Monday, December 17, 2012

FYE and Me





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?

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