For my first semester of college, I am most excited about stepping out of my comfort zone. I always chose the easy path, but I want to see how much I am capable of. I expect my biggest challenge to be adjusting to my new surroundings. Before college, if I was having a bad day, I could talk to my mom about it. Now if I am having a bad day, I have to find a way to cope with it being three hours away from home. During my first semester, I will also have a job. I will have about 20 hours each week dedicated to my job. To balance my commitments, I will have to write my schedule out before the week and find a good routine. In high school, I participated in softball, school musicals, national honor society, and the international baccalaureate program. I currently do not have a school club I want to join but I plan on looking into the clubs this campus offers. A school activity I plan on participating in is the football games. I have already reserved tickets for the first two games. From this experience, I expect to meet new people and strengthen my people skills.

            My intended major is dental hygiene. I chose dental hygiene because of my long history with dental procedures.  When I was younger, the roots of my teeth did not dissolve. As a result, I needed to get 10 teeth extracted which was followed by 3 years of braces. I hated my smile. However, after a long 3 years of having braces, I love it. This heavily encouraged my choice in dental hygiene because I hope to aid in giving this joy to others. Some skills I possess that make dental hygiene a good choice for me are compassion and my attention to detail. I currently do not have any experience relating to dental hygiene but this summer I plan on shadowing at a dental office near where I live. My career goal for the next five years is to become a travel dental hygienist. Sometime within those five years I hope to find an area that I can settle into.

            In high school, I took International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement classes. Those classes are made to be college level and preparation for the college course load. Since I had some experience with college-level courses, I think my biggest difference between high school and college will be my time management. In high school, all of my classes were on the same day and 7:00 am to 3:00m pm. Now my schedule changes depending on the day, and I have gaps in between my classes. In my opinion, there is a difference between homework and studying. Although students learn topics from homework, they might not retain it all if they do not study that information. The first class I have is elementary statistics from 9:00 am to 9:50 am Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I plan of using two hours to study for this class. Part of my homework is to read from a textbook. My professor estimated we should put aside two hours a week to study the topics. My next class is Introductory Chemistry from 11:00 am to 11:50 am Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I plan on studying for one to two hours per week for this class. Most of our learning is through lectures and not homework. Therefore, I only have to study topics we learned during our 50-minute class. My next class is Interpreting the American Past 1:00 pm to 1:50 pm Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I plan on using two to three hours to study for this class. I have to study class discussions and reading topics. History is not a strong subject for me, so I have to put more time into this class. My class for Tuesday and Thursday is An Introduction to Sociology 8:00 am to 9:15 am. I plan on using two hours a week to study for this class. I have to study class discussions and reading topics. On Tuesdays from 11:00 am to 12:15 pm I have Intro to Health Professions. I plan on using an hour a week to study for this class. Lastly, on Thursdays from 10:30 am to 12:20 pm I have Introductory Chemistry Lab. I plan on using about an hour a week to study. For this class, I have to study the results of the lab and the reasoning behind them. To study for these classes I plan on studying in my room. A potential distraction that can occur is my roommate being too loud. To avoid this distraction I can put in my noise-canceling headphones or go to the study room in my dorm building. My best time to study is at night. I am usually busy during the day, so I have to find a time that fits best in my schedule. I plan on creating flashcards to help me study. I have not tried studying this way, but my cousin recommended it for my first year of college.