Letter from OU

LSA Seniors,


First off there is no need to fear college in any way. There are so many people surrounding that are placed there to help support and cheer for you. If you take advantage of all the resources available there is no need to fear anything!! Of course that means you need to us office hours, advice from other students, advice from teachers, and place responsibility on yourself to focus on school. College is a lot about being responsible for yourself. You often have to be the one to first introduce yourself to your professors, you have to be the one to create study time, you have to be the getting yourself up for class.


Also in college you don't feel like you have to fall into certain college student stereotypes. Be yourself. Don't feel like you have to give in to peer pressure to feel like a "college student". Changing yourself to be accepted by others is never a good thing so don't think that by going to college you have to become someone different.


Also get involved. You meet so many awesome and different people when your step in to something new. So take advantage of the millions of things college campuses offer!!!!


ALL MY LOVE 


CAT

Bystander

 I have been a bystander and I have been afraid to step in and speak up.  I was walking back to the dorms and I saw a girl sitting on the bench. She seemed stressed and had her head in her hands and I just could tell she was having a bad day. I really wanted to sit down and talk with her and just give her someone to vent to, but I was of course afraid to approach her. I didn't want to intrude her on her space or freak her out.   Of course now I do regret not stepping. Who knows what was bothering that girl or what was wrong. I have placed the unnamed girl in my prayers and I hope that whatever was wrong has been set right.


College is scary. You don't want to do anything TOO embarrassing or make yourself look like a square. But being a bystander isn't cool at all. Not helping someone else isn't a cool thing, we should look out for each other. Naturally I am pretty outgoing and I do tend to "mother" a lot of people. And people do poke fun of being "mother-like", but if I stay a bystander then I am unable to help others or use my talents to help others. So I need to push aside any selfish fears of what others think and stand up and speak out and help others!!:)

Priorities

Before I came to OU sorting out my priorities was easy. I had a set schedule and everything I had to do was easy to plan for. My days were very scheduled. School then practices for cheer or dance or tennis then homework then dinner with my family then bible study or "chill time". But college has made it hard to prioritize things. The schedule is a little crazy and its been harder for me to find a set routine. For example, tonight I was going to from new member to chapter to writing this blog....BUUUUUUUUT tonight was Big/Little sooooo my priorities changed from writing my blog to getting my big! And then I went from taking pictures to having to another trip to the hospital. I has grabbing a branch a piece of the tree got logged in my hand and I now have a nice deep wound. So in college I have learned that priorities change quickly. My top three of course stay the same (1. Spending time with God and devoting each day to Him, 2. My family and doing whatever I need for them, and 3. Doing my best in school.), but in college I have added U-Sing, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and 10 billion other little things that need to get done each day. Prioritizing in college is different than high school I have to plan way more in to detail what I need to do or I will lose so much time.  My priorities have changed a little but I have to learn that I need to plan for new things to come up quickly and to constantly have room for my priorities to change.

Influence

In high school I had my family to influence me and I had my friends, friends I had know since I was a baby. I had people who I knew their influences would help me become a better person and would not lead me down the wrong path. My parents influenced me in how they raised me. I was lucky to have amazing friends who always influenced me to study more and get involved in school. I was also lucky to have older girls at my school that influenced my life so much in how they treated others. 


Of course I was worried coming to OU about what and who would influence me. I can't recall how many people I saw in high school get the wrong kind of influence and then change as a person. So I was worried that as I changed influences would it change me. 


Since I have come to OU my high school friends and my parents have less influence on my life. I am now being influenced by people I do not know as well. But I have been very blessed and I have been influenced by so many wonderful people. They have influenced me to stay focused on my school work, to get involved on campus, and to make sure I allow myself to relax every now and then. 


Although the people who influenced me have changed, how they influenced me has not. They all are influencing me to grow was a person and help me become a better person rather than becoming someone else.

Who are you?

My name is Catherine Hart. I'm a freshman at the University of Oklahoma, and I love it!!!! It is sort of weird living in Oklahoma, since it is a landlocked state and I have grown up around the water my whole life. Being from the coast I love to go fish, waterski, wakeboard, tub, swim, and just find random things to do at the bay or beach. Waterskiing is by far my favorite; I grew up going to a waterskiing camp on Lake McQueeney and I love going back to the lake. I am very open about my love for God and my faith and that Jesus Christ is my best friend!! I am kinda a health nut and I love to eat healthy food, although I do enjoy indulging in a sweet every now and then. My favorite type of food would have to be Greek food!! This summer I got to go to Greece and had the most amazing food while I was there. Traveling is one of my favorite things to do and I have been so blessed to be able to see and experience so many amazing things. I am AWFUL at math and science, but I do like english so that makes up for it I guess and I am majoring in Journalism so I only have to take one semester of math which makes me really happy!!!!! I am so excited that fall is almost here, I absolutely love fall weather and the whole season in general. So thats just a little bit of me!!!