I'm All About Different

To me, diversity means variety or difference. It always has been. Being a Filipino living in Tennessee, then South Carolina has always made me stand out. I was always the different one. I still am for the most part, but I accepted the fact that I would always be different a long time ago.

I learned that with diversity, stereotypes are formed, whether we consciously think about it or not. Humans are programmed to automatically sort and categorize everything and everyone we see, so we do not always recognize that we do this. I know I do this, but I try to not let that hinder my judgment or actions towards others, because I know how it is to be stereotyped against more so than others.

The diversity activities done in class really brought into awareness how alike, and at the same time, how different we all are. Sometimes, we all share some of the same opinions and experiences, and sometimes we do not. Just seeing how much we have in common, even though we are all very different from each other in more ways than one, brings me to think how each student can relate to each other across the entire campus. If just our small class can have so much in common, would it be the same for other students as well?

Doing service work at Hand Middle School, I am surrounded by diversity. My mentee is a completely different race than I am, but we still have a lot in common, and not so much at the same time. It was interesting to meet for the first time and get to know each other and see the diverse environment that we were both surrounded by. For me, it was like time traveling back to my middle school years, and it was somewhat familiar and comforting. To have that familiarity was calming and erased any tensions and doubts about diversity.

In the Middle of It All

I think that the most beneficial lesson so far this semester is the lesson on goal setting. It has been very helpful, so I can keep up with my school work much easier. This lesson is not only valuable for keeping track of work, but it is something I can use every day for the rest of my life. One thing that I have really enjoyed about college is meeting so many new people and seeing friends from my hometown around campus. One thing that I wish I could do over again is my chemistry lecture class. I would go back and prepare better so I would not have felt so lost and confused in the material.

I still have not yet gone to Hand Middle School to start mentoring. Currently, I am waiting for more mentees to sign up for the program and be assigned one. I understand that this cannot happen immediately, so all I can do is wait as patiently as I can. I am so excited to find out who my mentee will be though. I asked around and some of my friends have already been to Hand Middle School and have met their mentees. They have told me how fun it was and sweet the kids were, and it has only made me even more excited about the whole experience. Secretly, I am a little jealous that they have already gone, and I have not.

One thing that I learned from the Undergraduate Research presentation was that I did not have to research within my major. I was very interested in this, because I have been curious for a while about the culture of the Philippines, specifically in the areas of dance and music. Knowing that I am not restricted to researching within my major has really piqued my interest in undergraduate research.

Let's Get Motivated!

            Since the material covered in class on Monday was on goal setting, the prompts regarding academic integrity are now irrelevant. When we went over goal setting, SMART goals were introduced to us. SMART goals stand for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. That was the first time I had ever heard of SMART goals, so it was very interesting to learn another way to set and accomplish goals.

            Having learned of SMART goals, it gave me a different way to accomplish my own goals and personal challenge. I now have a game plan on what exactly I want and how exactly I can get it accomplished. My original goals are not as vague anymore and I can visualize my end goals more clearly. Using this format, I was able to revise my goals and gave myself a time frame to reach them. Because I now have a time frame, I now have an agenda on what steps to take each day.

            For my academic goals, I set my time frame to be the last half of this semester to bring my grades up. Using previous handouts from class, I decided to use different studying methods to work towards my end goal. I combine activities so I get more things done. I also the five day study method for my biology class to go over new material. With the five day study method, I start with the most recent material, then add older material one day at a time until I cover all the sections I need to review.

            For my personal goal, I set my time frame to be from October to the end of December. My plan is to lose ten pounds by the end of December. To start working on this goal, I decided to make smarter food choices, like giving up fries or eating salads instead of fast food. My next step is to start working out again, at least twice a week for one hour. This will get me started and help motivate me to stay healthy.

I Really Dislike How Slow the WiFi Is and When It Takes Forever to Start a New Post

           Unfortunately, I was not present for the discussion on alcohol, because I did not feel well enough that I would be able to stay up and pay attention in class. However, I am going to assume it was similar to the information that we went over when we took the AlcoholEdu course online. When I took the course, most of the information was already familiar to me. The information that I did not know did not really shock me, but I definitely felt better informed about alcohol.

            Now that it is two months into college, it is not what I expected it to be. It is not as crazy as I thought it would or as stressful. I do get stressed sometimes because of the workload difference between college and high school, but I already knew that it was not going to be the same. I also thought it would take longer for me to make a lot of friends, but that definitely was not the case. My roommate introduced me to some of the people on my floor the first week here and after that it was not that hard meeting more and more people.

            Thankfully, I felt a lot better today and I did not miss the Cross Campus Advising presentation, which I thought was very informative and engaging. It kept my attention fairly well and it answered any questions that I had about advising and some of the resources available to me on campus. I enjoyed the ending activity, playing the Jeopardy-like game, the most about the presentation. It easily summarized the key points of the presentation and ensured that we had listened to the whole presentation. After the presentation, it clarified any questions I had about where to go on campus for any academic support I may need during my time here at USC.