Amani, ‘12

Hello hello, Prospectives!

How goes it out there in the wonderful world of college preparation?  Hearing back from schools?  Scholarships?  Nothing but good news, I’m sure  .   Just don’t forget:  in all your college mania, don’t slack off on your schoolwork.  I know I know…senioritis is a tough thing to battle, but resist the temptation to give in to it!  Trust me, all the work pays off!  It really does!

And while we’re on the subject of hard work…

My week has been full of it!  It actually started last week, on Saturday actually.  My godmother was traveling to Fayetteville, NC to conduct a workshop on college preparation and life after high school in general.  So, who do you think invited herself along?  Well, it was me, of course.  I saw a great opportunity and decided to take advantage of it because my schedule could handle it—not to mention that my godmother was delighted to have a student perspective to add to her workshop mix.  And it was great!  After having to leave my house at 4:30 in the morning and getting lost a couple of times (fun times of course ), we finally made it to Fayetteville, and I must say that the four hours of the workshop flew by!  I shared briefly on how preparing for college (and life in general) is like shooting a basketball.  How?  Well, to shoot a basketball it is important that you have BEEF—balance, elbow in (for control), eyes on the target (focus), and follow-through.  Sounds like stuff you need in college prep, and yes, even life beyond.  Well, what do you know?  Looks like we’ve got a match  .

So like I said, that in itself had me busy enough over the weekend.  But then I had to come back to school and face the two midterms and paper I had due, all on Wednesday.  The writing and studying began, even though I should have started long before I actually did.  Note:  Try your best to avoid procrastination.  It becomes a little challenging when you have things constantly being put on your plate, but I think with good time management (something I need to improve upon), it is possible.  As can be imagined, there was some stress, but it’s all past me now.

And if getting through that wasn’t enough to celebrate, I went to my Black Vernacular class today and received my first graded paper.  Mind you, this is the class that 9.5 out of every 10 people that I asked about the class told me not to take it—the professor was ridiculously hard, there was too much work, you might get a No Grade on a paper, etc.  Pretty intimidating I’d say, and I was pretty anxious to see my grade.  Well, my anxiety turned to eagerness as I progressively read the positive comments throughout my paper.  And, flipping to my sixth and final page, my eagerness flourished to elation as I saw the A- at the bottom of the page.  A minus, you might say.  I’m happy, though.  I don’t think he gives just regular A’s.  Maybe he does.  But I got pretty close, and I’m happy.  And yes, it is a big deal.  So there, to everyone who thought it wasn’t possible—I succeeded!   Now I’ll just keep going. 

I’ll leave you on this high note.  And as Dori says in Finding Nemo,  “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…!”

Amani