As you have probably guessed, I’m back at school!
That said, I thought I’d do a ‘what you’ve missed’ post since my last article in May. My summer felt short which is both stressful to think about and also relaxing since it means the rest of my junior year will also feel short. For anyone who doesn’t know, I’m an Inclusive Childhood Ed major with minors in Psychology and Women in Gender studies. I’m pretty excited to be back at school and doing work again, but I will absolutely miss my kids from over the summer.
To briefly sum up the summer’s shenanigans: I worked with bright-eyed and bushy-tailed four-year-olds every day. My usual morning consisted of a lot of playground time and storybook reading until after lunch when I switched to watching older kids where I made friendship bracelets for countless hours. You can imagine how good I got at the Chinese staircase!
I’ve worked at that summer camp for the past three years and each year I love it in different ways than the last. A big feeling I had this summer while working there was something of melancholy since my supervisor/boss from those three years was moving on to a new job and wouldn’t be there next summer. She was one of the main reasons I stayed for so long and it’s heartbreaking to think there will be a red group without her! Right after the last week of camp in August, I moved right back into my (beautiful) room at Wells, one which might I add I haven’t stopped talking about!
Those double doors open up right from my room and give me the most beautiful view of our lake. There are two front steps right outside the doors as well so you already know I’m out there every morning eating fruit while the birds sing!
I moved into my room a little earlier than the rest of the upperclassman since I was an orientation leader (along with 13 other amazing teammates). This opportunity is one I’ve taken advantage of for two years now and have held deeply in my heart. To a lot of people, it’s just helping acclimate the first-years to the college atmosphere, but to me its also about the relationships we make within our team. We have an amazing boss, and we had an amazing team. That first week before the rest of the student body gets there is the most stressful by far, but it’s the most meaningful. The 14 of us spend every waking second together for a week straight and are forced to become a family/unit. These are the memories I look back on the most since arriving at Wells.
The last part of this catch-up is loosely planned and more of what I’m doing right now. I have been making goals for this semester/year and practicing finding my space within my areas of interest: physically and emotionally. One of my goals for this semester is to make the Dean’s list. This is one of my short term goals whereas one of my longer-term goals is to make Summa Cum Laude come graduation. I encourage you to start off the semester with 1-3 goals (short term) so that you can have something to look forward to/keep you motivated. Another one of my smaller goals that somewhat goes hand in hand with the Dean’s list is to not let other outside factors interrupt my schoolwork. I am a people pleaser and very easy to persuade into things (aka, peer pressure) and I usually can end up very distracted within seconds from being productive. I want to do better this semester at putting my work first.
I hope you enjoyed reading this even though it might not totally be my usual format for my articles. I hope this semester/year is one that you are proud to look back on and that you make the most out of every opportunity you are given.
Sincerely,
Hannah R. Flansburg