Engl 165-09 Fall '24

Dear Darion,

College has made your life very overwhelming because of the different responsibilities at hand. You are probably experiencing anxiety, nervous breakdowns, and trouble sleeping because you are worried about passing your classes. Although, you are stressing about college, god has put you on a journey to do accomplish goals that you did not believe that you could ever accomplish. You knew that embarking on this new challenge in your life would be difficult to maintain; however, you are staying true to yourself and not giving up because you want to change the lives of people in a positive way. If you stay in college and work hard everyday to get good grades you will be fine.During your freshmen year of high school, you did not think that you would do well in any of your classes; however, you managed to passed them with flying colors because you stayed true to yourself and never gave up. Though college is tougher than high school, you are still staying true to yourself and not looking back because you were put here to further your education. It’s okay to feel stressed and struggle in college because no one is perfect and life has its up and downs but learning from your mistakes as you go will better you for future challenges that may arise. Four years from now, you will take what you have learned and make a great career out of it. Not only will you make a great career out of it but you will come up with a device that will change the lives of people around the world. I know that you think that changing your major from graphic design to computer science was not worth it because of the extra classes that  you have acquired; however, it will be worth it in the end!

 

A Mirror From The Past

Engl 165-09 Fall '24

9/12/2024
Dear Future Self,
I want you to read this before you walk the stage to get your degree. Congratulations on all your accomplishments. I hope you had the best time in college and made memories that will bring a smile to your face when you look back, and are proud of yourself. Right now, I am a first-year student and to tell you the truth, it feels like I am in a summer bootcamp, and that I will be going back home in a few days. I guess reality has not hit me that hard yet. This should be our new tradition to write letters to our future selves. I want you to check off things in the list I will make today.
First, I hope you make your health a top priority, nothing should be put before this. I hope you got rid of your unhealthy habit of eating junk food and are now eating healthy. You should be good at drinking water and exercising daily now. I would be happy if you do accomplish these goals. Second, I hope you kept your academics a top priority because you are getting your degree. I will assume you did, and I am so proud of you. I know I suck at communication but as a communication studies major, I believe you are much better than me now. Unfortunate circumstances might happen that will cause you to change your major. If you did end up switching majors, I am glad you went with your heart and did what made you happy.
You are now preparing to enter the workforce, please do not overwork yourself. I want to travel the world, and I don’t want you to forget because I know the workforce can sometime be hectic, and people slowly start to push their dreams away and I want you to promise not to let our dreams go. I know mom is proud and will most definitely have a huge celebration dinner. I want you to write her a letter to thank her for all the support she has given us through our journey. Remember our childhood promise to work hard so she doesn’t have to worry about anything. Now it’s your job to start making that promise a reality. In life you only need one person to believe in you to be unstoppable, so I want to tell you I believe in you, and you better make me proud.
Have a great graduation and tell mom that 19-year-old Kare loves her and is thankful that she was the one chosen to be our mom.
Good Luck and love You!
Kare
 

How Does Your Experience Compare to Sarah’s–Blog Post 3 (Original)

Engl 165-09 Fall '24, Freshman

Now that you’ve read the first 68 pages of the graphic novel Freshman Year, reflect on how the experiences of Sarah reflect your own. What was your summer like before starting college this fall? Where do your experiences vary greatly? If you’ve read ahead, do NOT reflect on anything other than the first 68 pages. Remember, this is a comparative reflection. Compare your experiences to those of Sarah and then reflect on your own experiences.

 

Dear future self

Engl 165-09 Fall '24

Dear future self,
You are currently a Freshman at Longwood University studying communications. As I am writing this I want you to think back to your Freshman year and think about if you still have the same friends you did your Freshman year or if rushing was as stressful and nerve racking as you thought it was going to be. Some questions I am excited to answer in the future are, did you stick with communications or did you change majors? I know now that switching majors has been a thought lingering in the back of your head as a Freshman. Did you get into the sorority you wanted too or did you find one that was a better fit for you? Did you meet your people in college and do you still talk to your high school friends? Do you miss home as much as you do right now? Some accomplishments I hope we achieve in the future as I am writing this now, September 5, 2024 are graduating college with a 4.0 GPA, being in Greek life and being an active participant in clubs, and most importantly finding your group of people. I have many questions but most importantly did you make the most out of your college experience? Did you enjoy it? Did you get involved in school activities? Whether it be clubs, Greek life, or sports? All of those things that you went into college knowing were important goals for yourself. Were you able to achieve them? Do you have any regrets? Did you end up loving Longwood like you thought you would? I know now as I write this I say my classes are not hard and my professors are nice, did that change? Did it get more complex or did you meet any professors you didn’t make a connection with? I hope that I get to answer these questions with the most thrilling answers in the future.
 

