Member Name BooBear1227

Additional In Game Names: n/a

How old are you? 23

Location: Colorado, USA (MT)

Do you have Discord? Yes

How many hours per day do you play MeepCraft? (weekdays) 4-10

How many hours per day do you play MeepCraft? (weekends) 4-10

Have you ever been staff on this or any other server? Yes

References: Please give IGN's qazini, Fangdragon1998, SpongeyStar, Marthacuddles, _Peero_, Katronica, Jwarian, GingerManOWNS, Bob4444444

When did you join Meepcraft? March / April 2013

Introduction:
Hello! I think most people know me, or at least know of me, by now. However, I may seem unfamiliar to some. For that reason, please allow me to introduce myself.

My full in game name is BooBear1227, but most people call me Boo. My life has many different aspects which include hanging around Meep, being a computer science graduate / IT professional, and volunteering. I enjoy volunteering as a summer camp counselor and for the Ronald McDonald House charities. In a previous lifetime - before some concussions and bad joints - I was an active athlete participating in sports such as cheerleading, soccer, and volleyball. In my spare time, I enjoy indoor rock climbing, hiking, biking, and running. I also love the occasional book, movie, or podcast. ( I am always open to suggestions for new content! )

Why should you be Helper?
Meep Experience
I joined Meep at the age of sixteen back in mid-March 2013 after my brother’s friend recommended the server to us. My brother and I played on the same account for a couple of weeks until I got my own account on a rainy Tuesday. In my time on Meep, I have served as a town staff member in four different towns. I am grateful for each of the unique experiences and look back with fond memories. I am most proud of my dedication to Ezri and Dax between May 2013 and June 2016 because I stuck with the same small team for 3 long years to help build towns that would remain a legacy for many other players. At the release of Gamma, I lost my Towny mojo and took time off from Meep to focus on my education. Seven years later from my first day on Meep, I am twenty-three years old and still hanging around this place because this community changed my life. I have met so many life-long friends here that continue to amaze and inspire me to continue to grow to be a better person.

I returned to Meep about six weeks ago looking to rejoin the community. I was thrilled to be welcomed back with open arms. The town of Legion reached out to me when I came back, and I was ecstatic to join a town and help push it off the ground. Through my dedication and work ethic in helping with some random preparation tasks for the release of Extreme, I rose from a resident up to co-mayor. I now happily help run Legion on a day to day basis.

Previous Staff Experience
In November 2013, I applied for Helper and had the amazing opportunity to serve as a staff member in different ranks with different responsibilities until January 2015. In May 2014, I was promoted from Mod to SuperMod because of my leadership and dedication to the team. I remained a SuperMod until November 2014 when I had been respectfully demoted back to Mod because of inactivity due to a health condition. Although I was disappointed about the demotion, I remained on the staff team to continue to provide the support that was needed at the time. I resigned from the team in January 2015 because of school, family, and medical issues. I then made a short return during the end of my senior year of high school after I resolved the school and family issues. I reapplied for Helper in March 2015 and remained on the team until I went away to summer camp in June 2015.

Although it was a rollercoaster, I enjoyed my time as a staff member. I met some of the most amazing people that I still call some of my best friends. Because of Meep Staff: I learned the difference between leadership styles, the importance of communication, collaboration of a team of more than 30 people, and being able to problem solve on the flip of a dime.

I want to continue to help make Meep a welcoming and safe place where people know they are welcome to come and escape the real world, even if it’s just to pop by for a few minutes to say hello and catch up with some old friends.

Real Life Experiences
I am very passionate about education, the outdoors, and technology / programming. From a young age, I have been dedicated to being in service of others and serving the multitude of communities that surround me in life. The best vocation I could be offered is a combination of the three. The dream is to work with children and teach them about the beauty and life lessons nature has to offer while inspiring them to use technology to better advance the world - keeping in mind both positive and negative consequences.

My passion for education and the outdoors comes from my summers of being a summer camp counselor. In the summer of 2011, I became a counselor-in-training and have since dedicated parts of every summer to volunteering at resident summer camps. Last summer, my camp name was retired as a sign of appreciation and recognition for the immeasurable amount of time, energy, and hard work I put in to make camp a special place for many others. Because of camp, I learned how to work well with others even when personalities clash, how to work with children, good leadership skills, and creating fun and memorable experiences for different types of people at different ability levels.

My passions for education and technology/programming come from my technical training as a computer scientist / IT professional and my time as a computer science tutor for my university. As a tutor, I enjoyed helping students reach the “aha” moment in understanding a concept. I often had returning clients because of the level of support I was able to provide them from my knowledge of the courses and the general field. From my time as a tutor, I strengthened my patience and communication skills from explaining concepts in multiple ways until the student felt comfortable with the concept enough to not only pass the class but to understand the concept so they would be successful in the future.

Overall, my interpersonal, leadership, collaboration, communication, and problem-solving skills will benefit the team and help guide my decisions.

What are your weaknesses?
Previous Staff Experience
Although having previous experience as staff can definitely help in this process, it can also hinder it because of my perception of the “way it was before.” A lot has changed since I was last a staff member, and it is why I have hesitated to post this application. I remember quite a bit of how it was previously, but the server and community has changed and evolved. The staff team expectations, rule guidelines, and structure has changed drastically since June 2015. To combat this weakness, I am trying to take time to re-learn the server, the new rules, and the new community. While I want to remember all from the past and continue that legacy, it is often best to live in the moment and to look forward to the future. I am taking this opportunity to look at this from a new perspective with a fresh pair of eyes.

“Use it or lose it”
In the almost five year separation, I have lost most of the muscle memory commands and on the spot thinking when it comes to completing modreqs and answering questions quickly. In recent years, the team also added the moderation of a discord server, which is something that will be completely new to me. Due to my time away from the team, I would need to be retrained on new expectations and procedures. However, I am a very quick learner and I am sure that it would not take too long for muscle memory to kick in.

Communication
I would say almost everyone struggles with communication during some point in their lives. I have learned that you are often not communicating enough until you feel you are overcommunicating. My personal weakness is with letting others know when I am struggling and / or need help with a situation before it becomes out of hand. My previous demotion from SuperMod came from a perceived lack of inactivity due to an error on my part to better communicate what I was struggling with in life. I am constantly working on this weakness by trying to reach out sooner rather than later when I need help, feel overwhelmed, or do not understand a concept.

Please give any other information you might think is useful for us to know: This application is something I have thought about for a few weeks now since rejoining the community about six weeks ago. While I have been encouraged by a few members in the community to re-apply, I took the time to really think over the decision because it impacts not only myself but others as well. I now personally feel ready to put this application up and to hopefully return to the staff team.

In addition, it has come up on a few other applications that it seems some people are just applying because of the copious amounts of spare time people now have due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I am not applying because I have copious amounts of spare time. I am currently still working from home, full time at 40+ hours per week. Meep is a place I am genuinely investing my free time into because of the relationships and enjoyment it has brought back into my life. I have received so much from this community and want to be able to give back as much as I can to the place that feels like another home.

Last, but certainly not least, thank you for spending the time to read my Helper application. I look forward to reading your feedback. I welcome any constructive criticism so that I may continue to work on myself.

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