Kirtan Subramaniam is a focused, curious, and resilient academic student. He is commented to school, and aspires to achieve in whatever he puts his mind to. When it comes to life, he is always up for a challenge and refuses to allow circumstances to bring him down. To attain this mindset, he tries to see every predicament as “a glass-half-full, not half-empty” (Subramaniam, 2021). This optimism encourages him to see and do his best in every situation. Kirtan believes that school has the ability to open up a world of curiosity. In one of our discussions, he said “I am the type of person to wonder about things that are taught to me even beyond the classroom…I’ve even spent hours upon hours being curious about random and trivial information” (Subramaniam, 2021). Based on his statement, learning was never a forced task but an opportunity to expand his understanding of valued topics. Within the classroom, Kirtan was able to found his passion, and outside the classroom, he continued to nurture it. Kirtan’s academic self can be condensed into those three words and as he pursues higher education, it continues to flourish.  

To appreciate Kirtan’s academic self, we should take the time to explore his academic journey. Kirtan started his academic career at Dunwoody Elementary School. He stayed there from kindergarten through 2^nd grade, until his family moved to Cumming, Georgia. In Cumming, Kirtan finished elementary school at Whitlow and continued to Vickery Creek Middle School. After middle school, he went to South Forsyth High School and graduated from there in 2020. He currently is attending Georgia State University and majoring in Computer Science. He entered that major in hopes of one day becoming a developer for cryptocurrency companies. This semester, he is taking Economics, Math 2212, CS 1302, and, of course, English 1102. Thus far in English 1102, his favorite reading was “Taking my Parent to College” by Jennine Capó Crucet. Being a child of immigrants and a “first generation” American, Kirtan found this piece relatable in prospect to his own life experiences. He connected with the fact that he also had to grow up watching his parents struggle to understand American customs and did his best to help them along the way. Kirtan not only got strength from his education but also from his family, to become the fierce academic student he is today.   

Before closing, I would like to share something that I think really sums up Kirtan’s character. When discussing issues such as the pandemic and online school he said, “I guess lockdown sort of made me more distracted, but two things I have fundamentally realized is that: You can either make excuses or succeed, and discipline is the key to everything” (Subramaniam 2021). We can all agree that the pandemic had major effects on our lives, but how are you responding to those effects? Are you making excuses or are you finding ways to succeed in your circumstances? Kirtan has been able to succeed by seeing the pandemic as “a glass half full and not empty” and being disciplined in the areas he needed the most. If Kirtan Subramaniam can do it, can you?

Source Cited:

Subramaniam, Kirtan. (2021) Questionnaire. Unpublished paper, Georgia State University.

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.

Thomas and I have known each other for a short period of time and have had interesting conversations through chat which has helped us to get to know more about each other. We felt that conversing over text was best suitable for both of us. Thomas told me that the readings and videos from week 2 helped him as they gave some strategies and ideas about studying. Thomas identifies himself as a male and goes by he/him. He is 19 years old and his nationality is Colombian. The three academic self words that Thomas goes by are organized, hardworking, and motivated. A proud moment for Thomas is that he can overcome any class by putting enough effort into learning the material given and he likes to stay motivated as he thinks about the achievements he will get by passing the class and getting the work done. My partner mentions that during high school his academic self was not disciplined at all, and often found it difficult to get himself to make his assignments, moreover, he feels that as he transitioned into college he has become more disciplined but often faces problems time to time due to procrastination.

My partner Thomas was born in Colombia and moved to the United States when he was 15 years old and due to this transition, he found high school to be challenging. He completed his k-12 in Dunwoody high school and decided to pursue a college degree directly after high school as he would like to be the first person in his family to finish college. Thomas chose Georgia State University as he believes that it is a good college and has the necessary resources to successfully complete the degree. He is doing his second semester at GSU and is enrolled in the Computer Science Major. He is taking three classes this semester which are precalculus, American government, and English.

Thomas believes that improving his attention span would help him to develop his academic self. He organizes his assignments and classes every week and tries to complete all assignments during his day off from work. When Thomas and I discussed about our IP-2 assignment, he told me that he gave the idea to make a video about the software GSU provides because it would be easier for freshman students to adapt to the learning pattern. Besides college, Thomas loves to do skateboarding and makes sure he does it every day, he also works part time as a cashier. He would prefer to take classes face to face after the pandemic is over. This conversation with Thomas has helped me to expand my information on how everyone has their own academic self.

