it. I became more and more interested, but never fully decided on it because I found out that Ohio State does not have PR and I just had to go to Ohio State, so I started in the fall still undecided. While I was researching Public Relations I read that most PR specialists have a degree in Journalism, Communications, or Marketing. Marketing sounded the most interesting, so I was doing some investigation into it and the descriptions never really seemed to fit me and I didn’t get excited like PR did. I think at that point I knew my future at my dream school was limited because why should I stick at Ohio State and get a Journalism, Communications, or Marketing degree when there are other schools out there that have an actual Public Relations degree. By obtaining the actual degree I could have the upper hand when it comes to me getting a job. Once I came to the horrifying realization that I was going to have to transfer I began looking at schools that have a Public Relations program. I had a brilliant idea that I would go to The University of Indianapolis because all the Indy Car headquarters are in Indianapolis, so it would be easy for me to get a job with an Indy Car team. That great idea lasted about two seconds because when I looked up the price and the in-state tuition alone was $20,000 I knew that wasn’t happening. I found about six schools in Ohio that have PR and quickly narrowed my list down to Bowling green, Akron, Kent, and Youngstown. I previously knew that Kent had a PR program and had been looking into it. I have basically made my mind up that I was going to Kent because their program is the best. Before I get to ahead of myself I have to finish my stint at Ohio State.

It’s kind of funny because I picked the school that I wanted to go to before I finally made my decision to be a Public Relations specialist. What finally sealed the deal for me was when I went to Fast Friday and Pole Day for the Indianapolis 500. While I was there I saw every drivers PR in action because after a driver qualifies they have to go through a line of interviews and when I saw all the Public Relations specialists taking the lead and guiding their driver through the line. I knew from that moment that that was it for me, that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

To achieve my goal of becoming a Public Relations specialist for an Izod Indy Car driver I will have to achieve small little goals first. My first little goal is to finish out my stint at Ohio State with the best GPA as possible. My next goal is to this fall apply for Kent’s Public Relations program and get accepted. Then I will so my best in all my classes at Kent and hopefully get an internship with Soap Box Derby in Akron. My goal with Soap Box Derby is to get its name out there and get kids interested in racing because they are struggling severely with car counts and the fact that they can’t get a national sponsor and are $300,000 on debt doesn’t help either. I really want to get their debt diminished by getting them a national sponsor and get them to where they are making money to put back into their facility. This would then be good on my resume to help me get a job with an Indy Car team. My final little goal is to graduate from Kent State University. All these little goals will help me bag my ultimate goal of being PR for Marco Andretti or Graham Rahal.

After reflecting on my life I realize that I don’t make up my mind very easily. I have had Public Relations on my mind for the past year, but have not went with it because I was still unsure that it was what I wanted to do, mostly because I didn’t want to leave Ohio State. Now that I know it what I have to do it’s not so bad, but it still sucks. Getting past the not graduating from OSU I am so excited to finally have decided on a major. It took me long enough, but I did it. I am excited to finally be able to take classes that are PR classes and get the degree for my dream job. It might not be the way I expected to achieve this goal, but I will achieve and live the life I have always wanted to live.

Reflective Essay by:Nikki Stuckert

theshoe4 — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:37:35 +0000

What do I want to be when I grow up? Well many people have asked me that question, and since the early age of 4 i have had a very detailed answer. I want to be a kindergarten teacher. I’ve always wanted to teach even though i knew there were many other options for me to explore. Of course there were a couple other careers that i thought i might be interested in but those only lasted about a week or so. I was thinking maybe a travel agent that way i could plan fun and exciting trips for people, but then i thought that i would get kinda jealous of them. Then there was the job of working in a super market, but i figured that would get tiring after a couple years. All throughout the years though the career of being a teacher just seemed to suit me.

