This post is my profile on the student, James Swank. This profile is an account of the notes I’ve taken when interviewing Swank over the phone, and the other information I’ve gotten from documents sent to me. James is currently at this time a 2-year student attending Georgia State University at perimeter college, living with roommates in his own quarters. James chose his three words to describe his academic self as, “frustration”, “inconsistent”, and “unrewarding”, but James feels like he probably shouldn’t have chosen those exact words as he feels he should try to have a positive attitude on his academics but had sometimes felt that he wasn’t that happy with school.
James had a bit of a hard time with school during his K through 12 years. When in Kindergarten, he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a medical neurological condition where a person may have trouble focusing on a task and behaving (“What Is ADHD?”), and Dyslexia, a disorder where a person has trouble with decoding words and letters while reading (“Dyslexia – Symptoms and Causes”). There was also a lot of anxiety about succeeding in school, especially coming from standardized testing. When James was a junior in high school, taking the SAT and ACT tests were given and he struggled. There were times when it felt like an absurd amount of time was taking place and there were a lot of worries about passing. All and all, there was a lot of stress during those kinds of tests and so it made it increasingly hard to focus. It wasn’t all bad for James, as soon enough he would mature and help better his focus on his work. He also got a lot of much-needed support from his teachers and it helped with his motivation to succeed in school. Social life also would help remedy some of his troubles. James had a big group of friends, social, very athletic, and loved doing sports, it was those things that helped keep his motivation to improve in school.
When it comes to it, James is a very hard-working and diligent student. When going to campus, he goes straight to class. There, he writes down what’s taught in class in summary. After class, he reviews what they have gone over, and works on figuring out what he needs to do for the week. When focused, he would get work done and at times, he knows when to take a break to refocus on his studies. In the past, learning never came easy to James, he would oftentimes struggle a lot in subjects such as writing, reading, and especially math. Then down the road, James has gotten better and has learned a lot of things. Despite still having trouble with math, James had gained an interest in reading and writing and while his career goal is not too concrete, he has been somewhat interested in business and is thinking of doing something with training down the line. The future is uncertain for many but James wants to have a positive outlook and I believe that if he keeps that outlook and hard work into the future, then James will not only be a great student but he will also have a great career.
Work Cited
“What Is ADHD?” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 26 Jan. 2021, www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/facts.html.
“Dyslexia – Symptoms and Causes.” Mayo Clinic, 22 July 2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dyslexia/symptoms-causes/syc-20353552#:%7E:text=Dyslexia%20is%20a%20learning%20disorder,the%20brain%20that%20process%20language.