We all have some academic aspects to us when it comes to school. We are all different and learn different ways. And based on these aspects whether you’re good at writing or math or science etc.. can reflect your motivation on being your best academic self in those areas. Jacob doesn’t really have a favorite subject he’s passionate about but he enjoys studying communication and likes writing especially persuasive essays describing his academic self as creative, intuitive, and unintelligent.

Jacob moved schools  frequently so he has been to many starting out at High Plains elementary school then went to Cherry creek middle school, transfering  to later to Renford middle school then spending all four years at Decatur high school. When you get out of high school you have a few choices and Jacob chose college, Jacob came straight out of high school and into college Georgia state, to be exact and has been here three years and four semesters. When we think about college you have to think about cost,housing,majors,etc..so when it comes to Georgia State it’s a great pick for Jacob its affordable and not to far from home. His point of view of the college in general is similar to the ted talk video we discussed in class and that yes college is a scam perpetuating the cycle of debt and the workload of college. His current major is undecided but he’s thinking about going into communications. His current classes consist of biology, english, and business. He likes college so far but the workload and social aspect not so much but loves the freedom he has to learn and try what he wants.

We all have things, beliefs, mindsets, or people that influence our actions everyday and motivate us to be our academic self. Jacobs biggest influence was knowledge and truthfulness and his older brother who is currently in law school. He feels that knowledge is key and can really help you in the long run. Jacob also feels that truthfulness in one’s work is also important to building and influencing your academic self. These influences push him to be the student he is today. 

One of the ways in which the American Psychological Association (APA) defines academic self-concept is an individual’s evaluation of their own overall learning skill/performance. Though rather humble, Evan Perlmutter should think highly of himself in this regard. Evan is a high school student who is also attending college. Dual enrolled at Tucker High School, and here at Georgia State Perimeter College for the year, he has been admitted to and plans to attend The University of Georgia next year. He is getting ahead of the game in his collegiate student career. Few high school students get a leg up in college by choosing to attending college courses before they complete high school.

Why is Evan attending college courses while in high school?

Funny, you should ask.…

He’s doing so, partly because “[his] older brother did”.

So, what other things has Evan done just because his brother has done?    Surprisingly, not much.?!

These two only sibling brothers are only 3 years apart, but their mild, tenderhearted rivalry extends solely to video games and, our focus, academia. In this composition we will discuss Evan’s academic-self.

Evan views himself as well organized and a great manager of his time. He is happy to be excelling in his courses. He is settled, confident and he is doing well. He likes science and math; he does not particularly care for language arts of social sciences. Evan’s father is an environmental engineer and his brother is a mechanical engineering major at Georgia Tech. Much like the chosen fields of his father and brother, Evan, who will be off to UGA soon, will be a landscape architect. Lionel Trilling, well known professor of Oxford, Harvard and most notably Columbia, believed that students regarded college “merely as a process of accreditation, with an economic-social end in view” (Delbanco 17). In some ways Evan agrees as he would not attend college if he did not feel that it was important to his career. Inevitably, Evan’s goal is to help people through his passion to help the environment. As cites grow and expand Evan sees an increased demand for city planning in urban design. Somewhat contrastingly from his father and brother, Evan’s mother is a therapist, counseling patients that suffer emotionally with pain reprocessing. Although Evan feels that his father is the biggest influence in his life, he has picked up on traits tied in more so with emotional intelligence from his mother. Evan recognizes that the influences both of his mother and father is why landscape architecture sparks his interests. Though, it is a science related field the outcome of landscape architecture relates to achieving environmental ascetics that affect not just environmental but social-behavioral outcomes.           

Delbanco remarks that “going to college means to be released into a playground of unregulated freedom” (19). However, Evan is in no way a socialite, and isn’t looking forward to becoming one, as gregarious interaction can be seen traditionally as one of the hallmarks of young college life. Evan has always attended public school. Coming up in school, he mostly stuck to a small group of friends, but he does reveal that his experiences in the schools he has attended has led to experience with diverse groups people. He revels in that fact. He should, as helping others is his aim. Listed are just a few of the traits that Evan will take with him on his journey, both in his academic-self ergo his future.     

Delbanco, Andrew. College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be – Updated Edition on JSTOR.    

