This year has been long, difficult, and stressful, but I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Coming to UCI, I was set on achieving personal growth and academic success. Although it’s hard to really measure things like growth objectively, I can say with certainty that I have at least achieved my goals to some extent. In high school, I really wasn’t as involved as I should’ve been. I preferred to do only what I could to get by, and although I did participate in extra curriculars, I never felt like I was making the most out of my time. I wanted to make sure college was different and that I’d take advantage of all the opportunities this school provides.
My number one priority throughout the year was transferring from UU to Business Administration, and although I have yet to apply for the change of major, I am on track to apply next quarter. I was able to get all but one of my prerequisite classes out of the way this year, and I was able to maintain a 3.9 GPA while doing it. I know it’s pretty lame, but this is probably the thing I am most proud of accomplishing this year. I knew college would be a step up from high school, both in terms of workload and course difficulty, but I am happy to be able to say that I’ve handled the transition well. As I prepare to move onto sophomore year, I hope that I can continue to find academic success and seek out more and more opportunities. I owe a lot of my success though to UU administration and the counselors who were always happy to help me work out any course confusions I may have had. I especially want to thank counselor Andrea Licata and the First Year Excellence Program for always being there to help and encouraging all of us to get involved and be successful. The philanthropy project that Andrea organized ended up being an amazing experience, and I’m so glad I was able to be a part of it.
In terms of campus involvement becoming a part of ZotBlog was definitely an opportunity that I’m so glad to have taken. Although I was hesitant about extra work on top of regular classes, writing for the Blog never felt like work at all. In fact, it has been so cathartic in the sense that it gives me time to reflect on how I’ve progressed this past year. It’s so easy to get lost in the quarter’s rapid pace, but this served as a real way to take a step back and chill just for a bit. It’s also helped me establish relationships with my UU peers and faculty, all of whom I am so thankful for. As a new student, it’s reassuring to be able to relate with the struggles as well as the successes of your peers. I couldn’t have asked for better partners than Nancy and Josh, and I’m so excited to continue forward with both of them through the coming years. Of course, I can’t forget to give thanks to our wonderful counselor Lauren as well. She is one of the most chill and friendly counselors you’ll ever meet, and made sure we were all comfortable at the beginning meetings when everything was still unfamiliar. If any of you first year Anteaters are looking to get involved on campus, (which you should) I urge you to consider applying to be a ZotBlog writer.
As I close out this year and come to the end of my final post, I just want to say that I sincerely hope that Zotblog has been able to provide you all with some entertainment and useful information. I also wish the best of luck to our future writers . I’m sure we’ll be in touch next year 🙂 If anybody has any questions about UU or anything at all really, don’t be afraid to hit me up on Facebook or anything else. I should come up if you just search for Brandon Ro. I suppose with that, it’s time to say goodbye. I really wish all of you the best of luck here at Irvine.
