Professional Documents
Culture Documents
college experience but also to living exactly 500 miles away from what has been my home for all
of life. Growing up in a stereotypical affluent suburban school district had shaped what David
Foster Wallace refers to in his commencement address as default settings in more ways than I
knew until I moved here. There are many different types of default settings, ranging from human
nature to be self-centered to the way someone learns in school. Throughout my first semester at
UNC Charlotte, I have slowly been able to identify some of my default settings and work on
changing them in a positive way.
I am an only child, so going from having a bedroom to myself that is probably as large as
both bedrooms in my Witherspoon Hall suite combined to sharing a room with someone else and
having two other suitemates was a bit of a shock at first. I think the fact that my roommate is also
an only child helped make my adjustment easier. Both of our default settings were to keep to our
own personal belongings and to not touch the other persons unless you specifically asked. As
the semester has progressed, we became closer and closer to the point that our default settings
started to naturally change on their own. Now we feel comfortable sharing belongings and often
do not even think twice about it. My default setting from human nature of being self-centered has
now adapted so that before I do something in my suite, I consider my suitemates and how it
would affect them too.
Taking Advanced Placement and Honors classes in high school made me develop a
default setting of approaching an assignment according to the rubric in order that I would get a
decent grade on it. When I first started getting assignments this semester, it felt weird and
frustrating to not be getting a rubric with them most of the time. Professors wanted me to write
reflectively, meaning that there really was no specific right or wrong answers. It went against my
investigating what it would take for me to earn an English minor. I was pleased when I found
that I could easily fit the classes into my schedule in the years to come and that I was actually
very intrigued by some of my options of English classes I could take. I am amazed to think that I
have gone over the span of one semester from having a default setting of STEM only to now not
only believing in the value of a liberal arts education but also to minoring in English.
Similar to most people, I have a default setting of wanting to stay in my comfort zone.
For the past few years, I have been trying to slowly change this and step out of my comfort zone
more often. I believe the first major milestone in this change was when I decided during my
senior year of high school that I was going to continue my educational career here at UNC
Charlotte. I knew I would really be testing myself by going to college in a different state instead
of taking the easy route and going to The Ohio State University with most of my friends and
former classmates. Throughout my first semester here, I have had many opportunities through
the University Honors Program to step outside of my comfort zone and grow as a result of this.
All of The Yellow Birds assignments expanded my knowledge on the effects of war by having
me read and think about something that I normally would not, as illustrated in my reflection
about it.
As my first semester as a student at UNC Charlotte comes to an end, I am pleased when I
look back at all of the changes I have made in the way I think about certain topics. I look forward
to the semesters to come and all of the opportunities for growth that I have not yet experienced.