My First Term Of College

When I started my first semester of college, I was very worried about writing essays and research papers. I felt like my writing skills lacked greatly compared to other students. I knew a few things of which I could improve on right off the bat, such as my vocabulary skills and organizational skills. To say the least I was very nervous about how my writing composition course would be like and did not think it would go very well for me. However, I learned so many techniques that have helped my writing skills grow. It all started with learning how to stay organized, planning what to write in your essay in outline form and sticking to it really helped when writing essays. These techniques helped me become more confident in my essays and allowed writing essays to become a lot easier. The few aspects in which I am strong in while writing essays is my ability to stay organized, focused and be very clear about what I am writing. Nonetheless, there is always room for improvement; a few things that I can think of being grammar and punctuation due to no revising, embedding quotes smoothly, and citing sources correctly.

During my first semester at Touro College, I took a course on the History and Philosophy of Education and Special Education. Throughout this course, I was introduced to many philosophers and their theories, which helped me to develop a personal educational philosophy that I will implement into my own future classrooms. In our very first class session, we examined the word ‘education’. Education derives from two Latin roots, educare: to bring up, to train, to teach, and educere: to lead forth, to draw forth, to guide. In the world of education today, a child’s success in school is primarily dependant on his or her ability to pass standardized tests; this embodies the concept of educare. Knowledge is passed down from the teacher to the

This is a reflective essay concerning my READ 3423.01 with Dr. Reid in the fall of 2016. As I wrap up my first semester at Texas Women’s University I am awed and thankful. I am the first person in my family to attend University. Some find this surprising because I do come from a family that has done well professionally, but that was due to grit and personalities. The fact is, I was never even spoken to about attending college while I was growing up. I believe this is because no one before me had this experience to share or encourage. The truth is I tried my hardest to not be at school from middle school on, I just wasn’t engaged in the process. Of course, there were a few teachers I connected with, like the business and history teachers, but I hated the rules and structure of the environment. I amazedly graduated with my high school class, as my friends went away to Universities I took some classes at the community college. What I found was that when I got to pick my classes I flourished. Even the classes that others said were too hard to take during summer quarter, I excelled in those as well. As life unfolded I got married, moved out of state and had two daughters. When it was time for my daughters to attend school I was pretty apprehensive about the idea of it. I opened a preschool in a mother-in-law apartment we had on our property and decided they could learn there in a small community. That preschool led to homeschooling, and large educational co-ops. I lived in a

May came around at long last. So did the end of my second semester of college at Florida Atlantic University. Not only did I survive my freshman year, I thrived, passing eight of my nine joint courses with A’s and getting A-minus on the other one. Just like “Neon” Leon shocked the departed Muhammad Ali in 1978, I defied my own expectations and those of a few among my closest friends and family. Did I soon spend the next few months indulging in summer merriment at the beach, getting my tan on while thirteen-year-old boys fawned over pictures of Selena Gomez? Nope. I took summer classes to keep my mind sharp and knock out a few of the requirements towards a degree which I’d earn three years later. One such class = a six-week crash course in public speaking. Everything went well until I got an assignment to create, practice, and deliver a three-to-five-minute speech involving someone who stood out. The possibilities overwhelmed me until I recalled someone with an outstanding life, hit him up on my cell, and talked to him in person one hot Saturday afternoon.

This is my last semester at Governors State University. There were only two classes that were part of my study plan that I needed for this semester, and I created a schedule with four weekend classes so that I could be full time. Instead of taking classes that would just look good on my resume, I decided to take classes that would help to benefit me the most and ensure my future success as a holistic human being. Other students had spoken about the Lab in Personal Growth briefly, and every person shared the same sentiment. They each stated that this was an emotional and eye opening experience that involved a great deal of emotional insight. Outside of that, I was unaware of what I was in for, but I was excited for whatever challenge was ahead.

With any course, especially one with a focus as broad as leadership, the material covered may include a range from useful to impractical. It is impossible to learn the skills necessary of an effective leader completely out of a book, it takes the application of them to understand. The development of leadership is vital to successfully moving forward in any career, so it would be beneficial to cultivate these skills academically.

