Michelle’s Portfolio Thursday, Dec 11 2008

 

My sociology paper on the social norms of everyday life.  I made a 92!

I made a 98 on my chemistry exam.

A poem analysis paper for my English class.

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St. Katherine Drexel’s Dream Saturday, Nov 29 2008

Katherine Drexel was born in 1858, and at the suggestion of the Pope himself became a missionary worker.  She was an advocate for racial tolerance and dedicated her life and wealth to help the oppressed African Americans and Native Americans in the West and Southwest after taking a trip to the Western US.  On this trip she saw the high level of poverty among the Native Americans, and was inspired to help the less fortunate.  She went on to finance missions and school across the United States, one of them being Xavier University.  The University was founded in 1925 to advance the education levels of African Americans in Southern New Orleans.  Before passing away in 1955, St. Katherine Drexel was able to finance more than sixty missions and school in the United States.

Whether or not if St. Katherine would be happy with Xavier University today is subjective.  In certain ways I think she would be happy with the campus.  Xavier University is known for being a historically African American school, promoting high education to Blacks and advancing them to higher levels of rank in society, giving them a higher chance of success.  Xavier has been ranked number one in the nation, as a university with the highest percentage of placing African Americans into medical school. The university also promotes racial equality, a campus with a diverse background of Black, Asian, and some White students.  All in all, St. Katherine Drexel would be happy with the way Xavier University has turned out to be.

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Mardi Gras Thursday, Nov 6 2008

I first experienced Mardi Gras for the first time, five years ago when I first moved to Houma, Louisiana.  I had never heard of Mardi Gras when I lived in Houston, Texas, but after my first parade experience, I absolutely loved it and it became one of the advantages of moving.  For my family, Mardi Gras is a time for our big family crawfish boil and cookout.  One of my cousin lives right off the parade route; therefore, we all congregate at her house for every parade.  Although every Mardi Gras is fun for me, there was one year that really stands out in my memory.  One of the night parades had been cancelled because of rain, so it was rescheduled for Mardi Gras day.  In total, there were three parades that Tuesday.  Like most South Louisiana weather, it was ninety degrees out and there were no clouds to cover the sun’s rays with.  To make matters even better, the parade was backed up by a couple of hours.  So what use to be a three hour parade turned into a five hour long parade and being the stubborn kids that we were, we sat outside in the bright sun for the whole five hours.  By the end of the day, I had a nasty sunburn on my shoulders and arms but it was well worth it.  I can’t really explain why Mardi Gras is so enjoyable, it might be the whole process of yelling at people and having them throw beads at you or just getting to spend time with my family.

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Favorite Class at Xavier Friday, Oct 24 2008

Personally, I do not have any classes this semester that I look forward to going to when I wake up in the morning.  Considering that all my classes this semester are “core” classes and are not really considered “fun” classes in my eyes.  But although I don’t have a favorite class, I do have classes that I enjoy going to.  One of them being my Sociology class.  Before the first day of class, I wasn’t really looking forward to it because I was never really interested in why and how societies function and I heard that compared to Psychology, Sociology was a harder class.  But once I experienced the class first hand, I found out that it was really interesting.  I’ve learn that the little things we do is influenced by society, like choosing who we will get married too.  We all think that we are ultimately the ones who choose who we would spend the rest of our lives with, but Sociology has taught me that society chooses for us by narrowing down our choices for us.  For instance, whether we will marry a male or female, what race the person will be, and how big of an age gap is acceptable in our society.  We also read articles on subjects like the mentality of a rapist, the idea of eating human flesh, and the brutality of the police force.  Overall the class is just intriguing, it really captures your attention.  Plus, Dr. Hite is a great instructor.  She takes her time to explain the concepts to us and makes sure we understand them.

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Political Leader Monday, Oct 20 2008

In all honesty, I do not take much interest in politics.  Sure I have my opinions about this year’s presidential elections, but it’s primarily on the candidates personalities rather than their plans to help the United States.  Therefore, I have resulted in not voting in this year’s elections.  I would rather not vote instead of making an uneducated vote.  But although I am registered as a Republican, I would have to say that from what I have heard from family and friends and the little bits of the presidential debates I have heard about, I would be for Obama rather than McCain.  McCain strikes me as another President Bush, a narrow-minded white American (no offense), and honestly America can not take another President Bush.  Obama has the interests of the working class citizens in mind, while McCain would rather give tax breaks to big businesses that have way more money than they need.  Coming from a family that relies on just my mother’s income, Obama’s plan for tax-breaks for families who’s incomes are less than a quarter of a million a year would benefit my family.  Compared to McCain’s plan to give tax breaks to big businesses, which would in turn raise taxes for small businesses.  Obama also wants to add more funding to education and fight the drop-out rate.  To me, Obama sounds like the better political leader and would help our nation.  He is a new face, a new mind, and all together a new kind of personality.  He would definitely benefit the nation, in my opinion.

