Born in Lexington, I was destined to always be a Kentucky girl. I grew up with a love for animals and a strong compassion for others. In the later years of my childhood, I became involved with volleyball. Before long it was my life. And it still is. Currently I play volleyball at the University of Pikeville. Here I also study elementary education. While pursuing my bachelors degree in education, I spend my free time hanging out with my friends, and I enjoy going home on occasion. There's nothing more relaxing than waking up on a Saturday morning to your mother waiting on you in the kitchen with a fresh pot of coffee, snuggling up to your dogs on your couch, and watching four consecutive episodes of "Dexter". Sundays at home are by far my favorite though. Sunday means church at eleven o'clock a.m. It means smiles galore, it means warm hugs from countless people whom you look up to and love with all of your heart. It means soaking in every syllable of Pastor Chuck's service, and pouring my heart out and leaving it exposed for God to transform. Sunday morning means singing, dancing, shouting, and praising. Jesus is truly the center of my life and I love every second of it, trying my best to not take a moment for granted. He's blessed me with an angel for a mother, a protecter for a father, and a demon for a little sister. Lol. All joking aside, I love my sister more than words can express. There's just something about sixteen and hormonal that screams demon to me. To some that may seem slightly drastic, but until you have lived under the same roof as one, or held a battle of wits over stealing makeup and shoes, then you will never fully understand. I have a wonderful boyfriend of almost four years; he's my high school sweetheart. Kelly is also an undergraduate student here at the University of Pikeville. He is majoring in biology, plans to pursue med school and one day become a doctor of osteopathic medicine. He's a golfer here in Pikeville. Dreams in sight and slowly climbing upwards towards a career, a family and life together, we are happier than ever.
Currently I am making big changes in my life that I thought wouldn't be taking place for another good long way down the road. Friday I am putting down the deposit for my new house. My best friend and suitemate here at the university, Taylor and I have decided to move in together and get away from living on campus. One year of fun has been enough for me, and now that I know I'm ready to take on that kind of responsibility, we're doing it. Another change I am having to make in my life a little sooner than planned, is ending my volleyball career for good. I knew it was going to come eventually, I just didn't know it would come so soon. I'd be lying if I said I was upset about it though. Sure I love volleyball, but I can't play volleyball when I'm thirty years old. It's time to focus on my education, dive head-first into my career and my future.
Technology seems to have taken over our generation as a whole, and I didn't realize it until recently my phone broke and I was without one for a few days. Oh the terror.
Anyway, I've grown up in a technology-type generation and society. Starting in about the second grade I was taking classes and learning about computers and how to use them. We had typing classes, and classes later on in about the fourth or fifth grade that taught us how to properly use the internet and software such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, and Microsoft Excel. These are three things I can say that I'm exceptionally well at using. Now that I am in college I basically use these tools exclusively for homework and class projects; to type research papers. do spreadsheets, and to create a powerpoint for class presentations. My entire life all the way up until my college years, I have always used computers that support Windows. Since I have gotten to school, I've had my fair share of experience trying to wrestle with these terrible Apple computers. It's safe to say that I prefer laptops and desktops that support windows.
As far as cell phones go, I have not always had an iPhone, but after I acquired one in my sophomore years of high school, I have been attached ever since. My very first cell phone was a shiny, pink Motorola Razor. That was in the seventh grade. In the eighth grade I had a Pantech Matrix. I thought there was no phone that could ever compare when I first got that thing. You could slide the phone up one way and it would have a standard touch tone keypad with numbers, and then you could turn the cell phone to the side and slide it upwards and it had a QWERTY keyboard. Coolest little thing ever. Then I got my first touch-screen phone; a samsung. And then I got my first iPhone, and from that day my cellphones have just been evolving to newer and newer generations of the iPhone.
When I first began typing my "research papers," in probably about the fifth or sixth grade, my teachers had never really had any kind of specific or strict guidelines to where our information was coming from. So I of course would google every little bit of information I was looking for to piece together my paper, and the search results would come up for wikipedia and I found it to be a very effective and plentiful resource. Several years later on into middle school and the rest of my high school career, my teachers were very against the usage of Wikipedia, as they viewed it as an inaccurate and untrustworthy source of information. I always used wikipedia for my high school research papers whether my teachers liked it (or knew about it) or not. Once I got to college, my first professor of English, Dr. Lynn Hamilton introduced my class to a book she had written on the topic. The book actually revealed the credibility of Wikipedia and most of the pages you can find on the website. She showed us great examples of what to look for in a credible page and how to decide if something isn't accurate or trustworthy. Ever since Dr. Hamilton opened this possibility back up to me, it's also opened up a lot of doors and possibilities to my writing and researching for whatever the reason. I have found it to be not only safe, but a great tool to aid in researching and writing.
