Goodbye First Semester, Hello to the Next

At the beginning of this class, I thought to myself, “here we go again, another English class that is just going to be boring.” However, when we got deep into the class, I was proven wrong. This class was different, as it had more in class discussions, presentations, and even a Broadway show. I never went to a Broadway show until this class, which is something I am very grateful for. However, it did have its ups and downs.

Let’s begin with the ups. Throughout this class, I have developed certain writing skills, such as being careful about my grammar and knowing when to put commas and when not to. This course helped me become a writer who needs to have an outline, to get the writing done, because before I would just free write without any specific idea in mind. Through this writing process, I become very proud of my last writing assignment which was the research paper. During the research, I learned so many different things about my own identity that has broadened my thoughts of who I am in this country. I am most proud of this paper, not only because it was one of the hardest things to write, but when I put my all into it, I think it was one of my best works. Thus, I want to take these skills of researching, knowing my grammar from commas to titles and use them for my future writing. This class changed the way I write essays. I now write my body paragraphs before my introduction, which is something I thought I would never change.

Now it is time for the downs. My most challenging project in this class was the project that I am most proud of. It is the research paper. I started the research paper with an idea and I could not find any information to support my original idea, thus I changed it to another topic that I was not that interested in. However, after multiple visits to the writing center, I finally learned to stick to my original idea and finish that work because it meant more to me and was more in line with my identity. However, I always had problems with my conclusion and that is something that I still struggle with. Even though I think it has gotten better from the beginning of the semester to now, I still have to work on it and improve it. 

Throughout this class, we talked a lot of identity and not too much about representation. Learning about the different identities, helped me be aware of my own identity. It allowed me to connect to myself and see how I developed throughout the times and who in my life helped me. These different ideas of race and religion, let me to question, what would happen if the media took a better approach in representing these different issues. If the media did not shape what we see and what we hear, would these issues about race decrease or is race something that is imprinted within every human being? The class left me wanting to know more about representation and how we are shaped. However, discussing issues of identity and representation, allowed me to know that identity is when someone knows who they are and their worth and representation are when we see a visualization of ourselves or our race on the media or the news. Talking about these issues just strengthens my own identity as I know who I am and my worth.

This first semester of college was hard, especially when it came to pre-calc, which took me by surprise. I knew to survive Baruch’s math I needed that extra mile and try my hardest and that worked out. I found out that by staying focused and having that one end goal of succeeding, I can reach it. It also allowed me to be aware of my mental health. When the essays, hwk, quizzes and tests were all in the same week, I had to take a break for myself to help me. Even after all of the hard work, and the reward of getting a good grade, I still struggle with sleep. I have this high expectation of getting my school work done that I tend to stay up just to do my work, which is something I am working on to improve it. But at the end of the day, the hard work and the Baruch community such as friends and counselors have helped me complete my first semester, which is something I am grateful for.