The Untold Story of Michael Franklin.

The Untold Story of Michael Franklin.
By: Tezeta Gant, ENGL 336

Michael Franklin is a college junior at Frostburg State University within the Mass Communication department. He is looking to get a major in Mass Communications with a focus in Audio Production and a minor in Public Relations. Franklin had decided to attend Frostburg State University in order to stay close to his family but still wanted to make sure that they couldn’t randomly pop up at the school for visits "close but not close". He was raised in Montgomery County, Maryland two and a half hours from the campus of Frostburg State University.

            Michael Franklin, although he was not involved in any politics in high school, he found comfort and happiness in music and theater. Throughout high school he was involved in the music program as well as later becoming the Vice President of the theater program. He brought that love of music and theater with him in his journey into college. “I remember thinking that I had racked up a laundry list of activities and organizations that I had been a part of in such a short amount of time.” He started off his college career with playing the bass drum in the colleges marching band for the first two years. Franklin become involved in Colleges about Cancer as well as becoming the Vice President of the Anti-Bullying Club. These are two organizations that are very close to Franklin and organizations that he wanted to make sure that he was able to become a part of and try to be an advocate for. Franklin also started playing the bass for CRU, an on campus religious organization. Lastly, Franklin started attending FAME: an organization that highlights and promotes the arts and musicians on campus.

            Franklin is a very passionate about the Semicolon Project, which is an anti-suicide non-profit movement. This is a project that is trying to help people who are going through depression, mental illness, suicide, addiction and self-injury. It encourages love, hope and inspiration to those who are feeling down and hopeless. Franklin believes that there were two people in his life that really inspired him and helped him to figure out his own path in life. One of these mentors for him was his high school theater teacher named Ms. Perkins. “Be a go getter.” “Don’t ever lose sight of what the end goal is.” These were the things that Michael would keep telling to himself whenever he would think of Ms. Perkins. In College he has found another person he sees as a mentor, his Mass Communications advisor, Dr. Whalen. Not only did Dr. Whalen help Franklin with his search for internships, “She helped me narrow down what I wanted out of life”.

            To learn more about the Semicolon Project please visit: SemicolonProject.org