A New Legend

When I was younger, I always had a thing for music. I was put in the children's choir at church when I was little and had been in the choirs at the church ever since. My dad was into all types of rock music and played it all the time in the house. My mom was into the blues, and played it as much as my dad played his music. We were all very music oriented. So I thought, why not do music all the time? I had realized how much I actually loved music and how it had become a pretty big part of my life.

I continued to sing in choirs in my elementary and middle school. I had solfege and sight reading beaten into me, so I carried it along with me as well (after some time, I realized how amazing it was to have these skills before I got here). I became part of the high school choir in my freshman year of high school. These people were like a second family to me. They were a very important part of my life and continued to make my love for music grow stronger and stronger. During my senior year of high school, my father fell ill and was placed into surgery to fix up some of the valves on his heart. As dangerous as that procedure was, he came out of surgery a little beaten up, but definitely okay enough to come home. It worsened over time and I started to become a bit worried.

While my dad would sit there sick, I played him songs from the guitar that he bought me the Christmas before the surgery. It would usually put him to sleep, but I didn't really complain. Personally, he needed the rest and whatever made him feel better was the best option. So I sat there around every night and played him a song so that he could go to bed (he already had plenty of issues sleeping before the surgery). But in the middle of the night, he couldn't gather enough strength to keep going. I woke up from his fall and I ran out there beside my mother to help him. We tried and tried, but it didn't really work... We grieved for some time and tried to continue our lives. It was hard work, especially since I was about to head off to college. After all of this happening, I realized that I wanted to use my music to help people like my father. Sad story short, I decided that I was going to study and train to become a music therapist.

A new year begins.
A girl with no clue continues on.
Past events hurt her continuously.
It seems like all hope was gone.
But as time flew by, a new want is created.
A want to continue her dream.
A dream her father encouraged.
Threads of his heart controlled the seams.
She went to Converse with tough times ahead.
A dreadful first week of constant auditions.
She prayed to her father for him to watch her.
With his guidance, she became a musician.
She began her classes and studied hard,
Her heart guiding her to her goal.
Though there were plenty of things that blocked her path,
She simply paid the toll.
The girl began to feel homesick,
Missing her mother and sister the same,
Almost letting her grades falter,
And she was definitely the one to blame.
But she noticed the friends at her side,
Who helped her out every day.
So why should she be so sad,
And take everything the hard way?
She bucked up and carried on,
Her first year definitely tough.
And there’s still more for her to experience,
Even if she’s had enough.
So even tough times can tear a girl apart,
And grades can help the stress.
But this one girl can certainly say,
That her first year will be her best.

 I hope that in the future years of being here at Converse that I become the music therapist that I wish to be. I will study hard for all of my classes and try my best to prove that I really am worthy of that position. I want to become Board-Certified and help those in need of special treatment. With my dad by my side, as well as my family and my boyfriend, soon to be husband at some point, I will achieve my goals and become the person I truly want to be.

Converse Traditions

I have began to realize that every where I turned, there was a new Converse tradition that I had no clue about. They all seemed pretty cool and I had slowly started planning certain things that I could do. For example, I asked my CA if we could do something like a Halloween Party on our hall. Now, I know that's not a exact "tradition" that you would usually see, but it COULD be pretty close. But then I started to realize that there was so much stuff to do for the other holidays and seasons, but not enough for Halloween. (As a small side note, Halloween is my favorite holidays of all time)

Seeing as we have a dance for 1889 Week and before Winter Break, why couldn't we start up a Halloween dance? It would basically resemble a normal dance. Instead of getting all dressed up like you were going to some sort of wedding reception, you would dress up in your Halloween costumes! There would be typical fall activities to do like pumpkin carving and bobbing for apples... And there would be Halloween themed treats to snack on while you were out having a blast! At the very end of the dance, a few people would be picked out of the bunch with certain titles. Titles like "the scariest costume" or "the prettiest costume." These girls would get prizes for working hard on getting these titles. After the competition, everyone would dance a little more and go home!

