My College Experience

It hasn’t been easy, but coming to college has been one of my greatest life moments. I know that I’ve have grown tremendously in the last two years and will continue to each year. There is so much more life to experience and I can’t wait to see all the future opportunities I will be exposed

Everything was going extremely well. Do not get me wrong, there were times that I felt sort of low, missed home, and missed my grandfather, but I still pushed through and kept going. Classes were at times difficult, but meeting people and making memories made college more enjoyable. This was great, but I found myself pleasing other people and not focusing on myself as much. I had to focus on my finals and getting everything packed and ready to go. Before I knew it, my first semester of college was over and I had to go home to my family for a long while.

On August 16th, my parents helped me move into my dorm. I moved into Samuella V. Totty Hall with my roommate Jazmine. We both discovered that we had the same name, just spelled differently. We transferred information and got to know each other better. Later on that day we went scavenging hunting to find the building our classes were in. I knew my mother and father were very proud of me, but I knew I had to further my education and keep going to reach the top! My first day of classes was very different from what I thought it would be. In high school I had 15 minutes to get to my classes. I took all seven classes Monday through Friday all in one building. All of my classes were at least an hour and thirty minutes long. In college, we have 10

My first semester at the University of Evansville has been some of the best, yet hardest, days of my life. I have made many new friends, joined clubs, attended events on campus, and worked out at the gym, but along with all this fun came a lot of stress, hard work, and restless nights. Although I had some rough times, I believe that taking ID 106 provided with me all the information I need to cope when put into these situations and taught me how to avoid being put into stressful situations.

I expect this year to be difficult. I come from a small town and UNCC is huge in comparison, and not just in terms of population. The space between my dorm in Witherspoon and the Student Union is about the length of my hometown’s main street. To say I am experiencing culture shock is an understatement. I want this year to be fun, be enjoyable, but I know it is going to be hard, especially during the first semester. There is a steep learning curve to even being here, not even considering classes, just being here, just getting here, it has been and will continue to be a challenge. I have never been away from home for more than two weeks at a time and this past Friday marked my first two weeks here. I have never felt more homesick. My family is trying to help, but I am a first-generation college student and we are all in the dark as to how I am supposed to scale this mountain. I am only here because of the generosity of others and hours of hard work. I spent middle school and high school with my nose pressed into books, understanding that I would never be talented enough for an athletic scholarship. In my spare time I worked, worked because my family did not have enough money to send me anywhere. I earned scholarships and I got here and I knew that college was going to be hard academically, and that I would have to work, but even before the real work has begun I have been slapped in the face by something much worse, loneliness.

This week has been one interesting, hectic experience. Every since I came back to my father’s place after summer break from graduating, I had did nothing but apply for Columbia Southern University. Afterwards, I applied for FAFSA to get government grants to pay for my college considering I was no longer in High School. During August, I did not anything the entire time until school started online. Whenever I received the Critical Thinking (Third Edition) book through the mail, I knew I needed to learn more responsibilities. First week of my online classes passed by and then everything started to form together.

For many, college is a time of self-discovery. It is a time where many find their calling in life, their spouse, their passion, or their student debt. Some may go so far as to call it the best time of their lives. While there is potential for me to eventually look back on my time at the University of Arizona with similar fondness, for now, I have more pressing issues than finding my soulmate, like finding my next classroom along with many other stressful situations. So far in my limited college experience, the major stressors in my life are religion, academics, and social interactions; however, there are several ways I have found to manage these situations.

During my first week as a freshman in college, I was still wondering if I had made the right choice for myself. Intrigued if the major I had chosen was right for me, I decided to attend a workshop strictly for product design students. I wanted to meet people in my major and also get a taste of what I had gotten myself into. On my way to the event, I ran into a girl with short curly hair that seemed lost and looking for a specific classroom. I asked her if she was a freshman and, relieved, she replied that she was, wondering if it was my first time in that maze of a building too. The URBN Center is the building where all the design classes are, and accordingly, it has an intricate system of half floors that is eye-pleasing yet confusing to get around.

