Alyssa Harris is an art major at Georgia State Perimeter College, who shared her academic self in the interview we made in English Composition 1102. Alyssa told me that she was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia when she was eight years old. However, being a strong learner, Alyssa did not let the learning disability hold her back in the academic world. She instead believes that if she stays hungry and prepared in the academic environment, she will thrive in her scholarly goals: to broaden her view of the world through knowledge.

Growing up with ADHD and dyslexia, Alyssa used the learning disability to complain when she failed or scored poorly. When Alyssa’s mind saw a failure (cue) it produced a craving for pleasure in which it responded with a reason that she has a learning condition. Because the response satisfied the craving, Alyssa made it a habit. For instance, in her middle school math class, Alyssa used the fact that she has ADHD and dyslexia as a disadvantage for her failure and not understanding math. That belief makes Alyssa satisfied even if she fails. However, deep down Alyssa’s heart knew that was not the case.

However, observing many students in her junior year, Alyssa concluded that she is not the only person with a short concentration span. Alyssa knew that most students lose their attention, often in the lecture. From that point onward, Alyssa’s reward stopped satisfying her craving, which led her to break the habit of complaining. Instead, Alyssa set a belief that staying hungry and being prepared to be the path to a successful academic career.

Embodying that ideology, Alyssa became a better learner who is always hungry to learn new things. In our conversation, Alyssa told me that her eagerness to learn new things commenced increasing from her intuition to broaden her view of the world. Alyssa even brought up an analogy that her mind craves knowledge as her stomach craves chips. As an art major, Alyssa knew that if she learned more, her worldview would grow. Increasing her knowledge in return will lead her to be more creative. Being more creative, Alyssa dreams of becoming the best designer after finishing college.

However, as a full-time worker and student, Alyssa knew that staying hungry would disappear given the shortage of time. Dr. Chew, professor of psychology at Samford University, in his video series “How to Study,” said, “Your level of understanding is a direct result of how hard you prepared” (Chew, Developing a Mindset for Successful Learning). Chew clarifies that the level of understanding something is directly proportional to the level of preparedness. Alyssa also knew that she must plan most of her academic work to be prepared enough. As a strategy, Alyssa primes her school material and starts assignments early to increase her understanding and do the job with the least effort but with greater frequency.

In conclusion, Alyssa Harris, an art major who wants to be a designer finishing college, believes that ADHD or dyslexia is not a disadvantage in her academic setting. Instead, Alyssa thinks that the “doctor was partially wrong;” and that she is “not suffering from anything. . . quite the opposite”: She is “thriving which is the last word [She] chooses to describe [her]self academically.” The fact is for her that being prepared and staying hungry is the key recipe for becoming a successful student. In short, prepared plus hunger will yield triumph in the view of Alyssa’s academic world.

                                Work Cited

 Chew, Stephen.” Developing a Mindset for Successful Learning. “Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 25 Mar 2015

Harris, Alyssa. Interview. Conducted by Samuel Alemu, 26 January 2022