April 2021

Looking back on these past semesters I can not believe how fast my year of college went by.  It truly doesn’t feel too long ago when I was sitting on my couch in my dorm room in Burns Hall dressed in a jacket with my tie on in my boxers during rush.  Normally This wouldn’t be the case but thanks to Covid-19 I spent a lot of time on this very computer doing 90% of my school work on it. So my first semester I spent a lot of time in my room which definitely wasn’t what I was expecting.  Nevertheless, I came to love my school and education throughout the second semester realizing that I couldn’t do anything about covid restrictions.  I also started thinking to myself why I chose to come up to Ole Miss and what it would bring me in the future. Even though my parents influenced me to attend college, I have learned after my first year in college that college is more than just going to school; it’s about being responsible for all your actions whether it be picking classes or deciding to go out the tongue or stay in to study, which has begun to shape me as a person and an adult.

Fast forward to 2021 my first spring semester I was blessed to have Prof. Harper as my guide and mentor through my first-year writing experience.  Eventually, we read Andrew Deblancos’s article “What is College For?”.  After reading I began to question myself on what I thought college was for to me.  Everyone’s opinions are different depending on how they look at things.  I would say that 90% of people would say that college is for getting a degree and bettering yourself for the future.  Which is true. However, the other 10% will say that college is for fun and doesn’t have any real benefits if you are going to work in trades for a living.  This brings me into my first writing class this year with Dr. Roll.  Early on in the year, we did a reading journal on Inviting the mother tongue By Peter Elbow.  What I remember taking from this was the fact that every writer has freedom in their writing.  What I mean by that is there are no rules, you can write in any language or style you want.  Everything is encouraged and everyone is different.  

Even though I have been in a writing and or English class my entire life the learning didn’t stop at high school.  It wasn’t about learning vocabulary words or doing group writing projects.  This year was about me and learning how I can better myself in the writing world.  After reading The Makers Eye by Donald M. Murray I began to realize what it means to better myself.  Murray talks about increasing productivity and quality in writing drafts.  I did a lot of draft-related classwork this year. In Professor Harper’s class, we would submit our rough drafts and do two peer reviews on Edflow.  This helped me a lot by getting to see others writers’ posts and seeing what they could improve on or what I need to improve.  Also seeing others’ feedback on my own draft gives me a solid backbone to work behind to make sure I am on the right track. In addition in the first semester in a blog post, I described a writer. When doing this I remember breaking down what a writer really is. Which is someone who takes their own literature and breaks it down in sequence to make a flowing piece of writing. 

My first Zoom Meeting with Mrs. Harper gave me the opportunity to make an EdBlog post about my goals that semester in his class.  I was skeptical at first when thinking about what my goals were.  I wasn’t sure at the time what my true values in that class would be. That being bettering myself as a writer, improving my skills, and having a good mindset while doing any and all of my academic work.  Shortly following I did a CRQ on “How is the pandemic affecting US college students” which really opened my eyes to how it’s not just me. Selfish I know. But anyways reflecting on the article made me realize just how impactful this virus was on our economy. After reading that I began to appreciate what I could do and what the future would hold for me. Speaking of the future another blog post I made was on “Activism in the social media age” which brought to my attention how much of an influence social media has on many different aspects of our lives.  In this case, I was talking about voting and how social media influenced or may have influenced some people’s opinions on who they voted for. Upon finishing that it made me realize what I post on social media can affect the people around me or others taking a gander at my page. 

Coming to the concluding weeks of my first year at Ole Miss I did a synthesis paper.  In this paper, I had to find many peer-reviewed articles and scholarly sources.  In my reflection post, I realized what I had to do in order to better my essay.  Finding peer-reviewed articles will not only help me but also give readers the opportunity to understand that this material is accurate and has been checked over multiple times.  Another essay that I wrote was my argumentative essay.  In which I wrote about how nicotine and THC vapes are affecting Gen Z and younger age groups.  The goal of this paper was for me to explain to the reader just how harmful these chemicals one is ingesting can be to your body.  Many explained and underlying health conditions have come about after very little research.  This then gave me the opportunity to take what information I had and relay it to others.  

Now it’s the last week of my first full year as a student at the University of Mississippi and man can I say that it flew by.  I don’t want to sound repetitive but it truly did.  During my first year, I began to really get an understanding of what it means to be a college student.  To me, it was much more than just going to the classes on a big campus.  It was about learning who I was and what kind of person I am and the goals I would set for myself.  In Andrew Deblancos’s article “What is College For?” he gives the readers three characteristics of what he believes college is for.  So when asking myself what is college for I like to think, at least for myself, that college is the first real step into adulthood. My thoughts haven’t changed, I have only secured more experiences that back my reasoning.  College is a place not only to go and get your education and degree but also to find out who you are.  Being on your own and making all your own decisions makes you an independent individual. I obviously came to school to graduate but I also am beginning to learn that it’s also about bettering yourself for the future and grow to learn who I am and how I can benefit myself.

 

“The college would typically wait for displaced workers to come to the campus to receive retraining instead of intervening before they were laid off. It had advisory groups of employers to provide guidance on certificates and degrees, but they met infrequently, so it would take months or sometimes years to tweak existing programs or start new ones.”

I had many questions to myself while reading this article.  One thing that I thought about was how are these workers being paid to go to college. But when I came to realize that wasn’t the case I had other questions to myself.  Why would the college interview someone who would soon be laid off from work? Another thing that I had kept in mind was if these student workers had a high school diploma and if it was needed. I would expect that it would but wasn’t sure. Finally, I was just confused on why the college would constantly change and tweak their programs and not just stick to one and be great at providing an education that way.

“in today’s America: if you are the child of a family making more than $90,000 per year, your odds of getting a BA by age twenty-four are roughly one in two; if your family’s income is between $60,000 and $90,000, your odds are roughly one in four; if your parents make less than $35,000, your odds are one in seventeen.”

This part of the passage definitely challenged my opinions. In many states, there are community colleges close to a good university that provide classes on their campus without paying the tuition fees.  It’s understandable for it to be difficult to obtain a degree if your parents are making less than $35,000 a year.  But it is not at all impossible. Furthermore, community colleges offer many different transfer programs. Some may be one semester at the community college while making a certain GPA and would be able to transfer with scholarship money. All in all, I feel as if many people can get a BA and certainly a diploma without having to go 4 years at an expensive university when they can take nearly the same classes and earn their degree that way.

1. One major difference in my essay compared to my presentation would be that the essay I included much more information. while in the presentation I am giving a quick rundown of my topic and trying to give my audience a good reason to stop vaping or prevent from doing so.
2. When I was in 8th grade my social studies teacher had us do two 5 minute presentations like this with no key cards and just slides.  I feel like I can prepare myself in the same way I conducted those past speeches and have confidence in doing so.

The first thing that I want to do with my presentation is to have a very detailed outline of my argument so that I could clearly and consistently relay my information to the audience without having to stop and ask the said audience if they are following what I was saying. Secondly, I would practice my speech a couple of times to ensure my time is above three minutes.  This one might be an easy one but it’s practical. sometimes it’s really hard to do a standing speech. One thing that I am going to try to avoid would be preparing something I have already said, my pronunciation, flow, and speed.  When I am talking I want to make sure that everyone can hear and understand what I am saying.