Prompt 1:

 Describe an event from your past – including academic, co-curricular, and non-school related events – that you feel has influenced you and the experiences you have had this semester either in or out of the classroom.
Describe the connections, if any, you draw between this past event and your current classroom experiences and the academic knowledge you are developing.
Describe the connections, if any, you draw between this past event and your current out-of-class experiences at Virginia Tech.  Can you identify any limitations to those connections?  What are they?

              I started playing soccer when I was old enough to walk, and I stuck with it all the way through high school.  I also picked up track and cross country in high school.  Being part of a team has always been my favorite part of sports, because it is an instant group of close friends with similar interests.  Sports, especially at the high school level, has taught me about dedication, commitment, and hard work. 

              Due to sports being a huge time commitment for me in high school, I had to quickly learn to how to balance sports, school, and friends.  I learned how to manage my time, which has definitely helped me in college.  I have also learned the importance of never giving up.  Despite my struggle in chemistry class, which started very early on in the semester, I am still taking the class and trying my hardest on each test, even though I know I will have to retake the course.  I like the feeling of working hard and getting rewarded, and although I have not experienced that in chemistry yet, I am still working towards it. 

              Sports were always fun for me because not only could I see my hard work paying off, but I was accomplishing it with my friends.  I met some of my closest friends through soccer because we were together through each win, lose, and conditioning practice.  Having friends by your side makes even the toughest situation bearable, and knowing this has motivated me to make friends in college.  This is why I joined intramural sports and ski club; I knew that I would meet others with similar interests. 

              My past experience with sports has taught me the importance of always trying my best, and the importance of putting yourself out there to meet new people.  Without the lessons I learned in the past from soccer and running, I would not be as committed to do well in chemistry as I am now, and I would also not be as social. 

 

 

Prompt 2:

 Think about the coursework you have pursued this semester.
What connections can you make between different disciplines/subjects that you have studied?
What are the strengths and limitations of such connections?
Of all the disciplines/subjects you have studied this semester, what connection were you able to make that surprised you the most?  For example, something from art history that had relevance/application to a science course, etc.
If you were not able to make connections between different disciplines/subjects in your coursework this semester, explain why?

              My coursework this semester has been a huge adjustment from high school.  Even though I am taking less classes than in high school, the pace at which the classes are taught is much faster and the workload is more dense. 

              As a freshman, many of my classes are basic prerequisites, such as biology, chemistry, math, and labs.  I have noticed that chemistry and chemistry lab are clearly connected, as well as biology and biology lab.  The connection between lecture classes and labs made the labs easier to understand, and made the lecture more interesting because I experience and test what I learn.  Chemistry and biology also connect when it comes to learning about atoms, and this made the topic easier to learn because not only was I taught it twice, but it was taught differently both times allowing me to learn the information in different ways. 

              Math has never been my strong subject because I find it very boring, however I was surprised how the math curriculum this semester related very well to science.  Many math questions were based on medicine, animals, trees, cells, and more.  This made math seem more relevant and important, which also made it easier to study for. 

 

 

Prompt 3:  

How would you describe your approach to learning when you first arrived at Virginia Tech?
Has your approach changed at all during your time as a student?  How?
What factors most influenced your sense of yourself as a student this semester?

              In this past semester alone, I have studied more than twice the amount I studied throughout all four years of high school.  High school tests did not require as much studying, and they did not contribute to the final grade as much as they do in college.  It was okay to get bad grades on multiple tests in high school, because the classwork and homework made up most of the final grade. 

              This made the adjustment to college harder, because I was not well prepared to study for my first tests.  I re-read my notes from class and made flashcards on terms I did not know, because that is all I had to do in high school.  However, after taking my first biology test, I quickly realized that just knowing definitions is not enough, because test questions require a complete understanding of the topic so that you can apply it to the question.  Since arriving at Virginia Tech, my study habits have improved because I have learned to take better notes and to study not only concrete definitions, but broad concepts as well. 

              Despite attending such a large school which diverse majors, it has made me feel more connected to other students.  I major in wildlife conservation and one of my friends majors in fashion, both of which are smaller majors that are not known for earning great salaries.  Even though these two majors could not be more unrelated, we bond over the fact that people often question our major choices.  We also take biology together, and I love how we can be studying the same exact thing, while taking it in two completely different directions.   Virginia tech has opened my eyes to diversity and has allowed me to experience how different people who share different interests can still be similar in some ways and get along.