Futurizing the flock

Just as FYI, I would love to come back in two years if you two are still teaching together. If I had to come back and give a "speech" to my little sister class this is what it would be:

"Hey little sister class, first of all, good choice for coming to Converse. Whether you've known all along that you wanted to come to Converse or, like me, you decided to come at the last minute, welcome. Before I give you my speech I want to tell you a little about myself. I was born and raised here in Spartanburg. I have two younger brother, two dogs, a dad and step-mom, whom I love very very much. I also have a boyfriend that I've been dating for 4 years and I love him like crazy. Coming to Converse was a great decision that i made. I have made some many new friends here and I love it. At first I wasn't sure about the whole all girl thing and said no I'll never go to Converse, well I'm here. I like being around all girls all the time. I feel secure and comfortable. And for the people who don't have boyfriends, you don't have to worry about looking cute for guys because there are none.

Now, I want to talk to you all about some challenges that I faced as a freshman and how I overcame them. I'm sure a lot of you are going through the same things, especially since you are music majors. First, a big thing that can help you succeed big time in college is time management. I had a very hard time my first few weeks of my freshman year with this and it hurt. I would know that I had to do something and instead of making a time chart to know when to do it I would just say I'll do it later. Then I would end up doing it at late hours of the night because I forgot. Spread your time out too. I would study for a exam for 30 minutes then practice piano for 30 minutes then work on a paper for 30 minutes and so on. Spending only a certain amount of time on things kept them from getting boring and I got them done a lot faster. Another challenge I faced was actually having to practice. I never practiced in high school and now if I don't practice then I won't get anywhere and I'll never become a great musician so I make sure I practice at least 30 minutes a day on each instruments. Yes, I said instruments with an "s" because I am learning how to play piano for the first time and learning more on guitar. The last challenge is distractions. I love facebook texting and and talking on the phone and everything else, but I had to start forcing myself to stop doing those while I was working on homework because I wouldn't get my work done.


Some things that surprised me were how independent I was. There wasn't any teachers reminding me about assignments coming up that I needed to turn in until the day they were due. I missed a few assignments because I didn't realize that I had them. Look at the syllabus that the teacher gives and write everything that you have to turn in or read in you planner or whatever because that will help and you won't forget. Also, my parents were not on my case anymore wondering how my grades were or what I had coming up to turn in or wanting to read my essays. They really don't ask me anything about school besides "how was school?" I like that but it surprised me when I was a freshman.

I have learned a lot since my freshman year and I'm about to sum it all up with these four things: 1. Manage your time 2. practice 3. get a planner 4. don'committed t get distracted while trying to do your homework. Thanks for letting me come talk to you. Sorry if I talked you ear off, I love to talk to people and give advice for improving their lives, that is why I am a music therapy major. The last bit of advice that I want to give is how to survive in the face of adversity. My mom committed suicide when I was in 3rd grade. I tell you this because instead of giving up on life and saying I quit I told myself that I wanted to be the very best I could be and succeed in everything. That thinking and determination got me here to Converse on a full ride scholarship. One of my favorite quotes every is "never, never, never give up" and I add to that "no matter what happens. "

Time Management Challenges

There are many challenges that I face that mess with my time management. Facebook, the phone and lack of motivation are just a few. Every time I come home and turn on my computer the first three things I do are check my Converse e-mail, regular e-mail and then my facebook. Sometimes I'll get occupied on one of them and end up spending a lot of time on it. Then, when I start working on some of my homework I realize that I have a lot of it and should not have spent so much time on facebook or e-mail. Sometimes when I am typing something on the computer I'll pull facebook up and chat with people while I work. This usually distracts me and I don't get as much work done as I should. Same goes for the phone. I'll think that I can talk on the phone and do work but I usually get distracted trying to hold the phone and don't get my work done when I should. Lack of motivation is the biggest problem I have. I'll look in my planner and know that I have things I need to do but I put them off because I'm not motivated to do any of it. These three things are definitely things that I need to work on and fix for me to be successful in college.

Answers to blog 1

1. I chose to go to college because I felt that college was my next step. I completed elementary, middle and high school, now it was time for me to go to college. I also wanted a good degree. With the way society is going today, if you don't have a college degree it is kind of hard to do well. I figure that going to college will help me specialize in a specific field and help me get a good career in that field.

2. I decided to come specifically to Converse because of financial reasons and the music therapy program. At first I wanted to go to Furman. I was already accepted and ready to go, except for the money situation. I still had a lot of money that I had to find for Furman that I didn't get in financial aid or scholarships. About the time I started realizing this, I heard about Music Therapy and looked into it to see what it was all about. I liked it from the minute I read about it. I had a friend, Kayla Barker to be exact, that told me that I would be good in that field and that Converse had a good Music Therapy program. I applied to Converse, got accepted and soon realized that financially, Converse would work better for me than Furman because if i stayed at home this first year then everything would be paid for. Also, the Music Therapy program at Converse was a lot better than what I would have had to do at Furman, so I decided that that is what I wanted to major in and came to Converse.

3. At first I did not want to be a music major. I liked music but I didn't want to perform or teach it. That was before I found music therapy. Helping people has always been something I enjoyed so when I found out that I could help people using music I was very excited. After I decided to become a music major I figured out that studying music is what I really want to do.  Music has been something I have enjoyed my entire life. I was blessed to be from a musical family, especially with my dad having been in the Marshall Tucker Band. I got to hear him play a lot and also go on stage with him a couple of times and play tambourine when I was younger. I really enjoy music and I am very excited about learning thinks about music that I never knew.

4. Honestly I would not want to go without either cereal or sandwiches but if I had to pick one I would pick sandwiches. Even though there are a lot of different types of cereal, there is still more combinations that could be made with sandwhiches. You can put whatever you want on a sandwhich if you like it and the sandwhich will taste good. If people put whatever they wanted in cereal besides milk, it probably would not taste very good. Also, sandwiches are good at two meals and not just one. People can eat sandwiches for lunch or dinner and cereal is only good for breakfast.