Finally making it to become a college freshman has made me
extremely happy and proud of myself but at the same time, I am very
overwhelmed. I remember my mom pulling into the parking lot of Oak Hall to help
me unpack my belongings and she continuously told me how happy she was for me
for making it to college, not that any of us had a doubt in her mind. My mind
was running at a 100 mph, wondering What
if I’m late to class? What if get lost? What if I don’t make as many new
friends as I expected? From this point on, these questions still linger and I am sure that they will for a while. However, at the same time I grew excited because it
was a new experience for me and it was the experience that I have always
wanted. Moving from state to state isn’t always easy, especially when you
practically have to start all over again but I always knew that that was what
being a college freshman was all about and I knew that I could gain that
experience from UTOP. I knew that that wasn’t all that I would get from UTOP. I was guaranteed to know my way around the campus and a head start on my classes.
In English 1101 I am very interested in learning what an auto-ethnography is and how to write a literacy narrative. In writing my strengths include research papers and poems. My most favorite and memorable piece is writing an investigative story in Journalism class in high school. I admire that piece because I felt like I put in a lot of time into that project to make it as perfect as possible. Every day in class, I spent working at my computer, distributing surveys to my fellow classmates, giving and confirming interviews with teachers and friends, and speaking with the teacher. I was so confident in what I had conducted and it was published in the school newspaper to show it. Despite all of that, I know that my writing can be improved in many ways. I am aware of the fact that I still struggle with some grammar. In terms of pieces of writing, I need to improve my skills in short stories and writing formally. The only way that I can improve these skills and make my UTOP and English 1101 experiences successful is by applying myself regularly.
My GOOD STUFF List:
- Froyo (FROzen YOgurt)
- Getting a new house built in Indian Trail, NC
- My two-year-old sister, Chayla
- Being alive!
My STUFF THAT MAKES ME ANXIOUS List:
- Stepping out of my comfort zone
My major is meteorology and I chose that because at about age ten, I would always watch The Day After Tomorrow and just become fascinated by the natural disasters that would and could occur (which may seem a little silly). Watching that movie every weekend made the events seem real and after catching a glimpse of the weather on the news, made it real. This movie was my inspiration to study the weather further.
One way that you all can remember me by is that I have never been anywhere other than the East Coast of the US and I would LOVE to travel to every state and other countries.
- Yasmine Simmons-Salter
