My Junior Year: Everything happens for a reason

Life University welcomes Hilary W., a high school senior and Intern at Life U for the summer. Hilary shares her thoughts on junior year, Art, and "inspiring" history lessons…

My Junior Year: Everything happens for a reason

Well to say the least, this is a time I have anxiously been waiting for. My second semester of my junior year was a time of many changes for me. Some of these changes were for the better, others for the worst, but I stand firm in the belief that all things happen for a reason. Even the bad things that happened were for a reason. I may not be sure of that reason just yet, but I know that in time, I will realize why even the bad things had to happen.

This past semester proved to be very eye opening for me. I was enrolled in Chemistry, Pre- Cal, Art II, and AP USH. Chemistry and Pre Cal proved to be a LOT easier than I imagined them to be. I thought for sure with all of those classes that I would be over-loaded with work and have no time to even breathe! Surprisingly enough though, Chemistry was more enjoyable than I had imagined, Pre Cal was fairly easy and the other two classes were the eye openers.

Taking Art II made me realize how much I absolutely LOVE art, I may not be very GOOD at art per-se, but I love it just the same. It made me regret not taking Art sooner so that I could have enjoyed it just as much for even longer. With only one year of high school left, I am trying to figure out how to manipulate my schedule to allow me the most Art classes. If my plans work out, I will have three art classes, and possibly another one at the local college. If I take that many art classes in one year, I will have to have at least eight completed pieces of artwork before the first day of classes! (Sounds like I need to get cracking huh?)

AP USH (Advanced Placement United States History) was the one that was both the most hurtful and the most helpful... if it can be both at the same time. I took it with the hope of gaining some college credit from it. If I can get both high school and college credit at the same time, it sounds like a good deal to me, right? Well, since it was technically a college course, it was structured like one as well.

On the first day of class, I was required to have 120 pages of the textbook read and be prepared to discuss it. If you have ever had to sit down and actually read an entire textbook, every last little word, sidebars and everything, you can see where I am coming from. The class had both its good points and its bad points. The good thing about the course was that since it was a college course, there was no written homework. No question at the end of the chapter, or brain-numbing little worksheets, basically, there was no 'busy work'.

The bad thing was that it was very fast-paced. The other high schools in the county that take the same course, take it over two semesters. If you pass the AP exam, you get two class credits for college. At my school, you take it in one semester. I regret not putting more time and effort into the course. I kind of took it like I had taken most of my other classes in high school, never really working hard because school comes relatively easy to me.

After failing a few tests, I realized I needed to crack down, but by then I can almost say it was too late because the bad study habits had already set in. Over 1,000 pages later of oh-so-thrilling United States History, I can proudly say that I PASSED the course, and am (still) waiting to find out if I received college credit for it.

Taking AP USH made me realize that not everything in life is going to come easy to me, and that I need to develop better study habits in order to maintain my good grades, especially next year. Next year, I will be taking between two and four AP classes and by then, hopefully I will have the proper work ethic needed to excel in them.

My junior year kind of gave me a glimpse of what I am anxiously awaiting for… college life.

Until next time-

Hilary

Christmas this year was different

Christmas this year was different. It seems that the older I get, the harder it is to grasp the whole "Christmas Spirit" deal. It just feels a bit less magical every year. It also seems ironic that usually the older you get, the better you understand things that confused you when you were younger. I now believe that it's the exact opposite with Christmas - children have no problem getting into the spirit, but adults take a bit longer to catch on.

I've got some great plans this year. This was the first year I didn't spend New Year's Eve with my parents. Instead, I spent the evening at one of my friend's houses with about seven other people. Ringing in the New Year with my friends was the highlight of my Christmas break.

After all the partying and slacking off, I've got to go back to school. I'm trying to decide whether I should pursue a math or engineering degree. The degree, which I haven't declared yet anyway, has been changing about once every week. I've narrowed it down to about three feasible paths, but those are bound to change eventually. I'm going to try to take everything a bit less seriously for the next year. My main concentrations for the time being will be meeting basic requirements.

Until next week, not much is going to be happening. Basically it's just a matter of keeping my academic motivation throughout the holidays so going back into school won't be so painful. After registration and the beginning of classes at least I'll have a bit more routine in my somewhat disorganized life.

Until Next Time,

Jenn

Happy Holidays! It's great to be back home!

