This semester, I’m doing extremely well in my STEM class, which I feel is due to the fact
that I enjoy the on-hand lab that we conduct, as well as my teacher. My professor fully
demonstrates the topic and the powerpoint he provides. I can tell he understands what he’s
talking about and enjoys what he’s doing at the same time.I still need help in my chemistry class,
but I feel I’m doing much better than I was at the beginning of the semester since I adjusted my
study habits and made friends in that class, allowing me to form a study group with them. I
began studying every day, or at least when I had chemistry, I would rewrite my notes and go over
them the same day, as well as read my professor’s notes in advance so that I had a better
understanding of the topics she would talk about.

I expected college to be challenging, stressful, and time consuming, and it has proven to
be such. I had over 6 exams and midterms within the past two months, so it was very stressful
and time consuming. I consider myself to have excellent time management abilities, yet I still
felt as if I didn’t have enough time to juggle friends and take care of my mental health. I was
expecting that my expectations for college parties would be met, but they have not been as
thrilling as I had hoped. I prefer watching frightening movies in my dorm with my girlfriends
while criticizing how easily people die in them over going out and partying. I’m grateful I
established a small circle of friends that remind me of my family because my first week here
without my sister and besties was quite lonely. This was a difficult issue for me since I didn’t
immediately find my group of friends; it took a few weeks for me to find my college sisters

As a dental major, I had no idea that in order to even be considered for admission to the
dental program, I needed to maintain credentials, experience and volunteer hours. I’m a little
more apprehensive and concerned about my major because what if I don’t make it and all my
work and effort as well as my parents’ sacrifices would go to waste. If I don’t get into the
dentistry school, I really enjoy my stem classes and wouldn’t mind switching to engineering as a
major. I’ve always wanted to be a dentist, so I’ll do my best to get into the program, but I’ve also
prepared a backup plan in case things don’t go as planned.As I previously stated, I’ve been suffering with my chemistry class; I use the odu  tutoring-program to receive some extra assistance, and it truly helped. The tutor was able to assist and explain the situation in a way that I could comprehend. I also met some friends in my chemistry class who were having similar challenges to me, and we created a little study group to assist one another. We all agreed on a time to meet, and the fact that we all lived at Owens helped too. I haven’t participated in any clubs yet since I wanted to focus on my schoolwork this semester, but I’m looking forward to joining one next semester because I won’t be taking as many classes and will be able to better manage my time. 

This semester, I’ve learned about many different sustainability strategies, but one that
jumped out to me was wastewater treatment to minimize garbage in our oceans. I started going
water smart, which simply means I attempt to limit the quantity of bottled water I consume and
instead drink from a reusable water bottle or a more sustainable container. I’d like to learn more
about the reduce, reuse, and recycle movement. I feel like I don’t know enough about the
environmental footprints that the items and materials I consume have on the environment