Community College Reflection

Going into the first semester of college, it was difficult to know what to expect. I have no older sibling, and only one older cousin who had told me the biggest change was the social aspect. When he told me this earlier in the summer of this year, I didn’t really know exactly what he meant by that, because I always felt that the social aspect of school was something that came naturally, as a result of being in the same room with people for almost 180 days. As this semester is coming to a close, I think I have been able to better understand what he was talking about. Perhaps even more clear at a Community College, is the idea of only seeing a class a few times a week, and very rarely seeing the same classmates in another course. Whereas

Teachers in High School were there to still hold your hand and help you along the way, even though they often said that they were preparing us for the real world. I appreciate their approach, and all of my earlier teachers have been awesome, but I don’t really feel they did a good job of letting go of our hands and showing us how it would be later. My teachers so far in college have been great as well, but while they are there to help you with assignments and studying, it’s different than before. It is all on you to reach out and ask for help from your teachers or to use the variety of resources on campus to figure things out if you can’t. To illustrate the difference: The tools were provided, with no effort to get them when others felt you were struggling, now, you must go get the tools yourself when you feel you need them. I’m glad for this, it has taught me to be more self-aware, a better user of time, and feel more ready for life after

I have seen people struggling that really shouldn’t be. It is often a result of them being afraid to ask for help, whether that be because they think that help will only come after some great personal cost, or because they think that by asking for help it is somehow a sign that they are not capable. I believe that a great show of intelligence is to be able to accept that you are unable to do something, and ask for help. There should be no shame in it, instead you should be grateful that someone is there to provide help that often times are really motivated to be helping