My First Week as a College Student

Imagining a rocky road ahead, I survived the first week of college smoothly than expect. Expecting a difficult teacher, non-stop lecturing,100+ classmates, and tough class work, I arrived, nervous, on my first day of class asking myself "Can I make through this college course?" I arrived to my college speech class (A course based on small groups communication, sophomore level class) taught by Professor Toller. The first day went by easier then I thought it would be. The professor was nice and approachable, the class room was smaller then what I expected a college class would have, with only 24 colleagues, and had a PowerPoint up for lectures.

Reading 30-40 pages for homework was almost a daily thing. The next day was almost always a quiz over the material we read.. The quizzes weren’t hard if we read the, but it was hard to stay focused on the book when the chapters were really long and sometimes got dull. The quizzes were only 10 question; 5 multiple choices and 5 true or false. The quizzes were given twice, one taken alone, and one as a small group. The grade I received would be the better score of either as a groups or alone. Working as a group greatly helps. because we are able to pool our knowledge together and answer the questions easily.

What also helped me get through my classes is the study groups. It helps knowing I can get some help on my speech class when I need it. During our study group when we review for the quiz by assigning a person or two to a section and having them teach it to the group. We sometimes even read our reading assignment that was assigned as homework together. Reading together makes it easier for me to follow along and it goes by faster then it does when I’m reading the assignment at home. When we read together as a group it takes us about an hour and 30 minutes, while it takes me over 3 to 4 hours to read because I can get distracted so easily.

I’m glad I got a chance to participate in this experience to go through what college life is like. When I start college as my freshman year I won’t be as nervous and will have more confidence in myself as in get into class.. If I wasn’t able to participate in this and was not given a chance to experience this college life early, I could image myself being a nervous train wreck, not knowing what to do and where to get to class. This summer scholars has helped me get an early view on college and prepare me for what’s to come in the future. It has helped me know the campus so much better so when if I were to choose UNO as my college, I would be able to maneuver around campus.