It's the end! Of this semester, anyway. Finals are done, papers have been turned in, I've gained a few more grey hairs, but it is finally over!

I tried out some new things this semester to help me get through it as sanely as possible, and I want to talk about them for a bit before moving onto some other things about this semester. One of the things I did was to Set Semester Goals and Do a Mid-Semester Check of those goals to make sure I was one track. Here are those goals with the results:

My Spring 2017 Goals:

1. Read all my textbooks. I did read all my textbooks front to back, so that one is good!
2. Do my homework ahead of time. This started to get shaky towards the end, and in Math, I actually didn't do three chapters of homework (which were actually very small) until the day before the Final. Ouch. BUT! I didn't need to turn them in. I did them as sort of a review. However, I was still disappointed that I let this goal fall through.
3. Really get math out of the way. Yes and no. I did pass this semester's math. MORE than passed. I got an A in a math class for the first time in my life and I am so jazzed and proud of myself! Having an Assignment List and planning ahead really helped, but so did having a study schedule, doing (most) of my homework ahead of time, attending all classes, and going to tutoring. If you'd like to read about this process, click here. However, I need to take Math 25 during Summer so I can apply to transfer in the fall.
   

   For reals.

4. Be a better team leader. I don't know if I was a better team leader. I think the group project of this semester could have been done better, but it got done and we got an A, so the results kind of make it worth it. I did speak with a few people about how to be a better team leader, and I realized there was no one formula for every situation. Each team is different, and each project is different. To expect everything to work flawlessly despite your best preparations is wishful thinking at best. I think being a good team leader is understanding that there will be bumps in the road, and the best you can do sometimes is hang on and go with the flow instead of forcing things to go one way or the other. 
5. Balance school and life a bit better. Work and school worked out great. Keeping up with chores and school? Not so much. My room and car are both complete messes right now. I don't think my organizational skills have anything to do with that though. More on that below.

I think, looking back on these goals, I did a relatively good job on them. However, this semester was really hard for me. I dealt with a lot of things that I don't know if many college students deal with but I'd like to think the experience puts drops in my "resilience" bucket.

The hurdles.  
First, there was my birthday mid March. This may not seem like a big deal, but I turned 35 in the middle of my new school journey. I still have 3 years to go (which I am not happy about, my Sophomore "year" is turning out to be two years), and as much as I love school, I kind of want to stop being the 35 year old working on her bachelor's. I don't want this to seem like a complaint, seeing as I am grateful to be given this second chance. That isn't to say I certainly don't feel a little anxious to get it going!

G.Ma departed us Spring Semester 2016, and Pappy left us a year and some-odd days directly after.

Then, there were two deaths in my family. The first was a cousin who was younger than me by 3 years. I'm used to older people like grandparents dying. But this was the first time in my life that someone in my age group had died. My mortality was suddenly made so aware to me as I reached my 35 year milestone, and I got a good dose of you better make sure that what you are doing in your life is what you want. I'm an introspective person anyway, so delving into that wasn't hard. But seeing someone your age in a casket is hard on top of the grief you feel.

The next was my Pappy, my last grandpa. This hit me triple fold because he was my last grandparent to die. I am now grandparent-less. Even though we weren't close, he was a constant in my life and I suppose it goes to show that nothing is permanent. Life changes whether you like it or not and I discovered I didn't like it, even though his dying took a year and you'd think that'd be plenty of time to get used to the idea. It's not and never is. I had the honor of being the person to place my Pappy's ashes in the columbarium. 

Sometimes during your college journey you will face changes and situations that are very difficult and make you feel all alone. You've decided to go to college and be dedicated to yourself. No matter what happens, you must persevere.

But as this was happening, we learned that my mother had a different father than all of her siblings. We found out who he was, and that he died in 2013, two hours from where I was living at the time. It was hard to juggle the joy of discovery with the grief of a person you've never met and didn't know you wanted to know until the decision to know them was never yours to begin with.

Then, there were some medical issues. I had a doctor suggest I had diabetes when I went in for an allergy test. This gave me quite a scare, and looking back, it wasn't a good idea for him to casually suggest that. I spent a good part of March chasing down medical tests and doctors, only to learn that I am not diabetic and am in no danger of being diabetic, and what I was experiencing was a histamine issue related to the automimmune disease I have, Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Despite all this, I managed to keep it together at school. I don't want to say I blocked it out or compartmentalized, because I didn't. I was crying and distraught over reports and homework, trying to figure out the quadratic formula from the quadratic equation between blurry tears. I was trying to wrangle group members into participating while trying to support grieving family members. I've had to pull off the side of the road to cry like I've never cried before on the way to class or work. 

If I had not put together an assignment list or study schedule, all this would have put a serious monkey wrench in my goals. Scheduling my time and creating a buffer for emergencies really helped me out this semester. At no point during all this did I want to quit. I wanted things to calm down, and for my group members to step up, but wishing for something to happen doesn't negate the reality facing you. Sometimes you really do have to put on your big girl pants and get things done, even if everything around you is on fire.

The highs.
But, I would be remiss to leave you on that note, which many may see as negative (but please remember, being positive does not mean to ignore the reality of life which may include many dark or "negative" aspects). This semester did have some very positive results (aside from, you know GETTING AN 'A' IN A MATH CLASS!).

First, a teacher asked me to use my Child Study Paper as an example for future classes. I've had one other teacher ask me to use my stuff last year, but this paper meant a lot to me. It makes me happy to know that the hard work I've done will also benefit other students. In fact, I've also been asked to guest speak next semester. I will be presenting to next semester's CDE3 class, and explaining the Child Study Paper to them. A few teachers also asked me for advice so more students can be successful next semester. To find that my work is so respected has made me so grateful for this school experience. I want to be a teacher and am glad to see that before I am even officially a teacher my efforts are helping to guide others.

Spring 2017 ended in As for all classes and a 4.0 for the semester, and a 3.6 cumulative!

How was your semester? In what ways did you feel you could have done better, and how do you plan to address that in the future?