I had very interesting conversations with my Profile Partner about our Academic Self topic.  She is a very friendly and kind person. Her name is Amayah Jones – an 11th grader and freshman at GSU. Before that, Amayah attended K-4 in Miami, then she moved on to New York and eventually moved to Georgia. Amayah is currently in Early College or dual enrollment program because her school is connected to this GSU campus. Her major is Biology. As far as I know, she will go back to College right after graduating from K-12. Surgeon is her career goal because she loves science.

Photo of Amayah Jones taken by her mother

She said that her three “academic self” words are: Determined, Resilient and Eager. Through these 3 words, I believe that she is a hard-working student and always tries her best in studying. One of Amayah’s most frustrating things about college is difficult professors . But I believe that she is a person who is determined to study no matter what. As far as I know, Amayah has made the Dean’s list recently. That proves she is a hard-working student and very self-disciplined in learning. One thing she is proud of with her academic self is her drive. She works towards learning and getting good grades no matter the obstacles.

Like other students, Amayah also has a mentor who has a profound influence on her academic self. That is her mother. Amayah’s mom is her biggest influence. She can talk to her about anything and inspires her to be great. She has a master’s in business and is an author as well as a realtor. That is the reason why Amayah studies so well and always tries her best. Her mom is such a wonderful and talented person. Amayah also said that she really wants to be as determined as her mother.

Her favorite reading so far was College is creating poverty. I think this video is really interesting as it talks about another aspect of going to College. The new economics of college are creating poverty. Hunger, even homelessness, are holding students back. Higher education finance must be rethought so students aren’t punished for pursuing education.

Thus, I think a College student needs to have determined, resilient and eager like her. Those are the factors that help us succeed in our academic self.  After the interview, I learned a lot of useful things from her.

Work Cited

Jones, Amaya. Personal Interview. Conducted by Trang Nguyen, January 2022.

Goldrick-Rab, Sara. “College is creating poverty” TED, May. 2019, https://www.ted.com/talks/sara_goldrick_rab_college_is_creating_poverty