Hello professor and fellow classmates,

      My task was to interview Solanlly Rijo Lake and learn more about her. I was to try and really get to know her true academic self. We had a zoom meeting on January 30, 2021 to introduce ourselves and get to really know each other. Then we had a second zoom meeting the following day to really discuss our academic selves. 

      My classmate who I had the honor of interviewing is actually from the Dominican Republic and has lived there her whole life. She attended Las Palmas Christian School from kindergarten through high school (Lake, 2021). She was very involved with different aspects of her school. She was a member of her high school volleyball team and she was student government president of her senior class. Something that was really interesting to me was that she was in the cyber security program at her school. 

      She was considered a scholar growing up, making sure to have her work done nice and on time. She’s also an overthinker which is good and bad. She will go out of her way to make sure that her assignment is done to the very best of her ability. She was named the valedictorian of her graduating class of 2020. After graduating high school, she decided to go straight to college and wanted to attend GSU. For some reason she wasn’t able to, so she decided to attend a college in the Dominican Republic so she wouldn’t be behind in her studies. She eventually got cleared and enrolled as a first year freshman at GSU in the Fall 2020 semester and left the other college. 

      Her major is in computer science, because she’s really into technology. When I asked her what her plans were for after college she told me something really impressive. Her response was “I wanted to get my masters in cyber security and start her own company. But my bigger picture includes advancing technology in the Dominican Republic. I feel that my country is too far behind other countries and I want that to change” (Lake, 2021). I personally feel that she could really do some marvelous things in the technological world. Usually when you’re talking about technology, you mention America and China, but she’s going to make it so they have to include the Dominican Republic in that conversation. 

      There was an essay from“Bad Ideas About Writing” that really stood out to her. It was titled “SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST BORN GOOD WRITERS” by Jill Parrott. She said “It completely changed my mindset about writing because I thought of writing as just a born quality and I never wanted to write cause I wanted to be perfect” (Lake, 2021). A lot of people think that people are born good writers and it’s just not true. Bad Ideas About Writing has a bunch of wonderful ideas that people think are true but aren’t. It’s just so informative and provides us so much knowledge about writing in general. 

      Just like every human being in this world, she has some academic bad habits. It’s very rare, but every once in a while she procrastinates and put things off just a little bit. She said “that even though I procrastinate, I make sure to get my assignments done on time” (Lake, 2021). Time management is a bit of an adjust because she’s used to hanging out with her friends and having fun. She’s had to adjust her social life in order to make her time management better. 

      Because we’re in an online class, we don’t really get to know our classmates. It was really cool getting to know Solanlly Rijo Lake and learn about her academic life. She was the valedictorian of her senior class and is really interested in technology specifically cyber security. She’s a very smart individual from the Dominican Republic who’s going to be very successful in her future. She’s going to change the world and advance her country technologically. Her profile leaves me with one question: what’s something that we can do to improve our country whether it’s technology, science, sports, etc.

Citations:

• Lake, Rio. Interview. Conducted by Kaleb Lynum, 30-31 January 2021
• Parrot, Jill. SOME PEOPLE ARE JUST BORN GOOD WRITERS. BAD IDEAS ABOUT WRITING. Edited by Cheryl E. Ball & Drew M. Loewe. 2017.
  

Shawnice’s Academic Self

            Shawnice Tasher Academic Profile

        Shawince is twenty year old humble and determined student. Growing up Shawnice always looked up to her older sister Loyata. She is her absolute role model. Shawince confided in me how much she looked up to her. Her sister was very intelligent and filled with determination which was no doubt passed on to Shawnice. She lived in New York City and graduated from Martin Van Buren High School. She did not really enjoy going to school due to the early morning bus rides and hustle of the city, however it provided her the sense of street smart. After she graduated Highschool she immediately started school at Nassau Community college. Shawnice ended up moving to Georgia and now she has been attending GSU for about two years. The most frustrating thing about college she described was starting over the application process and getting all the documents submitted from another state and the run around Georgia state gave her.

       Shawnice is currently majoring in health and science to become a dental hygienist. When I asked her why she wanted to be a hygienist, she told me she’s always been a little obsessed with people’s smiles and maintaining her healthy teeth. Not only is Shawnice very focused on her life goals and what she wants to accomplish, but she is also a very loving person. She believes God put her on this earth to help others and make others happy. Like myself, Shawnice is a very caring, loving person. You can tell she loves her family a lot. She prides herself and spends most of her free time being a good aunt. Helping her sister take care of her nine-month-old nephew and seven-year-old niece.Shawnice loves spending quality time with family.

