Things I have learned in {this semester} so far

drift wood made beautiful by the elements

Things I’ve have learned in my life this far…a few reflections on the past semester.

Be quiet

I can be quite the talker and I am always more than willing to contribute to any classroom conversation. Yet, this semester I realized that my egarness to share may be inhibiting those who are less inclined to speak up in class. My disdain for awkward pauses will always come with a constant inner struggle for me to remain silent and let others speak. I don’t like dead air and feel like someone has to get the conversation started, but I’m working on letting others be that person. This, I feel, will always be an active process for me.

Ask questions (and find the answers)

I don’t know everything and would be hard pressed to meet someone who does. So asking questions is imperative. Yet, sometimes the best answer can be found by myself. Having the ability to find answers is much more important than having all the answers. I’ve found I learn and retain more information by finding the answer myself.

Relationships are important

This semester, I had class with the same people for six hours straight twice a week. And we were all together in another class on the opposite two days of the week. So, to say we’ve become like a family is an understatement. In a fairly competitive program, it would be my first assumption to think we would all become super competitive with each other. Yet quite the opposite has happened. My classmates constantly strive to make their own work stand out and it creates a positiveness throughout and pushes me to be better. We encourage each other, we laugh with each other, sometimes we air our frustrations, but all in all I truly enjoy spending time with my class.

Prepare for the worst

Murphy’s Law says everything that can go wrong will. Every major project I had due first thing Monday morning this semester came with major printing issues. Power outages, technical glitches, tornados; you name it, we encountered it. Finding ways to make projects happen after a tornado whipped through town will certainly make me a designer who can weather the storm…no pun intended.

Face your fears

Web media has been a semester long exercise in facing my fear of all things web design. I always looked at writing markup as some crazy mathematical language that I knew nothing about. But as I worked my way through the semester, I actually found myself enjoying it. And more importantly, understanding it.

While this was one of the more stressful semesters of my career, it was in so many ways one of the best. I know each semester will just continue to exceed my expectations in more ways than I can imagine. At this holiday season, I am beyond thankful for teachers who inspire, classmates who encourage, and being blessed to study something that brings me joy.