When I first recieved my acceptance letter I was suprised to hear that I was also accepted in the scholars program. I hadn't heard of the program at all but was intigued by the living learning aspects and the program itself.After applying to the diffrent branches of the scholars program I was accepted into the Science and Global Change Program. I was immeditely drawn to the science and global change program because of the focus on learning about the effects of climate change and what could be done to adress the issue as well as learning more about science. When I started the class I was unsure of what to expect from the class. I was expecting to mostly talking about what climate change was and for it to be a mostly lecture based class. I thought the class would be mainly based of quizes and projects. I figured that it would be simmilar to classes in university course or courses from high school. But when I arrived to class on the first day, I learned that the class would be strctured as a lecture like I had assumed but there would also be time within class to work and talk with other scholars to di oarts of class. I found that Professor Holtz and Professor Merk were great lecturers, keeping us enganged through the lecture with how they passionately talked. What suprised me was that the class grading structure was based off a combination of many things that weren't a part of other classes that I was taking. For example students were expected to go on an exursion sometime during the semster and write a report based of the trip. Additonally throughout the semester we were to design our own website using HTML in order for it to be used as portfolio for all the work we had done over our time in scholars. We also had an assignment called the metro scavnger hunt where random groups were formed and we all traveled to the museums in DC and we had to all work together to find certain objects in the museums to togther. The assignment was designed to get to know each other better and was a great bonding experience and allowed me to make some friends within the class. When class began to lecture on topics what I was most suprised about was the focus on learning about what science was. I was aware that this program was about science and global change but I wasn't expecting the large focus in the first semster to be focused on what science was and the value of scientfic though and the dangers of pseudoscience and how the spread of misinformation could be dangerous. I thought that we would spend more time talking about what climate change was and the causes behind the warming of the Earth. I was also expecting to explore a bit more about what could be done about climate change but we will be covering that topic in the beginning of the 3rd semster. I was not expecting some of the outside of classroom actvites like the exursions to New York or the metro scavenger hunt but while they were diffrent from what I was expecting I enjoyed having a diffrent learning experience.
One of the biggest changes the come with college for many is being independent and living away from home for the first time. For me personally, I was both scared of leaving home and being away from my family for the first time but was also excited to be independent. One of the parts of scholars that intrested me when I first got the acceptance was the living and learning aspects of the class. Knowing that people living with me on my floor would share some classes with me and be in the same program allowed me to get to know people better and form a community. Living in Centreville, it took some time at first to adjust to living in the dorms and having to walk further to get to my classes and adjust to new schedules and campus but overtime, as I got to know campus better I found myself getting more comfortable living in the dorms and by myself. When I imagined college life in high school, I pictured meeting a lot of new people, having much harder classes, with less support. While I had some anixety about meeting new people and trying to make friends and the diffculty of the course work, I was also excited about the clubs, taking courses I was passionate about and trying to make new friends. Living on campus has given me the opprotunity to meet new people and while I was nervous at first I quickly made new friends in my classes and dorm letting me enjoy classes and college life more. `
If I was to give advice to a future SGC student to ease them into college life, I would tell them to find a balance between school and other parts of life. There is no doubt that your classes are extremely important and that you should focus on them and not let your grades drop. But classes can be stressful and it's important to not neglect other parts of your well being like your mental health, sleep, or relationships with your peers. There are many clubs and organzations at UMD as well as sports groups to try out at UMD, finding something that intrest you and gives you a break from studying is important. Additionally spending time with friends and others is an important part of college life. Overall my adivce would be to enjoy college and try not to stress and overwork yourself.