My mom and I were talking a couple days ago and I asked her if I ever just played and had fun when i was younger cause all I remember is being stressed and working on stuff. She told me a story of when we were on the way uptown to walmart and i gathered up a stack of papers that “I had to grade by 3″ and insisted on working on them out in the car while she shopped. What brought this conversation up is that I was going through a box of my keepsakes from when I was younger and it was all school papers but they were not mine from elementary school they were “the kids” that I taught. I had individual folders and grade cards for each of my 24 students. Looking back now, and even talking about it, seems like I was crazy, but I really enjoyed playing school. I had a full size chalk board and a teacher’s desk and chair. I was all set to teach but was still stuck in a child’s body.

Now that im in college the dream of becoming a teacher is getting closer. It is exciting to be able to pick classes that will help me learn new skills that will put me closer to my dream career. Each day of class I am one day closer to being a teacher. Many people change their major throughout their first couple years of college. At this point I am happy with what I am doing, and look forward to the day that I am handed my college degree and set foot in my classroom!

Reflective Essay by Candace Mowrer

theshoe4 — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:41:01 +0000

Candace Mowrer

English 110.01

Andrew Kinney

June 3, 2010

Reflective Essay

My major is Dental Hygiene which to most people they instantly say gross. I do understand where they get that from reaction from they first think “eww” cleaning someone’s teeth! It not as bad as everyone assumes it would be. I choose dental hygiene as my major for so many reasons. It has wonderful benefits, the hours are great and lets not forget about the salary. I decided on this major when I was a junior which some people may think way super early but that’s the year when my Aunt told me all about her job as a Hygienist and what it all initialed.

My Aunt told me how her hours were very laid back and at that moment part time because of her kids busy schedules. This seemed perfect to me because I wanted to make good money but still have a life. I also was intrigued with the lack of schooling required to obtain the degree. I am choosing to go for my bachelor degree instead of my associates mainly because you mid as well go all they way. I am also very proud about attending college because I am an only child and neither of my parents went to college. It makes me feel like I’m widening my horizons by getting a bachelors degree. It will help me so much in my future. I will have to work half as hard as my parents do to go the same amount of money. I wish back when my parents were graduating high school that it was such a necessity to attend college like it seems to be now. My parents wouldn’t have to work usually 6 days a week with two self employed jobs.

For me to accomplish my goal of earning my bachelors degree in Dental Hygiene I have to go through with all my pre requisites. Then I have to accomplish 20 observation hours plus a total of 45 credit hours required for admissions. I am pretty far on accomplishing all of these tasks for my goal. I have almost completed all my pre requisites and this summer I already have scheduled appointments to do my 20 hours of observation. Every things been so easy but next year I have all science classes which definitely isn’t my strong suit. I will have two chemistry classes, one biology and one anatomy. For next year I will have to study a lot harder and definitely focus!

I do sadly have to admit that that I have no major desire to clean peoples teeth for a living. I was just drawn to all the benefits that come with it. It is a very 9 to 5 job that pays quite well. But to be honest the main reason that drew me to the job was being able to work part time while raising a family. I want to be a stay at home mom basically while my children are young whenever I have them in my future. To me it seems like the perfect like to go along with the life I want to achieve. I might get through a couple more years through college and realize I totally hate what I’m about to do forever!

Lately I have been focusing a lot on my grades to keep my GPA up. I have been trying extra hard by studying a lot harder because I know these grades now will count and help me be accepted into the hygiene program. To continue towards my goal I need to keep my GPA up around 3.5 for next year. Which will definitely require me getting all A’s and B’s in my classes. I do want to transfer to Ohio State main campus after next year to finish my degree.

Counterproductive habits of mind: Stephen Parker

theshoe4 — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:19:31 +0000

Carr is yes in fact avoiding counterproductive habits of mind. He has decided to go the easier route by only using Google to read short stories or essays, and not actually picking up a hard covered book and reading it. The reasons for this is because reading an article on the internet is a lot faster and has less content to go through, it is necessarily dulling our minds, but in this new age of technology when is the time going to come when books have become obsolete? I believe he is avoiding these counterproductive habits because he says that it becoming harder to stay focused while reading a book, on the internet you can get to the point a lot quicker and everyday our technology grows and becomes faster. I feel that Google is a productive habit of mind but at the same time we must find other ways to keep our brain intrigued and sometimes a book is the only thing that gets the job done.

