Hello all. I am sure that you all have been wondering what I have been up to! Well, it has been another wonderful semester of serving the community, helping in the Honors College, and attending East Tennessee State University events. In February, I had the HONOR (get it, honor) of serving Meals-on-Wheels to the citizens of the Greater Kingsport area, which took about two hours. On March 31st, I attended the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers baseball game when they faced the Mercer Bears, which took approximately three hours to play. On April 4th, I had the privilege to be a representative from the College of Nursing at the 2018 Health Careers Leadership Summit at Stanton-Gerber Hall on the Veteran's Administration/Quillen College of Medicine campus, which took approximately four hours. On April 25th, I attended the Pinning Ceremony for the Honors College graduates of May 2018, which took one hour and ALMOST put me into tears (IT DIDN'T, BUT IT ALMOST DID). On May 4th, I attended another East Tennessee State University Buccaneers baseball game when they played The Citadel Bulldogs, which took about three hours to play. Finally, I had the opportunity to be a part of the BEST event of my Honors Colloquium experience. On April 26th, I volunteered at BUDS prom in Allandale, which is an event for special needs teenagers from Dobyns-Bennett High School that is set up and hosted by the Downtown Rotary Club of Kingsport. There were lots of decorations, dancing, music, food, fun, laughter, memories, and, of course, tears. I would HIGHLY recommend that ANYONE that can be a part of this opportunity to do so because it will change your perspective and allow you to experience true joy (PLUS you get two Honors Colloquium hours for it). It feels weird knowing that I will only have one more semester in the College of Nursing, Honors College, and East Tennessee State University. I love you all, thank you for making my four semesters amazing, and I wish nothing but the best for each of you over the Summer and Fall. Oh, and, as per usual, keep on keeping on Colloquiers!
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I recently went to the "Traditions" holiday concert by the Symphony of the Mountains in Kingsport. Like the Meals on Wheels tradition, my Dad and I usually go every year to this concert. It is one of the best concerts that I could go to because I feel like I get an educational lesson every time. This year, it was about community and the importance of music in it. Community is important because the people in it are my family, instructors, mentors, and so many others. Community is the reason why I have gotten to where I have gotten to, and why I am going to where I am going. To see my fellow community members performing in the concert and all of us in the crowd coming together to watch it, it made me realize that music brought us all together and allowed us to forget work, school, and stress for a brief moment in order to be captivated by history and traditions. It also made me realize that music can help to give our communities life and happiness. So, why don't we all just come together, celebrate, and enjoy some wonderful music this holiday season. Happy holidays, and, until next time, keep on keeping on colloquiers!
As a part of my Honors Colloquium class, we had to find out what we valued. The two things that I value most is my relationship with God and my family. While we were in class, my professor asked us to come up with a personal mission statement. So...here is mine: The ultimate goal of my life is fulfill the destiny that God has for me, to do it to the best of my ability, to do it for my family, to make sure that I do honor to God and my family, and to make sure that God's people, including my family, are as best taken care of as possible while I maintain the closest relationship that I can with God and my family. Until next time, keep on keeping on colloquiers!
Recently, I visited the Reece Museum at East Tennessee State University. While I was there, I worked my way through "The Fletcher Exhibit". The Fletcher Exhibit was started in 2013 by Fletcher's family after he passed away in a tragic motorcycle accident. I love art, and this exhibit did NOT fall short of amazing. As my title says it was politically and socially engaged art. Social justice has always been a goal of mine, and I found it throughout the exhibit, with pieces such as Open Sewers, Troubled Waters #4 by Janet Braun-Reinitz. It is important to me that people be able to find justice and equality in their life, so I related to that part of the exhibit well. Another goal of mine is to make sure that people are allowed to have freedom and live the way they want to, which I found Esten Listos by Mike Callaghan. The United States of America's fundamentals are to make sure that freedom is fostered and promoted. By putting freedom off to the wayside, the very fabric of American democracy is lost and people's individuality and creativity will be stripped from them. A final goal of mine is to make sure that the minority are heard in the majority. People of minority are oppressed and feel like they cannot get out of their situation, but I, as a white male, want to use the priviledges that I have been given to help to make sure that the minority are represented and that ALL of their voices are heard, which I found as an issue that is addressed in Ten Little White Folk by Shawna Hanel. I have many more, but these are the major ones. I loved the exhibit, and would highly recommend it to anyone in the future! As always, until next time, keep on keeping on colloquiers!
It is a yearly tradition of mine and my Dad's to go deliver Meals on Wheels to the greater Kingsport area on Thanksgiving morning. Now this would usually be the part where I would talk about all of the activities that I performed, but, I am changing it up, I am going to talk about what the Meals on Wheels participants have done for me. All that me and my Dad did was deliver the meals, but what the participants did for us was so much more. They truly made me see why they call it Thanksgiving. Most of these people did not have anyone to spend Thanksgiving with, yet they smiled and made sure to thank me; however, I was the one that should have been thanking them. They showed that it is not what life does not give you that is important, but what it does give you. These people made the best of their situation, and showed nothing but love and happiness to me. Finally, it hurt my heart to see such great people going through such a rough time. It taught me that I need to be THANKful for everything in my life. Thanksgiving is NOT about the food, football, or fun but making sure that the blessings that one receives are counted and shown thanks for. Happy Thanksgiving, and, until next time, keep on keeping on colloquiers!
Lukasz Mirocha is a very interesting person. I had the honor of watching him come and talk with Dr. Scott Contreras-Koterbay. I learned much about the world during this discussion. Lukasz talked about about his trips around the world, which included Svalbard and Nepal. By listening to him discuss these trips, I found myself learning much about many other cultures and places, which sparked within me an interest to want to find out even more about the world. I learned that it is important that I learn about other cultures in order to make sure that I can become the best nurse possible. I thought that people in the Tri-Cities did not have many connections to people in other countries, but this also made me realize that the people around here have important insight and connections that I need to be taking advantage of. Lukasz made me realize that I can travel the world, and gain the experience that I so desperately need for my future profession and personal development. Thanks to the Honors College for letting me attend this informal discussion meeting so that I could gain knowledge about other cultures and making me a better rounded person! Until next time, keep on keeping on colloquiers!
My name is Matthew Boyd, and I am a Junior at East Tennessee State University. I graduated from Northeast State Community College in May 2016 with an associates degree in science with a university parallel in pre-nursing with a transfer to East Tennessee State University. I am thankful for the opportunity that the College of Nursing and Honors College at East Tennessee State University has given me. I hope to obtain a bachelors of science in nursing degree, and I look forward to helping out the university as best as I can. As a part of my honors colloquium class, I was asked a very interesting question... If there was a fire that burnt my house down, what is the one thing that I would make sure to recover? Besides my family and cat, I would make sure that it would be my Nanny's family tree book. It contains photos of everything in my life and my family's life. She has worked so hard on it that I feel like it is parially my duty to make sure that it is preserved. I look forward to making a difference in colloquium, and thank you East Tennessee State University for everything! Until next time, keep on keeping on colloquiers!
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