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1287khf.3.

Glae Paw was initially born in Thailand and was part of a refugee group before she came to the USA. She was born on July 2, 2006, and is 16 years old. Her parents are from a village on the border of Thailand. Glae moved to America in 2012, so she spent more time here than in her own country. From kindergarten to 2-grade, she went to Indian Creek Elementary. Later, she transferred to a charter school at International Community School during 3rd grade. From 3rd to 5th grade, soccer became one of her hobbies, and she enjoyed it more than school. Glae attended GSU as a dual enrollment student in her 11th-grade year in high school. Based on the definition of the academic self, Glae describes herself as creative, curious, and persevering.

Glae thinks of herself as creative because she feels that everyone has this trait as them like it’s self-built. Anyone can be creative in various circumstances, but she feels her originality is most evident in the classroom. When working on practical undertakings or writing fiction, Glae frequently exhibits greater creativity. Glae completed numerous tasks in her previous academic years, including crafts. In middle and high school, Glae would use boxes to create the water cycle or biomes, and she would use clay or styrofoam to make the cells and their parts. These initiatives, according to Glae, require inventiveness, which she demonstrated when dealing with it. Being given the task of writing a story was familiar to Glae after each grade. Yet, whenever Glae is given an assignment, she always thinks of something different, something beyond imagination or something within realism. Glae feels that her environment and surroundings influence her creativity.

Curiosity is another quality Glae identified with her academic persona. For Glae, there is a fresh experience at every grade. When Glae transitioned from elementary to middle school, she encountered new readings, math challenges, and writing assignments. Math problems that previously required adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing integers progress to equations and properties that are more complicated. Many constraints constrained the narrative writing that Glae used to do to particular types of writing, such as narrative poems or various forms of poetry in general. As Glae reads about new topics, she can also expand her expertise. These shifts increase her interest as she is exposed to unique learning circumstances. When Glae is in a new or different class, she gets curious about the various teachings, strategies, and modes of instruction. She also believes that curiosity is a quality that comes naturally to everyone. She felt foreign at that moment because of the various educational levels she had completed, which led her to imagine what it would be like in that situation. Glae has been exposed to a different learning environment even up to this point, which causes me to wonder and reflect.

These traits are how Glae would evaluate her academic self to be. Glae explores her surroundings with wonder as she navigates the ever-changing educational environment. This sparks her thoughts and questions regarding the future’s prospects and expectations. She is also prompted to wonder and ponder, which helps her acquire knowledge and experience that she could use later. Additionally, Glae is developing her perseverance abilities due to the ongoing changes. Glae must be able to grasp the earlier lessons and make an effort to comprehend the classes she is currently taking because each subject’s information builds on what she has already learned. There may be changes in new teaching material, but she feels like it shouldn’t stop or discourage her from progressing. The school has also allowed her to show creativity through arts, construction, and questioning within the different levels of its adjustments.

During the DelbancoCollege reading, the sentences that stood out to her were during the Introduction (pg.2, paragraph 2) “the criteria we use to assess the quality of college- number of publication by its faculty, size of the endowment, selectivity in admission, rule of alumni giving, even graduation rates- tell very little about what it does for its students.” It stood out to her because she felt like those characteristics had always been what she centered and surrounded herself during school environment, and then suddenly reading about how it “tells little about what it does” seemed surprising. Another sentence that stood out to her was (pg 3, paragraph 2) “A college should be a place where young people find themselves navigating the territory between adolescence and adulthood. It should provide guidance, not coercion, as students find their way to self-knowledge.” This sentence stood out to Glae because she agreed with the statement. Glae felt that college should be where she could explore her interests.

Citation

Delbanco, Andrew. College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2014. 

I would like to introduce Aurion Cooper: he is currently at Georgia State University majoring in Film. He is 21 years old and with his parents graduated high school while his mother also has a bachelor’s in teaching. He has been in GSU for 2 years and had some setbacks which made him take a gap year and miss a few semesters. Despite having difficulties, he is completing his education in Film at GSU. He has a confident and friendly personality which makes him approachable and he is understanding. He enjoys beats, editing videos, streaming, working out, video games, and tv. He is outgoing and mature and watches football. 

