By Ly-Anh McCoy, ENGL 336.001
"I am a non-traditional student,” stated John. Welcome to the life of John Aric Wilkinson, better known as Aric. John Aric Wilkinson was born on January 10, 1988 in Rockville, Maryland. His mother used to be a lawyer, but now works with billing software for lawyers. Aric’s father worked as a civilian contractor in Biology for the Army , and he has two younger brothers. He moved to Garrett County five years ago with his parents for a little while. He eventually felt that he needed to branch off on his own, so he came to Frostburg. Aric originally came to Frostburg for a vacation and kayaking, but he then decided that he was going to live here for good! After deciding he was going to stay in Frostburg, he went back to school. Aric is currently a senior attending Frostburg State University. Before going to Frostburg, he went to Garrett College and graduated with an associate’s degree in 2010. He started off as a Biology major, but recently switched to Liberal Studies. His reason for switching majors is because he loves Biology, but absolutely hates Chemistry. Studying as a Liberal Studies major, he wants to earn his bachelor’s degree and then go off to the National Guard to be a commissioned officer. After completing the National Guard, Aric wants to go to Grad school and study Mass Communications. Aric has always considered himself not a traditional student, because he would go to school and then stop for two or three years.
In his free time he does activities such as: kayaking, traveling, rock climbing, shopping ,and building rifles and furniture. Aric has a part-time job building rifles from components for the State Department of Natural Resources. When asked what does he like about building Wilkinson states, “the hands on aspect.” He likes to create things with giving them some type of shape and form. Aric loves to shop and many people find that shocking when he expresses that he is interested in fashion. He states, “quality over quantity is what type of shopper I am.” He has two different pair of shoes for each type of apparel that he owns.
Aric's family moved a lot and traveled many places because his father was in the Army. Aric has visited places such as: Australia, New Zealand, England, Wales, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Haiti, and Jamaica. He volunteered in Haiti and Jamaica for Food for the Poor, and then later was offered a position. In Costa Rica he did some work with a company called Inrecon, which rebuilt schools and government buildings. Out of all the places that Aric visited, Jamaica seems to stand out the most to him. While he was there he had a chance to build houses and integrate into the culture, which meant a lot to him. Traveling to South Jamaica gave him the opportunity to travel but also put things into perspective as well. When asked why does he feel so strongly about Jamaica he says, “conditions where people are poor but still smile is a reason why many people should appreciate life.” Aric goes on to say, “people around here they want too much and they should be enjoying themselves.” Ten years from now Aric sees himself in South America doing media production and journalism.
Website: http://www.foodforthepoor.org/ is who he volunteered for
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