This profile is compiled of information from a recorded interview with my profile partner. We decided to meet in person to conduct interviews and/or revise our drafts. Through talking about her academic self, I, as an interviewer, gained a considerable amount of insight from my partner on how crucial determination and resilience are to achievement.

-Laila Thurman

Meet Laila Thurman, an 18-year-old dual-enrollment student here at GSU. Laila originally planned on attending GPTC, but a close high school teacher of hers motivated her to attend GSU instead because of its more challenging programs. Laila’s major is currently undecided, but she plans to pursue a career in either clinical psychology or psychiatry to counsel veterans. During our interview, we discussed topics ranging from career goals and academic pasts, to descriptive words and their connections to her current academic self. 

  Laila grew up in a small town in Mississippi. She recalls her first years of primary school as being an average student, that is, she wasn’t in any gifted classes. Then, in about fourth grade, she re-took the exam for gifted children and did, in fact, place in gifted courses. She notes the significant shift in her academic environment once she was placed into gifted classes. “All of a sudden, I’m thrown into this whole thing of gotta be the smartest, gotta be the person that knows the most, and gotta get the highest scores” explains Laila. She admits that she wasn’t surprised that gifted classes entailed more work or higher expectations. However, the sudden shift in her academic environment combined with its intense competitivity caused Laila to become very insecure in her knowledge; she just never felt smart enough. As a result, she began comparing herself to “better” students.

 The three academic self words Laila used to describe herself were “insecure”, “overachieving”, and “perseverent”. When I asked her to elaborate, she explained how each word academically connects to her. Laila described her academic self as insecure because of the competitive nature of her academic history. That feeling of “not being smart enough” resonates with her even during her collegiate life. Secondly, Laila described herself as overachieving because she was never urged by her family to reach her goals. She’s always felt like she had to develop the ability to fuel her own willpower. “What I can do, I will do, and I’m going to do my best, even if I’m doing it by myself” she affirms. She’d made it imperative to highlight that she wasn’t speaking ill of her family, she was simply implying that she was self-motivated. She described how her competitive academic background planted a habit of working as hard as she needed to reach her goals.

Lastly, Laila described herself as perseverant, which somewhat connects to her “overachieving” academic trait. In another sense, however, she explains this word in the context of continuously seeking help if need be. For instance, she recollects the many obstacles she’d encountered when seeking help from school faculty. She remembered calling their offices and there either being no answer or receiving very unhelpful service. Laila also stated that sometimes they would claim they would “get back to her”, but never did. In this situation, she would be perseverant in order to make sure that faculty member responds, and that she got the help she needed.

Laila’s favorite part of the material from this class so far is Dr. Chew’s video “Beliefs That Make You Fail…Or Succeed”. She found the video to be very informative. Laila was surprised by how many inaccurate beliefs she had, and she was able to reflect and begin altering her mindset towards effective learning. 

Laila Thurman is an exceptionally hard-working student; she’s gifted with a flame of ambition that radiates when she speaks of her goals. Unsurprisingly, she’s excelling in her courses. After learning Laila’s academic history, I began to recognize the roles backgrounds, families, and school environments play in creating an “academic self”. Just how predictable are college academic selves solely based on their histories? If certain points in an academic history were removed or altered, how much of a difference could it make in a college academic self?

Works Cited

Thurman, Laila. Academic Profile Interview. Conducted by Mizaan Arshad, 24 January 2022.

Chew, Stephen. “Beliefs That Make You Fail…Or Succeed.” Samford University, 16 Aug. 2011, https://www.samford.edu/departments/academic-success-center/how-to-study