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Fall 2015 Work of Art

Reflective Essay

Coming to Portland State University (PSU) was a big change for me. I had an idea of what the experience would be like, based off what my older brother had told me, and what I’ve heard from my father. But to truly know for myself, I needed to actually experience it first hand. This is a philosophy I’ve lived by for a while now. I do believe that the only way to truly get an understanding of something, is to experience it for yourself. I was feeling positive about the major I picked, the classes I chose, and the Freshmen Inquiry class (FRINQ) I was in.

 

At first, I didn’t know what the FRINQ was all about. I knew that it was a class for incoming freshmen who were living in the dorms, but then again, I wanted to see what this class was all about for myself. This class met twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday with a mentor session before the main class. The mentor sessions were a subclass to main class where a smaller group of students met to get questions answered and have time to work on assignments and projects. So far, I was linking the way the class ran. I found the mentor sessions to be very useful. In the mentor sessions it was easy to ask questions regarding class work, or general information of what is going on that week. The mentors were undergraduate students who weren't much older than us, so it was easy to relate and talk to them. They sat in during our class and perpetuated discussions to help our minds think about the assigned projects differently. Coming into college was a nerve racking thing to think about at first. All this talk about sleepless nights studying and being constantly stressed out made me anxious. My overthinking got the best of me. But, thanks to the way the FRINQ was set up, the transition from High School to PSU flowed a lot better for me.

 

When I left North Eugene High School, I didn’t truly know if I was ready for college. I felt confident in my academic skills to at least meet the requirements of assignments. I had a rough idea of what was ahead of me at PSU, but once again, I couldn’t have known until I experienced it for myself. I knew how to properly format a paper in response to a piece of literature in MLA format, knew how to organize myself to deliver a presentation, and knew how to look for the information I needed. So far in the FRINQ class, the skills I left High School with are still being used. For my senior project, my topic was about outsourcing in the bicycle manufacturing industry. This project consisted of, logging 20 volunteer hours at a business or facility that was relevant to your topic, writing a 1500 paper arguing for or against a main question you created, and deliver a professional timed powerpoint presentation. Me being a senior in high school, this seemed like an enormous amount of work to deal with on top of taking four other classes. This senior project was required for our graduation, so I felt all the more motivated to complete the project. I was thankful to be given the opportunity to choose a topic that I was passionate about, which was cycling. I felt comfortable and confident in what I spoke about in my presentation and writing. I walked away from that project feeling accomplished. I picked up various skills along the way. At the time, I felt that it was my best writing, and the most passionate presentation I have given so far.

 

The assignments we were given at the beginning of the FRINQ class were along the same lines as the work I was doing in my senior year of high school. I thought I had a good idea of what was expected. After the first few assignments, it became clear I was rather rusty in my writing. I made careless mistakes in my papers that ultimately got me a lower score. Maybe my time away from constantly writing and reading over the summer break left my skills dulled. Either way, I needed to reevaluate my work and think more critically. I thought more about my sentences and gave each assignment my best. I may not have been on the same caliber of skill as I used to in high school, but I was prepared for the amount of work that lied ahead. I had the skills to discipline myself in times of stress to fulfill the assignment requirements.

 

During the middle of the fall 2015 term, I got myself on my feet again with my academics. Writing lengthy essays where we needed to think critically became easier, and communicating my thoughts during class discussions. I had finally caught up with the pace of the class. There was one project where I had to choose a song I strongly disliked (I Quit by Tiva), talk about why we hate this song, but also talk about why it would be considered good. In other words, we had to rescue the song. This project involved an essay that used the ideas from two philosophers (David Hume and Immanuel Kant), along with a quote from a book titled Let’s Talk About Love by author Carl Wilson. After writing about our song, I had to deliver a presentation about the song I chose. I gave some background about the artist and song, attacked the song and express my hatred for it, and then rescued the song by talking about how it became popular and loved by so many. As I watched the presentations by my classmates, I felt confident in my ability to compile an organized presentation and speak about my song, while still meeting the requirements in a timely fashion. These were skills I picked up in high school that transferred very well into the FRINQ class.

 

I took away a lot from this Fall FRINQ class. I made a lot of connections with people in the class, picked up on a lot of writing and technical skills, and learned where I am academically at PSU. I came away from this class knowing what I am capable of. My knowledge and experience is forever progressing, always learning something new by taking this course. But no good course would be without its rough spots. There were times where big concepts surrounding assignments and projects would be brought up in an unclear or direct way. There were moments where an assignments expectations or formate were left out, or not clear to the students. These instances occurred more frequently than I expected. Thankfully the mentors were able to decipher what our professor was expecting from the class. That is another valuable thing about the mentor sessions, but I feel like relying on our mentors to clarify the expectations every time slows the class down. I spent a lot of time trying to make sense of an assignment's directions, instead of spending that time brainstorming thoughtful sentences and ideas. I think that the quality of my word could have been increased if the directions were straightforward.

 

Overall, I had a positive experience this fall term in the FRINQ class. Despite the mishaps, controversy among students during heated topics, and miscommunication, I think I came out with a ton of valuable knowledge. These prices were worth paying for the fulfilment of education. I look forward to what the rest of my FRINQ experience has in store for me. I plan to stay focused on the tasks at hand, think critically about my work and the work of others, and above all, further sharpen my skills as a student at PSU.

 

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