As short as that paragraph seemed, I did have a couple more ideas to talk about. But these ideas aren't necessarily solid and don't really pertain to the main idea. They can be included though. Some girls could dress up as guys like a prank and come in to parade around (sort of like I Felta Thigh :D), making a big commotion. It would all be out of fun though. Nothing to terrible to scare people off like Full Moon (yuck). Speaking of which, Converse needs a tradition of getting some smart people together and finding out who does the Full Moon pranks. Sure, it ruins Full Moon, but at least it'll stop the inconvenient pranks for some time. Sorry about that, I wasn't too happy to find out about the morning psych class and the alarm that went off, destroying their time to prepare for the test.

I actually feel like making the Halloween dance a tradition on campus for next year. So if anyone wants to help out with my idea, we can try and see if we can get it done! I think it's a really cool idea and it'd be fun to start. :)

To understand the future, we have to go back in time~

As true as the title is, I'm going to be sticking to talking about the future. I don't want to make this blog too long! I might kill the internet with my long stories... :)

This dream is going to come into parts. Otherwise, everything in the dream would fall out of line and wouldn't look to great to look forward to. First off, the most important thing to place on the table would be my dream job. I plan on working hard in all of my classes in the next four years of college. With the effort put into the work in school, I'll be able to get an internship in a hospital or any other clinical environment that will hire me. The internship will lead to Board-Certification and then my own job. The occupation ALWAYS comes first, and here are the reasons why. Jobs can give you the financial aid to support yourself later in life, like when it comes to owning a house, paying bills, etc.

After the job is at a solid state, that's when buying a home comes into play. This is the second part of the dream. The money that I earn will be put into buying a house for my future husband and I to live in for a good amount of our lives. I want to be able to have my house, with my own responsibility for something that is mine. I never grew up with the ability to be responsible, since my mother was very controlling over what was done in the house. I will say that it was great that she did what she did! If she hadn't, then I would have never wanted the responsibility as much as I want it now. And so I thank her!

Now that the job and the house are finalizing the structure of this perfect dream, the last thing to do is throw the icing on the cake! And here comes the family! Yes, when I have the perfect dream job and the perfect house, I want to be able to have the perfect family. And of course it's going to be perfect. I don't know how many kids I'll have. All I know is that I will love my family, my home, my job, and myself for making sure that everything was planned out beforehand.

I plan on spending this dream life with my significant other, De'Vin White. He will be my husband, and I definitely don't doubt this. As of today, when I post this tonight, this will be our eleventh month anniversary. The joy of his love has encouraged me to work hard at what I want, just so that I would be able to be with him for the rest of my life. Cheesy, right? Hopefully the marriage will take place after school. I don't plan on getting married during my college years. It's to avoid being distracted and way more stressed than I need to be.

Geographically speaking, I'm not sure where I might be. It doesn't really matter where I might live. All I know is that it is going to be with him. Well... Maybe as long as it is not here in South Carolina... It has been too long and I just need to get away. Possibly somewhere cold and up north, to be close to my family members and to let him love the cold like he does. :)

Troubles I could cross with all of this? Hmm... I think that grades would be one thing. But then again, I don't plan on failing anytime soon. With that circling through my brain now, maybe it would be a good idea to study ten times as hard as I do now. Just to make sure. Also, finding a house is a big issue as well... It takes time and patience. I have plenty of time, but I'm dwindling with patience most of the time. I have to not get stressed over not getting my dream home. I just need to be able to find a stable place for living and not worry about it being absolutely perfect.

Other than the things I've stated before, this is what makes up my dream life and how it's going to be carried out. I'm not giving up on it. This is what I've always dreamed of, and I'm going to keep on trucking until I reach the very end of my list! <3

