Seeking and Achieving

Dear incoming freshmen,

I will soon become a sophomore in college; I am here to tell all of you my experience as a college freshman. I started in the fall like all of you and you are probably feeling overwhelmed already, knowing how much work has to be done. I was also just as overwhelmed and scared when I first got to college. I had no one to hold my hand and help me; I had to seek for help on my own. Even though I was scared, I found my way around college pretty fast. Right now,all of you are probably thinking of giving up and dropping out because of how scared you are, but I am here to tell you all that college isactually fun and full of great experiences.

One of you right now are probably taking remedial classes and wondering why you were placedin that class or even more, feeling like a failure. It is okay because I felt that way as well. I was one of the few people to take remedial classes during their first year of college, and trust me, it sucked. I felt like a failure and wondered why I had to take remedial classes. It was not until I actually took remedial classes that I realized how much I lacked in my writing. I was really bad at it and I admit, I still am, but I have learned methods to help me get through college writing.

In college,you will have to write a lot. You will be surprised when teachers make you write in a class that is not English. However, is not that bad, it isactually a helpful experience. When all of you are done with remedial classes, you will be thankful for taking that class. I was surprised how much remedial classes helped me develop as a writer. I learned to seek for help, something I was always afraid to do. College was a handful of great experiences; it helped meovercome my fear ofwriting, which of course,I could not have done it without my remedial classes and professors. Thanks to the First Year ExperienceProgram, I was placed in great hands with awesome professors. I havenot once regret being part of the First Year Experience. If allof you do not know what this is, you should look into it. It helps all freshmen students to have an easy transition from high school to college.

I was blessed enough to have been apart of classes,in which teachers were excited to help me. Iovercame my fear of seeking for help because for the first time, I actually found professors who were eager to help me. I developed my personality in writing. I went from taking remedial English to now almost finishing my English 101 class and it feels amazing. To know that I was once part of the remedial statistics and overcame it, felt great. I was told to never give up and take chances in my writing, and that is exactly what I did. I took a step forward on opening my mind, thinking positive,and overcoming the fear of seeking for help.

That is why I can tell all of you that regardless if you are put in a remedial class, it is better to be a part of a statistic in which you better yourself than the statistic of dropping out. I know we all feel like we should not belong in remedial classes. Maybe we should notbecause we did not realize how serious that placement test actually was, but just like you, I wished I would have taken it serious. If I knew it was going to affect me in college, I would have taken it serious and probably not end up in remedial classes. To all of you freshmen who actually took it serious and were stillplaced in remedialclasses, do not feel like a failure becauseyou will receive many helpful tips and information and it will only make you a better writer.

Believe it or not,you will all get an easier transition to college; I know I did. Now that I have finished my remedial classes, I know what my weaknessesare and what I lack in writing;it helps to know this because atleast I am not turning in a paper receiving a grade not knowing what I could improve on. Reading this you might notice that I still have common errors and I should be ashamed of myself, but if one of the many things I learned in college is to never be ashamed of what you are bad at because there is alwaysalifetime to improve.

I know it is hard, but college is not a piece of cake. I doask all of you to think for a second of how amazing a college can be if we were to get involved and join things that are going to benefits us, just like when Ijoined the First Year Experience. There is plenty of help that can benefit and guideall of you to become successful and gain a great college experience. Never give up and overcome your fear. Trust me, we all have a subject we are bad at, but if you seek for help, you will do great.

Thank you,

Diana Reyes