Final Reflection

A condition of my admission to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was the completion of my senior year courses. I admit that my grade in Math Techniques was an F. This fact is not what I wish to explain, as there is no way for me to skirt the fact that I received a failing grade in this class.

The two units that I felt I could connect the most to were the mental health and the factors affecting wellbeing unit. I think I was able to connect the most to these units because some of the things that are talked about in the units applied to my life. In mental health and factors affecting wellbeing, we discussed the different factors that can affect our mental health. One example that we talked about was stress, and this is one reason why I was able to relate to the unit. I often have felt stressed therefore, I know the effects it has on our mental health. Another thing that we talked about was how our mental health is affected every day by little things, and, I agree with this statement because I too have experienced

I have learned so many things out of this class that would be very useful to me in the future. Also, I don’t think that if I truly want to write about all the things I have learned from this class it would all fill a 2 pages paper. However, the three main things that I have retained from this include how to write a response paper, how to read a book better, and how to better write essays.

As a new student coming into this class we might have wondered what interpersonal communication was. However, I believe by now we all have a better understanding of what it means to communicate amongst ourselves. We all, or at least most of us were strangers at the start of class. However, through exercises and discussions we have become open with each other and learned a little along the way. Something as simple as our shared interests such as superhero movies or Star Wars trivia has opened up discussions we might not have had otherwise as a group. Our perceptions of each other have changed since that first awkward day playing a cheesy board game (Alder, Rosenfeld, Proctor II, 2013, p. 106-139). As we practiced our communication skills many of us have developed a stronger self-concept as well as boosted our self-esteems (Alder, Rosenfeld, Proctor II, 2013, p. 66-67). We also used social comparisons in our class intended or not (Alder, Rosenfeld, Proctor II, 2013, p. 69). We compared our backgrounds, both cultural, ethnic, as well as socio economic standing. Some of these comparisons come from what we learned as children to believe, while others are from what we have learned in life. This is what has intrigued me the most in class. The facts that we as a “civilized” world still have not come that far at all. Women are still for the most part second-class citizens, hate is taught to our children, and language still hasn’t evolved to where there are no

The Three things that I have learned about myself this semester are that I am determined to do whatever I can to finish my degree. I am willing to go above and beyond in order to complete my class work, homework and my classes. I have become more motivated and passionate about my career choices during this semester; I think it is because things are finally starting to fall in perspective for me.

The irritating, influential, and overwhelming documentary was directed by Ava DuVernay (Samito, 2015). While the documentary shakes the audience, it challenges their concepts regarding race intersection, mass incarceration in the U.S. and justice. It is a subject matter that sounds less cinematic. It has been increasingly difficult to separate Ava DuVernay filmmaking from her activism (Gray, Palmiotti, Archer & Guzman, 2007). The 13th is a timely movie just as Black Lives Matter protest and the presidential election that was imminent.

Sequence: I prefer directions to explain exactly what is required to do. I organize what needs to be done first with anything from start to finish.

In my opinion this project has happened to be one of the most beneficial projects. I personally wanted to do the field of Veterinary medicine because I have always been interested in that field and my fiancée is starting Vet school at Louisiana State Veterinary School, so knowing the statistics about the industry will benefit us. So after talking to my partner we both had an interest, so the decision was easy. Doing research about the job opportunities, salaries, and the stigma of the industry helps one realize the pros and cons. Ashley and I met twice to work as a team for the executive summary. I had finished my half of the project a week ahead of time and Ashley was not as proactive so I got a little nervous

“Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.” On the first day of school when I walked into this classroom, little did I how great of an impact this class would have on my life. Not only did I greatly improve my writing, reading, thinking, and speaking skills, but as a human being overall. Despite all the long, sleepless nights, I am grateful for what this class has provided me. This class has shown me that individuals always have room for improvement, and this improvement can be reached through hard work and dedication. With all the knowledge I received from this class, from individualism to the horrors of indifference, I hope to not let this information stray within my mind, but to share it amongst

As this project is concluded, I shall write about my final journal. My job, with my partner, Riley, was to create the shoulders of the human skeleton. Working with several different groups, the task was difficult, as I am not very communicative towards my fellow peers. During this project, I’d have to admit that I was not too happy to be working with people. However, my partner was reasonable to work with, and we got along fairly well. Of course, there were times we could joke with the people who sat at the table that we needed to communicate with, the arms and hands. Over the course of the first several days, we planned and graphed our pieces, measured and calculated everything to look similar to the shoulders of an adult human. To make the

Just 26,130 hours left. To many college students in my shoes, this number represents the hours they must put forth until they receive their diplomas. However, for me, this number has more significance: it represents the fleeting moments I have to academically and socially enrich myself in order to empower my community. While 26,130 hours might seem like an enormous amount of time, with the time spent on studying, sleeping, and maintaining good hygiene, this amount of time is decimated. With the remaining time, I have a choice of sustaining myself financially by working as a tutor or focusing on my interests through extracurricular activities. In most situations, I am obliged to pick the former as opposed to the latter. Although I gain money

This past year, I also learned a lot about leading and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Fall semester proved very difficult for me; with a daily schedule packed full from sunrise to sunset, and hours upon hours of homework in the evening, I struggled to find a consistent sleep schedule or eating schedule. However, after the Moreau material covering sleeping patterns, I decided to incorporate naps into my daily routine, and as a result, I felt significantly more energized and happier, even, the remainder of the fall semester. This semester, I have improved significantly by exercising regularly, getting at least seven hours of sleep per night, and eating two full meal a day. Compared to first semester, I have also done far better with handling stress. One way I have done this is by changing my perspective on stress, utilizing it rather than letting it become debilitating and damaging to my mental health as the article “How to Be Better at Stress” describes. I hope to continue maintaining a

At the beginning of the semester I had identified being an event planner as a dream job of mine. I also touched on that studying abroad is something I am very interested in, and hoped to pursue before my college career is over. Over the course of the semester I have been looking into possible internships abroad, to let me experience the “real world” of event planning while getting to follow one of my dreams. This course has taught me a lot about adaptation to new environments that I would hope to use in my potential, future career path as I hope to live abroad.

During week one, my initial definition of learning was listening to an instruction, studying and then rehearsing that information in my mind, or categorizing it in a way so I could remember most of what was taught in the course. The class has opened a new dimension for me in the learning process; from understanding how I process information to deciphering which learning processes I use in intentional learning or metacognition. Understanding my learning patterns form dynamic learning relationship is a key element to my view of how and why I process the learning experience, even relating it to every day life.

Those things I learned will stay with me until I graduate. First, I learned how to write story. How much different type of stories we have. How we can make our story good and interesting. Reading Tuesday essay make me think differently and make me think about my personal essay I wrote last week. It just makes me realize couple of mistakes I made during my writing. I really like that kind of essay although they are hard to read for me, but it is beneficial. The author Ramsdell in his essay he taught us telling story is not easy and not hard. He states that telling story became easier because of the life we have right now. It is really easy to obtain stories. His talks make me think I can tell story and make me remember things that can help me in the essay. I’m a big fan with that