Dear Daniel

Engl 165-09 Fall '24

Dear Daniel,

Hopefully by now you have graduated and are on the career path of business within our family company. I hope you have experienced all of what college has to offer. I expect that you have experienced the nightlife and fun that Farmville holds. I hope you have experienced meeting new people and enjoyed taking in the different cultures that come together in one place to learn and grow. I really, really hope you tried new foods from different cultures to broaden your view on foods. I hope you experienced the new academic experiences that college has to offer. I hope you joined the club baseball team and continued playing. I hope you built a team bond with the boys from club baseball. I hope you got involved in Greek life and joined a brotherhood. I hope you experienced basketball games and other sporting events to get the full college experience. I hope you found new things to enjoy with this newfound freedom, like trying a new sport like golf or going walking on the high bridge trail. I hope you have made connections to the business world to help the family company. If you decided to go back and work at the family business, I hope you landed an accounting job. I hope you have gotten your CPA license, Class A contracting license, and real estate license. I hope you have gained the confidence to speak in a public setting and in front of others. I hope you gained relationships with professors and other faculty to help with business opportunities and referrals. I hope you got internships at accounting firms to further your understanding on how to apply your accounting knowledge in a work setting. After saying all this, I hope you excelled, I hope you have succeeded in leaving college and didn’t have one regret about anything. Lastly, I hope you succeeded in finding yourself in a time of such knowledge and exploration.

Sincerely,
Your past self,
Daniel

 
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who will you be in 4 years

Engl 165-09 Fall '24

Dear future self,

 

You are currently a freshman at Longwood majoring in elementary education and so far you are loving it. Between the nice professors you’ve had so far and the amazing people you have met. A few questions I have as you look back on your freshman year are did you try things out of your comfort zone, or meet new people. Did you go out often on the weekends or did you become a homebody? Some things I’m wishing for you now are that you graduate with a high GPA, making the dean’s list, and most importantly finding the group of friends who make you laugh the most. Do you still talk to the girls from highschool or have you since drifted apart? Did longwood live up to all of your expectations or did it fall short? Did you really keep the dream of being a teacher or did something else interest you? Did you live at home all four years or did you move out? Freshman you are currently sitting with friends all doing homework and laughing talking about plans for the upcoming weekend. Some more things I have to know are: did you get involved in any clubs or Greek life during your time at Longwood? If you did end up living on campus, what is dorm life like? From what I’ve heard now it doesn’t sound like its for me, maybe an apartment would be better. If you got involved in Greek life, what’s that like, did you find the one for you, or did it not live up to your standards either? How many times did you say you would start early on your homework and then wait until the last minute to finally start on it, or did you fix your procrastination problem all together?

 

Blog Post #1: Who Will You Be in Four Years?

Academic Writing, Engl 165-09 Fall '24

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Dear Future Self, 

You are currently in your first year at Longwood University as a Nursing student. As expected, the transition into college life has been full of challenging feelings, such as anxiety and uncertainty. On a more positive note, you are currently feeling extremely optimistic toward your future here. You have found comfort in the little town of Farmville and the beautiful campus it has to offer. I am confident that this feeling of comfort never faded for you and has only grown over four years. Is that the case?

A more specific part of this transition that you found difficult is determining the best way to balance all of the academic responsibilities at hand. Furthermore, you are finding it difficult to develop study habits that will serve you best in each course you are taking. Therefore, I hope that you have been able to figure that out for yourself and have used them throughout all four years. In addition to that, hopefully you found a way to divide time between all responsibilities, leaving time for yourself within all of them. 

As a Nursing student, you are currently aware of the difficulty the next four years is going to bring you. Did it end up being as bad as everybody makes it seem? Despite any hardship, I trust that you stuck with it and avoided giving up on yourself. I hope that you have come out of it confident in your abilities and are ready to bring them into the real world. Ideally you have now had a successful outcome on the NCLEX, and therefore have earned your official nursing license. I wish you the best of luck in your next journey of finding a job opportunity. I am very curious to find out whether you stuck with the original specialty you wanted to pursue or if you have found a passion for another one. 

The aspect of life that I hope you have grown in the most is your social experiences. Although the main purpose of college is to learn and help build a career, it is not the only one of college. That being said, I truly hope you allowed yourself to get involved in something other than your own studies. It could be as simple as getting to know more people and forming life-long friendships. Whatever they may be, I hope you went as far as getting involved in clubs and finding new hobbies to occupy your time. Seeing that you have always enjoyed service, and you are making a whole career out of it, I am hopeful that you found a way to get involved in it somewhere on or around campus. 

Most importantly, I hope you are genuinely happy and are satisfied with everything you accomplished over the last four years. 

