Pursuing My Senior Year

With a year full of hurdles I was set to overcome, senior year did not seem like the right time for me to defeat my dragon. My introverted qualities have grown tremendously over the course of my life due to traumatic events I have been forced to face on my own. Since adolescence, I have always been known as the “quiet girl” in the room. I always took this as a compliment, until recently, when I realized I was missing out on crucial events that would help prepare me for the future. Through careful consideration, I decided that senior year would be the ideal time to slay my dragon, introversion.

As a nontraditional student as well as a Sophomore my goals as well as responsibilities are different from the typical student’s. As a father of three, including a six month old balancing my professional, academic, together with my personal life has been the most challenging aspect of returning to school.

From my family I’m the first person who is going to college. So my parents have no idea how the college system works. First when I came to college my major was undecided because I was confused at that time to find the right career path for me. I made an appointment with the academic adviser to get to know where my interests are but at the end it didn’t worked. After few weeks ago one of my friend recommend me to take the basic classes that are required in most of the majors. So I decided to take Math 142, Communication 101 and HD 120 for this quarter.

Last year, my interest in the Business program intensified, so I signed up for three business prerequisites (MGMT200, ACCTG215, and ECON200) because I didn’t want to fall behind others on the business track. Throughout the quarter I realized this was a misstep as these classes were extremely demanding, making it difficult for me to excel in any one class. This taught me to be more proactive in planning out my classes. Thus, I immediately met with a business school advisor, Andrew Marzano, to discuss and plan my class schedule for the next two years. Armed with a plan to break up my workload into manageable chunks, I have been able to rise to the challenges posed by this year’s classes. I also identified resources that would strengthen my study skills such as the Writing Center and EUB Tutoring Center. Because I spent this time planning my curriculum, though my second year was challenging, I was better prepared. As a result, I have performed much better and in the coming years, I will continue to catalyze on my success and refine my decision-making skills so that I can become an accomplished ambassador of the Foster School of

Much has been written about the pitfalls of the college freshman year for graduating high school students, but there is little material aimed at the non-traditional adult student, especially one who opts to take online courses. My quest for a college degree has spanned two decades and has taken place in three different states. As I reflect back on my experience each time I rekindled my educational quest, it is surprising how many of the issues I faced were not that different from those of recent high school graduates starting their freshman year. I faced the most challenges when I decided to take classes online.

Why am I here at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and what do you hope to do when you graduate? I am here at the University Of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) to become a college graduate and pursue my goals in my life. UMES has a Pharmacist department and Physician Assistant department, which one I plan to partake in after graduation. I am here to take an advantage on those particular departments to become the future Physician Assistant and or Pharmacist. UMES also have a biology major which I considered due to the fact that biology is required for the career fields in which I am most intrigued by. UMES is also where I received my college credits as a high school student.

There I was, a sophomore in high school nervously selecting my classes for the next year. I realized I would not want to be taking an AP english class along with 2 math classes.Now I find I’m in a pinch to find something. I see my friends choosing gym classes or other blow offs, however I wanted to challenge myself. I look through the list feverishly and see a class that stood out, sociology. I had always done well in social studies classes so I figured it would be a good choice. Over the next five months or so I put almost no thought into what the class may bring or even the fact it may end up on my schedule. I had come to realize that I would be in the class at the beginning of the year upon getitng my schedule.

A tragedy has struck my heart, I had lost a loved one. I knew that I couldn't just throw away everything and quit but I wasn't motivated to go back into school. Being my senior year I knew it was very important to stick it out and finish school. My parents insisted I went back, I just wasn't ready to be around hundreds of people every single day. Scared, lost, and hurt I explored my options. I found that there was a program I could join where I'd still be able to graduate but wouldn't have to be in the mixing pot of 1,600 student every day. I reached out to guidance, refusing to be placed back into ordinary classes and schedules, and they placed me in the alternative education program.

I resented my Mom for grounding me the first month of senior year. This was the year everyone loves everyone, the year everyone comes together, the fun year. Senior year is the year of letting bygones be bygones, the year you forgive your peers for all the wrongdoings they have done. Or in my case the year to apologize and mend the bridges I set ablaze in my past three years.

My senior year so far has been going pretty good, it's not really what I expected it to be but i'm still going to make the best out of it. Something that I've been doing well so far and very proud of is being present to all my classes. This year I am trying to have no absences so I can be all caught up on my work and not have piles of makeup work to do. I guess something's I struggle with personally that may affect my school work is when i'm in a despondent mood. I'm not really myself and I don't really like to work, I'd rather just push everything away and not do anything. My only adjustments would be to not let my mood interfere with my work. I have to get my priorities straight. One thing I really want to improve this year is to be

My college search started the summer after my sophomore year of high school when my grandma had me visit her and we went on various college tours in Walla Walla WA. We visited both a community college and a Private university to see what kind of environment was for me, that year I also visited Central to see what a large public university looked like. All the tour guides told me when I said my age “Oh, so you have a lot of time to decide” I didn’t though when you think about how fast everything goes. I went from looking at the types of schools to deciding what my next four years were going to look like and that was terrifying. Over the course of my junior year I visited WWU with a tour guided by my cousin who was an Alumni and seeing how much she loved the school started my excitement with Western. I did a few more self-guided tours at Seattle colleges and various universities in Tacoma eventually decided to apply to only 5. I knew I wanted a “smaller” school and wasn’t wanting a large public school. I was accepted into three of the schools. UW Tacoma, University of Puget Sound, and Western. I almost instantly ruled out UW Tacoma keeping it as a backup school. This then became a UPS vs WWU decision for months. I went to both Welcome days in April to see what I liked more, I talked to teachers I was close with at my high school, and talked extensively with my parents.

With the few classes left that I could take I picked intro/Arch Cad one and two, both classes will help me in the gaming community. Learning the class more in depth allows me to understand the designing of landscapes and game environment. The rest of the classes I picked were just because I did not have an idea of what job I wanted as a freshman and these classes did not have a meaning behind them or supplied any aid in the job I now want to do. During my sophomore year I had much more freedom in what classes I chose, so I again picked Accelerated English with my math class as Algebra II. My elective could have been better picked, but at the time not many options interested me. I have taken a photoshop class giving me minimal experience with computers but I did learn how to change pictures possibly aiding in the designing of a video game in the future. The courses that did not aid in my future are mainly just the ones I saw to be the most fun at the time and I chose my courses without thinking about the future.

Planning for my senior year of college is one thing. Planning for my life after graduation is another story. I have no idea where my life will take me, so formulating a plan is challenging. No matter where I end up, I will be able to apply the skills I have learned into my professional role. In my role, I hope to give a presentation to my bosses lead a team meeting, and create an action plan.

2016 is a very important year for my freshman year self. This year will be the first year that I will have the opportunity to cast my ballot and vote. This piece of independence and freedom comes with the responsibility to make well informed decisions based on my ideals and morals. In following the 2016 Presidential Election, I became very interested in the candidate’s views on science related topics and issues.

Living in an apartment complex the entirety of my childhood and adolescent life, I wanted to be seen and be considered popular by my peers. When it came to my values, my parents always imposed being truthful and genuine to others. When it came to my studies, they taught me a great deal about accountability. The internal and external influences following give more context to my academic journey throughout high school and college.