Mohamed was a very interesting person to interview. Mohamed currently attends highschool at Lakeside and is a part-time student at Georgia State perimeter college. The first thing I noticed about Mohamed was his eagerness to start the first major assignment. Muhhamed always came prepared to our meetings which led me to assume he was always prepared for his classes. I found out that before he became a dual enrollment student at Georgia state he wasn’t always ready to learn. In his early days of highschool he would often come to class without his homework completed and would be unprepared. Mohamed went to explain that when he became a student at georgia state he realized that in college you were responsible for your own grade. The contrast of highschool teachers’ leniency and care about missing assignments vs college professors was evident. He struggled with not being able to make up missing assignments. Mohamed emphasized that this is what really pushed him to get serious about school. He’s always loved learning but he struggled with focusing and procrastinating. Being a student athlete made it even more difficult to stay on task. Late practices right after school, games on the weekdays and weekends, and the exhaustion from it all, are all things that slowed him down. However, he set his priorities straight and created a set schedule that would aid him in staying focused. Once he put more effort, everything else improved. His best classes were always science and math, and of course gym. Numbers always came easy to him, and math being included in science only made things better for him. Mohamed announced choosing to do dual enrollment was the best decision he ever made for himself. He’s able to get ahead in his education while still enjoy the highschool experience. He has not decided on his major yet, but dual enrollment is definitely helping him figure it out. Conversing more with him, he opened up on how as a little kid he with struggled with pronunciation. It affected how he communicated with his teachers and fellow classmates. Which was then reflected on his school work, however with the attention and help from his teachers and parents, he soon overcame his obstacle. He’s always had a strong support system that was always there to help him out if he ever needed it. Speaking with Muhammed as a whole, his story genuinely made an impact on me. Some of the things he had to work on, I had to do the same. It was truly a pleasure to converse with Muhammed. 
Monthly Archives: February 2022
Meet Kiara!
About my partner, Kiara, she had gone through her own academic experience. Back in high school, she had to go through the new school system, which was virtual learning, because the pandemic had taken place. Therefore, she and all other students had no other choice but to adapt to the new alternative system of learning. It was not an easy road for Kiara, for she had to get situated in this new style of learning by getting organized and keeping up in time management. But through all of that, she continued to stay positive, balanced, and determined in order to fulfill her goals of getting good grades and passing her classes. And she did just that, which is outstanding.
Kiara is, currently, attending Georgia state university to pursue her career in criminal justice. She chose Georgia state because the community is better than some other colleges like HBCU, which was another option that she could have attended. In addition to GSU, the school gave her more opportunities to stay focused. So, as Kiara is attending GSU, she can get her work done and do whatever else that she wants to do such as work or even go to any social events in a timely manner. The reason for this statement is because Kiara realized that if she attended HBCU, she would not have been able to focus on her priorities, therefore, it would negatively affect her performance in school. So, by making the right decision for herself, Kiara has maintained a balanced lifestyle with her personal life and her academics.
Determination is another key factor that Kiara uses to describe her academic self. When it comes to learning, she does whatever it takes to make sure that she understands any material in all aspects. Kiara could not settle for less, so whether if it is to set up meeting times with the professor, to attend any free tutoring classes for help, or even to study in a group with her friends in the library, she has that level of determination in order to succeed. Kiara really understood the concept of dealing with challenges in order to improve. In addition, she knows to plan ahead, which is very important for not just school, but for every single opportunity that is given in life.
Negativity is not a good trait that one must have in his or her life. Therefore, Kiara made sure that she did not include negativity in hers. She is all about positivity, for that is where you really benefit from in life. When you really think about it, what is the point of being negative? What does it do for you? It does not do anything good for you, so there is no need for anybody to portray such a bad habit. Kiara states, “I learned to stay positive because if you are always negative and have bad frequencies around you, it starts to rub off on you and you are just not going to get anything done.”
Ultimately, Kiara has improved, drastically, with her academic self. She, indeed, had to overcome past obstacles to get to where she is at right now, but that is what made her into the person that she is now. If there is one thing that Kiara is proud about with her academic self, that one thing is that she was able to improve academically, and she is also able to take advantage of her time and resources.
Citations
- Giles, Kiara; Kiara’s Academic Profile. January 2022
- Chew, Stephen, PhD; “Developing a Mindset of Successful Learning”
- Jonker, Jude; Peer review. February 2022
Kayla: academic profile
This is an academic profile on Kayla, a classmate in my English class as well as a freshman at Georgia state university. Like most of her classmates, Kayla has been at GSU for one semester. Kayla was born in Georgia, and she went to Browns mill elementary school from kindergarten to 5th grade. She then went to tapestry public charter school from 6th to 12th grade and as soon as she graduated, she enrolled at GSU. Kayla enrolled at GSU as soon as she graduated because it was either that or getting a job. She chose the Clarkston campus at GSU because it was more cost-friendly. She intends to major in engineering and her long-term goal is to set up a research and development site in Atlanta.
