Tag: Deliver

    Entering City Tech has certainly been a whole new world to me. Going from being in a private school, where there are plenty of restrictions and requirements, to finally being solely on my own without much advisement, has most definitely taken a toll on me, but it has also taught me a lot. My school didn’t offer any courses which would’ve benefited me in my preferred career path, so I pretty much walked into college with zero experience in anything, which also caused me to feel as though I didn’t fit in. I’ve had to get used to doing things on my own, figuring things out on my own, and overall just becoming a more independent individual.

    I’ve had a hard time adjusting, mainly because of my shyness. Public speaking, interaction with others, and basically anything that has to do with attention being solely on me, has never been my cup of tea, which is why writing has always been my preferred way of expressing myself. My anxiety doesn’t get in the way which allows me to freely and thoroughly communicate my thoughts and ideas without becoming overwhelmed with nervousness. I’ve always enjoyed writing/typing essays and I’ve always been pretty good at it. Although English 1101 hasn’t helped me much in regards to improving my skills, it has helped me gain more insight on myself as a person and opened up my eyes to new styles of writing besides just formal pieces, which is mainly what I’m used to. Looking back, COMD 1100 hasn’t benefited me significantly either, besides help bring out a few skills in me that I didn’t know I was capable of. Both classes do, however, encourage students to bring forth their own opinions and perspectives which is useful, especially when it comes to critiquing. I’m a perfectionist, but that doesn’t mean that everything I produce is going to be up to par, at least not to my standards, which is why I’m always open to hear feedback. My Raster & Vector class has probably been the most beneficial in terms of introducing me to new and useful programs/material that I might possibly use in the future. It has also been the most intriguing in my opinion.

    As a design student, I’m still on the path of figuring out the best route for myself. My interests still lie within the realm of fashion and the world of design, however, so far my first semester hasn’t quite helped me figure out whether this is the best path for me or not. I’m still confused myself as to what best suits me and my skill set, but I’m slowly figuring it out. Being that I had a late start, things were a bit rocky at first and I’ve struggled immensely with handling my habit of procrastination (which I don’t think I’ll ever resolve) but, I’ve met some amazing people and amazing professors along the way. Although my first semester of college has helped me break out of my shell just the tiniest bit, I still have a far way to go and a lot more self discovering to do.

My prior experience of writing was always analysis papers about novels that my high school English classes covered. I wasn’t interested in most of the novels that were part of the curriculum, so I didn’t feel like putting in an effort for my writing. It wasn’t until I started this semester that I was given more creative freedom in my writings. Having time to do some free writing helped me to visualize my ideas better. Most times I would get this random stroke of inspiration for an idea, but I wouldn’t knowhow to start bringing that idea to life. With freewriting, I would jot down very descriptive bullet points so I can have the best approach for my idea.

Throughout the semester, learning and experiencing being a college student really opened my eyes to how far I’ve come from being a high school graduate. The longer classes meant that I needed to put more effort in than the amount of effort I put into High School. It also meant that I should stop procrastinating and waiting until the last minute to do certain assignments since it would only look rushed and not be a representation of my full effort. The long breaks and days off gave me time to readjust and allowed me to catch up on assignments as well as start the next assignments. I also realized that sometimes I just need time away from my work and assignments to have fun and relax a bit. The workload is manageable but taking a step back helps me when I get back to work to put in my full effort.

In this major, there is often peer review and critiques which helps everyone involved to see where they need to improve on. Being able to have instant critiques from peers helped me solidify where my work needs help. Having someone review your work and you reviewing theirs creates a sort of support system for one another for improvement. Even if a peer isn’t in the same field as me, their critique gives me a whole new perspective to try and be better. I have a friend who is an aspiring writer that comes to me asking for help with a story he’s working on, to come up with creative ideas to captivate readers. We have a back and forth of him giving me ideas for my art and me giving him ideas for his stories. Doing this helped both of us with our respective projects and improve our skills.

With the semester coming to the end, I can confidently say it was a worthwhile experience to have for my first semester of college. The best part of this semester was feeling welcomed into this new chapter of my life. The first month had well adjusted me to being a college student which high school me was kind of nervous about. Now I continue to strive to better my skills within my major, in hopes of being closer to reaching my goals.

This is my first year at New York City College of Technology. I’m on the brink of finishing up my first semester in college. I’m majoring in Communication Design, with aspirations on becoming the best designer I can be. Growing up, I always saw myself as an artistic person, cause I literally viewed everything in an artistic way, I have a VERY creative mindset, and that’s what persuaded me to my decision to major in Communication Design.

I definitely learned a lot from my first semester here, both as a writer and a designer. Coming into college, I never knew design had so much more to it. I learned a lot but at the same time, I need to improve on a couple of things. “Design is so simple, that’s why it’s so complicated” – Paul Rand. Paul was an art director who is known for creating logos for companies like, IBM, UPS, etc…. I’m continuously trying to find ways I can better myself and become better at my craft which is designing. Early on in the semester, everything was a blur to me, I just didn’t really understand anything, it was my first time. But now, 4 months in, I understand Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop pretty well. When I say i’m a quick learner, I really am. My ability to grasp knowledge pretty fast, helped made my first semester an easy one.

I felt like doing the glossary entries also helped a lot, because doing that made me realize, there are so many ways to understand a word, you’re not familiar with. One word I will always remember from my this class is Juxtaposition, I never heard about that word until project 3 and ever since, I’ve realized that this word has a huge importance to a lot of things, learned about different types of writings, and different types of formats I can write in, read many articles/stories about other people’s journeys or their point of view on something. It made me more open to hearing what other people have to say on a particular subject.

Another thing that I would say improved since being in college, was my time management. I find ways for me to manage my study time, my project or homework time, and have restrained myself from doing everything last minute. In high school I was so unorganized, and everything was just fun and games for me. But when college came around, I had research papers, project after project, and tests to study for, all of which stressed me out. But I was able to keep calm and do my work. I feel like all that pressure I faced, and had to face for very little time, helped me manage my time better. I would definitely recommend the First Year Community to any first year students, it’s a great way to get your college career off to a great start. You’d be surprise as to how much things you learn in a 4 month span.