Students blog

During my senior year of high school, I was asked the question “What are you looking forward to most for college?” Flooded with ideas and ideals of how college life would be, I couldn’t quite articulate my excitement. I knew for sure that I wanted to enjoy my college experience, but I didn’t quite know what that would mean. Looking back, I can see that I was eager for education plus everything else college life has to offer.

New experiences.

I came to the United States from Nigera and started high school life at age 14. I was unfamiliar with the system here in the United states, but have learned a great deal since.  At first, I did not know about clubs and did not make a lot of friends. Starting a new life in college was a new experience. I have had the opportunity to expand my horizons, meet new people, and make more friends.

New Friendships

Making new friends is probably one of the most inspiring parts of my first year in college. I would not like to live a college life where I did not get to socialize much. I joined clubs and participated in new activities right from the start. As I mentioned, I was not involved as much in high school because I was unfamiliar with the concept. I wish I would have joined clubs in high school but I am making up for it in college.

New Insights and Academics

I have always wanted to be an engineer. Unfortunately in high school there are not very many classes that allow you to gain engineering experience or even learn more on the subject matter. This is something I was eager to learn more about in my college classes. I looked forward to studying hard and dedicating myself to my academics.

Starting college is a very exciting experience! I’ve embraced all of it with pride and inspiration. I have taken classes that have expanded on my education, and I’ve joined activities to make connections with new friends and learn more about myself!

If you are starting college soon, what are you looking forward to most? Share your thoughts when you comment on my blog!

I am proud of my academic accomplishments this far. However, in retrospect I cannot help but think of things I wish I would have done differently to excel in my academic career.  One of my biggest regrets stemmed from a choice I had to make in my senior year. Here is the story of how it turned into a valuable learning experience.

An Advanced Credit Opportunity

During the end of my sophomore year in high school, I discovered the opportunity for students to take dual credit courses while in high school. These classes allow students to start preparing for rigorous college coursework. Plus they earn college credit that can be transferred to the college a student chooses. The adviser stated that most colleges will accept those credits more than the advanced placement exam scores.

A Difficult Choice

This seemed like an amazing offer because getting college credits before I start college meant I could graduate sooner than the other students.  I took three college classes when I was in high school. However, in the spring of my senior year, I had the opportunity to take both a college calculus class and do an architecture and engineering internship. I registered for a college calculus class and was excited when I was also accepted into the internship. But the schedules of the internship and the class were conflicting. Since it was the first time I got an internship offer, I dropped the calculus class and chose the internship.

A Disappointing Experience

The internship had twenty students from my school. We were excited to get experience in architecture and engineering. At the end of the program we would be making a presentation to the company showing the accomplishments we had made. However, after two weeks several students decided to drop out of the internship.  That made it more difficult for those staying in it. We had to take on the extra jobs initially assigned to those who left. Three weeks before the presentation, the students that remained in the internship decreased to two – myself and one other student. We were left to prepare for the presentation that should have had the work of twenty. The supervisor decided to cancel the internship and I wished I had taken the calculus class instead.

When I registered for college classes at my University, I was disappointed to see that I could not be in the same math class as my friends. They took the high school dual credit calculus which allowed them to enter Calculus 2. I still had to take Calculus 1.  If I had not gone for the internship I would have been able to graduate earlier.

Learning from Experience

In the end, the internship was an insightful experience. I think everyone can learn from everything –  even if things don’t always go exactly as planned. I really wish I would have taken the calculus class instead of the internship. But life is full of difficult decisions, and rather than focusing on a regret I learned to focus on what I learned from the experience.

Choosing a college major is daunting. You want to earn a degree which will lead to a career you love. Here is my story of how one of my high school teachers inspired me to choose to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Doctor Dreams Dashed

When I moved to the United States from Nigeria, I wanted to be a doctor. I thought being a doctor sounded cooler than any other profession in the world. But then I saw movies and dramas that took place in the hospital that showed doctors performing surgery, which made me have doubts of wanting to become a doctor. At that point, I became totally lost! I did not know what career to pick at all!

My Father’s Advice

My dad always told me that I should pick a career related to science. So in my junior year of high school, I took a computer science class called Introduction to JAVA. I started to learn coding for the first time. Through the coding class, I learned about algorithms and became fascinated. My computer science teacher taught the class in such an engaging way that it made me want to learn more. I took the AP class in my senior year. Through that, I was able to join the Robotics Club, where I built a robot and coded it to see how all the algorithms worked in real life.

Pointed in the Right Direction

My computer science teacher made a huge impact in my life. He encouraged me to pursue a mechanical engineering major and a computer science minor in college. I am excited about the future. After graduation I want to be able to create and code machines. Without the inspiration of my teacher, I would still be frustrated with not having a career outlook. I am thankful for him and the opportunity to take the computer science classes in high school, because now I have a college major that will lead to a future career I am excited about!

How did you get inspired to pursue your major? Share when you retweet my blog!