I would like to start this week’s thoughts by offering my thanks to Bob Hanson on his kind words in last week's paper. (I began writing this column, set it aside until this week. A few weeks or months may have passed) Also, my sincere thanks to everyone I see who points out how they like seeing my writing in the paper. It makes my day everytime I run into one of my readers. To know anyone enjoys reading my column gives me the motivation to continue writing. Thank you to all of the readers of the Star Eagle!
When people discuss going off to college, there are almost always some of the same “sayins” used. Parents crying or feeling sad, the freshman 15, and then there's the party expectations that go with going to school. I’ll let you guess which one applies to me.
After my first full year attending college, I have learned a few things. It’s important to plan ahead. In highschool, I usually waited until the day before (or the day of) to write my assigned papers. I don’t do that in college. Writing has become second nature for me, and not always in a good way, but words typically flow when I need them to and I enjoy the process. College writing was not different. I would write my papers in advance and then I would wait a couple days to let it, as Mrs. Bentley would say, breathe a little.
When a few days had passed I would return to whatever writing I had finished and go through it with a fine tooth comb. I would start by printing it off and going through it with a pen. During this process a lot of writing would be crossed out, arrows drawn, and typo’s noted. The finished product usually did not resemble the original work. This is the benefit of writing. Unlike speaking, I can go back and fix my mistakes. A lot of my fellow classmates don’t grasp this concept.
My writing marks have been pretty good this year. On only one writing assignment did I receive any lower than an A, and that was a B. That B was my first paper I wrote way back in September of 2017. Since then I’ve talked with my teachers and hyper-focused on what was required to improve. After I got my last paper back, I asked my teacher about his grading process. “You don’t just give me A’s, because you like me so much?”
My professor got serious, and responded, “No, it doesn’t work like that at all.” After a paper I had once asked how many A papers he graded and he told me only five out of roughly 60 submissions. I felt pretty confident about my writing after hearing that!
The end of my first year in college came in early May. Overall it was a very successful first year. I was selected to join the National Society of Leadership, which is essentially the equivalent to High School Honor society. During my second semester I was nominated to be Vice President of the chapter beginning in the Fall. I was very honored to have demonstrated the values distinguished by young leaders enough to be nominated to this position.
With only one year left at South Central, I’m very excited and somewhat saddened that my time there will be so short. It was and will be very rewarding come graduation.
School is not far away. The summer is coming to an end, for me that is, shortly. With only a few weeks left, I’m sure I’ll find a way to squeeze out as much fun as I can before I go back to the grind of the school work. This time around, I feel it will go a little differently. College won’t be the number one priority, the Newspaper holds that top spot. I’m planning to do part-time classes this semester to lighten the load. I don’t know if there are enough hours in the day to be a fulltime student as life sits now.
Thought for the day: enjoy what’s happening in your life while it’s still happening!