Kline

Kaylin Kline

Seminar Dyad L

Professor Murray

Final Reflection

Opening Remarks:
Entering this semester, I was told that the main focus of class was going to be over the
topics of the “health of our democracy,” “big data,” and communication this semester. Although
we did tie in these topics with most of the things that we covered throughout the semester, it did
not seem to be the main concern. Most of our assignments were based around political science,
which does encompass all three of these topics. With that being said I did learn that politics is
always affecting the health of our democracy. When certain legislature is passed or blocked it
affects this, as well as political or social movements. Big data can relate to anything, because it
tracks the movement of all Americans. In Political science, we have been shown this
consistently, which proves that big data is everywhere. In seminar, the main topic that we learned
about was probably communication. During the first year-symposium project we were forced to
learn how to communicate information to a large group of people and professionals in a group
setting over an extended amount of time.

My Engagement this Semester

I feel that I was extremely engaged this semester. I would consider myself the most
engaged this semester than any other school year in my academic career. I always participated in
my classes and I did not miss one day of any class. Being engaged in my classes helped me
tremendously because I felt like I knew what was going on in my classes. Because I never
missed any classes, my anxiety levels were lowered in certain aspects considering I always knew
about upcoming or in class assignments. However, I was still extremely overwhelmed because I
decided to take 6 classes in total, so being fully engaged in all 6 is draining. So, if anything were
to make me any less engage it would be the fact that other classes were pulling me in different
directions. This experience did impact my plans for next semester. Now I know that I can handle
this workload and even excel in it, but it is too much to excel in and hold a steady job, so I have
decided to take one less class next semester but add a class with a lab included instead. This was
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a difficult decision considering the fact that I am a Program for System Admissions student and
need to maintain a high GPA in order to transfer next year.

Reflecting on the Integrative Experiences Assignment and the Process

My experience with my Integrative learning assignment was pleasant overall, but it was
complicated. However, I am extremely happy with the end results. To get ready for this project,
first, we brainstormed on topics that we would enjoy writing about. For some reason, I struggled
coming up with a topic, mostly because I knew I would have to connect it to politics. I ended up
sticking with my major and choosing to write about psychology. I connected my chosen topic of
psychology back to religion, big data regarding politics and voting and mental illness. After this,
I somehow got lumped into a group related to social media and technology. I was a little
bummed at first, but eventually, I made a way to squeeze my topic into our project by including
how social media can have psychological effects on an individual. From the beginning, I was
assigned the role of the “hustler” in the group, meaning that I would pick up on any work where
others were slacking and keep everybody on track. I am aware that some of my peers got stuck in
really bad groups and were very unhappy throughout the whole project, which was not my case.
However, we did have our small issues. Everybody in my group did their work, but there was
one extremely controlling group member who made it difficult to meet at convenient times and
places to work on the project. There seemed to be no compromising from this specific person,
and we were expected to dish out multitudes of unnecessary money for ridiculous reasons, which
we all did without complaint. With that being said, my group was still very friendly and willing
to contribute. I am happy with our grades. From this project, I have learned how to deal with less
than perfect professional group situations and still succeed. I have seen this before in sports, but
it is different in this type of professional setting. I feel that I played a significant part in both the
actual work of the project itself, as well as the social smoothing over of things. Presenting with
my group was a breeze. In my opinion, everybody handled themselves very well and at the end
of the day, I am grateful for the lessons I have learned from the experience.

What I learned this Semester in regards to Metacognition & a First Year Islander
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When I compare myself as a senior in high school entering winter break, nervous about
where life would take me the next year and where I would be, to myself as a college student
entering finals week, there is a tremendous difference in almost every aspect. My personality is
the same, but I have grown an extreme amount as an individual this semester. I am not sure if it
has been the living on my own, the being away from home, the massive amount of student debt
that I have taken on or the large amount of pressure and responsibility that comes with it, but I
have grown up a lot in a short amount of time. I have learned big and small things that I never
expected. For example, I can type my assignments with much more ease now, having never
taken a typing class. I know studying techniques that work for me and how to take clean notes
that I can actually work with after the fact. In high school, I was never somebody with much test
anxiety (besides the SAT,) but during my first college exam, it felt like my heart was racing out
of my chest. Now, I can safely say that I know how to study hard enough to avoid that feeling,
for the most part. As an islander, I actually do not feel very connected to the university. I feel
like I am a student here to study and then leave when I am supposed to. The university itself has
never felt very close knit to me, as I had hoped it would as a smaller school. I normally identify
myself as a PSA student here, because I do not know what else to identify as. My
recommendation for future freshmen here would be to join off-campus activities, because there is
not very much on campus.

Spring 2020 Game plan

After finishing my first semester at the university, I am looking forward to trying new
classes. I have only ever seen a few college classrooms, professors, teaching styles and testing
styles. Therefore, I am looking forward to seeing how I can handle a new set of those. Also, I
have never taken a college-level science class with an attached lab, so I am looking forward to
seeing how I will like that. I hope to change my level of busyness and I hope to find some free
time for other activities like volunteer work or a job. I hope to maintain my GPA and transfer to
Texas A&M University College Station. I am not necessarily dreading anything besides more
time passing by in life and getting older. I am excited to see what the future holds and I am
excited to see what I am capable of.
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Final Thoughts
In general, I expected this year to be extremely overwhelming, which it was. But, because
I was so mentally prepared to work hard and excel, I did better than I expected to do and am not
worried about finishing with bad grades. I have learned a lot, but I know that I still have a lot to
learn, and I am looking forward to it. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to be here,
learning and making these memories and experiences.