Reading #3 - John Dewey

"Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another."
John Dewey

When one reaches one means to an end in his or her life, it becomes the starting point for another goal. In life we are always learning and taking in new information on a daily basis … that is what growing is all about.

: Personal Journal #1 - (5/22/2011)

Walk around the block

I took a walk around my neighborhood today taking in California and realizing how different it is from Florida. There are no garages located on the front side of homes but only behind accessible by alleyways. As I strode through the Valley where I am staying for a couple weeks, I started thinking about life.

I passed by a mother and son riding bikes together around the block. As I walked further, I then passed a father and son playing basketball where the little boy was making every basked in without using the backboard. The boy was a spitting image of his father making me wonder if the man was living out his lost childhood dreams through his current youth.

Around the block was a yard with at least five kids riding around a mini Jeep Wrangler with grandma and grandpa watching the boundaries with intrigued eyes. The neighboring house to the immediate right held a mother and daughter playing ring-around-a-rosey.

I knew the Valley was mostly comprised of families but this many? My mind started to drift to my personal life. I am out in California to find myself this summer, but is finding yourself simply finding the answers to what someone really wants? I have always despised the thought of children unless they are coming from my own womb and even then I imagine myself as a career women pushing them off upon their father.

Seeing these families made me wonder if I am really alone and want children after all. Maybe I feel so alone because as nature intended, we as human beings, are supposed to reproduce and maybe I am tired of fighting this factor. Sometimes, one strives to be different so hard but it’s fighting the will of purpose.

As I ended my pensive walk of thought I admired and stopped to sniff some of the wildflower like roses. Maybe right now I am focusing on the thorns of my life when I should be breathing in more rose pedals.

Reading #2 - Quality Enhancement Plan

Civic engagement is working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to make that difference. This is the ground set forth to course students through the teachings of colloquium. Here, we learn about giving back to the community along with the environment and where all of these definitions come into play in the sense of guilt free actions. Actions where we are truly caring for the place we live, making good and bad judgment calls, and overall growing as an individual.

Reading #1 - Orientation

I would like to become more knowledgeable about the environment I am living in. I also would like to learn different ways to become greener friendly in my own home to reduce my footprint. I believe to start small goes a long way and will influence others.

Introduction

My name is Melissa Bell and I am a marketing major at FGCU. I am currently a senior this year, although I am going to extend my education to 5 years so I can study abroad for a semester. I am involved with Eagle News as a staff writer of 4 years and the director of marketing for the FGCU Eagles News hockey teams. I will be living in Los Angeles, California for summer working and will be completing my work from there.