3-Weeks in and the value of school
It has been 3-Weeks since school started and it is a good thing that I am still here. Anyone who has taken 17 credit hours knows what I am talking about. I hope that I will be able to find enough time to train for some nationals, or else I just won’t go to the ones that are further away than Reno. Making the trip back from Phoenix or Redmond by Monday morning is impossible. Unfortunately the cash is a bit of a problem as well as I haven’t really worked for half a year now. So we’ll just have to see how it goes. School does come first. I can always race, but school comes first. The snow is finally gone on my street. The rain we got melted everything, but then it snowed again. Which only took a few days to melt. I’m definitely going to go bust out some sprints this week!
I do have some great news concerning one of my classes. Last Thursday, we took our first exam in PHYS 2210 (Physics for Engineers/with some Calc I involved). I felt pretty good going into the test; especially since I have taken Physics in High School and PHYS 2010/2020 concurrently my senior year, and everything we have covered thus far isn’t brand new for me. So yesterday I go in at noon for my Physics Lab (1 Cr), and I find out that we can go pick up our tests from our Professor’s office. I head down there expecting anything from a D to a A. He hands me the test and says that it is out of 50. I glance down at the score… 50. SWEET! Hopefully I will be able to replicate this accomplishment on Tuesday when I take the first Calc II exam.
Speaking of school, I want to tell all of you something. Since I have begun my college experience, I have spoken with many kids at the track about how they are doing in school and how they like it. By far the most typical answer you get from kids is that they don’t like school. I ask them why? Because of the homework. Which if you think about it, anything that takes kids/teens away from what they would rather be doing (riding, hanging out, playing video games, etc). They see it as something that they are being made to do, so they either put up with it, or just don’t do it.
For as long as I can remember, my parents have always pushed me to plan on going to school and to set it as one of my top priorities. It has been something that has always stuck with me; however, I never really understood it until recently. As you begin to decide what it is that you are going to study in college you can’t help but wondering how long, how much, how hard?
When I was in high school, I remember when I looked at what I was going to study in college, my biggest concern was, how hard? Even though I did very well in high school, I don’t think I believed that I could do it. Looking at the required classes for major, I would tell myself I can’t pass those classes (higher level math classes, science, etc). My self confidence when it came to these things was never very high; which I think originated from my days in elementary–actually 5th grade now that I think about it–when I had a teacher who did not push math or science very hard. Then when I get into 6th grade, I somewhat struggled in those areas and that was where the seeds of doubt were planted. I now feel that has changed somewhat now that I have gained much more confidence in myself, especially after I realized that I was actually taking a Calc II class. And when I look at the classes I will have to take to get a bachelors in Chemical Engineering, I feel somewhat eager because they just don’t seem so hard anymore.
When you start college, you think, well how long is this going to take? It seems like forever. I am now in the last half of my 3rd year in college, and it seems like yesterday when I graduated from high school. The other day, I was looking at how long it will take for me to obtain my degree based upon the U of U’s 4-year plan for Chemical Engineering. By the end of the Spring semester in 2012, I will have completed it. Which is only 3 more years. So essentially, I am half-way finished with college. Believe me, it goes by in the blink of an eye after high school.
After you get through both of those stages, then come the last and probably most difficult to deal with. How much is this going to cost? This is exactly why those, like myself, who can’t afford to pay from your pocket need to do well in school. Looking back on my time in high school, I wish I had gotten more involved in clubs (there are scholarships for them), athletics, and higher level classes. For example, my brother, Taylor, has had a 4.0 throughout his middle school and high school career. Since I have already been through it I can give him pointers as to what he needs to do to get some extra financial support. Where he does do very well in school as it is, he just needs to make sure he does the right things like taking AP classes, doing well on the ACT, etc. Hopefully he will be able to do well next year so that he can get a full ride or a great scholarship.
Your school counselors may seem relentless in their efforts to get you to realize that not only do you need to do well in school, but you need to go to school after high school.