Wednesday, September 23, 2009

First Day of School...ever.

My first day at Anoka Ramsey Community College was Aug. 27, 2007. I was 17-years-old and college life was extremely new to me. Actually, going to school at all was new to me. I had been home-schooled for 11 grades. For my senior year in high school, I chose to take advantage of Anoka Ramsey's Post Secondary Enrollment Options program. It was an exciting, yet frightening, experience for me. I did not know what to expect. As I maneuvered myself through the hallways and floods of other students, I found each class to be exciting and inviting. It is funny to think now, how big I used to think that campus was. Anyone who has been there, would laugh if I confessed now that I had thought the trek from the business department to the science department was an impeccable feat for the 10 minutes allowed in-between each class. It is interesting to think back now on the first day, the newness and freshness of the experience. I felt so small among the crowds of people and professors, yet so grown-up, like somehow I'd graduated high school... but I hadn't yet.
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7 comments:

  1. Hannah SchottSeptember 23, 2009 at 4:29 PM

    I'm living through the same experience you lived through two years ago. I'm 17, PSEO, and home-schooled. Any more tips on how you survived?

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  2. CarissaSeptember 23, 2009 at 4:35 PM

    haha well congratulations on your achievement, it's a big undertake. I tried to stay really involved, to make a lot of friends. I was apart of the creative writing club, the campus newspaper, the Campus Crusade for Christ group, elective choir, and I participated in several study groups. It was great having the opportunity to meet so many new people. I did work especially hard on my homework, maybe because I wanted to prove myself. Grades were important to me, though I loved being involved as well. I was a little stupid second semester, and took 17 credits while working 35 hours at my job and doing a volunteer leadership position in my church - I committed social suicide lol, and nearly went crazy. I stayed up until 4 a.m. doing homework consistently. Just don't do that :)

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  3. MSeptember 23, 2009 at 5:24 PM

    One of my biggest regrets about High School was not doing PSEO! I wish I had done it!!

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  4. Rebekah PhillipsSeptember 23, 2009 at 11:20 PM

    I know exactly what you are talking about. I felt the same my first semester and I was home-schooled also. It is a lot of work to do PSEO, but I think that after I graduate it will prove to be worth it.

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  5. cass.pettitSeptember 23, 2009 at 11:21 PM

    I'm glad that overall you had a great start to ARCC. Just like everything else it gets more comfortable with time.

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  6. CarissaSeptember 23, 2009 at 11:30 PM

    yeah I honestly loved it there. I really like the school, the professors, the classes, the student activities- it was such a great experience for me. It was pretty easy for me the first semester, the second semester was hard but that was somewhat my fault :)

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  7. TeshaSeptember 24, 2009 at 1:47 PM

    Grade: 9.5
    Mistake: Should be 17 years old, no hyphens. You would use hyphens if saying, for example, 17-year-old student.

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