College life has exceeded my expectations in more ways than one and differed greatly from what I thought it would be. In high school, I was always told to be prepared to take a large and scary step when entering college. Hearing this so often made me think that I should prepare myself for an entirely new level of difficulty regarding the academic environment and schoolwork that I could only hope I would be able to adjust to. If I then had any trouble adjusting to this new workload and environment, I thought I would very quickly begin to slip and fall behind my classmates. The worst part about my mindset going into college, however, was thinking I was the only one that felt this way. I truly thought that the other students around me had somehow found a way to prepare themselves for the changes to come and that they weren’t nearly as worried as I was. It only took me about a day at UMD to realize that I was wrong.
From the moment my classes began, I felt a very strong sense of community which I am extremely grateful for. Every time I had a question that I was too nervous to ask, I found the person next to me asking that very same question. When I had opinions I was too timid to voice, I found inquisitive peers around me that actually wanted to hear what I had to say. Though I am not trying to minimize the difficulty level of classes in college, I will also say that if you just try your best, they are not as scary as they are made out to be. Originally, I thought that I would have little to no free time at all and that staying on top of my work would consume all of my time. I expected to have a test every 2 weeks or so and a new homework assignment every class, but I could not have been more wrong. This semester, I was able to only have about 2-3 classes per day. Within each class, there was about one significant homework assignment and the possibility of one small quiz per week. This was also combined with a full schedule of the assignments and topics for the entire semester so students were able to work ahead as they pleased or catch up on anything they missed. Having my courses structured in this way made all of my work more than manageable, giving me more than enough time to explore other interests in my free time.
My classes thus far have also been taught by some of the most understanding and knowledgeable people I have ever met. This does not mean that their classes were necessarily easy, but this does mean that each teacher made the classroom an environment where I personally felt like I was able to learn and excel. With this type of support system within the classroom and support from my peers outside of the classroom, I feel like I was able to stay engaged and feel challenged, but not overwhelmed, an important balance that I struggled to find in high school.
In regard to the CPSG course, I was a bit surprised by the work and content we discussed. To start, I was overjoyed when I found out what our service day site was. I knew we would likely be doing something related to the outdoors, but I was so excited to be going to such a scenic place that I had never been to before. Though I will admit the work was hard, I still enjoyed the experience and would have preferred it to a more basic site and activity. The course content was another aspect of CPSG100 that exceeded my expectations. Due to the course title, “Science and Global Change”, I assumed the class would be solely based on climate change and environmental science. While we have discussed these topics, however, I was surprised by our various other lessons. We learned about logical fallacies (one of my personal favorites), the spread of misinformation and myths, as well as scientific papers. I originally thought that each of these topics was unrelated to the course, but throughout our weekly class discussions, I began to make small connections between them and the overall focus of the course. One topic I hope we will touch on more next semester is activism and famous climate activists because, even though we briefly discussed a few, there are so many others that have made significant strides in spreading awareness of climate change and global warming.
My living environment is another significant part of why I have loved my school experience so much. I currently live in the Centreville residence hall within the Cambridge Community, surrounded by students in my scholar program. In high school, I remember being worried about having to leave all of my old friends behind. I expected to feel very alone for the first couple weeks of school, as I would still be in the process of making new friends, but this was not the case. By chance, I was placed in a hall with many other girls from the same area I grew up in, allowing me to quickly connect and become close friends with them. I have also enjoyed living in Centreville because it is so conveniently located. UMD is a very large and hilly school, and before living here I expected to need a bike or car to get around to my classes, but instead, I walk the campus every day. Thanks to the placement of my building, I am only about a 10-20 minute walk away from all of my classes and even closer to the dining hall so I never feel over-exhausted at the end of the day.
Overall, I have had a great college experience so far, and I owe much of it to SGC. From being placed in the SGC living area, to being taught about fascinating topics by 2 phenomenal professors, I feel very lucky to have been given the opportunity to be part of this program. One word of advice I would give to future SGC students is to utilize the community as much as you can. Throughout the excursions and class time, I made so many amazing friends that I can not wait to grow closer to throughout college and even after my time at UMD.