There are several things I think what if I never did this that were truly life-changing that will be fleshed out in the next several blogs. This one is a what if I never went to Boise State which has far reaching ideas other than just education (though that is one thing that would be affected) so what if I never went to Boise State my life would be drastically different for 6 reasons:
1) leadership: one of the things I started doing with Boise State was service learning and mentoring in my first couple of years there. I ended up becoming the Michael Jordan of service learning and built a strong rapport that lasted from my first to my last semester and the mentoring kick started a vast leadership empire that traversed at least 90 different things as I did leadership every semester after that and my leadership empire is still growing. So my activism that started when I was public speaking grew into a full force through college and then became what I want to do for a career. And with that early introduction missing that would possibly be a void
2) social: I would still have social capital but not nearly as vast the majority of my friends who I don't know from church and activism and Special Olympics I know from campus. If I had never gone to Boise State I don't know where I would be honestly. I would either be dead, super depressed, or living life elsewhere not having the arena of opportunities I do. The majority of my best friends I met at Boise State other than some of them in the disability community and yes I feel like I would've still made friends but given how close I became to people at Boise State it would be dramatically different
3) education: some of the best and worst teachers I have ever had taught at Boise State. I wouldn't know nearly as much if I hadn't gone there, with my photographic memory I can still have anecdotal evidence from classes I took years ago, I wouldn't have had as much knowledge, as much fortuitous attitude, as much ideology of what good education looks like, or as vast education. I had an all around education and ended up with almost maxed out credits but it was done well.
4) internships: I have a couple of jobs offers because of internships and volunteering if I hadn't had the internships with Special Olympics, Self-Advocacy Leadership Network, or the Volunteer Services Board I wouldn't have had as much knowledge of stuff and how nonprofits work which might have addressed deficits professionally. I am in a few internships now however since they are not for credit I can address them on my own terms and since I had to pack in 135 hours in 13 weeks in the summer internships and 150 hours in 16 weeks in the Fall one I was learning a lot of training and packing in a great amount of learning curve and professional knowledge
5) time management: my time management is getting better because it had to. in college I was doing multiple organizations, multiple leaderships things, hanging with numerous friends on a regular basis, reading a lot of books, doing work of some sort, doing volunteering, socializing, and just trying to be a human being and have family time and church leadership pretty much every semester. as my time with Boise State was coming to a close I took my last semester as a mostly professional semester and also continued to create a lesson or two in how to deal with time management well. Now a lot of my free time is traversing YouTube videos, working out, writing, and overall things I truly enjoy like activism and I have more of it. In college I was doing things I liked the most and letting everything go that I didn't because that's what I needed to do. That's life.
6) connections: I have made connections not just socially but also professionally on campus that will last a lifetime (and I feel justified in saying that). I have made great connections with lots of people who work on campus that continue to amaze me with solid interactions every time I see them and continue to recognize me even when it has been a while since they have seen me. Even today seeing someone who did academic coaching with me at the rally made me smile that she remembered me. There have been lots of other people she has worked with but it has been a year since graduation I look different and I am more professional looking in my hair and she was still able to remember me. That's priceless.
So that's my blog on Boise State and what would be different. Stay tuned for my next blog in a couple of weeks what if I had decided to stick with residential habilitation what would've happened
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