16V: Freedom

Freedom is the ability to do what you want. For several teenagers the definition of freedom is college because college is a time where they finally feel as if they are being less controlled by their parents and more responsible for themselves. They have the ability to choose the path that they want their future to take and are in control of who they will become. They aren’t as restrained by strict curfews and constant supervision as they always were before. They can discover new hobbies and interests, meet lots of new people, make new friends, and are free to do more of what they please.

A new word I learned this week is appease. It means to soothe or make better. I also became familiar with the word refute which means to prove to be false.

16A/B: The Last Look In The Mirror… For Now

To me finishing up this semester seems bittersweet. On one hand I am just relieved that I can finally relax after weeks of complete exhaustion and stress but on the other I am feeling a little bit broken. It feels like just yesterday when we were all meeting for the first time and participating in tons of icebreakers to get to know each other better but now that we have all gotten so close it is already time to say goodbye. I know I will still see these familiar faces in the crowd and keep in touch with the many friends I have made but I realize that the chances of encountering a close knit learning community like the one I had for this first semester are very unlikely. I never thought that I would be capable of interacting so closely with peers in a “college classroom” but I was wrong and I’ve learned that I enjoy communicating and sharing ideas with other people and that it is beneficial to be involved.

 Another thing I have become aware of about myself is how important it is for me to stay motivated. Once I am determined to do something I put in all my effort in attempt to accomplish the task or overcome the obstacle. My biggest challenge this semester was my Microbiology class and I did everything I could to make sure I had the best chance possible of successfully completing the course. I studied for hours, asked fellow classmates for help, went to office hours, and attended all the optional review sessions. In the end it all paid off and I was able to do well in the class because I did not allow failure as an option. This leads me to reflect on my achievements this semester. Something I consider a huge accomplishment is my blog because it was one of my biggest fears when school started due to the fact that I wasn’t a very tech savvy person but here we are on week 16…I did it! My most significant achievement this semester was my grades. So far I have met my personal goals that I had set for myself at the beginning of the semester and I feel as if I reached where I wanted to be at this point by managing to keep at least a 90 in each course throughout the semester.

However, the final grade reports have not been released yet so it is too soon to say that I am comfortable with my entire performance and there is yet still the possibility for disappointment. I hope that all my hard work will be reflected in my final grades and that my establishment of study skills and time management prove to be successful. If I were to have to face something detrimental with my final results the only thing I could do is continue to try my best until I reach my desired goals. In spite of how I did this semester I still have high hopes for upcoming semesters as well. Once again I intend on setting goals to keep the minimum of 90 in all my courses, complete all my homework/assignments, and attend every class. I plan to fulfill these by maintaining good study skills, carefully managing my time, avoiding procrastination, and using the resources available to me, a couple of which might include review sessions and office hours. Something I hope to change next semester is being more involved because I didn’t have time to join a club or organization this semester and after having a close experience with my FYE classmates I realized that clubs could potentially offer a similar feeling of inclusion. All being said I will truly miss all of the students and professors that I have had the pleasure of getting to know this semester and I hope to have more classes with you all in the future. I wish you all a wonderful winter break and Happy Holidays!!!

16I.7: Fitness Center

For my last involvement blog I decided to stop by the fitness center located on second floor of the Adanti Student Center room 204. I discovered that they offered free group exercise classes to all students during Finals week 12/9-12/13 unfortunately I was much to be busy during finals week to attend any of these free classes. Altogether the fitness center has approximately 45 exercise machines which include ellipticals, bikes, stair steppers, ab machines, and weight lifting machines. It costs $60 per semester for membership and their normal hours of operation are Mon-Thurs 7am-10pm, Fri 7am-8pm, Sat 9:30am-4:30pm, and Sun 2pm-7pm. One class I would be interested in taking would be Cycling Express which is on Tuesdays 12:30pm-1:05pm with Instructor Abby. The Fitness Center has no group classes and has special hours during winter break more info can be found online at SCSU Fitness Center Website.

Inq101-42N Final Video Project: StudyingProbs

Video Link
Click the link above to watch my video.

15V: Autonomy

Autonomy is the concept of being your own individual. It means to be independent and capable of directing yourself. As college students we are expected to have this quality because we are responsible for knowing what kind of direction we want are life to take by choosing a career and field of study. Not only does it pertain to our lives as a whole but it also fits into our daily college work as well. Professors expect us to be original and accountable for our work and what we learn rather than having to depend on others and on them to be dragged along like in high school.

A new word that I learned this week is repudiate. It means to reject or to refuse to associate yourself with something.

The other word I added to my vocabulary this week is prodigal. It means to be wasteful.

15B:The Fight Till The End…

We are a few days from reaching the most feared time of the semester…Finals week! As time starts to run out we are rushing to finish up our last assignments and projects. Everyone’s stress and anxiety levels are elevated. Although we have survived the battles all semester we still have to win the war with finals to assure total victory. In order to accomplish this many of us have come up with plans for preparing for finals. After becoming in tuned with everything I am going to need to have completed for the end of the semester I devised a personal plan of my own.

My biggest goal is to finish the semester out strong. There are several things I intend on doing to ensure that I have as good of a chance of making this goal a success as possible. First I plan to attend all my optional classes next week including the ones on the Reading Day so that I can ask as many last minute questions as I can. Next I plan to do all extra credit assignments that are offered to me so that I can boost my grades as high as possible before the exam. I am also going to use all the study guides available to me to constantly keep track of what I know and what I need to work on. Most of all I plan to study non-stop I am going to rewrite my notes and keep them in an organized manner so that I can carry them around with me everywhere and look them over every chance I get. My most difficult challenge is going to be the two exams I have on Wednesday because both Microbiology and U.S-History contain a lot of information but I will not give up.

 

The only thing I could do right now is try my best to remember everything and prepare as much as possible. After all the hard work I have put in throughout the entire semester I would be devastated if my grades fell apart now at the very end. I’m going to do everything in my power to avoid such a disaster. I hope you all find the motivation it takes to wrap up the semester with grades you’re proud of. Best of luck to all of you…hang in there and fight till the end!