A word to the wise~

Dear Littles,

This is your first year of college and it all seems like it is going to be really tough... True fact: It is going to be hard! But you see, the good thing about this is that it is going to make you a stronger person for it. I'll give you an example to show you that it is not as bad as I am making it seems. In my very first week of school here at Converse, I did not belong to the Petrie School of Music. I ran around trying to arrange a time that I could do my audition for the school and get everything straightened out. With enough perseverance, I had gotten a solid time for my audition. I took my entire night to studying one last time before I had went of to do my audition the next day during orientation. Luckily enough, I had passed the audition with flying colors! Or so I heard. After I had been accepted into the school, the last audition was for the music therapy program. Of course, I practiced this one as well. Dr. York loved my piece that I played and congratulated me on my passing! Now, with everything done and finished, all that was left to get done was fixing my entire schedule. I spent every day figuring out the codes for each class that I needed to fulfill my hours needed as a music therapy major for the semester. In one day, I got the schedule fixed and ready to go! But then something bad happen... I did get everything fixed properly. But I misplaced one of my classes in the same space as another class! I rushed around campus to get it fixed as quickly as possible before the day came to where I had to take the class. Thankfully, the schedule was corrected and I had EVERYTHING ready for my classes the next day. What I'm trying to tell you all is that you will have plenty of hard times to go through. Whether it be suffering from being home sick, not expecting the college life you dreamed of, or simple things like a messed up schedule... Whatever life throws at you, you have to be ready for it. Every woman has that strong sense inside of her, and you'll need it once you get into college. Don't let the tough discourage you from what you want to have accomplished. Don't let your fears get the best of you (otherwise known as "suffering from peer pressure"). Anything that happens, be strong and fight for what you want done. I hope that I had given you a good enough example to show you that tough times can be brushed away with a lot of perseverance. And to all of my littles, good luck for your first year of college.

Sincerely,

Caitlin Skrivan

My Time Managing

Time management can be a big issue for different people due to the different backgrounds they have and the different things that they do. Some time can be conflicted by too many activities happening at once. In other cases, some activities can be taking up too much time and stands in the way of letting you complete other things that need to be done.

Video games are a big time management problem to me. The games are fun and exciting, horrid and gruesome, but with them being so much fun, it's harder to complete things like homework and projects. The entertainment from the games allow me to enter into this state in which I call my "sanctuary," where I get into a game incredibly too much and never want to stop playing. This can lead me to play the same game for around ten hours, if given that much time. The problem is, sometimes I have homework that I have to get done first. I really don't want to do the homework. I usually want to play the game first. So I play, and then I never get it done.

From these learning experiences, I figured that to fix this problem I would set up a certain plan for me to be able to do my homework and to enjoy my video games all in the same day. Obviously, the homework would have to come firsts. The more important tasks should be done first so that I can actually use the time left for free time in which I could do whatever I want. In this case, that thing would be video games. I could use the rest of my time to enjoy my "sanctuary" and then eventually sleep.

My advice to others, and I'm telling this to myself as well, make a chart every other week that lists out the activities you have lined up for those weeks. You want to make sure you have time for everything. Let's say you have a project due on Friday, but today is only Monday. You want to procrastinate and do other things instead of doing this project. The smart thing to do is plan out the time you are going to work on the project periodically. Once you have these times, you can fit in the free things you want to do after you work on the project.

A good example of what not to do when you have something important due that needs to be done... Try to get home at a reasonable time after the movies so that you can actually do the blog that's do! My smart word of advice has been given to you to reflect on. Don't do what I did.

Why College?

For the very first blog of my student success seminar, I am to answer some questions that have been listed for me to answer. Don't worry! It shouldn't take too long, or at least I hope that it doesn't end up being long. I type a lot!

Why did I decide to come to college?
Well, yeah it's not cheap what-so-ever. I came to college so that I can expand my learning abilities and have myself ready to be able to financially support my future family. Not only do I want to be financially ready, I want to be mentally ready for life itself. College is like a giant door that not many people like to open in their lifetimes. The door looks scary and often forbidden to others. But for some, the door symbolizes an adventure and brings them to many different places and surroundings. There's nothing to be afraid of!
Another reason is because I want to finally get the classes I need to become a Board Certified music therapist. That way, when I'm done with my classes and done with my internship (all before taking the exam!), I can help others in clinical institutions and use my love of music to bring others into the light. So they don't have to be depressed anymore, or placed differently from one another... The music shall bring us all together as one and we'll all express it through this wonderful therapeutic form.

