ASU

I have been attached in some form to ASU for the past 5 years.
Today, the first positive thing happened to me in regards to that school...
I got a reply to an email (I sent 10 days ago) from Mathew Keller. The first line brought happiness to my life:

"I am pleased to inform you that your late fee appeal has been approved as a onetime courtesy, and future late fee appeals will not be considered."

The phrase "I am pleased to inform you" has not accompanied ASU in any of our interactions.

• Like when my shoe broke the first day of classes and I was walking around on one billion degree sidewalks. The blisters that were close to follow sure as heck didn't say " I am pleased to inform you that we will be here causing you major pain for the next month!"
• The dastardly substitute counselor that told me to take Portuguese 313 (when I really needed 316) didn't say "I am pleased to inform you that because I told you the wrong class to take, you now get to stay one more semester and pay us even more thousands of dollars!"
• When the price of campus health insurance changed they didn't send me an email saying "I am pleased to inform you that we have tripled the price! You can now pay over 900 dollars a semester to get the most restrictive health care on the planet!"
• My last required class that was out at the west campus didn't say "I'm pleased to inform you that you will have to drive over an hour each direction twice a week costing you even more in gas money!"
  

And the reason for the appeal in the first place...

• Instead of taking my co-pay when I went to the ASU chiropractor in May, they decided it would be better to bill me via my asu.edu email account. Seeing as I graduated, I have no need to check that account. Needing to send official transcripts ($15 each x 3) I logged into my asu account. To my surprise, there was a big fat red hold on my account and they wouldn't send out my transcripts. After calling 6 different numbers and getting transferred at least 4 times, I got to talk to someone who could tell me why I had a hold. I had a $3o fee for the Chiropractor and $45 of late fees. The voice on the other end of the phone definitely didn't say, "I am pleased to inform you that since we were morons and didn't mail you a bill until we had charged you $45 of late fees, you now get to pay $75 for one lousy chiropractic visit! :) "

I now have one positive memory to walk away with, from the great Arizona State University.

What's wrong with me... why am I applying for Grad School

I am applying for Graduate School and I had to write a statement of intent. It took me a long time and it was an eye opener for me. With that being said, I am going to share with you the statement I wrote.

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I could never understand the words astronaut, fireman, or ballerina when they were paired with the word passion. A fifth grade classmate, Miguel, had an endless supply of passion when it came to all things NASA. He dreamt it, breathed it, and endlessly talked about it. As my ten-year-old mind observed his exorbitant amount of passion, I wondered where I could find something to make me feel like that.

Needless to say, I have been on a quest to find the one thing I feel passionate about. I worked hard through high school so I would be sure and not pass up an opportunity to find my passion. Once high school got out, I thought I would have found what I was looking for but it didn’t exactly go how I had hoped. I continued working hard not to close any doors but it was a good thing I didn’t need to declare a major at the community college. I took the widest variety of classes you could think of and followed the Lord’s promptings when I made my schedule each semester, and I found a reoccurring pattern--communications. I took numerous communication classes and loved each one of them. It wasn’t anything that undeniably pronounced a future profession for me, but it was the first thing, since fifth grade, that I had loved.

Much to my chagrin, even though I found a passion, I continued to flounder around trying to narrow a passion into a career. In the middle of my floundering, I served a mission and thought for sure I’d come home with a firm path to follow. Alas, I still wasn’t sure how to narrow down communication, so I worked hard and took as many different emphasis classes as I could, everything from event planning to non-profit work. My senior year at Arizona State University, I decided to take the opportunity to do an internship. With the struggling economy, it was hard to find an appropriate career defining internship, so I decided to intern for Mesa United Way. It was an amazing experience to work with a non-profit and find joy in the service of others.
Consequently, I was able to find a full time job with a local non-profit, which is supported by Mesa United Way. For the last year, I have had the chance to work in the development department of a large local non-profit and by not working directly with clients, I have been able to see, hear, and report success stories, statements of impact, and even more importantly, the needs that are out there. I have seen hundreds of kids go through our community youth programs and recognized a need for able, competent, and understanding adults for the youth to look up to.

For two and a half years, I have been the Young Women’s president and that has given me a lot of experience working with adolescents. This age group has never ceased to amaze, frustrate, and engulf me with the love of Christ. With the opportunity to be surrounded by tomorrow’s adults, I have been blessed to find my passion. Working with, guiding, supporting, and being a mentor for adolescents makes me who I am and defines how I live my life.

For these reasons, I am pursuing the opportunity to further my education at Brigham Young University to become a psychologist for adolescents.

I plan to follow the suggested guidelines to finish the Clinical Psychology PhD program in 5 years. During which, I will specialize in working with adolescents. I will work hard, study, and dedicate myself to becoming the best Psychologist I can be. Once I have finished the program, I will be able to work with and support those in need. I will go to work everyday with a skip in my step because I have found my passion and am feeling that passion every day with each client.