THANK YOU MADD

I want to say THANK YOU to MADD for being one of the best organizations in the world. They do absolutely everything they can do. They are the reason why I am fighting the battle with them which is trying to eliminate Drunk Driving for good. Like I said before it may not be next year or the year after, but I can see it happening down the road. MADD has truly been an inspiration for me because I am able to share my story to others and change people lives. The reason Mothers Against Drunk Driving got started because back in the 1980's a mom lost her daughter to a drunk driver and see realized something had to be done. I am giving back to the community every time I speak and for me my speaking has evolved tremendously at first I would be nervous going up and speaking, but now I cannot wait until my next speaking. I do always prepare before, because its always a new crowd I am speaking to. I went to a spiritual speaking today and one of the men there said think about this "your sisters death is helping save thousands of lives". I paused before I said something back because now I look at it, its true if my sisters had not been killed by a drunk driver, I would not be speaking or even interning with MADD. I am changing my life completely especially after my sisters death and now I got to learn how to live with this for the rest of my life.
      My sister was a wonderful and amazing girl, you knew she was always in the room and her laugh was one I will never forget. Also MADD does amazing things to remember my sister they created a cup with her picture in it, they wrote a story about me and her and sent it to all the families for this upcoming holidays so that nobody will drink and drive, they do this every year its their last push.  MADD is amazing everyone should help make an effort to eliminate drunk driving, because its 120% preventable. For me now I hate to hear about how other families have lost someone because of a drunk driver, its the worst feeling in the world, to know that if someone else would have drove, they would be alive its that simple. But to end this blog once again I want to say THANK YOU to MADD and everyone in the organization throughout all the states. MALAK I LOVE YOU AND I ALWAYS MISS YOU RIP.

What I Learned

My internship which I am still going to is amazing and will continue to be amazing. I love that I chose MADD, but the sad part is I chose this internship because my sister was killed by a drunk driver and I wanted to do something about that. I am glad that I am able to share my story to many people. I have probably told my story almost 200 times and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. I love speaking in front of an audience, many people will come up to me and take pictures or hug me saying I was an inspiration and the hard part is telling the story about how my sister was killed. Do I cry when I do speak sometimes, yes of course its painful to go up there and talk about my sister. Not everybody can do what I am doing, I hear other speakers and they tell me they waited three years to speak which for me I could not do. People tell me all the time that I am crazy for speaking so soon or how do you do it? I learned many things from this internship.
      MADD taught me many things one was being able to give me courage to speak, they helped through my speaking process. I also learned more about what MADD does and what they are working on in the future and its going to be a successful future for MADD I can already see it. I mention this before I saved well over 1000 lives or even there might have been people that drink less or got rid of alcohol after they heard me speak. I am doing the best I can. MADD is helping me every step of the way. I believe I did meet my goals. I am leader, I am life-saver, a change maker, a motivator, and I am community activists. I do feel I need to do more in the community activists though, but that does take time. I have several more speakings this upcoming week and I cannot wait to go, these are my last speakings for this year so I got to give it my all. I do want to be a motivational speaker, but this all comes with time. I do hope I can go schools and not only talk about drunk driving, but motivate the students about their education and life choices. I am doing this all for my sister MALAK whom I miss dearly every second, every minute, every hour I think of her, I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU RIP.

Career Service Write-up

Today I met with an educational/career adviser at my old community college which I go visit often. I always go talk to her when I can. She gives me great advice and plus she has a master's degree which I am hoping to obtain in the near future. The great part with her is she is always happy to see me when I do visit the campus. She told me that I should try to go into being a counselor or teacher if I really want to help kids. I do learn a lot from this women she's hardworking and does her job well. We also talked about what master's degree I should be going to into she gave me several options, but I believe that Public Administration would be the best one, you can do so much with that degree. I also met with a Cal State Northridge  Representative after I spoke to her, he gave me the same advice go and apply for your master's degree as soon as possible. I believe people should stop after they get their bachelors degree because some masters programs may only take another 4 semesters or if you really want to finish quick you may finish them in three semesters which is 12 months or one year.  School is about investing in yourself because after school you will be working for the rest of your life so why not go already to the top which is obtain a PhD. I want to do great things in my lifetime, but first I want finish school off strong and go all the way to the top of the mountain.
       Before I spoke to the adviser I spoke in a Health Class which was my last speaking at College of the Canyons for this fall semester. The speaking went awesome, I spoke to my former professor which was the first class I ever took at my community college back in 2009. The professor was happy to see me again and she said she would love for me to comeback and speak in the Spring Semester. I am making an impact the best I can and I think its not only helping my life, but the lives of the other students and for that I am grateful. I plan on speaking in 2015 to more High Schools and Community Colleges and Universities. I want to go from a good speaker to a great speaker. Here is the Class I spoke to today.

