7I Southern's Spirit!

Homecoming has been a tradition for over 30 years here at Southern! Homecoming week is very important to all students and faculty members to come together to support the athletic and club sports team. On Thursday October 10th, Southern hosted the annual pep rally in Moore Field House. Many students attended the pep rally with hopes of walking away with the many prizes that were being given away such as t-shirts, TV’s, and money. I attended the pep rally for a different reason, to perform with the SCSU Cheerleaders.

For weeks we practices and perfected our performance for the pep rally. We wanted to show the Southern community all that we are capable of because most students only see us at games cheering where we are restricted in what we can do. At the pep rally though, we were safely performing on mats which we are allowed to throw up stunts and do some pretty amazing things. Our main reason though for performing at the pep rally was to show our support for all the sports teams there. As a cheerleaders, we are basically the face of the university, we represent all that Southern is. It was in our best interest to perform a cheer where we could get everyone pumped up for homecoming!

The Homecoming pep rally was an amazing experience. My high school had pep rally’s but they were nothing like Southern’s! I am very excited for the homecoming football game where hopefully we the football team can gain another win!

7B Learning From Mistakes

College has taught me that I am not the strongest reader. Many times when a professor assigns a long chapter reading, I find it difficult to focus or to even understand the material that is being discussed. I also often skip over by accident what is really important and focus on other details that are not as important. I walked into inquiry one day confident that I had a good grasp on the reading, but as I stared at the questions on a pop quiz I realized that I could  barely answer any of them. A couple days later when we got back the test I had received a 4/10 which counts as an F.

Even though I had failed my first pop quiz on inquiry. I was determined to read more carefully next time and try to understand the material better. Every time we were assigned articles, I read them more carefully and take a lot of notes on the important details that might be discussed. I also try to find more examples and quotes that back why the information may be important. The next time we got a pop quiz in inquiry I was a little nervous to fail again, but with the help of my notes and reading the articles carefully I was able to receive a 76/80 which is an A.

Though this is a minor failure, though I learned a lot about myself as a reader. From that point on, whenever I received a reading assignment, I take the time to read it and to take good notes. And whenever an article is confusing, I make sure I pay attention in class discussion to better understand the material. Even though I had failed, I learned from my mistakes which will help me develop more throughout college.

7A Its Okay to Fail

Working at the YMCA for over two years has really opened my eyes to how children react in certain situations. Everyday after school, I would report to Highland Elementary school and play games and activities with children grades 1-6th. I was assigned to be the head counselor of the first graders, and I learned quickly that to them losing was very devastating. Two kids in my group had a very difficult time dealing with losing whenever we played a game, their names were Patrick and Martin and they were identical twins. Whenever we would play a simple game of tag and one of them got out, they would erupt into tears and would become very angry. It was extremely difficult to calm both of them down when they got out at the same time. Looking back to those times when Patrick and Martin would get out in a game reflects that they thought they  weren’t good enough and that they have failed.

Children, especially in elementary school are terrified of failure. Teachers and parents frown upon the word because in our society failure is negative. At a young age children begin to learn that failing isn’t good and if they ever do fail, they will get in trouble. Children learn this through school by the grading process that is usually introduced in third or fourth grade. Students are graded on their work and effort by the letters A, B, C, D and F which we all knows stands for failing. Receiving an F on an assignment or a course reflects bad on the student. Even though school doesn’t support failing, many teachers are willing to help students who begin to fall behind with extra help and support to get them where they need to be. School can be a safe place where students can fail but learn from those mistakes through teachers and guidance counselors.

Failure is a very controversial word. Many who have failed in the past had found themselves learning from their mistakes and then becoming successful later on in life. JK Rowling, the famous author of the Harry Potter series announces a time that she had failed at a commencement speech at Harvard University. Though JK Rowling admits she failed right after college, she learned from her mistakes and that made her the person who she is today, the author of a very important and power series in popular culture. Though failure is looked at by a negative characteristic, it can be beneficial in the end. Failure is part of human nature, where we learn and adapt to things that go as planned. Without failure, everyone would be perfect and no one would be able to learn from their mistakes. If JK Rowling didn’t fail, she would have never became a successful novelist.

