College Expectations

Since I can remember, I have always known that I wanted to go to college. More than that, I knew I wanted to go to The University of Texas at Austin. The Longhorn tradition runs in my family. Both my parents graduated from UT and met there. I also have 4 aunts, 2 uncles, and 2 cousins that went to UT. I was born and raised a Longhorn fan. I grew up wearing burnt orange and watching games and cheering on the Longhorn football team to victory with my dad. My parents always encouraged me to do my best in high school to be able to make the decision of where I wanted to go to college. While I had much fun sharing the Longhorn tradition with my family as I was growing up, they never wanted me to go to a college just because it was where they had gone. They wanted me to go where I wanted to go and where was best for me.

I spent a lot of time watching UT football games and cheering on the Longhorns with my family.

As I began my search for the college of my dreams, I kept an open mind. I visited many campuses and looked into many colleges. Nowhere other than The University of Texas, however, felt like home, felt like the place I needed to be. Just like that explained in Jude the Obscure, “It had been the yearning of his heart to find something to anchor on, to cling to – for some place which he could call it admirable” (817). I was searching for a place where I belonged, and I had found it. I just knew it; UT was the best option for me. I do believe I made the choice on my own, based on my conscious effort. However, I also believe there were unconscious things that affected my decision as well. “The contents of the personal unconscious are available through hypnosis, guided imagery, and especially dreams” (180). As described by Carl Jung in the Ancestral Voices of the Collective Unconscious as Inspiration, “it is also possible that education, career, or clothing style has been influenced by a great deal of unconscious material: parents’ preferences, childhood experiences, even movies you have seen but about which you do not think when you make choices or decisions” (180).

This is a picture of the high school I graduated from, Plano Senior High School.

Through my high school years, I had to work very hard to achieve my dream of getting into The University of Texas. I knew where I wanted to go; all I needed to do was get in. My high school was very large and very competitive. I graduated in a class of 1300 graduating seniors. I was very involved in high school in many organizations such as an officer in Student Congress, National Honor Society, a spirit organization, Fashion Club, and a competitive dance team, Plano Dance Force. I was very busy, and I also needed to work hard in school to keep my grades up in order to get into college. I became very good at time management and developed good study habits. I am very thankful I learned those skills then because they have been imperative in college already. When I got my letter in the mail, I could not be more excited that I was accepted into The University of Texas. I felt a calling just like Elizabeth’s Ghosts “The University of Texas called to her: the massive sprawling campus, filled with students with lives totally unlike her own, and people who would not know the girl she was before, or expect her to always be the same” (834).

The UT tower, a significant part of the UT campus.

I had many expectations of college before coming to Austin. Just like Elizabeth, I “wanted scholarship, new experiences, and freedom from her past self” (834). My expectations of college contained a mix of emotions. I was excited for all the freedom and opportunities given to me. I have gotten the opportunity to be exposed to many different people and experiences. Also, I have the freedom to do what I want. I was also scared about all the responsibility that now lays in my hands. With freedom comes much responsibility. I have to decide when to do what and stay on top of all my schoolwork. I was also nervous about finding my place I would fit in the massive campus. I had many questions when coming to college. Would I “find that place in this city if he could get there?” (817) The campus is filled with so many people, it is easy to feel lost sometimes. I am still looking to find exactly where I fit in. I feel I “suddenly grew older” (817). I am still the same person; I have the same dreams, values, and morals. While I am still the same, I feel that college is such a pivotal point in my life. It is a time for me to become the person I will be for the rest of my life and a time to prepare to be on my own in the outside world.

So far, my college experience has been great. I have met many new people, done well in my classes, gotten involved on campus, and had many other great experiences. I can’t believe how fast the first semester of college is flying by. I am looking forward to spend the next four years at The University of Texas learning from the people around me and growing as a person.

Motivation from Second Life

Participating in Second Life was an interesting experience which gave me many new opportunities. Being able to play the role of my mom was exciting for me because I was able to learn much about her. The experience of project one was vastly different than that of project two. By participating in the program, Second Life, I learned many things through reading and writing, discovery learning, leadership, and sympathetic imagination. The two projects were very different because the use of Second Life was the driving source of project two. The many differences of the projects greatly affected my motivation in many aspects.


