Dear Students,

I would first like to say welcome to college! I too am a non-traditional student, and actually

have been out of school for 6 years now. It took a lot of courage to be where youre at, trust

me Im still experiencing it as we speak. Therefore, I commend you for being brave enough to

make the first move by furthering your education. If youre in Paul Lerdahls class, youre

headed in the right direction. This class has given me a huge head start in college, and I have

picked up great habits along the way. One of them being managing my time, which I believe is

such a great thing to endure within your first semester. You learn how to prioritize your time

within your social life, homework, and any outside activities. This strategy is very helpful in

many ways and has affected me in positive means. I now see how much time I spend doing

things I dont need to, and or it also gives me spare time to accomplish the things I do need to

do. I have benefited from time management so much that I find myself preparing for things

ahead of time. I write lists of things to do now and Ive never done that before. I believe this

will be very fundamental to you attending school again.

Another very essential piece of information we learned throughout this semester in

class was having a plan. Most of the time when we do chose to go to college we dont fully

have it figured out yet. With that, we would need a plan even if it were temporary or a short-

lived plan. Planning what we want to accomplish or achieve while attending college will give

us an idea to start out with. In Mr. Lerdahls class we were to meet with an advisor and set

out a couple of semesters or two years of classes that we might be taking while attending

SLCC. This has pushed me to know where I want to start out at least, and if anything changes

I can always alter my plan. The point is that I have a plan, and I can choose to follow through

or adjust it at any time. I firmly consider this to be a strong suggested advice to take in
because it has helped me tremendously. It is the most efficient advice I have been given this

year and I only hope you are able to take heed to it. Especially, being able to see a career

school counselor, if youre like me it will be your first time meeting with one because of this

assignment of setting a plan. I dont think I would have ever gone to see one at all if it werent

for this assignment. However, I love going to see my counselor as often as I can for any

questions or concerns I have about college. Theyre very trustworthy and helpful, I would

recommend seeing one and building a healthy relationship in order to gain better knowledge

of what you will be doing at college.

We learned about virtue as well, and focused on one in particular of our choice to

work on. Personally, for me it was more of becoming a better person by improving the virtue

I chose. This has helped me better myself as a person and believe it or not but as a student as

well. Having a great uplifting virtue to remind you to become better usually made me

perform better. That has made me perform better in the classroom, and I was noticing it. It

was a great technique in my case for starting out college with a clear mind.

We watch a lot of inspiring videos in class, and the most miraculous one I felt a

personal connection with was the Dewitt Jones videos. They were very encouraging and

motivating as a new student. He said so many things that made sense for me and it was just

what I needed to hear. His videos made you interested in thinking outside of the box instead

of the norm, and in very optimistic ways. I hope all these things I have mentioned will assist

or benefit you in anyway possible as not only a new student, but a non-traditional one as

well.

Best of luck,

Rontee Latu