One Charitable Woman

Some might say cliché. Others might say brilliant. Still others might shrug and say of course. On the whole, none of the other opinions matter… it is my decision and after much thought I decided on Oprah. I spent a good hour and half of my life deciding whom I admire in the professional world and I finally came up with Oprah. Not only does she encompass the epitome of a strong independent woman, but she is compassionate and charitable in her life as I wish to be.
Growing up in Mississippi, she suffered abuse from various male figures during her adolescence. After moving to Tennessee to live with her father, she attended Tennessee State University. She studied broadcasting and ever since then her life has been in the history books.
Her Career sped her toward fame and money. Oprah, at 54 years of age, still shows women young and old to be strong and strive for their goals. Oprah has a talk show, book club, magazine, production group, and myriad other business functions. However, the business woman in her does not stop there. Her accomplishments in business are surpassed only by her charitable heart. She is almost as famous for her weight loss as she is for her charities. Over $51,000,000 raised by her Angel Network is just one of the many charities that she encourages and oversees. (Thanks to http://www.biography.com for Oprah Winfrey’s biography information)
The future may be unsure, but when I look at what I want to be in life, I look at Oprah. I am and want to be that strong independent woman, ready to step up to the plate and play hard. The biggest reason for my admiration of Oprah is her charitable heart and compassion. Almost all of her philanthropies focus on the welfare and well being of children. And I believe I am in her line of thinking when I say that one of the most important things to protect on this Earth is our children. If I am meant for one thing I hope it is for charities, especially focusing on children. No matter what I do with my professional life, i know that I will work charities throughout my life. I have already started down that path through my sorority work and my documentary on a person who has made a difference in the community. Famous professionals have admirers all the time. I find most admirations of them silly. However, I believe that Oprah is a genuinely kind and charitable person who I would love to meet in person.

A Moment of Truth

There is a moment, an epiphany if you will, when your mind is clear and all you can see id what is important. Honestly it is pretty uncommon, so if you do happen to come across this moment then you are pretty lucky. Now I am not a lucky person but I will be honest and tell you I have had one of these moments. However I did not come to this conclusion on my own. A Westminster faculty member trying to help me with a problem triggered my “moment of truth.”
My first year in college I was slightly nervous and one of my very first classes was Speech. Diesler was my professor and she was so nice. Now I have never considered myself a bad speaker or a good speaker but being as it was a new environment I was still trying to get to know everything. So keeping on track, she gave us our big speech topic. It was research speech and I for the life of me couldn’t find something. I think I went through 5 different topics. Every time I went to her and was I was unenthusiastic and not very happy with it. So usually other people kept giving me ideas and I would try them but they just would really fit me so I would end up being not so happy. So finally she sat me down and said what do you like and I told her a lot of things. Her advice to me was this …. do something that makes you happy , something that interests you that you genuinely want to learn about and something that is what you come up with that you want. I looked t her not really understanding how that was supposed to help me because I thought that I was already doing that. Well I told her ok I would try, not really knowing how else to respond. Her last statement to me was … sometimes if you stop looking so hard topics will pop out of no where for you. So I went back to my dorm thinking what I could do differently and kind of what she meant.
Finally it hit me like lightening on a rod. My moment of truth had come to me not only had I found a topic but realized that what she said could span across life in general. So since then I have lived for what I love to do what makes me happy and doing what I want to do and not what others tell me I want to do. I still keep I contact with Professor Diesler and she always has something interesting to say… food for my thoughts.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T…

There are many reasons I have made it this far in my college career. Some of it is from my drive to excel, another is because it is something I need to do. Either way, I have been blessed with wonderful opportunities and come in contact with many motivational people. Most have one professional person who helps them decide what they are doing with life, shows them the ropes, and supports them in general. And like most I have that as well …but slightly different. There is one person who has taught me more then she will ever know on more then one level. She has prevented bad life decisions but, let me learn from some as well. My first year in college, I was a bio major. I am certain that 2 weeks in I would have given up if she had not studied with me every night. When I realized that I really didn’t know how to study she said she didn’t know either. But I watched her process and saw the dedication and focus that she had and tried to replicate it. It worked for awhile but I finally realized it just wasn’t for me. Now I know I could never be her and honestly I don’t want to but I do take lessons from her. She is the only person only who showed me how to organize my life, telling me how to say “NO”, and reminding me on numerous accounts that “you can only do ONE thing at a time”. I would have never have pushed so hard or been as confident with myself if it wasn’t for her encouraging me and pointing me in the right direction.
Professionalism is a point of perception one could say. Why do I say this? Because you can call a teacher “professional” but that doesn’t mean they are. I have seen and heard more “professional” people do so many unprofessional acts it is sick. So, I look to other sources for my professional cues. If you would tell me I had to choose a person who has influence me in my professional career, personal life, and educationally I would tell you it is Ashley Carnahan. Some may argue that she could not be a role model if she is my age but I beg to differ. Through her I have learned how to properly conduct myself in meetings, in classes and in life in general. I must say that watching her speak, excelling in every aspect of her life has affected me greatly. When I am unhappy in my personal life it is libel to seep to my educational world and professional world. Therefore a big part of being professional is controlling my personal issues. Ashley has taught me to do what makes me happy, be confident and classy. She may not be a “professional” but give her a year to get her MBA and she will be more then qualified.

Take One...Take Two ...Thrid Time's the Charm!

There are so many different paths which lead to me to where I am now. Through my time at Westminster I have been more then a few majors and been in a little over a few organizations. Trying to pin point on specific class or moment that lead me to discovering what my capstone would be is not easy. Maybe others can say this event cause this event which set this light bulb off and now look at me. But as far as I go … its take one or two pushes and pulls to figure out not only my capstone but also my career. Since I cannot pick just one to talk about I will talk about a few events. In college, my experiences outside of the classroom have far outweighed my experiences in the classroom. However I am thankful for both because without either I would have never realized what I want to do for capstone and a career.
I came into college intent upon being the best at most things, getting straight A’s and going on to graduate from med school someday. Now as a senior, I am getting ready to graduate and go into the Airforce with a completely different out look on life. Honestly, having been in the capstone 601 really made me think all about who I am and also what I want to do. Going into it I knew I wanted to so something creative because that is who I am. After being shot down time and time again for my capstone proposal I decided I needed something else. I was more focused on planning an event then broadcasting. I was at a crossroads because event planning is what I love and want to do with my life. But I needed to show my professors that my broadcasting lessons were not in vain. My decision stemmed from being forced to sit down and look at what I was interested in and finding something that would leave me with a feeling of accomplishment. So, I used one of my interests. Among other interests I love WWI. I am a big buff on it. Pretty much anything that deals with the military intrigues me. So I decided to take that interest and funnel into something I know I love doing in broadcasting. I love making movies. I did it in my video production class and it was wonderful and fun! So I thought why not do it again? This time it is a little harder and a bit more stressful, but because of my roles in broadcasting and other extra curricular I believe I am able to accomplish my documentary of a World War II Veteran paralleled with an Iraq Soldier.
There you have it! I was push and forced to think of something that was interesting rewarding and I have come up with a task to full fill. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. It’s a wonderful feeling.