RESEARCH
As an honor student I was made aware of the importance of research. Research is an important part of college. It is also a great self learning and self developing part of one's learning process. Participating in research not only allows me to utilize and develop my critical thinking skills, but also allows me to develop deeper in subjects that interest me and also makes me aware of the research that others are participating in. Research is a connection to the academic world outside of class.
I believe, with my interest in developing as a person, I will continue to work on my skills and ability to exhibit information literacy skills, synthesize and integrate ideas, produce original research or creative works, and contribute to knowledge. An essay that goes more into my path to become a better researcher is viewable in the file below.
As part of my English 101 class, I got involved in researching two main topics: Social Media and Suicide, and Location of my campus. I did extensive research on those topics online or by interviewing people to come up with the best way I could elaborate in the matter. Some main highlights of my essay are listed below:
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Social Media and Suicide:
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Amanda Todd was a fifteen year old girl from Canada who committed suicide after being bullied online for two whole years. She had mistakenly flashed her boobs in a public chat room over the internet but never realized that there was a predator online saving the pictures from the video. He then blackmailed her into sending him more nudes, but when Amanda denied sending him more nudes, her pictures were then posted on porn websites and the link was emailed to all of her high school friends and family members. Even after changing her school, the cyber bullying did not stop. It got so out of hand that the young teen committed suicide (Wing-Mei). And according to CBC News Canada, an official Facebook report was sent out regarding the investigation behind who was responsible, which showed that the bully that drove Amanda to her death had seventy-five other victims that he was preying on at the same time. And although it might not be this extreme, cases like this have been reported throughout the world. While Amanda Todd’s investigation was going on, there were other reports of similar online bullying and threats in Norway as well (Whalen and Surbramaniam). These are just some examples associated with the use of social media. It shows how social media is responsible for numerous suicides throughout the world.
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According to WHO, suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide. It also predicts that in the year 2020 alone, approximately 1.53 million people will die from suicide (Bertolote and Fleischmann 8). So, to prevent such tragedies, steps need to be taken. First of all, cyber bullying needs to be prevented as much as possible, for which, awareness should be raised to inform both parents and teachers about the severity of cyber bullying. Schools should have an anti-bullying policy. Big social media companies like Facebook and Twitter should track and monitor any possible cyber bullying and work to stop it from happening. For example, by adding a “Cyber-bullying prevention hub” feature to Facebook, Facebook has stopped many potential bullies from bothering others (Dank). This new feature lets you report to actual Facebook staff if you think you are being bullied online and thus helps the potential victims. Minor contributions like this from the website companies go a long way in preventing bullies and suicides.
Location of Campus
Robert was a student at WVU Tech. He was from a big city of Barcelona, Spain and came to Tech for his undergraduate education. According to my interview with him, he was used to a big area with lots of facilities and attractions, but after he came to Tech, he could not find even a fraction of what Barcelona had to offer. It was a terrible experience for him. On top of being away from home and having to adjust to a new place, he was terribly missing all the fun he had back home and there was not much he could get himself occupied with here in Montgomery, where WVU Tech is located. He got really home sick and after his first semester he transferred school. He is a good example showcasing one of the major problems that students living on campus at WVU Tech face. The campus located in Montgomery, which is a small rural area with small population and not many establishments around. It is basically located in the middle of nowhere.
Not only is WVU Tech boring because of its location, but also because there are not much fun campus activities or events going on. Take for example Bethany College, which is another small college in rural West Virginia. Just this month they had visits from Swedish author and several all-star soloists for the College’s annual Messiah Festival (“Visitors for Bethany College’s Messiah Festival”) They have regular activities like this happening on campus throughout the year, which helps make up for the bad location and provides student something fun to engage in. But there isn’t much happening on campus at WVU Tech. Maybe because of the small student body but there are not even some parties held during the weekends. There are casual hangouts at the frat house sometimes but since not many people show up, it isn’t much fun.