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Samantha Maurice-Africa
Kuroki
STACC English 1A
May 7
th
2014
Essay #5
Me, Myself, and Time
A good education is the greatest gift you can give yourself or anyone else. A famous
quote by Mahtab Narsimhan that reminds me that education is an important aspect of life. I learn
something new about myself every day. From the beginning of my first day of kindergarden to
now finishing my first year in college, I have definitely grown as a student. Starting from a
young age I realize that I had many obstacles in how I learned. Even though I had trouble
pronouncing letters and took more time finishing tests, I never quit. I overcame them and
improved a significant amount. The more I learn in school every day, the more I understand
myself as a being. Understanding my pasts has helped me embrace my challenges of the present,
that will eventually benefit me in understanding my future goals of transferring and my career
path.
Starting my first semester at Pasadena City College, I was excited to start fresh and clean
with myself as a scholar. I had many classes that were a challenge, but math was definitely a
subject that I struggled with my whole life. As I took intermediate math, my first semester at
Pasadena City College, my professor taught faster than any teacher I ever had. Luckily, I always
came during his office hours to ask any questions. Sadly, I still struggled during the exams. I
worried that I was going to have to retake the class all over again. As I communicated with my
professor, he knew I was concerned with my grade. He told me, as long as you do well on the
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exam, I will pass you. I was relieved, but still worried that there was a chance that I wasnt
going to pass his class. As I told myself that I could do it, I studied and studied. It wasnt till the
morning of the final, that I knew this was it. As I took my final, I realize that I understood most
of the questions. I hate that feeling when your professor is grading your final exam right in front
of you. I saw the red marks being scraped against my test, I knew I wasnt going to pass his
class. As he looked up at me, I saw my grade. I passed his class. I was shocked and relieved that
I wouldnt have to take his class ever again. I learned that if I ever take a math class again, I
would need to take it more than two days of the week.
As I am now in my second semester of college, I am taking a math class that meets four
times a week. Most students would hate this; however it helps me to see my professor almost
every day. I am on the verge of either passing or failing, however with a growth mind-set, I am
positive I will pass the class. A growth mind-set is when you improve your efforts and look for
new ways to learn. No matter what, as long as I do my best, I will be fine. Succeeding is
important to me, but there are times when I just didnt make it.
Even though most of the time I do succeed, there are times where I have fallen. From
understanding English as a language, I never thought of taking a second language. Spanish will
always be my least favorite and hardest subject ever! As I took Spanish 2, the beginning of my
first semester, I knew this class was going to be a challenge. Nothing is worse than not
understanding what your anyone is saying, especially when your professor tells you to, por
favor, dime lo que has hecho este fin de semana, en espaol. [Please tell me what you did this
weekend, in Spanish]. As I struggled and struggled in the class, I definitely had a fix mind set in
the class. Even though when I tried, I still couldnt make it to the grade of passing. As my
professor told me that I would have to retake the class again, I freaked out. I couldnt believe it. I
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failed. I never failed any of my classes. The fact that I would have to retake this subject again,
killed my spirit. How could I fail this class? From looking back I can say that I was extremely
fixed minded in how I performed. Fix minded is when you dont improve and loath in your
performance. As I tried to learn from this whole situation, I realize three things. First, everyone
has their strengths and weakness. Sadly mine is foreign languages, but now I understand that I
need to improve in my Spanish. I have struggled with many different problems in trying to learn
something new, but at the end I never gave up. Second, the feeling of failing is hard to face, but
when understanding how to get back up there and try again; its always a confident rare feeling to
have. As I learned from my mistakes, I realize that its time to change how I look at my
performance. I hope I do well in my second time retaking Spanish. Now I understand myself
more, and will always give my one hundred and twenty percent. As long as I know that if I
communicate with my professor, study every day, and embrace the language, I will pass. As
speaking about classes, one of my most favorite classes this year was English.
As being a first year college student, I believe the best choice I ever made was taking the
STACC program at Pasadena City College. I feel like I have improved so much in my English as
well as being a writer. Even though there was a lot of work, it just encouraged me to be on top of
my game. With understanding my weakness in writing such as comma spices, transitions
between paragraphs, and clarity, I now understand the small details in what makes writing so
proper. My English STACC class has overall influenced my writing, people skills, and growth
mind-set in influencing me to do well in my other classes, especially in what I want to major in.
