Writing & Research Project

Self Assessment

Kari Fruechte 1/8/99

An interest in writing must have started for me when I was in elementary school, because I kept a diary faithfully til the end of my high school years. I would just write a few sentences every night most of the time, but during more difficult or exciting times, I had notebooks full of thoughts and feelings. It was a good way to release stress and kind of fun to look back on as I got older. I took a stab at writing a few poems and songs,too; although I never let anyone else read them. I was the type of teen-ager who had lots of pen-pals, too. There were a few girls I saw only a couple times a year at sports events or band contests, but we wrote long letters back and forth. It was always a race to the mailbox between my sisters and brother and I just in case there was a letter. When boys started writing, the race grew more competitive! The writing I did at school was never hard for me. I got good grades and tested out of the Creative Writing class I would have had to take in college. As I look back, maybe I should have challenged myself more in that area, and tried a more advanced class. I really do enjoy writing and even considered journalism as a career for awhile.

The first job I had that required writing was as a summer assistant in our local Extension Office in Faulk County, South Dakota. I wrote weekly news columns similar to what I do now. I remember sorting through the information from the state specialists, and adapting it to fit my style in the form of a news column. I still enjoy doing that, but find I don't allow myself enough time to make it as enjoyable and as personal as I wish I could. It makes me feel good when people say they've enjoyed my column, and makes me work harder at them.

While attending college, both at South Dakota State University and Mankato State University, I enjoyed writing research papers. It seemed like I could really take the time to get into a topic and I felt I learned more from that work than taking tests. I know I'm not a very technical person, so listening and sharing ideas is more my style of learning. I guess that's why my Education classes never seemed very hard to me. My only problem today is squeezing in that time it takes to do good research on a topic.

One of the issues I am working on in my job that interests me most is educating youth in the areas of Consumer Education and Career Exploration. More and more I see youth going through school without learning the skills they need to be smart consumers. Many also tend to graduate without the skills they need to be enter the job market. I think Extension can play a key role in offering education in life skills to youth. I work collaboratively with schools and businesses in the School to Work program. I am also very intrigued by the MN High School Graduation Standards and what role Extension can play in helping both youth and teachers meet those goals. There is never enough time for teachers to fit more into their schedules, but there must be some creative ways we can work together on building life skills. That would be a professional goal of mine, and perhaps something I can work on through this MEd program.

Teaching parenting skills to youth or adults is another key issue. I am working with a two-state committee on a cirriculum for parents of teens. Since I am right in the middle of that personally, this is also a possibility for further research. It also comes up as a definite need in our community.

I am also interested in mentoring and how that concept can work across such a wide spectrum in youth, parenting and business programs. There appears to be a group of us in this program that may consider using mentoring as a thesis topic.

I need to do more concrete planning as far as a thesis project, but am still somewhat unclear about expectations. Right now I am exploring several options, and hope to have a topic narrowed down soon.

-- Anonymous, January 08, 1999