Online Interview

Michael Boutte
English 1001-110
Lei Lani Michel
Profile Paper
Online Interview
The first time I meet Like Louis was at Woodruff Boy Scout Reservation in Northern Georgia. On Tuesday a thunderstorm came across the camp, therefore Mike, five of the adult leaders, and I gathered under a wooden pavilion that could barely fit the seven of us. While we sat under the pavilion, I noticed Mike seemed introverted, like me, because he sat on the end of the bench not saying anything; he just stared at the rain. Eventually, the adults began to talk about the Iraq War, as they always do, and then another side of Mike came out of nowhere. He began to debate with them about an exit strategy, our purpose for beginning there, and etc. During the argument all five adults singled out Mike, but he still had an instant reply for every statement they said. This particular event amazed me because whenever I converse with a group of people I do not have anyone that shares my views on the topic. Also, Mike never made up information when he debated with people, for he used the facts about the subject. His vast knowledge baffled people and they wondered where he received his education; he answered Syracuse University.
Mike discovered Syracuse University when he vacationed in the Northeast with his family during the summer of his junior year. They drove to upstate New York and decided to visit Syracuse University. Originally, Syracuse did not interest him but he decided to take a tour since his dad, Brett Louis, heard they were a high ranked school. Once he entered the campus his thoughts about the university began to change rapidly. First, he noticed the abundant green healthy trees and the round topped mountains in the background. Then, he went on a tour of the campus and he said, “Everyone seemed very happy, and they looked like they loved the school they were in.” The first building he viewed was their three story red-orange bricked library. He walked in and saw rows of shelves filled with all kinds of books, periodicals, and magazines. He also noticed hundreds of brown desk with numerous students diligently doing their school work. Mike asked the tour guide if he had a calendar of the events that take place on campus, so the guide brought him to the university calendar on one of their black dell computers. The calendar showed at least two events every day ranging from speakers, concerts, and club meetings. This was exactly what Mike wanted to see because he did not want to be bored in college. Later, he came across the tan photo journalism building with its six towering Roman columns. Also, dark green bushes followed the side walk to the entrance and formed a perimeter around the building. They went inside and the tour guide stopped an old gray and white haired professor who cheerfully came to speak with them. He proudly said, “I have worked at Syracuse for twenty years,” and he spoke about their highly ranked status among other universities. At the end of the tour, Mike enthusiastically told his father, “I want to go to Syracuse!”
Mike enjoyed his time at Syracuse and participated in many extra curricular activities. During his freshmen year he joined the newspaper staff and became a photographer since he wanted to major in photo journalism major. He became friends with the newspaper staff, for they did homework and went to movies and concerts together. As hobbies, Mike took pictures and played pranks on his friends. One day Mike got offended when his friend, Dan, made fun of him for watching “The Cosby Show”, which aired on Nickelodeon, because Dan believed the show seemed childish. Two days later Mike decided to play a prank on Dan who was homophobic. Mike and Dan’s roommate, Roger, taped pictures of nude men on every square inch of wall in Dan’s room. Dan came home from class at about 3:00 p.m. while Mike and Roger quietly waited in the living room on the black sofa as if they did nothing wrong. Dan walked straight into his room, completely oblivious to the situation, and furiously said, “What the hell is this guys.”
While Mike knew how to have fun, he was focused on his school work. He knew the difference between the time to play and the time to work. He did not find his class to be difficult except for his mathematics courses, for he struggled with math since he was in highs school. He had difficulty with it because he could not understand why he needed to know subjects like calculus. Outside of his “useless” math classes, he took a psychology class as an elective during his freshmen year, and the class became a changing point in his life. The class interested him even more than photo journalism. “That was my first psychology class I ever took and I never really knew how interesting it really was,” said Mike. The following semester he not only signed up for another psychology class but also a political science course. He wanted to learn more about both sides of the political world since he was born into a republican family and attended a majority democrat college. These classes intrigued Mike so much that during his sophomore year he changed his major to psychology and minored in political science.
Mike had no regrets about his change in majors. He loved every class he took that related to either psychology or political science, and he enjoyed psychology that focused on children the most. During his junior year, he joined a research club that conducted psychology projects. One of the projects required him to teach second and third graders. He and his classmates volunteered at a local grammar school and offered after school tutoring. Some of the students had mental disorders such as autism. These students became a challenge because they did not want to talk to Mike and would kick and scream randomly. During his time tutoring, he believed that explaining to the parents the effects of their child’s disorder was the most difficult aspect since the parents did not completely understand the disorder.
After multiple tutoring sessions and classes, Mick’s graduation, May 2005, finally arrived. Two months after his graduation he enrolled in Louisiana Sate University to attend graduate school. He chose L.S.U. not only because his friend, Peter, agreed to share an apartment with him near campus, but also his girlfriend, Diana, lived in Baton Rouge whom he kept a long distance relationship with for the past four years. Unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina gave Mike a poor glimpse of Louisiana for his first year of graduate school. The storm’s wind, rain, and flooding did not directly affect him, but his family from New Orleans did cause several conflicts. They rented an apartment directly under Mike’s apartment for about three months. Mike did not want them living that close to him because they treated him like a child. They tried controlling every aspect of his life, for they asked him what he was doing and where he was everyday. As a result from Mike’s obnoxious parents, he scored a letter grade below what he wanted on his test. Luckily before the next semester began, his parents moved back to New Orleans and he was able to focus on school and his new job as a psychology teacher assistant.