Armana Wilder – Georgia State University & Tucker High School

College is an environment of new people to interact with, from either people around the globe, or just various new people in the same community. There are plenty of opportunities that are given to you, and with the assistance of others, where it’s teachers or friends, gives you an educational advantage. I sat with Armana, who although isn’t quite fully in college, fully understands the experiences and hardships of a regular college student. Armana is a dual enrollment student, meaning that she takes college courses, while also still being in high school. Her favorite science is Physics. She doesn’t really enjoy math, but enjoys reading her own writing. She will graduate this year, and has plans to be ahead of the average student by taking these courses early. She has to travel from college to high school in order to fulfill her academic day. She is a competitive person by nature, wanting to be the best at everything she does. Whether it’s regarding academics or sports, she strives to be on a different tier than everyone else. She is self motivated, self aware, and adaptive. Whatever school workload that she has, she is confident in finishing every assignment that is thrown at her.

In order for her to become the caring and motivated person she is today, she had to take time in order for her to develop her academic self. I asked Armana about her early academic self, and she stated that ‘I used to have separation anxiety. I disliked being separated by my mother, but one of the teachers at my school (Brockett Elementary) cheered me up every day and eventually broke me out of my shell of being separated” (Wilder 2022). The help from this teacher elevated her academic self, and guided her to a well communicative connection, whether it be students or teachers. 

Armana, along with a great number of people, believe that adaptation, self improvement, and self motivation are key points to one’s academic self. When something such as a due date for an assignment is shortened or lengthened, Armana is able to adjust her workload schedule around the change of the date. This gives her an ample amount of time needed for all due assignments. Self awareness also comes into play with adaptation. Armana knows how much time she needs to complete certain tasks and when they need to be done. For subjects and topics, she is also aware of what she needs to do in order for her to attain the things learned in the classroom. This is a great trait to have, for if you don’t have a true understanding of yourself, this might cause you to be working on an assignment well over the due date. Self motivation might be the most important trait to have out of all of these though, because without something to push you forward, you wouldn’t develop your academic self as much as you would if you had some sort of motivation. These traits align with a few of Dr. Chew’s 10 steps to getting the most out of studying, such as “finding what’s the point in what you’re learning to succeed, planning ahead to be a successful learner, and facing challenges and risks in order to improve oneself” (Chew, 2011).

Like a lot of students in school, Armana has a few academic challenges that she struggles with. There are some times where she procrastinates, and doesn’t allow herself to have a plentiful amount of time to complete. There are also some school subjects that she stresses and is anxious about. Although these struggles are still ongoing, she is learning how to deal with them and doesn’t allow them to bring her academic self down. 

In conclusion, Armana is a highly educated student who sets the bar high for herself in order to attain consistently high grades. Although she has her own way of learning things, she believes that everyone should understand their academic selves and have their own unique methods as to how to get the most out of a subject or assignment. When discussing these issues and achievements, I realized there are most likely more people out there who might share the same qualities as us. From adaptation to procrastinating, we all have different experiences as to how we modified our academic selves. Even though I knew I wasn’t the only person with academic struggles, it was refreshing to hear someone who shares the same struggles and thoughts about various subjects. They were interesting to hear, and got me thinking about a couple things regarding our academic selves. How are we able to find the best way of learning to get the most out of different subjects? What are the most effective options for resolving academic stress and anxiety? And How are you able to give someone the motivation they need to improve their academic self? 

Citations

• Wilder, Armana. Armana Academic Profile. January 2022
• Wilder, Armana. Personal Interview. January 2022
• Steven C, PhD; Getting the most out of studying. Samford University, AL. August 2011
• Steven C, PhD; Shallow-Level and Deep-Level Processing. Samford University, AL. August 2011
• Steven C, PhD; Beliefs that make you stupid. Samford University, AL. August 2011