Best Wishes, 

Present Self

 
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Tyler Weiss, Who Will You Be in Four Years? (Blog Post due, Thursday, Sept 5th, Groups 1 & 3)

Engl 165-09 Fall '24

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Dear, Tyler Weiss

I hope you are doing well during your time at Longwood University and I hope you’ve accomplished all the goals we’ve set for ourselves. As I am writing this letter after just starting my freshman year I am filled with excitement and determination. I know that these next few years will be challenging for you, but I also know that they will be incredibly rewarding for you. There are a few goals that I’ve set for you that I want to make sure you stay focused on, so I am writing this letter to remind you on what is important.

First, I am committed to succeeding in ROTC. I know this program will push you to your limits but I determined to complete this and it is something that I am passionate about. I want to develop good leadership skills and discipline and that will help me not just in the military but also in civilian life. I hope that by the time you read this you have grown both physically and mentally and have taken on leadership roles within ROTC.

Second, Getting good grades is a priority. College is a time to learn and grow mentally and I want you to make the most of every class I take. It is going to take hard work and you will need to focus and there will be many late nights but I am determined that you will excel and sacrifices like that must be made in order to succeed. I hope that you’ve stayed organized and have managed your time well, and I hope you take some time to look back at where you started and to know that you gave your best efforts in every course.

Finally, As a History major, I want to take a dive deep into my studies and truly understand the intricacies of the past. History is more than just memorizing dates and events, it’s about understanding the forces that have shaped the world that we live in today. I hope that you’ve had the opportunities to engage with your professors and have participated in class discussions, and maybe even contribute some original research towards the field. I want you to be proud of yourself and the History Major you will become.

I know that there will be times where things are tough and the goals that I have set might seem to feel out of reach. But you need to remember why you started. Remember the passion and drive that you possess and how it is going to fuel your way to success. Keep pushing forward and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I believe in you, and I am excited to see all you strive to become.

Sincerely,

Tyler Weiss

 

 
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Who Will You Be In Four Years?( (Blog Post due, Thursday, Sept 5th, Groups 1 & 3) Academic Writing, Engl 165-09 Fall ’24

Engl 165-09 Fall '24

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Dear future me, I hope that firstly, that you thoroughly enjoy where you have found yourself. I hope in your time at Longwood you have built many strong long lasting friendships though clubs and classes alike. I hope you have expanded your knowledge and problem solving skills by way of rigorous coding projects and extensive research into textbooks, PDFs, papers, and lectures. One of the main goals I Have for you is to figure out where exactly our computer science major will take us. Currently I’m overwhelmed by everything from the extremely specialized fields to the broad, all encompassing jobs. I expect as you take more complex and in depth classes you will have found your niche.I hope you have also taken advantage of the very welcoming environment, broken out of your shell and are talking to new people regularly , and have jumped into getting involved on campus and have even joined many clubs, some of which might be long time activities you have partaken in such as card games but others which you are just trying for the first time maybe an art or photography club, as there will not be a better place to step out of your comfort zone than here at Longwood. Also you have hopefully joined a recreational soccer team on campus to stay active and balance school with personal hobbies. I assume you have supported the many school sports teams here by attending games and prep rallies. A relatively small goal I hope you achieve is to spend time walking High bridge trail and getting out into nature, maybe on the weekend. I hope I take the time to dig deep into subjects that intrigue me via the library and its extensive catalog. In 4 years I hope you have found you had the opportunity to thrive and learn and you took it.



 
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Who Will You Be in Four Years? (Blog Post due, Thursday, Sept. 5th, Groups 1&3)

Engl 165-09 Fall '24

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Dear Future Self,

Over the course of your four years at Longwood, I hope you have gotten to accomplish all your goals while enjoying the college experience. Although the most important thing to me is to obtain a degree in Elementary Education, getting involved in Longwood traditions and building relationships are also a major part of what college is about. I hope that your journey at Longwood is more than just attending classes and doing assignments. There are so many opportunities to learn about what you are curious about and establish bonds with people.
During my first couple of weeks here, I’ve already made many new friends. I can imagine that the bonds will only grow over time. As part of building connections and getting involved, I hope that you join a sorority. Being part of a group is good for socializing and having a sense of belonging. It’s an opportunity to meet new people and try new things.
Another hope I have for you is that you learn a variety of new things. I don’t just mean doing well in your classes, or getting good grades. I hope that you learn in depth about topics that were taught at a surface level during high school. College is where we get to learn about things that interest us. Even though they are not always fun topics, having a wide range of knowledge will be useful later.
Above all else, I hope that you spent your time at Longwood growing into the person you want to be. I’m not quite sure what that looks like yet, but I think that during college you will have discovered yourself. If you got involved by participating in Greek life, hanging out with your friends, joining in on Longwood traditions, I have no doubt that you have had fun and made lifelong friendships. If you spent the time to understand and apply what you learned during college, then you should feel confident and ready for the next step in life.

Sincerely,

Freshman you

 
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