Reflection Paper

When I first decided to expand my education, it had been so long since I had been to school, and I was very hesitant. I talked at length about my decision with my husband and with his encouragement, decided to enroll but still was not quite sure which degree program to enroll in. I knew that this was something that I had always wanted to do since I obtained my Associates Degree in Nursing, but I did not have the courage, nor did I want to give up the time with my family and children. I second guessed my abilities and my knowledge because it had been so long since I had been in college. Now that my children are about to graduate high school and

On September 6, 2017, I were documented for an incident that involved a University Housing policy violation. I was charged with violating the University Housing Alcohol 1.2 policy. With my violation, came consequences. I met with The Residence Conduct Coordinator to discuss my actions and came to the conclusion that I would have to schedule a meeting with The Campus Alcohol and Drug Education Center (CADEC) and with that, a reflection paper.

The master, ascribed status associated with being a woman has countless affects on my experiences and how it has designed my life. Everything I do is with the mindset of a woman, whether it is how I dress or how I speak. From the time when I was young, I was the first female child within my generation. Even at the age of five, I recall countless times where I had to prove I could “hang with the boys.” This sort of initiation occurred in countless ways from doing gross dares to having to show I can take a punch—literally. Enduring all this mayhem only seemed natural because I did not want to be seen or treated differently from the boys. Time passed and my woman-ness became even more prevalent as boys were able to get away with things that I could not. “Close your legs,” “girls do not play with toy guns,” “Put down the Gameboy, go play with

I took this class knowing it would challenge me and more than likely get on my nerves--which it did--but I do not regret taking the course. I have learned writing skills beyond the write, revise, and finalize that comes with every paper written. This class taught me how to write with purpose and revise to make the purpose clear.

Throughout this semester, I have learned about many different topics, but there are three subjects that have stuck out to me the most, and which are helping me improve my college skills. Those topics are VARK learning styles and studying, time management, and note taking. Each of these topics has helped me by allowing me to learn more about myself. I have also challenged myself by trying different learning techniques to improve my college skills.

I have always been a believer of second chances, wanting to help people who find themselves in difficult situations within the law. To help people get another opportunity, that I firmly believe everyone deserves. Have we not always been taught to learn from our mistakes, and become better people because of them? I simply cannot accept that a few poor decisions can and should define a person for the rest of their life.

So this is the paper on what I have learned personally through my first semester of college. Throughout the beginning of my first semester I tried to treat it like high school. High school for me was always a breeze the teachers were decent the classes were filled with people I don’t really like but act like I do for the sake of getting through each day, the curriculum was easy, and nothing really stressed me out. College, as I learned was an entirely different monster. The classes were full of people who I didn’t know and who probably wouldn’t bat an eye if I showed up with my hair messed up or my clothes wrinkled. Full of faces that are only there to take notes and pass a test. That was the biggest adjustment, people don’t care about other people. Theyre there for themselves and their own personal agenda is what comes first. The initial feeling of being by myself was weird, it didn’t matter what the person next to me was doing nor did it matter what you were doing. Every choice you made was solely reliant on you. In high school if you pull out your phone the teacher gets onto you and takes it away. In college if you want to waste time on your phone you can, people do it consistently too. I’ve seen people playing games on their laptops, watching soccer games, instant messaging their mom. There is a lot of not paying attention for some people and at the beginning of the year I would occasionally get on Instagram or snapchat instead of paying attention because I still had

Throughout each life stage I have encountered weather it being the past future or present I have faced and will face changes. The changes are influenced by the developmental stage, developmental tasks, psychosocial crisis, and central process for resolving crisis, radius of significant relationships, and the coping strategies I have adapted to. Within these aspects previously listed that have influenced me in the past, present, and in the future I have successes and barriers that have also shaped me into the person I am in my present stage. By way of example, the psychosexual theory and the social learning theory draw relation to my development and experiences that have shaped my development through my life stages. Upon the early adolescence, later adolescence, and early adulthood life stages I have encountered have helped structure the development I have in my present life stage.

