For my Passion Blog, I am going to continue what I worked on last semester: the Entertainment and Media industry. As this site is named “Entertainment Circle” I really have no other choice but more importantly I am really passionate about my topic and am excited to continue its existence.

For my Civic Issues Blog, I am going to focus on AI’s (an technology in general) effect on the integrity of education and workplace settings. I think this topic could possibly expand a bit, but that is my general starting point.

I am a walker. My legs are quite long. I walked to my elementary school. I don’t take the bus on campus because I find it too complicated. I would rather walk to my neighbor’s house than drive. But, with walking I get impatient with others who walk because they do not walk with a purpose. I believe in walking with a purpose or not walking at all.  

Pretty much all of high school when I got annoyed and impatient with others while walking through the hallways from class to class, I would always say the same thing “walk with a purpose or don’t walk at all”. I think this irritation of mine could come from my mom, who has a led foot when driving and gets verbally frustrated when the car in front of hers is going under the speed limit or drastically slow on the road. But this attitude has driven me through life.  

I am an Eagle Scout; I was involved in scouting for over 10 years. But my path to Eagle was quite different than those who came through my troop and others before me. For years, I watched boys go through the program and become very stressed and rushed at the end of the semester trying to tie up loose ends and finish all the requirements before their 18th birthday. Our troop had about 7 boys aged out and earned their Eagle award in the span of a year. Our troop numbers dwindled; I found myself suddenly the head youth leader at 14, a position usually given to those over 16. I had gone through many badges and requirements quite quickly, making the ranks and becoming just steps away from Eagle by my 15th birthday. I was often told to slow down and enjoy this part of my life in the troop. Asked: why are you going so fast? I am just not a stop and smell the roses person: I find this akin to “drag your feet”. As mentioned, I am impatient with people who drag their feet. I had a purpose, a want to keep going at my current pace.  

When it became time to start my Eagle scout required community service project, I was looking for something that would be impactful. The place of my weekly scout meetings, the local Lions Club needed renovation, and I decided to take up the opportunity; to walk with a purpose and not drag my feet for another 2 years. After months of discussion and persistence with the elderly members of the club, I decided to stop accepting their dragging feet and lay out a clear plan that considered all input. They agreed and I got running. On my 16th birthday, I completed a total renovation of the Lions Club to make it more appealing and modern to rent out to the community. Due to the pandemic, I completed my final review for the Eagle Scout rank in June of 2020. I will never forget the final question the board asked me: ‘Don’t you think you’re a little young for this?’’ Yes’, I replied, ‘I walked with a purpose.’  

For the “This I Believe” podcast, I would love to be able to do a podcast on the importance of self advocacy in school and in our everyday life as this is something that I have had to learn through my first semester at PSU. In addition, I have an idea for the podcast where I talk about the the importance of leadership in secondary school curriculum as it is a skill that I think everyone  should have at least some exposure to.

For my passion blog, my first idea is to simply keep it the same general topic as last time, focusing on movies, television, and the entertainment industry as a whole.  But, I also have the idea to focus on a particular show and do an in-depth review an episode each week.

For my civic issues blogs, I think I want to either focus on government officials unethical trading stocks based on non-public information or the growing concern of artificial intelligence undermining academic and workplace integrity.