Road to Finals

    We are two weeks away from the end of the semester and things are definitely starting to catch up to me. The assignments and final papers are overwhelming since the due dates are coming in quick, and the school days feel shorter! Although I have been able to keep up, the anticipation is REAL.

    In Card 101, we are continuing to write our rhetorical argument essays and peer advice. I feel behind in my work since I changed my topic to fit more evidence and a stronger argument. It set me back a bit, but I feel comfortable with the sources I chose to make my claims in the paper. In my time working on the paper outside of class, I found the student examples helpful in terms of how to format and outline. I am also having some trouble incorporating my evidence into my paper. Oddly, I feel like although the information is valuable it is tough to quote statements without the phrase sounding odd? I guess?. All in all, I believe my paper still needs polishing before it's submitted as a final draft... but it will get there! 

     Since I have no more card-specific updates, I thought I would use this blog post to reflect on my college experience thus far. Granted, all of us are only freshmen or new transfers, but there is so much I learned academically and about myself during the school year. There is much more to come and that's dialectically nerve-racking and exciting. :)

Extra Credit Blogpost (card event 3/30)

    For this extra credit opportunity, I attended the Arts Dupage exhibit in Oestrele. While I usually attend the library to study or complete assignments in my own little bubble, it was nice to see a change in scenery and take time to actually appreciate my surroundings. Especially since personally, I am on the go most of the time and do not utilize opportunities to recognize campus events. I loved the art and making inferences about each piece. I think this definitely ties into the engagement piece of this assignment since I was being mindful of each. I think this is a great way to connect the community with our school! The sculptures, paintings, 3d prints, etc were so unique!

For the well-being portion of this assignment, we were assigned to watch Stutz, by director Jonah Hill. I have heard so many great things about this documentary, but it was not until I actually watched it that I understood the hype... Stutz is about actor Jonah Hill and his unique relationship with his therapist, Phil Stutz. A therapist's job can be viewed in a variety of ways: as a listener, advice-giver, and moral support, it depends on the person. However, Jonah Hill mentions how Phil is unlike others and played an active role in changing his life. Phil Stutz was a prison psychiatrist in his early career and eventually opened up his own practice in New York. His therapy approach highlights teaching clients skills and reframing their thoughts on their life. For example, rather than repeating "it is okay" and other reassurance phrases that could be helpful, he expands on harmful thought patterns and instead twists to the "now what" portion if that makes sense. I have respect for Jonah Hill as an actor, but being portrayed in this setting is inspiring to see him as a human who is going through a nonlinear healing process.  

I think all people should watch this documentary, but I highly recommend it to college students. I believe at this age, it is easy to feel lost and confused in your life path. The skills and tools mentioned could be extremely useful as mental health resources and steps to take when feeling these ways. Some skills/terms I thought were important to note include: 

- Radical acceptance: the antidote of judgment. It is what it is. Now what? Move on instead of dwelling on the situation/those involved. 

- Loss Processing: It is okay to feel what you feel, especially in times of grief. Let the emotions come and let them go when it feels right. 

Overall, the film was extremely inspiring and I think everyone should watch it and go to therapy haha. There were so many metaphors and lessons that I can apply to my own life and it conveys that you are never alone. 

Career Workshops and Close to the End

     We have about 3 weeks left in the semester and summer feels right around the corner with this warmer weather and final projects being introduced. In CARD 101, we have continued working on our rational argument papers and have had check-ins to keep us on track with the due date. 

We had a required career workshop this past week as well, and I found it very inspiring and beneficial. In all honesty, I initially dreaded that this workshop was required and was my only class for the day. However, I ended up gaining a lot of information from the presentation and I learned more about career opportunities and resources North Central offers. The presenters made me reflect on what I wanted to do with my life and reassured that it was okay if we were not 100% sure yet. 

I planned a meeting with the CCPD shortly after this workshop and looked at Handshake for potential job and internship opportunities. Although it is most likely too late to sign up for one for this summer, I am interested in applying for some in the future and learning about companies that I could work for in the future. 

Last Week of March

 

    Being the last week of the month, I feel like finals need to be focused on soon. Being almost April and having many of my finals/ term papers due at the end of the month, I need to get working on preparing for them. March has been a busy month in terms of assignments, units, and discussions. At least in my classes, the flow of work has been nonstop but manageable.

