I transferred to Howard University for the Spring 2020 semester and when first enrolling in Howard I was completely scared. I believe that anytime something new is presented it is a normal feeling to be a bit scared and have a little anxiety. I was transferring to a brand new school where I didn’t know a single person that went there. I grew up in Washington DC in the Petworth neighborhood so I was very familiar with the area, the culture of DC, and Howard Homecoming, because I would always ride through the, backed up traffic due to the activities on Georgia Avenue growing up but to be realistic kids where I’m from don’t go to Howard unless they are offered a scholarship because it is too expensive and Howard doesn’t offer any in-state tuition like most universities so most leave home.
The school that I attended before Howard was a small private HBCU in Raleigh, NC with less than one thousand students enroll so you can only imagine the atmosphere, everyone knew each other and it was like a big high school compared to Howard where there are thousands of students and you can go there all 4 years and still never meet everyone that goes there. I was completely nervous because Howard has always had a reputation where you have to be the cutest girls to go to Howard and have the most money to afford it but growing up directly down the street it was always a dream. I remember my senior year of high school going to Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School a public school a few blocks from Howard telling one of my teachers who was a Howard Alumni that I wanted to attend Howard and I was told that I wouldn’t get in so I shouldn’t even waste my time to apply that made me extremely discouraged of my dreams so I settled for the first college that accepted me but even though I settled I never let my fears stop me I maintained the Dean’s list while at my first university so I could get the opportunity to transfer.
On my first day on campus, I sat down with my advisor and she suggested that I enroll in this Digital Media Literacy course I was very hesitant because of the time I just knew that this course would be my worst nightmare. On the first day of class when entering the class, I was completely shocked because we started class with meditation and I had never known a professor that cared enough about his or her student’s mental state to do this. It felt like a breath of fresh air that there is a professor that actually cares about their class and as the first day of class progressed when it was mentioned that students that need help purchasing books could receive help it showed me again how much you care about your students because many students like myself with already a million things on their plate need help to purchase books. After the first day of class, I already knew that I would love the course because I knew that I had a professor that cared and as the class went on and we began to be assigned homework I began to become more and more comfortable with Howard University and glad that I transferred because it was nothing that I expected and everything that I always wanted.
This course challenged me more than any other course has, it brought me out of my shell. I was challenged to read new things that I wouldn’t think would interest me. I was challenged with the weekly assignments to include Vlog videos into my blogs and even though it is something I am interested in I am a very shy person and this helped me become more comfortable with recording myself and discussing different topics. From the in-class debate to the assignment where we had to capture random people on their phones to bring to light how cell phones affect our everyday lives. I can go on and on about the many instances that I encountered in this course that helped me grow. This course is one that I will always remember and I greatly appreciate the extra care and mile you go from your students.
Keeping up with Aja 