The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • SALK Day 4 – The Ruth-Mr. D Story – Part 2

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    Ruth Carter

    Every student at St. Vincent High School gets to have The Mr. D. Experience in sophomore biology.  One thing that I have come to appreciate about Mr. D. is his enthusiasm.  He will do whatever it takes to help a student love science, or at least learn it.  Mr. D. wore these ugly red-brown shoes just so he could be on his feet, jumping around, all day without being in pain.  He said the wackiest things in class.  One year, students kept track of these DeShazerisms for two weeks and published them in the school newspaper.  I wish I had kept that issue.  I don’t remember what was on the list, but I remember laughing very hard.

    MAGIA EN HYDRODICTYON
    Image by PROYECTO AGUA** /** WATER PROJECT via Flickr

    One thing every student gets out of his class is a strong feeling about the Latin language – either an appreciation for it or complete disdain.  I remember when we were learning about the different types of algae.  He would put a species name on the overhead and cold call on people to try to translate it out of the Latin.  Every time he did this, I would cringe and pray that he wouldn’t call on me, kind of like the way I cringed and cowered in Professor Clinton’s Constitutional Law class my 1L year.  I now realize that he didn’t expect us to know the answer, but he wanted us to try.  As the year progressed, we learned a handful of Latin word roots: hydro = water, philic = loves, phobic = fears, chloro = green, rhodo = red, etc.  They were useful to know while I was studying vocabulary for the GRE and still come in handy with random legal terms.

    I remember one day he put up a species name and said, “Ruuuuth, would you like to translate out of the Latin?” I honestly answered, “No.”  I think he was surprised by my response but realized that he asked a question instead of give a direction.  He turned to my friend sitting next to me and said, “BJ, you’re her lab partner.  You translate it out of the Latin.”  I never tortured my lab partner like that again.

    Looking back on my biology class, I remember doing a lot of labs.  It wasn’t enough for us to talk about science; Mr. D. wanted us to do science.  Given that he had four full classes of sophomores every day, and only 45 minutes per class, that was quite an undertaking.  I’m sure he went home exhausted those days.  We did a lot of work with the microscopes – creating and looking at slides.  We dissected worms, grasshoppers, and frogs.  I remember when we were studying bacteria, each student was given the task of growing bacteria from a different source.  I grew the bacteria that was on the top of my shoe and my lab partner BJ grew the bacteria from the bottom of his shoe.  Neat Stuff!!

    Click here for Part 3 of the Ruth-Mr. D Story.

    Sponsor A Law Kid is my endeavor to pay for my last semester of law school. Today’s sponsors are Darvin and Jane DeShazer. For more information about Sponsor A Law Kid or to see what days are still available for sponsorship, visit my Sponsor A Law Kid page.

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  • SALK Day 3 – The Ruth-Mr. D Story – Part 1

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    Ruth Carter

    When I launched Sponsor A Law Kid, Darvin and Jane DeShazer were among my first sponsors and they asked to sponsor my entire first week.  After my blog about Mr. D the mushroom master, they said I could write about whatever I wanted.  I decided to take the next few days to share part of the Ruth-Mr. D story.  I’m not sure he remembers our first conversation.

    Iguana iguana close up small
    Image via Wikipedia

    Mr. D teaches sophomore biology and AP biology at St. Vincent High School.  One of his rules is you can earn extra credit in his biology class by keeping a plant or animal alive in the classroom.  When I was a freshman, my sister was in his biology class and kept an iguana named Gomer in his classroom.  Gomer needed fresh food and water every day and he came home on the weekends.  It was common for me to take him out of his terrarium and place him on my shoulder.  Sometimes he would jump from my shoulder to Mom’s and scare the bejuzus out of her – kind of like this guy.

    One morning my sister was sick, and she asked me feed Gomer for her.  I had never been in Mr. D’s classroom before.  His room was intimidating to a small freshman like me.  Not only was it at the far end of the senior hallway, it was one of the biggest classrooms in the school with tall heavy lab tables instead of traditional desks.

