Journal #1

Who am I?

My name is Kiersten, I am from Mechanicsburg, PA and my major is Social Work with a minor in Military Science. After attending Shippensburg University I plan on going to grad school. Upon grad school graduation I hope to commission as a 2LT in the Army as a Social Worker in the Medical Service Corps counseling veterans and service members that are dealing with PTSD, or prosthetics. In addition to this, I enjoy spending time outdoors and traveling. My favorite place that I have been is San Antonio, TX. I also enjoy riding horses and overall love any species of animals! I love to run and workout, one of the best feelings in the world is accomplishing a run longer that what you have previously ran, or reaching a PR! Something else that I enjoy doing in my free time is advocating for victims of trauma. One of my biggest accomplishments with this was getting a House Bill signed into law by PA Governor Tom Wolf (Act 50 of 2018). This bill now has protected hundreds of victims in the state of PA over the course of a year!

My experiences as a writer:

In high school I began my English journey by taking an American Literature course. This was very challenging for me. However as the years progressed I began to challenge myself and take more college level classes. It wasn't until my junior year that I began to excel and get the grades that I had desired all along. Going to a high school where academics are extremely stressed and there were over 800 kids in my graduating class, I had constantly felt that academic pressure of "doing better." My writing had improved drastically and I was able to comprehend reading better. In result of this I had ended high school with a 4.0 GPA my senior year. My writing strengths are very difficult for me to identify because have been trying to repeatedly improve where I can. To go off of last semester, I had a professor that uniquely challenged me to become a better writer. She illustrated that I did a great job finding credible sources and utilizing my quote integration. However, she was always sure to express that my citations could use work. After working with her and the writing center once, I was able to receive a 100% on the final paper for her class. One of my ultimate writing successes includes writing a bill and proposing it to the PA House of Representatives for it to be voted unanimously in favor, later it was signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf. While there are a lot of things that I need to improve I feel that I have done a stellar job at identifying things one step at a time and becoming better at them.

My three goals this semester in Academic Writing:

My three goals include asking questions, being more curious and look things up that I am unsure of. I think I struggle the most with asking questions simply because I just do not like asking for help. It’s a natural instinct for me to just do things myself and figure it out myself. However, in college the underlying truth is that, when I do not understand something it is critical that I ask for help. Next, being more curious coincides with looking things up that I am unsure of. I think that I struggle with this because I am always making connections and going off of what I already know. This has previously run me into issues as what I previously known may not always be right. I can achieve these goals by holding myself accountable and challenging myself. Some conditions that may assist me along this process include guidance from others, such as professors, friends or acquaintances. My critical thinking example was an article from Martin Luther King Day that goes to explain his speech and how it has impacted society and what still needs to be done in our world today to live up to his speech. I thought that this related to critical thinking because if you look at his speech and critical thinking, just imagine what you can do with critical thinking. It is imperative to be critical thinkers in today’s society. Without critical thinking, things are done with shortcuts and not to their fullest potential. Also, without critical thinking, you are relying on your previous experiences and what you know to be true, while critical thinking is consistently improving your mind, body, spirit and most importantly ethics.

San Antonio Riverwalk

Bill signing