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Validation to Gain Confidence
As you grow older, becoming more independent is always an idea that constantly changes. For myself, my independence has grown the most when I started college because of having college-level classes throughout the day and my part-time job in the Office of Academic and Student Affairs. The main thing about my job is that you never know who is going to come in at any time. My desk is located at the very front of the office, so I am the first person that someone sees when they enter. Each visitor that comes in has their own situation or issue. There are a lot of times that I may be the only person in the office when someone comes in, so it is up to me to figure out a solution to the person’s problem. College-level courses have made me grow independently as well.
An example of a course I took that made me grow more independent was Sociology 101. In this course, we learned about what types of people live in our world and why people choose the lifestyle in which they live. The first goal/learning outcome that the course syllabus states is, “To allow the students to investigate and explore the wonders and dynamics of our societies through the eyes of a sociologist in order to better understand the world that we live in.” On a daily basis, we often ponder on the thought of why we do certain things or why certain things happen. This course really helped me understand this concept we face daily.
One of our assignments for this course was to write a research paper on how we believed was the proper way to discipline children. During high school, I hardly had the opportunity to write research papers based on my personal opinions, so this was a relatively new challenge for me. Everyone in the class, including myself, had their opinion on the topic, but researching evidence to support our argument was the part of this assignment that was challenging, which is what made my independence grow. I went to the Medford Library outside of class and log into various databases to find sources that supported my argument. After conducting hours of research, I found studies showing that corporal punishment is an effective method to discipline children. Therefore, I had evidence to support my opinion on disciplinary methods for children. Finding research studies that validated my opinion made me feel more validated in my opinions and feelings.
College has really helped me build my confidence, which has lead me to do new things, such as becoming a peer advisor. During freshman orientation, each peer advisor has their own set of jobs/responsibilities throughout the day in order for orientation to be successful. I was responsible for setting up lunch and guiding my group to each session throughout the day. We worked as a team to make freshman orientation happen, but it takes everyone fulfilling their own duties to make it as successful as possible.
Another way college has made more confident in myself was becoming the treasurer of the Student Government Association. As treasurer, I made sure that our budget was adequate for the events that we wanted to host. This was a huge responsibility, because our budget determined whether or not we could hold a certain type of event. My position as treasurer had two components, which were making sure each event was financially possible and to discover the best budget for every event we held. This duty made me more confident in myself because we had the finances to host every event that we planned. I always check behind myself, as well as stay connected with our campus business manager, to verify the budget we had throughout the year.
It’s difficult to try new things in life whenever you are not confident in yourself. You can do many things to build up your confidence but growing and becoming more independent is vital to maturing as an individual. New challenges that you encounter in life make you become more independent. Often more than not, it’s the most challenging things in life that make us grow more independent. Taking Sociology 101, getting a part-time job, and becoming involved in student government and freshman orientation were things that not only made me more independent, but guided me in becoming more successful in my future.
As you grow older, becoming more independent is always an idea that constantly changes. For myself, my independence has grown the most when I started college because of having college-level classes throughout the day and my part-time job in the Office of Academic and Student Affairs. The main thing about my job is that you never know who is going to come in at any time. My desk is located at the very front of the office, so I am the first person that someone sees when they enter. Each visitor that comes in has their own situation or issue. There are a lot of times that I may be the only person in the office when someone comes in, so it is up to me to figure out a solution to the person’s problem. College-level courses have made me grow independently as well.
An example of a course I took that made me grow more independent was Sociology 101. In this course, we learned about what types of people live in our world and why people choose the lifestyle in which they live. The first goal/learning outcome that the course syllabus states is, “To allow the students to investigate and explore the wonders and dynamics of our societies through the eyes of a sociologist in order to better understand the world that we live in.” On a daily basis, we often ponder on the thought of why we do certain things or why certain things happen. This course really helped me understand this concept we face daily.
One of our assignments for this course was to write a research paper on how we believed was the proper way to discipline children. During high school, I hardly had the opportunity to write research papers based on my personal opinions, so this was a relatively new challenge for me. Everyone in the class, including myself, had their opinion on the topic, but researching evidence to support our argument was the part of this assignment that was challenging, which is what made my independence grow. I went to the Medford Library outside of class and log into various databases to find sources that supported my argument. After conducting hours of research, I found studies showing that corporal punishment is an effective method to discipline children. Therefore, I had evidence to support my opinion on disciplinary methods for children. Finding research studies that validated my opinion made me feel more validated in my opinions and feelings.
College has really helped me build my confidence, which has lead me to do new things, such as becoming a peer advisor. During freshman orientation, each peer advisor has their own set of jobs/responsibilities throughout the day in order for orientation to be successful. I was responsible for setting up lunch and guiding my group to each session throughout the day. We worked as a team to make freshman orientation happen, but it takes everyone fulfilling their own duties to make it as successful as possible.
Another way college has made more confident in myself was becoming the treasurer of the Student Government Association. As treasurer, I made sure that our budget was adequate for the events that we wanted to host. This was a huge responsibility, because our budget determined whether or not we could hold a certain type of event. My position as treasurer had two components, which were making sure each event was financially possible and to discover the best budget for every event we held. This duty made me more confident in myself because we had the finances to host every event that we planned. I always check behind myself, as well as stay connected with our campus business manager, to verify the budget we had throughout the year.
It’s difficult to try new things in life whenever you are not confident in yourself. You can do many things to build up your confidence but growing and becoming more independent is vital to maturing as an individual. New challenges that you encounter in life make you become more independent. Often more than not, it’s the most challenging things in life that make us grow more independent. Taking Sociology 101, getting a part-time job, and becoming involved in student government and freshman orientation were things that not only made me more independent, but guided me in becoming more successful in my future.