Aurion Cooper graduated from Columbia High school in Georgia. He is incredible in not giving up despite the difficulties in studying. He struggles academically but he makes up for it with hard work and perseverance. His major accomplishment in High school was graduating and passing in Geography. He had trouble with math in high school which plays important role in choosing a major of his choice in college. His biggest influence when it comes to education is money and knowing that he could get a good life. Having a good education motivates him to the point where he wants to strive for something more than just money, but bigger opportunities like meeting a CEO.

Aurion has mixed emotions about college. For example, he asks why does he have to go into debt for a future where he wants to be living well, but has to give money back at that time? But at the same time, he feels like college is a risk that they have to take if that is what they want. At first, he was majoring in Computer Engineering but soon he realized he does not have the aptitude for it and so he found something else that interested him. He is now majoring in Film at GSU he believes with the creativity and skills he will learn throughout his studies he will be successful. 

Aurion Cooper describes his academic self as driven, balanced, and focused. He told me he is driven to achieve his education and be successful, he balances his social and academic life well and he is focused on what he has to do. He has trouble with writing papers. He makes grammatical errors, second guesses himself, repetitions while writing, and goes off-topic. Anne Lamott informs her readers that she would just write without any stops and her writing would be terrible but she says that’s what first drafts are supposed to be and they can improve as they add more or revise the first draft. To improve in writing, Aurion practices writing, does revision, proofreading, and uses Grammarly. He makes his first drafts which he can improve. 

Aurion has a positive outlook on himself and the future. He feels like learning new things is something that is a part of growth. Without it, you just become stuck with the same mindset of what you’re used to. His struggles with learning are that sometimes he tends to comprehend things the wrong way, and it gets me to have circumstances where I get off topic to what it is. He believes grades are what defines a student in my opinion. In my eyes, it could mean you’re smart or somewhere in between. 

In conclusion, the interview with Aurion Cooper was a great experience and motivating for me. He has his struggles but he does not let them bother him and keeps on moving. He is doing well in his studies right now but his past experiences and struggles gave me a new perspective on learning. He prefers in-person classes over online classes because it lets him focus on his studies. While I always thought that online class is much better since it gives you to work at your own pace and you have more time to yourself. The interview with Aurion Cooper made me question myself, what more can I do to improve myself academically and how can I balance my social and academic life?

Work Cited

Lamott, Anne. “Shitty First Drafts.” Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers. Ed. by Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005: 93-96.

For the Academic Profile, I had Gwen Hubert, a Freshman student at Georgia State Clarkston campus. As I got to know more about Gwen, I saw how her academic self affected her work and the person she wanted to become. The definition that Gwen used to define one’s Academic self was someone’s learning and work ethic. When I asked her to reflect on herself using this definition, she described herself as someone who goes above and beyond and is punctual. 

A photo of Gwen hanging out.

Gwen, a student, when used to describe herself, the first word that came to mind was “punctual.” Although this word seems straightforward how she applies it to her work allows me to see how being a punctual person impacts her. Since she was young, Gwen has always been someone who has turned assignments in on time, partially because of her upbringing and mainly because of her personal beliefs. Saying, “Why put off for tomorrow what you could do today.” Gwen being a punctual person is not just about turning things in on time; it shows that she is faithful to her education and faithful to her future. 

What are Gwen’s plans, and how do critical parts of her academic self play into this? In the future, Gwen plans to become a diplomat and is currently pursuing a degree in ASL, German, and Spanish. I do not think there is anything that says diplomat, like someone punctual, professional, and simply put, the genuine embodiment of Gwen. Moreover, although her driving force for school is her punctuality, her passion for foreign languages is what drives her to pursue this career. 

Gwen’s interest in foreign languages started when she was a freshman in high school and took her first German class with Mrs.Knezovic. However, a two-year elective requirement would turn into so much more for her. The encouraging and creative ways Mrs.Knezovic taught her class helped create a strong foundation for a future profession and a strong passion for Gwen.

