The Grand Finale

This week in Forum, Vince was our speaker. Seeing as how it was our last forum of the year, this was about what we had learned during the semester and looking back over our changes. So this blog is supposed to sum up our experiences and talk about life. So this would be a good one to say that i have found out that the meaning of life is 42. Meaning of course that in my time here i have finally watched The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and i have been meaning to do that for some time. But that is just a minor thing. This semester has been very interesting in my life but it doesn't seem like that long ago i was coasting through the summer on my graduation gifts. This was the first time i had lived away from home for any extended period of time, but it did not feel like the big change i was expecting, it was pretty easy to adapt to. Also in this time i have drastically improved my PT score in ROTC by bringing it up about 30 points from beginning to end. Over the break i hope to continue working out, but we will see how that goes. I have done everything i can to stay ahead of the pack in ROTC and i certainly plan to continue that. My academic work has not been too difficult and i know i can work through what i need to do if i can just motivate myself. I have met many new people that i absolutely love and i am glad that i am around them, because they are great influences on me. I absolutely love living in Lafayette and i am definitely going to try for it as long as i am here. This semester has been an eye opening experience and i can’t wait to see what is to come.

William G. Hargett

Mr. Hargett worked his way up the corporate ladder over the course of many years and he bounced between many different companies on his way up until he ended up at CEO of his final company. The reason he  switched companies so often was because these companies were either bought or went out of business, causing Mr. Hargett to adapt and move to new places. His specific expertise is in Geology and he used that skill to find places to drill for oil. But now he is done with that and is retired, sorta. He now spends his time looking for young start up businesses that he likes in order to invest in them.
After he told us his business history he had a small presentation called "Observations on Corporations" that went into different stages of a career as well as how to be a successful employee. While the man was very dry when he was talking, i really connected with this bit. The career stages for a corporation reminded me of rank structure in the ARMY. being an apprentice for up to five years being similar to exactly what ROTC is about; learning the job, and so on up the line at various stages. At the end of his presentation he showed a slide that every one in the room loved. It was Murphy's Law, and we all had known it at one time.
He went on to talk about that in the professional world, perception is reality. Mind ones reputation because it very well determines most of your business path. The final note was a common theme but good just the same "If you're not having fun, leave it" and i think that is great advice

Mr. Steve Pierce

Mr. Pierce is a trustee at UNA and a local business owner and he came to talk to us this past week about how to impress potential employers. He started out by talking about things that employers will look for on your resume. these included things like showing respect and showing up on time, cleaning up your Facebook and social media, doing extracurriculars related to your major and knowing the job that you are applying for.

After he talked about how to impress potential bosses he went on to tell us that the next ten years will be very busy. In that time we will have started our careers, gotten married and possibly had children. All of those are big steps so we need to be sure that we set out in the right direction. "If you're not a year ahead, you're behind" was something he said and i feel that is a good way of saying that you should never stop learning about your field, because it is always changing.

He finished up by telling us about all of the exciting things that are going to be happening around campus soon, including Going D1, the new Science building, and a health partnership with a Chinese Businessman. All of these prospects are very interesting and i cannot wait to see them come to fruition.

Mr. Auman Pierre McGee

Mr. McGee is a local artist that was born and raised in Florence. His whole talk was about finding what we want to do with our lives and making sure it is what we truly want to do with our lives. He used himself as an example towards this. He has always been an outdoorsy guy and been in love with nature his whole life. But over time he was slowly moved in directions that he thought he wanted and that turned out badly for him. he Grew up working in his dad's contracting company and then took over the family business. He was pretty successful at it but just wasn't that into it. He then decided to just take a break and make metal sculptures. That decision caused his wife to leave him but he stuck with it. Over the years he has been happier than ever since he has returned to his roots.
 I really liked what he had to say especially since many people our age are struggling with what to do with their lives. He gave a lot of insight into many paths that would probably be considered by students in our position. I'm glad he came to talk to us.

Dr. Zang and Study Abroad Students

 Tonight we had many speakers that came to talk to us about doing a study abroad  program to various places. Dr. Zang is the director of the program here at UNA and he was very eager to talk to us about going out on a limb to see the world before we get bogged down by our careers in the real world. He pointed out the cost and a few scholarship offers  that he knows are available for students interested in studying in another country.
 The first student to talk about her personal experience with the program was Corinne Beckinger and she talked about her trip to China. With all of her scholarships, the trip only ended up costing her $800 and she had a great time. Where she went was apparently very westernized and the language barrier was not a major problem because of the number of other students from around the world.
 The next student was Lauren Dailey, who went on an independent travel trip to Spain. I really liked her talk because i went to Spain last spring break and throughly enjoyed it. She talked about doing things that i had experienced and much more that i would like to try sometime. She said her class schedule was pretty good with a small class size and a fairly short day and then she could just chill out all after noon. Seems like a good deal.

