“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.” -James Dean

Final Assessment: 

           Thinking back to the first day of class, I was very skeptical about what this class would be about. As weeks past I cam to realize that our Inquiry class was to help us, freshmen, adjust to the college life. Overall I thought our class was a success, we had a lot of great and intellectual discussions about the articles we were assigned. In the beginning we were a little slow on learning what a good inquiry question is or what a professor looks for in a response. We were taught how to use higher level of thinking, how to manage our time properly, and new technology techniques.

            Each class we usually had a few selected articles that we needed to read. At first I just read through each article on the computer and tried to remember as much as I could for each class. As time went on I learned that the best way to retain this information was to print out each article and highlight all the main points. This helped me participate in class discussions. It also helped me realize that in my other classes the key to retaining as much as I could was to take notes and highlight anything that was important to that topic. These tips helped me in most of my classes to get the grades I was reaching for.

In our class we had the privilege of having a peer mentor, Lee Tripler. Lee participated in our discussions; we were all amazed after she would give her opinion because we were able to differentiate between a senior and a freshman. I was eager to learn and open my mind so I could respond to a certain topic in that way. I was able to experience what is needed to fully answer a question or give my opinion on something. In the beginning of the year my responses would have been short and sweet. However, now I would feel pretty comfortable answering a question and responding in a college level.

It was very difficult for me to transition from high school to college life. In high school I lived at home with my parents and had rules and set time for schoolwork and my social life. When coming to college all of that changed. I was living with two people I have never met before and had no rules to abide by. I was independent and had to set a schedule for myself. This class has helped me with my time management immensely. When we were given the videos to work on I had to space out my time, because there was no way I could do it the night before. I took weeks to work on my videos, I would work on them a little bit each day, and in no time they were finished to perfection! Now I have a grasp on what I need to do to manage my time.

This class was based off of technology that I have never used before. At first I was intimidated by all the online articles, blogs, and videos we were exposed to. When we first started the blog I was very confused on how it worked. I did not really know how to set it up, and was not given much direction. This helped me tremendously because I had to learn to figure this out on my own and helped me become more familiar with my computer. Now I have set up my own personal blog, for my own enjoyment. I post pictures and stories about my day. It is nice to have something to just express my feelings and myself.

I had just gotten my computer before school started, and have never really used a Mac before. Not only did I never use iMovie before, I have never made a movie. Making these two movies was a new experience for me. Although, by making the videos I had the chance to explore my computer and learn the different techniques to use in making a movie.

Overall my first semester experience as a freshman at Southern Connecticut State University has been a successful one. I have learned many new things not only in my Inquiry class, but all of my other classes. I was challenged to do things I have never done and think about things in a different manner. I expect to have a great future here at Southern and will continue to use what I have learned in my everyday life. 

"Now that, that don't kill me, will only make me stronger" -Kanye West

This semester has gone by so quickly, and I cannot believe that my first year of being in college is almost over. When I look back on this semester I have had some successes and failures. I think each are expected my first semester of college. This was a new place for me and I needed to learn for myself and test out different things each step of the way.

Some failures or weaknesses that I had this semester were that I did not have good time management and study habits. My first exam in my biology class I did not do very well in. this was because I thought I knew all the information and did not need to study before my exam. This is the same problem I had in my psychology class and my western civilization class. I would not review my notes or read through the selected chapters before the exams because I thought that everything that was going to be on the test were basic knowledge. It caused me to do poorly on a few exams. I do not have a lot of self -discipline. So I would rather hang out with my friends than get my work done. This is also a weakness because I need to learn that my schoolwork needs to come before my social life.

Despite my few failures and weaknesses, I have had plenty of successes this semester. I have never been good in writing and never really enjoyed it, but in my English class this semester, I did excellent on all my papers and did not mind writing any of them. This is definitely a success because it gave be a more positive attitude towards writing. I now know that if I am writing about something I am interested in I will have a pleasurable time writing about it. Another success that I had this semester is that in Inquiry class, I really impressed myself with the videos I created. I have never used imovie before I was nervous at first because of my inexperience with it. However, my end result for both of the videos I made were definitely a success. I had fun making each video and am happy to now have this new skill of using imovie. 