    I entered Mr. D’s room shyly and saw Gomer in his terrarium.  My fear evaporated as I opened the top to change his food and water.  Mr. D was back in his prep area and didn’t really see me come in.  I called out, “Is it ok if I take him out?”  By the time Mr. D looked up to see (1) who this unfamiliar voice belonged to, and (2) what she was talking about, I had picked Gomer up and placed him on my shoulder.

    Mr. D seemed surprised by my presence in his classroom.  He asked,”Does that belong to you?”  I explained that Gomer was my sister’s and that I was feeding him in her absence.  I was lucky that my sister was one of the smartest kids in his class, so her reputation proceeded me.  I think he thought that was a precocious freshman who didn’t know that he had a rule against taking pets out of their cages at school.

    I think he came to appreciate my bold nature when he had me as a student for the following three years.   He was probably glad when I was a sophomore that Mom decided that it was better for me to have a cactus instead of an animal for extra credit.

    Click here for Part 2 of the Ruth-Mr. D story.

    Sponsor A Law Kid is my endeavor to pay for my last semester of law school. Today’s sponsors are Darvin and Jane DeShazer. For more information about Sponsor A Law Kid or to see what days are still available for sponsorship, visit my Sponsor A Law Kid page.

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  • SALK Day 1 – What Am I Doing??

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    Ruth Carter

    Welcome to  2011 and the beginning of Sponsor A Law Kid!

    This is my endeavor to pay for my last semester of law school at Arizona State University.  People are sponsoring various days between January 1st and July 27th in exchange for having blogs written about them, their business, or the topic of their choice.  Today’s sponsor asked me to use my first day to give a little background information about myself.

    I went to St. Vincent High School in Petaluma, California where I took every honors and advanced placement class in math and science.  By the time I graduated, I was convinced that I was destined to get a Ph.D. in chemistry and win the Nobel Prize.  I liked working on problems and being able to find a concrete conclusion at the end.  I had amazing teachers who nurtured me along the way.  After high school, I went to Oregon State University and majored in chemistry for two years.  There I learned that I didn’t like being trapped in a lab all day.  I was also a Resident Assistant I learned that I liked working with people in a problem solving role.  Much to the shock of my classmates and mentors, I changed my major to psychology.  After graduation, I went on to get a masters degree in counseling, moved to Phoenix, and became a therapist working with adults living with HIV.

    Being a therapist was often rewarding, but at times it was frustrating because I was in a role where I was working at my clients’ pace, not mine.  I could diagnose clients with the best of them and I could make suggestions about what they might want to do to improve their lives, but there was nothing I could do to make them actually put these ideas into actions.  My hands were tied, and I often felt like I was trapped in my office.  I wanted a more active role in the problem solving process.

    I came to law school hoping to find the best of two worlds – helping people with their problems and being an active member of the problem solving team.  I am glad I chose Arizona State for school because of its Center for Law, Science, and Innovation.  My plan is to practice intellectual property and internet law.

    During law school, I have become involved in the social media and to a lesser degree, the podcasting communities.  These are the type of people I want to have as clients some day.  In November 2010, I was out for a run and catching up on my podcasts.  I heard an interview with Jason Sadler, founder of I Wear Your Shirt.  He makes a living producing content and advertising companies by wearing their shirts.  I thought he was a genius.  He inspired me to tweak his idea and instead of selling days in exchange for wearing people’s shirts, I could sell days in exchange for writing blogs for my sponsors.  I checked with one of my social media friends and he said to run with the idea.

    To date, I’ve sold 33 days with other potential sponsors considering which days they want to buy.  This program has paid for ~20% of my tuition.  One potential sponsor opted to give me a $1000 scholarship in lieu of sponsoring a day.  I will be selling days until the program is over or until I run out of days.  I want to thank all my sponsors in advance for participating in this program and contributing to my education.

    Sponsor A Law Kid is my endeavor to pay for my last semester of law school.  Today’s sponsors are Darvin and Jane DeShazer.  For more information about Sponsor A Law Kid or to see what days are still available for sponsorship, visit my Sponsor A Law Kid page.

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