College: The Reset Button As our senior year is drawing to a close, we are parting our ways. Over the years, we have grown into young adults figuring what is next in store. Everyone has the opportunity to start anew in college. College can be seen as way to re-invent ourselves by hitting the reset button. There are two sides to this. Throughout high school, some students have been stuck with a certain persona in which they wish to change. On the other hand, a student may appreciate the persona they’ve maintained and don’t want high school to end. For example, the introverted kid who always worked alone on class assignments versus the popular jock that threw great parties. They’ll struggle with being stuck in the past and don’t wish to move forward. Eventually, we will all have to hit the reset button, including me. I have already experienced this so called reset button, but there are still some aspects of myself that I want to change and I have an idea of how I’ll reset myself. A certain aspect that I want to change about myself is my leadership skills and how I’ll achieve that in college. However, I’ve already experienced the so-call reset button. …show more content…
Interacting socially with other people were one of my weaknesses ,whether it was in classroom discussions, conversations with individuals, or meeting new people. I was the type of person who mindlessly followed my friends like lost sheep. I didn’t feel included, so I left that group. The next two years of my high school was sent venturing out of my comfort zone and meeting new people. It wasn’t till towards the end of my junior year that I began to change dramatically. Something just clicked and I wanted to express myself more, to have a voice. That click, was the reset
I have been to so many different schools that I cannot even count them all using all 10 fingers. You would think that by now I would be used to being the new kid, but with every move it just gets harder and harder. I have learned that it is harder to be the new kid when you are older versus when you are younger. As a kid it is cool to be the new kid and everyone wants to be your friend. In high school it is the complete opposite. Unless you approach them, most high school students won’t even bother talking to you. Every time that I think I have finally made a friend, I am almost immediately shot down. I am beginning to feel like I don’t belong
Before my years in high school, I rarely put time and effort into studying and constantly associated with my friends at school; that is until I entered high school. The different competitive atmosphere at high school caused me to suddenly prioritize my studies ahead of everything else and my ambition became greater than ever. I began to interact less with my old friends and become less sociable with those around me. My parents also began to notice this drastic change and encouraged me to once in a while contact my old friends. During the beginning, I contacted my friends about two or three times a week, but the phone calls began to gradually diminish. I began to abandon my previous cheerful, ebullient nature in order to conform to the competitive, tense study environment at high school. As long as I successfully accomplished my goals and was accepted by others, I was willing to alter myself in order to assimilate into the mainstream environment. Through my hard work and perseverance, I was able to reach my goal and receive the acknowledgement of others; however, despite fulfilling all my ambitions, I did not feel any joy or satisfaction within myself. Even though I successfully accomplished my objectives in school, I realized that in return I completely sacrificed my social life. Despite being accepted by others, I began to feel a sense of loneliness and longed to
Returning to College as an Adult Coming to college as an adult, we have many expectations and preconceptions of what college will or will not be. The expectations we have can influence our college life for the better or the worse. My experience since starting college has been an interesting one. People have misconceptions about college because they do not know what to expect. After doing some research, I have concluded that there are three major factors that are often misunderstood about college life.
I could have taken this change in my life as something terrible, tragic, and sad. Instead, I chose to make the most of it and accept it as a new challenge. I began to communicate with as many people as I could and I trained myself to become a more social person. I joined about every sport possible in middle school and made it a goal to become friends with everyone. By moving to Iowa, I evolved from a shy kid into a much more outgoing and adventurous adolescent.
I am an extremely shy person. That’s because I never know what the right thing to say is and I’m afraid to mess up. I don’t want to sound dumb in front of someone. So by not talking much, I thought I would be normal. But, people just started to ignore the fact that I was there. I didn’t have many friends and I was disheartened. Until sports seasons began in eighth grade. People on my different teams started talking to me and I built up enough confidence to have many conversations with them throughout the time we were there. It sounds pathetic, but this is just the way it is. This progressed and I made many new friendships with people, however, I am still egregious when it comes to conversing with people. My second chance came in the form of friendships. Similar to Seabiscuit, I was given a second chance that permanently altered my
I was shy because I didn’t know anybody. Now I’ve gotten to know the people in my classes, and I’ve learned that they can help me just as I can help them. Because I was homeschooled, I was a little laid back on when to turn in assignments, I just turned them in when I felt like it. At college, I have changed the way I turn in assignments. I have learned that if I turn in my assignments early or on time I have a better chance of getting a higher grade. I have also changed in the way I manage my time, before I started college I would just get out of bed whenever I felt like it. Now I set alarms and different times on when I need to get something
Making the transition from middle school to high school is a huge stepping stone in a teenager’s life. High school represents both the ending of a childhood and the beginning of adulthood. It’s a rite of passage and often many teens have the wrong impression when beginning this passage. Most began high school with learning the last thing on their mind. They come in looking for a story like adventure and have a false sense of reality created through fabricated movie plots acted out by fictional characters. In all actuality high school is nothing like you see in movies, television shows, or what you read about in magazines.
