Livin' like Laken

For the spring semester this year, the project that I would like to work on is improving my physical health and getting fit. As of right now, I eat fast food at least 3 or 4 days each week and I drink a lot of sugary drinks like sweet tea. I only work out for 1 or 2 days a week, and only for 30 minutes at a time. I also have very bad sleeping habits. I get about 6 hours of sleep each night, when I need to be getting 8 or more. So, I plan to improve my health in several ways. First, I will learn to cook more healthy and quick meals at home instead of eating fast food. I will reduce the amount of sweet tea I drink until I don't drink it at all. I will also go to the gym more often. I will spend more time in things such as weightlifting, yoga, and running to expand my workouts. I will also attend group fitness classes at my gym to experience new things. I am also going to be working on increasing the number of hours I sleep each night. I will try to learn new time management skills so...

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to listen to the Christmas Concert that was held in the Cave. It was ETSU's Gospel Choir and International Choir performing. It was a great concert and I enjoyed every minute of it. It actually got me quite a but more into the Christmas spirit! It was a really cold night, and I sat down and drank some hot chocolate and listened to Christmas music, and it really reminded me of December nights when I was young. The choirs sang everything from traditional Christmas carols like "Mary Did You Know?" to much more upbeat Christmas songs that I hadn't heard before. It was a very enjoyable experience and I am so glad that I went. To be honest, it was not an event I probably would have attended had I not needed to for Collo, but I am so grateful that I was able to attend. I am very glad that through Collo, I am pushed beyond my comfort zone and I get to experience new and exciting things and broaden my horizons.

This past week, I had the amazing opportunity to go to Nicaragua on a mission trip. We left on November 11 and returned November 18. During those 7 days, I had one of the greatest experiences of my life and had the chance to serve some very sweet kids. During this trip, our team hosted a children's camp. The kids who attended this camp were children who are sponsored by people here in America to have food and resources and to go to school. This sponsorship program is set up through a ministry called NewVision International Ministries, which was founded and is operated by Janey and Eddie Lane, a couple who attends the same church as I do. These kids were (first of all, adorable,) kind, caring, and willing to serve. Even though I did not speak the same language as the kids, I bonded with them over the activities of the camp. The camp was in the middle of nowhere. It was about 40 minutes outside the city of Managua, the capital of Nicaragua and a very beautiful city. The rest of Nica...

In class on November 7, different approaches to life were discussed. Different approaches to life include trying to achieve a happy life, a successful life, a good life, or a useful life. I was unable to attend class on November 7 due to a meeting that I had to attend. However, I have given much though to the type of life that I would like to accomplish during my time on this earth. I believe that the most important approach to life is achieving a useful life. While being happy and successful are very crucial to life, I believe that having a life that is useful to others leaves the biggest impact and allows your legacy to live on, even after you pass. Don't get me wrong, I want to be happy and successful and I want to live a good life. But, I think all of these things will follow if you live your life for something other than yourself; if you're useful for something other than working to better yourself. The truth of the matter is, no matter how successful we work to be, no ma...

On Thursday, October 19, I attended an Honors Movie Night in the Multicultural Center. The movie that was shown was "The Purge: Election Year." I had never seen this movie and I really enjoyed it. I am a big fan of horror movies so this was right up my alley. We were also served pizza, which is always a good thing. More than the movie, I enjoyed spending some time with my fellow honors students. I attended the movie with 3 other honors students. It felt really good to be able to hang out with friends and take our minds off of all the school-work we had. It was a very relaxing experience and allowed me to bond with fellow honors students. I believe that it is events such as these that makes the honors college more like a family just a group of students. While classes and academic events do bring honors students together, it is the honors events such as movie nights that allow us to bond as people, rather than just as students. This is part of the reason that I love being a p...

In class on October 3, we discussed what we value and how that relates to what we spend our time doing. We did an activity which involved mapping out what we spent our time on throughout the entire day for each day of the week. This really brought to my attention how I devote my time to some things over others. Two things that I particularly noticed that I spent a lot of time doing is school work and church activities. This activity revealed to me that I do value school(even if I don't want to admit it) and church a lot. These two things are very important to me and have always been a top priority in my life. This was a very neat activity and it helped me to understand why I rarely get 8 or more hours of sleep at night! After class I was thinking about what I value compared to others in my honors class. In class, I chose faith and love as the things I value the most in life. My faith is something that I hold very close to my heart. I am a Christian and that is the most important t...

Last Wednesday, I got the chance to help serve a local elementary school with a group of students from my church. At this elementary school, there is a high proportion of students who are not guaranteed access to a good meal over the weekend because of various home situations. These kids rely on school lunch during the week for food, but over the weekend, many of them may be on their own when it comes to having food to eat. The group I was helping packed bags of soup, vegetables, fruit, milk, cereal, and other food items that the kids could eat over the weekend. We started at 7pm and packed until 9pm at Higher Ground Baptist Church in Kingsport, TN. It was a very rewarding experience knowing that I had helped young kids who may not be able to help themselves.