When I asked Gwen, “What was one of the most notable readings that have stuck out to you this far,” she replied, “The Delbanco.” She went into detail about this text, comparing how the goal of a professor has stayed the same while society’s point of view on the institution professor’s work for has significantly changed. She said that professors have an attitude of education not being about pursuing a career, while society makes higher education an expectation for a career. Her opinion on this overall text, was encompassed as “frustrating.” When she chose to speak about this reading, it aligned perfectly with her ideologies as a student. Gwen, a high-achieving and determined student, knows that one of the most significant barriers that kept her from pursuing more from higher education is because of how expensive it is. Somebody as determined as she is, it is truly notable to her character that this is the passage that stuck out the most. 

Gwen is a hardworking and dedicated person. One word she continuously used to define herself was punctual, but she is much more. Her desire to exceed at high levels and commitment to respect others’ time, is profound. But her commitment to herself is what is most impressive. When I think of a genuinely academic person who strives for their success, I now think of Gwen, and you should too. 

Citations- 

Andrew Delbanco, (March 202, 2012) College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be

https://www.amazon.com/College-What-Should-William-Bowen/dp/0691130736

Subject- Gwen Hubert

By: Thai Daniel

Miriam Bergmark is a 20 year old student who attends Georgia State University Perimeter College. She expresses her academic self as curious, slow, and patient. Over the courses of her middle school and high school journey, she has learned how important education can be. During our English class, we talked about The New Education. Davidson explained how “The Panic of 1867 dimmed the reputation of the United States education system” (Davidson 19) giving students less hope for an education. Education is important to Miriam because it has helped Miriam understand herself a little bit better. She wants to strive for her goals but the reputation of education is making her second guess her choice. Miriam’s goal is to help others as much as she can as a health scientist. Her biggest influencer is her grandfather. He has taught her many things throughout the course of his lifetime. He is her biggest supporter when it comes to working hard in school. Sometimes when she struggles to learn the material, she would communicate with her grandfather for some advice.

Miriam enjoys learning new materials at school but it takes time for her to digest the new concept. She is very patient with herself when it comes to her studies. Miriam is taking English, qualitative reasoning, anatomy, anatomy lab, and US government at GSU Perimeter College. Her favorite subject in school is anatomy but she does enjoy taking any other science classes. Her love for anatomy started when she was in middle school going to high school in Sweden.

Before she attended Perimeter College, Miriam attended elementary and middle school in Sweden. She went to a private school during her 6th-9th grade. The school that Miriam went to was very well rounded and they helped many international students including her. Miriam said “schools in Sweden are vastly similar to the ones here in the United States.” During her 9th grade year, many students were already applying for universities. She said “students would either apply for universities or go straight into a university.” Miriam’s favorite thing to do was having regular conversations with some of her teachers and professors. She said it helped her tremendously because it was helping her build a connection between her and her professors. Before Miriam and Miriam’s family decided to move, she had learned two different languages, Swedish and English. Miriam’s family moved to the United States because her dad got into a program at a university in America. 

Miriam and her family moved from Sweden to Florida. She started to attend a public High School in Florida. She chose psychology and history as her major while she was in high school. During High School, she participated in track, running the 100 meter sprint. She stated that “running felt like all my problems had lifted away.” After High School, she wanted to continue her studies at Perimeter College because it was a cheaper option. Right before she started her journey at Perimeter College, she took a gap year. This was the year covid had happened. She wanted a normal college experience instead of doing it online. Her plans after graduating from Perimeter College is to go to Georgia State University Atlanta Campus to continue her studies as a cardiovascular perfusionist or as a health science. Miriam is very thankful to have experienced this wonderful journey with her family.

If Miriam had never moved to the United States, she wouldn’t be telling her story today. Besides attending school, Miriam enjoys riding horses in her free time. She enjoys doing what she loves during her free time because it helps her relieve some of her stress from school. Miriam is excited for her new journey as a college student.

Citation:

Trinh Bui interviewed Miriam Bergmark

Davidson, Cathy N. The New Education: How to Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World Flux. 2nd ed., Basic Books, 2017.