Ms. Libby Jordan

Our speaker today was the Director of Cultural Tourism and a member on the Board of Trustees of UNA. I really liked what she had to say as it seemed to relate not only to the business world but throughout different realms of jobs. She started off by telling us a story about how every one has value, and we shouldn't look down on people. In keeping with a theme that we would learn throughout her talk, she had a personal story for this ideal, this one about a trip to Dairy Queen with her children and seeing some other customers while there.
From there she went on to talk about how we are all salespeople and we our selling our image to the world, every minute of every day. After a few more personal stories about business decisions that she has made over the years and how good honest business decisions have been better than the shadier decisions that have snaked their way in.
She showed some statistics that pointed out some semi-positive sides of cheating and then reminded us that is we give in to that, it would be easier for us to give in on bigger, and much worse things. She explained a difference between Legality and Ethics and how they don not always line up. In the end she said Be true to yourself, do what you think is right because it is the right thing to do.

Dr. Wes Desselle

Dr. Desselle is a surgeon at Helen Keller Hospital and owns a small practice in Muscle Shoals and he talked to us about practicing medicine. He told us about some pros and cons of the profession and then told us the story of how he decided to go into that field. He went on to talk about the Human Values of mentor-ship, perseverance  and trust as they pertain to medicine before ending up with "Always cherish your family members."

William Lee

William Lee was a commercial Farmer that came to talk to us during Forum last week. He was a really nice guy and I liked that he was different from our other speakers. Mr. Lee talked to us about many misconceptions that people had about farming and how he uses technology in his business. It really surprised me when he said that he only had 4 employees working his fields which went back to how technology has improved his ability to grow crops cheaply and efficiently. One thing that truly impressed me was the fact that he is working on ways to farm in a more environmentally friendly manner, without cutting the yield of crop.

Chuck Berry

This past week in forum we got to hear from the father of an honors student and the CEO of Shoals Hospital, Mr. Ross Berry. Mr. Berry started off the talk by telling us the story of two kids that grew up on the same street and how one went on to be very successful while the other still works at a dead end job. The moral of the story was that it doesn’t matter where you come from or what is given to you that gets you ahead in life, it is the determination to do what you need to do to move up. The story is also completely true, with our successful pilot chuck turning out to be the Mr. Berry in front of us. He then went on to tell us about his personal mission statement and his motto. Both of these were really neat because he said he lived by these. He also encouraged us to make our own and I have been thinking about it. For my mission statement I really like the ARMY LDRSHIP values and I think I’ll keep those for a bit. And as for my motto I really liked his and think that it would be very useful. “Vera Verum Va Vera Causa” which he said roughly translates tok “Do the right thing, the right way, for the right reason”

Mr. Macke Mauldin

Today, we were talked to by Mr. Mauldin. Mr. Macke Mauldin is the President of Bank Independent, a bank that is based in the tri-city area. Mr. Mauldin talked about how we should be kind and gracious because people tend to remember bad and rude behavior, and he pointed out that jokes at other people’s expense can be severely damaging. He then went on to talk about values that are important. All of that was well and good, except that he seemed to always tie back to Bank Independent. He gave us the 5 words that BI operates by. He gave us plenty of examples of how BI has made a mistake and accepted it. He told us a great story about how the Bank was founded by his family and it has stayed in his family throughout the years while the Bank has many families work together for the company. I think my favorite part was when he subtly dropped the bank's phone number when answering a question for a student. While I feel he was saying good things, it seemed very commercial and rehearsed. 

Judge Gil Self

Last Tuesday in Forum we heard from the honorable judge Gil Self. Judge Self talked about the values that are required to be a good judge as well as a good person. These values include the courage to do what is right, regardless of the consequences and even though it could be difficult. But also we need to respect and follow the law and that won’t always line up with what we personally believe. Judge Self said that the reason he became a judge was because he feels he has a good sense of fairness and a serving heart. And the most memorable thing that he said was that we need to take chances, or we won’t get anywhere.

