Study Habits

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

-Ive have been doing ok in most of my classes but very well on my Bio-Chemistry.  Nutritional Biochemistry is a really straight forward class and my teacher, Professor.Lee, is a very good teacher.  

• What classes did you identify as needing assistance in? 

-Since the beginning, I’ve always struggled in Sociology, grade wise.  The class is ok and I understand the lecture, but how my professor puts grades are very minimal.  He does not put assignment grades, just the exams and tests.  He gives points but very little.  

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

-Lately I’ve been very social, especially on a club that I joined; the Filipino club.  I found friends and tutors there, and they had been very supportive of me.

-I’ve also been participating in physical activities such as in a club or in the gym.

-With everything I’m doing now, I always put academics first and I’ve been doing pretty fine balancing both school and activities.  

Transition to College

• What expectations did you have coming to college? 

-I was expecting to more study times, stress, sleepless nights, and friends.  

• Have those expectations come to fruition, or not? 

-Yes.

• How?

-It started when Midterms came up and I had full hands on both midterm weeks.  During those weeks, I had to worry about my project and presentation, studying, Homeworks, and the misterm exams.  Those were my hardest weeks and it really stressed me out.  

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

-One thing that I did not expect to have in my college life are friends.  In the first few weeks of classes, I was positive that I would not get friends since we won’t be able to talk to anyone because we’re all gonna be focusing on the lecture all the time.  When I joined the FASA club, I began to meet new people, and some of those people were actually in some of my classes.  Now, I have friends everywhere in the campus.  

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

-The amount of Filipinos in the campus.  I did not expect to meet a lot of Filipinos here in ODU.  

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

-I am a commuter.  

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

-The hardest challenge is traffic.  Even if we leave very early in the morning, traffic is still unpredictable and it can be very stressful especially if the class is taking attendance as a grade.  

-The easiest challenge to overcome as a commuter is having to be less in debt.  

Major

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

-One thing I learned about my intended major that I did not know before is that it’s also like nursing.  Same pre-requisite classes, and that there are limits to how many people can get in the program during the end of sophomore year.

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

-I will still proceed to what I started, but if I don’t get in on the program, my backup is Speech Language Pathology, since it also helps people, it works with the mouth, and its the same prerequisites as Dental Hygiene.  I came across this thought after learning about Speech Language from one of the visitors last week.  I had fun learning about it and the fact that it helps kids really moved me.    

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

-Not really at this time.  But later, maybe Speech Language Pathology.  

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 not really encountered a challenge that I need serious assistance with yet.  

• 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? 

-The FASA program helped me interact with more people, learn new things, and helped me as a college student. They gave me tips, taught me things, and even showed me how to do things better in classes.  

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

-I joined the FASA club, Filipino American Student Association, and Operation Smile Club.  I joined FASA because I want to get involved in a club where I know I can be myself and Operation Smile Club because I joined this club in high school and I liked it very much, the thought of helping people.  Lastly, I believe that it will be very helpful for me to learn about cleft palates/ more about the mouth and lastly, it’s very helpful for my major.  

I plan on joining APASU (Asian Pacific American Student Union) soon because a lot of Filipinos from FASA are there.