I talk too fast

draft 1- demon

Fri, 16 Apr 2004 23:24:09 GMT

When I first began babysitting for a three-year-old boy named Devon, I saw the opportunity as nothing more than steady income, but as I learned more about him and his background, I realized that this was my chance to do something for someone that would make a difference in their life. That summer, in the midst of time outs, dinner making, bath time, bedtime and of course play time, I found my true calling.
Devon was a handful, but the more I got to know him, the more I realized why. His mother was young. She worked a lot and also went out a lot to escape the pressures of her job and parenting. Soon, his innocence began to shine through his sometimes uncontrollable behavior. I knew all he needed was a little attention and support. I felt like it was my job to help give him the things his mother sometimes neglected to give him. I have been taking care of Devon for almost four years now and I can honestly say it has changed my life, just as I hope I have changed his. Through my responsibilities of mothering Devon, I gained independence and a better sense of who I am and who I want to become. I want to become someone who can be there for kids who don’t have strong family connections and help kids whose parents might not give them all the support and love that they need. I hope that through my college experience, I can become the person I want to be.
Word count: 259

draft 1-moo

Fri, 16 Apr 2004 21:57:52 GMT

Sitting on the couch with the T.V. muted, I suddenly found myself extremely interested in my fingernails. I was trying as hard as I could to drown out my father’s two hour-long break down of my mother’s psyche. They had been separated for a couple of months and my father was still trying to convince me why it wasn’t his fault. My mother did the same thing when I was staying with her. I was in the neutral ground of the battlefield just trying to dodge the bullets. My parents didn’t realize they had been dropping information on me that I didn’t feel was my place to know. They kept forgetting that while they hated each other, I still loved them both. They had become so wrapped up in their own struggle, they had completely forgotten their role as parents, forcing me to grow up faster and taken on the responsibilities they dropped. They began to treat me like their equal instead of thier child and while I was old enough to take care of myself, I wasn’t ready for my parents to stop acting like parents. I kept a lot about the divorce from my younger sister, Brittany, knowing that as hard as it had been on me, it would be much harder on her. I wanted to protect her from my parent’s immature behavior. I knew that she didn’t need to be growing up as fast as I had been forced to. I wanted to be there to listen to her little middle school problems because I knew they were a big deal to her. My high school problems had somehow become non-existent when I was faced with the massive problems at home.
All of the caos of my parents seperation began to take effect at the beginning of my sophmore year. Taking it all in at once caused my grades to drop and my involvment on my school to decrease. I became more focused on my life at home and keeping the divorce as peaceful as possible to protect my family and especially my little sister. But as the tension at home mounted, I found that it helped spark a drive in me to do my best in spite of my families problems. In my junior year my GPA climbed from a 3.2 to a 3.8. I was more determined to set goals for myself and achieve them, and to create a life for myself where I could be happy. In a way I believe that my parents divorce helped me grow into the strong willed person that I am today. I also believe that I can take on any challenges that come my way, including college life, because I have seen what I can do when I put my mind to something and I truly believe in myself.

devon essay...

Sun, 11 Apr 2004 19:45:07 GMT

Devon’s 24 year-old mom passed her responsibilities along to me one morning as she got ready for work and I began my babysitting shift. As she filled a cup with water to take a birth control pill, her son curiously asked what that pill was for. She giggled and replied, “This is so I don’t have another one of you.” She looked at me, a more mature person, to laugh at the joke her three year old son obviously didn’t get. I failed to see the humor.