In CARD 101, we have been continuing our rational argument papers. Dr.Kyburz posted some brief canvas videos guiding us on how to find a scholarly article. After viewing those videos and using google scholar, I came across some essays revolving around the topic of mental health. Specifically, they focused on the link between mental and physical health, the effect of mental health on one's daily functioning, the 

I already knew I had wanted to write about this topic for the "final" but am still trying to focus on a question. I was having trouble choosing one considering I did not come up with a solid focus to begin with... To be honest, I am unsure if the articles I found were even relevant to what I was claiming. I definitely think I have to craft my outline first as well as like Dr.Kyburz said, give my "angle" more thought. I feel like I started writing without following a set path and my thoughts were jumbled. Revision is much needed!

Springing into the Homestretch

 

    With Spring Break being over and us now discussing our final big writing project for CARD 101, it feels like the semester went by very fast. Class this week was canceled and the other day I was unable to attend for family reasons, but I took personal time to reflect on what I may want to research for my rational argument. 

At the start, I had many ideas regarding what topic can connect with this project. I thought about questions relating to religion, sports, teamwork, college, and more. After I reviewed my list I realized most of my ideas and the questions I formed along with them were pretty vague and would be difficult to research. I narrowed down the list further and decided to focus on mental health. It is something I am very passionate about as well as have a good amount of knowledge on. I have yet to come up with a question relating to this, however, I think I want to write about how the stigma around it should decrease and more awareness should be raised regarding diagnoses like depression, anxiety, OCD, ADHD, etc. Mental health has been brought more into light, however, there is still much debate about whether it is real and there is confusion about how it affects people's daily life. 

This time of the year is odd because it's not yet spring but winter either. School, at least in my opinion feels somewhat mundane considering I am so used to routine and the campus is not as lively compared to when the weather is nice. Even though it's chilly and muggy, the bright side is I have time to focus and explore different parts of campus to get my work done. I have also spent quite a lot of time at boho...  they might be taking too much of my money...

Documentary Analysis

 

    This week in Card 101, we continued to add analysis to our documentary projects and we shared our drafts with peers. Personally, I think it was beneficial to hear and give feedback to each other. Reading another person's helped me see what I needed to focus on in my own essay, and made me realize what I could integrate and change. I also thought it was nice to fill out the organizer worksheet because it felt like a rubric "checklist"- where I can have more assurance that I followed the rubric and made the points mentioned in class. 

Today's topic for the free write was also extremely helpful, considering it made me think of ways I could improve my documentary summary. Having ten minutes to reflect, I gathered a lot of things I could work on before I submit. For one, I need to refer to key characters by their last names rather than their first names. I believe in my original draft I switched around a lot and it could be difficult to keep track of who I am mentioning. Additionally, I have to look through the Purdue Owl resource and refresh my memory on sentence structure and active and passive voice. Although the presentation and class clarified my understanding, I think I need to go more in-depth to make sure I followed the prompt and my writing compares to the examples. 

Regarding the assignments that make up our card grade, I feel I am still somewhat confused about the events and workshops. In class, the one workshop students were unaware of would not deduct any points was mentioned, however, I am curious to know what other workshops the category entails if that makes sense. I will definitely have to review the syllabus and talk to some peers to double-check if my understanding is correct!

March Midterms Madness

 

    This week in Card101, we continued learning about argument. Class time was dedicated to writing our summaries for our chosen documentary and learning methods of rhetoric. The presentation on Wednesday was very helpful considering it re-introduced and refreshed my knowledge about persuasion, assertion, and claims. 

I thought the summary sheet was extremely helpful including the "ethos, pathos, logos" column. Although my documentary was pretty straightforward and more scientific-based, this sheet helped me separate my ideas. I also had initial worry that I would sound redundant or the opposite, run out of things to say- even though there was so much content packed into the documentary in itself. I also think the organizer was a good way to make sure I had at least one example of the three (and explain how it was present in the documentary). 

In terms of the free writes this week, I personally felt they were more of a personal reflection rather than a topic, like I usually turn to. Maybe it's just because of the overwhelm of stress, but I thought it was nice to have the opportunity to write about what has been on my mind. Especially with midterms and amount of work before break, my mind has felt jumbled from work that is more straightforward than open-ended if that makes sense.