A Backward Glance at First Year

Social media makes looking back on my first year at college easy. Between all of the saved Snapchats and old Instagram posts, I realize just how thoroughly I recorded the bigger memories from my freshman year. 
Over the past eight months, my statuses and photos were overtaken by participating in political protests, trying chicken feet at dim sum brunches, dressing up for countless formals, attending my first frat party, voting for the first time, and going to some insane basketball games (RIP Villanova’s National Championship title).
Although it is easy to focus on solely commemorating the big memories that I have accumulated this year, I think the things that made the biggest impact on me, are the smaller victories, the ones that never made it to my social media pages.
Like the time that I proudly stood up in my political science class and defended my beliefs in a room full of opposition. Or that day that I actually did the unthinkable and sent a dish back at a restaurant because it wasn’t what I had ordered. Or even the first time that I wasn’t afraid to meet up and conference with a professor on a paper.
While all of these minor happenstances may seem insignificant, they undoubtedly played a major role in my growth over the last couple semesters, especially in my confidence level.
In high school, and even during my first semester of college, I did everything humanly possible to avoid conferencing with teachers about papers. No matter how much I liked my teachers or how much I enjoyed writing, I always felt embarrassed and uncomfortable when they critiqued my writing.
Every mark of a red pen or questioning remark felt like a personal critique, rather than one of my paper. But eventually, I realized that although it feels like everything I write is a physical extension of myself, conferencing is a vital part of my growth as a writer, and if I ever wanted to write professionally, I had to get over this silly fear.
By my second semester at Villanova, I finally did. A professor of mine, a short and ferocious woman that is severely passionate about early British literature, broke me down repeatedly through painful conferences, ultimately desensitizing me.
Although it was a rough process, my writing and grammar improved significantly. I feel like a lot of my experiences at Villanova unfolded in this same manner. While initially, I struggled to adjust to my new home (more than I’d like to admit), I have grown to adore it.
As cliché as it sounds, somewhere between graduating high school and completing my first year of college, I feel like I have grown into a different and better writer and person in general.
I like the woman that Villanova is helping me become. I cannot wait to experience the collections of opportunities that Villanova has, to contribute to my personal and professional growth over the next three years.
 
Manyak, a local of Cape May for all 18 years of her life, is a graduate of Lower Cape May Regional High School. She is finishing her freshman year at Villanova University as English major.