Thursday, March 19, 2020

College Fair Essays

College Fair Essays College Fair Paper College Fair Paper Essay Topic: College application College Fair Assignment Q: Students will attend a College Fair and write a 3-5 page paper discussing what they learned from the experience. The college fair as a future school counselor was vastly inspiring. Seeing high school students be excited about their perspective futures brought a sense of contentment. It was also entirely informative on how to guide students towards being able to get the most out of their precious time choosing post-secondary education. The fair put on by Rhode Island Association of Admissions Officers (RIAAO) was exactly set up the way students should be walked through the college process as if they were sitting in a counseling office. First the RIAAO handed out their own pamphlets on the colleges attending and general financial aid information. These included handouts citing recent salaries and life-time earnings corresponding to levels of education. At this point in the hallway before the gymnasium housing the college representatives students and parents would often stop and look through the complimentary bags and became orientated on where the colleges were located. It became obvious that when counseling students, they need to be informed as well as their parents or guardians. The more informed and directed by a counselor prior to the fair the more comfortable they would be recognizing how to guide their growing adults into confidently approaching the college representatives. The college fair was organized but chaotic at the same time, stressing how at times the college pursuit can be entertaining and distracting. With the marketing of colleges seen at the fair it was sometimes obvious that distinguished universities were seen with awe. It is important to be proud of academic accomplishment like the badges of honor they proudly displayed as banners in front of their respective tables. At the same time the best education for a student can occur at any college. Students and parents should be open minded and weigh and contrast the appropriate differences in potential academic environments. Brown University, as an Ivy League school, for example constantly had crowds and noticeably different style of reaching out to students. Compared to The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Brown had a more salesmanship feel to their pitch. The students received earfuls of tradition from Brown and they would keep talking to whatever individual was directly inquiring but still was able to put a pamphlet into everyone’s hand that passed by. RISD on the other hand took a vastly different approach and did not even meet anyone’s eyes except the individual conversation they would enter. The RISD representative gave a very different and personalized approach, creating the feeling that college is a perspective home with people experiencing relevant education together. No student seemed as if they were doing nothing, it was very hard not to get caught up in the enthusiasm there. The college fair also felt like a used car lot as walking in between tables you felt eyes sizing you up. What struck interest was how certain students seemingly by themselves had notebooks and were furiously jotting down the representatives speech. Preparedness was instinctive and important to these individuals but personally notebooks and really in-depth questions over details of education and dorm conditions were a bit of a surprise to come across between tables. It was a rare phenomenon but at the same time brought back home the point that students and parents, who are informed, possibly with help by a school counselor, explored the college fair as a proactive experience and seemed more confident and excited about their application process leaving the fair. At the beginning of the fair the financial aid pamphlets were passed out and should be first to remember and positively not overlooked. Brown at forty-thousand for yearly tuition alone is a very expensive school and still met everyone as a potential student. Stating the cost brings to mind that as a school counselor your students and their parents need to recognize real financial concerns. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) needs to be filled out and possible scholarships and grants identified per student as their high school career nears completion. Finances need to be understood and addressed so that it stands as little in the way as possible to each student’s education so that it does not deter any excitement as they approach the rest of their lives as an adult. As a school counselor, the college fair was reassuring to see that joy and hope about education exist and is a beautiful thing to see in current students. The college process was simplified by seeing the college fair from a different perspective. There are endless amounts of colleges to choose from, and even though just in gymnasium there were a lot of colleges just in that room alone compared to the country. As a counselor these endless options and routes need to be organized and expressed to students in a manageable and enjoyable way like the fair was. Constantly gathering ongoing resources on any perspective college your student can be interested in is important to obtain before the interest is present and that is one way that expresses how counselors should be proactive about getting students proactive themselves.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

