Taylar Byrne

UWRT 1103
Practicum Journals Entries
Journal #1/ Proposal
I decided to use my Practical Proposal as my first journal entry
because it tells you everything about Sam and why she was a good
choice to observe for my Practicum. For my Practical I will be observing
Samantha Anne Slade, she is a senior here at UNC Charlotte. Sam is currently in her
fourth year playing softball for UNC Charlotte. She plans to graduate in the spring with a
degree in Psychology, and continue on to grad school at University of Kentucky.
I chose to do Samantha because she is one of the most unique, kind and genuine
people I have ever meet. Samantha has, personally, helped me through some very hard
times in the past couple of months. She is also extremely involved with her church. She is
also a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes, FAC, and Student Athletic Advisory
Committee, SAAC, on campus. This past summer she spent two months in Indonesia on
a mission trip.
Journal #2
Samantha and I were sitting on the bus traveling to Greensboro
for a softball game. As we began our drive, Sam pulls out a newspaper
and starts reading. All of us kind of looked at her funny. I asked her why
she was reading the newspaper. She said that she really liked being
able to hold the paper and read it. Sam also said that she likes buying
books rather than using a Kindle or something like that. She then went
on to tell me she is not the biggest fan of technology that she likes old
school things better. She kept talking and said that she really does not

like texting. She showed me her phone and she had over 100 unread
text messages. She said that she would see the text and just not reply,
or she will reply multiple hours later. She said that she does not like
how instant and fast texting is. Sam said that if she could have her
way, she would bring back writing letters because they are more
personal. Also, there is the anticipation of waiting for the letter to get
to you, and the excitement of opening it.
Journal #3
Samantha and I play softball together, so naturally, I asked her
how playing softball in college has impacted her life. She said that she
absolutely loved playing all four years and all the experiences,
traveling, team bonding was all worth it, and even the conditioning and
practices were worth it. Playing softball in college helped her learn
time management, having to do all your schoolwork and fit it with
practices and everything else. She said it also helped her learn how to
push through difficult times both physically and mentally. She also said
how playing a team sport makes you more dynamic as a person for the
future. You learn to work with people who have different personalities
and opinions and learn to work out your differences.
Journal #4
One important part of Samanthas life is her religion, but it was
not always that way. Growing up Sams was never very religious, until
her freshman year in college. From all of the stories I have heard about

Samantha from her freshman year was that she was kind of crazy. She
used to go out and party all the time during her first semester. Then
one time her friend invited her to FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes,
which completely changed her beliefs. She continued to go to FCA
every week and eventually she became a Christian.
Journal #5
This past summer Sam spent two months in Indonesia on a
mission trip. She said it was one of the best, most eye opening
experiences of her life. She started off by telling me how different
Indonesia was from America. When people in Indonesia saw Sam they
thought that she was so beautiful because of her blue eyes, blonde
hair and fair skin. While she was there people thought that she was a
giant because of her height. In America she normal wears a size small,
but in Indonesia she wore a large or XL. She was shocked at how
different the culture was shocking to Sam. They ate with there hands.
Women are not allowed to sit on the ground because they believe it will
cause infertility. When she got back to the USA she was so much more
aware of how easier life is in the USA compared to Indonesia
Journal #
For fun one of the Questions that I asked Sam was if she could
have any super power what would it be. She had a hard time choosing
just one super power to use. Her first one was being able to read
minds, but she didnt like the idea of having to hear what everyone

was thinking about all the time. She finally decided on invisibility. She
thinks it would be cool to turn invisible whenever you want. You could
be a fly on the wall. Sam is a big prankster, so she said if she could
turn invisible she would play jokes on people. She would not do
anything mean, she would just levitate things, move objects, and
open/close doors.