ut high school I was heavily involved in music and was the top percussionist in my school and was Drumline Captain for two years. After I graduated I was offered a job teaching the line I once led. When I decided to go to UMKC I knew I would be giving up the chance to perform but I thought that my literary career with English would be more important. Regardless I quickly found out that I wanted to play in a Drumline again. Luckily the guy I teach with at my old high school is the section leader for the University of Kansas drumline and he offered me a spot on his snare line if I wanted it. This was the chance I was looking for.Quickly my life changed. I applied to KU and I am already to start attending in the fall of 2002, but there was still one barrier. What was I going to do? I didn’t want to do music as a major, but did I still want to do English? I had no idea. Once again I was totally lost.Looking back over my academic career I have noticed several things. First off I tend to idolize some of my teachers. There are two in particular; both were English teachers. In high school I love to read and write. I was always seen with a book and always seen jotting stuff down. These two teachers really influenced me and caused me to heavily consider a career with books. Another push in favor of English was my family. I have probably one of the most educated families around with several PhD’s and countless master’s degrees floating around. Included is a Naval captain two years away from making Admiral, four or five professional authors, a mathematician, and countless educators. Through these people my life was pretty much set. However I quickly realized that my sense of literacy was through their ideals not mine. It took a life-altering event and an English assignment a year later to do it, but I finally realized that I was standing at my crossroads and I had to make my move right now.I looked at my inter...
