Honors First-Year Learning Community
Date: August 2017 – May 2018
Competencies: Values lv. 1&2, Teams lv. 1&2
Competencies: Values lv. 1&2, Teams lv. 1&2
Summary
My freshman year at MNSU, I was a part of the Honors learning community. As a learning community, we lived on the same two floors of Preska I-Hall and took the Honors FYEX class together. We also participated in a service project together, as well as participating in study sessions and learning community meetings. Unofficially, we spent a lot of time as a learning community – doing homework, hanging out, and eating meals together.
My freshman year at MNSU, I was a part of the Honors learning community. As a learning community, we lived on the same two floors of Preska I-Hall and took the Honors FYEX class together. We also participated in a service project together, as well as participating in study sessions and learning community meetings. Unofficially, we spent a lot of time as a learning community – doing homework, hanging out, and eating meals together.
Reflection
My Honors learning community was my first exposure to college – and campus life. As a learning community student, I was able to move in a day early, and spent the first evening on campus getting to know my cohort. We were a very eclectic group of students, encompassing many different backgrounds, faiths, and belief systems. It was difficult to adjust at first, coming from a more conservative background. However, it was very rewarding to get out of my comfort zone and get to know my community members, becoming friends with many of them (Values lv. 1).
A couple weeks into the semester, we were chatting during dinner about what we were going to do that weekend. Somebody suggested going to Valley Fair, and the consensus was that it was a great idea! We immediately sprung into action, researching how cheap we could buy tickets, figuring out carpooling, and setting times to head out. Having more knowledge on the subject and being very excited about the activity, I ended up being one of the main planners, and naturally stood up to be one of the leaders of the activity (Teams lv. 2).
Partly through the year, I was thinking about how my upbringing could become a stumbling block in my future leadership and team positions. It could potentially be more difficult to relate to and be empathetic with my coworkers and employees without having exposure to different beliefs and lifestyles (Values lv. 2). This would translate to more misunderstandings in communication and less efficiency. Throughout the semester, my learning community became a bit like a second family to me. We also started to work well together as a team. Whenever we had to make decisions as a group, we would usually default to a leader-follower relationship to manage the group (Teams lv. 1). I usually liked to stick back in the crowd, letting Mason or Sophie – two members of our cohort more naturally inclined to leadership through experience and personality – step up and lead.
Starting my college career in a learning community gave me a much greater exposure to all college had to offer and helped me to jump out of my comfort zone. It gave me a safe area to learn how to work as a group and taught me what I liked and didn’t like in different group dynamics. It also gave me a great springboard to jump into leadership positions, as my learning community members were very positive and uplifting, pushing me to grow into bigger and better things.
My Honors learning community was my first exposure to college – and campus life. As a learning community student, I was able to move in a day early, and spent the first evening on campus getting to know my cohort. We were a very eclectic group of students, encompassing many different backgrounds, faiths, and belief systems. It was difficult to adjust at first, coming from a more conservative background. However, it was very rewarding to get out of my comfort zone and get to know my community members, becoming friends with many of them (Values lv. 1).
A couple weeks into the semester, we were chatting during dinner about what we were going to do that weekend. Somebody suggested going to Valley Fair, and the consensus was that it was a great idea! We immediately sprung into action, researching how cheap we could buy tickets, figuring out carpooling, and setting times to head out. Having more knowledge on the subject and being very excited about the activity, I ended up being one of the main planners, and naturally stood up to be one of the leaders of the activity (Teams lv. 2).
Partly through the year, I was thinking about how my upbringing could become a stumbling block in my future leadership and team positions. It could potentially be more difficult to relate to and be empathetic with my coworkers and employees without having exposure to different beliefs and lifestyles (Values lv. 2). This would translate to more misunderstandings in communication and less efficiency. Throughout the semester, my learning community became a bit like a second family to me. We also started to work well together as a team. Whenever we had to make decisions as a group, we would usually default to a leader-follower relationship to manage the group (Teams lv. 1). I usually liked to stick back in the crowd, letting Mason or Sophie – two members of our cohort more naturally inclined to leadership through experience and personality – step up and lead.
Starting my college career in a learning community gave me a much greater exposure to all college had to offer and helped me to jump out of my comfort zone. It gave me a safe area to learn how to work as a group and taught me what I liked and didn’t like in different group dynamics. It also gave me a great springboard to jump into leadership positions, as my learning community members were very positive and uplifting, pushing me to grow into bigger and better things.
Artifact
Attached is a photo of my Learning Community.
Attached is a photo of my Learning Community.