Looking Up to Someone; Mentors

Throughout life, whether we realize it or not, there are people we look up to. They can be a celebrity, a sports star, a relative, or anyone. We look up to these people because they have the qualities that we wish to possess, or have the success that we wish to aspire to.
In my life, I have always looked up to my father, he's the smartest, hardest working, greatest guy ever. Also, I have come to look up to my high school football coach, he has taught me about working hard and having priorities. One of my greatest role models, especially as a college student, is Myron Rolle, former safety for the Florida State Seminoles. Myron (pictured above) is a great roll model because while being an all-american safety, he also was recognized as a Rhodes Scholar, the highest academic achievement for a college student. Myron's ability to work hard, prioritize, and manage his time is something I really admire as a college student.
Now that college has begun, however, it is time for me to begin to network and make contacts and find new role models and mentors who can help make my college experience much more successful. Right now, I'm looking toward the teachers whose assistance will benefit me the most as I make early course and extra-curricular decisions. Two mentors who I feel would be beneficial for me to have would be Heath, who I know would have answers to any questions I might have, and valuable advice to offer. Also, another person who I would emulate as a mentor would be my Chinese teacher, Cai Ling; she is a caring, articulate, and cultured person who I would feel very comfortable going to for advice.
As I continue in my college career, and further specify my major, I will continue to form new contacts and use new people as mentors. I hope to recognize a professor or TA in the business college as a person who can give me thoughtful, experienced advice on career decisions. I'm fairly unsure of where my career is headed, but I know with the help of a mentor I will be much more successful in my future
In life, we all have role models, we all look up to someone, but in the end, we have to make our own success.

Ski Club!

One of the biggest transitions between the small school atmosphere of home and the gargantuan feel of a state university is the lack of involvement. It's only natural that at a small school, each person plays a big role in the activities of the school. In college, however, it is difficult to get involved without putting yourself out there and trying to get involved.
The advantage of this atmosphere is the variety of organizations, many of which I was given the opportunity to view closely at "Club Fest." I've always been a well rounded individual, but my well-roundedness had almost completely revolved around school activities, therefore, I wanted to take this opportunity to participate in a club that I would really spark my interesting. I walked around for a while, and there it was; that day, I joined the ISU Ski Club.
In the past, my family has taken numerous trips to Colorado to ski. After I learned, I came to love skiing second in my life, only to football. After speaking to the representatives of the club, I had a feeling it was the club I was going to join. Joining the ski club seemed like almost a perfect fit for me; it was an opportunity to enjoy skiing and meet people who share my love for it.
From the very beginning, I enjoyed being in the ski club. We had a grill out the following week, where I made new friends right away. Probably the most enjoyable part of this was talking to these people about their experiences with skiing. I wanted to hit the slopes right when I got back to my room. I'm really excited for our next get together, and hopefully I make it to one of the ski trips this year. Joining a club has been a great break from studying and a great way to make new friends, and I encourage anyone I meet to do the same.

God bless.

What I wish I'd known before college!

(This is being done for the purpose of in the case this is actually a due assignment)

There are many new things that come to our lives; from new friends to new sports to new opportunities. But one of the newest situations we encounter in our lives is, obviously, college. There's always a sense of self-confidence that we have in these new situations, but as usual, there is always something new to our situation.
The greatest thing I wish I would have known was the time-constraints you face as a college student. I have always been confident in my time-management, but to be honest, time has always sort of been managed for me. Now it is up to me to plan my own schedule. And between studying, homework, projects, and exercise, there's not much time for sociability (or sleep).
The number one thing I think I've learned his how to manage my time well, and how to prioritize my life. This new challenge has proved useful to me.
God Bless.

College Football Quotes

With the college football season in full swing, posting this forward I've received recently seemed appropriate...