 

The Strength of MADD

MADD is amazing I cannot express how much I love what they do, they really do care. The biggest goal they have and may take a few years to accomplish, is to Eliminate Drunk Driving which I believe will happen one day. This is a battle and challenge that they are fighting and still going to fight. The organization is the nations largest non-profit which is saying something, people are willing to help and continue to help and make a difference. MADD always seeks volunteers, they would love to hear everyone's story, but at the same time you have to realize some people may not like talking about what happen to them or their family members or even friends. Talking about something that is so personal can be a challenge, but for me I love talking about what happen to my sister, I do not want people to forget that there was a Drunk Driving Car Crash in Burbank, and I will do my best to bring to the newspapers and TV every year no matter how long its been.
  I would say one thing MADD really does need to consider is emailing schools first instead waiting for them to email you. Because if a professor gets an email from a person who works for MADD, they most definitely would set up a day where they can come in and speak. If I were in charge of a similar organization I would personally go to schools myself and tell them I want to speak which is what I do now, but I do feel that all their staff throughout the nation should be doing that. Sometimes schools may not know your available and they should not wait for them to contact you, MADD should contact them. The more schools you go to the more people start learning what MADD does and the more people you touch and the more people that are willing to help. Its a win win.   Here is a picture of a class I spoke to and I just want to say I really touched all these students.

2015

I want 2015 to be the best year I have ever had. My goal is to find a fellowship, but also have a fitness lifestyle. I have not been to gym in a month, but I plan on going soon. When 2015 does arrive I hope I can be the best I can be. Fitness is a big goal, I do feel I am capable of getting that body I have always wanted. Fitness should be in everyone's daily life. Going to the gym for an hour is only 4% of your day, which there should be no excuse for that. I keep thinking about 2015 because I know it will be a tough year for me, but I will do my best to have the best year of my life. I will do whatever it takes. I plan on achieving a lot of goals I have, but first I have to work on myself. This year was a tough year and still is, but ending it will be okay because I will be graduating and then its my birthday two days later so there is a lot to look forward to.

   I know next year I will have a good time, I want my lifestyle to change, I want to move to another state maybe Michigan. I really want my lifestyle to change, there is a lot I do need to change about myself. This all takes time, I cannot change everything about myself in one night or one week, it may take months, but I will make sure that my lifestyle will change. I just cannot wait to start 2015 with the right mindset and a successful path, because I know 2015 will be the year I go from good to great. One thing I really do want to do is wake up earlier I plan on starting at 7am try to get my day going from there. I do feel like when you wake up earlier, you can get more things done in the day and realize you still have hours to spare. I hope everyone has a successful 2015.

Finding a Fellowship/Graduation

My main goal after graduation is to find a fellowship, I really want to go to grad school. I always tell myself I give another year or so for the masters. I also always tell myself "WHY STOP" if a masters degree takes another four semesters and it usually does I can do another four semesters. Not only will this help with my career path, but also this will enhance my knowledge. I always tell people "knowledge is the new money". Education for me plays a big part in my life, and I am glad that I am going to graduate from The Arizona State University and I could not be more happier. Finding a fellowship is not easy, and I hope I can meet someone who will show me how to get a fellowship, being able to have your grad school paid for is amazing and I know I will get a fellowship before Fall of 2015. I still do not know what school I want to go to, but I will be applying to at least five schools. Getting a bachelors is nice, but I want that masters. I already have my education plan set out for me, lets say I go to grad school Fall of 2015 I will be set to graduate Fall of 2016 taking every semester of course. Then I plan on going to get my PhD which is another story for me. Think about this being 30 years old with a PhD sounds wonderful.
       I want to get to top meaning that PhD and for me I will do whatever it takes. I want it bad. I never thought I would love school as I do today, but once I entered the community college level I fell in love and I will keep going till I reach my goal. Education is big, some people do not realize it, but its not that hard to go to class and do the work and study. Because stepping on that stage and knowing you gave it your all, is worth it. I put 120% in everything I do in life. I cannot wait to graduate in a month, but also find that fellowship I will be looking for. "NEVER GIVE UP".