Defining Who You Are

In today's society we are defined by our activities. For example, there is Amy the Ambassador, Stevie the dancer and Kae the D-Hall worker. I am the new assistant news editor for the newspaper, and the purpose of this column is to introduce myself to you. It would be easy for me to list all the things I do. I write for the newspaper, I am involved in a small group through Intervarsity and I work with Amnesty International. Sharing my activities can give you an idea of what kind of person I am, but you still don't really know me.

So now that I have explained that you can't really know me just by my activities, I should probably figure out a way to tell you who I am. How I do that? Do I list adjectives that I think describe me? Do I just repeat the generic comments on the bottom of my report card, such as a pleasure to have in class? Do I ask my roommate to choose the word that best describes me? (She chose nurturing, by the way.)

That is still not working for me. Let's start with the basics. I live in Loudoun County, which is about 40 minutes from Washington, D.C. I was very involved in my high school. I like to stay busy. I also volunteered outside of school, at a hospital and a senior citizen center. I was a Girl Scout all the way until my graduation. I got my Gold Award, which is the highest award you can get in Girl Scouts. I was pretty psyched about it.

I have an older brother who is a senior at JMU. He and I are close, and sometimes I wish I were at JMU with him. JMU was my dream school in high school, and I was devastated when I didn't get in. My first couples of months at Longwood were rough, and I had seriously considered transferring out. I made some really good friends and got more involved on campus, but it was actually the newspaper that kept me here. I love all the opportunities I have on the paper and the Rotunda staff is awesome. There is no way I could leave now.

I am shy when you first get to know me. If I am not very talkative or open, it's only because I am nervous. I don't like to do things for the first time, especially on my own. Going to a class at the beginning of the semester without a friend is awful. The first day of babysitting for a new family is not too much fun either. When I first became assistant news editor, I made sure to go to my first editor's meeting with the news editor Laura Beth, so I wouldn't be going in alone.

Once I warm up to the situation I am pretty outgoing. I'm kind of crazy and energetic. If I know you, chances are I will say hello to you every time I see you; that's just the way I am. I love to be around people, and I love to talk. That makes me sound like a chatterbox. Let's just say that I love to engage in conversations. Sounds kind of weird, but it gets the idea across. What else? I like school a lot. I'm not the best student, but I like to learn.

I'm not really into sports. I go to the games here and I like to play soccer, but other than that I am not big on sports. I was a dancer in high school and did drama, but I am not really involved in that any more either. I love to write (clearly, I'm on the paper), and English is usually my favorite class.

At the beginning of this semester I changed my major to communication studies with a mass media concentration. I would love to teach in a high school one day, but I'm not sure yet if I am going to go straight into teaching. I also don't know what I will do if I don't go straight into teaching. I'm not too worried about that yet. I'm just trying to get through my first year of college!