'Football is only a game. Spiritual things are eternal. Nevertheless, Beat Texas ' (Seen on a church sign in Arkansas prior to the 1969 game.)
'After you retire, there's only one big event left... and I ain't ready for that.' (Bobby Bowden/Florida State)
'The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.' (Lou Holtz/Arkansas)
'When you win, nothing hurts.'( Joe Namath/Alabama)
'Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.' (Lou Holtz/Arkansas)
'If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold, you gotta know the password, 'Roll, tide, roll!' (Bear Bryant/Alabama)
'A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall.' (Frank Leahy/Notre Dame)
'There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.' (Woody Hayes/Ohio State)
(If memory serves he took this one literally on TV)
'I don't expect to win enough games to be put on NCAA probation. I just want to win enough to warrant an investigation. ' (Bob Devaney/Nebraska)
'In Alabama, an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in Bear Bryant.' (Wally Butts/Georgia)
'You can learn more character on the two-yard line than anywhere else in life.' (Paul Dietzel/LSU)
'It's kind of hard to rally around a math class.' (Bear Bryant/Alabama)
When asked if Fayetteville was the end of the world. 'No, but you can see it from here.' (Lou Holtz /Arkansas)
'I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game..' (Bear Bryant/Alabama)
'There's one sure way to stop us from scoring- give us the ball near the goal line.' (Matty Bell/SMU)
'Lads, you're not to miss practice unless your parents died or you died.' (Frank Leahy/Notre Dame)
'I never graduated from Iowa, but I was only there for two terms - Truman's and Eisenhower's.' (Alex Karras/Iowa)
'My advice to defensive players: Take the shortest route to the ball and arrive in a bad humor.' (Bowden Wyatt/Tennessee)
'I could have been a Rhodes Scholar, except for my grades.' (Duffy Daugherty/Michigan State)
'Always remember... Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David.' (Shug Jordan/Auburn)
'They cut us up like boarding house pie. And that's real small pieces.' (Darrell Royal/Texas)
'Show me a good and gracious loser, and I'll show you a failure.' (Knute Rockne/Notre Dame)
'They whipped us like a tied up goat.' (Spike Dykes/Texas Tech)
'I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn't recruit me and he said: 'Well, Walt, we took a look at you and you weren't any good.' (Walt Garrison/Oklahoma State)
'Son, you've got a good engine, but your hands aren't on the steering wheel.' (Bobby Bowden/Florida State)
'Football is not a contact sport - it is a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport.' (Duffy Daugherty/Michigan State)
After USC lost 51-0 to Notre Dame, his postgame message to his team: 'All those who need showers, take them.' (John McKay/USC)
'If lessons are learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education.' (Murray Warmath/Minnesota)
'The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb. To be a back, you only have to be dumb.' (Knute Rockne/Notre Dame)
'Oh, we played about like three tons of buzzard puke this afternoon.' (Spike Dykes/Texas Tech)
'It isn't necessary to see a good tackle. You can hear it.' (Knute Rockne/Notre Dame)
'We live one day at a time and scratch where it itches.' (Darrell Royal/Texas)
'We didn't tackle well today but we made up for it by not blocking.' (Wilson Matthews/Little Rock Central High School)
'Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad.' (Darrell Royal/University of Texas)
'I've found that prayers work best when you have big players.' (Knute Rockne/Notre Dame)
'Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.' ( John Heisman)

Being At My Best.

As individuals, we all go through both high and low periods of time in our lives. There have been many of these for me, personally. In this post, however, I'd like to share the time in life when I was at my best. The best introductory phrase I could use to describe this time is "Spring '09."
There have been many times in my life that have acted as milestones; from the first day of school, the first game of football, and one's confirmation. At this time, another huge milestone was upcoming. That day was graduation, and it was gradually approaching.
I probably experienced more achievement in my last semester of high school than the rest of my life. I was now receiving recognition and accolades for the many years of hard work I had spent throughout my life. I had now experienced all-state achievements in both large-group and individual speech. I had gained the governors recognition scholar award, and attained the Bernie Saggau Award for excellence in athletics and academics.
The day of graduation finally came, and the stress had finally subsided. It was a great day, filled with many fond memories of my classmates and our experiences together. This day I made the opening invocation, was recognized for many scholarships and honors, and honored with the valedictorian award. This was without a doubt, the best time of my life. I was organized, worked hard, and took pride in my accomplishments.
It's important, however, not to dwell on what has passed, but to continue on in life and expect the best of yourself and every new situation you find yourself in. This lifestyle has translated well into my new life at college. I've found that, while it's a very new experience, I can still use these values of hard work, organization, and self-esteem in to their full extent and continue to be successful. God Bless.

Two weeks down...

The best word to describe the firs two weeks of college is..."intense." This certainly isn't a bad thing, but it makes for a much more stressful school experience. The first day, we show up to classes, get these new things called "syllabus's," (or syllibi, I don't know) and we plunge straight into the learning process. It makes me kind of miss high school, where it seemed like it would take a couple days to get to the actual learning. Another big obstacle, especially, would be the whole "walking to class in buildings you don't even know the approximate location of" aspect of college. Eating on your own time, and most importantly, sleeping on your own accord, is certainly a new aspect of life that I'm sure a lot of people haven't encountered before. You eat bad, you gain weight, you sleep a couple hours a night, you are tired all the time; lessons you learn as you go. But then there's the great things about college; the new friends, independence, intramurals, and most importantly, CYCLONE FOOTBALL!!!! I've always been a cyclone fan, and I've been to games and sat in the student section, but actually being a cyclone gave me a whole new perspective on it. It was great seeing the guys get a win (not to mention we've already won half the number of games we won last year haha), and we play here this week again in the most important game of the year, the Iowa game. But anyways, between class, destination Iowa State, welcome fest, grill-outs, parties, tailgaiting, and the football games, it's think "Intense" sums up ISU so far. God Bless.