At the computer while participating in Second Life conversations.

I learned many things about the skills of reading and writing in completing both of these projects. However, the things I learned from the experience of each project were greatly different because of the different approaches to each project. The things I learned about these important skills changed my motivation to write each project. In the first project, a lot of what I learned about reading and writing was how these skills influenced my mother becoming the successful person she is today. Excelling at these skills helped my mom do well in school and college in order to attain a good career. These skills also aided my mother in being successful raising her children, which she feels is her greatest accomplishment. After participating in Second Life, I realized much more about the skills of reading and writing. These skills not only affect ourselves but the people around us as well. Reading is extremely important to understand others’ ideas. During the conversations in Second Life, I learned that it was important to sometimes stop typing and read what others were saying. This made it easier to feed off each other’s ideas to keep the conversation flowing. Additionally, writing is an extremely important skill in order to express your ideas. When having conversations on Second Life, those with the best writing skills had the easiest time expressing their ideas and contributing to the conversation. Many times, we express our ideas using direct language. With the growing use of technology in today’s world, writing is becoming even more important. When writing, as opposed to speaking, no one can see your use of nonverbal language, such as facial expressions and tone of voice. You must be excellent at writing in order to make sure the reader gets the message you are trying to convey. Previous to this assignment, I thought of reading and writing as skills that just involved one person. As I reflect on our society’s lifestyle, I realize how much we interact with others through reading and writing. In the growing world of technology, we use emails, text messages, websites, and many other sources in which reading and writing are necessary skills to understand and interact with others. Just as in the use of Second Life, our skills of reading and writing affected others’ understanding of our beliefs and also what we all were interpreting the conversation to be. Reading and writing are skills that essentially affect every aspect of our lives. What I learned about reading and writing had an effect on my motivation to write projects one and two. For writing project one, I did not have as great motivation because I felt I already knew much of what my mother had taught me about the skills. On the other hand, when writing project two, I felt I had learned a different side of these skills and was more motivated to express these ideas.

I am in the back left, working on Second Life.

This is a picture of my avatar of my role model, my mother.

The use of discovery learning also had an effect on my motivation to complete the assignments. Project one did not require the use of discovery learning. I knew I had to think about the quality traits of my mother which made her my role model. Then, I interviewed her, reflected on past experiences, and researched for quotes that were fitting to her character. These skills are similar to those I have used on many assignments in the past. I was not as motivated to write project one because, even after my preparation, I did not feel like I learned much about the topic or approach. Project two was immensely different however. Using Second Life was a brand new concept. From creating my avatar to conversing with classmates on this computer game, I had never done anything like it. The role of discovery learning played a big role on motivating me to do project two. I had many feelings throughout this project. At first, I was excited to get to work with and explore a new program for a new approach. I was also a little anxious because I am not that good with new techniques on computers. As I began working on Second Life, I felt frustrated. As I was trying to make my avatar look as close to my mom as I could, it was very frustrating when I knew what I wanted to do, but couldn’t do it. After exploring the program and getting accustomed to working with it, I felt accomplished when I finished creating my avatar. The same type of emotions ran through me when participating in conversation. At first, the conversation seemed to go a little slow because no one really knew what they were doing. The conversation on Second Life was much different than a normal conversation. It was a little confusing at first because everyone was typing at the same time, but then we got the hang of it. I thought it was great that we could see everyone’s role model avatar while conversing, as compared to emails or text messages, because you were able to put a face to each other’s names. By the end of the class, it seemed everyone was comfortable and the conversation flew by quickly. The whole experience overall was enjoyable and satisfying. After succeeding in participating in Second Life, I felt very motivated to complete project two because I had already accomplished a major step of the project.

The first conversation in Second Life about leadership with Edwin Dorn, Beverly Kelly, and Shakespeare. My role, Beverly Kelly, is the avatar in the middle in the purple shirt.

