My Sentence

And no, I have not been charged with a crime that requires me to spend time in a state or federal correctional facility. 

As an Honors Mentorship student, I was challenged to create a sentence, something that someone would say when I was gone that summed up what my life was about.

For my sentence, I created,

"She brought a brightness to her surroundings and a lightness to those nearby with her integrity and willingness to help others," and below is my video.

Enjoy.

My Experiences at Gainesville State College

This year, I am dual-enrolled at Gainesville State College. At some point during the summer, I nearly had a panic attack when I realized I was going to be starting college. It was going to be totally different than any education experience I had ever had. 

My first day, I was SO nervous. I had driven down there with my mom for the first time with traffic and was running late. I didn't even turn off the car. I just pulled over, jumped out, and ran, with as much dignity as I could muster, to class.

Heading to my class in the Martha Nesbitt Academic Building

Once in my first class, I realized the class was small and about half of the students were full-grown adults with kids. Now that, was weird. Another strange thing was when we were done with getting to know each other and going over the syllabus, the teacher let us go, 20 minutes early. I had no clue what I was supposed to do until my next class. I took my time, wandered around, and ended up sitting in the floor in the hall outside the classroom. 

My next class was mostly freshmen and about twice as large as my first. Come to find out, there was another student who was dual-enrolled. This professor was so energetic and, quite frankly, loud, it took some getting used to. 

My first College 100!

In both classes, there were a few things that took getting used to. For one, the short classes. Each class was only 50 minutes. That's shorter than my high school classes.There was also the fact that we didn't meet everyday. At first, I thought, 'I'll have plenty have time to do my homework.' I quickly realized this was not the case and only with serious time management would I be able to do all my work and do it well.

Overall, I have enjoyed my time at Gainesville State and I look forward to next semester.

Debt Decisions

Debt seems to be the new face of the American way. Don't have money for something right now? That's okay, charge it on your credit card and pay for it later. Nothing harmful in that, right? The harm come in when people charge more than what they can pay when the bill comes around. Instead of getting scared and learning their lesson, they see there's a minimum balance due that they can pay. So, they pay it, feel relieved, and continue to charge things until they're in a hole so deep, they'll never dig themselves out. 

This means that the flow of information about credit, credit cards, fees, etc. is going the wrong direction. Part of the problem being that citizens are not taking the time to read and understand the ins and outs of credit cards. A credit card company draws people in with rewards and high spending limits, written in big, bright, letters. In tiny small letters that you need a magnifying glass to read, they tell you about the late fees, compounding interest fees, other ATM fees, things that add up so much, so quickly. 

I was taught a little bit about personal finance but, most of it I learned through the experience of having an allowance. I learned very quickly the importance of money management.

To say money has something to do with my Career Path of Accounting would be a major understatement and while I don't intend to get rich off being an accountant, I would like to make enough to live comfortably and, possibly, support my family. 

My Mission Statement

My mission is to use my talents with numbers and math and ability of creative thinking to help people succeed and represent the Lord in the best way I can, both in the workplace and in public, so that the world can see the amazing power of His Grace.

I would like to gain a better understanding of the Accounting profession so that I may better decide whether I would like to pursue it as a career choice. I am making sure I pay attention to what my mentor and his staff teach me and make the most of the hands on experiences they give me so that I can get the most of my experience. This experience shapes my future in that; I am beginning to see multiple workplaces and what dynamic I prefer.