Week One Reflection

Monday marked the first day of classes. For me this day can often times be riddled with a mixture of excitement, stress, and nervousness. As a student you have to make sure you are on time, park in the correct spot, find all your class rooms, meet your professors, and make sure you have all the right textbooks, while constantly meeting new faces and walking into unfamiliar places. This usually means I walk through the first day feeling overwhelmed and often confused.

However, this semester, the first day of classes started of a little different than usual. I had signed up to work an event that morning at 7:30. My job, along with two other Ambassadors, was to blow up celebratory balloons and place them around campus. I got to school early and started on this task. I was not exactly sure what to expect but it turned out to be an encouraging and fun experience. I was able to work with two of my friends for an hour and a half laughing and talking. Instead of walking into school on the first day not knowing anyone I was able to start the day off spending time with people who I knew and felt comfortable with. As silly as it may seem this simple event changed my first day experience and made it one of joy and fun rather than stress and anxiety. I can honestly say that the first day of classes was a blast!

Wednesday, my second day of classes, I went with Nick Castro, who works in student life, to speak to a class room of freshman students about why they should become involved on campus. I was able to share my experience as a freshman and how the choices I made had had an impact on how I experienced and viewed college. I spoke about how I was not involved on campus my first semester and how that negatively effected the way I felt when I came to class. I explained how, even though I did well in my classes, I never really felt like I belonged. I simply went to my classes and then left, never spending more time than necessary on campus.

However, I then shared with them that in my second semester I started to become more involved in student life and how it completely changed my perspective on college. I talked about how I became a Student Orientation Leader and the amazing experience that I had doing that. I also shared that I had become an ambassador, despite the fact that it calls me to do a lot of things that are outside of my comfort zone.

I encouraged them to get involved in student life, not because I was supposed to say that but because I truly wanted them to have the best first year experience they could. I wanted them to feel like they belong here and encourage them to try new things, even if they do not see themselves as qualified or skilled in certain areas. I hope that what I said in that class gave them the courage to get involved on campus, to try new things, and become leaders despite the fear or insecurities they might have. Above all else I pray that I left them with the assurance that they belong here and that they can succeed.

I also ,of course, went to classes all week. Even though it is only the first week, I am already learning a lot. In English Composition we are talking about essays and authors like James Baldwin and Joan Didion. In Calculus we are reviewing key concepts that we learned in Algebra, which is much needed after a summer of doing no math what so ever. In my communication class we are talking about how to work in groups to solve problems and create ideas and in my Nutrition and Health class we are discussing how and why we make the food choices that we do.

Although I enjoy all of these concepts I’m learning, I’m particularly excited about my Spanish course. Not only is my professor funny and kind he is also wonderful at teaching the material. I already feel like I am going to learn more in one semester of his class than in the two years of Spanish I took in high school. We are working on the basics right now, going over greetings and how to have simple conversations with people but he explains it in a way that makes sense. Also, he was born in Peru so he knows not only the language but also the culture of Spanish speaking countries. Simply put I am very excited to learn from him this semester.

This week was full of exciting moments and new experiences. I look forward to what the rest of the semester holds.

#Chemistry #Colors