Introducing…Bethany!
Background
I am a second year student at KSU and I absolutely adore it here! Getting here has been quite an adventure, but well worth it. I grew up in Alaska, moving all over the state, until my parents moved us down here a few years ago. I played and coached soccer while in high school, and I was in all kinds of clubs. I also worked at Broad River Adventure Park, where I essentially got paid to ride around on dirt trails and help guide people. I graduated with honors in 2008 from Oglethorpe County High School and up to that point, I have never felt more relieved. As much fun as I had growing up in the country, I was ready for something a little bigger, which brought me to Kennesaw.
Life at Kennesaw
Sometimes I think school gets in the way of life, especially towards the end of the semester, but I love being in college. I am an English Education major and am excited that each day I am a little bit closer to having my own classroom. Besides going to school, I am involved in several clubs on campus. I am the secretary for KSU’s Student Georgia Association of Educators and also a member of Golden Key International Society. Even though my positions in these two clubs keep me pretty busy, I am also a resident assistant in the University Village Suites, which houses most of the residential student population on campus. Answering the phone at 4 am for a lockout is never fun, but I have met and experienced so much as an RA that it makes everything worth it. Being an RA has taught me so much about myself and has really helped to make Kennesaw feel like home. 
Family
My family and friends provide the support I need to be as successful as I am. I am very lucky in that my parents have raised me to be a free-thinking and independant woman, but I also know I can go home whenever I need a hug. It is funny to see how all my siblings and I were raised by the same two people but all turned out very different. My oldest brother, Josh, has three wonderful children and is a flight engineer in the Air Force. My sister, Holly, has two kids and is about to finish her degree at UGA. Jeremy is also at UGA. I am the second youngest, and my youngest brother, Seth, is about to graduate high school. I think my parents are more excited about him graduating than he is. Since all her chidren are about to be out of the house, my mom has decided to open a restuarant, which is something she has wanted to do since I was little. We are all really excited for her and cannot wait for it to open in February. Aside from my immediate family, I am really close with my Aunt Katie, who is more like a second mother to me, and her four boys are more like brothers than cousins. Seeing as I am one of the only girls in my family, I learned how to through a football just like I learned how to put on makeup. It is funny how those things work.
Hobbies
My favorite thing to do in the world is to lay in bed with a great book and read the day away. I have loved reading since I was very young and my little library is quickly outgrowing my quaint dorm room. Depending on my mood, I will read just about anything. I love fantasy books, having been raised on the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales. I am a fan of Rick Riordan’s series about Percy Jackson and am looking forward to the movie. It is impossible for me to pick a favorite author, but I do like Harlan Coben, Sarah Addison Allen, and so many others. I like to read biographies, fiction, non-fictions and young adult novels. I love that feeling of being swept away into another time or place. I experience and see so much of the world that way. I also like to do crafty things, like paint and make jewelry. I get really pumped about baseball and hockey, but am not a fan of college football. I enjoy watching movies, or TV with my friends and just hanging out. 
Something else I really enjoy is traveling. My family vacations were always fun and took me to places all over the country. I have seen almost all fifty states and the ones I have yet to visit will be covered this summer. Because I was so well behaved this last year, Santa was very gracious to me and got me a train pass that will take me to New York, Boston, Philly and Washington DC. I am in love with the landscape and the history of that area, and even though I have been to New York and Washington DC, there is always some place new to discover. I also had the opportunity to spend five weeks in Ireland over the summer on a study abroad trip, which is one of the coolest things I have ever done. It was beautiful there and the people were great too. It was difficult to get back on the airplane to come home to the wonderful Georgia humidity. I also spent a weekend in Scotland and was able to see the Elephant House Cafe, which is where J.K. Rowling wrote parts of the 
Harry Potter series. I was able to see so much over there, and it what was really nifty is that I took two classes over there and was able to experience literature in an entirely different way. I realize most people head for the beach when Spring Break rolls around, but this year I am headed to London on another study abroad trip. It is only ten days, but I have excellent time managment skills and am confident that I can cover most of the city in that time.
MISC
I love having my face painted, anything dealing with dinosaurs and my favorite color is green. Snakes scare me more than anything else, but heights are a close second. I want to ride in a hot air balloon one day in hopes of overcoming that fear. I listen to all kinds of music, but the best concert I have ever been to was when I saw Billy Joel. I love going to plays and am lucky in that I was able to see Wicked in NYC with the original cast. It was amazing. I like to drive around with my windows rolled down and will one day own a car that starts when it supposed to, not when it wants to. I love to bake, but rarely eat whatever it is I make, which my friends love becuase it is more for them. I know where I would like to be in five years, which is in a classroom teaching English, preferable overseas, but I am open to change.