Since I've been out of school, life has been considerably less busy. Now I spend my days preparing for Christmas and relaxing with my friends. Unfortunately, I can't spend all of my time loafing around the house. If I want everything to go smoothly with my transfer between colleges, I have to make sure I stay on top of the paperwork. I've got a registration deadline coming up in a couple of weeks and there are still some loose ends in my last college's financial aid office that need tying up.

I can't stress enough how important it is to go for all the scholarships you can when applying to a college. There are tons of $100 to $500 scholarships that students overlook every year. Even those little scholarships can make a huge difference. For example, as little as $1,000 may decide if you have to do work-study with the university you're planning to attend. I can speak from experience when I say that a few hours a week spent looking for scholarships is extremely preferable to working at one of your university's work-study jobs during your free time.

Hopefully, my experiences with college financial aid will really motivate my search for extra money this year. I plan on taking some time out of my break so I can search for scholarships that will go towards my tuition next year. I want to study computer science,
so I should have an advantage since women are a minority in most science fields. Of course, if I could prove that I was the only surviving member of some long lost tribe, I'd be almost guaranteed a scholarship or entrance into any university I wanted. Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to be an option any time soon.

When I register for classes in a few weeks, I'm going to work towards my major, but not overload on the difficult courses like I did last semester. Instead of slamming myself with work, I think I might look towards getting the most out of the experience. I'm optimistic about the next semester and I hope that what I've learned so far will help me get through it smoothly.

Until next time,

Jenn
Freshman Extraordinaire / Life U Grad & Writer
www.lifeu-online.com

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware." -Martin Buber

This last week of school has been an absolute mad house! Everyone is stressed out by exams, and I've never seen so many caffeine products in my life. I saw one girl in the computer lab with a whole case of Red Bull next to her. The lengths some people will go to are ridiculous.

I've tried the all-nighter study thing before and it didn't do me much good. In fact, I had about three hours of sleep before I took my math exam because I spent all night studying. I learned that if you plan to pull an all-nighter, do not plan to eat. Eating will make you tired and fatigue is a student's worst enemy during a test. It makes you do weird things.

For instance, math becomes much funnier when you've only had three hours of sleep. Of course when you go in to take your math exam, it seems to unsettle your teacher if you giggle when you see the exam.

My other exams went well. I studied for them and was fairly prepared. More often than not last week, I found myself using the phrase "should be studying," as in "Playing computer games for hours has been fun, but I should be studying." I believe it was the official phrase of the week - I heard it quite frequently from my fellow students as well. The phrase, “Do you think he'll accept the assignment late?” came in a close second.

My week was also made busier by all the preparation for coming back home. I officially moved everything out of the dorm room at 12 p.m. today and came home. I'm going to miss everyone, but at least instant messaging makes it easy to keep in touch.

Now I don't have to worry about hall meetings and classes for the next month, but instead I'll be worrying about parental guidelines and ridiculous curfews. Oh, what a test of patience it will be.

I register for classes in another week, so until then I'll be enjoying Christmas break! Yay!

Until Next Time,


Jenn
Freshman Extraordinaire / Life U Grad & Writer
Visit Life University at www.lifeu-online.com

Where has the time gone?

Where has the time gone?

I only have one more week of classes left until my Christmas break. Unfortunately, I got really sick this weekend, so I’m going to have to really force myself to go to those last few classes. If I miss the last reviews for exams, being sick is the last thing I’ll have to worry about.

Decorations are starting to go up all over the dorms. Even though I’m so far from home, the little signs of Christmas are comforting. There’s even a huge Christmas tree out in front of the main admissions building. I think there are some people, though, that are taking the Christmas thing a bit too far in an attempt to ease their homesickness.

One girl has decorated her whole door and room with Christmas lights, garland, and snowflakes. When I looked in her room, she was sitting on her bed with her window wide open (it’s like 25 degrees outside!) listening to Christmas music and wearing a Christmas sweater, scarf and hat. What did she have in her hand? She had a tiny little snack cake shaped like a Christmas tree! It was creepy to say the very least.

Unlike most of the people in my dorm, I’ll be moving out next week. Since I’m transferring, I’ve got to clear everything out before Christmas break starts. While I will look forward to going home for a break, I’ll miss it here. You can’t live in a place for five months and not have it feel a little like home.

I’ll miss the all-nighters I used to pull with my friends in the hall’s study room. I’ll miss the hall socials, and just being able to share my life with a group of girls that are as close as sisters to me. Mostly I think I’ll miss having my own room key to a room that I could call home.

