I have grown up around creativity my whole life with my mom being an artist and my dad working in the construction industry. I have been accustomed to the creative way of thinking since a young age. My mom was always doing art projects with me and teaching me all kinds of things from her years in high school and college being an artist. I know the color wheel by heart and so many painting techniques that it hurts my brain to think of all of them. Though I do know all of these, I have always been an abstract artist. I look at things in a way and then they come out in a whole different thing on canvas. In this course, I have learned that sometimes you have to have a different perspective of thinking, just as my mom taught me, to come up with different solutions to a problem. Many of the wicked problems that we have discussed throughout this class need special solutions and even if they don’t have solutions, they need special types of thinking to attempt and make the problem better.

I think the biggest takeaway that I have from this course is that not everyone thinks the same and it takes all different types of people to make the world run. I learned this best during our class discussions. I always enjoy class discussions because it gives me an opportunity to listen to my classmates and get a gauge on their beliefs, what they think, and sometimes even where they are from based on their response. Even in our group projects, I learned about the people in my class. One of the girls in my group, I learned that I had actually known her for quite some time before being enrolled in this class which was cool to figure out. Knowing her gave me a sense of comfort and helped me work on the courage to go to class. They have also taught me a lot about time management and how they schedule their days according to classes and assignments due. It has helped me a lot because I have never really been an organized person. It has taken me a lot of work to get myself together throughout this first semester and I am still working on it. These girls and this class have really helped me. 

I think the major takeaway that I have gotten from this course is how to listen to other people and their opinions. Being able to comprehend and take what other people say into account of what I say has been a lesson learned. I have always been a strong opinionated person. I like to state my opinion and know that when I state something, people are listening. It has  been interesting being the person on the other end. I remember one discussion we were having, we were talking about rural versus urban poverty and the discussion of farms came up. Coming from a farming community, I know a lot about this topic and it was interesting to hear what people, who have lived in the city, think of farming. Nobody said anything bad and that is not what I mean. I mean that from what my classmates said, the agriculture industry has had a big impact on everybody’s life. In the United States, only 1.3% makes up the farming industry which obviously, is not a lot. As we were discussing in class, many farmers go into poverty because they do not have the resources to keep going with their business. I wanted to say in the discussion was that many farmers go into poverty because of either a multitude of rain days or drought, which both cause the crop to not be able to be harvested in time. This drives them into poverty because when the crop is not harvested, it can not be sold. 

I am taking many things away from this course. Some problems would be poverty, many environmental issues, and the most interesting discussion was about the culture of Easter Island. The problems with most poverty cases is that most are self inflicted. The difference between rural and urban poverty is that rural poverty deals with farmers going into poverty by crops failing, farms being destroyed, and the sales of crops decreasing. Urban poverty deals with people losing their jobs due to larger companies crashing. Environmental issues revolve around pollution, forest fires, and fossil fuels. Pollution could be stopped by being aware and noticing how we can stop discarding trash in the wrong way. Forest Fires are a lot more aggressive than pollution. They are harder to stop and control. Fossil Fuels are an issue due to too much carbon dioxide being released into the air. Also, more fossil fuels are being used too much and causing them to run out. With that being said, I believe the human race should care more about the country they are living in. Treating the country with more respect is a much better option for each individual. 

I would say that my ability to change the circle of my influence is very high. I always tend to bring a positive attitude around any group I am around. No matter if I am with my friends or if I am with a group I don’t really know. I feel like that in general really brings a change to my influence on people. Speaking in terms of my influence on the world, I try many things to help out. I am joining the AirForce, and hope to protect the United States with all that I have. In conclusion, being a positive person helps out tremendously. For me, a big example of positive people in my life are the girls helping me get through the class. I came a long way from home and I was super nervous. The girls have helped me overcome obstacles this class has thrown at me. They also are always there to take and make assignments more enjoyable.