          Shawnice described her academic self as being determined. From what she’s explained to me throughout her college career, she has had a hard time figuring out what exactly it is that she wants to do, which we bonded over sharing some of our interest and first time confusions about starting college. But when she finally figured out that she wanted to be a successful dental hygienist, she stuck to it and dedicated most of her time to studying and completing her goals. Humble and dedicated, she took six classes per semester to catch up on all the courses she failed when starting college. All while still maintaining a full-time Monday- Friday job. Not only is Shawnice and I both dedicated to our school work. We both had other similarities, such as our work schedule, loving supportive families, and liking to be independent even if it is a bit hard at times.

            Having one more semester left to graduate with her associates and start the dental hygiene program, Shawnice describes her last few semesters as being the hardest because not only were classes getting harder, but there are a few life obstacles that she had to get past as well, but she stayed focused and determined to become the young lady she is today.

Ajoi is eighteen years old and a freshman here at GSU, she described her college process as confusing. Ajoi explained how she struggled deciding if she even wanted to attend college in the first place. At a young age Ajoi always had her nose in a book and even said she failed Physical Education in fifth grade because the only thing she did was read during class. She explored many subjects in school like cosmetology, theatre, and early childhood education. But none of them piqued her interest to make it into a career. However, she said that school is the only thing she succeeds well in and was determined to get an education. In high school Ajoi prided herself in her grades and study habits. But she never considered going to school until senior year. She settled on going to school for Human Resources and is majoring in Business Administration, which she says is a lot harder than she expected it to be. She is also considering sonography and keeping an open mind on anything because she has not found her passion or ‘dream job’ yet. She felt pressure to come up with an answer to ‘what are you doing after high school’ so she decided to pick one that satisfied those around her even though she was not quite sure. 

However, things changed when she got to college. Ajoi explained that she went through a lot of ‘firsts’, first time doing school online, first time having no friends in school, first time not talking to her teachers and so many more things. Her study habits also changed she said procrastination became a regular thing and lost her motivation to do good in school because everything was so overwhelming. This is what she describes as one of the most difficult time in her life because she was dealing with numerous other issues. She struggled turning in work weekly and finding a set schedule. Ajoi started her new job the same time school started so she did not know how to handle so many things at once. She explained how she felt like a failure compared to high school herself. By the end of the semester, she managed to get A’s and B’s. She learned and grew a lot in just one semester in college and is ready to use her experience for this semester. I have learned through Ajoi that life is unpredictable and to always keep your head up.  

In conclusion, Ajoi and I relate a significant amount and communicating with her brings a sense of relief knowing that there are other people who know the struggle is real. School is an opportunity to expand your mind and find yourself which is exactly what Ajoi is doing. This is a sign to remain positive and never give up no matter how hard things might be. 

I want to introduce you to Ellie Hegwood my wonderful partner who is an Obedient, Reliable and Eager student! I love how she used those words to describe her academic self because I know for me it is hard to be obedient, at times reliable and eager to be a student! For Ellie to be in high school and know her academic self already is great to me! I always thought it was cool that high school students were able to do dual enrollment! I wish I was eager like her when I was in high school to do dual enrollment! Ellie went to Cogburn Elementary School k- 5^th grade and after that attended Hopewell Middle School Ellie 6^th -8^th grade! Ellie is currently a senior at Cambridge High School and after that she will be attending University of Tennessee, Knoxville in the fall! While attending University of Tennessee she will be studying Forestry, where she wants her career to be a research scientist at the national park service!

Ellie told me something that stood out to me to support that she is eager to learn is that “I am not taking a year off because I want to go to graduate school and get my PhD so I want to get into school as soon as I can, plus I really enjoy school!” and also when she said It’s always been my plan to go to college after high school, since it is an option that I am lucky enough to have available to me I can’t think of a reason why not to take advantage of that.” I feel like those exact words support that she is eager and for sure obedient and especially at such a young age! She has goals and I know for sure she will achieve whatever she wants in the future! While she is at Gsu she is currently taking Elementary statistics and English II. Ellie’s biggest influence on academic self is a drive to succeed in her career, she is very passionate about what he wants to study in, that’s why she continues to work hard. A very big influence on her academic career is author Rachel Carson, what intrigued her was that she wrote an influential book for the environment movement. A mentor in Ellie’s life would be her old environmental science teacher who has been very helpful and important in her journey for the love of the environment!

