Samantha Collins

objective

 

To find a position that will allow me to use knowledge gained through my academic classes in a business setting and hone my skills as a writer and editor. 

 

Experience

 

2002-2003         Peace College                                             Raleigh, NC

Peer Educator

Taught a class one hour a week with a faculty member.

n     Created a new lesson plan on Sexuality for upcoming years. 

n     Planned activities that fostered community among first year students.

 

 

Summer 2002     Minnieland Daycare     Fredericksburg, VA

Teacher

n     Worked with children age two and under on basic reading and math.

n     Responsible for the health and safety of fourteen two year olds.

 

 

2001-2002    Peace College     Raleigh, NC

Administrative and Research Assisstant

n     Created a database for the Writing Center.

n     Created web page and database for the Career Center

n     Assissted in research for summer 2003 study by Psychology faculty.

 

Education

 

2001-2003         Peace College                                             Raleigh, NC

Persuing B.A.’s in English and Leadership Studies.

n     Enrolled in the Honors Program

n     Earned a 3.6 GPA cumulative of first three semesters.

 

Interests

 

Computers, politics, writing, the arts. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

e-mail SCollins@peace.edu

151 Basalt Drive • Fredericksburg, Virginia 22406 • Phone (540) 903-1750

 


 

This is a segment from one of my most recent research papers.  Available in it's entirety here

    “…Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive… it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…(“Declaration” 1).” When the founding fathers of the United States wrotethese words they must have been looking through a crystal ball into the future - into today.  As the United States fumbles into the twenty-first century it is faced with many political dilemmas.  The limitations of the First Amendment, and if it applies to the Internet, is one of the most heated controversies facing politics today.  As society becomes more dependent on the Internet for communication, it has becomes a virtual war zone for politicians and political agendas.  The debate over freedom on the Internet has been intense since the passing and then overturning of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996. Since then, there have been several other laws enacted to make the Internet safer for the general population.  Two of the biggest and most noted of these laws were the Child Protection Act of 1998 (COPA) and the Safe Schools Act of 1999.  All three of these acts have been contested on the grounds that they infringe on the Right to Free Speech accorded to all United States citizens by the Constitution. Still the government does not give up.  As the government attempts to protect children on the Internet, they are inhibiting the Right of Free Speech to the adults of the United States.

    The Right to Free Speech is given to American citizens under the pretense that they can be somewhat regulated by the government.  Provisions within the Constitution allow laws to be passed which impede the Rights of the First Amendment.  In order for these laws to be passed they must meet Content Neutral conditions.  Content Neutral restrictions can only be put on the “time, place, and manner of speech, not on the content therein (Jasper 7)”.  This standard is important to the fight for Internet freedoms.  Most laws being passed regarding the Internet are against content, not against the time, place, or manner in which it is done.  This does not meet Content Neutral restrictions, and, therefore, makes restricting the Internet illegal by First Amendment standards. 

    The current debate in the courts regards how the Internet should be restricted, if at all.  In many places, the Internet is winning the battle for Free Speech.  In 1997 the Supreme Court ruled that even though the Web is a ²¢unique and wholly new medium,’ in the end … its functions are not so different from the kind of the communications that led to the First Amendment in the first place” (Biskupic 2). The driving force behind all legislation regarding the Internet is being pushed on the platform that the Government is trying to assure the safety of young children, not the fundamental right that is guaranteed to American citizens.  As these acts overlook the fundamental rights of the American public, they trample on one of the building blocks of modern society.