This past week, whenever the weather has been sunny and higher than 60 degrees I have found an excuse to be outside. Whether it be through sitting on hub lawn with a picnic blanket and a few friends or taking the longer route when walking to a class, I absolutely love being outside. What I’ve realized through this time outside is that I actually really love Penn State. That statement sounds sarcastic, but honestly, I think it takes everyone some time to adjust to college and call University Park their second home. I realized that the time I have the most “school pride” or feel the happiest in the college environment is when I see how beautiful our campus can be with the spring bloom, and this honestly gave me so much more motivation and serotonin. Also seeing other college students enjoying the beautiful weather is definitely a huge community builder and just puts a smile on my face.
Now for a little bit of reflection…throughout my first year at Penn State, I think I have grown in terms of two main factors; finding my community and learning more about myself as a student. At the beginning of the year, I initially struggled with finding my place within the Smeal community especially as a freshman who still isn’t quite as sure regarding my career path trajectory. Since the beginning of the year, I think I have gotten a lot closer with my cohort in Sapphire and have found my place through joining the Nittany Lion Fund, as this organization has brought me a lot of wonderful friends and mentors within my major. Additionally, in the first semester I really struggled with managing my time which led to me getting around 4 hours (or less) of sleep every night. I really struggled with saying no to various clubs or events and tried to overbook myself. However, now I have a prioritized list of my extracurriculars that I am passionate about and I have learned the importance of saying no to prioritize my health. I’ve also learned that I personally am a To-Do list person, especially in college, and I work best when I get the tasks I am most likely to procrastinate the most on, first.
In terms of my goals for next year, I hope to explore future leadership opportunities through getting more involved in Sapphire and the Presidential Leadership Academy, as well as taking on Treasurer for my dance team and a director position within the Fund. Continually, I hope to gain a better understanding of work life balance and prioritize spending time with friends and family throughout the semester as well. Thank you for allowing CAS to be such a wonderful environment, the projects and assignments in this class were never an extra form of stress and often served as projects where I could share my passions on various topics. Also, the other passion blogs definitely helped me learn more about myself as a student as well, which is something I am really grateful for, especially in terms of mental health and growth!