Appreciation for Music

Appreciation for Music

The respect I have for music continues to rise to a new level. Nothing else in this world allows me to be alone and reflect on my life like music does. We all have our own outlet(s), whether good or bad that takes us away or clears our mind to think with clarity.

            Thinking with emotion and deep thought brings you into a different mindset that nobody knows about you. I even wonder where I go when music kicks in and I begin to focus. I just become inspired to the extent that anything I think about becomes my motivation. Without music, I would not be as motivated as I am today and as a result, I have acquired a great appreciation for all types of music and the impact it has on the lives of people it touches.

            Although music brings me to an emotional state, almost like a depressing setting in a sense, I am able to discover what is really important to me because what comes to my mind first tends to be what I care for most. I never plan on music reaching my senses so greatly, but when I start thinking, the engine begins to start and the wheels begin to turn.

            I am able to connect to my own life and realize what I am doing right, what I am doing wrong, and how I can grow to be a better person in all areas of life. Music, whether presented in the form of Rap or Gospel is telling a story of some sort and there is a reason behind it. Just like paintings, novels, essays, or poetry, music is a form of art that illustrates one’s emotions, mindset, and feelings at a given time.

            The late night motivation kicks in when the music plays, and the late night thoughts follow…Just another day to appreciate the life I am living.

            -Austin McClain Baker

Austin Baker 

Twitter/Instagram: @ABakerPresident

DreamsDriveDetermination@gmail.com

Austin.Baker25@yahoo.com

           

           

           

More Than One Path

More Than One Path

            Doctors will tell you something is wrong or that maybe you and the doctor are aware that something is not right, but neither of you can identify the reason or the location of the problem. And these doctors received an education from the most prestigious of Universities’. And yet, they paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for their education unless they were on scholarship AND they still cannot manage to pinpoint any problems better than an average human-being with no learning history in the medical field can? We as humans feel that there is a problem and there is one. Sometimes we know when something good is going to happen, and it does, but before we knew so, we had no clue what the good thing would be.

Now, I just know something is wrong or that I am waiting for something, but I do not know what it is. I feel an urge to move faster ahead with my life than the speed of a regular day. I want to get to the doing now and begin my life. I feel myself saying that I am fine and thinking that everything is going to be fine, but then when I think about how I have made some poor mistakes and held a 2-point something GPA, I realize that I am not doing much right. I have an internship, a job, involvement in clubs, and Freshman Class President of our class, but I am not living the lifestyle in which I should be living. The problem is that I do not know what the lifestyle I am supposed to be living is like.

Then, I see the majority of students and kids around me having fun, partying, and doing well academically, but I do not see where they get the time to do both. I study 24/7 in regards to academics and my extracurriculars and jobs, and still; I hardly have time to party, so the partying cannot be the issue. Therefore, how is my GPA at a 2-point something. I excel in three of my five classes, I have not skipped one class period this entire semester, and I have tutors for the two classes I do not have an ‘A’ in. I meet with them twice per week and study with students from my class.

