Semester Reflections

Semester 1

My first semester at the University of Maryland and as a member of the Arts Scholars program had its ups and downs, but it was all extremely rewarding.

As for my adjustment to living on campus away from home, I handled it really well. I love the Cambridge Community. It makes this huge school feel a little less daunting to see a lot of the same people around! I also enjoyed the access to the craft supplies in the Bel Air lounge for Arts Scholars as well as the events and courses held in the Cambridge Community Center. I connect well with the peers who live in the community, I am sure to call my family multiple times a week, – a lot of the time it’s a facetime to see my puppies who I miss so much when I am at school – I am not afraid to email my professors or advisors for advice and guidance, and my peer mentor from scholars as well as my RA in my resident were very supportive and reached out often. I love the increase in independence that UMD has given me compared to high school. I feel like I get more exercise and have more opportunities to have fun than I did at home, which is what I imagined this college-life being like when I was younger. Looking ahead to next year, I have decided to live in an apartment right off campus, as I love to cook and I am very excited to have my own kitchen and my own bedroom. I will be very grateful, though, to still be a part of Scholars and keep the friendships I made this year through the continuation of the program. I am still very much looking forward to another semester in the Cambridge Community though, and now that I feel adjusted to school I believe I will be more at ease with all of the change that college brings.

My workload was manageable. There were times where I had to spend a lot of hours in the library, but I felt that all of the work I was assigned was manageable and that I felt very proud of myself after completing assignments. I feel as though I genuinely learned a lot, which differed from a lot of my high school courses. I expected this from college. I am not a fan of big lecture halls, but I am an auditory learner so this style of learning is great for me and I currently have straight A’s which I am immensely proud of myself for. I value each paper that I write as an English major. While daunting, writing is my biggest strength and I always knock them out. Exams have been a huge change as in high school, I studied the night before and did well. Here, I hold myself accountable to study thoroughly and it has been extremely rewarding. Group projects are fun, but only if the group is communicative and does the work well before the night that it is due. I am a good leader in these scenarios, so I try to ensure everyone does their part. I believed that the work in CPSA100 was rewarding and meaningful, not like some courses that give “busy-work” just to keep students engaged, so I enjoyed these assignments.

Coming into colloquium, I did not realize we would discuss identity as much as we did. It was important and relevant to our learning, but my favorite part of the semester was the middle portion where we tried different mediums of art! It was fun to try new things and make new friends in this way. Pictured below is our time learning to vogue dance! As a dancer for eight years growing up, this is probably the only type of dance I haven’t explored. Plus, I got to explore the depths of The Clarice, which was so cool. I hope to be able to take dance classes in the future; I really wish there was a dance minor offered here. I also very much want to learn to crochet, so the intro class at Studio A was awesome. Honestly, nothing comes to mind about things we didn’t explore that I was expecting to. The only thing I wish we did was branch outside of our TA groups. I loved mine, the people were great, but I felt that there are so many cool people in our program and I wish I could’ve gotten to know more people rather than being with the same people all year. I think that the best parts of the program are the field trips and the Arts TRYathalon. It really pushed me to explore campus and the awesome events UMD has for the arts, and seeing Cirque Du Soleil in Tysons Corner was an unreal performance and such a fun night. For TRYathalon, I loved most seeing the TDPS musical The Prom. I love theater and I intend to see more shows. The Craft and Chats were more low-key than I thought they would be, but that is a nice thing about them! I feel at home in the Bel Air lounge. Service Day was extremely rewarding, but it was a lot for our very first day at college. If it was moved to the next weekend I think that kids would love it completely.

The most thought-provoking part of Arts Scholars to me was the tour of The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. I am sitting in its library as I write this, as it is my favorite place to do work. I also stop by its café sometimes, and I intend on renting studio space to dance sometimes as I deeply miss being a dancer. There was so much I didn’t know about the building, though, that made the tour so amazing. We apparently have the biggest and nicest university performing arts center in the country, and learning about its construction was incredible. Moving forward, I will take this knowledge into account and hopefully spend more time here, whether finding a way to continue with my dance career or possibly finding an on-campus job there to support my education.

My biggest challenges this semester were struggling creatively, as I have not found a good means to dance, and putting others before myself. What helps me through these things is taking yoga classes – i.e. finding moments of mindfulness alone – and communicating with loved ones. I am happy to say that I feel like I have gotten better with advocating for myself and making time to have fun and de-stress. I especially came into college wanting to make some more friends, and I have so I am very grateful for them. As for dance, next semester I want to be sure to rent studio space and look into taking dance courses. Again, I wish I could convince the university to add a minor, but I’m not sure if that will ever happen. The winning practices I will continue are my priorities of keeping in touch with loved ones far away, making time for friends, going to yoga classes, and staying on top of my studies like I did this semester.