In our interview I asked her what was she most proud of when it comes to her academic and she said “I am very proud of how productive I am academically and how success oriented I am and hardworking I am as a student” I feel like that is wonderful and very well said! Her favorite subject is English, specifically literature. I ask her how is scheduling when it comes to dual enrollment because I know the overload can get quite hectic. Her response was that “It can take a lot of specific scheduling and planning to make sure I don’t mix things up” but she gets it done because she knows that in the future she will succeed. I was wondering is her class work and college work ever overwhelming or does she focus on one more than the other, and she simply told me that they are both the same, they both must get done regardless. This semester she is a little more focused on her college classes as her high school classes are mostly done and she only has one a day. So that’s pretty cool, less stress! In the interview I asked her what her favorite video with the video that was talks about how to manage time well. I can see why she would like that because she always strives to be an obedient student! With time management you have to be obedient and dealing with her schedule with high and college I know could be hectic at time!

During this interview I had fun and learned a lot about Ellie’s academic background. It’s crazy how you can share a class with someone and never ask or even know about their background history. We are all achieving the same goals just going on different paths! I wish nothing but greatness and success for Ellie and I thank her for sharing her inspiring background with me!

            Ezequiel (or Zeke) is a 17-year-old international student from the Dominican Republic. After conducting an interview and taking notes about Zeke, I have learned that he is a hard worker, who is determined at being the best student he could be. This is his second semester at Georgia State, and he has already established the fact that he is a responsible student, who works hard to achieve straight A’s every semester.

            Zeke attended Las Palmas Christian School from 6^th to 12^th grade. Las Palmas Christian School is a private bilingual school, where almost all of his classes were taught in English. This school is where he learned the majority of his English and is the reason why he can speak it so fluently. He still lives in the Dominican Republic and has to attend Georgia State online because of the Coronavirus, but he hopes that travel will be safer later this year so that he can attend school in person. He chose to attend Georgia State because he knew he wanted to go to college, but he wanted to study abroad so that he could get a better education. With a major in Computer Science, Zeke wants to work in the field of AI (artificial intelligence). Zeke says he wants to go into AI because he wants to “revolutionize technology”. He continues his explanation by saying “it’s an underdeveloped field, I want to help research and discover stuff to see how AI can be helpful in our lives.”

            With academic and career goals like Zeke, one needs to be very disciplined, determined, and hardworking. These three words accurately describe Zeke’s academic self. He is a responsible student and takes his classes very seriously. He works hard to achieve good grades and makes sure that he puts all of his effort into every assignment he has. He’s determined to do things right the first time and doesn’t let himself get too off-track when it comes to his schoolwork. One thing he takes pride in academically is that he was able to maintain excellent grades throughout high school which led to his acceptance at Georgia State.

            His parents and girlfriend are his biggest influences when it comes to doing well academically. Both his parents and his girlfriend want the best future for him and push him to be his best academic self. He is aware that his parents spent a lot of money for him to be able to go to school here, so he wants to achieve the best grades he possibly can. He knows how important an education is to him and his family. This connects to his favorite reading that we had in class so far which was the “Taking My Parents to College” article by Jennine Capó Cruce. When I asked him why this was his favorite reading, he said that in a way, he could relate to Jennine’s experience in college. Although he doesn’t attend college in person, he has parents who have never attended college in the United States, so he had to figure out the whole college application process by himself.

            With all of his academic and career goals, Zeke also mentioned that he wants to make enough money from his career so that he can help his country. He wants to improve the economy in his country and wants to make a business and provide jobs for people in the Dominican Republic. He has proved through his excellent grades, and his acceptance to Georgia State how disciplined, determined, and hardworking he is. I find it impressive that Zeke is so determined and goal-oriented when it comes to his schoolwork. As a 17-year-old myself, I still don’t know exactly what I want to do with my life after college, but Zeke has it all planned out and has proven that he is dedicated to his work and studies even though he’s in a different country, and I admire him for that.

Citations:

Acevedo, Ezequiel L. Personal Interview. 1 February 2021.

     Over the past week I was able to talk and get to know Lejla. I was definitely nervous to talk with someone through an online class. I’m very glad that I was able to get out of my comfort zone and learn about someone else and share things about myself. 

     Lejla and I decided to communicate over text messages because it would be easiest to have information about each other saved. This was extremely helpful because we were able to communicate at any time and if questions or ideas popped up, we could just share right away. 

    Lejla is a sophomore at GSU College Clarkston campus. She is planning to get an Associates Degree and then transfer to GSU downtown Atlanta to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education with a minor in American Sign Language. Right now, she is fully online and taking five classes this semester. Her favorite subject is Sociology because she was surprised about all the information that she learned during the class. 