Matthew Crawford by Stephen Parker

theshoe4 — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:00:55 +0000

Crawford’s assumptions are based on the view that there are two different types of workers in the world. There are the people that are striving through college with high goals and standards to invest into a future that will completely benefit their everyday adult life. With a degree today most jobs don’t even look at the classification it is in, the only thing that employers are worried about is actually having a degree in something. The second type of workers are the people who decide to go to vocational schools to be able to learn a specific trade, such as a carpenter, mechanic, or electrician, these are specific trades that we can hold onto and practice our entire lives. I believe that Crawford’s pitch is trying to say that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. He believes that people who do not have a trade job think that those types of workers will never make enough money to live luxuriously, but just like Crawford himself and the motorcycle mechanic, they don’t really care about money, they are happy with the life they are living because they are not living for the happiness of materialistic objects, but the joy they find in their job provides sufficient happiness and feelings of accomplishment.

Nikki Stuckert Response: Does Carr avoid counterproductive habits of mind?

theshoe4 — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:05:58 +0000

Carr without a doubt avoids counterproductive habits of the mind. He has fallen into the habit that many other people have, taking the easy way out. He no longer reads books like he used to , to get information now he goes to the web and searches google. At least Carr realizes that he takes the easy way out when finding information, unlike many many other people out in the world. Although he sees this as being wrong he doesnt care anymore, he continues to use google.

Matthew Crawford post by Breanna Reffel

theshoe4 — Tue, 18 May 2010 17:18:13 +0000

Crawford assuptions are that there are two types of people so there is two types of education. There are the people that want to have an open future so they go to college where teh oppertunites are endless. They wide range of stuff you learn about in college isnt that specific and when you get out you can do many things with it. The second type of people are the people that know what they want to do and life and are very specific about it this is why voactional schools are good for them. You go and learn a trade and or skill that you can use for the rest of your life. Matthew Crawfords complaint is that people think that if you go to a vocational school that you are stuck there for the rest of your life with no where to go but he believes thisw to be untrue. Just like the guy with the motorcycle shop he enjoys the gradifcation he gets when people tell him how nice the bike runs and how good of a job hes is doing. He likes the fact that the thing that he is good at has broguth him so much happyness to his life. I believe that Crawfords pitch is dont judge a career by jus tlooking under the hood? Or maybe why do AMericans have to make things so complicated?

Nikki Stuckert’s Topic Proposal

theshoe4 — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:16:34 +0000

Impulse buying:are you a victim? This is the topic that i would like to explore for my paper. I want to look at the advertising techniques that sales people use to draw in customers to buy their products. Many people unconciously buy products because of the techniques that sales people use. Without even noticing you can be sucked into buying something that you dont even. With a little bit of research and the knowlege that i already have about this subject i hope to have enough information to successfully write my paper

“So what” By Candace Mowrer

theshoe4 — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:01:25 +0000

Yes I think Carr avoids counterproductic habits of mind. He avoids reading books because of how conveinent it is to read shorter stories online. He chooses to go the easier route and for his mind its easier to be focused on such a shorter version that is more summerized. Carr can only focus his mind on those short stories that get to the point a lot quicker than a full book can. Google is making it way to easy for us to research anything within just a couple of seconds you can have a million hits on what you just searched for. It is a habit of mind to search google to figure something out. I know it really is for me.

Crawford’s assumptions by Candace Mowrer

theshoe4 — Mon, 17 May 2010 14:25:00 +0000

Crawford’s assumptions are that now a days everyone seems to always have to call and hire someone in to fix things. People today don’t usually do things there selves. They hire someone to install a pre-made replacement part. Crawford believes that now is the time to have some more manual competence and be able to be more dependent. I think that Mattew Crawford’s pitch is that we need to be more dependent and we need to be able to be more handy and self sufficent. I think most of his main complaints is that we rely to much on others to help fix things for us. We hire people to fix our cars, mow our lawns, paint our house’s, and even some people how can afford to do so hire people to decorate their house! I believe that crawford is trying to say that more manual work is needed in todays society to help benefit you in your future so you can be more self sufficent.