My Behaviors And The Aspects Of My Life That Have Influenced Those Behaviors

I can’t believe my first college semester is almost over. Key word is “almost” because the weeks following thanksgiving break will be critical for me. Even though it’s almost over, I must finish strong. I wouldn’t want all my hard work to go to waste. All the A’s that I earned so far must remain A’s for me in order for me to be happy with my academic performance. These next 3 weeks are going to be hectic, but also relaxing.

In the past year, a lot has changed for me. I lost a grandfather to cancer, then a month later an uncle to a gruesome semi accident. My grandmother on the other side of the family barely remembers me due to alzheimer's, and my mom lost her job but is now working over 1300 miles away in Florida. If someone would have asked me at the start of my Junior year what I expected to happen, I wouldn’t have listed any of those. As anticipated, it was not easy dealing with a downfall of events like that, but the way I was raised helped me cope with it all. I started out at a small private school, where Religion was just as important as Math and English. How we were to act was drilled into us, and after I switched to public school, there was a noticeable

During those semesters, I relapsed in my battle with depression. I was originally diagnosed at the age of nine but learned to manage the disease with the proper tools of guidance of professionals. The transition from college to the next step presented me with many new challenges that reignited my triggers. After having the disease in remission for so long, I had forgot how to handle my struggles on a day to day basis, so my academics took a hit. The process of learning to cope, build myself back up, and continue moving forward has been tough but has made more confident in who I am as a person, a student, and as a future

Over the course of the semester I have crossed many boundaries that I never would have thought of. Whether that be domestically or culturally over the course of the year and with that it has changed my identity. This semester I found who I am more than anything and gave me an approach to how to live within a community that at first I do not know. With this being said I speak most likely for many that college started out scary as we knew no one and had never been away from home this long. I know personally I found my new identity that I never knew that I had because I crossed boundaries. As time goes on identity evolves when you cross domestic and international boundaries.

I believe what changed for me this semester is my motivation, determination and understanding. In the need to focus on myself and I can no longer try to save her from her issues. I have been speaking with a counselor who is very supportive and helping me deal with my life’s circumstances. A teacher I had in the 6th grade who is like a mother to me. She and her husband are wonderful people in my life and always there for me. She and her husband payed for my books this semester. Im currently looking for another job and my plan is to hopefully be able to move out on my own by the end of this year. My goal and plan is to earn an associate degree in the next year. I need 22 more credits and I want to take full semesters this upcoming fall and spring so I can achieve this goal. If iam able to follow this plan then I will transfer and work extremely hard to graduate from a college or university with a bachelors and masters degree.

Now that I have completed my first half of the semester in Montclair State University, I feel like I have accomplished a lot within these past few weeks. My goals for this semester was to start off academically strong, make new friends, trying new things, find a major, and getting out of my comfort zone. So far, I have accomplished more than half of my goals. I am doing well in my classes, exploring new places, and I met the greatest group of people I can be friends with.

This semester involved many writings that challenged my process in ways big and small. The variety of prompts each had their own details that required me to change perspectives as well as research topics to test my abilities as a writer. The topic that I felt helped me grow as a writer the most was the Personal Narrative. This essays caused me to think in its own way and only after completion was I able to effectively use the methods it taught me in my other assignments.

I did poorly last semester but this semester I have plans to do better. I am going to have a daily action plan and plans for how to deal with different problems that might come up. Last semester I did not properly handle the things that came up which is why it turned out like it did.

This semester was a handful with working on major projects, writing thesis papers, performing in my drama class and completing my first SAT. Out of all my assignments, one project that stood out was my Civil Rights project, I was as able to enhance my skills for academic success by writing an out of compliance letter to a handful of restaurants. I also go involved in other projects which led me attend a Denim Day Rally.

There are many things that I could take away from this semester that would be useful in life. The experiential learning of actually seeing the activities being put into play helped me really see how the activity can and will help others. Also trying something new helped me see that horses can help heal more than just emotional states, it can help someone mentally understand what is happening in their life. Horses have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember and my connection with them have grown, by seeing them used in different ways to help heal

Throughout this semester reading about different ways of interpersonal communication I came to the realization that there were many things I could work on to better myself as a person. Things I never thought about in depth until taking this class. Areas I have improved on throughout this semester are using I language more than the use of you language, what empathy was and how I choose to become better and lastly how I deal with conflict.

Look back on your goals from the beginning of the semester. Were you able to meet those goals? If not, what can you do to meet them in the future?

This semester was my very first semester as a college student. Being the first, it was probably the semester I would learn the most in. I learned the expectations for writing that I will have to live up to for the next four years of my college career. Though my high school teachers were usually demanding because I was in the Honors English section throughout high school, writing in college has still ?raised the bar? for me. Also, in high school, we would have weeks to pick a topic, create a thesis, outline the paper, write the paper, and then revise the paper. In college, the time restraints are not quite as lenient. I?ve had to learn to manage my time and be more productive with what free moments I

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 end of my Sophomore year was the worst time of my entire life and the main cause of my beliefs and ideas of myself. Depression hit me hard and fast like being in the two minute and twelve-second knockout boxing match with Muhammad Ali, but gratefully received help from my family, school, and a special someone. It played a massive role in my effectiveness in school work and social life, but that became the start of what I would call a blessing. Motivation and ambition came quickly after the second semester after months of pressure and love from others who I am proud to call family and friends.