My Experiences: How To Be A Successful College Student

As a young male growing up in a home with both parents, I was always encouraged to attend college. The problem with that is, neither of my parents was college educated so, they lacked the knowledge to steer me in the right direction. Now that I am an adult and attending college. I had to seek advice from mentors that attended college because I have a very small window for errors. So, I as start my college career and began to apply the wealth of knowledge given to me. I know without a doubt being positive, having structure and managing downtime are three goals that will be key to my success here, at Colorado Christian University.

All of my life I have encountered people that would always find the good in everything. When I was twelve years old, I attended Hertford County Middle School and I became friends with a guy named Jacob. Jacob and I were in the band and we both played the trombone. I played the trombone because my dad played it and Jacob played because he wanted a challenge. Naturally, because Jacob motives for being in the band was different from my motives. Jacob studied and he learned how to read music before I did. And because I did not study, I would get frustrated and learning to read music was a challenge for me.

The contrast to that was, Jacob could read well but he could not play as well as I could. My sound was beautiful and crisp. If I could hear a piece played just once, I could master that piece of music and have everyone believing I could read music. Now because I could not read music, it posed a challenge when it came time to play in the spring concert held at Chowan College. Naturally, my spirit was low. I could not read music so, I had no reason at all to believe that I had a chair. But I stayed positive because Jacob taught me how to properly read music and that helped me to get the third chair for the concert. There are a couple of things I learned from that situation. The first thing I learned is if you are not properly prepared you will fail. I also learned to how schedule in study time to avoid being embarrassed because I was not prepared.

When school began last fall, I knew scheduling was going to be a challenge for me. Because I am a Father, husband, business owner, and Youth Director I have to be very intentional about everything that I do. I read an article that was so true and it opens up my eyes to the wisdom that my had and why she asked a million questions. A statement from the article said, “Most first year students do not know what it takes to be a successful college student. They know the difference between good and bad grades, but there is so much more to being a successful college student” (‘How to be a Successful College Student,’ 2017). I thank God for my wife being supportive now because when I started school, she had her reservation. And rightfully so, I had no proven before that I was capable of managing my time properly. She would call it “tunnel vision”. I would hear it all the time when basketball season would come around.

I was always guilty of accepting assignments without checking with her and making sure there were no scheduling conflicts. I would find myself trying to do much and not have enough time to get it all done. Now I have to explain why I am showing up fifteen minutes before game or I would be calling the doctor’s office to reschedule a doctor’s appointment. I found times when I had to cancel meetings at church because I was not managing my time properly and that led to members at Church wondering if I was the right one chosen to lead the youth. I had to look at the man in the mirror on plenty of occasions and do a little bit of soul searching.

I concluded that if everyone is saying the same thing, it has to be some truth to it. And I knew there was some truth to it upon a sober examination of past action. Setting up my agenda and checking the calendar on my phone, I have found this to be an intricate part of my day. There is no way I can go without it, now that I am in school. Now that I have my schedule in place, my time is not wasted and no one else time is wasted. My time with kids and wife are less stressful. My Church duties have become less stressful also because I began to delegate tasks to other youth leaders. I have school work done in the late evenings because the house is quiet, and I focus properly. I found that it is hard to do my school work if my kids are up because they will find something to talk about or just want to spend time with me. I even found a little time for me because with all of the things on my plate. I need some down time to just be me and do things I enjoy.

In my downtime, I enjoy hanging out with family, friends and the occasional shoe shopping. I talk about my family all of the time because we are so close. My girls come to me and talk about everything. I wanted to always have an open line of communication and trust with girls and son because the world is so different from the time in which I grew. I did not have access to the internet which is raising a lot of kids in this generation. My kids just recently received a cell phone because of after school activities and it is a way of communicating schedule changes. My friend is like a brother to me. He has proven to me on several occasion that he is a faithful friend through thick and thin.

We met on the job as co-workers and we are both basketball fanatics. We coached youth basketball together, became basketball referees, he is Godfather of my kids and now we fellowship at the same church. When I decided to go back to school. He was one of my biggest supporters because he always admired the relationship I have with the youth. My friend said that it had to be a calling on my life to minister to the youth because of the way I connected with kids from my neighborhood and those we coached.

In reflection, I have cited the way that I will be successful here at Colorado Christian University and earn my degree because of the experiences that I have encounter in the past, poor attitude, time management and working without taking breaks. Those experience have molded and shaped me into the man that I am today. I proud I am a man that thinks positive, better at scheduling my time and taking time out for me. Now I will be able to give my kids sound advice about the importance of having excellent work and study habits from my experiences here at Colorado Christian University.

References

How to be a Successful College Student. (2017, July 12). Retrieved from https://www.rit.edu/studentaffairs/asc/online/blog/2015/06/how-be-successful-college-student