Hand Middle School Expectations

Personally, I am extremely excited to begin to work with kids at Hand Middle School. Helping kids is of the two biggest passions in my life and being able to get college credit for it is awesome. My AP Psychology teacher junior year of high school often told me that I would make a fantastic counselor, so I think it will be interesting to see if he was basing that off anything, as I always thought that he was crazy for thinking that. I have always considered myself a very good listener, so I hope I can be someone my mentee can confide in. My little brother, Connor, is also making the transition into middle school this year, so I think I should be able to find plenty to be able to talk to my kid with. I could maybe even bounce ideas off of my brother whenever I talk to him on the phone. I am also extremely nervous to think that I can affect how this kid grows up and develops just through mentoring him for a semester in one year of middle school. I know it doesn’t seem like much, but really, middle school is a crucial time for adolescents. Usually it’s hell. And to be able to alleviate some of their stress would yield the best feeling in the world, for all involved.

Academic Success-LASSI

I found my results on the LASSI to be fairly accurate in some sections. For example, my lowest scoring section was also probably the most accurate-Time Management. As I have already blogged, I am the worst procrastinator in the world and really need to do something about how I manage my time, or really, do not manage it. I scored the highest on motivation which I feel like is fairly accurate also. I have the drive to graduate with a great college education that will help me realize all of my career dreams for the future. Attitude was my second lowest, and according to LASSI, I care nothing about college and practically at risk of dropping out. Obviously I have to have the attitude to have the motivation to strive for success, so I feel like that does not make much sense. Overall, the LASSI evaluated me probably as well as any computer driven twenty minute test can.

Service-Learning Experience

I have a lot of past community service experience, volunteering through Hands On Charlotte, a local community service organization, my church as well as some of my friends’, through school clubs such as Interact and Girl Power, and other random local functions that I happened to hear about. This is my first time volunteering as part of a course though. I chose to volunteer because of the feeling you get after you do it. The actual service portion is generally hard work but then once you realize you’ve put all of that effort and time into helping maybe even just one other person out, the feeling is indescribable. I probably don’t even fully realize how truly lucky I am to lead the life I do but I can fathom it to some extent. The fact that my life is so fortunate motivates me to ease the hardships of others’ lives. The two biggest passions in my life are animals and little kids. I love everything about them and interacting with them is close to my favorite thing in the entire world. So naturally, anything I can do to ease their albatrosses, eases mine.

Academic Success

I plan to get organized at USC by keeping track of all of my assignments and books. I’ve never really been an organized person per se but I also never really lose anything and always know where everything is without having to look for it. To encourage myself to stay organized, I bought a Mortar Board planner and take it with me to every class. I also have a crate that I keep all of my books, notebooks, and folders and such in and organize them by when I have each class. Honestly, I’m not very good at managing my time. I always feel like I’ll have time to do whatever it is later. But I also feel like I work at my best under pressure. So it’s a vicious circle but a vicious circle that gets things done nonetheless. During college I feel like I do need to make adjustments regarding my responsibility as a student. You don’t have anyone to nag you, which I love because I tend to do things in a more lethargic manner if I am constantly being bugged about it, but I also tend to forget exactly what my homework assignments are and when they are due because I should have so much more free time. Only I feel like I don’t and I am trying to change that.

Involvement

I thought that overall, the Student Organization Fair was an overload of information but in the best possible way. The fact that it was horribly crowded made me realize just how vast the number of clubs and organizations is at USC. The organizations I am planning to join are the Flying Gamecocks Skydiving Club, the Mountaineering and Whitewater Rafting Club, Students Engaged in Aquatic Sciences (SEAS), SCUBA, and possibly the Women’s Lacrosse Club team, Students Advocating for a Greener Environment (SAGE), and Student Advocates For Africa’s Regional Improvements (SAFARI), to sponsor for Invisible Children. My three main hobbies are probably music (playing and listening), lacrosse, and manual photography. The two biggest passions in my life are interacting with little kids and animals, hence my Marine Science major. I aspire to take the biological and psychological route that deals with the animal behavior and training. When I was little, I always wanted to be a dolphin trainer at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago…I even had a shirt that said, “When I grow up, I want to be a dolphin trainer at Brookfield Zoo!” verbatim. :)

Carolinian

Hey guys, I’m Kaitlin Little, hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina. I am originally from Chicago, Illinois. I am majoring in marine science with a possible minor in psychology. I expect the University of South Carolina to help me to grow both in my education and as a person. I love the atmosphere here at USC; I feel that this is exactly the environment I need to be in to be able to foster my own ideas and opinions. I also feel like everyone here is extremely friendly and everyone is in the same boat, leaving all of their friends and family behind wherever home happens to be, making it easier for everyone to make friends. The Carolinian Creed is relevant to my life as a student here at the University of South Carolina because it encourages me to become a better student as well as a better person through respect and responsibility.