After interviewing one of my fellow classmates Ishmel Oussiegnon we discussed and reflected on our academic history and how the journey as a student has impacted our lives, and how we got here today as Georgia State students. The interview allowed me to see a different perspective,while sharing a lot of the same feelings of concern and struggles throughout the years of being a student.
Ishmel described his academic self as willing, capable, and reserved. Ishmel stated that he “if I make a plan to get my work done, it will get done”, and that he is fully capable of getting his work done or improving in his respective class subjects. Lastly reserved, Ishmel stays quiet, and focused in class, but would like to improve on his note taking skills.
At a young age in elementary school Ishmel shared that he had “lot’s of energy and would have trouble focusing in class. Because of this him,and his parents decided that private school would be the best option for his education moving forward. Private school was able to provide him with better support, and help. Ishmel attended Arabia high school up until his senior year and then transferred to Stephenson High school. He described the move as a “ difficult time” and stated that it was hard leaving all of his friends. Despite the move being a hard time he also shared that the move helped motivate him and allowed him to hit the reset button, and reevaluate his academics, and take them more seriously.
Post High School Ishmel started to look into colleges and narrowed his options down between Georgia State, and SCAD. Ishmel is a strong math and writing student and has a strong interest in becoming a video game designer. SCAD has a great arts program, but decided against going there due to how expensive their tuition is. Currently Ishmel is a Sophomore and majoring in Computer science. He is very optimistic about his future as a student. He plans to continue the path of a computer Science degree and take his knowledge gained into a work environment that he is patient about.
After talking with Ishmel I’ve realized that a lot of college students are experiencing the same feelings of frustration, and uncertainty. He shared with me that his biggest frustration with college is that a lot of the time “there is a lot of time being wasted taking classes on things that don’t apply to what I’m interested in.” As well as learning content that could’ve been taught to us during high school. Despite these frustrations he is still understanding that it’s just a part of the process and will be able and willing to “work around, and adapt.”