I learned many things about leadership throughout the course of both project one and two. In project one, what I learned about leadership came primarily from my own role model, my mother. In project two, I learned various aspects of leadership through conversing with others’ role models. During our first discussion, the conversation was focused on leadership. My group discussed the definition of leadership as well as important traits of leadership. We decided the qualities that make a good leader depend upon the situation and the people they are leading. Shakespeare states, “Greatness comes from how the people see you.” Different people view leaders in different ways. Another aspect we discussed in detail was the factors that determine great leadership skills. While playing the role of my mother, I asked, “Do you believe leadership skills are based more on genetics or your environment?” After much debating and discussing, our group determined that leadership skills are predominantly based upon one’s environment because “leaders are not born great,” as Edwin Dorn states. After the first conversation wrapped up, I moved on to a different group and discussed the relationship between leadership and diversity. In this conversation, I was in a group with Catherine Crier and Benjamin Franklin. Catherine Crier stated in our discussion that “there are different kinds of leaders in the world because of the diversity.” Since everyone is different in their values and beliefs, there are many different kinds of leaders and followers. We discussed that leaders must adapt to the situation they are dealing with and the different people they are leading. Also, followers must adapt to the style of their leader. We also discussed how leadership has an effect on diversity in our society. Leaders can understand diversity and promote diversity in our world. By bringing people together, new, diverse ideas are encouraged. All of these conversations in Second Life that we participated in were great instances of leadership. We all acted as leaders in our groups because we played the role of a significant leader in our own lives. We were the leaders in the conversation. The general topic was given to us, but it was up to the members in the group to help facilitate and keep the conversation going in the right direction. I felt each member in the conversations played a leadership role by bringing up new topics. By feeding off each others’ ideas, we were able to learn more about others’ views of leadership. I also felt that each of us learned more about our own role model and ourselves. The conversations in Second Life were a great way to converse with others’ role models in order to learn much about leadership in our diverse world. The many aspects of leadership I learned affected my motivation to write project two. I was more motivated to complete this assignment because I felt I had learned much about myself, my role model, my classmates, and my classmates’ role models. I thought this was a fun, new approach.

The second conversation in Second Life about leadership and diversity with Beverly Kelly, Catherine Crier, and Benjamin Franklin. My avatar is the one on the left.

Sympathetic imagination is defined as “the ability of a person to penetrate the barrier which space puts between him and his object, and, by actually entering into the object, so to speak, to secure a momentary but complete identification with it” in our course website. This concept is directly related to our experience with Second Life and avatar conversations. By playing this role and participating in sympathetic imagination, I felt I was able to ignore any preconceived notions. I was open to listening to everyone’s ideas and almost forgot that it was actually classmates because everyone was playing their role model. By seeing on the computer screen the avatars of members in our group, I was able to picture the role model and get a feel of their beliefs. For the most part, I was very successful in becoming my mother as my role model. The most successful point was in talking about the qualities of great leadership skills and what makes a good leader. I felt successful at this point of the conversation because my mom has really expressed to me what she feels about this topic. I was least successful in accurately playing my mother in a section of the diversity and leadership discussion. When my group was discussing the relationship between leadership and diversity, Catherine Crier and Benjamin Franklin were able to draw on past leadership experiences to explain how they promoted diversity. It was difficult for me to imagine what my mother’s views on this were because her leadership experiences in my perspective do not directly pertain to this subject matter. After really thinking about her role as a leader in diversity, I was finally able to imagine her views on the subject, but at first, it was a little difficult. Through playing the role of my mom through sympathetic imagination, I was able to learn so much about my mom and myself. I was able to learn the true qualities of my mom that I admire. My mom’s leadership views show how she is such a great leader in her family as well as outside of the family. I continue to strive to be more like the caring, honest, loving leader my mom is today. Through the use of sympathetic imagination, I was able to learn about Shakespeare, Edwin Dorn, Benjamin Franklin, and Catherine Crier. I learned about their leadership views and how they became successful leaders in their time. Another interesting fact to me about sympathetic imagination was that different role models came from all different time periods. It was very intriguing to learn how differences in leadership changed from the 1600s of Shakespeare’s time to the 1700s of Franklin’s time to the 1900s of Crier’s and my mother’s times. After using Second Life and sympathetic imagination, I felt I gained much insight from different perspectives. Because I participated in these conversations and learned so much, I was more motivated to share my thoughts in writing project two.

