How This Semester Changed Me, Thanks To Inquiry (:

When I first saw that I had this class called Inquiry on my schedule I starred at it. I was thinking to myself “what is Inquiry?” I never thought to Google the word and find out its definition, I just asked around. I then heard that it’s a class freshmen take. I learned that it’s here to help us adjust to college, since we transitioned from high school and we also would discuss the book we were told to read over the summer. Throughout the semester some of my freshmen friends said they discussed the book and some said they didn’t. I honestly didn’t finish the book, but I know the point of the book is to teach us diversity. That this school has a lot of diversity, but it’s nothing hard to handle. My high school was very diverse so I adjusted easily. INQ was a simple class to me. I feel as though some of the work was extra, but I did what I could and I feel like I did learn some things. We talked a lot about time management, team work, creativity, leadership, involvement, responsibility and many others. I feel like the most important words that stood out to me are involvement, time management, leadership and responsibility. Once in college you’re on your own. No one is going to push you to do work or go to class. You have to depend on yourself to get up out of bed and go to class, once there pay attention and acquire the knowledge you have to then take it and complete whatever work your told to do.

The biggest difference I see in college compared to high school is that you have to stay ahead of the game. In college most likely you’re given a syllabus which has all work, due dates etc from that day until the last week of the semester. It’s your responsibility to look at the syllabus and do the work. In my opinion this builds remembrance. It forces you to remember that you have to check your syllabus and make sure the work is done completely and ready for the day its due. Whether you do it or not is your responsibility, no one is going to force you to do work. In INQ this responsibility was pushed on us. We weren’t reminded of due dates, we were given work and a due date then when that due date came the work was asked for and you either had it or you didn’t. I remember when I found out we were going to have to blog. I was like “oh my god!” I’ve never blogged before. I don’t like to blog and even after having to blog I still don’t. The one thing that’s cool about blogging is that you get to express your opinion on whatever it is you’re talking about. I like to express my opinion, I think it’s cool. With blogging we had two a week that was due my midnight every Saturday. I sometimes missed that due date but I’m not going to make excuses. At the end of the day I still did it and received half credit.

We were also given these readings to do. Each always had a main point. One that I remember is that sometimes multi-tasking isn’t always the way to go. I did agree with that article. I feel like you shouldn’t always multi-task. Some things deserve your undivided attention. We had a lot of articles on time management too. I feel like Mrs. Guarino pushed time management on us, but I don’t blame her. It’s something that every college student should know. I feel like I manage my time well. The only thing that gets me is that I tend to forget things easily. I have to write sticky notes that remind me to check my syllabus or to make sure I do something that due. I’m not a procrastinator though, so I always do work once I know I have to. We also did group projects and individual projects. My individual project was based on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. I feel like everybody is motivated from within or the outside. Without motivation how will anybody get anything done? You always have some type of motivation telling you to go to class, to do your work, to study and everything else.

I remember the day Mrs. G came in, set down some papers, wrote “take one” on the board and left. It was basically a scavenger hunt. The next time we had class we discussed it. I realized the point of that was to see how we can get things done without knowing we have to do it, basically working under pressure. My group got a fair amount of things done. We did what we could and was settled with that. Overall I learned what I had to from that project. It annoyed me a little while doing it but I didn’t let that get the best of me, I still did it and it was completed.

Because of this class I did accomplish the fact that I have to remember to get work that’s due, done. I learned how to manage my time better and that multi-tasking isn’t always the right things to do. I did also learn some more responsibility; I mean you can never go wrong with learning that. In high school I never knew how to study. I know studying is something that everybody should do, it’s a big help but I never knew how to study. Once in college I took the time to learn and I do a lot of it when I need to. I feel like it’s one of the main key things in college. Some people don’t need to study, while others do. Some things you don’t need to study for but studying is definitely something that everybody should do at some point. How you perform on work or some sort is key too. Professors aren’t going to take the time to get to know every student. One way for them to know you is by watching how you interact in class and by how your papers are. It’s best that you take the time to do your work, to look over it, get help if needed, get feedback, all types of ways to “perfect” your paper. I feel as though it’s best for you to get personal with your paper. The more personal you get the better. Anybody that can connect to their paper and compare “life” or anything like that to their paper is good. When I write I include personal experiences, personal feelings or opinion and things like that. I feel like those things make a paper that much better.

There was this “thing” that we did throughout the semester. It was called Campus Safari. It was this kind of game where every week we had to turn in some sort of paper that proved we visited something on campus. The point of it was to get to the campus and its resources. Mrs. G made us visit the health center, the radio station, the multi-cultural center, the writing center. She made us involve ourselves in things that happened around the campus too like speeches, artistic plays like musicals and comedy plays. We had to visit the library and take out a book, visit the secretary of our major and get their info, talk to a CC and find out what it takes to become one and what kind of roles they play. We had to attend a sports event, some type of lecture and plenty of things like that. It was kind of fun. The fact that we had to do it is why I did it at first, but then I caught on to the point of it and realized its cool and something to do. People make it seem as if college is so very different from high school. In ways it is very different but in other ways it isn’t. The biggest difference is taking the responsibility to motivate yourself to get things done, and get them done on time. The work is the same it’s just a lot more to do. From my little freshman experience it’s kind of easy to get through as long as you stay on top of your game.  

Throughout the semester I showed myself that I am a very motivated person. I know that I can always count on myself to get something done. I know I’m a very dependable person. When in a group anybody can depend on me to do anything that comes my way or to take the responsibility to do something no one else wants to do. I realized that I more motivated to do something that’s easy to me or something that I understand verses something that confusing or if I don’t fully understand what I should do yet. One thing I like about myself is that I’ll always do the work, if I don’t it’s because I chose not to and I’m not a person that would chose not to do work. Overall in INQ I feel like I did complete this class. I learned what I had to and I am walking out of that class with new knowledge acquired.

Regrets? No way. I don’t think anything should be regretted. Everything happens for a reason so just continue with life and become a better person with those mistakes. All I can do is learn from what I’ve done in INQ class and use that to be a better person. I feel as though I did learn a lot from that class. In some cases I’ve improved some skills I already acquired. I can say that I take more time to study for other classes since I realized how important it is to study. I realized that some professors may throw things at you and that you have to learn to not complain and just get it done. After having this class I am more into college. I’m more into what it takes to be an actual college student. How you have to apply yourself to do things you make not want to do. I can say I have become more of a college student. Making sure I have things done on time, that I go to class even if I’m late for whatever reason, paying attention in class, taking notes and going back to my dorm or study area then doing the work I have to do. I understand that there are plenty of people I can go to for help for any reason on this campus. They have tutors and things like that. I’m glad that SCSU isn’t this party college. I feel like I would maybe be caught up in it if it was so in a whole way I’m glad it’s not. My classmates were also fun. I liked how we had the same INQ and ENG class. We would come together as a class and discuss things like the INQ readings and what was due when. We kind of helped each other out which was really awesome. I’m leaving that class with some awesome friends. Overall, I enjoyed some days in INQ and some days I didn’t. Enjoying it isn’t what’s best though the fact that I learned what I had to is and I’m grateful for that class.   

My Otherhalf Titani ♥

My Newest & Silliest Friend Jessica ((: