FSU Student Wants an Epiphany, Not a Party
By Linsay K. Baker ENG 336:002  

To many students, college is the greatest opportunity to waste every penny their parents may have saved up for them on a really good time. Some girls and boys enroll in hopes of swiping as much plastic as possible on parties, food, daily shopping necessities, and maybe a notebook or two for good measure. They walk all over campus looking very smart while their parents check their credit score in the middle of the semester and feel really stupid. College is not cheap and time is too precious to be wasted but when you are a young adult it's hard to see the wiser of ways and peer pressure is on. But it would be terribly wrong to say that all college students are actually like this, so let's be honest about Marcus Carter. Marcus Carter. Even his name has a nice American ring to it, and not only is his name nice but Marcus Carter is an all-around nice guy.

Carters' smile is what you might notice first, that is if he decides to smile at you. Throughout his life, Carter has been labeled as many things that he definitely is not. Just after a short conversation it is easy to tell that Carter is good at interacting with people, and he is very intelligent. Carter comes from a family of twelve, which is something that this country doesn't see much of anymore. Being the second-oldest, Carter learned at an early age about being responsible and taking charge of his own future. Carter currently attends college without any financial help from his parents. This shows his love and respect for his family. He decided for himself early on that he "didn't want to make it harder for his big family," so he relied on scholarships he achieved from excellent grades and some cash that he has made all on his own to pay for his tuition. Carter works as a tutor here at Frostburg State but don't go to him for help with a paper. "Writing is probably my downfall," he blatantly admits. He isn't embarrassed by it at all. He believes that people should embrace their weaknesses to be the best. He took up a Journalistic writing class because ultimately his career might demand expertise for writing scientific journals. Carter is very committed to becoming a chemist one day and his focus will be mostly career-oriented. "Chemistry is like life: mechanism plus situation equals being more than what you thought you could be," Marcus says. While chemistry is a tough subject for many students, Carter is ready for the next challenge.

After Carter was born in North Carolina his family moved to D.C. and then to Maryland where they still reside, happily married. Carter currently resides here on Frostburg's campus with a full class load and usually takes the bus or catches a ride with a friend if he needs to go somewhere other than the lab. The lab is where Mr. Carter feels most at home. "I was a weird kid," he says, "Some thought that because my ideas were different I was foolish." Carter quickly proved them wrong as early as the third grade when he knew beyond any reasonable doubt that NBA star Michael Jordan was returning to the game after his early retirement. Carter liked extreme sports for a while but he never wanted to scare his parents or hurt anyone on account of him going at it a little too extreme. "Fear holds you back," Carter states, "I believe life is how you define it."

So why did Carter come to F.S.U? "Each year I would show more of myself," he says.  He labels himself, saying, "I'm a paradox," which pretty much means that no one really knows Carter like he knows himself. He knows that he is going to graduate from a grad school, without knowing which one yet. He knows that he likes the music that he listens to without knowing what genre is his favorite. He knows that he gets pretty sleepy when he's driving but he doesn't know for sure if he loves the feel of the road or not. Carter claims that Frostburg is like "his Walden pond" where he could have an epiphany that could change his whole life and he is open to each and every possibility.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/