What Inspires Me

This is my final video!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

 I liked that we were placed within a learning community for our Inquiry and English class. This was a great way to make new friends. Since we share two of the same classes it is easier for everyone to get to know each other. Our class is pretty small so we are able to really connect with each other. Our English and Inquiry class is right after each other so it is nice to have everyone together walking to class, or if we get out early just all hang out together. It makes it easier to talk to each other about not only the two classes we are together for but also other classes that we should or should not take each semester. I will definitely miss our class next semester. We have all really grown close and share a lot of the same views on our classes. We are all comfortable with each other, and thanks to our peer mentor, Lee, we know that none of us will judge each other. We were able to say what we needed to say in class without being critiqued. Most of us showed our videos we made for our Inquiry class and we gave each other constructive criticism. No one got mad or jealous of anyone else. We are all happy for each other and formed a nice group.

                                     

“I'm here to handle the job that is at hand. Who knows what the future will bring?” -Rep. Leonard Bentz

My ideal life after college would be getting a goo job in my field and being able to excel in it. I want to be a speech pathologist in an elementary school, so my goal is to be able to achieve that right after I graduate. Ideally I would be able to get my own house or apartment and be financially set. I lived in Watertown, Connecticut and would like to get a job at the elementary school there, John Trumbull Primary School. I love to help people especially little kids. They are so enthusiastic about everything and when they learn something new or overcome an obstacle they are so exultant. This is what got me interested in speech pathology, because I knew I wanted to work with little kids and help them with something, other than being a school teacher. So after I graduate I know I want to get a job in this field right away.

In addition to being a speech pathologist, I would love to choreograph at a dance studio. My sister owns her own dance studio and for a part time job, I would love to teach a few classes for her. Again I would like to work with the littler kids. I began dancing when I was only two years old, and have been dancing ever since. I think it is important to follow through with my dancing because it is such an important aspect of my life. By choreographing at a dance studio part time I will be able to keep that joy and inspiration of dance in my life. 

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice." ~Meister Eckhart

One of my favorite things to do is eat. I love trying new foods and seeing differences in other cultures’ food. But when it comes down to it I just love having a home cooked meal while being surrounded by my family! I have always loved Thanksgiving for a few reasons. One is just being able to spend time with my family. It is a relaxing day that does not involve much preparation, no presents or surprises, just family enjoying each other’s company. However, the best part of Thanksgiving is all the delicious food and magnificent smells that I encounter that day.

I go to my aunts’ house for the day in Torrington. As soon as a walk in the door I am paralyzed by all the magnificent smells of each food. The smell of the moist gravy and turkey baking, the burn of the spicy hot stuffed peppers, and the freshly made corn muffins cooling after just coming out of the oven. All these smells are heavenly. At each chair there is a hand made turkey picture with each persons name on it, when we find our name we sit down and wait for everything to be ready. While we wait everyone talks about how everything is going in their life, usually the cousins are asked about school and grades, while the adults talk about work. When everything was out it was time to start dishing up the food. I took a little bit of everything; I even tried a hot stuffed pepper! Everything was so scrumptious, even when I was full I wanted to eat more! My favorite dish at Thanksgiving is the sweet potatoes. The sweetness from the brown sugar on top of the perfectly cooked potatoes makes my mouth water.

This year I was especially excited for Thanksgiving dinner. It was because I have not had a home cooked meal in a while. Because I live on campus I eat at Connecticut Hall everyday, I get the same chicken nuggets and French fries every time. I know that is not the healthiest choice, but it is definitely delicious! Although I do love the chicken and fries, nothing compares to a home cooked meal. I think it is the perfect dish, and I cannot get enough of it! Each of the dishes are delightful, and my Thanksgiving was the best yet!   

What Inspires Me

This is my second draft of my video. I'm not quite sure what I want to add to make it longer, so any suggestions are great appreciated! Also any feed back on what I can change to make my video better will be awesome! Thank you!