Tag: 22-23 Whitney Noh

Hello everyone! Happy end of Week 8!

I am so excited to share my interview experience with Miss Stephanie Vaca. She is the UCI CalTeach Student Services Advisor, and she has been a wonderful mentor and support system for me during my first year at UCI. If you are interested in a field in education or are curious about the UCI CalTeach program, then Stephanie is one of the best resources to talk to. She is positive and wants to help you out! 

The first question I asked was, “How did you become interested in this field/career?”

Stephanie talked about how her older brother was an inspiration to her as she always would notice him studying psychology, and she was fascinated by his books. She continued with this curiousity by taking community college courses in psychology with a focus on the behavioral branch. She was drawn to the relationship part of psychology and the different ways people interact with one another. 

The second question that I asked was, “Were you part of student organizations while at UCI?” 

Another fact about Stephanie was that she is a UCI alumni. She knows a lot of the same professors that students are currently taking and understands life as a UCI undergraduate student. As an undergraduate, she was extremely invoved on campus. She was a peer academic advisor under the Education school. She was also a member of Jump Start, which was an organization that helped bridge the gap between literacy and education in underdeveloped communities. Not only was she already involved with these two activities, but she was in the fraternity, Lambda Theta Alpha, and she served as the secretary and treasurer.

The next question I asked was, “Did you overcome any obstacles or personal challenges?” 

Stephanie is such a strong individual as she academically overcame the personal struggle of being the first generation student. She learned as a young adult in college about how education at a public university does not necessarily mean that you will be at an equitable opportunity as everyone else. Because she was going through this college experience alone, she had to remain strong and advocate for herself as she did not really have anyone to lean on. During her first year this affected her physical and mental health and she not only would compare herself to her classmates, but felt socially behind as well. However, she did find her community in her involvement in student organizations and they became her support system and her site managers were even first generation students they understood. 

The last question that I asked was, “What do you love about UCI?”

Stephanie loves how UCI broadened her worldview as it is so diverse and is filled with students and faculty members from all different backgrounds and walks of live. She loves how there is always room for growth, even as an adult. She loves that everyday she gets to work with students and not only be an advisor and a mentor, but a learner and listener as well.

Stephanie, if you are reading this, thank you for sharing your story to our readers!

As always…

#ZOTZOTZOT

Dear future Anteaters, 

First of all, a huge congratulations for committing to this special university! You should give yourself a pat on the back for all of your hard work! (Also, enjoy your last couple of months of your high school senior year as well:)) 

Although I was an Undeclared major for about two weeks, I want to still reflect and share my tips and advice from this year. This first year in college will always be a core memory in my life life as it was not only a new chapter, but I feel like it was the year that I learned the most about myself and started taking steps toward my journey to my future career. It has been an exciting year and experience in college. I am grateful for my friend group, the UCI CalTeach program, and club organizations on campus. I want to emphasize the importance of getting involved on campus, as it will help bring a healthy balance of school and the social aspect of college. 

While I know it is quite early on to decide what major you are interested in, I want you to know that you have the support of your Undeclared Advisors, and that they are there for YOU. Please, take advantage of them, especially because their offices are on campus in Aldrich Hall. As an Undeclared major, you have the opportunity to explore different majors and take a variety of classes. The advisors are there for schedule planning and will answer any questions that you may have. In college, one of the best pieces of advice I would give to you is to not be afraid to ask for help. It is important to advocate for yourself and ask for help because it can relieve stress and give you insight and clarity in different situations. 

Another piece of advice would be to attend office hours that are led by your professors, TAs, and Learning Assistants. If you are interested in Biology or Chemistry, there are General Chemistry Peer Tutors and they are wonderful tutors because they have most likely taken the same professor and understand the same material that you are learning in class. They also lead helpful midterm and final review sessions. In my experience, attending these office hours have helped me understand class material in a smaller setting and there are usually no more than fifteen students in these office hours (which is way smaller than the 100-300 student lecture halls! ) 

I cannot believe that this quarter is coming to a close, but I just wanted to again say a big congratulations for committing to this university! 

#ZOTZOTZOT

Hello everyone! We are officially in Spring Quarter! First off, the sun’s presence has definitely helped, especially with transitioning back into the college life after a lovely Spring break. 

My Spring break was much needed after a long Winter Quarter. Aside from catching up with sleep, I visited my high school quite a few times (four times to be exact). You may be wondering, “Whitney! Why did you visit your high school so many times during the break?” Great question! I visited my previous math and social science teachers and also was on car pool duty (which I did not mind at all!) Because I want to be a high school math teacher, I enjoy seeing my old math teachers and updating them about each quarter in college.

 I also went on a couple hikes and went ice skating with one of my close friends (who actually goes to UCI as well:) I also caught up with hometown friends and spent the days talking about our Winter quarters and our favorite memories. Spending quality time with family was also a great plus! Family movie nights and family dinners will always have my heart! 

Here are some photos!

My specific goals for this last quarter are my time management skills with my three STEM classes and allocating sufficient time to studying for midterms and quizzes. I also want to continue going to office hours even if I do not have a specific question. I realized that office hours are a place where you can sit and listen into other peers and their questions. I also want to practice self affirmation and understand that I am truly trying my best and can pursue through the tough times. 

Because it is my last year in the college dorms, I want to enjoy every moment. I want to have a couple more dinners with dormmates, continue to greet my friends in the morning and at night, and enjoy every aspect of dorm life! 

As always…. # ZOTZOTZOT

Dear Whitney (from 10 weeks ago), 

You are about to begin a new, fulfilling, crazy, and exciting chapter in your life. I want to first start off by saying that you are going to be ok. Everything will work out even though there are a lot of unknowns about this new chapter and your major. I know that you are considering switching from an Undeclared major to a Math major. I think that if an opportunity opens up to declare, you should declare! I would keep your Undeclared Advisor updated with the decisions about your major so that if you end up switching, the process will be as smooth as possible! I know that you are worried about the quick pace of the quarter system, but remember all of the advice you received from current UCI students about keeping up with the workload and attending all of the lectures. 

Although you originally thought that you would be living in a quad and enjoying the social environment, please be grateful that you got housing and the roommates that you chose on the housing application 🙂. Second, I want you to remember that your dorm experience is what you make of it. Your new dorm hall will be social if you make the effort to meet as many people as you can (which I know you can do). Who knows, you might have someone from your high school who is in your same dorm.  (*Zot Blog readers, this is true! One of my friends from high school lives on the same floor as me in my dorm building.) 

I want to give you some advice about experiencing social life in college. I want you to know that you will have the opportunity of going out to fieldwork at an elementary school (for UCI CalTeach), you will go to the beach, and Irvine Spectrum. I also want to advise you to balance your schoolwork and the times when you go out with friends. If you want to go to an event, I would finish up any assignments before the event so that you are not stressed out and so you can enjoy every moment spending time with friends. I also want to give you a heads up about how you may start to feel FOMO from the first week of college because of the various events and activities on and off campus. I promise you that if you miss one or two events, missing one will not make or break your college experience!

Lastly, be excited about this fall quarter. It is going to go by in a blink of an eye, so make sure to enjoy every single moment. Take advantage of UCI’s resources such as the Learning and Resource Center (LARC), office hours, and the clubs on campus! From these resources, I can guarantee that you will meet some kind people and form new friendships. 

Best,

Whitney (from the future, 11/9/2022)