Hi everyone, I would like to introduce you to my fiercely driven and incredible partner Sydney Davis. Working with Sydney in the last week or so has been such a calming process especially when having such an easy going and flexible partner.

Describing herself as a successful, motivated, and creative student, Sydney has come a long way from her days of procrastinating school work and minimizing academic importance. Following a traditionally normal academic path of grades beginning as a kindergartener at McLendon Elementary School and working her way up through Shamrock Middle School and eventually to Druid Hills High School where after completing twelfth grade she graduated with the goal of continuing her basketball career, thanks to a scholarship to Georgia State University. Originally only considering her venture to college as something she did “mostly because [she] got a basketball scholarship” she soon understood that her time there could be so much more.

Over the last year and a half at Georgia State Davis has changed her view on college and writes that she “continued to do college so that [she] could have a career. Now regarding college as a way for her to be successful it is no shock that being goal driven would be such an important motivating factor in Sydney’s academic life. As a Health Science major and hopes of becoming a nurse, Davis writes that her “biggest influence on her academic self is to be [successful] in her career,” clearly setting herself up to be shown as someone who is driven by her want to accomplish what she has set her mind to. Often describing her greatest influences to be those of motivation to achieve the certain goals she has set before herself and excel above and beyond what the standard before her was. Describing how she hopes that through her perceived academic achievements and future endeavors she could be a role model to her little brother, especially by being the first child in her family to graduate with a college degree, Sydney highlights herself as such an admirable and humble character in such an effortless way that makes us all want to have that same kind of grace and motivation.

Even though Sydney has mentioned the influence her mom has over her, she is not her greatest advisor in life. Davis describes life itself as her best mentor describing how she honestly does not have any mentors but instead saying, “I go off of life and what life has to teach me,” creating a phrase that is so simple yet holds so much truth. The go with the flow personality that I have experienced through interacting with Sydney is definitely an accurate reflection of these words. While Sydney remains peaceful and easy going, she has found that while taking English 1102 and US History the challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic and online learning have become proven pressure points for her in her college experience. Nevertheless, Sydney is proud of the academic self she presents to the world today as someone who is punctual and serious about the material she is learning and the work she is doing that will help set her on her career goal.

I really admire Sydney’s work ethic and patience through life and academically. It was an absolute joy to be able to connect with another student during this time even with the conditions we have been delt as a nation. This assignment goes to show that while in person contact will never be replaceable there is always still room to establish new relationships.