BYU Club Options/The Beauty of Nature

BYUSA has a wide variety of clubs for students to join.  Many of the clubs seem random in nature, but they were started by BYU students so the students incorporate their passions with the clubs.  There are clubs for any type for seemingly any type of student, however, I could not find a club for one of my greatest passions.  Therefore, I would like to start an Outdoor Adventure Club.   There is already a Whitewater Kayaking Club, but I’d like to see an organization with a wider variety of outdoor activities.  If I started this club, some of the activities I would have the club be involved and associated with include: hiking, mountain trail running, kayaking (of any sort), canoeing, fishing, tubing, etc.  

 Sometimes it can be difficult for especially freshman students who don’t know many people yet to find people to enjoy their outdoor-loving activities with.  Our adventures could really help people get to know one another and bond.  The club would also try to focus on the beauty and blessing of nature.  I, for one, think that the elements of nature are the greatest testimony of Christ.  Everything works so cohesively, even down to the last flower peddle.  Maybe in the fall we would drive up to Sun dance and look at the amazing changing colors of the leaves.  This would help us have a greater appreciation for the blessing and beauty of nature that Heavenly Father bestowed upon us.  I think this club would present a great opportunity for nature lovers at BYU to get together and meet other students with their same passion. 

The Woes of Laundry Doing

Oh, laundry- how I despise thee.  I never realized how much of a nuisance doing a laundry is until college started.  It's not like I didn't do my own laundry at home, I've done my own laundry since the age of 12.  However, being at school seems to amplify the laundry hatred by 1,000.  Back home I would use a towel only once and an article of clothing could get a few hours of wear before I would stick it in the laundry.  Now I use the same towel three times, and try to get as much use out of each article of clothing as much as possible until it gets too stretched out (where it's basically falling off my body) or too smelly, just to avoid doing laundry.  I think the biggest aspect of why I can't stand doing laundry is because if you do not have it out of the machine 30 seconds after it is done, someone takes it out and leaves it thrown around somewhere so that they can have a turn with the machine.  Laundry is a stressful affair here.  Oh well, at least I have clothes.

Freshman Dating at BYU

Being a freshman girl at BYU, you are stuck in a very...different situation than most freshman girls at other schools.  When dating, you do not wanting to get emotionally attached to another freshman boy because they are just leaving for their missions in a few months, if not sooner.  Also, you do not want to get emotionally involved with a boy that is not a freshman because that means they are off their mission and the possibility of marriage is real.  At first it is frustrating, but now I have to come to realize what a blessing this "odd" situation is.  Going on a date freshman year can be just for fun whereas at other schools one date means commitment.  Also, we WANT the boys to go on missions so as much as it stinks that we cannot allow ourselves to get emotionally close to them, we know that is it for the better.  Also, it is not necessarily RM's that scare us, it is just the possibility of getting married.  It is different with them because they are actually able to, and marriage is not in the sights for most of us during freshman year.

The Quality of BYU Students

I am continually shocked by the quality of people that are here at BYU.  I'm not used to being surrounded by people with high moral integrity.  Back home, I was the person that most people looked to for an example, I knew that, and I knew that they needed someone so my goal was to be "that person" for them.  Since I've been at school, it has been an extreme humbling experience.  This humbling experience is different in nature though, because most of the time humbling experiences come in a negative sort of light, but I am truly grateful for this experience.
I am learning so much about life and the Gospel from those around me.  I can learn something from every person that I come in-contact with.  It also seems that every person is great at everything, and at first it may seem scary, but I can't help to be in awe of the amount of effort that means that people put into their lives.  BYU students are used to being the cream of the crop back home, and here all the creams are put together and they produce a very successful harvest.

My Career Aspirations

In the academic world there are two types of people: those that know what they like and want to base a career off of that, and those that know what they want they want their career to be and base what they like off of that.  I'm the type of person who knows what they want their career to be.  Right now, I am a pre-major in Social Science and History Teaching.  It is a program that you must apply for, and I will not be able to do so until the end of my sophomore year.  This program is perfect for me in so many ways.  Once I graduate with this degree, I will be qualified to teach the following: Geography, History, Economics, Government, Sociology, Psychology, and Anthropology.  I have two career options in mind (and will most likely be doing both in my life).  I feel that my career MUST be involved with helping people, but I know it's not with medicine, but more like being an inspiration to others.  The first career option is to be a teacher and a soccer coach, most likely at an inner-city school.  And the second option is to work with the government or NGO's in foreign/humanitarian aid.  If I was able to get this job, I would prefer my "specialty area" to be Africa.  My major is great for me, because along with getting the teaching degree, the classes I am taking are perfect for foreign relation skills and basic knowledge of such.

 

A Very Needed Devotional

Ever since beginning BYU, I have not really liked my Book of Mormon class.  I'm not fond of the idea of being graded and tested on material in the Book.  Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy learning the facts and additional information that our professor gives us, but I feel that once we are tested on the material (for me) it turns what should be a spiritual matter into a stressful matter.  I had been having a hard time getting over that fact before President Thomas S. Monson came to give a Tuesday devotional.  For part of his talk he spoke on the importance of the Book of Mormon.  He started off the topic by saying, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a spiritual experience."  That really got me to start thinking that even though I don't prefer the stressfulness of the class, I really appreciate the additional knowledge and insight that I am gaining.  President Monson told a story of a man who got a doctorate degree at Standford or Harvard and was a highly successful individual in the corporate world. The man had attended BYU and said that a student might use the things they learned in their major once a year, but they will use their knowledge of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon every day.

Amazing Professor

I LOVE my Sociology Class!  I find it incredibly interesting.  My professor, Professor Childs, is only about 28 years old, it is the first and only class that he's ever taught, and he is AMAZING!  You can tell he truly and genuinely cares about his students.  We have a class of 120+, and he literally knows the name of EVERY student in our class.  Not only does he know their names, he knows little jokes he's had with them since the first day of class.  He calls on everyone by name, even the students who are not "regular callers" as he would call them (those who do not speak up in class).  Whenever the teacher evaluations comes out he BEGS us to take them, because he wants to be as best for us as he can be.  After the first evaluation results were given to him, he took half of a class discussing the issues (very few) that some students had with him.  He told us he was sorry for those and he was going to try and improve himself.  One of the best things about Professor Childs is he is sooo funny!  The best thing is, he doesn't even try!
Instead of just lecturing us day after day from powerpoint slides he assigns us reading homework, and quizzes us on the reading to make sure we have done them.  The readings are sociological studies or journals, and to many people that would sound very boring, but he makes to pick readings that are incredibly interesting and thought provoking.