Posted by Martino Britt

As my first full year at SPS winds down, I am very excited! I’m excited every time an 8-week term ends, but coming up on the end of a full year is more exciting. It’s definitely a great accomplishment for me because I was very apprehensive about returning to school. When a term ends, I look forward to seeing my grade, quality points, and credits earned.

Small things like these keep me encouraged. They remind me that I can do this! As this school year winds down, I still can’t believe it sometimes. It hasn’t been a cakewalk, but it hasn’t been as difficult as I imagined. It has been an exciting school year for me, one I will remember for years to come.

There were moments I had to reaffirm my belief in myself. I just reminded myself that my reasons for doing this outweigh any reason I could come up with for not doing it. Sometimes, I would look at the syllabus for a class and say to myself, “there is no way I’m going to retain any of this information in just eight weeks.”

I surprised even myself by developing good study habits and learning to make the best use of my time. I take public transportation, so I take advantage of that by reading and studying while on the Metrolink. I take an hour lunch at work, so I spend thirty minutes of that hour studying or reading. Doing small things like this helped to build my self-confidence, and believing in myself has been essential to getting through this first year.

Now that this school year is coming to a close, I have to think about next year. I like to plan ahead and get things out of the way. So I have made an appointment with my Academic Advisor, and I have selected the classes I want to take in 2010-2011.

It is important for me to continue to have a comfortable college experience. I don’t want to be taking classes because that is what’s left. I want to make sure I’m taking classes that meet the requirements of my major and classes I feel comfortable taking. I think this has a lot to do with a person’s college experience. If I can get classes I need and classes I enjoy, then I am not only likely to retain more, but I’m more likely to go to class. I know I won’t enjoy each class as much as I do the next, so my overall attitude plays a big role as well.

I came to college to better myself in many ways. So, while I’m in college I have to do my best. I feel like what I put into it is what I will get out of it. I’m excited because I know I will be a different person once I graduate from SLU. That keeps me excited!