I truly believe that the classes are not what I am here for. For example, I have an ‘A’ in both Astronomy and English. Additionally, I do not work as hard in English to get an ‘A’ as I do in Math to receive a ‘D’. So, if GPA means everything, aren't the students who are academically gifted, such as I am in English at a disadvantage when it comes to the real-world? I believe that if I was good at Math or Spanish from the beginning, I would not need Calculus because I would be like some kids in my class who hardly ever show up, never do their homework, and still manage to get a 96 on a test. In result, if students already understand the material from the start, why take the class? We are told to stop wasting our lives time after time by leaders, but then we are in a classroom taking courses that have no effect on our future lives for 99% of the students in the classroom. I can go on Lumosity.com and train my brain for free if the answer to my question is that students are taught to solve problems differently and to increase memory. Secondly, I am not trying as hard in courses I am already excelling in because I literally do not need to, for I can no longer challenge myself. In support of my assumption, a student who plays basketball with his same friends learns their strengths and weaknesses to the extent to where he or she can beat his or her opposing friend on a daily basis. Although that friend can find new friends, or students can take higher level courses, many students do not have any desire for those classes. With the money students are paying for college today, why I am scolded and looked down on for scoring poorly? I should not have to take a physical education class or an assortment of General Education requirements that are unnecessary for my future. I understand that grades for students are in place so that we do not pay for college just to party and sit on our couches and watch TV all day, but I am involved more than ever because I see more value in extracurricular involvement than I do in classroom learning. I respect learning in the classroom, and I have learned a remarkable amount this first-semester as a freshman. But in all honesty, since high school, I have learned only how to memorize and apply facts from a textbook to paper that determines whether or not I remembered what color t-shirt John was wearing at dinner or if I could memorize formulas to a math problem. I want to agree with my peers, teachers, and family that education is important in the classroom, but I can and will not. I understand that I may not have the credentials that a company wants from me, but what does it matter to me if I am not on this planet for the money. Can someone really tell me that if I do not get an education from a University, then I will not accomplish my dreams? You can never stop a person from accomplishing their dreams through your voice or through your actions, only through death. Honestly. Recruiters can waive me off. My friends can laugh. My teachers can shake their heads. But in the end, someone in this world is looking for someone with the desire to accomplish anything and everything, and that same person has the identical values as me and has done just fine in this world in regards to financial wealth.

Our society stresses the importance of wealth and its correlation with power. Our society presses the importance of a conventional life. Our society feels that it is safest to travel down the same path that everyone else has taken. Why can’t I take a different path? Nobody is stopping us from doing what we want except ourselves. Although it may be more difficult to find a job, live a stable life, or meet the wants that everyone we have ever known wanted for us, I believe that I can and I will meet my goals and reach the peak of the mountain holding all of my dreams. Many people will not understand where I am headed or the way my mind thinks, but I just have the ‘urge’ to go a different way and to keep learning through experiencing.

If you fail in life the only thing you will not have will be money. Think about it. You will still have a family. You will still be alive. And most importantly, you will still have God. It is as if money is the only thing society is focused on. Chase the dream, not the green.

-Austin McClain Baker

Austin Baker 

Twitter/Instagram: @ABakerPresident

DreamsDriveDetermination@gmail.com

Austin.Baker25@yahoo.com

Learning Experience

Learning Experience

            As you enter your freshman year of college, you realize that you can start on a new slate and you can be whoever you choose to be. Usually, you will attempt to change and be someone other than you were in high school, but in the end your true character will unfold itself and trying to be someone other than yourself will not work to your advantage. When you leave high school, you leave your friends and past life in the back of your mind and begin focusing on your new journey. That journey begins with learning how to sign up for classes, knowing where your lectures are held, figuring out how to purchase food, and much more. However, the most important part of the journey is discovering who you are and discovering who your true friends are. In college, you will constantly come across new people and you will build relationships and make new connections with students from across the country and beyond.

            However, meeting hundreds and maybe even thousands of people will make you feel as if you are friends with everyone. You will have hundreds of phone numbers, followers on social media sites, and you will know the names of so many. But, if you sit back and think about which ones are your true friends, how do you know? Ask yourself the question, “If I were to leave college today, how many of the people that I met would contact me ever again to see how I am doing?” So, how do we know who our true friends are?

            Well, it is the ‘learning experience’ which enables you with the ability to clearly determine who will always be there for you. In college, we are learning a different life in a foreign environment. We are persistently learning fresh knowledge about life, relationships, academics, ourselves, and miscellaneous information that we will use to be successful. It takes messing up to not make a mistake again. Therefore, it takes experiencing to even have the chance of making a poor decision. So does this mean that we should all make poor decisions early in our lives so that we may have a wider understanding of how not to mess up? Yes and no. We should not aim to make non-intellectual decisions, but once you enter adulthood, any decision can affect your reputation and ability to acquire a job. Making one corrupt choice can cause your downfall when you reach an age where you are expected to never make poor judgments. For college students, the time is almost at its end to make poor decisions and still be able to bounce back in a reasonable amount of time.

