Group Presentations

When the group presentation was first assigned to us I can honestly say that I was the least bit enthused. I don't like group work. Never have, never will. I always feel as though the work is not distributed evenly and a group member or two end up picking up the slack. However this was far from the truth with the group I was in. I was very appreciative that they were understanding of me being out due to illness. When it came down to it and time to work everything flowed. We were able to buckle down for a few hours every time we met and stayed focus long enough to get the work completed. When the day of the presentation came I'd lost my voice and was quite upset. Even though I wasn't fully able to project I spoke as loud as I could. When we were finish I was thoroughly pleased with the presentation that we'd given.

First Semester

Now that I've practically completed my first semester I think about the goals I originally set, and my expectations of myself and school. Overall I can say that I did well with both my course load and my social life. In high school I had a hard time managing the two simultaneously. So its good to see I've grown in the sense of being able to balance the two. When I first got here I was nervous and insecure about myself, my work ability and social skills. I can confidently say that after the last ten weeks I've become a better person. Not in a serious life changing way, but i can tell that I've grown up some since leaving home. When you think about it that's apart of the college experience. Not just getting a degree and making connects, but growing as an individual in a different environment.

When I ran into my first bump in the road at Howard I briefly reconsidered if this was really the school for me. Now that I've become acclimated to school and slightly acclimated to D.C as a whole I'm pretty sure that I made a good decision. Yes there are some days where I wish I would have attended a state university, but then I think about how many more opportunities I will have because I chose Howard over Georgia State.

Warmth of Other Suns

   Isabel Wilkins made an appearance at Howard a few weeks back to discuss her book, Warmth of Other Suns. Three points she made during the discussion included: many of us would not be where we were had the great migration never happened, the great migration was the first time that African Americans decided that they had other options and that they would persue them, and in the making of this book Wilkins interviewed over 1200 people.
  Two things that Ms. Wilkins said that peaked my interest was that 6 million African Americans fled the south during the Great Migration and African Americans would be arrested if they were caught leaving. This was astonishing to see how a society that degraded African Americans so much actually needed them to keep society afloat.
   Her talk made the Great Migration more tangible to me. Normally we learn about these things through text books; however, she presented this topic through real experiences. It proves that the Great Migration isn't just a part of history but it lives it's legacy through African American's daily.

Kristen Bailey

Fall 2011

   My first semester of Howard University was filled with success both academically and socially. I feel like I adjusted very well to college life and I have become very well rounded. Many people talk about coming to DC and getting lost in the "Howard Bubble". I would say that this is very true and I have seen it happen; however, I feel like I've remained true to myself over the past few months. I would say that the most necessary part to overcoming this is knowing who you are. Although many people come to college to find themselves, one must have already discovered the foundation of who they are or else college will mold you into something completely different. Every experience should have an impact but should never fully change you as a person.
   Academically my first semester has been very successful. It has been a struggle with some classes, especially calculus, but I have overcome these obstacles. Starting classes right after the craze of freshman week did require an adjustment period; however, I learned to manage my time very wisely.
   Overall my first semester has been one of the most memorable four months of my life. I cannot wait to see what the rest of my college career will bring.

Kristen Bailey

Group Presentations

The group presentation project started off slowly. I was nervous about doing a group project, because I was unfamiliar with all of my group members, and I had no knowledge of their work ethic. My goal is to pass this class and get credit for it, and I was unsure of how focused and determined my other group members were. I also didn't know if we would work well together as a team, because no chemistry had been established.

The first day the group was scheduled to meet, I could only locate one of my fellow members. I was originally convinced that the other members just didn't come to class. Eventually I learned that they had been coming to class the entire time, but because neither me nor my other group member knew who they were, we couldn' identify them. Once we did, we all came together and began to work on the project. Once we got the ball rolling and became familiar with one another, the project began to come together. We decided to focus our presentation on George Washington Carver and Charles Drew.

We met up several times, and got the project completed in well enough time to be prepared for our presentation. On presentation day, everyone showed up and participated in the presentation. There wasn't much of an audience, but that was perfect for me. At the conclusion, we were told that we did well. After presenting we sat back down to watch the only remaining group present, but they didn't want an audience, so we left and went our separate ways. Overall, I feel that our group presentation was a success.

GROUP PRESENTATIONS

When I first heard about doing a group presentation I really didn’t want to do it. The reason why I felt this way was because of experiences that I had during my years in high school. I thought that getting together was going to be hard because everyone had different schedule. What I can say is that we made it happen. Although we did it very fast I think we still did a great job on answering the overall freshmen seminar question. I actually enjoyed my group members and the little time that we got to know each other. On the actual day of the presentation my group was the only ones prepared other than the group that didn’t want anyone in there. We felt that the project would be hard but once we all got together and started talking about what we knew then it was easier. I think I couldn’t of had any better group members than GROUP 16!!!

First Semester Experience

Wow! I can’t believe that my first semester is all most over. Overall Freshmen Seminar is my favorite class of the semester. The class gave me new insight on my heritage and culture. Several things that I didn’t know I learned during this class. Although it was hard for me to get use to the college life Freshmen Seminar made things easier because I was surrounded by other students that were going through the same thing that I was. The opportunities that I have at Howard I don’t think I could have got it from another historical black university. From the very beginning of class all the way to the end I was learning something new. What I enjoyed most from the class was actual learning how each lecture had something to do with the previous lecture and then how they all tied together at the end. At first I was wondering why I had to take this class although I didn’t get the answer directly I ended up finding out by myself. Also this semester I really realized that you really have to study because test are challenging. From now on I will study weeks ahead.