The act of failure should be taught and discussed to young school age children. Elementary students especially should know that failing is part of life and it is a way of learning from your mistakes. If Patrick and Martin knew at the time that everyone fails sometimes and it is a way to learn from your mistakes they probably wouldn’t have gotten as upset. They would’ve taken it as an opportunity to learn how to get better at a game that they got out in. As a counselor of those two boys, I tried my hardest to explain to them that losing and failing is part of who we are, it happens to everyone and you just need to embrace it and move on.

6V Lets be Persistent!

Persistence -  firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.

Persistence is a very good characteristic to have. Throughout my college experience I will need a lot of persistence to complete difficult homework assignments and study for hard tests. As every college student begins their first semester, everyone starts to develop some value of being persistent. Especially for first year students, this is a very good trait to develop early. College is so much different than high school, the work and the test and much harder. In order to complete these tasks you must have persistence to push through the difficult tasks and yet still maintain a good grade. Persistence is very important for all college students to have and develop throughout college, it will also help them after they have graduated and start looking for a job.

Motivation appeal is a word that I learned this week through reading my media textbook. This refers to a feelings-based, or affective, approach by a persuader that targets the audience’s emotions, needs and values. Another word that was mentioned in the chapter that I didn’t know beforehand was instrumental values which means, values that guide the meaning by which we live. We have not gone over these words in class lecture yet, but when we do I already have a pretty good understanding of the word and will be able to develop my understanding further.

6I Just Keep Moving!

The SCSU Fitness Center is the only fitness center on campus. It is located on the second floor of the Adanti Student Center. The Fitness Center is opened Monday through Thursday 7am to 10pm, Friday 7am to 8pm, Saturday 9:30am to 4:30pm, and Sunday 2pm-7pm. Students can apply for a one week free trial to use the gym to experience how the center is ran and if it is a good fit for them. After the one week free trial, the cost to be a full time member to the gym is $60 for one semester and $120 for both semesters. The Fitness Center is much cheaper than the gyms that are located around which may charge $30-$40 a month to be a member. The SCSU Fitness Center is located right in the middle of campus and is much cheaper than most gyms making it the best fit for students and faculty members.

Along with your membership to the gym, all classes are included. Anything from Zumba to Yoga is included free with your membership. Most private gyms make you pay additional fee to participate in classes, but not the SCSU Fitness Center! A class I am interested in taking is yoga. I have always wanted to get involved in yoga because I have heard it is very relaxing and regains your focus. This class would be very useful whenever I am stressed out in college, I could take a quick break from my school work, run over to the gym and take part in the relaxing class. Yoga runs every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 5pm to 6pm.The Fitness Centers encourages students to join the gym in order to life a healthy lifestyle. They offer a wide range of machines from treadmills to ellipticals and is usually never too crowded.

The Fitness Center is great facility for all members of the Southern community to use. Though I am not a member currently because I run outside and practice daily for cheerleading, as the temperature begins to drop I may consider becoming a member!

6B Making Connections

For the past six weeks, each article we read for Inquiry was very beneficial to students like me who are new to how college works. The articles were rich with information that any first year student can take into consideration and apply to their first semester. I have taken many of the article’s tips and tricks to surviving college and applied it to many of my classes so far. Last week we were asked to read an article that discussed The Grit Scale which was developed by Angela Duckworth. She described grit as sticking to things over the a long term until you master them. This is an important concept that all college student should be familiar with. Duckworth goes more in detail how in order to have a lot of grit you must have stamina and passion. The scale that Duckworth used to determine a person’s grit was called the Grit Scale.  This scale that Duckworth developed is used in the Military to predict retention and attrition among those who are enlisting. A link on the website where the article was found allowed us to take the test and see first hand what our grit level was; my result matched almost perfectly to how I believe my work ethic in school is. I scored a 5 which meant that I was in the 90-99% of people who took the test who had high grit.

