During the story idea pitches last week, it was so interesting to see all of my peers’ presentations. It was almost like a full circle moment for me because I have so many memories of presentation days going like ours did last week, but everything about it was entirely different from what I’m used to. Besides the anxiety, that is. But, even that was so much less than it used to be just a few years ago. First, it’s really exciting to be in these upper division classes, and to be surrounded by so many talented people that are doing so much at the same time. I feel like I am the short pencil in this poster above, and this is what I’ve been waiting for. Not that I’ve been the sharpest pencil up until now, far from that, but I just feel like everything in my education up until now has finally culminated. The way these classes are structured, what we’re learning and the people I’m able to meet are all the reasons why people told me to come to college. I feel like I’ve finally reached the level of higher education that everyone was thinking about when they encouraged me to get my bachelor’s degree.
I usually hate getting up in front of any group of people and speaking. Even last semester, I would have been a wreck for the entire day leading up to the presentation because of my nerves. But, on Monday, the presentation I gave in 430 was actually the second one I gave that day! And that one went pretty well too! Were they life-changing, amazing speeches? Were they even pretty good speeches? Maybe not the most amazing, but they were a total of fifteen pretty good minutes of me doing my best public speaking to date, and I am very proud of myself for that. On top of that, I was participating pretty often for the rest of the presentations Monday and Wednesday. I am proud of that because I have struggled with participation for my entire life, and only very recently I’ve noticed myself changing slightly. I wish it was a more conscious decision, that way I’d know what changed, but I was just thinking to myself after Monday’s class that my 15 year old self would have been blown away by what I had done in class that day. That made me feel very proud of myself.
I am proud of you Maria! You did a great job in presenting! It gets easier with each presentation you make. I am very excited about your story idea and looking forward to seeing it evolve!