Final Video Project:Nursing

INQ Final Assessment

As the syllabus describes:“This INQ section challenges students to immerse themselves in the college experience: juggle multiple tasks, be problem solvers, ask questions, take risks, grapple with difficulty, be creative, learn from failure, take ownership over their own learning, and apply abstract concepts to their actual everyday lives.” 

Coming into Southern Connecticut State University I had no idea what an Inquiry Class consisted of. As describes at orientation INQ is a class that is supposed to help you become familiar with the college experience: a transition course from high school to college life. I thought, “This class is going to be a breeze”. Little did I know that INQ would my heaviest workload class. Many would say Inquiry is a pointless class, but I don’t feel that way. I personally feel as if I found my college-level persona throughout this course and that INQ truly benefited me as a student. 

Throughout the course, students of INQ 101 Section 32N definitely needed to juggle multiple tasks! Most weeks consisted of a campus safari, two blog posts, online-readings and in-class writing assignments, and working on one of the three projects assigned throughout the course of the semester. The first couple weeks at school I was beyond stressed out with the amount of work all five of my courses has assigned. Time management was defiantly essential and what helped me to meet all of the requirements of this course. I personally, am a very organized structured person, but I had never experienced such a heavy workload all at once. Within the course we talked a lot about time management, study habits and organization which I feel truly benefited me as a student.

Individually I feel as if I have met all of the required course goals and achieved a specific set of college-level skills during the course of the semester, but it wasn’t easy! I honestly dedicated a lot of time and hard work into each and every one of the assignments assigned. One semester-long assignment I feel as if I truly benefited from was blogging. Finding my blogging voice really encouraged me to improve my writing skills. The first couple weeks into the semester I would stress out a lot about blogs. I did not fully understand what a blogging voice consisted of. I would spend sometimes more than an hour on just one blog (250+ words) and I knew I had to do something to improve my writing skills. Over the course of the semester I feel as if I really found my own personal voice within my writing. Now, for me writing a blog is a piece of cake and something I enjoy. I just needed to relax and understand that no blog could be considered “wrong” because it was my personal voice and personal opinion. Blogging is a place that I can just express my feeling about the assigned topic and share my writing voice with others. Looking back at the first couple blog posts and comparing them to the final blogs I have posted just this week, you can see a huge improvement in my writing and I am extremely proud of it. Blogging defiantly benefited and improved my writing skills as a college student.

Personally, I feel as if I have grown tremendously since the beginning on the semester. I have adjusted very well to living on campus and have made some pretty terrific friends. The beginning of the semester was a huge mental struggle for me. Moving on campus and leaving home was extremely difficult. I missed my old life at home, but I knew it was time for me to grow up and stay positive while adjusting to my new life as an on-campus college student. And that’s exactly what I did! I needed to stay academically motivated and focused to keep my grades up. I want to have earned at least a 3.5 accumulative GPA by the end of the fall semester. That is the biggest academic goal I have set for myself and will strive to achieve along with completing all my assignments and doing well on test, quizzes, and exams. I feel very accomplished at the completion of my first semester here at Southern and am very proud of how much I have grown.

There are specific assignments assigned throughout the course of this semester I feel as if I really benefited from. I have already elaborated on how I feel blogging, two times a week, throughout the semester exceptionally improved my writing skills. I have learned not to think so much about what I’m going write about and just, write it! Also, campus safari taught me a lot about what SCSU has to offer for their students. Many of the places I was sent out to find, such as the multicultural center, office of study skill enrichment, and the campus radio station, I would have not know were on-campus if I wasn’t introduced to them through campus safari. This assignment really helped me learn a lot about my campus and all the great and useful resources it has to offer for students.

Also, the three projects assigned throughout the semester, I feel made me break out of my comfort zone but in a good way. In the first project “Group Think” we were assigned to a group that consisted of 3-5 people in class and had to complete an on-campus group project. This project included aspects of creativity and time management/organization. Working with a group of people I barely knew and completing a project with them frightened me (breaking out of my comfort zone) as first because I am more of an independent worker, but it actually wasn’t that bad. It was really great getting to know new people and working together with them. For the second project assigned “Interviewing Around Campus” we had come up with INQ question and go around campus interviewing both underclassmen and upperclassmen and professors. My question was, “What motivates you to reach you academic goals?” I was very satisfied with my project and feel as if I completed the full assignment to the best of my ability. BUT…making a movie with PowerPoint didn’t flow as smoothly as I wanted it to, so in the third and final project assigned I learned how to use Windows Movie Maker. I am still in the process of making my final video project based on my major, nursing and feel as if it is coming along really well.

