Nora Younger 1 Final Reflective Essay As a first semester freshman, honors freshman seminar has helped guide me though

this semester. For starters, I would like to state that I signed myself up for entirely too many classes this semester because I thought I could handle it. In high school I was an overachiever. I believed that taking seventeen credit hours was the challenge that I needed because high school was a breeze. At the same time, I did not have choice in regards to taking so many classes. In order to be considered a pre-nursing student and an honors student I had to take all seven classes. This was by far the worst decision I have ever made. However, I did not let my bad decision get the best of me. Throughout this semester I spent a lot of my time writing papers and studying as much as possible. I feel as if I overloaded myself so much with work that I was unable to truly experience what college is like. I was not able to socialize with all of my friends on a regular basis, but at the same time I have to consider that socializing is not what I am at college for. Even though I did overwhelm myself with schoolwork, I know that I have grown mentally and have become a stronger person. I would like to refer my experience with college as a tree. When I was first planted, I picked my classes before my roots were strong and secure in the ground. I had seven branches (seven classes) that weighed heavy on my core, making it hard to stay upright and very easy to fall over. Throughout this semester, my roots have grown deeper into the ground because I refused to give up. I refused to throw in the towel when I had an unimaginable amount of homework that needed to be completed. I had faith in myself and in my future and I refused to let it all go because of one mistake.

Nora Younger Three classes that I took this semester that gave me the most trouble were

Chemistry 1103, Chemistry lab, and honors visual arts. In regards to Chemistry, this is the first class that I have ever taken in my major. I knew before taking this class that if I did not do well and score well on the tests, that I would be kicked out of lower division nursing. The stress that I put on myself was almost unbearable and the material was extremely complex. At one point in time this semester what I was sitting in lecture, it sounded as if my professor was speaking in a foreign language that I could not understand. After scoring an eighty-nine on my first test I was proud and continued to work hard. It was not until I scored a seventy on my second test that my world was shaken up. I realized that at this point if I continued to score low on the final two tests and the final exam that I would not score a B or higher in the course. I buckled down and studied for the third test for a week straight. My determination to study landed me an eighty-eight on my third test. There is still one more test and the final exam that I need to take, but I am currently on the right track to receive a final grade of a B or higher. In regards to Chemistry Lab, this class was by far the hardest class that I have ever taken due to the fact that we were required to know all of the lab material before we actually went to class and were tested on it. Our lab tests made up more than fifty percent of our grade and if we did not score well, then we fail lab and have to retake it. Because I had a grumpy teachers assistant, I had to figure out the material on my own due to the fact that she refused to answer any questions. Chemistry Lab helped me grow as a person. Before I took this class, I had no idea that I was capable of teaching myself such a complex topic without the help of a professor. I proved to myself that I was capable of a lot; I just had to make the time to do so.

Nora Younger 3 The final class that broke me down to build me up was honors visual arts. This class consisted of a lot of writing based off of artwork that I did not understand. As a class, every Friday morning we would visit a museum in Charlotte. While we were at the museum we were required to select two pieces of artwork that stood out to us most, and then we had to write a four to six page reflection on it. Before coming to college, I did not have to write papers on a regular basis. Throughout my high school career I wrote no more than five papers or so. Because I was assigned with so many papers to write, I had to learn how to understand art and how to reflectively write. Throughout my journey with this particular class, reflection on art made me do a lot of internal exploring. I believe that I was able to connect with artwork that led me to learn more about myself. Overall, this course was the most challenging of them all, but at the same time it helped me learn about myself and grow the most. Throughout all of the challenges I have faced this semester, I believe that I am a more mature and solid young adult. I believe that I still have a lot to learn about life, myself, and the world as a whole and I cannot wait to do so. This first semester has truly been an eye opener. My world has been shaking, I have fallen, and I picked myself back up. I learned from my mistake of overscheduling myself and will keep that lesson in mind when I sign up for classes in future semesters. Without learning the lessons that I have this semester, I could have made larger mistakes later on down the road that would affect the rest of my life. I am proud of myself to continuing to push forward even when I saw no light at the end of the tunnel. I now know that I am capable of and will continue to push myself to grow. As the semester is wrapping up, my roots are now stronger and deeper into the ground. I am far from being a matured tree, but I am working my way

Nora Younger

towards it. In regards to future semesters, I will use what I have learned to grow as a prenursing and honors student. I will become the best and strongest person that I can be. I will continue to grow and learn from my success and mistakes. I believe that learning from success and failure is how people learn more about themselves, which in turn allows them to grow. Overall, I have proved to myself that I am stronger than I thought I was and I plan to continue to do so.