College: Ready or Not?

The topic that I have chosen to write about for my Beat Story is academics, which include and are not limited to: tuition, signing up for classes, and even some places for tutoring. Every great writer takes details from their own personal experiences to give some real insight about how it was to be in a certain situation, that may be more common than what others think. The title “College: Ready or Not” seems like the perfect fit for the story I’m about to introduce to you all.

It was the summer of 2017 in the warm morning of August; the 21st if we’re gonna be exact. I remember because there was an eclipse that day and everyone was so excited to see it with some protective lenses around noon. But the morning wasn’t what I expected. I had everything ready to go, my bag packed, and even my mom went with me on my first day to double-check I had everything I needed. But, of course, that hadn’t happened. Now, I had completed a dual-enrollment class the semester in high school before I came to college, so I had been a student, but the issue was when Lighthouse was our main source of student sign up, academics, grades, etc., I had put all of my courses in Create your Schedule. What that means is you are not signed up for classes, but you are able to see what your schedule looks throughout the day.

To my knowledge, I wasn’t the only one with the issue, as an Administrator who no longer works here and I cannot recall her name, led my mother and I into her office, and pulled up my schedule. With the click of a few buttons, she managed to move all of my Create your Schedule (it is no longer what students use to sign up, but the scheduler link is as followed: https://gulfcoast.collegescheduler.com/entry) into My Courses (https://stu-self-serv-prod.gulfcoast.edu/StudentSelfService/ssb/studentProfile).

My first class of the day with Professor Kelly Williams, who is still a professor at Gulf Coast State College today, as well an exceptional professor and person. I think she could tell I was nervous about my first “official” day of college because I was late that day. She told me that happens and not to worry, especially since we had only about five to eight of us in one classroom when I walked in. She asked me how my summer was and had us write about what we did the previous day as a sort of ice breaker to get the class going with writing. I didn’t know it at the time, but I happened to sit by one of my great friends from high school, and we spent the entire semester helping one another on how to make our writings better for Professor Williams’ class.

If I could go back and relive that day all over again, I honestly don’t believe I would. I don’t necessarily think that everything happens for a reason, but I think this was a lesson learned to slow down and be prepared for things to come.