A couple weeks early we read many articles on motivation, which I believe relates to Duckworth’s concept of grit. Motivation can be broke up into two types; Extrinsic and Intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation refers to outside sources such as grades and rewards to motivate someone and Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that is self inflicted. Both ways of being motivated can be useful depending on what kind of person you are. If you can self teach and motivate yourself you are capable of intrinsic motivation but if you need a reason to be motivated such as receiving a good grade or a reward, you are more extrinsic motivated. Each type has their benefits and defaults but varies on the person.

As I was reading the article about the grit scale and watched Duckworth discuss her ideas, I realized that in order to be gritty you need to be motivated. In a clip from Ted Talks where Duckworth talks about in detail about her scale she mentions that in order to achieve grit you must have stamina and passion. In other words I believe that grit also equals being fully motivated. Motivation is the force that drives a person to get through a tough homework assignment in order to hand it in on time. This person would be an extrinsic motivator along with being very gritty. Having grit and motivation would mean that student would be completely  motivated to make sure all their work is done on time and in the best quality they could develop. The student would be rewarded for handing their assignment on time and doing well on the assignment due to their high motivation and grit.

I find it very interesting when topics discussed in class relate back to another topic we previously discussed in class. I find that sometimes classes overlap and we begin talking about a topic that was taught in another class. It keeps my focus in class when I am able to connect two topics together and think about the similar and differences between the two. Mindset and Grit are two topics I have noticed so far that depend on each other in order to work to their full potential .

6A Never Give Up

Going into my third year on my varsity cheerleading team, we all had high expectations for the upcoming season. For months we practiced our routine continuously in order to perform it perfectly when we would take the mat later in the season. Our season was different that year; instead of taking the mat for our first performance in late January, we were invited to compete at Nationals in Florida during winter break. We were so proud and excited when we returned home with a third place trophy. Though we were after first place, we received comments from the judges that we could apply to make our routine better for the one competition that mattered the most to us, SCC’s (Southern Connecticut Conference).

The year before we placed second at SCC’s and we all dreamed of bringing home an SCC title, which would be the first in CHS cheerleading history. Once we got back from nationals, we were motivated to make the necessary changes to perform our best at SCC’s. But then the unexpected happened, three girls from our team quit just only three days before the competition. When our coach broke us the news, the whole team was devastated. With only a couple days before the most anticipated competition of the season we thought we had no other option but to withdraw from the competition. We sat in dead silence as our coaches decided what we should do about the competition. After we finished stretching our coaches told us we had two options; we could just forfeit the competition or could attempt to rearrange the routine and perform that saturday. We all unanimously agreed to do whatever it took to compete at SCC’s. For the next couple day we worked the hardest any of us had ever worked before, we wanted to put something together for the competition and not give up.

When Saturday rolled around we all were extremely nervous. We all hoped and prayed that our three days of hard work was worth something. The nerves hit harder as our team was called to take the mat. We all took a deep breathe and gave it all we could to make our performance the best we could perform. When it was times for award, we all sat in a circle holding hands. When we weren’t called for third place or second, we were sure that we didn’t place. But when we heard our name blare through the speakers and our coaches jumping up and down we were in complete shock. We couldn’t believe that we placed first despite what we experienced three days before. The whole team was extremely proud of how hard we worked the days before.

I learned the true meaning of persistence those three days. Though we were faced with a difficult task, as a team we came together in the end reached a goal we dreamed of achieving. We never gave up, we persevered though the tough times. I always think back to this moment when I am stressed out about a difficult task. I think about how strong my team was and how we worked through difficult moments and achieved our dream of winning SCC’s for the first time.