Farewell
So, you have all come this far. This is the 16th week of the semester and marks the end of a learning period. You will be very busy taking finals and maybe turning in assignments that may have been short-term or long-term. You will be preparing for final exams and your concern will be raised. You will walk into the final, take the test, and it will be over when you walk out of the room (or you log-out of the online final). Regardless of the results of the tests, which are important, you have remained in a class (or classes) for a whole semester and you should be proud of this fact.
You have made it to the end of the semester and managed to complete learning activities with the load of all other factors that surround your lives. Whether you are very young without the responsibility for others, or an older student with a host of expectations from others, or anywhere in between, it isn’t always easy to keep school as a priority. School and life demand daily sacrifices. But, once you have found that school will bring you a path toward a goal that is of importance in your life, by the end of a successful semester you can be assured that you have completed one more step towards your goal. So, it may be time to celebrate and enjoy the period of vacation from school you have earned before the start of the next session. Or, maybe the end of this semester marks the end of an educational goal when you would have earned the acquisition of a certificate, an associate’s degree, or a transfer. May be you came back to finish a few classes to fulfill requirements that open the door towards a higher salary, entrance into graduate school, or a lower division requirement for a bachelor’s degree. Or maybe you took a course or courses to enhance your personal growth. Either way, you deserve to be congratulated.
So, what have you learned in this class? HD 101, College and Life Management works on the premise that all of us build skills that help us play a successful learning game at school and integrate other factors that affect us in life. From managing your time, to taking notes, to study skills, to proper nutrition, to being a critical thinker, to learning about college rules, etc, you’ve had the opportunity to learn a comprehensive program that provides for you a set of skills to be successful. All these skills are given with the premise that you are the author of your own life, your actions and the consequences of those actions. No single suggestion works the same for all students. By opening your approaches to trying different ways of achieving an objective, you become the ultimate decider of what works for you. Knowing that there are alternatives to tackle objectives will help you adjust to situations that may be different than what you have encountered in the past. Many of the skills suggested in the course may have been just an affirmation of what you have already mastered. Either way or anywhere in between, being exposed to master student skills will always be positive even if it is a review. In any event, my hope is that you found the material helpful and that you can acknowledge that by the end of this course you think in a more optimistic way about your potential to be successful in school and life.
Finally, I will like to point out that any skill that you wish to master will need dedication and devotion to it. This means that you have to use it and practice it. As unique as we are as human beings, we are far from perfect and our efforts usually translate into results. The critical factor then is effort. Hopefully, you make decisions that lead you in such a way as to use the best talents you have. Using your best qualities usually makes efforts less steep and better motivated. Also, keep in mind to always find time for yourself so as to achieve a balance among all the activities you do. I for one, sometimes wish that life was not always about a job, a paycheck, bills, expenses, and consumption. Why not rest a little more, be a bit less concern with schedules and time, why not be content with one less thing to buy, why not do more activities that are self-satisfying rather than contributing towards a business of sorts to make a living. Well! To change the world is difficult and as a master student, I can only take responsibility for my own deeds and then earn the right to find the time for my own ideals. Maybe, somebody wins the lotto and become a professional idealist. However, counting our blessings, there will be satisfaction in the jobs we choose by either helping others or creating something that has worth to human beings. Either way, life has its beauty in the challenges we conquer even if some days you may choose to sleep late and not do much of anything that may be defined as work. Quite often, balance is the key.
I will like to wish each and every one of you much success in your future endeavors and thank you for your efforts that contributed to your completion of this class. May you be blessed by the powers that you believe in and find happiness in what you do, even in days when things are a bit rough. Live your life with goals in mind and work towards those goals one day at the time.
Sincerely,
Luis M. Echeverría - Counselor