With only a few more weeks before finals, I can not help but to reflect on my first year of college. If you were to have told me everything that I did within my first year to me a year ago, I would not have believed you.
As I mentioned in a previous article, I had a friendship falling out towards the end of my senior year leaving my top priority for college to find friends. I had been told the best way to make friends is to join clubs and organizations so I did exactly that. I joined The Agenda which is a live comedy show at Kent State and Her Campus.
I want to first focus my attention on The Agenda as that is what helped me realize that I should consider changing my major. Before I entered college, I had already changed my major from English (I know my Her Campus senior editor is not going to like hearing this) to Digital Media Production (DMP) as I wanted to write for TV shows and movies. Part of the reason for joining The Agenda was that other DMP majors were a part of it.
I enjoyed my time at The Agenda but slowly began to feel inferior to others as I had no desire to film anything. I just wanted to act in skits or write them. As I remember one night after I left The Agenda, I cried and had trouble explaining why I cried to others like my mom.
This happened again when I came back to campus after Winter Break as I promised myself over break that I would try to be a better DMP major. I realized that all my tears were because I felt no passion for my major and needed to switch. After many conversations with my family and my advisor, I switched to Journalism.
This was no easy transition as I felt that I was behind compared to so many of my peers causing me to feel insecure. To remedy this insecurity I started writing for KentWired in order to gain the experience that I would have gained from the classes that I was not in yet. This did help me become more confident with my journalistic writing skills and made me feel like I chose the right major.
The next important thing that I learned from my freshmen year is that you should not be afraid to put yourself out there more. The first time I did such was when I applied to be Her Campus Assistant Philanthropy and Community Events Coordinator. I was afraid to apply as I applied during my second semester of being a part of Her Campus so I feared that my application would not stand out as much as others with more experience.
I ended up getting the position and could not be happier. This positive experience caused me to continue putting myself out there throughout this past semester.
I will be honest, there have been a few times when I did not get what I was going out for; however, these opportunities were not totally lost as this caused people to know me better and to see some potential within me. This is due to the fact that I was showing interest in challenging myself.
With changing majors, taking on new positions and being on the lookout for a challenge comes the most important thing I learned, time management. I will not lie, in my first semester, I had a lot of free time and still could have managed my time better so time management will always be something I am working on.
My best advice for time management is to keep a to-do list, even better if you can keep it on your phone as I am a person who always has their phone with them. Another important tip is to learn to feel comfortable saying no as you need to set boundaries and give yourself some alone time. Trust me, some alone time can do wonders for your mind.
After reflecting on this past year, I can not wait to see what the next school year has in store for me as there are always plenty of opportunities for growth.