This is my first semester at Mesa College. I am currently a Political Science major. The term that would best describe my current situation would be “non-traditional” student. I graduated from high school in 2006. Since then I have gotten married, travelled the world, and had two children. While in high school I excelled and took part in many academic extra-curricular activities. In the past ten years I have accumulated work and life experience. Most recently I was able to work as a legal assistant for an immigration firm. Being bilingual was beneficial, as was my interest in law in general. I plan on attending law school in the future which made the job appealing. Although I deferred college for this long it has always been my

In my Midland 101 class, I have found many things meaningful to me. In particular, the thing I found the most meaningful to me was when we discussed setting goals. Goals can lead students like myself to success if they stay passionate towards them. Not only was this meaningful to me, it was unique to me. I have made goals every year for the last six years, but I have never made “Smart” goals. This is a very good tactic that lets you know; that it is a specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and a timely goal. I wish that they would have known about “Smart” goal in high school.

At the beginning of my First Year here at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, I decided to focus my studies in the field of computer science. This is a field where I had little to no knowledge of, but I really just liked computers. I decided that during the summer before my first year here, I would challenge myself and try to teach myself how to write and read programs. I learned the very basics during the summer and advanced in my classes at school, learning more and more while enjoying it, until my second semester here, when I realized computer science wasn’t for me. I had this realization in a strange dream sequence; I was sitting at a desk in some random, plain, dull building some 40 levels up typing away at my computer. I remember looking outside the window across the room; I was looking out over a huge city scape, with a dense fog in the sky. I felt trapped and helpless in that dream and at that moment I knew I wanted something more. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in some building typing away at my computer; I didn’t want to take a desk job for that matter. A few weeks after my dream, I began a conversation with my advisor and asked him what my options were. He replied explaining to me how I still had plenty of time to figure things out. I then asked him about a rumor I had heard regarding a new major that was in the process of being made: Environmental Studies. He told me the program was awaiting approval, but if everything goes as planned, there

After trying to determine why this might be, I came to the conclusion that it is easier for me to consider short-term goals than it is to consider long-term goals. Even though I might be able to come up with an infinite number of road stops to get me to achieve a goal next year, when it comes to five years down the road, I froze up. Through considering why that would be the case, I realized that part of the reason is that I do not know exactly what it will take to get me to reach my longer term goals; I confidently know what needs to be done in order to achieve Sophomore Honors and the steps it would take to become an Executive Board Member in my Greek organization, but I do not know how to gain that elusive competitive advantage in an applicant pool or what it takes to apply to graduate school. I do know that these road stops exist, but I do not know the process I must undergo to reach them. Part of this might be due to the fact that thinking long-term frightens me, and learning about a rigorous route just adds stress and anxiety—although not a commendable quality, I am often somebody who could be labeled as a “roll with the punches” type of person. Pushing the fact that this assignment made me think harder than I expected aside, I really enjoyed being able to take a look at my

During the semester in college, I have noticed that when I am overloaded with projects from my classes, I get stressed. At first, I just feel exhausted and anxious, but the problem is when I feel that way, my body begins reacting in a negative way. I get nauseas, stomach pain, and headaches and sometimes I feel dizzy. I think I get those symptoms because my body needs to release the stress somehow and is letting me know by giving me those discomforts. In order for me to feel better, I exercise and I relax at least a little bit.

The first year of college comes with many changes and challenges. These changes can include the food in the cafeteria, study habits, time management skills, and much more. Every student has to find their own way to handle the first year and determine what works best for them. For many the most essential change is living away from home. Campus life provides opportunities to become a part of a unique, diversified community. With these opportunities come challenges, such as having a roommate, being away from one’s parents, and determining self-limits.

I have learned that it is very important to set long and short term goals for myself. I have also learned the difference between the two. A long term goal is around a year long and a short term is well less than a year. For example; my present long term goal is my associates degree. My short term goal is to complete my assignments along with my daily

When I first enrolled in this course I thought it would be a good chance for me to meet new people with an interest in ballet, but I never thought that it would have a larger impact on myself. For instance, I did not believe that I would relate the world of ballet to my economics and statistic class that I am currently enrolled in as well, but that is exactly what I began to do. During these past 15 weeks I have learn much about myself, life, and ballet. The class is not what I ever imagined; however I would not change a thing about the class overall. Ballet like everything else has a rich history that although it does not seem important, or appear interesting is key to having an understanding of where it

Hearing so many good things and bad things about college I didn’t know what to expect and look forward to. That change my junior year knowing different college come every year I didn’t really pay it any mind what college I wanted to go to until ODU, Virginia State University and Virginia Teach came. It was Virginia State first year of visiting out school and I knew I wanted to go there I start getting e excited for college that were talking about their experience at college and what to look for when we graduated if we decided to go to college. Eager to start a new chapter college sound like it could be a little nerve wrecking but I thought I could handle it.