She will achieve her goal through her academic skills and the three words she chose to describe her academic self were creative, attentive, and resourceful.
She chose creative as her first word because of her interest in art. Kayla likes to apply her creative artistic lens in any assignment she does. Her second word, attentive, was chosen because it describes Kayla’s focus in her classes. She never caused commotions but instead took detailed notes in class and made sure to be mindful of upcoming assignments. She also chose resourceful because even though she wasn’t the best student she still tried to improve in areas that needed help. She took advantage of tutoring opportunities whenever she did poorly on a test and made sure to speak to teachers if she needed help. If what she was looking for couldn’t be found at school, then she searched the internet and took notes on what she found.
Kayla feels that her past experiences have prepared her for future semesters in college by teaching her to work hard and use any resources available. Her high school teacher was unorthodox in the way that she taught so it showed Kayla irregular and creative ways to learn and interact with teachers. This experience helped her to connect with professors in college which she assumed would be hard due to the popular notion that professors aren’t easy to talk to.
Kayla’s influence is her family members, and she will pursue her goal and achieve it by putting lessons taught in class like the study myths video to use which demonstrate common mistakes people do when studying. She is proud of her natural talent in math. In the end, Kayla is an attentive, hardworking student with hopes of setting up a site in Atlanta to help people.
James Swank’s Academic Profile
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.
Meet Hollard
In our first major project, we were assigned to partners to describe them fully, My partners’ name is Hollard, and he’s 20 years old, He graduated from Brookwood high school at the top of the class, and is continuing his education at GSU he’s a sophomore, and his majors are in Finance which is one of his biggest passions, he claims his love for math and numbers comes from a very young age after playing with his first-ever game on cool math games. Hollard picked finance because he plans on taking on a top firm as a Financial Analyst, and moving his way up to being a CFO (Chief Financial Officer), his inspiration comes from Anthony Noto a CFO of Twitter making a whopping amount of 72 million, and working for many other top competitive companies, he claims he’s always had an interest in numbers just like Anthony, and Hollard also claims “working the heart of a company starts from the money which is the foundation”.
Hollard is from a small town in Georgia called Douglas, Then at the age of 7 Hollard, and his family moved to Fayetteville. Hollard has a job working full time at Luau also known as the Hawaiian chic fil taking the position as a team leader to support his dreams, and fund his education, he claims this is also preparing him to take on the position of a CFO because he also takes care of the finances of the current location he’s working at, he states “I know this is very small, but this is very preparing in someway”. We continued the conversation, and we were discussing, I asked Hollard what three words he could use to describe himself, and he responded “Persistent, Proactive, and Focused” he claims these three words because he strives, and works for everything he has achieved in his life, he’s always active trying to get to the next level, and has a tunnel vision towards his goals.
We moved on to the topic of hobbies, and in his spare time, Hollard claims he loves to read, so I asked what his favorite book was, and he stated it was” way of the turtle” he likes this book because it teaches him about patience, and how to turn ordinary people into legends in the financial world. When asked, Hollard claims he doesn’t like the college concept and is really frustrating because of the lack of structure in the school, and a harder course load. Hollard believes the school should be way more hands-on since this is what we are actually preparing to do instead of pushing even more bookwork on us for the internships, and jobs to not even be on the same level, and concept, which brings me to the concluding question is the college concept really as botched as people say it is?.
Academic Profile: Abass Salat
Meet Abass Salat!
This is his first year attending Georgia State Perimeter College and is a dual enrollment student. He currently does not have a major but plans to major in respiratory therapy in the future. Abass says He chose to attend Georgia state because not only is it close to home, but because of the opportunities of dual enrollment and DECA which is a highschool that specializes in dual enrollment. His three words to describe his academic self profile were: Motivated, Adaptive and Supported would describe my academic self to be motivated because of the high standard goals he sets for himself. He plans to finish college with a 4.0, graduate medical school, and start his own practice with little to no debt. He is determined and motivated to accomplish these goals,so he can support his family members and live a comfortable life.
Additionally, he goes on to describe his academic self as supported because of the amount of effort his parents put into supporting him throughout his life wishing nothing for him but to succeed in everything he does in school and life. As well as teachers,peers and all resources provided by the school such as tutoring,financial aid and more.
