Fearless. Flawless. Forgiven.

I have had the immense pleasure of attending and serving my church for the majority if my life. I sporadically have done elderly visitations, mission trips, food packing, and feeding the homeless. Two years ago I was the pre-school ministry intern and have continued to work with the youngest believers. However, this semester I took on a more permanent role in my service. On the first Sunday of the month, I simply attend BCCC. The second Sunday, I help lead worship in the praise band. Praise band is 4 hours of time once a month because it requires both services and two practices. The third Sunday, I assist in primary ministry which is 1st grade- 5th grade which accounts for 2 hours for both services. The fourth Sunday, I am in the two year old classroom for one hour teaching Sunday school, and if there is a fifth Sunday I am in the preschool ministry room.  I began these various roles in September 2016. To date I have completed 18 hours of community service by serving the church in the

The Reece Museum has been hosting the Fl3tcher Exhibit. I finally had the opportunity to go and I found an exhibit full of politically charged statements about guns, rights, and rapes. I was shocked by some of the pieces to the point where my mouth fell open. However, some were gorgeous and done beautifully.  I was allowed to take pictures and here are my thoughts and reflections about each piece that stood out to me.  This piece stood out to me because the artist was communicating how society is conditioned to feel safe because of gun ownership. I found this to be an interesting way to describe society's need to be aware of guns.  This was the piece where my mouth fell open in shock. The artist was trying to communicate that rape has a powerful impact. I thought this piece was very provocative but it got the authors point across! This piece was super elaborate. It had drills screwed into the pictures. The artist discussed how America is getting "Screwed" over

 East Tennessee State University has a strict no hazing policy. I attended this lecture do go more in depth into what hazing is so that I can protect myself and others. ETSU's hazing definition is an activity expected of someone joining a group or organization which humiliates, degrades, or risks emotional discomfort. ETSU takes hazing so seriously that, in the last 8 years, the only reason any organization has been removed from campus is because if hazing. How did hazing come about? It started in the 16th century with sailors because the torture of initiation took place on hazy days. People allow this behavior because they want to fit in. How far does hazing go? There are three types of hazing subtle, harassment, and violent. Subtle consists of things like silent periods, unusual clothing, and the use of names like "pledgie." Harassment is considered to be things like verbal abuse, forcing someone to be your personal assistant, and sleep deprivation. Violent is the most

Today I went to my very first Sigma Kappa Philanthropy event. Our chapter held a co-ed soccer tournament to raise money for one of our five philanthropies - Main Seacoast Mission. Our sorority was founded in Maine and thus it is held as one of Sigma Kappa's national Philanthropies. Maine Seacoast Mission provides community resources across the state of Maine. I had the opportunity to volunteer at the tournament and it was a blast. I cheered on the teams and spent time with my sisters. It was amazing to see the support of fellow Panhellenic members as well as other ETSU student organizations. During the games we sold snacks, and after the game I was responsible for helping to pick up trash. This event raised a lot of money for a very worth cause. It was great to be apart of my community today and know that others were being helped in the process. For Dr. Hedden: Community Service Hours: 5-6:30 pm  (1.5 hrs) 10/26/16

I have decided to name my mentor as  Charity Hensley-Pipkin because she is the most closely related to the work I have decided to do for my thesis (for now). My thesis will be on teacher perceptions of learning centers post-primary education. Basically, it is a really fancy wording for the question - why do teachers stop using learning centers after 2nd grade? Currently, I am writing my prospectus and the literature review is proving to be more challenging than I anticipated. I'm stressed about finishing it in time and with it being close to Halloween I'm kinda wishing I could cast a spell and make it be instantly finished. We will see what the week holds!

A few weekends ago, Dave Coulier came to ETSU to perform. My friend Kaycee and I got there early and actually got pretty decent seats. Unfortunately they would not let us photograph or video his performance what so ever, but I did manage to snag a selfie with Kaycee before the show. Of course Dave did his first set on his famous "cut it out" and the crowd roared. He next did a set on sex and marijuana which was a little bit of a culture shock considering I have always seen him as Uncle Joey from Full House. Dave's latter set was about a farting miracle which Kaycee and I found absolutely hysterical.  All in all, this comedy set was not what I expected but I certainly enjoyed my time there.

       I decided to attend the Native American Festival because I am 1/8 Cherokee Indian. In my family, we focus more on our ancestry coming over on the Titanic so I was hoping to gain some insight onto my heritage. Today I got a taste of Native American culture and crafts. There were Cherokee tribes, and Sioux tribe descendants there. I asked how long it took to make their crafts, and these were the results. TABLE 1: The Basket Weaver The basket weaving process takes 2-3 days to complete. First, they must cut down a small tree. After shaving it into long equal reeds, they must work quickly with the wood while it is still green in color. If they chose to stain it darker, they will dye the wood upon cutting it. After weaving the basket into a pattern, the wood must be left to dry. TABLE 2: The Dream Catcher The dream catcher is a tool used to keep away evil spirts and catch all bad dreams. Each one takes anywhere between 4-8 hours to make. TABLE 3: Jewelry N

The Billy Currington concert this last weekend was an absolute blast. He is one of my all time favorite country artists. I was so desperate to see the concert that when none of my friends wanted to go, I went to see "my man" by myself .  At first I was surrounded by tons of people I did not know and the humidity was making everyone drip with sweat. Just when I thought I was regretting my decision to go solo, I ended up bumping into an acquaintance and meeting a girl who is also a junior rushing this upcoming weekend. Those two were equally as excited to see Billy. During the concert, he played his classics like Turnip Greens, Must Be Doin' Something Right , and God is Great, Beer is Good, and People are Crazy . The crowd went absolutely insane  when he performed Garth Brooks' Low Places. The concert was overall hype and spectacular -So much so that my feet were numb from dancing in my boots so long. It was a long haul from the CPA back to Centennial so I took my sh

Just wanted to say that I got a noise complaint for singing [ Hillsong's Oceans ]  too loudly in the shower. #sorrynotsorry #ilovejesus

(Adapted from an essay I wrote on failure) I was that   girl. I grew up in church, made straight A's, and was a cheerleader for most of my life. Any club you can name, I attended it in high school. I had an amazing reputation and was so proud of the being the goodie two shoes, all-american girl. Then I went to UT. I met my first boyfriend, and long story short I started making some pretty bad decisions. I ended up alone, broken, and no longer feeling deserving of love- much less the love of my heavenly father. who would want this garbage?  For exactly 361 days, I wanted to die. My hands were trembling, and my breath was cold as it ran over my lips. I felt all alone on Henley Street Bridge, even though I could see the headlights and feel the rush of the cars behind me. I can recall countless nights that I had stayed up, sometimes 24 hours in a row, sobbing and begging God for death. I could not take the feeling that my insides were ripping apart anymore. I had lost myself in

I will admit that I have believed the stereotypes about "sorority girls." I always said I'd never be in one or join one because I'm not the "type". However, upon coming to ETSU's campus these women wearing some funky letters have been the most kind to me in my classes. While sitting next to some girls in my choir class, I started asking questions about sorority life. They encouraged me to come to the info meeting. I decided to go, because hey, I have to attend a club meeting for collo anyway. The meting opened my eyes to the academic and philanthropic side of sisterhood and by the time house tours came I was drinking every drop information the sisters would give me. Long story short, I signed up for recruitment this weekend. I am terrified because I am getting out of my comfort zone, but also thrilled to get to know these incredible women this weekend.

I am writing in this blog for my honors collo class. I will be documenting my experiences on campus as well as sharing my "story" along the way. Stay tuned folks!