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The reason I named my memoir "bright-side" is because ever since covid hit in march so many things were taken from me such as my first year on campus at ISU, my job that I loved dearly, and a trip called blast that I take every year with my church. Yes, things could always be worse but its the little things that always matter to me and the few things I looked forward most to were taken away in the blink of an eye. On the other aspect of this I learned to look on the bright side of things, being able to get so much family time in because I am home, seeing my grandparents more than I ever have before, and learning a whole different way of life, yanno.. online school. I have learned that everything that has a negative outcome can always have a positive aspect to it!

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I would title my memoir "Changes" because life is made up of them. Changes in our environment,  way of thinking, interests, and event he world that we live in. I think one of the biggest lessons I have learned is being how to be adaptable in situations and to accept and be open to change. There are many surprises in life and although we can sometimes perceive it as good or bad but if we cant learn to adjust to the things that happen to and around us we will always be unhappy or feel inadequate. I have often felt not confident in the person that I am or my decisions, but I was taught to face things head on and know that the future I will work out just as it should.
- Venessa Obeng.

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I would title my memoir "The New Road" because in the last two months my life completely changed directions and am now taking my journey in a completely new direction. However this new road is a good one. Last semester I was completely not enjoying school, considering dropping out, and very sad that what I thought that I wanted to do was not going to work out. In just the last two months, I have been so much happier that I decided to change what I was doing and pursue something that would make me so much happier. I am looking at this semester at a new school with excitement. I am ready to take on this semester and so excited to hopefully be in person next semester.

-Abby Sennett

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I would title my memoir "The Guinea Pig" because I am the oldest of four in my family. I was the oldest cousin, niece, or friend in any group. Being the oldest means I was always the first to experience things like the first to lose a tooth, the first to ride a bike, the first to graduate, the first to go away to college, etc. I also always felt the need to hold a high standard or top expectations. It's shaped me into who I am and how I grew up more quickly than others.
- Adrianna Fontana

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I would title my memoir "You Can Decide" because I am the only one in my family pushing myself to be better. I am deciding my own path. Neither of my parents went to college and both of my siblings dropped out after their first year. It is extremely hard for me because my family is more supportive and not very helpful when it comes to school. I also struggle with mental illness and lack motivation for a lot of things, but I know I want to do better for myself therefore I am deciding my future and pushing myself further than anyone else in my family.
-Jessica Maroncelli

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Held Together with Love, Ambition, and a Little Bit of Fur

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Held Together with Love, Ambition, and a Little Bit of Fur

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The title of my memoir would be titled "Held Together with Love, Ambition, and a Little Bit of Fur" because it's how I've been shaped into the person I am today. My friends and family have given me all the love I could ever need and have supported me through thick and thin. I have been driven by my passion for life and my endless ambition. Finally, I can't forget my pets who have always been a huge part of my life (Yes there would be a lot of pictures of them in it). My memories, the lessons I'd have to share, and my story isn't mine alone and I'd want that to reflect in my title.

-Jennifer Robillard

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The title of my memoir would be "Stay Still" at this point in my life. I have a hard time getting caught up thinking what will happen in the future, which causes anxiety for me. As simple as doing bad on something for school or as big as making decisions for my future, my mind starts to run wild with numerous future possibilities. When I feel this way, I remember how calm everything can be around me in one second. I have to take the time to still myself and remember everything will work out as planned.

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Growing up I always had a relatively large group of friends with a smaller circle of people I would call to hangout with. In middle school, although my circle grew very much, I would only invite two of my friends to go places with me. One of which went to another school that fed into our middle school. We were extremely close because we all brought something different to the table. Our friendship was centralized around our humor, passion for sports, academics, and a dash of troublemaking. These friends were my source of courage and strength heading into an atmosphere of which I was nervous to enter. There was no splitting up these three amigos.

-Matt Vannieuwenhoven

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I would title my memoir "Wave" because I have gone through a of hardships and I am still standing strong. Waves have up and downs just like life. They can be strong and powerful, but they can also be peaceful and serene. I have learned to let life pass just like a wave because things come and go. Even with a wavy journey you can be a strong powerful person that it is at peace with how their life turned out despite the bumpy journey.

