Often times it is difficult to integrate into something new whether that be making the transition from high school to college or moving to a new neighborhood, and it can often times be very helpful to have someone assist you in that transition. This is essentially the driving idea behind Freshmen Seminar, and although the intentions behind Freshmen seminar seemed to be good, the program itself was very hit and miss. On one end when it came to choosing classes and building a schedule for next semester, I personally found Fro to be very helpful when it came to assisting me in helping decide what classes to take and without it I would just be lost. On the other hand, when it came to community building, i felt like fro missed the mark. I am not saying that there isn’t any sense of community whatsoever; quite the contrary- having most of our classes, such as Fro, together and being placed into an LC did help to foster a sense of community to the extent that friendships were made and at the very least we all know, or should know, each others names. What I am saying, however, is that some of the projects such as working together on blogs and doing community service seemed to miss the mark when it came to team building. For the blogs, in theory, we should have worked together to accomplish a common goal but in practice, from my experience at least, we just worked separately on the blogs 30 minutes before the  class they were do. Also, the community service- and this isn’t a complaint to having to do community service by any means (i do believe in giving back to the community)- seemed to miss the mark of building us as a community. The entire LC didn’t work on the same project and we only had to do it once;if anything, the community service was good in the sense that we were able to give back  but ultimately failed because not everyone was in collaboration and was for such a short period of time that it seems forgettable.

When i think of the term “leadership” certain phrases come to mind- loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage. When i think of the term “leadership”, i think of great military generals such as George Washington who were able to not only lead a group to achieve a certain goal but through their dedication were able to exceed their own limits and push their subordinates to do the same. When i think of the term “leadership,” i think of powerful organizations such as the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force. When i think of the term “leadership,” I most certainly do not think of that workshop we went to! The “leadership” workshop, if it can even be called that, seemed to be nothing more then a diluted club fair. The main speaker seemed to be way to jittery and to a certain extent nervous and almost no one seemed to be paying attention. To be perfectly honest, that “leadership” workshop needed better leadership. But i did take something away from the workshop. When the student leaders spoke to us and told us their stories it pushed me more towards joining a club. I had been on the edge of joining a club for quite some time now but listening to the leaders did convince me more to perhaps join one in the next semester. Besides that, the leadership workshop really didn’t have any other significant impact on me.

I was born in Ukraine and although I came to the states when I was 5 and only went back to Ukraine on vacation twice, i’m still proud of my Ukrainian heritage and try to keep it close to me.

Family is also something that is extremely important to me because no matter how much we might fight or bicker, I always know that i can count on my family and they can count on me in any situation.

Friends, not just acquaintances but true friends, are just as important to me as family is and i know that i can count on my true friends in even the worst of situations.

Music also plays a big role in my life. Whether it’s Pandora playing in the background while i study or my IPod playing on a long train ride, you’ll almost always see me listening to some sort of music.

What started off as a hobby to kill some  time after school has now become something that i do at least once every week. Whether it be playing pick-up games at the local court, playing in a team-based tournament, or just shooting alone to help clear my mind, I’m on a court as often as possible and the game has become one of my personal favorite sport.

I’ve spent a couple months of my life living in California and although i don’t live on the West Coast anymore, some of the hobbies i picked-up there have definitely  stuck with me. Perhaps one of the biggest ones is longboarding. sometimes it’ll take the form of a big down-hill race and sometimes it’ll take the form of me just cruising to the park, but whatever the form, longbarding has become something that i take great pleasure in doing.

Paintball and Airsoft have also become hobbies of mine. Although i don’t play now as much as i used to, the few times a year that I do manage to make it out to Skirmish or other fields are always some of the best times of my life.

Handball has also become a fairly big hobby of mine and currently i’m working on becoming  a ranked B player.