            Essentially, the most important aspect of college besides attaining an education is to find yourself and to find who your true friends are. Secondly, it takes the ‘learning experience’ to realize who your true friends are and inside of the ‘learning experience’ consists of several things. First, you must mess up to find who your friends are. You will know when you messed up and learned something that will serve to better you when you wake up and think about who was there to help you. You must fail. Without failing, how do you know how it feels to be at a low-point in your life? You must also learn to adapt. If you cannot adapt to your surroundings, you will never grow. If you are not growing, you will fail to reach your highest potential. You will experience a lot in college and will learn an abundance of life-knowledge.

            In my perspective, you will learn more in one weekend than you will learn in a week in college. Academics are vital to your success, but life-skills and common sense, which is only attained through experiencing firsthand, is what enables you to accomplish the toughest of tasks. If you do not know who you are, then what purpose does academic knowledge have? It starts with YOU and discovering what YOU enjoy doing, what YOU want to do with YOUR life, and who YOU want to be. We are in college to learn and gain new knowledge, but we are also here for four years or more if we head to graduate school, to learn about the things we cannot be taught by a professor or by our parents.

            You will discover who your true friends are when you have a poor experience or make a poor decision because those who care about you will be by your side the entire time. You will have your friends. You will have your best buds. You will have your party friends. You will have your business friends. And you will have your lifelong friends. You place the people you know into different groups based on their importance and connection to you. Learning is endless. Find who you are and find who your true friends are. Learn to learn and live to learn.

 -Austin McClain Baker

Austin Baker 

Twitter/Instagram: @ABakerPresident

DreamsDriveDetermination@gmail.com

Austin.Baker25@yahoo.com

Our Education

Our Education

            Far too often we find ourselves speaking poorly about someone or something. Whether it is a politician in office, a celebrity’s actions, the inflation rate, the U.S. unemployment rate, or the troubles in our education system; we are all a part of the problem. We speak with distrust about the people we know best when they are not around…we can all admit that we have done it at least once. The honest truth is that our world has the opportunity to be remarkable, but too many people sit back and speak on our problems rather than choosing to stand up and fix the situation.

            Of all of the problems listed above, I look at the ‘troubles in our education system’ and immediately, a negative connotation flashes into my mind. But in actuality, our school system does not have as many flaws as one may think. Of course, the teacher salaries are remarkably low and therefore, the ability to attract proficient and experienced teachers to the State of North Carolina is difficult, but the teachers who teach for reasons other than money are the ones who have come to Mecklenburg County and are a part of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. And before you say, “The teachers coming to North Carolina must be uneducated if they are not choosing to come for the money; they must not have any other options”, you must read on.

The statement above is what the majority of people in our area believe, but the honest answer in my opinion as a recent graduate of Ardrey Kell High School, is that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) have some of the most highly educated and well-rounded teachers in the State of North Carolina. I would guarantee that numerous teachers currently working at CMS could work in any school district at any school in the United States. For instance, at Ardrey Kell High School; I had several teachers who graduated from well-respected universities, such as UNC- Chapel Hill and Stanford. That fact eliminates the statement above regarding teachers only coming to North Carolina schools because other options were unavailable. Teachers all around CMS care about their students and are aware of the competitive world awaiting their students after they graduate high-school. Our school system may have flaws, but doesn’t everything in the world have flaws? You could be attractive, but you may not be smart. You could be rich, but are you always happy? You may have everything, but is something still missing?

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is bringing in thousands of new students each year to their elementary, middle, and high schools. Made up of 164 schools and nearly 143,000 students enrolled in CMS, the need for teachers is critical (CMS: Fast Facts). Of course CMS wants to increase the teacher salary, expand on infrastructure, and bring in new technology for students to use, but the money is limited and with 164 schools, there is a process to receive funding and it is a long process. The problem is neither our school system nor CMS. The problem is larger than we can see it. Our educators and officials want students to receive an extraordinary education, but the ability to help everyone at once is not reasonable; just as it is when two presidential candidates run against one another. One candidate will have nearly half of the votes and the other candidate will receive virtually half of the votes. Life is challenging and we cannot please everyone, but we can still be successful with what we have.