-Miquela Bowers

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If I were to title my memoir  based on what I have experienced in my life up to this point, I would title it "control." When I was younger, I was very out of control of my feelings and behaviors and did not really have control over the way I went about things. While going through all of these opticals and feelings I faced, my mom always told me to just breathe, think, and take control. Now that I know how to handle my emotions and feelings I feel like I can finally be myself. I am able to do things I have always wanted to do without having my emotions get in the way and can finally be in control of my own life.

-Leksi Daszkiewicz

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My memoir would be titled "Keep Going." because thats a phrase I have incorporated into my life pretty recently after I had faced multiple hardships. I don't consider my difficult times of anxiety and depression to be unique, everyone has their mountains in front of them and no ones' is bigger or smaller than the next person. I took 2 years off of school because I didn't think I was cut out for it, but here I am back and ready to climb that mountain. It is all up to me, as in all of your lives, its up to you. I hope to reach my end goal of comfort and happiness, but for now I will keep going.

- Edward Newbury

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I've worked long and hard to get to the point where I'm at now, and as much as I want to stop and admire the view, I know there's still much more to be done. The next few years will determine how I live out the rest of my life, for better or worse. I believe at some time in everyone's life, they come to a single point that will determine the rest of their lives, and only they can control the outcome. Everything I've experienced up to this point has given me the confidence to pick a path and stick to it, and although I don't know what lies ahead, I'm ready to take that step outside of my comfort zone and find out.

- Zachary Clouse

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I would title my memoir "Picture Perfect" because has I was growing up a lot of people would say everything in my life is great but in reality it wasn't. I'm a very private person so I don't always express what is going on with me, I would always keep my head up and a smile on my face. As I gotten older,  I realize that I should express how I feel and what's going on instead of keeping it inside. Im learning how to appreciate my family and friends more and trust them. With everything that is going on I have been depending on them so much.

- Ashley Coleman

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The title of my memoir would be "Light At The End Of The Tunnel". Throughout my life, I struggled a lot physically and mentally. Most of the time it was hard to manage and this led me to performing poorly in school. I never had a lot of hope and I always felt like nothing would get better. If I'm being honest, sometimes I still feel this way about life. But though all the bad things in life, I made it and I am still hear to talk about my experiences. I think my title fits my life well because no matter what has happened or what is going on, I still try to push myself to get to the next day. Sometimes I feel really close to the light, and other days it still feels like miles away. But the point is that you keep trying no matter what happens, if you get to the light or not, the light is coming.

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My life's route has consisted of many rocky roads. However throughout all of the hardships and delays over the course of my journey, I never stopped driving. I see my troubles as cars on the road beside me: I let them come and watch them pass. I have the motivation and persistence to achieve my life's goals, and I don't let outside factors stop me from completing what I want and need to do. That's why I titled this perseverance, because I don't allow difficult times in my life to stop me from getting to the smooth, clear road that I know is ahead of me.
- Kayla Fitzgerald

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I think that never too late really describes my life up until this point because making the decision to go back to school was really difficult but I just kept reminding myself that its never too late to go back to school. This can also apply to other things as well, its never too late to make a change to make you happy, it's never too late to take that vacation. I just keep reminding myself that it's never too late you just have to take the first step.
-Taylor Neill

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Growing up, I always did things to please others or tried to make them proud of me. Often times this would cause me to do things I didn't want to do or put things I did want to do to the side; however, the past couple years I started to put myself first, starting with deciding to take time off of school to really figure out what I wanted in life. I had to stray from the "expected life path" of going to college for 4 years directly after high school. I have finally been able to live my life as I want to and just be me without having to worry about keeping my eyes forward and staying in line.

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I picked this title for my memoir because it's simple and straight to the point, as this would be a story about myself. However, I intentionally spelled my name wrong because I would probably somehow use the lily flower as a motif in my story. It's also just a play on words because people always spell my name wrong.

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We will use this board to introduce ourselves to one another. I have included the directions in a picture below. When you finish take a picture (or you can complete it digitally and download or screenshot).  In your submission put your name as the title and in the box explain to us in a few sentences why you picked that title. This is one of my favorite activities of the semester. I look forward to reading them. You should comment on some of your colleagues as well.