The University through my eyes: December 2011

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Final Video

To view my final video project, click HERE !

Thursday, December 8, 2011

My college experience... so far!

This far in my college experience I have learned a lot about myself as a student. I have learned many new things and I have been really pushed to the extreme as far as stress goes. At this point in my learning process I have developed new ways to deal with stress and figuring out the best ways to manage my time. I think my biggest challenges thus far as a first year college student were figuring out ways to manage my time because I wasn’t used to getting so many projects and homework assignments at once. That was by far the hardest thing for me to adjust to because I get stressed very easily. At first my reaction to this challenge was crying and wanting to go home and just be done with school, but with the strong support of my family and friends, they talked me through it and told me not to stress and worry about one thing at a time and not to ‘over work’ myself. I finally decided that making a list daily of assignments I wanted or needed to get done for that day was the best way to go about tackling this challenge. It did help me a lot to break down all the work I had and figure out what things needed to be done first and which could wait a few days. Also realizing I wasn’t the only one in this boat helped because a lot of other students were feeling the same way I was.

I think my biggest achievement this far in college has to be learning how to live on my own and still maintaining good grades. Being in a new place and living by myself without adult super vision was a very different experience for me. I always had the guidance of my mom when I was in high school to be there and keep an eye on what I was doing and when I was doing it. Moving in at Southern, I had to learn how to make my own decisions. For example, when I would hang out with friends and when I would get homework done, I had to learn how to wake up on my own get myself ready and out on time and just in general how to do stuff on my own. I was really proud at the grades I maintained through that life style change. So I would say that is definitely my biggest achievement so far.

My grades this semester have been very good. They are mostly all A’s and a few B’s. I was kind of surprised at that just because of the difference in difficulty of the work, and the workload. Sometimes I felt like I was just doing my work to get it done instead of actually focusing on the work and understanding fully what I was doing. My hard work paid off though and that shows in my grades so far. I have learned so much in my classes. My English class I feel has made me a much better writer. We wrote three papers throughout the semester and on my first one I got a B- and on my last paper I just recently turned in, I got an A. That was a big improvement for me and I really gained a lot from that class. I think I learned the least in Math because I was in Math 95, and I knew most of the material. But other than that I gained a lot of knowledge from all of my other classes this semester.

A goal I made at the beginning of the semester was to make the dean’s list with my grades, but I don’t think they’re quite there yet. This is kind of disappointing to me because I really wanted to try to do that well, but I’m not disappointed in how I ended up doing. I’m still very proud of myself. I am almost to where I hoped to be this semester and I’m hoping by next semester since I am now experienced I can maybe reach this goal I have for myself. From here on I want to do my best to complete all the courses required to apply to the education program here so that by the fall of my junior year I will be ready to apply and get started on working in my field. I think the only thing I could work on changing is studying more and devoting just a little more time to my schoolwork.

Some goals I want to set for next semester is again, making the dean’s list, but more importantly just working on getting good grades and passing all the necessary courses in a timely manner to get into my program.

I am happy where I am in my academics and life here at Southern and I’m very excited to embark on the next four years of my journey here now that I have a taste of what it’s like!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Campus Safari #11 Go to the Office of Study Skills Enrichment

The study skills enrichment office at SCSU is a very useful resource here on campus for students.

This is a place where they can go to get help with study skills such as time management, note- taking and study skills, as well as test taking strategies. They help students to gain confidence through good study skills. They offer various workshops that students can come take throughout the semester. Students can also schedule one on one sessions with the staff members in the office.

Some topics these workshops focus on include;

-Preparing and taking mid-term tests

-Researching papers; topic to outline

-Taking and using your class notes to study

-Getting ready for final exams

... and SO many more!

The primary function of the office is to support Southern's mission statement by providing services aimed at helping make students here more successful and prepared.

I think this is a great thing to have, and honestly, I never even knew it existed until I saw it on the list of different campus safari's. I think if students knew about it and knew what it was, many of them would take advantage and go get extra help they may need here.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

2nd draft of final video project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmL-JbN1VLM

Thursday, December 1, 2011

New experience in a learning community

For first year freshmen here at SCSU I think that being placed in a learning community, which consists of having two classes with the same group of students, is a very good idea. I think it really helps students get acquainted with one another and open up more. That's what it did for me at least. I became closer with my classmates in INQ class because we all had the same feelings and struggles with our Anthropology class. So we all kind of connected in that way and then our friendships just stemmed from there. I feel very comfortable asking for help on assignments or asking questions about topics discussed in class.

What I'm going to miss about seeing this same group of students in two classes back to back twice a week is their sense of humor and all the different personalities our group was made up of. I feel like everyone played a different role and brought a lot to the group. Krista, for example, I always remember as the nice, happy one, who always brings a laugh to the class. And Merril always had really good ideas and intelligent comments about things. Everyone brought a unique and fun quality that I am going to miss.

I will also miss just being able to talk to everyone in inquiry about what was do next class in Anthropology or if we understood what our next assignment was. It was very helpful and actually a lot of fun. It gave us a well-rounded group of students to become friends with and work together to get through our first semester as first year freshmen. I definitley think that SCSU should keep this first year experience for future students.

My ideal life

My ideal life after college would consist of me not being in any debt from my student loans, getting hired right after graduation at the dream job I am here at college working so hard for, a speech pathologist with young children, marrying someone who is as ambitious as I am about becoming successful, meeting new people in the workforce, making enough money to comfortably support myself and someday a family, buying a brand new BMW for my car that I would be able to pay off after getting my new job, and most importantly, staying as close to my family as I am now, and having them around forever.

I know a lot of this doesn't sound the least bit realistic, at least not for right after graduating from college. I wish all of this could happen that soon after.

Dreaming about a life like this makes me more focused and determined to do my very best from this point in my life on. I've always dreamt of a life similar to the one I described above but now being in college it makes everything seem so real and my plans are slowly, but surely starting to come to life. It's kinda of a scary thought to know that my future plans are now in motion but at the same time it is very exciting.

Campus Safari #16 Go to Counseling Services

The counseling service we have here at SCSU seems like a very beneficial place for students to have on campus. They offer many things such as individual and group counseling, outreach and programming and consultative services. Their primary purpose is to provide a place for students who need psychological support to go and talk to someone who can help them. They are licensed counselors and social workers who work there, so don't think it's just anyone you're going to put your trust into and talk to. Even if you don't necsessarily have a "crisis" but you just want someone to talk to other than other students and peers, this is the right place to go to get some great advice.

I myself haven't take advantage of this great service, but I have heard about it and I feel very confident that if I had an issue I could go to this office and get help. It's very reassuring and comforting to me, knowing all I have to do is walk to Englemen and walk in for someone to help me. Everyone in the office seemed very nice and welcoming.

Aside from the regular counseling office they also offer many different support groups. These groups include:

Grief

Women's general concerns

Healthy Relationships

Eating Disorders

General Body Image Group

Men's general concerns

Graduation/transition stress

anyone can attend and join in the discussions they offer!