My first article to be published in the print-copy of North Central College's "Chronicle" newspaper, concerning Apple's sagging stocks.
"I just bear-hugged the Panda and bodied it." - Montana of 300, "Panda."
NOTE: If you're interested in reading reflections on my previous two terms of sophomore year, follow these respective links (see links for all of freshman year below).
"I don't need no introduction" (fall term sophomore year)
NOTE: If you're interested in reading reflections on my previous two terms of sophomore year, follow these respective links (see links for all of freshman year below).
"I don't need no introduction" (fall term sophomore year)
At this point in time, all I can do is recall my previous blog-posts alluding to and directly addressing my first year of college and the months leading up to it and smile. It wasn't long ago but seems as if it were ages ago. Since starting college in September 2014, it has been nothing short of a roller-coaster ride that has exhausted, tested, and truly captivated me in terms of the workload, networking opportunities, and friendships that have faced me.
Upon completing sophomore year - in what seems to be in the blink of an eye compared to freshman year - all I can do is reflect on what a ride it has been and acknowledge how the "best years" of my life are allegedly half over.
Sophomore year has meant so much more to me than freshman year of college ever did, however. If you read my end-of-the-year reflection blog for my freshman year of college, you'll see that my freshman year had little else besides sadness, frustration, heartbreak, and anxiety. It was in that blog I vowed to make sophomore year a more impacting experience than before, taking new opportunities, going out of my way to meet people, and trying to "find a piece of the alleged "best years of my life" instead of watching others around me soak them in."
A full year later, I can't be more confident in what I did and in how I successfully achieved that. For starters, after only making Dean's List one of three terms last year, a prime goal for this year was assuring academic progress. Fall term say me getting two A's and a B. Winter term saw me getting straight A's for the first time in my life.
Finally, spring term saw me repeating straight A's, only this time, getting my first ever 4.0. Out of ten college courses I've taken this year, I've gotten A's in nine of them. Out of twenty-one courses I've taken thus far, I've gotten A's in sixteen of them.
For some I recognize that this is a regular occurrence. I can vividly remember a group of friends who almost entirely walked through high school and got straight A's. It frustrated me to a degree as someone who had to sometimes claw and fight for a B in my math classes. Because of this, however, grades have always meant something to me. They mean something to everyone, I realize, but titles like "Dean's List" and "honor roll," while essentially worthless little flavorings to describe the varying degrees of one's GPA, they were always incredibly meaningful to me.
I still look forward to that call to my grandmother, mother, father, and my uncle telling them that I made Dean's List and it's something that's always been immensely gratifying.
With that, it was also time to get serious about connections with professors and students, both like-minded and not. Sophomore year of college echoed sophomore year of high school in many ways, but mostly in the way I returned to my old motto - I don't care who's my friend in a sense of race, gender, social belonging, or major, I just want friends I can talk to and trust. Working with "The Chronicle," North Central's semi-frequently published newspaper, helped me find and work with so many talented and uncommonly down-to-earth souls, as well as help me find an outlet for bigger writing.
Strangers who became friends, such as Tommy, who worked on "Vision," North Central's new entertainment magazine for concert, music, and film coverage I wrote for, became instrumental forces and connections of close friendship and a wealth of opportunities, and other kind souls like Upasna, a brilliant writer with a blog more in-depth and contemplative than mine, Bob, a friend for over a year now, who helped get my pieces noticed and allowed me great benefits of working with the paper, and Jarred, the tireless managing editor of the newspaper whom I grew close with over the term.
While it was initially difficult to try and get my pieces noticed, I closed the year with several being published. A story I did on the new Harriet Tubman $20 bill, in addition to the reissued $5 and $10 bills can be read on "The Chronicle"'s sister-publication's website NCCLinked, with a story on Apple's stock (pictured above) also going to print. It was a wonderful ten weeks and I can say I'm thinking about returning.
Furthermore, this term also saw me go to school five days a week, rather than the liberal Tuesday/Thursday schedule I had been used to for four terms prior, which allotted me four-day weekends and a plethora of time to get things done. I was at school anywhere from eight to twelve hours every day, with the exception of Fridays, where I'd attend my English Literature to 1660 class until 10:30am then race to the movie theater in order to catch the earliest matinee before work. While at school, if I wasn't in class, I was constantly slaving away at a computer, and ended up writing thirty papers this past term (a paper meaning a piece two or more pages long).
Through all this - and working on writing and recording for "The Oldest Soul" mixtape and churning out film reviews almost daily - however, I was still able to keep those close to me who have always been there for me. I could still go out with my long-suffering friends Crystal, Amber, and Anne during those late school days, meet Joceline during most lunch hours so we can chat and debate, see Maria so she could endure my endless rants and musings on life, see Marissa so we could lean on one another through more uncertain times. Even moments of passing, such as getting a drink from the coffeeshop, were met with conversations with the barista (much to her dismay, no doubt).