The Role of Fate in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet

The Role of Fate in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet Theres no real consensus among Shakespearean scholars about the role of fate in Romeo and Juliet. Were the star-crossd lovers doomed from the start, their sad futures determined before they even met? Or are the events of this famed play a matter of bad luck and missed chances? Lets take a look at the role of fate and destiny in the story of the two teenagers from Verona whose feuding families cant keep them apart.  Ã‚   The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliets story begins in the streets of Verona. Members of two feuding families, the Montagues and Capulets, are in the midst of a brawl. When the fight is over, two young men of the Montague family (Romeo and Benvolio) agree to secretly attend a Capulet ball. Meanwhile, young Juliet of the Capulet family is also planning to attend the same ball. Romeo and Juliet meet at the ball and instantly fall in love. Each is horrified to learn that their love is forbidden, but they nevertheless secretly marry. A few days later, in another street brawl, a Capulet kills Romeos dear friend Mercutio, and Romeo, enraged, in turn, kills the Capulet. Romeo flees and is banned from Verona. Meanwhile, however, friends help him and Juliet to spend their wedding night together. After Romeo leaves the next morning, Juliet is counseled to drink a potion that will make her appear to be dead. After she is laid to rest, Romeo will rescue her from the crypt and they will live together in another city. Juliet drinks the potion, but because Romeo doesnt learn of the plot, he believes she is really dead. Seeing her dead, he kills himself. Juliet wakes, sees Romeo dead, and kills herself. The Theme of Fate in Romeo and Juliet The story of Romeo and Juliet asks the question are our lives and destinies preordained? While it is possible to see the play as a series of coincidences, bad luck, and bad decisions, most scholars see the story as an unfolding of events predetermined by fate.   In the opening lines of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare allow the audience to be party to his characters’ destiny. We learn early on what is going to happen to the title characters: â€Å"a pair of star-crossd lovers take their life.† Throughout the story, the words of the play encourage the audience to think about fate and to what extent our actions and outcomes are preordained.Before the Capulets party, in Act 1, Scene 3, Romeo is already feeling that fate is planning his doom. He wonders if he should attend the party, as my mind misgives/Some consequence yet hanging in the stars.  Ã‚  When Mercutio shouts â€Å"a plague on both your houses† in Act 3, Scene 1, hes foreshadowing whats to come for the title couple. This bloody scene in which characters are killed gives us a glimpse of whats to come, marking the beginning of Romeo and Juliet’s tragic downfall.Later, when Mercutio dies, Romeo himself foreshadows the outcome: This days black fate on more days doth depend/This but begins the woe, others must end. The others upon whom fate later falls, of course, are Romeo and Juliet. In Act 5, when he hears of Juliets death, Romeo swears he will defy fate: Is it even so? Then I defy you, stars! Later, in Juliets tomb, as he plans his own death, Romeo says: O, here/Will I set up my everlasting rest,/And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars/From this world-wearied flesh. This brave defiance of fate is especially heartbreaking because Romeos suicide is the event that actually leads to Juliets death. The idea of fate permeates many of the events and speeches in the play. Romeo and Juliet see omens throughout the play, continually reminding the audience that the outcome will not be a happy one. Their deaths are a catalyst for change in Verona: The dueling families are united in their grief and create a political shift in the city. Perhaps Romeo and Juliet were  fated to love  and die for the greater good of Verona. Were Romeo and Juliet Victims of Circumstance? A modern reader, examining the play through the lens of happenstance and coincidence, may feel that Romeo and Juliets fates were not wholly predetermined, but rather a series of unfortunate and unlucky events. Here are just a few of the coincidental or unlucky events that force the story into its apparently preordained track: Romeo and Benvolio happen to meet and talk about love on the very day of the Capulets ball. Had they had the conversation the following day, Romeo would not have met Juliet.Friar Lawrences messenger to Romeo, who would have explained the plan by which Juliet was to pretend death, is detained. As a result, Romeo doesnt get the message.Juliet wakes just moments after Romeos suicide. Had Romeo arrived just a few moments later, all would have been well. It is certainly possible to describe the events of Romeo and Juliet as a series of unfortunate events and coincidences, but that was almost certainly not Shakespeares intent. By understanding the theme of fate and exploring the question of free will, modern readers still find the play challenging and intriguing.