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Advantages & Disadvantages of Poverty in New Orleans Monday, Oct 20 2008

I don’t know if you would actually consider poverty as a benefit to New Orleans, but it has definitely helped in preserving the eclecticculture that we have here.  Poverty has slowed down the city’s progression to a much more advance level, which helped to keep change at a minimum.  Traditions, such as jazz funerals, are still taking place every day.  Our deep roots have also helped to create musical genres, such as rhythm and blues, and yummy cajun food.  But today, there are more disadvantages of poverty in New Orleans rather than advantages.  If you go to a different city and mention New Orleans, the first thing people think of is the crime rates and violence, well at the first thing after Mardi Gras.  But the crime rates are ridiculously high in this city.  Every weekend, before I drive back to school, my parents will warn me to be careful and don’t go anywhere by myself.  My older cousin, Sean, has also made me invest in some pepper spray for my own safety.  Because of our poverty, the lower-class citizens of New Orleans are not all upstanding people.  During Hurricane Katrina, the people who were housed in various cities left bad impressions of the city, making people think all New Orleanians were violent and rude.  The public school systems are also suffering from our state of poverty.  When I moved from Houston a few years back to Houma, I had to repeat a whole year of classes because the system was so behind.  Although we may not be the state with the lowest ranking educational system, we are close to it.  New Orleans would definitely improve if our state of poverty also increases, but that would come with a lot of loss of what makes the culture so intriguing.

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Xavier’s Mission Statement and My Future Thursday, Sep 25 2008

Xavier’s Mission Statement simply says that the University’s goal is to promote a more just and humane society by educating their students to assume roles of leadership and service in society. Through Xavier’s education program I am hoping to graduate with a Pharmacy degree in, hopefully six years. My personal goal after college is to work my way up to one day manage a chain pharmacy, or maybe even have a pharmacy to call my own in the distant future. The mission statement suggests that the University will do whatever they can to help their students reach their goals, which I have already witnessed in many ways. First, in this Freshman class which is designed to help first time college students adjust and become familiar with the college lifestyle. But also, to help us connect with a specific faculty member that can help us in anyway they can. Second, with the Chemistry department which created a course system that requires their students to meet with an advisor once a week to monitor the student’s grades. Which in turn will help me stay aware of how I am doing academically and what classes I would need to improve on, instead of worrying about raising my grades at the end of the semester when it’s too late. As for leadership and service, the University offers a variety of clubs and organizations that students are able to join to help develop the skill. Overall, Xavier offers me a varity of choices to help me obtain my goal to become a successful pharmacist in the future.

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Congratulations, You’ve Been Accepted to Xavier University Sunday, Sep 21 2008

Xavier University, the “prison” I chose to come to for at least the next four years, six if I make it into the College of Pharmacy. Although school has always seem like a prison to me, I couldn’t be happier that I was accepted to Xavier. Despite all the advice I got from my peers about “putting all my eggs in one basket,” Xavier was the only college I applied to and was beyond relieved that I was accepted.

Xavier was always my number one college choice since I decided to major in pharmacy, but my decision was reinforced by my friends who had already started at Xavier. I heard nothing but good things about the college: the helpful teachers, the friendly student body, the environment in general. The only downside I have experienced were the high number of potholes my car has already battled with and the limited number of parking. Oh, and having to walk from the Science Complex to Xavier South in ten minutes.

My parents were also a big factor in choosing colleges. My dad was diagnosed with Hepatitis C a few years back and his health fluctuates from day to day, so its good that Houma is only an hour away. I can drive home if I was needed, or if I just really missed my mom’s home-cooked Vietnamese food.

But the biggest choice for me to choose Xavier was just my own preference. It wasn’t the fact that most of my cousins live up here so I still have family, although that was a plus. I had never really pictured myself going anywhere but Xavier. Well I did dream about going to Yale but I’m a big procrastinator and never got around to actually working towards that goal, but Xavier was right next to Yale on my list of colleges.

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