Thursday, March 26, 2015

Proposal/ Storyboard Reflection

For our group proposal, I believe we did really well communicating with each other about what work was to be done and how to do it, as well as execution of our roles. I do believe, however, that we could have done a better job with visual aids in our storyboard, and personally I could’ve definitely worked harder on time management. Im very proud of how our proposal turned out as well as our group cooperation. We put in the effort and it paid off. Through our proposal, I hope to clearly convey the issue at hand and how awareness can be raised, so that even if someone hadn’t thought of the dorms as problematic before, that they would see it now and be wary of the problems at hand.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Freewrite 3/3

Dear William,

Hello, It’s me, your backpack. You may be wondering how I am writing this letter but that is irrelevant. I am writing you because I am concerned with the lifestyle choices you are making. You use me, but show no appreciation for what I can do. You stuff me full of papers and clothes to the point of nearly bursting and never once apologized.  Secondly, I recently found out that you’ve been seeing someone else. I have always been faithful, yet you cast me aside for some Camelbak when you feel like a change of pace and to me, that is upsetting. Im just like you, Im a skater, I love to hold boards, whether they’re short, long, street, or snow, I love them, but your stupid camelbak can’t even hold one which is pretty dull if you ask me. I want to stay in your service but we must come to a compromise, as to better our relationship.  I hope you can see the error of your ways and eventually stick with me, but until then, good day.

Regards,

Your Backpack

Friday, February 13, 2015

Speech reflection WRD111

  I believe I did well on my speech considering the amount of effort I put into preparing it. There are a few things I could have done better.  First of all, dressing up for the presentation should have been a no brainer, and considering my topic, if I had given this speech at an actual pitch, I probably would’ve been shut down in the first thirty seconds.  Secondly, My sentences could have been more eloquent and direct.  As I watched the video of my speech, I cringed every time I heard myself speak in a choppy sentence, or whenever I spent too long between words.  Lastly, my body language and movement could have used some improvement, I feel like I didn’t move around enough.
Other than that I feel that I did well.  I didn’t use too many filler words such as “like” or “um,” and I feel that when I paused intentionally, it made a positive impact on my speech.  Although I feel I could have moved around more, I did a good job of not standing still. I feel I maintained a good level of eye contact with my audience that kept them attentive.  Furthermore, I believe my speech was solid in the fact that I presented all the information that was asked of me including extra background info that I tied in with my speech.  The topic itself was interesting and I feel that even that was enough to get the attention of my audience, and with their attention I was able to convey in the clearest way I could, what exactly my vision and my skills were for my project to become a success.
Next time I need to work on my diction and body language, and perhaps, next time I’ll dress in more “professional” attire.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

freewriting 2/5

The best public speaker I have ever heard was the valedictorian for my older sister's graduating class. Oddly enough, she spoke about people's fear of public speaking, and she spoke in a way that encouraged people not to be afraid, but to embrace it.  She began with the fact that world-wide, the number one most common fear people have is public speaking, the second most common being death.  She spoke about how she was at first nervous, but the fact that people would rather die than speak publicly was absurd, so, this girl, who everyone had known to be straight laced, average, every day over-achiever proved that public speaking was not as bad as it is made out to be, by performing her very own rap about the school and it's faculty. The logic in her words was eye opening and I believe it was one of the best presentations I've ever personally witnessed.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Short Essay

Currently, I believe that one of, if not, the most prevalent issue on UK’s campus is the abuse and the illegal distribution of “study drugs” such as vyvanse and adderall.  As a stimulant, this may seem ideal for college students who decide to spend the whole night cramming for an exam, but at what cost?
As a Student Wellness Ambassador, one of my jobs this semester will be to educate students on the effects, dangers, and legal repercussions of abusing and distributing prescription medication such as adderall.  A testament to the problem: While studying in the library alone one late evening, a guy set his things down across from me. At first I thought nothing of it, but then I heard him.
“Psssst.” I took out my headphones to ask him what it is he wanted, thinking he was going to ask if I had a spare pencil or something. I was wrong. He pulled out a plastic baggie with two tablets of adderall and asked if I’d buy it from him.  All I could think was “Are you serious?”  Of course, I turned him down, but in that moment I came to a realization.
I realized that there were probably five more guys just like him, one on every floor of the library, and in the larger scope of things, I came to the conclusion that with 30,000 students at UK, there have to be hundreds of drug deals like this that go down every day.  The students that buy these drugs are, of course, unaware of the dangers of what they’re about to take.  If they don’t know who they’re getting it from they could even get harder drugs that the dealer gave to them.
Addiction is a serious problem, and when taking a class II drug like adderall, a large chance presents itself for the user to become addicted, due to the high levels of dopamine and serotonin released.  The user then becomes deficient in these neurotransmitters and can experience depression and anxiety as well as a much larger range of possible side effects.
I believe that the student wellness ambassadors will do a good job of tackling this major issue and I’m honored to be able to warn students about the dangers of  illegal substances before it’s too late for them to make the right decision.