RC 2001-141

Raney Baumgardner

Final Self-Assessment

I was very nervous the first day of this class. I had no idea what to expect. The name of the

instructor for the course was still a very mysterious “TBA” and the course title Rhetoric and

Composition? To me that looked very professional, very adult, but very intimidating on my spring

semester transcript. Not to mention I had no idea what the course itself would be like, as I streamlined my

way into a second-year writing class on Advanced Placement credit alone. I do not like leaving my

comfort zone, and this class seemed designed to do just that. RC 2001, section 141, was my own personal

door into the realm of the unknown and to be honest with you? I was not eager to step through that

threshold. However, after a rather unorthodox semester full of class periods and experience, I can

confidently say that I am really glad that I did.

My journey of personal growth started right along with the beginning of the first unit of RC 2001:

Analysis of Discourse. This was my favorite unit for a couple of reasons. The primary reason is that the

whole focus of this unit, delving into the discourse of a specified professional field, allowed me to be

reintroduced to the actuarial sciences. For years becoming an actuary had been a top priority focus, and

because it was such a constant staple in my life, I slowly began to forget why it interested me in the first

place. Sure, it was high level math, and the starting salary was nice, but what about it made me

passionate? Analyzing visual discourse within this class helped re-answer this question. By studying the

ways in which the professionals of the field shared and communicated with each other, I was able to once

again fall in love with the principle ideas of the actuarial sciences, and get excited about answering

questions like, what would world populations be like twenty, forty, sixty years from now? And how can

we make these predictions even more accurate? The visual discourse analysis project, specifically the

gallery days in which we had to showcase our final products, made me grow up in a way I probably
wouldn’t have without this class. I am a very shy person, I am terrified of public speaking, and I’d never

done anything remotely like a gallery day. However, the opportunity to showcase something I’d made,

about a subject I’m passionate about, allowed me to develop much needed confidence in my ability to

communicate ideas to others. For that, I am very grateful.

Our second unit brought with it a different type of personal growth, as it took place in front of the

back-drop of a world-wide pandemic. Earlier, I expressed my distaste for the unknown, specifically things

I can’t predict, so you can easily imagine my thoughts on this particular situation. Suddenly I had to

confront a world-wide atmosphere of fear and uncertainty while still being on top of schoolwork. While

discovering, analyzing, and recommunicating an issue within the actuarial sciences, I had to confront a

major issue facing the public at large. It was hard. Being stuck at home left me woefully unmotivated, but

this class, as well as some others re-emphasized the need to keep on going, because that’s simply what

you need to do at that time. A hard lesson, but an important one, and I’m glad it was something I

experience within this class. For that, I am once again very grateful.

To end, I would just like to say that this class and the idea of this class no longer make me

nervous. I am no longer as apprehensive about the things I can’t predict, and the things I do not know. I

am more confident and surer of my decisions, both academic and personal. I have grown from the girl

who walked through the threshold that first morning.