Reflections

Regarding the text “Only Connect”, the concept of liberal arts is certainly one I have wanted to understand better. According to this passage, the word “liber” means free or in some cases to grow. Therefore, the idea of liberal arts allows one to be free of their education and lets them explore and learn to their highest possibilities. I believe that education is integral in nurturing a better world, by helping people understand what's around them to a higher degree. In high school, I took it upon myself to do extra with my passion for technology. I saw the opportunity to use my knowledge to help others. In my IT classes, whenever I noticed someone was having difficulty I would make it my goal to help them understand better. This kind of instance made me aware of the importance of using my learned knowledge and applying it to a scenario in a scholarly setting. 

Next is “Changing Education Paradigms”. Proper education holds major value in our modern world. This video caught my interest, as I’ve noticed some of these flaws in the way we treat education before. Learning itself is incredibly important, I believe that when someone takes learning as fun and engages frequently they can get more out of life in the long run. It seems that some people simply don’t value learning. This is understandable as the video references many opportunities that can degrade one’s experience in our current climate. Of course, this is a very complex issue to work towards fixing, but a better learning environment could help future generations create a better world. 

I feel as though my community is those who strive to improve their knowledge and enjoy learning. Particularly I’ve found my community to be those who share a similar path to me, which is in IT. Similarly throughout the years I also saw value in the communities with held similar interests to me. Which often included technology, nature, astronomy, and once even cool lego builds. Ultimately though, I see the value in every community, each needing assistance in their own ways. In high school, I took it upon myself to do extra with my passion for technology. I developed the goal of using this passion and my knowledge to help others strive. Hence, in all of my IT classes, each time someone was struggling with an assignment I would be the person they would go to help them solve their problem. Crucially, I did not simply provide the solution, instead I did my best to better their knowledge. The teacher of these classes strongly encouraged this effort as she was proud of my eagerness to help others. I notice that this endeavor not only made me feel good, but it allowed me to further my own knowledge and improve how I apply it. Beginning my senior year, I aided an entire IT bell consisting mostly of freshmen. Throughout the semester I made sure the students were on track and putting forth the necessary effort. I plan to do something similar but to expand the opportunity for change in my Honors Engl2089 course I am taking this semester.

What is your most significant challenge at this point in the semester? Do you have any ideas in how to overcome this challenge?

My most significant so far has been the change of high school to college. This challenge is not so much academic, as I took many college classes in high school. My challenge has to do with the fact I don't know basically anyone on campus and I have to put forth more effort if I wish to make new connections. Though, I have to try to balance the existing connections I have back where I live. I've been getting used to it over these few weeks, and it's gotten a little easier to bare the change. 

Going into the workshop in Wednesday’s class I did not know exactly what to expect. Though, the description that was given to this workshop “choose a roommate”, presented a potential for an interesting experience. Beginning the workshop, I chose the roommate solely because they enjoyed the outdoors. My reasoning for this decision was due to the overall importance of this factor and as I didn’t mind the other characteristics. When the next characteristics were revealed I did not move as again they did not stand out as something I didn’t want in a roomate. I never ended up moving from my first choice because I felt like the person I picked originally would have just worked for me. Other students' decisions were interesting as some people moved based on age, children, and a whole other number of things. The discussion afterwards was certainly interesting as the idea of immediately judging someone was discussed. This idea applied to the workshop because we needed to judge someone’s qualities and characteristics in order to make a choice. I definitely noticed this concept before in my life, and I’ve picked up on how it can affect others lives. I tend to be aware when someone does this to me, and I have seen how this can have an effect. In terms of this I do my best to manage how I judge people and how I let the thoughts of others affect me. 

Who has been an important mentor in your life? Why? What have the specific benefits of that relationship? 

The best mentor I have had in life so far has been one of my previous high school teachers. Mrs. Pamulapati is a UC adjunct professor and she was the teacher of all of the UC Early IT classes I took throughout high school. Her classes worked to really inspire me in so many ways and she has helped a lot in getting prepared and ready for college. If I ever had a question about anything professional-related, she was there to give me advice and help me choose the right path and orient me. I still keep in touch with her, and I have even pioneered a project in my ENGL 2089 class in some of her classes. I am grateful I had a person like this in high school, as it certainly helped me.