So I’m going to go back to my homework, and maybe I’ll pull some decent grades out of this semester. This is what all that hard work this semester has been building up to, so I’m not going to let myself down now.

Until Next Time,

Jenn
Freshman Extraordinaire / Professional-in-training
Life U grad & Writer
www.lifeu-online.com

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

“A peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.” ~Rita Mae Brown

Now that I’m back from Thanksgiving break, I’ve got to be more disciplined than usual. I only have two weeks of school left in the semester and my teachers seem to have unanimously decided this is the perfect time for countless review quizzes. Where do they get these silly ideas anyway?

This is going to be my last two weeks at this school. Next semester, I’m transferring to a college closer to my home. This will offer a few benefits at least:

· It’ll be cheaper.
· I’ll have my own bedroom again.
· I’ll be able to hold a higher paying job than the work-study job at the college.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about life and what I’m actually working for. As a senior in high school, I couldn’t wait to graduate, knowing that just on the other side of the diploma was a whole new life waiting for me. After 13 years of schooling, I find myself at just another school, trying to maintain the same grades, and worrying about the same kinds of classes.

I find myself wanting to start a career, to actually make a paycheck that doesn’t automatically get dissolved by tuition costs. I know, however, that I can’t get a decent job if I don’t get a degree. While working toward my degree is definitely a way of progressing in life, I still sometimes feel like I’ll be in school forever and I’ll never be completely independent from my parents.

After worrying about all of this for a good deal of time, I decided that working toward the degree is my main priority. Dedicating another four years of my life to education isn’t going to be anywhere near as long as the first 13. I am considering working in a co-op program where I can get my degree while I work for a company. That way, I can satisfy two of my needs – I would not only get the education, but also bring in a few dollars to begin the weaning process from my parents’ wallets.

As of right now, nothing is certain in my future except the fact that I have a big assignment due for my computer science class tomorrow and a paper to write for English. I know that the long-term plans help me find purpose in the daily grind, but it’s the short-term organization that’s really going to get me to where I need to be.

Until next time,


Jenn
Freshman Extraordinaire and Professional-in-Training

Life U Grad & Writer http://www.lifeu-online.com/

Roll With the Proverbial Punches & Keep On Keepin’ On

It’s finally Thanksgiving break! I’ve probably gotten more sleep in the past few days at home than I got during the past few weeks at college.

While I’m free of the stress of having to attend classes, I still have homework assignments that my teachers so considerately gave me to work on over the break. Thanks to all the teachers that contributed to my workload, really.

Next semester, I’m going to transfer to a college near my home. While it was not my original intention to change colleges in the middle of the year, some special circumstances have come up. Sometimes you’ve got to roll with those proverbial punches and just deal with whatever fate hands you. I still hold firmly to the belief that life is purposely ironic.

Anyway, transferring back home means that I’ll be moving back in with my parents. This is not something I am particularly looking forward to. Since I’ve been away at college, I’ve developed my own routine, my own rules, and my own living space. Once I move back in, I’ll be living under my parents’ roof, and in turn their rules, once again. I think that our differences in living habits may cause a few disputes.

Despite the homework and parental oversight, it’s still great to be home again. I’ve gotten to see all my friends and have really gotten a chance to relax and unwind, which is something I desperately needed. (Would you like to read interesting trivia on the “gotten” and “got” distinction in British and American English usage? If so, visit: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/gotten.html)

Now, back to my more compelling subject: Whether my friends and I are hanging out at the coffee shop, going to a park, or just lounging in front of the TV, things are definitely more entertaining than doing homework or going to classes.

Since the semester is so close to an end, it’s harder to keep sight of my goals. I keep reminding myself that even a little bit of work can have some decent rewards. I guess it’s all just a matter of exercising the self-control that seems to escape college students during their vacation breaks.

I also try to motivate myself with one of my favorite quotes, “Just keep on keepin’ on.” (It’s from the movie Joe Dirt. Or, for the older generation out there in blogland, you no doubt remember “Keep on Keepin’ On” from the 1980 song of that title written by Dickey Betts and Daniel Toler, and performed by The Allman Brothers Band. At any rate, it’s a good philosophy, and I like it.)

Until next time,

Jenn
Life University Grad & Writer
Computer Scientist-in-training / Freshman Extraordinaire

Explore the Endless Possibilities at Life University: http://www.lifeu-online.com/