SCSU is a unique college, most of
the students commute to school, and therefore, as a resident, a class like INQ
gives us an insight to what the other half of the students’ experience. This
means that INQ has a lot to offer to any student, no matter how confident they
are about coming to SCSU. I have learned
a lot from my first semester of college. I gained a level of autonomy that I
did not have before coming to school and the drive to achieve my goals in and
out of class. Of course I struggled with a few things, organization and
procrastinations certainly held me back from the grades I could have gotten.
Even though it was not perfect, I am very glad I came to college, it seems to
suit me well.
I was
happy with how much I learned about autonomy in only a few short months.
College gives you many chances to screw up if you are not careful. However, it
goes further than just schoolwork. I needed to learn to balance time between
school and social life, staying on topic, and making healthy choices in a
dining hall full of fried foods and greasy pizza. I decided to join the rugby
team, which was another layer of activities that I had to keep track of.
Thankfully, I was able to handle all of my challenges that I laid out for
myself. I have the power to make all the choices in my life now, and I can only
hope that I have the discipline to carry out the good habits I have learned.
One
problem I have had in past school experiences, was a lack of drive to complete
challenging tasks. I would rush to finish large projects right at the last
moment, slapping a less than mediocre project together then b.s.ing in when I
got to class. That only made me good at b.s.ing. In the extreme situations,
like my term paper for junior year history, sometimes I would not even do them
at all. It was not procrastination it was straight laziness, once out of school
I would always have something better to do, whether it was going sailing,
skiing or just building something cool with my dad in the driveway. One
deciding factor to stop pulling that crap was when I took the money out of my
own bank account to pay for SCSU. I am not that
immature when I need to act properly, and that was one of the deciding factors
to take college more seriously than I ever took high school. I knew at that
moment that it was not an opportunity everybody gets and I could not afford to
waste it. I did not have to go, but if I was going to, I was going to do a good
job at it. Of course, the irony of ironies is the one class I claim I am doing
well in college to the professor, is my class with my worst grade.
At the
beginning of school, I struggled with keeping myself organized, especially in
my room. Just like every previous school experience, I did not bother to buy a
planner to keep track of my assignments or folders for class handouts. In the
beginning this greatly disrupted my learning, I would often lose track of
homework in an ever-growing pile of papers on my desk. Thank fully I bought a
whiteboard to write assignment, and I would clean all my schoolwork out every
weekend. It was just a start, but I began to find a groove that could help keep
all my ducks in a row. I certainly struggled with procrastination this
semester. Rugby was a large factor in that, the “extracurricular activities”
that we would organize a couple times a week guaranteed that there was an
afternoon, evening, and following morning that I was in no position to work. Of
course, the choices were partying and school work, so school was pushed under
the rug all too often.
I have learned a lot this semester. I am sure I have a lot more
to learn in the coming years, but I’m excited for it. That is why I came isn’t it?
