My First-Semester Experience

My IUPUI experience started when Coach Johnson on the Women's soccer team came to one of my games and took interest in me. After that, I visited campus and went to a few Soccer ID camps. After my visits, I knew IUPUI was where I belonged. I applied a month after I committed and got in! Flash forward 6 months and I was going to my orientation in the summer of July 2023. My orientation was very welcoming and I was able to make so many new friends. I didn't get to participate in bridge because of soccer but I'm sure it would have been just as welcoming. One significant experience I had this semester was when I hurt my MCL in soccer and I was out for a month. This was significant because I was playing good before my injury and it taught me perseverance and dedication so I could get back to the thing I love. I was able to play in the last game of the season and it felt like a blessing that I wasn't out for the rest of the season. A second significant experience I had was taking Concepts of Forensic Science. This class taught me that I had a lot more interest in the forensics area of Psychology than I thought. It helped me decide that I want to possibly minor in Forensic science while at IUPUI.
 

I have learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses while as IUPUI. For example, I went through a lot of setbacks in my soccer season this year: injury, suspension, sickle cell testing, and my boyfriend passing away. Through all this I was still able to have a good season overall which showed me my strengths are tenacity and resilience. Every set back was more of a reason to keep going and trying my best to get back to soccer and school. An example that taught me my weaknesses was when I did worse on tests after these setbacks and seemed to not care as much. This showed me that a weakness of mine is getting down on myself and hurting myself through poor studying habits when I'm emotionally struggling.

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 The biggest lesson I learned my semester at IUPUI was that no matter what I'm going through in life, I have a great support system to help me go through it all. My advisors, teachers, trainers, coaches, teammates, friends, and family were there for me through all my struggles and successes this semester. I can apply this to the rest of my life because I now understand that no matter what I go through I have people that love me and want to help me get through my rough patches. One piece of advice I would give to myself for next semester is just to be more optimistic and approach things with a more positive outlook. This will help me emotionally which will help me perform better in school, soccer, and all other things I'm involved in.