Final Reflection

Roxanne Coleman

5/20/12

Final Reflection

            Being a part of Hunter early college program has helped me in many ways. Such as, giving me the chance to work and study in a college campus as well as helping me meet new people within the college classes. In addition, I was given the freedom to do what I want and the responsibilities that came along with it.

            I can’t really recall overcoming a great success, unless you count dealing with your mom while she’s sick and school drama. If so, dealing with my mom having cancer was a struggle. It affected my attitude about school and affected my grades. Also, meeting new people and trying to create lasting friendships was a struggle to begin with. On top of that, I already had old drama progressing into my senior year, so that affected me as well. Overall, if I had a chance to do it all over again, I would, but I think I did a pretty good job handling things. Luckily, I had Defeo and Froner to guide my senior year.

            Thanks to Defeo and her writing class, I was able to develop my own technique of writing. I doubt that I would have reached this level of writing anytime soon without the help of her class. I learned how to do sensory detail, prose rhythm, the checkmark chart, which helped me a lot, etc. I learned that as a writer I can come up with amazing ideas with no problem, but sometimes I struggle with what my protagonists desires and putting the plot together. The techniques that I learned in Defeo class will forever stay in my writing and shall help me progress in my writing during the future.

            The college courses that I’ve taken in Hunter were English 120 and Geography 101. I enjoyed both class, especially since both professors were kind and really cared about us succeeding. Yet, this being the case, I have to choose English 120 as my favorite class. The reason for that is because coming to English 120 was truly an amazing experience. I didn’t know the right format on how to write and basically forgot everything because of summer vacation. So I had a really hard time learning everything from the beginning. Especially since the format that I learned in middle school through high school, wasn’t really the right format on how write an essay.  It was a format students had to learn in order for us to pass the History and English regents. Now knowing the right format on how to find reliable sources and websites for my research papers, I must thank Professor Morales for never giving up on me and for helping me on my creativity and structure of my essays.

            This question is so funny because there are many things that I need to work on.  Such as, procrastination, time management, drama, and studying more for school. Like this homework assignment being late, I procrastinate on many things, even knowing the importance of them. It basically goes back to me being lazy and the hegemony that I can always make up the points, but that will not be the case when I go to college. If I don’t stop my procrastination now, I’m going to have a very hard time succeeding in college, especially since I’ll be in a different state. Also, my time management is another issue I must work on. I have improved a lot since the beginning of the year, but I still need to work on it. It just needs to be perfected, if not, this will also contribute to me having a hard time adapting to my new school. In addition, taking my classes more seriously and ignoring all the rumors and drama around me needs to stop. It only slows you down, literally. It messes with you mentally and physically. I never intentionally look for drama, but somehow it always comes knocking at my door. The best thing I can do going to this new school is if the group of people I’m starting to hang out with have a lot of drama going on with them, then its best to not be friends with them, stay cordial and to keep it moving.

            Most of my study times that I did on the Hunter campus were within the library and the computer lab. As for faculties that I used within the Hunter campus it would be the printer, computers, purple couches, and blackboard.  Being in this early college program I’ve learned more about myself. I learned that I will never be in a group more than three people because it never works out. I learned that I actually really do care about what our government does and the policies that they enforce in our every day’s lives. How I want to get involved and fix them whenever I can. I have more confidence within myself and I have more courage than I had before. I’ve also matured in many ways and learned that I can’t change anyone but myself.

            Thanks to my perseverance and attitude of “never giving up,” I shall be attending to Columbia College within Chicago. It was a very hard struggle, especially since my grades and SAT scores were average. Things were looking bad for me since all of my schools upstate and out of state rejected me, except for one. Even though everyone was telling me to give up, I applied to two more schools out of state that didn’t focus so much on grades but, more on my individuality and accomplishment as a student.  I did have my doubts of getting in since I applied to these schools last minute, but luck was on my side and I got into both. I decided to go to the school in Chicago because it has a good journalism program, which I would like to major in, and the money was cheap for a private school.  39,000 a year may seem like a lot to people but, it’s really not compared to most private schools that are between 45-60,000 a year. It does upset me that this school so far isn’t giving me any money and expects my mom and I to take out a lot of loans to pay for my education. Yet, I won’t let this struggle stop me from going there. I learned that in life they will always be something in your way from succeeding so you shouldn’t give up every time things start to look bad. This being said, I will appeal to financial aid, apply to even more scholarships and hope for the best.

            My personal goals in the future would be to become a top journalist reporting real news. What I mean by real news is I want to raise consciousness about issues and stories that don't always make the headlines. I believe that global awareness makes a person smarter and ultimately more human. I'm grossed out by what "news" outlets masquerade as news. Mainstream media focuses on international locations only when there's catastrophe or war. It's a shame. There are so many fascinating people doing important things out there and I want to be the person who will show the world just that. In addition, I would like to form my own journalism business if possible. Overall, I want to be successful in the future so that I could provide for my family and at the same time make a difference in this world.

            The best advice I can give to the future students coming to Hunter is this, focus on your work. I know you hear this same routine over and over again, but seriously do that. I had to learn this the hard way and because I didn’t stay focus, my grades took time to go back up. Also, try not to procrastinate. I understand stopping procrastination is hard, but again, trust me, if you don’t nip this in the butt early you’re going to have a hard time getting through senior year. To summarize, my last evidence would be to stay out of drama, I repeat stay out of drama!! Unfortunately, even when I don’t want drama, I’m always dragged in to it. It’s stupid and pointless and always ends up being over something stupid and it usually happens over friendships. I know you guys think you will be with these so called friends for the rest of your life, but that is a fairytale. Must long-lasting friendships will occur in college and the people you know now will leave your life for good probably. Not saying that you should stop being their friend, but don’t get caught up in drama over friendship and not worry about yourself. Like my mom always say, not everyone that comes in your life are supposed to stay, there just there to guide you until it’s time to move on.