Week One

Welcome to this week's topic - Campus and Community Engagement (The Week of August 19th)

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As I arrived at college Friday (8/16), I was excited, but I was also nervous. I was excited to meet new friends, and I was excited to become involved around campus. However, I was extremely nervous about my classes. Now, as the first week of classes has come to an end, I can proudly state that I am now even more nervous about the remaining semester...

I am a self-critical individual, and I always strive to do my best work. One thing is for sure: In order to be successful this year, I will have to learn how to manage my academic life and my social life so that I will benefit in not just one, but both realms.

FYE 1220 class met twice this week. Although we spent little time in class, I feel more connected to this group of peers and to Taylor and Dra. McGrath than any other class group I have encountered this week. Being surrounded by a small, motivated group of people allows discussions to occur more easily, and it helps connections happen more frequently.

To conduct our first class assignment, each classmate wrote down three adjectives to describe himself/herself. Taylor collected our results and gave each classmate someone else's adjectives. We were then told to get out of our seats to search for the person whose paper we held. This activity was very successful in getting my classmates and I to open up to each other; we became more talkative, and we were able to connect.

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Dra. McGrath provided us with many helpful resources that can assist us now and in the future. As an FYE student, I am required to go to at least two of the campus Success Series (3) events. We talked about these events briefly in class, but after looking at the list on my own, I am positive that I know which two I want to attend based on my interests. After I attend each event, I will speak about the goals and challenges from each, and I will discuss the key takeaways I receive. Dra. also gave us information about networking and mentoring. In order to have a meaningful experience at college, one must be able to communicate with others and to establish connections that could be beneficial in the future. 

On our second day of class, we watched a video titled, "How to graduate college with a job you love & less debt (4)." I related heavily to this video. I have sometimes felt overwhelmed or pressured by others to go into a field where workers make large sums of money. I feel as though others are expecting me to take a certain path when I wish to create my own. My goal is to graduate college with little or no debt and to gain a degree in a field that will provide me with happiness. Whatever my future holds, I want to enjoy my job. A few of my other classmates expressed their concerns for the video. Many felt stressed by the video, and I understand their viewpoint. Talking about the future can be overwhelming, especially since our future lives depend heavily upon our college performance. As a class, we discussed how college is not for everyone. Many people are simply more skilled in areas of trade, and college would be a waste of money and time for those people. I enjoy being able to discuss topics with my classmates, and I love hearing everyone's opinions.

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The outside class readings this week were "Why is Asking for Help so Difficult?" by Alina Tugend (5) and "The Disease of Being Busy" by Omid Safi (6). In Tugend's article, she gives specific tips on learning how to ask for others' help. She states that many people do not ask for help because they are afraid of others' actions. Some people tend to provide help without wanting anything in return, while others desire help without any intention of returning it. Safi's article emphasizes the "busy-ness" of people in today's society. He states,"How are we supposed to live, to examine, to be, to become, to be fully human when we are so busy?" Safi suggests that we slow down to learn how to make meaningful connections with others. In class, we briefly talked about people around campus constantly being on their phones. Once we brought up this topic in class, I started to notice the issue immediately; I even realized that I was often on my phone when I could be doing something else instead. Because of this article and this class discussion, I am trying to train myself to look at my phone only when it is necessary. I need to strive to make actual connections and to establish meaningful relationships with others.

For the last topic on this entry, I would like to discuss specific campus resources (8) available to students at Georgia Southern. Dra. McGrath provided the class with a helpful link so that we may be able to easily discover our available resources. This year, my goal, which I briefly mentioned earlier in this post, is to successfully manage my academic and my social life. I have already started to take part in campus activities; I participated in theatre auditions, and I attended a Bible study this week. I made friends at both events. Academically, I have been staying organized and trying to complete my assignments ahead of time so that I may stay on schedule. The first resource that will be very beneficial to me is academic advising. As a freshman, I am clearly new to the college world. I know little about what exact courses I need to complete, and meeting with my advisor will help broaden my perspective, and it will help me learn to make important decisions regarding which classes will be most valuable to my education. I will schedule a meeting with my advisor when the time comes to register for new classes. A second resource that I will use is campus recreation and intramural sports. I have signed up to participate in intramural sports with Christian Campus Fellowship, and I am excited to get involved. I have been informed that more information about my involvement will arise when the practice dates are finalized. By using both of these resources, I will be able to engage in activities inside and outside the classroom. I strive to become more outgoing this year, and so far, I am on the right path.

I thoroughly enjoyed this week's topic and class discussions! I am excited for next week. Thank you so much for reading my blog!

Resources:
(1) Image : https://images.app.goo.gl/DiVKuVfRmtJeP86N7
(2) Image: https://images.app.goo.gl/tvQeMaE7SWeZskpv7
(3) Success Series: https://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/fye/students/first-year/success/
(4) Youtube Video: https://youtu.be/29tJAgc54RA
(5) Tugend Article: https://nyti.ms/2jATo9V
(6) Safi Article: https://onbeing.org/blog/the-disease-of-being-busy/
(7) Image: https://images.app.goo.gl/gK2ve6Z6Rn99zjZA8
(8) Campus Resources: https://academics.georgiasouthern.edu/fye/students/first-year/on-campus-resources/