I am in the middle of this picture with the class and Professor Bump.

Motivation comes from many sources and is important when trying to complete any task. My motivation to complete project one was very different from project two because of the widely different approaches. During project one, my only motivation was the typical academic motivation I have to get good grades. Project two, on the other hand, came from different motivation. Because we used a new and different approach, I was more enthusiastic to participate and complete project two, in addition to my typical academic motivation. I felt the use of Second Life was very beneficial in gaining new insight on leadership through interaction with our role models.

This shows the entire class working on computers on Second Life. I am in the top right corner.

Word Count (without quotes): 1,976

All photos are taken from second life and in class.

A Reflection of my Role Model

Role models can teach us so much about ourselves and what we want to achieve in life. Throughout my life I have had the opportunity to have many great positive influences in my life and many great role models I aspire to be like. My mom, Beverly Kelly, is the one person who stands out most in my life as a great role model. Edwin H. Friedman once said, “Leadership can be thought of as a capacity to define oneself to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future.” [1] My mother is a great role model to me because she demonstrates great passion and leadership that I strive to attain. She teaches me so much through her passion for family, leadership qualities, and vision in religion.

My mother is my role model for many reasons, especially her passion for family. Since I was little, she has expressed such a strong importance and value of family. She has shown me, through her examples, the relationships I want to strive for with my family. She does a great job making our house a home, a safe and comfortable place where we can always express ourselves. She is always there to help anyone in our family and strives for our family to be strong and close. The picture to the right is of my mom and me on my 8th birthday. She gave me a guardian angel that I still have, which illustrates that my mom is always watching and supporting me. She has such an awesome relationship with all of us and keeps our family together, no matter what. I know she is always there for me, and I can call her any time of day or night and she will be there to listen and help me. She shows me through everything she does the fantastic leader and role model she is. She has such a passion for helping others and such strong values that she always sticks to. She spends much of her time taking care of her mother because she can’t do much on her own anymore. I admire this so much because even though it takes time away from my mom’s life, she never complains about it and will help my grandmother with anything she needs. My mom does so much for my family. For instance, she cleans the house, cooks meals, does the laundry, washes the dishes, picks up the house, shops for the things we need, and much more. She chose to end her career when she had children in order to be there and raise us into the individuals we are today. The picture to the left shows my mom taking my brother and me to school. My mom feels that being a mother is her most important job and hopes raising her children is her greatest success. She has put all her time into teaching and raising her children, which can be overwhelming. Oprah Winfrey once said, “The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance – and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.” [2] My mom follows small steps of raising her children and can see the significance of each small step. She feels that reading and writing were a big part of her achievements. She thinks reading and writing are extremely important for the education of future generations. She wants to pass on her knowledge to her children. When I was younger, I can remember reading books with my mom all the time. My grandma was a special education teacher and believed reading was an extremely important skill. She gave my brother and me numerous books as we were growing up. My parents followed this tradition and read stories to me all the time when I was a child, and they spent so much time teaching and encouraging me to read. My mother also thinks reading is imperative in staying knowledgeable and informed about the world we live in. She also loves to read biographies about successful people with strong family values and how they got to where they are now. A few of the women my mom has read about are Laura Bush, Jackie Kennedy, and Princess Diana. She loves to read about these successful women and strives to attain the qualities she admires in her own role models. My mother believes in strong family values and morals, and I want to follow in her footsteps with the same values when raising my own family.