This time I moved to Warren, Michigan and I attended my last year of elementary school with brand new people. The process of getting to know people took me a long time. I became the shy student that did not take part in any school activity again because I was afraid I would be judged on everything I did. As the years went by I started meeting new people each year. It is now my Senior year of High School and I attend three different schools: CPC, Cousino, and Macomb Community College, I can finally say that I am gaining my confidence back.
Teachers and peers Teachers played a huge role in my development because I started preschool at the age of two, so I spent a lot of time in some sort of classroom setting and interacted with the teachers. When I was younger a lot of times I preferred to be around the teachers, mostly because being an only child at the time, that was all I was used to. There were times when I did interact with my peers. Most of the time I spent was with my cousin because we had the same class. Once I was old enough to start kindergarten I was confident that it was going to be a cake walk. I met a group of friends and was excelling in class. However, my friends and I had a very hard time getting along, so we were later separated. Throughout my childhood I recall bouncing between several different types of friend groups, from the “cool clique”, to the
I used to be very shy, and not talk to a lot of people. It was a big part of my personality, and I would only talk to someone when spoken to. Wong explains how I acted very well, “My friends and family probably wouldn 't describe me as shy. But for me, being shy has always been about struggling to connect with people I don 't know. I fear the unfamiliarity of a stranger—how they might judge or reject me. Maybe there 's nothing inherently wrong with being timid, but when I started noticing how it affected my everyday life, I wanted to get it under control.” (para. 3). I started getting more and more talkative as I grew older, but one day I decided to change. I began to come out of my comfort zone. For example, I made myself talk more to people even though I was afraid of what I would say, but I made myself do it anyways. This helped me communicate a lot with people, because they began to respect me more, because I would also watch what I would say to them. I still watch what I say most of the time to people because one of my biggest fears is to offend someone on accident because of something that I said. Making myself talk to people more made me a much more outgoing person, which is a big part of who I
I felt uncomfortable and nervous (in all honesty, I still am) meeting strangers, consequently this did not help that fact in my first year. Seeing how I had no choice in the matter, I became cooperative and thoughtful of others; it was cause of this, I felt assured and at ease for my unaccustomed school year.
There are various influences on everyone’s lives while growing up. I believe the greatest of these influences is the neighborhood you grew up in. I grew up in a quite large, welcoming neighborhood. While living in this neighborhood, I was outgoing and remarkably talkative. Making friends became second nature to me. Playing outdoors from sunrise to sundown playing sports or exploring the outdoors with my friends became a daily routine for me. I was outgoing, talkative, and active. I believe this is the result of the neighborhood I grew up in.
As a young child I was a non social person, and did not like to participate in anything. I liked to be an individual person, and do things on my own. I was shy and not outgoing like all my other friends were. When I enter a situation for the first time, I have a hard time speaking up until I feel comfortable. As being as shy as I was, my school work was affected a lot because I would not raise my hand to ask questions if I did not understand something, or go to the teacher for help. It was hard to transition from that stage to being more outgoing and talk more with my peers. It was difficult to communicate with others becuase of this as well, i was not able to be the perosn that i really am.
Interpersonal relationships is an area of my life that I would like to improve upon. My personality tends to be shy, and extroverted with lower than average social skills. Which is a combination that makes it a little bit difficult to make the interpersonal relationships that I need as an extrovert. The combination of being shy and having unsatisfactory social skills sends the message that I do not want to interact with others when that’s not the message I am trying to send.
In six grade, I had to interact with other kids. I slowly learned that I could talk to them, by the middle of the year. The learning in that class in the middle of the school year wasn’t the greatest. I learned a lot and grew a lot during that year, from being scared in the beginning of having friends in the end of the year. I had a great teacher named Mrs. Sandoval who really gave me the help I needed.