Self - Designed Experiential Learning Proposal & Life Event Final Project
For the capstone projects of Gateway, two assignments were completed.
First, I completed a Mock Experience Proposal in order to become familiar with the process of creating a self-designed honors experience. The link to the PDF version of the file is below.
First, I completed a Mock Experience Proposal in order to become familiar with the process of creating a self-designed honors experience. The link to the PDF version of the file is below.
The second project I completed details a significant life event that has occurred since I moved into UC. I have listed below three paragraphs that describe this event, explain why the event was significant, and explain why I chose to write a poem to describe the event. The document itself (PDF) is password protected, so please contact me if you would like to access the document.
This poem describes the afternoon that I discovered St. Monica / St. George Parish Newman Center. I was exploring the area surrounding the campus with my friends, and decided to investigate the large bell tower that I saw in the distance. I was surprised when I saw a billboard advertising a Catholic Church, because up until that point I had not seen any Catholic churches in the area, and I had also not met anybody who was Catholic. I come from a town with a large parish, but our church is simple and not as ornate as a cathedral would be. I walked into St. Monica, and I remember gasping at the vaulting ceilings and the towering stained glass windows. I marveled at the beauty of the church, and at the same time felt the most profound sense of peace that I had experienced since stepping foot on campus. My poem focuses on this moment of peace and reassurance, and it also focuses on the first time that I went to mass, which was one week after my discovery of the church.
This event was significant because it provides a vehicle on which I can continue to enrich one of the most important aspects of my personality. From a young age my faith has been an integral part of who I am, and I have grown from dreading weekly mass to looking forward to it. Not only does St. Monica provide me with a place of worship, but I am also able to connect with others who share the same beliefs and values as me. In addition to meeting new people, St. Monica offers many faith enrichment programs, such as a bible study, that I discovered only because I discovered the church in the first place. Finally, finding a place that was familiar and welcoming made me more comfortable around the campus. Finding St. Monica made Cincinnati feel more like home, and helped me to settle into the new college life.
In order to represent this event, I chose a free form poem. I think that poetry is too restrained when writing in rhyme, so I chose a more free-flowing structure. The reason that I chose a poem is because I though back to my junior year of high school, and remembered writing a poem for activities called ‘The Outlaws’. I was able to express my ideas with great clarity during these assignments, but I was also to develop these ideas on a deeper and more personal level. I chose this format for that purpose, and also because it allows my voice to come through the writing. The structure of the poem is one of its most important aspects, and I was able to structure the poem in such a way that the reader will take in the poem in the same way that I would speak it. This level of personal connection was one of the driving forces behind choosing a poem.
Thank you, and have a wonderful day,
Alex
This poem describes the afternoon that I discovered St. Monica / St. George Parish Newman Center. I was exploring the area surrounding the campus with my friends, and decided to investigate the large bell tower that I saw in the distance. I was surprised when I saw a billboard advertising a Catholic Church, because up until that point I had not seen any Catholic churches in the area, and I had also not met anybody who was Catholic. I come from a town with a large parish, but our church is simple and not as ornate as a cathedral would be. I walked into St. Monica, and I remember gasping at the vaulting ceilings and the towering stained glass windows. I marveled at the beauty of the church, and at the same time felt the most profound sense of peace that I had experienced since stepping foot on campus. My poem focuses on this moment of peace and reassurance, and it also focuses on the first time that I went to mass, which was one week after my discovery of the church.
This event was significant because it provides a vehicle on which I can continue to enrich one of the most important aspects of my personality. From a young age my faith has been an integral part of who I am, and I have grown from dreading weekly mass to looking forward to it. Not only does St. Monica provide me with a place of worship, but I am also able to connect with others who share the same beliefs and values as me. In addition to meeting new people, St. Monica offers many faith enrichment programs, such as a bible study, that I discovered only because I discovered the church in the first place. Finally, finding a place that was familiar and welcoming made me more comfortable around the campus. Finding St. Monica made Cincinnati feel more like home, and helped me to settle into the new college life.
In order to represent this event, I chose a free form poem. I think that poetry is too restrained when writing in rhyme, so I chose a more free-flowing structure. The reason that I chose a poem is because I though back to my junior year of high school, and remembered writing a poem for activities called ‘The Outlaws’. I was able to express my ideas with great clarity during these assignments, but I was also to develop these ideas on a deeper and more personal level. I chose this format for that purpose, and also because it allows my voice to come through the writing. The structure of the poem is one of its most important aspects, and I was able to structure the poem in such a way that the reader will take in the poem in the same way that I would speak it. This level of personal connection was one of the driving forces behind choosing a poem.
Thank you, and have a wonderful day,
Alex
This I Believe
Hello Everyone! Contained within this section is my This I Believe Statement. In class we have been talking about our beliefs and what is important to us, and this statement sums up one of my single most important ideals. Granted, there are others that I hold very near and dear to my heart, but this one ranks extremely close to the top. These types of statements are part of a project in which people from far and wide share a belief that shapes their actions and their life, and this is my contribution to said project. I hope that it provides you with some insight into not only who I am as a person, but also into my personality. It is written, much like the rest of this site, in my own voice (ok, maybe it is slightly more formal…not as many parentheses). You can imagine that I am speaking these words to you. In fact, on the project’s official website, they have recorded people reading their statements and included them with each short essay. But, I've rambled enough. Below is my statement. Please enjoy.
I believe in sharing my knowledge with others. One of my favorite memories from high school was when I was in ninth grade and I helped out my friend Joey. We were both in geometry, and he was having a lot of trouble. Now, being the nerd that I was, I was having a relatively easy time (geometry actually excited me). He asked me one day if I could help him, and I took his request seriously. When I was a kid I used to hold a daily ‘school’ with my little sisters, and I taught them how to tell time, read sight words, etc. I figured this was the perfect time to actually ‘play teacher’ in a situation where the outcome really mattered.
What I did was go over his house every Wednesday after school and teach him the week’s content in a way that he could understand. Sometimes, even though teachers are brilliant people, the way they present the content is rather muddy. However, when I go over that same content and put my own spin on it, I am almost always able to get a positive reaction. The same thing happened here. He really understood what I was saying, and it got to the point where I would make practice tests and quizzes for him in order to prepare him for the real thing. I literally sat down and created and solved problems from scratch, and I loved every minute of it. I remember talking to my teacher, and he said he was saving my practice tests to steal some questions for the test next year. In the end, I brought Joey’s grade from a D to a B+.
This experience is very representative of the way that I am as a person. To this day, in every class I attend, I subconsciously watch for signs of people having trouble with a particular concept and instantly jump at the opportunity. The cool thing about this is that, normally, the person truly understands the topic once we’ve finished chatting. Every time I see somebody struggle, I use the opportunity to share my knowledge in a way that makes sense to them. And, every time, I feel great when I am done.
This action has come to define who I am. I really enjoy…not teaching, but helping people to understand. I enjoy sharing what I know. When I spoke as NHS President to the new inductees in January 2013, I said that knowledge means absolutely nothing unless it is used in the right ways. I believe that sharing is the correct way to use knowledge. Sharing knowledge, as opposed to confining it to oneself, is the only way that someone can be truly knowledgeable. I believe that, if I was given the gift of understanding (and it is a gift, if not luck, with some concepts), that it is my duty to share that understanding with others.