My overall performance in this class really taught me that hard-work, motivation, dedication, time management/organization, and creativity are very crucial aspects college students must possess to be a successful individual. There is no such thing as the “perfect college student”, but if you work to the best of your ability and stay focused and positive you should have nothing to be worried about. I feel as if I have grown a lot since the beginning of the semester and I am very proud to see how far I have come. I have not changed at all as an overall person, just as a student. I try to stay positive and focused at all times and try not stress myself out as much. A stress free environment is a happy environment, I always say. I will continue to stay focused and motivated and work just as hard, if not harder in all my classes for next semester as well.

To end on a positive note, I am a very determined college student that strives to reach her goals; short term and long. I have no regrets, only mistakes that I have learned from. INQ has taught me a lot about becoming successful in my future and I am thankful Southern Connecticut State University made this course a freshman requirement. I learned a lot about both myself and the college I am attending and am very happy to see how far I have grown as a college student.

Thank you Mrs. Guarino for a great semester and for teaching such an informative course!

Me & My Group!




Stay Positive !

My Final Blog Post :)

I talked a lot about my personal, social, and academic goals for next semester in my pervious blog titled Successes/Weaknesses.

Briefly restating those goals for next semester; personally I am going to continue to stay both academically and mentally motivated & dedicated to my classes, assignments, grades, etc. After finding out my GPA at the conclusion of the fall semester I hope to obtain and/or exceed that GPA in the spring. I am mentally going to stay focused by taking care of myself. I am a very balanced and structured person, so by continuing to stay organized in my life I know I will succeed. I want and need to stay positive and focus on my future! I know all of my hard work will pay off in the end if I continue to stay motivated and alert in my classes. Doing well in college is very important to me and therefore the academic goals I set for myself are essential to my life as a SCSU student.

Socially, I am happy here at Southern. I want continue my college education here for all 4 years and earn my Bachelors’ in Nursing. I enjoy the company of the wonderful friends I have made here on campus, especially my really great friend Chelsea. We have become really close and she’s really helped to adjusting to living on campus. Southern is what many students would call a “suitcase school”.  This meaning, many of the students that attend Southern live close enough to home to spend their weekends at home. I really enjoy the balance of both living on campus during the week to stay focused on my school work and then going home on the weekends to work, spend time with family & friends, etc. I am going to continue with this weekly routine next semester and then decide at the end of the spring semester if I will be commuting next fall, or continuing to live here on campus. I truly feel as if I’m living the best of both worlds right now! (on campus mon-thurs to stay focused on my work/classes & home fri-sun to enjoy myself and work.)

My personal, social, and academic goals are extremely significant to my life as a college student.  

Successes/Weaknesses

Successes:

On an academic level I am very proud to say that I have successfully (almost) completed my first semester of classes at college! And I am very happy as to where my grades stand. Three out of the five classes I’m taking I have A’s in and my other two classes I am continuing to work hard to earn the grade I know I deserve. This semester, MATH 108 was defiantly my most challenging class and INQ was my highest workload class. Though I feel confident that after all my work (tests, quizzes, and assignments) are completed along with my finals I will have earned the grades I worked so hard for throughout the semester.

On a more personal level I have really adjusted well to living on campus. I continue to go home on weekends to work, but I am very pleased as to how my on-campus living experience has worked out. And I have decided I am going to continue living on campus next semester. I have made some really great friends here and my best friend Chelsea and I are planning on living together next semester and I am really excited! My attitude has extremely changed on a positive level since the beginning of the semester and I am very proud to see how far I have come in just a few short months.

Weaknesses:

Academically I feel very positive as to where my grades stand. The only weakness I feel I have is in my math class. My two test grades this week along with the final will make up a very large portion of my grade and I am a little nervous about how I am going to do.  Math is not my best subject, but I am going to continue to work hard the next two weeks to do my best in the class.

