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!