As I try to pass all my classes, I seem to keep in mind my major, animation. As an artist I
learned many things about myself. I realize that I am the biggest critic to myself. Most artist hate
how they draw, but the truest artist overcome that feeling of hate, and improve in their work. As
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I started this year, taking my first digital art class, I have felt like a roller coaster of emotions
when comparing my work to other artist. I was so upset in how I drew, I almost changed my
major. This art class became my least favorite class ever. I couldnt please myself in how I drew.
It wasnt till I thought about it, should I change majors? I mean I feel like I'm just a terrible
artist. I should just become a teacher or psychologist. But if I major in something else...then I'll
never know what would happen if I did major in animation. It's like I given up on something that
I have always seen myself in. Even though it's a long process, it's worth it at the end. Well then I
should just ignore my own negativity, shut up and do it. If I want to pursue a path in cartoons,
drawings, and creating my ideas come to life, then why not. I want to be...an animator.
Wait....did I just answer my own question? I realized that I couldnt quit on my dream in
becoming an artist. All artists have different unique ways in how they draw, but no one is wrong.
I shouldnt have looked at my art pieces as trash, but as a way to improve.. I understand that even
though there are some bumps in the way, that doesnt mean I cant reach my goal in becoming a
great animator.
As I look beyond my classes and major, I have many future goals I am willing to achieve.
First I hope to become an English tutor at Pasadena City College. I believe with all the help
Pasadena City College has helped me with education and learning about myself, I would love to
help others in return. Becoming a tutor would be great for me, since I love helping my
classmates in anything they arent sure about. I also would love to just communicate with more
students in helping them understand the subject English, since its such a general education
subject that everyone has to take. This would be a great first job for me to have as a college
student. Also after I finish my two years of general education and learning about becoming a
young adult, I hope to transfer to California State University Fullerton. I have looked at their
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campus, location, and animation program. I love it there. My goal is being accepted to CSUF and
double majoring in animation and teaching. I know its hard, but Im up for the challenge. I will
do anything it takes to get to my number one school, even if it means taking a hundred Spanish
classes. I know I can do it; I just need to concentrate, study, and be on top of all my classes. This
goal seems so close by, that I also think about what Im going to do after college.
My outside goals are just as important to me in what I want to become in the future.
CSUF is partners with the famous animation studio, Nickelodeon, and thats where I want to
work. I would prefer to work with them; however I am open to any animation studio. My goal is
to have my own cartoon show and become one of the greatest cartoonist of my generation. I hope
my cartoons will help others with friendship, school, and making good decisions. As I think of
all the subject I have taken, I believe writing will be the subject that I will use the most. In
animation, I believe that a cartoon is nothing without good writing. In the past, I have talked to a
few famous cartoon creators such as Justin Roiland (co-creator of Rick and Morty) and Jay
Howell and Jim Dirschberger (creators of Sanjay and Craig), and have asked them, what makes
a great cartoon? Theyve all said, good writing. What defines as good writing? Is it getting
that 100% on an essay of the history event, The Cold War? Maybe its about the way we create
stories and characters that help relate to our audience in understanding how it feels to really
understand human being? Writing is super important for me to master as a scholar, animator, and
writer. All my classes matter to me and I know from learning as much as possible, Ill eventually
use my sources in order to succeed.
Overall from learning about Math to Spanish to English to failing to having a growth
mind-set, I can say that I have learned a lot about myself as a college student and person in this
first year of college. As I go keep pushing to get my masters degree, I know Ill learn more and
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more every day. I have definitely improved my prospective of learning with a growth mindset;
even though sometimes I fail, I dont quit. I know I have a long way to go, but Im just getting
started. The best advice I could give another college student, is that do your best and always try
to improve yourself as a human being. As I look at my past education, I defiantly am proud of
my outcomes of right now in the present. Although I am improving in my ways of studying
habits and trying to gain as much knowledge as possible, I will always think about my future.
The future is so far away, however its coming fast. If I achieve my goals in becoming a student
at CSFU and learn what it takes to become an animator and teacher, I hope I become the best
artist and educator I can be. I realize that anyone can become anything, as for now Im proud to
be a Pasadena City College student. The journey has been exciting and I hope to explore more
about life and myself in the future.









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