1. About Me
   1. HI there! My name is Genesis Crum.
   2. I am from Yorktown Va and commute every morning.
   3. I chose ODU because it is a great school that’s close to home for me!
   4. I love to go bike riding, hiking, as swimming in my free time.
   5. Fun fact, I have been playing piano for over 9 years!
2. My Major must include:
   1. I am pursuing the major of dental hygiene
   2. I chose dental hygiene because it is great pay for great work hours.
   3. I currently do not have any experience in dental hygiene, I am currently working and looking into different majors to access my options prior to commitment.

Mid-Semester Reflection

Due Date: Week 8 – October 19th

Study Habits

• What classes are you doing well in, and why? 

I am doing well in English, literature, and sociology because I enjoy these classes and find them fascinating.

• What classes did you identify as needing assistance in? 

I do not believe I need any assistance in any of my classes that I am currently in.

• What changes have you made (i.e. amount of time, location, campus resources, study strategies, etc…)?

I have made changes to my schedule for classes and withdrew from issue classes including looking into changing my major entirely.

Transition to College

• What expectations did you have coming to college? 

I have the expectation to enjoy my time as well as be able to balance my work and home life. 

• Have those expectations come to fruition, or not? 

Yes my expectations were met and I am happy with the balance I have created.

• How?

I commute every night even though I have a dorm room, I come home and see my family to then go ahead with my homework.

• In what way is your college experience different from what you expected?

My college experience is different from what I expected because I do not go out to all the parties and events offered by ODU and its students.

• What has surprised you about your experiences so far this semester?

So far this semester has surprised me with my experiences in the way of not needing to study as much for certain classes compared to others based off the material.

• If you live on campus: What has been your toughest challenge with moving away to college? Easiest challenge to overcome?

• OR  If you commute to class: What is the toughest challenge with commuting to campus? Easiest challenge to overcome?

The biggest challenge is the weary morning wake up two and a half hours before class starts to ensure that I make it to class on time with traffic included from the HRBT.

Major

• Name something you have learned about your intended major that you did not know at the beginning of the semester.

I was not aware of the fact that I need to pay for state tests and that it was not included into the program.

• Have your feelings changed about your intended major? List some thoughts you are having.

My feelings have changed about my major as now i am looking to change majors entirely to leave the health field.

• Is there another subject (major or minor) that you are interested in learning more about? 

I am looking into researching the school of business and the majors correlation with it.

Connecting to Campus

• Name one problem or challenge you have encountered this semester, and which resource(s) at ODU you have/can utilize to assist with this situation. 

I have learned that the student success center and student accessibility is a very good resource to have on hand because I was failing chemistry but they helped me withdraw from it .

• Is there a friend, roommate, professor, advisor, or group in the ODU community who has helped you so far this semester? If so, how did they help you? 

So far this semester my friend has helped me so much with management of time when it comes to studying by making sure we have designated times to study together.

• Have you attended an interest meeting for a club? Why did you decide to get involved or not get involved?

I choose to not get involved in clubs because I believe that they take up too much time.

Reflection Instructions

For this assignment, please reflect on the Fall 2023 semester, and your experience as a whole. For each question, please provide a few thoughtful, well constructed sentences. 

Your First Semester

• Tell us how you have grown from the beginning of the semester to now.

I have grown since the beginning of the semester in many ways shapes and forms. In the beginning of the semester I struggled to attend the classes the way I needed to as well as do work fully and timely. The first semester of college has shown me that hard work, studying, and maximum effort must be applied to succeed properly. I have made quite a few friends and i’m slowly starting to get a good grip on the feel for what I need to do.

• What were your expectations for this year? Did this semester’s experiences meet your expectations? Explain.

My expectations for this semester was that I would get straight A’s and sadly that dream was not fulfilled. In the end I am still proud of the effort and time I have put into receiving the grades I worked so hard for. Making friends and having a close support group was a very big issue for me at the beginning of the semester but I have managed to make friends and a well constructed support system while maintaining decent grades.

• What is something you wish you knew 14 weeks ago? 

One thing I wish I knew 14 weeks ago was the amount of studying and effort it would take for me to maintain good grades while in college and working full time. I wish that I knew was the expectations and requirements to even get into my major in my junior year, I did not know that you had to apply for your major after your sophomore year and be accepted to continue in the intended major.

Study Habits

• How much time do you spend studying for each class now vs. at the beginning of the semester? 

I spend about two hours per class studying weekly as of the end of this semester. At the beginning of the semester I was not truly studying and doing short flash cards before tests and quizzes without fully memorizing the required material for the class.

• How have your study habits changed?

My study habits have changed to one hour full study sessions per night uninterrupted. I spend thirty minutes per lecture that day and plan to continue current study habits now that I have a grasp for what is truly needed to know for tests and exams.

• Tell us about a resource that you have used/learned about this semester that will assist you next semester.

One very helpful resource I have found is the chemistry help. The chemistry help is very kind and they have open appointments almost any time of day to help with almost any work chemistry related. The information provided by the tutors is useful and very informative allowing me to write notes without a whole lecture.

• What study habits/techniques will you use going into next semester?

Some of the many study habits I plan to use going into the next semester is studying with a group of people from the same class/lecture as well as going to the tutoring sessions provided by ODU. 

Health Professions Learning Community

• This semester you were enrolled in at least SOC 201S, and HLTH 101. Many of you were also enrolled in CHEM 105N and CHEM 106N, and some of you were enrolled in HIST 104H with Professor White.
  • On the surface these classes do not appear to be connected; however this semester each professor was intentional about drawing connections between content, and subjects discussed. Discuss the ways in which  these courses are tied together.

Chemistry 105N and Chemistry 106N were a lab and lecture that were connected. The point of the lab and lecture was so that the lab would be a hands-on learning of what the lecture was about. The lab provided a hands-on environment for the students to grasp a better concept of what the lecture was physically talking about reinforcing what was learned in the earlier lecture.

Parallel Plan

1. This semester we had presentations from different majors in the College of Health Sciences as well as from different majors on campus. This was to give you an idea for possible parallel majors to your current intended major. 

• Which two other majors would you be most interested in? Why? 

Two other majors I would possibly be interested in would be business and nursing. My mom is a nurse that works for home health and she has a good job with decent money while still being able to maintain a home life as a nurse. Business strikes my interest due to the fact that one day I would like to open my own business or possibly do financing or marketing to be able to travel more often.

• What benefit is there to having a parallel plan (or two) in place? 

There are many benefits to having a parallel plan in place as a back up. A few of the many reasons are not being accepted into the original major or finding that your personality/lifestyle simply does not fit the job description.

• How could one or both of these two majors benefit your current intended major?

Nursing could benefit my major because they have very similar general require prerequisites in order to be enrolled or even be applicable to apply.