So, why Converse?
I learned about the school through Elsie Maechtle... I honestly didn't even know what Converse was until she showed me and told me about it. I said to myself, "that looks like a pretty interesting school. And it's all girls?" Then, she and my choir director, Don Kirkindoll, told me about the wonderful music therapy program that it offered. I jumped on it immediately! I was looking for a school with a great program, and there it was! I could barely believe it. So, when I got the acceptance letter, I almost died from happiness. I didn't even think I was going to be accepted!

Why pick music?
I absolutely adore music in a very passionate way. Music is my entire life. And, as I see it, the world could have never survived without music. What person hates music? I'm not a well known scientist or world philosopher or anything, but I'm pretty sure no one in the world hated music. Music is a part of life, whether you see it or not. The rhythm in our walk, the tempo at which we talk, and music itself as our all time pleasure. Again, there's no possible way.
I've been learning music for over a decade now and it has brought itself to me and stuck to me like cement. I've been in over five different choirs, two musicals and plenty of small choir groups with my musically talented friends on the side (we'd go sing to old people and random strangers in the mall, it was fun!). I also have sang from many different ranges, including Soprano 1, Soprano 2, Alto 1, Alto 2 and even Tenor.
Music influences me and my life's challenges. Without it, I wouldn't be Caitlin Joy Skrivan anymore. Now, with music being a very important part of my own life, I thought it was even more amazing on how it effected others. It was joyous to see that something so simple could help someone with behavior issues, mental health problems and even disabilities. I'm a very big "got-to-help-everyone" person. I'm the first one to shout out, "do you need help?" or "anything you want me to do?" And seeing as I was such a helpful person at heart (couldn't help it), I decided that I could use this music to help those other people who need it most. (Sorry, this one's going to be long...)
When I was very young, I was diagnosed with acid reflux. It's pretty common now among children who didn't eat the correct foods and let it all eat away at their stomach, but I had a pretty bad case of it. Being sick constantly, I stayed home with my grandmother almost every other week. She would play me Disney movies every time. I love Disney movies, and the way the people sing in the songs got me feeling better in no time. It took about two years of constant movies and quick fixing of diets to bring me back to normal. As I got older, I thought to myself, "maybe it wasn't just the dieting?" I concluded that the songs that brought me happiness and joy, even while I was terribly sick, brought me back to health without me really knowing. It aided me in my terrible times and I was fixed.
My dad was also a big influence on me. He "technically" wasn't musically talented, but he could play a mean banjo and an awesome harmonica. My dad and I were big rock and roll fans. He loved playing me random songs and having me list them out by heart. I was never really good at it back then, but we had fun. I would play Guitar Hero all the time on the Playstation and he would come and watch me like it was my own little concert. He told me to never give up on what I was good at. Music was what was meant to be with me, and that one day I'd be my own rock star and I'd have lots of fans. That, and I could buy him a new home to be taken care in. He was a silly father, I'll tell you. Some time during my senior year of high school, my father began to have surgery on his heart. It was a pretty big deal, but we knew he'd be okay. Through the next two weeks, my father began suffering severe pain from the surgery. He looked terrible... I would sit by him at night and made sure he fell asleep fine before worrying about my sleep or school in general. I would sing songs to him and show him cool things that I thought would make him better. He seemed completely fine. On Thanksgiving, my father passed away due to an aneurysm located on one of the blood vessels close to his heart. This struck me terribly and I really didn't know what to do. My father and I were so close, but now he was gone. What was I going to do? Never give up. I pursued music as a major and have the desire to become a music therapist, so I can help those like him never feel pain and to bring them along to something better than what my father ended up with. I'm doing this for him, and myself, so that I could do something good and leave a mark on the world saying that I was someone important.

What sort of muppet would I be and would I play the banjo?
Hmm... A muppet, you say? I would be very loud and obnoxious, always in other peoples business and talking the most. I would want to have fun all of the time, and bug the people who didn't want to join in on the fun that I was having by myself. I'd also be a bit crazy. Who isn't? I would love the play the banjo just like my dad. He was way better than me, but I'd do my best to play that darn banjo.

And so, now you know the answers to all the questions~
Tune in to read up on more questions that I'll answer along the way!