Things I've Learned in My Freshman Year of College

I can officially say that I am done with my freshman year of college. It was a long and hard road but I am glad I got that done and over with. Here are some things I learned in my freshman year of college that I wish someone would have told me.

• After a while cafeteria food sucks: Going into college, I was like cafeteria food won't be that bad I have eaten it all 12 years of school. Boy was I wrong! University of Arkansas has a Meal Trade where from 7-10pm you can eat at one of the fast food places on campus and it counts as a meal in your plan. But after the first semester I could not eat anymore Slims Chicken or Papa John's Pizza or Burger King. So i went to the cafeteria and they had such weird hours, and the food wasn't as great besides a couple things. 

• You are tired 95% of the time: I don't even know how this is possible, but in college I was always tired. Whether it was from staying up and studying, walking up and down hills for my classes, or 8am classes I was always tired. I would come home for christmas break and just sleep. I also learned that naps are good at the time, but bad in long term because you probably napped during your homework or study time. In the end, making you stay up late to finish and being tired the next day. 

• Don't do laundry Saturday or Sunday: Everyone does their laundry Saturday or Sunday, I would pick a time to do your laundry when you think nobody is in the dorms. Such as if you don't have a class till 1pm do it in the morning because once 3pm hits everyone will be doing laundry. Also, put a timer on your phone for when your laundry is done, don't be that person that leaves it in all day.

• Go to a teacher's office hours: This really important if you are in a class of 200 students, the teacher will never know who you are.Just go into your teacher's office hours to introduce yourself, it will help. Especially, if you need help on something going into my teacher's office hours helped me raise my essay grade from a B to an A. This will also help you if you are at a border line grade and the teacher sees that you come to class every day and went to their office hours, they might be nice enough to bump your grade up. 

• DO EXTRA CREDIT: This is probably the most important thing I have learned in my freshman year. I did so much extra credit, even when I didn't need to but let me tell you on the days that I didn't do so good on one of my papers or test that extra credit was there to balance me out. In my English class I was sitting at an 88% and I still had a paper to write, I ended up getting a B on my paper, but because I did that extra credit I ended up making an A on the paper. Which turned my 88% to an A in the class. 

• Getting a C in a class is okay: I am a perfectionist, I can deal with a couple of B's but to me a C is failing....Until i took Principles of Biology. I am an education major, so science isn't really my forte. This class however was a class that biology major had to take as their intro class, and as an education major you are required to take it. However, this class wasn't easy.. I studied so hard for these tests, went to all the tutoring sessions and was determined to get a B in the class. However that wasn't the case I ended up ending the class with a C with 2% from having a B which killed me. But after a while, I realized it was only one class. It was not going to determine whether I was going to be a good teacher or not. Getting a C is average, everyone is  either going to fail or have a C in a class it just happens... so its okay.

• Join Clubs: I know that college can be stressful at times, and you feel like you don't have time for anything. However, joining a club will help you get your mind off of things, and help you relax and have fun with friends for a bit. It is also great because you get to meet new people, and trust me, in college there is a club for everything, and if there is not make your own. I joined a club called Foundation of International Medical Relief for Children. We got to do bake sale's and went out for percentage nights. We also have a Go Fund Me, we are currently raising money for children in Uganda if you would like to donate. 

• Have some fun: Don't spend your time studying all day, go out and have some fun. My best memories with my friends are our late night iHop runs, concerts, going hiking up in the Ozark mountains, having chair races down the halls, football games, and basketball games. There are times when you just have to go out and enjoy yourself because your only going to be this young once. So go out and have some fun.

I hope this has helped you guys, and help you be a little more prepared for college because trust me I didn't know what I was walking into either.

College Life At The University Of Arkanas

photo credit

I just moved into my new resident housing at the University of Arkansas. I will be an education major   teaching English as a second language and would like to minor in Spanish and learn another language. My goal is to get my doctorate as well and travel the world teaching kids how to speck in English. I moved into my dorm August 15th it was around a five hour drive from Texas to the University of Arkansas so I left at around four in the morning and got there at around 9am. I moved in all my stuff and decorated it as well.

The building i'm living at looks like this and is called Pomfret and is a two person dorm 

This is the building I am living at from afar it has three different wings and I am on the second floor. But it is quite a walk to campus and to classes but I will probably be so in shape after this year. Which is what I have heard from other students who have lived in this dorm.

Since I have lived here the fire alarm has gone of twice, one in the afternoon and one in the middle of the night. The reason it went off too was because someone was smoking a vape in their dorm.

I have had a great time at the University of Arkansas so far, I have meet new friends, and adapted to new surroundings and i'm loving it so much. I excited to see what the University of Arkansas has in store for me.

My Teen Court Experience

For the past couple years I have been in this program called Teen Court. You deal with real teen cases such as theft, assault, minor in possession, minor in consumption, and ect. I have learned so much and made friends that will last a lifetime. I'm going to share my experience and hope you can take something from it or do something new and exciting.

I started teen court because one of my friends mentioned to me and she thought it was something I would like doing. So one day in the summer I decided to go to one of the training to be an attorney and I liked it. I continued going, but I was never a good public speaker. The more I went the more I got use to talking in front of people. Going up in front of my peers and debating a case really gave me confidence to go up and talk in front of crowds. The friends I had made throughout this experience as really impacted me we weren't just friends we were family. We had our wins and we had our loses and we fought our cases like crazy wither it was objections or bad cases we went through it all together. I saw them every Tuesday no matter what even if I had a big test coming up I would go just to take a breather and clear my head. It was never boring there, and I always left smiling.The ladies in charge of teen court were family to us always there to give advice and make sure we stayed out of trouble and always looking out for us. Teen court is definitely something I wouldn't have been able to do on my own but with the help of my friends I was able to step out of my confront zone and explore new things. Leaving teen court I feel I was able to help teens make wiser decisions and learn from their mistakes and be able to give back to their community. I learned so much from this experience and something I will always remember.

Court is adjourned 

Thank You High School

Now that I have officially graduated high school and about to start my college experience a month from now. There are some things I would like to say before I leave my high school years behind me...

Dear High School,
Thank you...

Thank you for my best friends, the ones who have been there for me throughout this whole experience. The friends that were there from the beginning and ones that I had just meet my senior year. The friends that on my first day at a new school invited me to sit with them at lunch, who knew I would become best friends with them. The friends that knew what was best for me, and looked out for me. The friends that I made in high schools are the ones I will always remember. They saw me at my worst and at my best. They taught me that being myself is perfectly okay!

Thank you for my enemies without them I wouldn't know how strong I really am. The enemies that taught me that losing friends is okay. The enemies that would be bullies to my friends because it made my friends stronger and made our friendship stronger. The enemies that taught me that you don't always have to be friends with everyone.

Thank you for my teachers that pushed me to my breaking point because they knew I had potential to be someone. The teachers that marked my whole paper in red ink because there is always room for improvement. The teachers that motivated me everyday and gave me life lessons or as my teacher would call them "Motivational Mondays" because they truly cared about each and every one of us. The teachers that I had trouble learning from but that just taught me how to teach myself how to learn each lesson by myself. Most of all thank you for the teacher's love of teaching that helped us love what you were teaching.

Thank you for the lessons I learned without them I wouldn't be the person I am today. Throughout my high school experience you make good decisions and bad ones but in the end you learn from both. These lessons helped me grow as a person, and experience things I never thought I would.

Thank you for my best friends, my enemies, my teachers, the lessons I've learned, my motivation, my thirst to learn, thank you for all the things that made my high school experience worth remembering, and finally my memories that I had made throughout my 4 years of high school.

Love Always,

 A High School Alumni