This semester was a journey I was not expecting. It turned out to be completely different from what I imagined, and I still can't decide if it turned out better or worse than I expected. At the beginning of the semester I was a constantly anxious and angry person, which happens to me every time after a long break. Coming to Capstone class I didn't know what to expect and how it will be connected to the field I am studying in. I am still confused about what exactly I learned in this class, but I will be describing everything I learned this semester from my outside of classroom commitments. In the middle of the semester I received a job offer with a City of Bridgeport. It was a 3-month finance internship with the office of Small and Minority Businesses. My classes were always my main priorities, however, once I accepted the offer, I knew that I'm not only representing myself, but my employer is judging the whole school based on my performance. This led me to the first change I've made this semester: change of priorities. This is important if I want to live a balanced and fulfilling life. Many people are successful in their career but don't have good relationships with their family because of wrong priorities. They put things like money and reputation above their relationships. And I used to do that a lot. My classes, work, and other commitments were always above any social interactions, whether it was family or friends. Yet, I realized that I do not fill accomplished if I

I feel that I have grown exponentially my first semester at UMD. Reading the letter I wrote to myself at the beginning of the semester, I realized that I didn’t have anything extraordinary to say to myself. The person I have evolved into over the past months is a lot more aware of the future and how the actions I make truly do affect those around me. Also, academically, I have learned about the educational system, the life around us, and how to relieve stress in my life. I can apply this knowledge my life and teach others about what I have learned. I am so blessed to have received an outstanding education.

After I graduated High School, I moved to Logan, Utah to pursue my Bachelors at Utah State University. This move was actually quite easy. My mom drove down with me to help me move into my apartment and all of my belongings easily fit between our two cars. About halfway through the semester, everything kind of fell apart. I hated my program, I didn’t like the atmosphere of the university and I wanted out. It was not anything like I was hoping, and I decided I was definitely not going to stay. However, I wanted to finish out the semester and tie up all my loose ends before I transferred. After a couple weeks of heavy research, hours on the phone, and lots and lots of emails, I was set to transfer to Boise State University located in Boise, Idaho.

I never in a million years imagined that I would be a sophomore in college at Forest Park at seventeen. I imagined myself at McKinley surrounded by a bunch of seniors trying not to catch the dreaded senioritis. College wasn't on my mind when I was handed a letter containing the greatest opportunity that I've had and possibly the greatest I will ever have. I was chosen to be a guinea pig for a new upcoming program that would allow juniors in high school to take community college classes on campus instead of attending their old high school. Participants were enrolled in both their old high school and at Forest Park but would only take classes on campus. They were allowed to have the freedom to do after school activities and sports at their high school. The program would allow participants to graduate in two years with a high school diploma and an associate's degree completely free with no strings attached.

It didn’t take long for me to realize College life probably wouldn’t continue. Maybe it was the classes I was enrolled in, maybe it was knowing I needed to find a job, or maybe it was just the excuses I used. Soon the college road, reached a sign that read, ‘Dead End Approaching. Detour Ahead. Proceed with Caution’. And with that, college became a distant memory in my rear view mirror.

There have been a few places where I been uncomfortable and have noticed many people’s mindsets such as being a growth or fixed mindset. The two places I will talk about where I have been the most uncomfortable are college and on the city bus. I will talk about what I’ve heard and I what I learned about how people think and how that can affect what others think about that person.

Learning about your strengths while in college is beneficial to learning and knowing yourself as a person. Two of my strengths were discipline and includer which both can be achieved through college life. To be discipline means to be productive to get a task done and not to procrastinate which means getting things done using a schedule and sticking to the plan. Anyone that is an includer does not let anyone feel left out of a group and wants everyone to feel welcomed to a new space or group. These special strengths is what makes up my DNA or who I am as a person. Both of theses things can be applied and even further developed during the next years while growing as a person. I plan to grow in these strengths by doing homework sooner which should translate into better test scores and grades while I want to become more friendly and get to know more people so that no one left on campus feels like he or she does not have a friend. Throughout life at college both of these strengths will grow me as a person and focus on self growth.