                  Ayaan is originally from Sydney, Australia, but he later made a transition to Hyderabad, India in 2005 at age 2 to attend school. Ayaan was familiar with the curriculum/education system and perceived himself as being a great student in India. He arrived in the United States while only attending the 6^th grade. Ayaan finished 6^th through 8^th grade at Druid Hills Middle School. Ayaan expressed that moving to the States has him been hard adjusting, knowing that he is in a completely new education system. He added that “The United States students’ curriculum in 9^th and 10^th grade are being taught the same in the 5^th and 6^Th grade in the India Education”. He explained that the India education was different but operated their school systems in a fast-paced advanced environment. In India writing classes, students needed to take two different languages. The first language is the student preference, and the second language must be the language that was being spoken in India. Students were not offered tutoring or tutorial, but the communities had intuition classes outside of class to get help on homework, which was expensive. Classrooms in India were a unit of 45 students, so teachers could not give every student the one-on-one assistances that students may have possibly needed.

               Ayaan made a move to Alabama where he completed his 9^th through 10^th grade due to family circumstances. He moved back to Atlanta where he later finished up school and received a High School Diploma at Parkview High school. Ayaan did not waste any time, he chose to go straight to college after high school in August ‘2021. Ayaan stated that “Teachers are not constantly on the students in college as they were when he attended high school”, but on the other hand college seems to give students a form of independency that we all should want. He currently attends Clarkston GSU because it is easy to commute. Right now, Ayaan is in the pursuit of an Associate’s Science Degree to become a Physician Assistant.

             The three words that describe his academic self were lazy, kinesthetic, & science lover. Ayaan states that he’s lazy towards his academic self because his new environment is totally laid back from what he was used to in India. He is grateful for Georgia State University class units being so small, because he feels that he’s getting a little help from his peers. Ayaan enjoys working with his hands (a kinesthetic learner), and he doesn’t like visually learning because it can be challenging for him at times. Lastly, Ayaan stated that he is a Science Lover, because he’s majoring in Chemistry. Although his major of study is chemistry, he has thoughts of switching his major to a biology major.

             Ayaan recalls the process of Dr. Chew’s metacognition video and found it interesting that he studies the research in how students learn and study. Ayaan had no idea that the most important factor in successful learning are the things that we are thinking of while studying. Ayaan says that he can’t completely focus on one assignment if he has a workload on his mind. He finds himself to be focused more when having a clear mind to execute the things that required of him. Overall, Ayaan agrees heavily on the data that Dr. Chew collected on how students learn and study. Ayaan plans to put Dr. Chew’s videos in consideration to not just schooling but his everyday life as well.

Work Cite : 

-Ayaan Lakhani

Ms.Daniels is an eighteen year old dual enrollment student from Atlanta who is interested in pediatric Psychiatry.Her decision to go into Psychiatry is both due to the role that mental illnesses have played in her life. Her decision on being a participant of the Dual enrollment program, was that she wanted to make the transition between High school and College easier by taking a few college courses and getting the mandatory classes that aren’t related to a specific major out of the way.Tuition for the College courses in the Dual enrollment program is covered by a scholarship, however the scholarship can be revoked if the participant fails the course or takes an Art class. Which is problematic for anyone that is working to be an art related major.

As a Dual enrollment student she spends her days divided by school work from Charles R. Drew Charter School and College work from Georgia State Perimeter. She stated that dual enrollment wasn’t that interesting but there are differences between how High School Teachers handle students versus how College Professors do. High School teachers tend to be more hands on and coddling while College Professors tend to be more blunt and less controlling. She also mentioned that College work is more complicated and takes more time to complete. She is currently taking Critical thinking and English 2 since she is only able to fit two college courses into her schedule. 

Speaking of Schedules, Ms.Daniel’s favorite past-time is reading Dystopian and Romance novels, though she has expressed interest in branching out into other genres. Ms.Daniel describes herself as artistic and creative, which can be backed up as she has picked Chorus and Theater as extracurriculars . Her favorite genre of R&B music, her favorite singer is Sza and her favorite band is  New Jeans. Ms.Daniels also enjoys playing baseball. Another thing she does outside of School is working at school as a teacher’s Aid. Being a Teacher’s aid means that she helps a teacher with organizing school work for kids and tutoring the ones that are having a harder time understanding the topic. 