Essay notes

Sun, 11 Apr 2004 19:42:55 GMT

Personal Statement (required)
Choose two of the following topics for your essays:
1) Describe an activity, interest, experience, or achievement in your life (this could be a book, movie, or an activity or experience at work, home or school) that has been particularly meaningful to you.
Central Theme: Leadership, Responsibility, Role Model (Self-driven and overcoming obstacles.)
Taking Care of Devon--
Devon’s background--lack of good family environment (specific examples) --mom only giving him attention when he was bad, family members often changing--you could tell that was why he was bad. Once you got to know him you started to see how his family background and environment shaped his behavior. You attempted to change his behavior by showing him patience, love, and attention. You started to see a change and Devon and realized this is part of your calling in life.
Future plans--elementary school teacher--there are ways teachers can influence the behavior of children by assessing the unique needs of children who come from diverse family backgrounds/environments and meeting those needs in a caring way.
Mention here how you care for your younger sister and how you make a difference in her life.
-mention specific skills you posses in getting through to devon that other people might not have.
BE VERY SPECIFIC -- LOTS OF EXAMPLES
2) How has your family history, culture, or environment influenced who you are?
Open with a story and talk about the difficulties of going through the divorce. Very specifically how has each specific problem affected your day-to-day. What have you overcome?
The divorce added exponentially to your responsibilities --little sister had problems natural for her age. Mom and Dad wanted us involved in their problems. You worked to shield her from that b/c you knew how important it was that she feel her needs were important. You didn’t want the situation to belittle her problems. You took care of her emotionally--parents weren’t available, and practically--driving her to her things picking her up from events b/c both parents were working. In a lot of ways you had to mentor mom and dad. When I have people that depend on me--I do not (ignore them) I will
How you’ve changed and how you expect that to help you in your college environment . Specific examples about what your plans are.

Letter of Recommendation: The form to be given to teacher can be downloaded from the UF site. Give the form to her now and ask her not to send it in until September. Call and remind her September 1st that she needs to send it in a couple of weeks. Make sure your application hits the UF system in September.

Themes:
maturity- remind her about quote on paper-ask to include in letter of rec-
work in details about essays and work in theme of application(over coming obstacles/ self driven/ independent/responsible/mature.
work in what I want to do with my life and in college. (goal oriented).

first try...

Sun, 11 Apr 2004 04:20:22 GMT

OOOOOPS!

Wed, 31 Mar 2004 17:31:15 GMT

Ok i dont know what i did here but i re-read my entry and saw some mistakes so i went back to fix them and it posted it twice - and i dont know how to fi it! Help me!

Hi Jeesica!

Wed, 31 Mar 2004 17:29:09 GMT

I realize that no one is reading this now but you, jessica, so i might as well just direct stuff at you. i saw on one of your entries about last weekend that you have decided that you liked Jonathan and i am just thrilled because i knew it would be hard for you to get used to him most of all because you knew him before me when he was in his awkward stage with the clothes and the hair(i've seen pictures, it wasnt pretty.) But anyways, Im glad that you think he's cool and i dont blame you one bit for being a little skeptical(i cant spell) about him at first, but the bottom line is that he cares about me and tries to make me happy, like going to Prom when he already graduated( by the way- he wasnt the only one, Mike Niehwarner(again i cant spell- plus i cant type with these dumb nails i got done for prom) went with Shannon O'Conner) But anyways I guess thats as far as im gonna go for now- its the 4th quarter and my motivation is running out and all i want to do is eat, sleep, and watch TV so if your not busy i could use a little pep-talk.

Hi Jeesica!

Wed, 31 Mar 2004 17:27:29 GMT

I realize that no one is reading this now but you, jessica, so i might as well just direct stuff at you. i saw on one of your entries about last weekend that you have decided that you liked Jonathan and i am just thrilled because i knew it would b hard for you to get used to him most of all because you knew him before me when he was in his awkward stage with the clothes and the hair(i've seen pictures, it wasnt pretty.) But anyways, Im glad that you think he's cool and i dont blame you one bit for being a little skeptical(i cant spell) about him at first, but the bottom line is that he cares about me and tries to make me happy, like going to Prom when he already graduated( by the way- he wasnt the only one, Mike Niehwarner(again i cant spell- plus i cant type with these dumb nails i got done for prom) went with Shannon O'Conner) But anyways I guess thats as far as im gonna go for now- its the 4th quarter and my motivation is running out and all i want to o is eat, sleep, and watch TV so if your not busy i could use a little pep-talk.

So how does this work?...

Wed, 31 Mar 2004 02:34:33 GMT

Ok this is my very first entry. Hurray! But I'm warning you now that if this journal turns out to suck, you can all blame my sister for setting it up for me. I promise nothing, but i am kinda excited about this whole idea (as soon as i find out how to work it) ok well this entry isnt going to be much because a whole lot of NOTHING is going on in my life right now, but hopefully i can get some more stuff in there soon and it'll b e a little more interesting to read.
-Katie