Week One: Introduction

My name is Brittany Jaked. I am a Child Development major and working toward my Birth through Kindergarten teaching license. I will be graduating in May 2013. 

I signed up for this course to meet the gen-ed requirements, and I wanted to ensure that when I took my Arts & Aesthetics course it would be a rewarding course and something I was able to enjoy. 

From this course I hope to gain a better understanding of editing photos appropriately (especially for the web) as well as to gain a better understanding of what the Wake County Animal Shelter does to improve our community.

I am really looking forward to being able to look back at my progress of the photos I take early on during the course compared to the last week of the course. By doing this it will allow me to have physical evidence of my understanding about how to use Adobe Photoshop. 

Currently, the only thing I am intimidated about is going to the shelter and remembering that I am there to help save the animals, and that saving them does not mean I have to take them all home.
This is the 2nd online course that I am taking. Last Summer (2011) I took Psychology 312- Psych of Exceptional Individuals. 
From this course I expect for it to require a decent amount of time and effort to successfully complete the tasks. Part of the reason I chose to take this online course is because of the flexibility with my schedule. I will be babysitting this summer, and with babysitting schedules comes sudden changes in plans and the need to be more readily available. Another reason this course was appealing to me is because it does not require us to meet face to face on a daily basis which is nice because I would not be able to commute from my home to Meredith on a daily basis.  
I am really looking forward to the outcome of this class in terms of volunteering with the Wake County Animal Shelter. Ever since I was a little kid I have always had a big heart for animals, but sadly I can not take all the dogs home with me. By doing this it is giving me a way to help the animals in a way that will benefit the dogs as well as myself. 
I currently have 1 dog that is mine, but growing up I remember having a dog (or animal since I was about 6 years old). My first dog that I had in my home was a tan Pug, Neiko. Over the years I have had many animals in between, and the last dog I had, Snickers, I unfortunately had to rehome after my mom got sick and having 2 large dogs in our house was not possible. 
By taking this course my goal is to help the animals out, and hopefully help my friends and family to gain insight to the benefits of rescuing animals rather then going through a breeder, and that you should spay and neuter your pets.