Now that the Fall 2011 semester is almost over, it’s time to look back and reflect on the time spent here at Paul Smith’s College. My first semester at college has been a mix of transitions and challenges, but the good thing about challenges is that they make you better when you overcome them. The transitions and challenges I have experienced here at college have definitely made me grow as a student, and more importantly as a person. I feel as though I’ve kicked some old habits and traded them in for some new ones, but in the end I’m still the same person, just a little more polished and experienced, I guess you could say.
I’d say that most of my growth has come in the form of a new sense of responsibility and maturity. I guess you could say that I’ve always kind of considered myself to be somewhat mature, but I never really had to use that maturity on a day-to-day basis like I do here at college. In high school, you make think you’re mature because there are so many middle school kids and underclassmen below you. The truth is that you’re pretty much fostered by the teachers and faculty even in your senior year. You have to ask to go to the bathroom and teachers are regarded as having so much more stature than you, because you’re still just a kid. I think I’ve grown in college because I’ve had experience being treated as an adult, or more of an equal. For example, most professors don’t try to assert their dominance over the students by saying that you must call them “Dr.” such-and-such. Most professors prefer that you call them by their first name, which I think can be good practice for the real world. It may sound silly, but being treated as an adult and having experience in conversing and working with adults has made me, along with most other students, more of an adult.
I’ve also noticed how much more willing I am to embrace responsibility and to push myself. One of the nice things about college is that you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Everything that you do is up to you. You don’t have your professors in your ear asking if you’ve started that report that’s due at the end of the week, or if you’ve done the reading that they assigned the day before. It is left up to you to do the work, to study, and to make the most out of your college experience. I don’t mean to sound all “high and mighty”, but I can’t help but feel good about how I’m doing when I see kids that aren’t wiling to push themselves, or take that responsibility upon themselves. I initially feel bad for them because I think of how they’re wasting their time here, but then it makes me feel good, because I know that even though I may not be having as much fun as them, I’m going to be better prepared for the real world in the end. I know that my first responsibility here at college is to study, do the work, and learn. Having fun, growing up, and becoming more responsible are just things that develop along the way if you take the responsibility to do the work. I know that I already feel more ready for the real world because I have functioned on my own for a semester and I have been able to push myself and take on additional responsibilities much more easily than in high school.
I also feel as though I have become much more dependent upon myself, but at the same time, I am now able to more easily reach out to others. College is nice because you are responsible for getting all of your school work done, but at the same time, you’re responsible for doing your laundry, keeping your room clean, and managing your finances along with several other things. You have nobody else to lean on, but yourself. I think this has made me a better person, because I have learned how to balance all of these things without assistance from others. The funny thing about college is that I have grown to be able to reach out to others more, now than ever before. While I may rely on myself to get things done, I’ve learned to rely on friends and other people around campus to make myself a better-rounded person. I’m not just some hermit who sits in his dorm room all day doing homework and thinking about responsibility. No way. I’ve learned, now more than ever, that friends and other people are there to help you out and to make you a better person in the end. The only catch is that you have to be willing to reach out to those friends and other people in order for them to be able to help. I feel as though I’ve learned how to reach out to other people while I’ve been here at college, and I feel better for it.
Like I do with just about everything in life, I relate responsibility back to sports or working out. When I think of responsibility in working out, I think of a common Tony Horton quote. Tony says, “Don’t just kinda’ do it!”. In this quote, Tony is talking about how some people drag themselves through a workout, just to say that they did the workout. Working out is kind of like college in the sense that the responsibility is all on you. Nobody is going to stand there and tell you to work out, or to do those push-ups with correct form. It falls on you to take pride in what you’re doing and to do your best. Anybody could do the P90X program if they just went through the moves without lifting the maximum amounts of weight, doing the maximum amount of reps, or using the best form possible. You can easily tell who takes the responsibility to do the exercises correctly because it shows in their fitness. The same goes for college. You can tell who isn’t getting the most out of their college experience, and I’d like to think that I don’t fall into that group.
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