A Full Month

            So in the past week we passed September 12^th, which marks my one month of living here. And it seems like I have been here forever. I have gotten my class routine down to a science, handling my class work pretty well and making sure I get to class at the best time as to not be late or far too early, and while I learn new things in ROTC every time we meet I feel like it is nothing I can’t handle. The people I’ve met from all aspects of this school are people that I seem to have known for years. Since my last post nothing too exciting has happened though. I did Land Nav in ROTC last Wednesday from about 2 to 10:30 in the afternoon, which was fun but very difficult when it got dark.  I made a webpage for my CS 110 class and practiced sequences through Light-bot and have an assignment to design 3 levels by Friday. We have been talking about various parenting styles in my honors composition class and turned in a paper today on our views on it, and I feel the presentation of my paper could have been better, but oh well notes for next time. Well as I said there isn’t that much going on this week, just going with the flow of things. So that’s it for now, see you next week.

Week 2

            So this past week has been very eventful. Last Wednesday, there was an official ceremony inducting me into the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant. Now I am still a cadet in the ROTC program, but my rank is now waiting for me at the end of four years. Also our dorm played Zombie Wars, which was basically a giant game of tag. I got out Thursday night while trying to make it back into my dorm after Zumba though. Friday I drove back to Huntsville and spent the weekend with my girlfriend. It was lots of fun and we watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when I got a little sick. Monday I started off with a really strenuous PT and then went to my classes and had interesting conversations and at the end of the day I went to a fun program. That's all that really happened last week but i am excited for forum speakers to start up this  next week.

Getting Started

I am Graem Cook, and I am a freshman in college at the University of North Alabama. While here at college there have been many new experiences, as you can imagine. One of the new things that I am doing is this blog. I have never blogged before but for one of my classes we are to keep a blog of our experiences at college and especially how our Honors experiences have affected our time here. Now as I mentioned, this is the first blog I have ever attempted, so let’s see how this goes.

            Well I think we should start from when I moved in and go from there. I moved in on the August 12^th, which was a week before most everyone else, because ROTC had a leadership conference to get us acclimated to the program. I liked it and it was a good way to meet my Cadre as well as the cadets that I will spend a lot of the next four years with. I also met a fun group of Honors upperclassmen that had also moved in a week early for various reasons. It was really good to meet these students because they told me a lot about the campus as well gave me some outside ROTC human interaction, seeing as there is only one other cadet staying in Lafayette. A day or so before the rest of the freshman were supposed to move in, us early bird learned the fun way that the fire alarm is tied to the power grid. This means that whenever there is the slightest power surge, the alarms will all go off. We all happened to learn this at about 1:50 AM and not many people were satisfied with the response time to turn off the alarms. I met plenty of new people as they started moving in and our dorm gradually started filling up, and we would hang out in the lobby when we had free time, and the group always seems to be different depending when I make it down there (a small trend that seems to always be happening, and I continue to meet people there).  After a week of small communication with various people and getting used to the routines of classes, we had arrived at the weekend and with it the Fall Honors Memphis Trip (8/24-8/25). This trip is an annual event that all of the freshmen in the Honors program go to Memphis, TN. We left at 1:30 on Friday afternoon and drove the two and a half hour drive to Memphis and we watched “The Other Guys” on the bus. When we got to Memphis we were free to do what we wanted and I ended up going to the Hard Rock Café with a small group of students, and afterward we got on the trolley. We rode it to the end of the line, but then we had to walk back, which was interesting. We got a lot of really cool pictures of downtown Memphis though while we were walking. When we finally got back to the hotel most of the honors students hung out in the hot tub/pool until it closed at 11. When the pool closed, everyone really went on to their rooms to sleep. The next day we left for the Memphis art museum which was really fun. We hung out there for about 2 hours before we went to lunch at a really good BBQ joint that was near the museum and zoo. After lunch we went to the zoo and we split into small groups on our own to explore the place. It was really good to hang out with these new people in such a relaxed and fun way. The last thing that we saw there were the penguins, but they were a slight let down. They just stood around in a big group, it was weird. After the zoo we went to Huey’s in downtown Memphis, which was delicious, and then started the drive back to Florence. When we got back to UNA most of us shuffled off to get some sleep. In the following week, a lot more people were in the lobby at various times and we got even closer as a group. Classes seemed to become more normal as I become more used to my schedule and I ironed out problems. This past Thursday I finalized a switch in my schedule between two classes and I think I’m ready for the year.