This essay was written about the academic self of Josh Green and how he came to be. I found that the easiest part of this project was just sitting down and talking to Josh. We settled on a FaceTime conversation. We were in a group of three with another student, which made the conversation much easier. Josh Green is a first-year college student at Georgia State University Perimeter College. He went to Union Grove high school and graduated in the spring of 2021. When I asked why he decided to come to Perimeter college, he said that it was because it was closer to home, and it allowed him to self-explore. He claimed that he wanted to grow into the college experience. 

I asked Josh a little more about his academic life in high school and how his past teachers impacted his academic self. He responded that some teachers were good, and some were really bad. He told me a couple of stories about his bad teachers, the one where one math teacher told his students that they would fail was the one that surprised me the most. To lighten the mood, I asked him about a teacher that helped him. He then told me about his Spanish teacher who encouraged Josh when he was struggling, and although he didn’t walk out of high school being fluent in Spanish, he learned a lesson. He learned that whenever someone offers you help, you should take it and believe that you can accomplish anything. 

The three words that Josh used to describe himself were organized, determined, and cautious. He uses these words to motivate himself and be better in his classes. He believes being organized, determined, and cautious are the keys to being academically successful. When I asked him what he meant by “cautious,” he said he’s careful with the academic decisions he makes, but he also knows when to trust his gut. 

I learned that Josh and I are very different. Our majors are different, the way we describe our academic selves is different, and even the experiences we’ve had with past teachers are different (I hated my foreign language teacher). In trying to find a common ground, I asked about his family setting. What expectations did his parents have about his studies? He told me he felt no pressure from his parents to do well because they never set absurdly high expectations for him to meet. I found that this is something we had in common. 

With his sports medicine degree, Josh hopes to work alongside famous football and basketball teams. He hopes that this education will help him succeed in life. 

Our one-hour talk turned into an hour and a half when I asked both of my team partners how they felt about the idea of Georgia State going virtual. To this Josh explained that he would not enjoy it, and I would have to agree. He told me that during the digital learning era of his high school days, he did not learn as efficiently as he did in a face-to-face setting. It was easy to slack off and not do the work, as you only needed to close the computer to ignore it. He believes physically being in school is what will allow him to reach his academic goals in the long term. Alongside me, he hopes that the COVID-19 pandemic will get better so every student can enjoy being on campus without any fear of exposing themselves to this virus.