I also admire my mother as my role model because she exemplifies strong leadership qualities and personality. My mother is such a strong and passionate woman. She is extremely selfless, caring, dependable, honest, responsible, and loving to everyone. The amazing thing about my mother is how much she can do without even showing it. Kenneth Blanchard once said, “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.” [3] My mother displays her positive influence through example, but never just says what she wants to teach. Just like the old saying, “actions speak louder than words.” You can say whatever you want to get across, but your behavior is what will get across and stick in peoples’ minds. We learn imitation at a young age and continue this unconscious habit throughout our lives. The link below shows video that demonstrates how much role models influence children’s lives, and my mom has had a tremendous positive impact on my life. I want to follow in my mother’s footsteps to become the passionate leader she is. I can tell how much reading and writing affect the leader she is today. These important skills are the foundation for who she is today. By learning and excelling in reading and writing, she was able to be successful in school. Therefore, she was able to get accepted to a good college and succeed as a college student at the University of Texas. After graduating from the business school, which is also my dream, my mother went on to achieve a successful career in computer programming. Her career influenced her life, including the people she was surrounded by. My mother feels these skills are also extremely important in order to help with the ability of expressing yourself. By being knowledgeable, it allows you to converse with others and be social with others. Reading and writing enabled my mother to learn much about the world and people in our society, which helped her to see what she wanted to accomplish in life. My mother is a very involved leader in her children’s lives. She volunteered as room mother, Girl Scout leader, den leader, Junior Achievement volunteer, library assistant, and cheer coach. These pictures show examples of how involved she is. Without being a good writer, my mother feels she would not have been able to be as involved in her children’s lives and wouldn’t be as successful in life. Another great quality my mother possesses is being supportive. My mother is always encouraging me and wants the best for me. “A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be,” Rosalynn Carter explained. [4] My mom does a great job listening to me, giving me the best advice she has to offer, and supporting me in whatever decisions I choose. My mom illustrates that “gifted leadership occurs where heart and head – feeling and thought – meet.” [5] She thinks hard about her decisions and puts much thought and emotion into leading and helping others. I highly admire my mom’s strong leadership qualities, and I will continue to strive to achieve these same qualities to help my future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpH8GoTgUqo

My mother also exemplifies my passion and leadership vision in religion. She has always emphasized the importance of Christianity in our family. Through much reading, she has taught me so much about the religion of Christianity and why it is so important. She teaches me about living through Christ through her example. She always sets a great example of living as a true Christian. Going to church every Sunday has always been a tradition in our family. My mom encouraged me to grow spiritually through the sacraments of Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation. She has encouraged me to stay involved in the church and in religion. She shows by example because she was a teacher in religion class. The importance of God and religion has a strong impact on my mother’s life. For instance, my mother can relate to how “the various parts of her life intersected, and how crafting a plan to make this dream a reality could be not only motivating but inspiring.” [6] She has faced many difficult situations throughout her life, and her faith in God has always proved to help her through. For instance, my mother’s brother was murdered when she was in her twenties. He was coming out of work one evening and was jumped and beaten to death. He was only 33 years old and had a wife and three young children. It was such a tragedy that devastated my family. With a strong faith in God, my mother and the rest of my family were able to get through this terrible circumstance. My mother’s faith in God through the good times and bad have helped shape who she is and affected every aspect of her life. My mother believes religion keeps society in control and out of chaos. Religion gives people motivation in their lives to do the right thing. Having strong faith has always been an important part of my life, which is largely from my mother’s influence on me. I hope to continue to grow in my faith and spiritual journey as my mother has. Her value of religion is one thing I greatly admire of her. John Quincy Adams has said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” [7] This quote accurately describes my mom’s influence on me. My mother has inspired me so much to continue to achieve my goals and become a better person. My mom is supportive of my goals, such as my goal of getting into UT, shown to the left. She is such a true leader in my life and such a great role model for me to look up to. My mom is a righteous person and has such strong faith in God, which is one of the many reasons why I admire her as my role model.

My mom’s passion for family, leadership traits, and religious vision greatly reflect the passion and leadership I hope to embody. Role models can be inspirations to us when times get rough, and this can help us as individuals to admire our role model’s character traits. It is so important to have role models for inspiration to keep improving ourselves. My mom has been such a strong influence on my life, and I look up to her and hope to be more like her for so many great reasons.