     Lejla’s three academic words are: emotional, advocate and prepared. She told me that emotional was the first one that came to mind because she was born deaf with Profound Sensorineural Hearing loss. At 7, she underwent surgery to receive a cochlear implant on her right ear. Throughout grade school, she was delayed with speaking. Her parents are from Bosnia, so English was already difficult. Lejla had a speech therapist 4 times a week for 7 years and had a deaf and hard of hearing teacher one hour everyday. She expressed that it was emotional because school and being social is hard due to understanding others being difficult, or asking a teacher or fellow classmate to repeat themselves. She used advocate to describe her academic self because there have been numerous challenges thrown her way, but it keeps her being able to speak out for herself and to never be ashamed of asking for help. It has encouraged her to never give up and to stand up for herself. The last word was prepared because she feels like she does a great job staying on top of her assignments and she loves being able to get ahead on her work. 

    I learned that her favorite reading that we have done so far is the most recent one with the first generation college student. She really enjoyed this one because she related to it. She is actually the first generation from her family to continue her education at a collegiate level. Lejla being in college and on a pathway to graduate is a huge deal to her family because her parents lived in Bosnia. While her parents were in high school, there was a war. Her mom was a nurse and her dad was a soldier. They were never able to finish college. She told me how similar her story is to the one that we read. 

     I asked her if she had someone who was her biggest influence or mentor. Lejla told me that she had a few mentors. Her mentors are her mom, dad and Randi. Randi was someone who helped her parents understand the whole process of deaf situations. Randi is a second mom. Randi works for parents whose children are deaf. She understands the process of the difficulty being deaf and always tells Lejla how smart she is in her own way. Randi taught Lejla that it is okay to ask someone to describe or explain something and to ask someone to repeat what they said. Her main mentor is her mom who never gave up on her. Her mom is a kind, positive person who always provides advice and taught her how to stand up for herself. Seeing how much her mom has done for her shows Lejla how much she is cared about and that she will always make her mom proud. 

    The last thing we talked about was in-person versus online school. Lejla enjoyed being in person in high school because she was able to get involved in many activities. She was the co-captain of the volleyball team and chief editor of the yearbook. With school, she prefers online because she is able to pay attention and catch what the teacher is saying. In person she would have to ask several questions out loud in front of her classmates and ask for extra explanation, so that she could make sure she was understanding the material. With online, everything is on the computer. Online school allows for flexibility. Lejla is able to do school work, hang out and babysit to make money. 

    The conclusion from this discussion with Lejla is that every student is different. Her experiences throughout life are obviously different than mine, but gave me a different perspective on life. I complained about a lot of minor inconveniences that I had been challenged with in life, but after talking to and learning about Lejla she had to go through more challenges than I could have ever imagined. After talking to her, I realize how much of a strong person she is and I know that she will be able to accomplish anything she wants to in life. 

What do you want to be when you grow up? Everyone has been asked that question as a child. The journey to becoming what you dream of, comes with different seasons, challenges, and levels of academic progression. Academic performance is related to how well you do in school. However, I believe a person’s academic self is defined differently depending on their upbringing. The person I interviewed is an example of how different upbringings reflect your academic self. We conducted our interview through emails, where we shared educational value, and hobbies, and career goals.  

Emma Cohen is a current student at Lakeside High School. Her favorite subject is English Literature. Her academic self-shows that she is structured, lively, and determined. Influenced by her grandmother who was a Missionary worker. It has always been of value for Emma to help those in need. As a child her parents always laid a firm and strict foundation about her academic performance. Although her parents are divorced now, they both still implement the importance of education. Looking for a new challenge, Emma chose to compete with self. She signed up for the Dual Enrollment program, and this is her second semester at Georgia State University. She told me “I take Dual Enrollment to challenge myself, and I love the independence it gives”.

Emma has been a gymnast since childhood. Having a strict coach and strict parents has increased her structural skills. She is very competitive and disciplined. Emma’s biggest struggle is Mathematics, and her fear is taking standardized test. Since Math is a struggle for Emma, she creates study projects to increase her memorization. A study schedule, with color coded tabs, helps her study for tests three days in advance. It also allows her to participate in extra tutoring, and personal activities. Addicted to be becoming a master of all trades, she and her sister competes with GPS average and who brings home the most A’s.  

In conclusion, at this moment in Emma stated her academic journey she has no frustrations. Ms. Cohen is enjoying the liberation of College life. Her major is Political Science, and she plans to become a (defense) lawyer. She has not decided if she wants to practice corporate, or entertainment law. Her academic self has been molded by a foundation of structure, determination, and discipline. Emma’s determination to organize and pursue such crafts, at a young age is inspiring! She shared different ways I can study and utilize my time more effectively.