Reflection

At first, I thought freshman seminar would be about the history of Howard. Obviously, it turned out to be completely different. I do not understand the purpose of the topics that they chose for the course. I think better topics could have been chosen for us to enhance are critical and analytical skills. The organizational methods could be improved to ensure that all students have a clear understanding of what they are to accomplish. I don’t think this course benefited me as much as they made it seem it would. The better part of the course was connecting commonalities in the blogs from the lectures each week.

Group Presentations

Initially, our group had a hard time coming up with a solid question for the project. At first, the question was too broad. We eventually narrowed down our topic to a more specific topic which was the differences between an American education and an African education today. Overall, we communicated as a group well in the beginning, but fell off a little bit as we approached the end. However, we pulled together in the end a delivered a solid presentation. All the other groups in the cohort each gave good presentations as well. Many of them had different formats that worked for each groups’ topic. Overall, the presentations reflected the hardworking nature of Howard students.

Just the Beginning.

At the beginning of the semester...let's just say Seminar was not my favorite mandatory to graduate class. Over time, though, I grew to love it. Some Tuesdays it was just a really early class about African stuff, but once I left, I felt different--about my education, my life, and myself. Freshman Seminar taught me about a lot of things happening in my life directly and indirectly. Things we talked about in class pertained my personal life when the lecturers didn't even know anything about me. Freshman Seminar has overall made me a stronger African American, female, and person in general. I appreciate the class so much.

Freshman Seminar, its been fun.

My first semester at Howard has definitely been an experience. Late nights and early mornings have taught me the art of hard work and commitment. Entering Howard I was informed that I had to take a Freshman Seminar class. Through this class I have learned various random topics pertaining to African peoples, which has ultimately helped me look at my education in a different light. Freshman Seminar forced us students to think of education ,more as an experience, then an object. From learning about our ancestors being buried under New York, to being informed on the schools in Africa, I have been inspired and informed on this everlasting journey of “school”.

Group Presentations.

Our group was the first group to present. In our presentation, we compared American education with African education. Through our research, I learned a lot. The biggest thing I learned was that western colonization is what really frames developed African countries' education systems, South Africa in particular. The more westernized a country is, the better the education available for people is. This westernization is undoubtedly pulling Africans further and further from their roots. My groups presentations, along with the rest of the presentations taught me so much. All of them were relatable to the lectures we had in class, so everything built upon itself. Learning more detailed information about some of the lectures made things clearer to me. I appreciated that.

First Group Experience

My group project was pretty smooth. Howard University doesn’t require us students to do many group activities, which I am ultimately grateful for because I don’t like the idea of somebody else having control over my grade, so this being my first one I can say it has been a good experience. The other groups did decent, but I feel my group was superior in our efforts. I did learn a lot however, about my topics and other students’. It is truly amazing the thirst for learning that students in Africa have. If half of American students had the drive that some African students have, our country would be a more educated place to say the least. Overall the group experience was a worth while one.

My Reflection

Freshman Seminar was not one of my favorite classes simply for the fact of how early it took place. Gradually, it became more of a chore me to rise out of my comfortable bed to simply sit and listen to a 50 minute long lecture. Though attending class became tedious, I did learn some valuable information from the lecturers. Lecturers like Dr. Carr was able to hold my attention so that I could learn about things and subject I was ignorant about prior to this class. The amount of black history and African culture appreciation taught within the class was quite interesting and proved to be valuable to me.

Overall, my first semester here at The Mecca has been an enjoyable one. Though it was not necessarily easy to juggle my social life and academics, it has been a very good learning experiences. I have met many people and made many new friends for whom I am thankful. I cannot wait for the Spring semester now!

Our Presentation: Group 35

I believe our presentation went very well! We all individually came on time and prepared to discuss our research and present it to the class and our instructor. When he asked us questions pertaining to our Power Point presentation, we were able to answer them intelligently and informatively. I'm proud of our group for researching and learning about a topic relevant and important to us as well as the lectures throughout this semester.