In conclusion, Ms.Daniel is an ambitious person that works to help others and an artistic appreciation. She works hard and believes everyone should have an opportunity to receive the help they need to be healthy, like therapy. It can be difficult to decipher between normal child behaviors.Many mental disorders can start in childhood and be diagnosed then treated, whichI’m sure is why Ms.Daniel is interested in making a career in studying and treating people’s minds and behavior. Speaking of Opportunity and Resources, when discussing our thoughts on the readings and videos throughout the year she said she believed that Higher Ed is important for future careers and that it should be accessible to more than just people with money to spare. She believes that everyone should be given equal opportunities to better themselves and wants to contribute by going into Psychiatry. 

Citation ; ( need more sources, at least 3 )

• Pair Interview Transcript , Jan 26th 2023
• Text message transcript Feb 2 to 7 2023
• “Children and Mental Health: Is This Just a Stage?” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/children-and-mental-health. 
• TEDxTalks, director. College Is Creating Poverty . YouTube, YouTube, 1 July 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSqW43aTuRM. Accessed 7 Feb. 2023. 

Muska is a bright and bubbly dual-enrollment student from Afghanistan. She loves to travel and has been to several different states and countries. She’s traveled to places like Quebec, Toronto, Texas, Alabama, and Virginia. A couple of her hobbies include creating beautiful Origami flowers and playing video games. The fact that she plays video games is unsurprising, considering that her two siblings she looks up to are older brothers. The first thing someone notices about Muska is the optimistic attitude she brings to the conversation. Her current academic self would be described as adventurous and curious. This was evident by her upbeat tone and inquisitive nature when I interviewed her.

She is an easygoing, relaxed 16-year-old girl, attending GSU Perimeter College full-time to earn college credits while earning her high school diploma. She graduates from high school in 2024, but she is still learning about majors and her options when it comes to college. She still has plenty of time to figure that out, especially since she is attending college classes for free at the age of 16, because of her high school’s affiliation with Georgia State. This means that she is doing what a lot of high school students don’t get to do, exploring her options with higher education.

Muska is just recently getting exposed to ideas outside of the high school curriculum and is figuring out what piques her interest. This means she is just now figuring out how to learn college material, even in classes that don’t pique her interest. Even so, she sees the value in getting an education. Muska states, “I think learning new things allows us to discover interests that we didn’t know about.” In her classes she’s taken a particular interest in Macroeconomics as well as Media and culture. Math used to be her favorite, but now she is not very fond of it.  This broad range of classes she’s taken interest in shows the benefit of being undecided in your major at first. It has allowed Muska to not be constrained in what would be her major.

“At the end even if knowledge is the most important thing, it depends on the person; for me it might be hard to learn new things, but if it’s something I like, then I’m willing to see it through.”, Muska states. This means that she is aware that learning a new subject is hard, but it’s not hopeless. In addition, she is aware that as a college student, you do not have to see everything through. Everyone has options. Everyone is figuring out their place in the world and in education post COVID-19.

According to the reading we did for Dr. Weaver’s English Composition 1102 class, “COVID-Era College: Are Student’s satisfied”, By Melissa Ezarik, studies conducted Inside Higher Ed and College Post showed that “Only 10 percent of respondents [college students post the COVID-19 outbreak] report having spent time using career center services or focused on career development.” (Ezarik, 2021). Therefore, not many college students are necessarily focused on what they’re going to do in the long run by planning a career. In addition, Ezarik stated that, “It’s clear to anyone paying attention: the majority of college students look forward to more carefree days.” (Ezarik 2021). In other words, students after dealing with the stress if having their high school education interrupted by a pandemic want to socialize and learn without stressing about what their going to do with their careers and specificities, especially when a virus like COVID can throw a wrench in whatever they have planned. So, for now high school and early college students, like Muska, are exploring what an education has to offer to them.

What Muska helped me realize is that people don’t have to have 5-year and 10-year plans before they create an educational foundation for themselves. She showed me that staying curious and easygoing is enough to get the ball rolling with your future, even if you don’t know what that future looks like yet. Muska is excited to figure out what that future will look like, whether that is in business, in media, or even architecture, she is figuring that one class at a time.

Citations:

• Muska Shahem, Interview, February 2023
• Melissa Ezarik; “COVID-Era College: Are Student’s satisfied”, Inside Higher Ed
• Rebecca Weaver, PhD; Major Project #1 (Academic Profile) February 2023, GSU Perimeter Campus