Assignment 16A

1. The five things that I feel make me different are my ability to lead, my confidence, my drive to succeed, my focus and my hard-work.

My ability to lead is something that I have used since I was a freshman in high school. Since I have been in college, I have used this less than I did in high school, but it is still something that is important for me. Any time that I am put into a group situation, I strive to be the one that 'takes charge' and leads the group. While this is not always the case, it is something that happens more times than it does not, and without it I do not think that I would be in the same position that I am today.

My confidence allows me to follow through with being the leader as I explained in the first point. If I was not such a confident person, I would not want to put myself in a situation where others are listening to me. However, I also use that confidence as a strategy for school. In situations such as a major test, I have always used the technique of answering any question that I have some sort of idea on the first time through the test. After that, I will not look at any of those questions again. I go back and make my best answer on the rest of the questions and turn it in. The majority of the time, when I look back at tests where I did this, I would have likely changed my answer and would usually have changed it to the wrong answer if I were not confident in myself the first time.

My drive to succeed is what pushes me to learn the material and continue to further my education. If I did not want to succeed in my future, I would have simply gotten a degree from my community college and gone into a low level career immediately. Instead, I have spent the past four years getting a degree from UF, where classes are undoubtedly harder than they are at a community college. I have even returned for a graduate degree, where classes are even harder still. Without my drive and desire to succeed in life, I would have taken the easy way out a long time ago.

My focus is what allows me to balance my hectic schedule. On any given day, I either have classes to attend, homework to finish or a shift at work; the past several weeks, I have had all three most days. At points in my life, I would have been unable to focus on each task at the appropriate time and get everything done. Now, however, I have further developed this ability. I will note that I have homework to do at work, or that I have work after class, but while I am performing any one of those tasks, I focus on it and complete it to the best of my ability.

Lastly, I feel that my hard-work and work ethic make me unique. Much like the last two, this is something that allowed me to get my first degree at UF, come back for my graduate degree and allows me to keep up with a busy schedule. However, it is something that I feel I have not developed, rather I was taught at a young age and have used it from grade school on. I can remember watching my dad go to work at 6 am before the sun was up and not be home until 8 or 9 pm, after the rest of us had eaten supper and were about to go to bed, at least once a week most weeks while I was in elementary school. How hard I knew he was working made me look up to and respect him during that time. It also taught me the importance of working hard and working until your job is done; these are both qualities that I feel I have gained from these experiences.

2.

a. My girlfriend - She outlined the determination that I possess. She explains that I have used it during my time in school, as well as in the job that I hold. I feel that this is something that relates well with both the drive to succeed and the hard-work that I explained above; they are all relatively similar to one another.

b. Keitha Hall; former teacher and scholarship mentor - She outlined many different skills and abilities that she feels I have. She elaborates on the ability to work as a teammate that she feels I possess. I feel that this relates well to the leadership abilities that I explained above, as sometimes being a teammate means being the leader of the team. In other situations, it means allowing someone else to be a leader.

c. My stepdad - He explained that he views me as someone who is hard-working and able to achieve things that I set my mind on. He also talks about how I am able to focus on those certain things. I feel that his interview is one that all of the points I made about myself relate to.

d. My college best friend - He outlined the memory that I have for things. He described (and always has described) my memory as 'photographic'. This is something that I did not use as one of my answers for what makes me different. However, it is something that I know is a strong point for me. While I do not have a truly photographic memory, I do have a very strong short term memory for educational material and long term memory for small things such as pieces of conversations. These things all play into the amount of confidence that I have.

e. My grandmother - She explained my desire to succeed. She also explained that I tend to not stop until I reach goals that I have set for myself. These match up exactly with one of the points that I explained above, which I find comical as I typed all of those areas out before conducting a single interview, and her interview was the final one that I completed.

3. There are not many differences or variations for how I view myself and how others view me, or at least there were not in the interviews that they gave me. Personally, I feel that my list above is a relatively complete list, as I know that these are things that have helped me get through life thus far. I also feel that the list that I compiled based on the interviews is accurate, and that they are a good representation of the person that I am.