Socially, adjusting to living on-campus was very difficult for me, but after about a month I started to feel comfortable living here. I really tried to get involved on campus and take part in the “full college experience” (living on campus, meeting new friends, & getting involved in an organization on campus). I rushed for a the sorority Omega Zeta Pi for September and October but then decided it just wasn’t for me and I wasn’t fully committed to the organization so I decided to stop my rush period. I decided to define this experiences as a weakness, but in my eyes I view it as a positive weakness, oxymoron. I learned a lot about myself from the time I dedicated to the organization, so I was glad I gave it a shot and learned from my experiences.

But as of right now I am dedicating these last two weeks to my school work and spending what free time I have with the great friends I made on campus. This semester was defiantly a learning experience I will always remember.

A Great Group!

In the beginning of the semester Professor Guarino placed our class into “learning community groups”. I was placed in a group with Julie and Dana and later in the semester Alexis also joined our group. The first time we worked with our groups was on our first group project, “Group Think”. This project introduced us to the SCSU community and was designed to get to know our campus more efficiently. We were to choose 8 words from a list and take pictures around campus to describe that word and then make our project (pictures, paragraphs and audio) into a movie. We as a group decided to use Windows Movie Maker and Julie really helped me learn   how to use this program, which I found very helpful for our future assigned assignments/projects. This project not only introduced us to the Southern Community but was also an introduction to our next project, Midterm Story Telling Movie…

We did not have a formal written final, instead we were assigned a Midterm Movie which consisted of choosing a topic and asking a question in which 2 professors, 3 underclassmen and 1 upperclassman were to answer. My question was based on motivation and it was, “What motivates you to reach you academic goals”? This was an individual project, not a group project but we worked with our groups in class for feedback, technological help, etc… You could also meet with you group outside of class if you felt as if you needed more help with movie. It was comforting & nice to know that I had people, group members that I felt comfortable with enough to ask for extra help on my project if needed so. They really did come in handy and were extremely helpful, especially with technological aspects.

We are now currently working on our Final Video Project in which we were to pick a topic that makes us stand out from the rest of the SCUS community and my project is based off of my major, nursing. I talk about what qualities I possess that makes me stand out and that will one day lead me to become an excellent nurse. We have met with our groups in class, discussed our topics, and helped each other brainstorm ideas for their projects. For Example: Both Dana & Alexis are basing their projects off their major and their future. Alexis talks about how she wants to become a singer, and even introduces us to her beautiful voice and Dana shows us the steps she took to decide what she wanted to do with her future. Through a daycare program offered at her high school she decided she wanted to major in elementary education and is very happy with her decision.

Overall, I have really enjoyed working with my group members throughout the semester and they been extremely helpful in many ways. Next semester I am going to really miss a group of great girls that I can turn to for help/advice on any assignment or project I have.

                                     

My Ideal Life

My ideal life would be to graduate from college in 4-5 with a BSN (Bachelors Degree in Nursing-Registered Nurse). My major is very competitive and I apply into the program at the end of my sophomore year. If I get accepted into the Nursing Program here at Southern that will be a huge accomplishment for me and I will be very proud of myself. After graduating with my BSN  I hope to get a job right away (through my clinical experience) preferably at Yale New Haven Hospital and my dream as of right now is to work in obstetrics (maternity ward/nursery). I love babies and I am fascinated with pregnancy, so I think that would be the perfect career path for me.

After finishing my education and starting my career as a nurse I hope to be around 22 years old. I plan on living at home for a couple years while beginning to save money & getting settled into my new job. I want to save enough money to be able to pay all of my own bills and loans off, get my own place, and get a new car. I want to get my own place for a year or two and hopefully by the time I am 25 or 26 years old I want to have met the man of my dreams and get married.  I want to have a big wedding on the beach and honeymoon in Hawaii or any beautiful tropical location. After getting married I want to settle down with my husband, move into it a beautiful colonial house in Wallingford or Cheshire CT, and start a family.

Growing up, I was an only child and as much as I did enjoy it that’s not what I want for my children. I want to have three children (two daughter & a son) if I’m lucky. And I know I want my first born daughter named Jillian Elizabeth after my grandmother. I cannot wait settle down, have children, and become a mother. But, honestly all I want in life is to be happy! Of course everyone has the plan for the future and it doesn’t always work out as planned, but as long as a get my BSN and start my career, marry a great man that will be a wonderful husband and father,  and have healthy children I will be happy & my ideal life will be complete!

                              

                       My Vision Board from the Beginning of the Semester

                                  Describes My Ideal Life Perfectly