Word Count: 1,710

1. Friedman, Edwin H. ”Wisdom Quotes” http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_leadership.html
2. Winfrey, Oprah “The Quotations Page” http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/dreams/
3. Blanchard, Kenneth “Wisdom Quotes” http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_leadership.html
4. Carter, Rosalynn “Wisdom Quotes” http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_leadership.html
5. Goleman, Daniel “Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence” Explore U.T. Course Anthology page 62
6. Goleman, Daniel “Primal Leadership: Making Leaders” Explore U.T. Course Anthology page 66
7. Adams, John Quincy “Wisdom Quotes” http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_leadership.html
8. All photos are from the author

Diversity and Sympathetic Imagination

We are exposed to a great deal of diversity millions of times every day. We walk the same paths and interact with numerous people with various backgrounds. Our world is composed of a great amount of different varieties of people. By embracing the opportunity of being around so many different people, we can learn different cultures, values, and personalities of others. The only way we can learn from this great diversified world is through sympathetic imagination. We must attempt to put ourselves in another person’s shoes to see how we would feel in their situation. “By its sympathetic identification the imagination perceives, as abstract reason cannot, the fundamental reality and inner working, the peculiar ‘truth’ and nature of the particular, concrete object” (http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/sympathetic%20imagination.html). By doing this, we can create better relationships with others and learn much about others’ identities.

One reason I was so excited about going to the University of Texas was the great variety of people I would be exposed to. UT is a massive campus with a great deal of diversity. I have met so many people with such different lives than my own. I have met students from small towns, big cities, poor families, wealthy families, different religion backgrounds, different racial backgrounds, different states, and even different countries. I think it is such an awesome opportunity to embrace in order to learn more about ourselves as well as the world we are living in. Just by looking around the campus, you can see the great diversity. You can even see the university’s importance of diversity on the University of Texas website. The picture to the left shows the diversity logo that is on the home page of UT’s website (utexas.edu). The university encourages students to interact with diverse people and ideas in order to take full advantage of their education. Click on the following link to see how diverse the campus is in terms of race, gender, hometown, and year. http://www.utexas.edu/academic/oir/statistical_handbook/06-07/pdf/0607students.pdf By interacting with diverse students, we can do our best to put ourselves in their lives to see what it is like to be in their situation. We can learn from other student’s experiences. For example, I learned a great deal from reading the articles in the course anthology, in particular Miguel Ramirez’s “The Unknown Want.” By reading about his past experiences and imagining myself in his background, I could get a good feel of how his experiences of feeling like an outsider affected every aspect of his life. As he expresses in his essay, “Despite – or perhaps because of – the heartache it has caused me, being an outsider has motivated me to succeed. I spent twenty-one years doing my best in school in order to fit in” (843). By exemplifying the principle of imagining ourselves in another’s shoes, we can truly learn about various backgrounds as a way to get along better with others and grow into one connected world.

I hope to take full advantage of every aspect of college to learn as much about the world in order to help me be a productive member of society in the future. Everyone has role models they admire and aspire to be like. No one is perfect and everyone hopes to continue to improve. By using sympathetic imagination, we can put ourselves in our role model’s shoes as a way to help us become more like them. In Norma Andrade’s essay, “On Being Canela,” she discusses her past experiences and relationship with her mother transforms her life. “The life that she [her mother] has led for her children and the experiences that she has gone through as an immigrant to the United States for the benefit of her children are a constant reminder of why I need to wake up every morning” (852). Norma Andrade put herself in her mother’s situation as a way to see what her mother has given up for her and in turn, Norma continues to improve herself. We can imagine ourselves in Norma’s place as a way to learn about diversity and how we too can learn from our role models. After reading Norma’s situation, it reminds me of my own mother, my role model. My mother has given up so much for my family and exemplifies a true passion for her family. By learning about our role models and others’ role models, we expand our horizons and knowledge. This can lead us to better relationships with others and a more connected world. The picture to the right shows the world as one connected place, what we can strive for.

By using the principle of sympathetic imagination, we can put ourselves in another person’s shoes and see what their background and situation is like. We can learn much about our society and ourselves. We learn about the diversity of our university as well as our world in order to better understand other’s opinions and values. We can learn to get along with others and understand why they believe what they believe. By learning to understand and communicate with others, we can improve our future society and become one unified society.