First Year Seminar
What is a first year seminar? A first year seminar is a class that is offered at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. This is a required class for all freshman. The purpose is to give every student an opportunity to meet other freshman that are in the same position as them. I am more than happy to say that my first year seminar class was one that was through the GPS program! This is the best program, and I am so glad that I was apart of it. This is for students who did not do the best in high school, or who had wanted extra help on their homework and skills in class. Being apart of a first year seminar GPS class is the best combo for me as a student athlete, and those who want to prepare themselves into good habits through the rest of college.
As a student, my first year seminar class has done so much to help me be successful. My teacher, Katia Levintova, and my peer mentor, Hannah was the best to be able to do that. They did so much to teach us good habits and learn new things. This class taught me to keep track of all my due dates during the semester at a glance. This has helped me to stay on top of all my assignments. I always have the ability to see what I have completed, and what I still need to accomplish. This made me successful because it is very easy to forget about assignments and quizzes and exams. Being able to see it all gives you a good guess as to when you should start those assignments, and when you should start studying for those quizzes and exams! They also showed us many reliable sources around campus. For example, the tutoring center. Showing us this was very important because then we know that we can always get help whenever we feel we need it. Without being shown this, some students probably would not have known it existed. This helped me a lot as a student because when I needed alone time and silence, I always knew I could go there to concentrate and get things done. I also went there when I needed help with certain math questions since I have an online class. This helped me develop the one on one bonding to help me become successful.
As a person, this class has also changed me significantly. Having this class includes having two meetings with both your teacher (Katia) and your peer mentor (Hannah). This is very important because they both make you feel very welcome and feel free to talk about anything. This helped me as a person because at the beginning of college, it is very stressful. I had a lot of anxiety and mixed emotions. With this comes the feeling of now knowing who to talk to. Luckily, they were always there for me and did everything they could to help me out with any situation. They gave me their opinions on my problems and even congratulated me for the good. It was nice because they helped me build my confidence and my excitement for college, and the hope for it to always get better. Along with them showing us different places around campus, they even showed us places to go to help us continue our development.
As a member of our community and society, my first year seminar has also influenced this. Something important that we had done that had to do this is come up with a research project that we can all do as a class together to make a difference. We have learned about the plenty more that has already been done and wanted to learn more. The good news is that we even chose a research project. Sadly, it is not the project that I really wanted to do, but I am glad that it will still hopefully make a difference. I wanted to do something to help out kids in need since there are so many of those who are in poverty and needing help. But it is totally okay! I am just happy to be here along the journey, and have been continuing my process of making a difference for kids on my own time We can change communities by spreading kindness, happiness, and even help to others! I can’t wait to see where it brings us!