Lastly, He also describes his academic self as adaptive because every semester he has to adjust a new schedule whether it is in person or online with new teachers,new classmates, new workload, and new expectations which can be a lot especially now due to covid. I followed with a question asking how can you connect this to the reading :COVID-Era College He responded saying he can relate “because of how different school has changed due to the pandemic and having to take online remote class courses which he did not really enjoy however he made it a priority to make the transition from face to face to at home remote learning and succeed expanding his capacity to handle change in any given circumstance.”
One question I asked Abass during the interview is: How does he like English 1102 thus far, and what are some differences compared with your English 1101 course? Which did he prefer better, were there any challenges and why? This question was asked to see how he handled change when his selected course teacher unexpectedly changed which connects his ability to be adaptive. He answered with english1101 because he loves writing essays more than reading although he doesnt mind having to be prepared to read a lot more in and out of the classroom.
Towards the end of the phone Interview Abass Revealed that he has a problem with procrastination. His academic self doesn’t procrastinate when there is a surplus of time but when there is a shortage of time. He believes the root of this issue is that when his schedule gets too filled and Iose free-time, it causes him to use work time to do missed free-time activities. I followed this with the question, “ Do you like to study? If so, how often and long are your study sessions?” As he responded “I do but it’s hard to be motivated sometimes or stay focused for a long period of time” however he mentions that “Dr.Chews “How to Study” Video series has helped him to understand how to study, deep level thinking and learning the orienting task instead of memorizing material.
In Conclusion, Overall Abass is a very hardworking and dedicated student who Strives to exceed his goals no matter what obstacle or challenges he encounters and acknowledges that he will work on improving his weakness in procrastinating to achieve the most in his academic success.
Works Cited
Abass Salat, Pair Interview transcript, Conducted by Thomesia Williams, February, 30 2022
Chew, Stephen. “How to Study.” How to Get the Most Out of Studying, 25 Mar. 2015,
https://www.samford.edu/departments/academic-success-center/how-to-study.
Czar Rochelle, COVID-Era College: Are Students Satisfied, Inside Higher Ed, 24 March 2021
Academic Profile of Samuel Zajde
Hello everyone, this is an essay based on Samuel Zajde’s academic life. Samuel is originally from France but moved here to the United States with his family at the age of two due to his father receiving a new job opportunity and he has been here ever since. School for Samuel growing up was not the best, but he made the best of it. Samuel did K-12 in Georgia and then decided to take his talents else where for a while. After high school he made the decision to expand his knowledge by going to college. He decided to go to George Washington University in Washington D.C. and major in engineering. Samuel later realized that that wasn’t for him and came back to Georgia where he now attends Georgia State University and majors in music.
Samuel is not a very vocal person, but he is an amazing person so if you ever see him don’t be afraid to speak. Samuel chose to major in music because of his love for it. He has been in orchestra since the 6th grade and he really enjoyed it, it was his detox and getaway from all of his gifted classes. His love for music is his reason for majoring in it and he hopes to one day take his music career to the next level.
Three words that can be used to describe Samuel academically are intelligent, optimistic, and balanced. Intelligent is used because Samuel is a very smart young man, throughout all of school Samuel had gifted classes and they did not come to him with ease. Samuel tried his hardest to get there until all of his hard work paid off. Over the period of time that I have gotten to know Samuel I have noticed that he is a very driven individual. Optimistic is used because when Samuel was trying to get into gifted classes, he did everything he could and anything he put his mind to he accomplished. He believed in himself that he would end up in gifted classes and with the help of one of his fifth-grade teachers he did. And lastly balanced is used because I have noticed over the short period of time that I have known Samuel that he is a very organized person, he writes down almost everything and he is very observant.
In all this essay was to give you guys a breakdown of Samuel’s academic self and somewhat who he is a person. He is a wonderful student that any professor will be lucky to have, and he is a great person all around. If no one else believes in Samuel I do, I have a lot of faith in him that he can and will be someone great someday. If you happen to see Samuel around campus don’t be afraid to speak.
Sharisse Green
Hey y’all, I would love to introduce y’all to my home girl, Sharisse Green. She has a major in health science and criminal justice, yet she is in 3 classes as a part timer. To top it off she likes psychology, and dislikes math because it’s difficult to understand. Very studious and neat. She also seems to like swimming and cooking but is very passionate about the latter. She’s also very talented in singing, but she’s very shy about it. Like a good student, school is her current and top priority because her dream job is to be a vet and lawyer. As you might have noticed, she clearly is daring and also strives for greatness at every opportunity. She also enjoys studying in her room, which she keeps nice and tidy because” a clean space leads to a clean mind” as she states. She describes her skill set as very organized, ambitious and goal setting. Not a clean freak exactly, but just a neat person. Thankfully, the habit has changed with her attitude from her high school. Sharisse went to Stevenson Highschool before going to Georgia state university. She was quiet and rarely raised her voice, watch let’s be honest we’ve all been there. Which is why one set of skills she recommends everyone to learn before going to college are communication/social skills. She becomes closer to people by making small talk and having light conversations with them. That also includes an aspect of school she likes; meeting and interacting with people. After getting over her shyness, she was able to get along quite well with others. One of her biggest concerns of this generation is the fact that this generation doesn’t seem interested or motivated to do work or put in effort in anything. But not to over work she also believes in breaks to keep it at a balance. Sharisse believes in being healthy, mentally, physically, and spiritually. Her recommendations are taking walks and going outdoors and other forms of self-care. Spending time with family can also help. Sharisse also procrastinated on her work, which thankfully she has changed. She seemed to have learned the error of her ways and matured into a very productive student and adult. She believes ambition in life is important because it guides your future plan and accomplishments.
