Honors Plan

Logan Freeman

Professor Rob Gioielli

Honors 1015

2 December 2022

UCBA Honors Plan 

An Introduction

I am Logan Freeman, and I am pursuing Information Technology AAB. From a young age, I have been interested in the advancements in technology. With my free time I make a hobby out of understanding interesting developments in the wide field of Information Technology. Recently, I’ve found major interest in discovering ways to make genuine improvements to our lives using tech where it is needed most. Technology and nature have always been my two many interests I have been filled with passion for. Though, I believe technology is the path that will be able to truly take my future further and potentially even fulfill my goal in life. All throughout school I have worked hard to do my absolute best and push my future further. Graduating high school, I had around a year and half of college completed if I were to attend the University of Cincinnati for Information Technology, so that is the path I took. I achieved this with a combination of UC’s Early IT program offered at my school and various college classes through UC and Cincinnati State via Ohio’s CCP program. I hope to continue this momentum throughout college, into my profession, and all throughout the rest of my life.

My Goals

First, I want to identify exactly what my ultimate goal in life is. No matter what, I want to raise a family and continue to build a network of people I trust. Though, my primary goal through college is to truly find a stable career choice which I actually enjoy and have passion for. Of course I have already determined technology to be my ideal career choice. Other than this, I am undecided of a very specific career. Finding this will undoubtedly be hard and requires a lot of prior experiences to help narrow down the choices. Throughout my years of experimenting with technology and my own interests, I have become most fond of the digital design aspect. I hope this is apparent in my UCBA Honors portfolio where I tried to let my interest in design shine through. As well as this I am also fond of many different aspects of tech, from exploring its possibilities, to learning the intricacies of computers or cameras, to understanding how software and hardware operate, I have many broad but specific areas of interests. I certainly explored ways to share my passions and interests for the benefit of others, but I feel as though I haven’t taken it to the next level just yet. 

After I find this ideal career and solidify my true interests, I want to search for a sustainable job which could potentially bring me to that next level. To find the right job at the right time and right place is certainly hard to achieve. I don’t expect to find the ideal job within five years, or even ten years and on, but I have this constant goal so I don’t lose sight of my potential. There will undoubtedly be failure and missed opportunities, but I know if I am able to find something that works for me in the way I am imaging, I can prosper. After all, as they say “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”, I want to enjoy my career and refine my passions. With the right job for me, I feel as though I would truly prosper and be able to work to create positive change in the world, which leads into my ultimate goal. 

It may be a lofty goal, but I ultimately want to change the world for the better in some way. I want my work and job to allow me to do things that can help improve the lives of others in a strongly positive way. In the beginning years of finding and delving further into my interests this difference may remain small, but I wish to work up to something bigger. I will particularly focus on this goal in the space of technology by using and creating advances within tech to achieve this. Though, there are many steps I need to reach in order to work towards something like this. Most notably, I must develop a network of people who have similar ideals, so we can collectively combine our expertise and knowledge. I also need to effectively narrow my ideas for this kind of change and target what works for me and benefits others the most. 

Necessary Skills

Importantly, I need to set a focus on developing integral skills that will allow my ultimate goal in life to be possible. I need to develop better confidence in my abilities, since I am often aware I may be talented in something. Though, I have never tried taking it further due to my anxiety of the potential risks, but I know there is a path that will work. In a similar vein, I need to jump out of my comfort zone more and turn my weaknesses into strengths. This course in particular has given me a better understanding of my strengths. It made me more aware of my major weakness of thinking but not actually doing. I want to help rid this weakness by not letting this piece prove to be an example of this weakness. With this in mind, I also want to keep up my momentum, and maintain a consistent perseverance for the important goals in my life. Specifically the goal of a continued passion and interest in my current career choice and job is of utmost importance. As well as developing a strong and meaningful balance of family and work, as both are factors essential to my life. Therefore, I also need to keep up a connected network with others, as doing so may prove worthwhile in the future. Having people to come along with you in your journey and to help build it is a significant plus. With all this said, I am already seeing the many different ways I can actually implement these skills and hopefully continue to develop them in the future.

Important Experiences 

With all these ambitions and goals in mind, I need specific influential experiences to truly be able to achieve them. Specifically for the UCBA Honors Program I have taken the English 2089 Immediate Literature course with Professor Ruth Benander. In this asynchronous Intermediate Composition course, I worked to create a community project with the goal to make a difference in a community. All while I practiced and developed my skills in writing, specifically building up to creating my final research report. My overall goal for my project was to show students the importance of slideshow presentations and give students a glimpse of the possibilities. I wanted to inspire them to practice these concepts so that they have the knowledge in the future. With this knowledge, they will be able to add a creative degree to their work in ways that they have never considered before. I piloted my community project to three IT classes of 10-20 students at my previous high school with the opportunity the IT Teacher provided. 

For my next endeavor for the UCBA Honors Program I am currently scheduled to take the Honors 2091: 21st Century Media Literacy course with Professor Drew Shade. This course seems to cover the constant influence of mass media and how it affects our perception. I am often aware of these kinds of factors and I believe I may find this class to be very beneficial to my knowledge. Before I settled on this course, I considered doing a self-designed experience of my own. I thought of taking the opportunity to go back to my old high school and aid in technology classes. As previously mentioned, this is where I pursued my community project for Honor Engl 2089. Though, I still believe the Honors 2091 course may be a fun and influential way to complete my second experience for the Honors Program. 

To build on experiences, I am potentially continuing my bachelor's degree at UC main campus after my planned graduation with my associate’s degree after this coming semester. If this plan turns out to be the one I pursue, I will certainly benefit from UC’s Co-op program, where I will better be able to determine my career path and related interests.