            My focus point is that whether or not we believe our education system is functioning effectively and successfully, we can receive a remarkable education regardless. We have teachers. We have classrooms. We have SMART Boards. We have computers. We have pens, pencils, notebooks, binders, erasers and more. We have the necessities to receive an education and too many people are complaining that we need more. To be honest, I was against the education system in past years, but I have discovered that the problem was that I listened to the public’s opinion on our education system, so I blamed our school system when I earned poor grades or when something went off beam at school.

            Having the opportunity to attend school is a gift by itself. Having the opportunity to be in a safe school occupied by cameras and security-officers is a blessing. Having the opportunity to learn in a classroom with your own desk and your own space is remarkable. We take so much for granted and we do not realize how fortunate we are to attend school. CMS has done an extraordinary job at ensuring safety for all students and have spent years analyzing how to achieve their vision of “providing all students the best education available anywhere, preparing every child to lead a rich and productive life” (CMS: Fast Facts).

            I have been enrolled in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools since Kindergarten at Hawk-Ridge Elementary School. I then went to Community House Middle School before attending Ardrey Kell High School, where I then graduated in June of 2014. I have experienced more than I could ever want and I learned more than I had planned. I have been equipped with the knowledge to be intelligent, the professionalism to be mature, the skills to be well-rounded, the vision to have a dream, and the inspiration to be a success. I thank Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for everything they have done for me since age five.

            Now at High Point University, I am using my knowledge to take me to the next level. I am in the process of writing my own book, Dreams, Drive, Determination: Taking A Different Route and I have my own blog, http://dreamsdrivedetermination.blogspot.com/. I am continuing to learn more each day and I can truly say that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has influenced me on how I live my life. I have been pushed by all of my extraordinary teachers to reach my potential and I have discovered more and more about myself over the years. Our education system may have flaws in its appearance, but once you break down CMS and look inside its outer cover, you will realize Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is on the right path towards ensuring a successful future for each student enrolled in its system. You choose whether you will be successful or not; nobody else can make that decision for you.

-Austin McClain Baker

 

 

 

Austin Baker

Twitter/Instagram: @ABakerPresident

DreamsDriveDetermination@gmail.com

Austin.Baker25@yahoo.com

 

 

 

Life Events

Austin Baker: Life-Changing Events

Calvary Pre-School- In pre-school, I was able to learn how to do many activities and complete tasks for the first time. I believe that pre-school shaped my life in a very strong manner as I headed into elementary school.

Kindergarten Teacher- In kindergarten, I was constantly finding myself in trouble and Mrs. Williams, my teacher would strongly agree. However, she realized that although I was getting into trouble on a regular basis for talking, I was always eager to learn and she understood that. I believe she proved to me that public speaking and talking were an important aspect of my future.

Olde Providence Baseball- Growing up, I played baseball at Olde Providence with all of my friends. We still today look back on OP and all the good memories we had. A majority of my friends today are the same ones I played with when I was seven or eight years old. Some of my best friends were ones that I met on the baseball field. You'll meet some of the greatest people doing the things you love most.

Carolina Blast Baseball- The Carolina Blast consisted of some of my greatest friends and I learned a lot from the coaches about following my dreams. We took a trip to Cooperstown, NY for a national tournament and I was chosen for the "Golden Arm" competition. However, after that tournament, they wanted stronger players and I was removed from the team. I realized that you must always be ready for an abrupt change and you should have a plan when it does occur.

South Charlotte Sports Report Newspaper Delivery Man- I worked for Tripp Roakes when he first created this company. He hired kids from all around South Charlotte to deliver the newspapers to their specified neighborhoods. It was my first "real" job and I was getting paid $16 per month to deliver it twice per month. However, when Tripp found a delivery man who would deliver the newspapers to all of the neighborhoods for a lower price, he laid us all off. I learned that no matter how well you do your job, you are never safe in the business world. I discovered that in business, it is not about being someone's friend to keep your job. For many money is the primary factor and I had to understand that.