Oh, and she likes red. But not just any red, she likes Topaz red.
Meet David Jefferies
David Jefferies is a seventeen-year-old dual enrollment student at Georgia State Univerisity. David has learned a lot over the years in school. Meeting David taught me a lot about who he is; I made my observations, and he even opened up about his past experiences and future goals. Jefferies plans to earn a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Art and a Concentration in Digital Arts. I was able to enjoy every minute spent with David’s Academic self, with his charge to take the initiative, his attentiveness, and honesty. David is determined to become all that he can, and he is driven and motivated to be successful.
Three word’s to describe David’s Academic self are intelligent, humble, and bold. I could assume David’s boldness from when he took it upon himself to introduce himself to me and take the initiative in exchanging contact information to get started on our project. A first-year dual enrollment student and a senior at Dekalb Early College Academy. Jefferies’s explained his mother was his motivation and biggest influencer because of how hard-working she is. He maintained an average of A’s and B’s throughout grade school, although David did admit to falling out of practicing his studies. Samford’s “How to study” videos gave great examples of how to make time for your studies and maintain a good grade point average by creating a study schedule to manage time more wisely. If David became more focused on his goals, he would be unstoppable. Even though David does not study as much as he should, he still maintains his good grades and balances school and social life.
For the past two weeks, I have gotten to know David Jefferies, and he’s taught me so much about who he is on the outside and inside. David was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and attends Georgia State University’s dual enrollment program. David plans to major in Digital Arts, influenced by his driven & self-motivated mother. David has always made a way to maintain his excellent grade point average along with his social life. “How to study” videos gave a lot of excellent practices on how to excel in your studies and become successful. I had the option to partake in each moment enjoyed with David’s Academic self, with his charge to step up, mindfulness, and trustworthiness. Still up in the air to turn out to be everything that he would be able, he is driven and propelled to be effective.
JC’s academic profile
My partner JC is a second semester student here at perimeter college. JC decided to choose perimeter college because of its arts and business program. JC states “ I originally wanted to start a clothing brand but I later realized that isn’t what I wanted to do but now I am exploring different opportunities”(Warner Cogswell). Currently he is a business major and his career goal is to have some kind of role in the automotive industry. The Three words that describe his academic self are “engaging, notetaker, and practice. JC is definitely an engaging student, when I first met him we clicked. This led me to believe that he definitely does a great job engaging with his peers and teachers. I also know that he is definitely engaged in anything he is doing. I can assume this because he is a full time student with a part time job , and as a person who is a full time student who also has a full time job I know that a student has to be engaged to do this. JC currently works part time at autozone and hopes to apply what he learns there to a career in the automotive industry in the future.
In the article “Strong Writing and Writers Don’t Need Revision“ the author Laura Giovanelli goes into detail on how some writers don’t need to complete as many revisions as other writers, and how some feel they do not need to revise at all. My partner finds himself struggling with finding the patience and desire to revise. Which is understandable in my opinion, revising is probably the hardest part of writing a paper. But my partner also believes that It can be easy. He says “ In my opinion revising isn’t hard and I really don’t struggle with it. The only difficult thing about it is the patience you need to revise”(Warner Cogswell) I think what JC means by this is that once he gets the ball rolling everything falls into motion.
I think JC and every other student’s goal is to improve their academic self. By acknowledging what gets in the way of their learning a student can improve their weaknesses. No student is perfect but the students who know and master their weakness are the students that achieve the most in their academic career.
Works Cited
Warner cogswell. Personal interview. 30 January 2022.
Giovanelli, L. (2021, May 1). 2.10: Strong writing and writers don’t need revision. Humanities LibreTexts. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Composition/Specialized_Composition/Book%3A_Bad_Ideas_About_Writing_(Ball_and_Loewe)/02%3A_Bad_Ideas_About_Who_Good_Writers_are_…/2.10%3A_Strong_Writing_and_Writers_Dont_Need_Revision