It was a year of reassurance. It was the "prove it" year for myself in terms of grades and classes. Finally, it was the year of meeting incredible new people and taking risks. For Junior year, the goals and approach is largely the same, because why fix what isn't broken? It will be a year that tests the longevity of this new social approach and this unfathomable, personal academic progress. I'll continue to swing straight for the fence and assure this is not the peak of the mountain.
A full year later, I can't be more confident in what I did and in how I successfully achieved that. For starters, after only making Dean's List one of three terms last year, a prime goal for this year was assuring academic progress. Fall term say me getting two A's and a B. Winter term saw me getting straight A's for the first time in my life.
Finally, spring term saw me repeating straight A's, only this time, getting my first ever 4.0. Out of ten college courses I've taken this year, I've gotten A's in nine of them. Out of twenty-one courses I've taken thus far, I've gotten A's in sixteen of them.
For some I recognize that this is a regular occurrence. I can vividly remember a group of friends who almost entirely walked through high school and got straight A's. It frustrated me to a degree as someone who had to sometimes claw and fight for a B in my math classes. Because of this, however, grades have always meant something to me. They mean something to everyone, I realize, but titles like "Dean's List" and "honor roll," while essentially worthless little flavorings to describe the varying degrees of one's GPA, they were always incredibly meaningful to me.
I still look forward to that call to my grandmother, mother, father, and my uncle telling them that I made Dean's List and it's something that's always been immensely gratifying.
With that, it was also time to get serious about connections with professors and students, both like-minded and not. Sophomore year of college echoed sophomore year of high school in many ways, but mostly in the way I returned to my old motto - I don't care who's my friend in a sense of race, gender, social belonging, or major, I just want friends I can talk to and trust. Working with "The Chronicle," North Central's semi-frequently published newspaper, helped me find and work with so many talented and uncommonly down-to-earth souls, as well as help me find an outlet for bigger writing.
Strangers who became friends, such as Tommy, who worked on "Vision," North Central's new entertainment magazine for concert, music, and film coverage I wrote for, became instrumental forces and connections of close friendship and a wealth of opportunities, and other kind souls like Upasna, a brilliant writer with a blog more in-depth and contemplative than mine, Bob, a friend for over a year now, who helped get my pieces noticed and allowed me great benefits of working with the paper, and Jarred, the tireless managing editor of the newspaper whom I grew close with over the term.
While it was initially difficult to try and get my pieces noticed, I closed the year with several being published. A story I did on the new Harriet Tubman $20 bill, in addition to the reissued $5 and $10 bills can be read on "The Chronicle"'s sister-publication's website NCCLinked, with a story on Apple's stock (pictured above) also going to print. It was a wonderful ten weeks and I can say I'm thinking about returning.
Furthermore, this term also saw me go to school five days a week, rather than the liberal Tuesday/Thursday schedule I had been used to for four terms prior, which allotted me four-day weekends and a plethora of time to get things done. I was at school anywhere from eight to twelve hours every day, with the exception of Fridays, where I'd attend my English Literature to 1660 class until 10:30am then race to the movie theater in order to catch the earliest matinee before work. While at school, if I wasn't in class, I was constantly slaving away at a computer, and ended up writing thirty papers this past term (a paper meaning a piece two or more pages long).
Through all this - and working on writing and recording for "The Oldest Soul" mixtape and churning out film reviews almost daily - however, I was still able to keep those close to me who have always been there for me. I could still go out with my long-suffering friends Crystal, Amber, and Anne during those late school days, meet Joceline during most lunch hours so we can chat and debate, see Maria so she could endure my endless rants and musings on life, see Marissa so we could lean on one another through more uncertain times. Even moments of passing, such as getting a drink from the coffeeshop, were met with conversations with the barista (much to her dismay, no doubt).
It was a year of reassurance. It was the "prove it" year for myself in terms of grades and classes. Finally, it was the year of meeting incredible new people and taking risks. For Junior year, the goals and approach is largely the same, because why fix what isn't broken? It will be a year that tests the longevity of this new social approach and this unfathomable, personal academic progress. I'll continue to swing straight for the fence and assure this is not the peak of the mountain.
KEY SONGS OF THE TERM (FIVE SONGS THAT WERE A PART OF MY DAILY PLAYLIST THIS TERM IN COLLEGE):
READ MY OTHER COLLEGE BLOGS:
"Only the echos of my mind" (fall term freshman year)
"Funeral for a friend" (winter term freshman year)
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