Traveling to Costa Rica & Other Countries- Traveling to Costa Rica and seeing the beauty all around made me realize how great our world is. I discovered that I should not stress out over the things I am faced with in my life. This was the first time in my life that I saw poverty in a real-life image with my own eyes. I felt that something needed to be done and today, it has changed my life in the form that I want to make a difference when I grow up by creating a homeless shelter.

Ardrey Kell Baseball- I never missed a practice or workout in two years at Ardrey Kell. We practiced long and we practiced hard, but I never gave up. I did not make the team my freshman year and I was thinking about quitting, but I decided to work even harder so that I would have a stronger chance the next year. The next year came quickly and I worked harder than the year before and when the decision came, I did not make it again even though the coaches said I was better than a majority of the other players. I discovered that as long as you work your hardest, you cannot change the outcome. You can do all that you can, but sometimes the decision is not to be made by you, so you must believe that God has a plan for you; a plan for the best of you.

Working at Krispy Kreme, WBTV, and Chick-fil-A- Working at Krispy Kreme was in a way life-changing because I had a manager who told me how she reminded me of her when she was growing up. During the interview process, we spoke about our aspirations and mine were relatively similar to the ones she had when she was in high school. At WBTV, I received an understanding of what goes on at a news and radio station. At Chick-fil-A, I was able to be a part of the fastest drive-thru of the 96 stores in the Southeast. After working these two jobs and the internship, I realized that I needed a job that was more stimulating and took more knowledge. I needed to find a job that I could operate on my own. I respect people who work fast-food jobs; however, I am in a position where I need a job that is difficult so that I continue to stay motivated because working in a fast-food chain was not challenging and did not take much effort. I want a career that will keep me involved and a job that will enable me to stay driven.

NYLC Leadership Conference- Attending the NYLC leadership conference two summers ago was a life-changing experience. When I first arrived in DC, I was already ready to go home because it was not interesting. But after the first day, things changed. I met hundreds of people and several of them were friends that I still currently talk to on a regular basis. On the final day, we all felt emotional, but we did not understand why. We only knew each other for a week, but I felt closer to some of them than I did to friends I have known for ten years. The experience taught me to cherish the time you have with your friends and it made me think of high school and how on graduation, we will be leaving all of our friends.

Moving Houses- This past May, I moved from my house in Cobblestone that I had been living in for 14 years. I felt excited to move, but when the day finally came, I began to think about how I was going to miss the house, my pond, and my friends in the neighborhood. It made me realize that things are going to change in your life, but you just have to move on and learn to adapt to the new changes.

RockBridge Young Life Trip- The Young Life Trip this past summer was something I was unsure of doing. However, many people such as Graham and Chad, the Young Life leader persuaded me to go. On the bus ride there, the bus broke down and I was already preparing for a mediocre trip. However as the days progressed it was getting much better and on the final night we watched a video that made me emotional for one of the first times in a very long time. The guest speakers were inspiring and very interesting. I met a lot of great people and I developed a lot of strong relationships. When I came back to Charlotte, I made changes to my life, As of today, I can truly say that I have changed my life since I attended the camp and God has been a great part of my life.

New Jersey Trip With My Best Friend- Since age five, each summer I have always flown up to New Jersey for a few weeks to spend with my grandparents, cousins, uncles and relatives. This past summer, I brought my friend Matt and we had an amazing time, We went to the beach almost every day in Atlantic City. We went on the boardwalk a lot and went to a Phillies game. The trip made me realize how I know so many people in this world, but I can only count my true friends on my fingers. I learned that you must cherish your friends and the experiences you have with them, because at some point, we will all split ways.

 

The life events will continue to be added and the memories will continue to be experienced. Life has so much to offer and we have the opportunity to become whatever we choose to be. It is up to us to determine what direction we wish to follow and how we want to live our lives. Make the most of your life and never let anything hinder you from reaching the success you have been working towards.

 

 

 -Austin McClain Baker

 

 

Austin Baker

Twitter: @ABakerPresident

Email: DreamsDriveDetermination@gmail.com