Following our final preseason game of tryouts, the bus was significantly quieter than usual. The ride from Masconomet High was nearly an hour, giving us time to contemplate our spots on the team; we all knew final cuts were coming. The tense feeling was noticeable looking at everyone’s eyes. To alleviate my worry, I focused on things unrelated to soccer, or, what I would do if I didn’t make the team. However, when the bus arrived back in Needham, I couldn’t think about anything but soccer. Everyone stepped off the bus and we all waited one by one along the brick wall to get called over.

Growing up in the state of New York I was not raised in the church, so I didn’t care about God or care to know who he was. I remember being in middle school going on a class field trip to NYC I went to this big catholic church where I had my first encounter with God. It’s hard to describe an emotion I felt that day I just know what I know. I didn’t pay too much attention as I got on the bus to go home and never looked back what I had felt inside my heart and soul that day. I joined the navy right after high school and it wasn’t until I was leaving for Afghanistan that I accepted Jesus as my lord and savior. Fast forward a couple of more years I was going through divorce and went down a wrong path. I decided it was time to go to church and fully give my life to Jesus and serve him.

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”

At a young age, I have always dealt with internal issues such as anxiety. Art is one way I could let myself become calm, it has always been there for me when I needed it, but it soon became a problem once I was made aware that Islam would not allow my way of coping. As an aspiring artist I was told by my Islamic teachers that drawing images, anything with a soul, is a mockery to Allah and his ability to create! According to them, I was honoring the man-made idols that were worshipped by the people of Madinah eventually leading them astray in the times of prophets, that I would be punished for my sin. Soon after though, I would see the broad perspective of religion and belief. For many years, I have been told that nothing else was the truth, except for Islam. With so many days spent inside my home, four years of being in an Islamic private school, and being fed nothing but traditional Islamic ideals and opinions, I would grow up to have a closed mind to the Liberal American way. I countered their overwhelming claims. I came to understand that I had the power to make my own decisions in life and that I could determine what made me happy, what made me a good person, even if that meant rebelling against the way I was raised and taught to live since birth. This was the toughest decision of my life.

My mother does genology for my family so I know that I am mostly a mix of African, Native American and not enough European to really think about. I look like a normal African-American girl and most people I come in contact with assume the same thing. To define myself without race I would say I am invested in the betterment of other peoples lives and performing in front of an audience. As a black woman I am affected mostly in my major, theatre, because being black is a factor in whether or not I am cast in certain roles. Personally it has been a rollercoaster going to predominately white-schools and still finding a way to love and appreiciate my blackness. I’m reminded of my race daily when I have to mix my foundations to find a shade that isn’t offered or when my theatre professors suggest I do a monologue from “A Raisin in the Sun’ and as of recently when I look at the news I am affected by the fact that the injustice in the world based on race could happen to me or a loved one in a heartbeat.

As a child, the number one question asked is “What do you want to be when you grow up?” A ludicrous question to ask a child who has no concept of the real world and real professions other than the ones that their parents have. Most children will answer with being a princess, a super hero; however, I would always say I wanted to work with kids. I thought I wanted to do so medically, but figured out Education was my calling instead. A notion that I was too blinded to see in the past, but so many others saw within me. Now that I am pursuing Education, Elementary Education to be exact, I would not have wanted it any other way. It is exciting taking all of the necessary courses that are preparing me to be a great teacher.

When I was 16 years old I realized I had written a paper about how me and my Nana are different and had forgotten the first paragraph. I do not know how I managed to do that but I need to introduce the ways in which we are different. I like to eat, food is good which means you should a lot of it and often but my Nana is is a big health junkie, she was visiting us and every time we had a meal we would hear why we should not be eating what we are eating and why we should be eating something else. Secondly, stars are in the sky everyone knows that, but how the stars are aligned should not decide how you live your life most people know that, not my Nana she would ask when I was born and then log on to her computer and tell me to watch out because how she believes in ideas that are more out there then what I believe in. Ideas such as, yelling at ice will make it freeze weird or that the Earth is a computer simulation. And now that this part is done I can turn the paper in.