GSU Blog Series: My Experiences, Junior Year

This is a series of blogs regarding Georgia Southern University, my alma mater. I attended GSU from the Fall of 2007 until May, 2012, when I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. These blogs will reflect facts and opinions in regards to various things I experienced, saw, or heard of while at GSU. 

I'm not a credible news source, however I do check my facts before writing them down. Below the blog, I credit the conversations with people, if any, that played a hand in shaping the body of this blog. If you have any issues with what is being said, please feel free to contact me.

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So I've got 20 minutes to crank this out on Tuesday on the East Coast.
Challenge Accepted.



So my Junior year was marked by a couple of things. One, I embarked on a new journey as an Information Technology major at GSU, as well as my first year as Section Leader in GSU's Southern Pride Marching Band. 

One kind of worked out better than the other.


I applied for the Section Leader position towards the end of my Sophomore year. It was something I enjoyed doing in high school, as I really enjoyed working with the Clarinet section. It was a good experience, and one I kinda had the desire to do again. So when one of the two Section Leaders wasn't going to be back in band, I jumped at the opportunity to be a Section Leader.

Mind you, this was also during the time of my apparent demise with the Department of Music. But surprisingly, I got the position. What made it better was my co-Section Leader was one of my good friends; she's actually my "big" in TBS, if you can imagine that.

So I went into my Junior year with high hopes of doing good things with the section. But one thing I remember being told is that, since I was a "new guy" at this, I needed to make sure I didn't overstep my boundaries, and to remember just that... that I was a Junior. Given that I've been in that situation before, it wasn't something I was concerned with at all. I knew going in that I was going to do a good job, and I would be the best that I could be.

Turns out there were others who had something to say about that.

I want to say, first off, that I love my section. We have some serious pride, and we're all about doing our best. That said, it's difficult to work under pressure, and there were a LOT of things going on around me, things that were hard for me to control. There were some issues going back and forth, people's feelings about other people, feelings of inadequacy amongst some, and above all.... I still had a responsibility to be the best leader I could. Honestly, I thought I was doing a good job. Everyone I spoke to in the section thought I was doing a good job. Thought I handled the adversity well.

Apparently that wasn't the case.

When I re-applied for Section Leader the next year, I started hearing a lot of things from a lot of people... basically, it all culminated with people saying I was a terrible leader and had no leadership capabilities at all. Basically, I sucked. Badly.

The sad part is that this came from faculty more than students.

I'm a bit biased to say I feel as though this had more to do with me being kicked out of the Department and less to do with any leadership abilities one thought I possessed. But, again, I'm biased in my opinion.

Needless to say, I applied for the remaining 3 years I could, each time being rejected for seemingly no reason. However, I never let it reflect on myself as a marcher. I did my best to help out the leadership however I could. I didn't really care; Section Leader is only a title. You can still be a leader if you want to be.



Positively, I embarked on my journey as an Information Technology major in the Fall of 2009, by far was probably one of the best things I could have done. When I "left" the Department of Music, it was pretty easy to figure out what to switch to. Information Technology, or IT, was always something I had an interest in.

I do admit it was rather scary at first, because I knew absolutely no one in that department, other than the Department Head, Dr. Gowan.... and he knew me because I was that incessant kid that e-mailed him all summer.

There were a lot of unknowns in my switch. I felt like a Freshmen again, moving around the IT Building virtually lost in the abyss of classrooms and environments. To that point, I only went to the IT Building because for the first 3 semesters I was in college, Group Piano was in one of the classrooms in the IT Building on the 3rd floor while Foy was being renovated. Otherwise, I was completely in the dark about any and everything having to do with the IT Building.

I didn't have a lot of IT-related courses that first semester, because of my timing for signing up for classes. I got in to Introduction to IT, and maybe one more class, but the remainder of my schedule was all Core, by design. I figured if I didn't like Intro to IT, I could easily move to another department.

Luckily though, Intro wasn't too bad. I enjoyed it a great deal.

I remember meeting, I believe, two distinct people in my Intro class, both of which became good friends of mine in the IT Department. They kind of eased the nervousness I felt, as it seemed like everyone else knew everyone else in the building. That alone intimidated me.

Spring Semester 2010, I dive-bomed into IT the best I could, signing up for everything I could to catch up. I started talking to a few more people, trying to get to know the people I'd be sharing classroom environments with for the next... well, eventual next 3 years. Everyone was really cool, the professors were a lot more laid-back than I was use to... and what's more, the workload was completely manageable as long as you had good time-management skills.

I felt like I wasn't doing enough. So obviously I took 16 or 17 hour semesters. Hence why I finished in 3 years instead of 4.... a decision to this day I wish I could reverse. But hey... I'm not perfect.

There really isn't a lot to talk about in regards to the College of IT. It's relatively close-knitted, the professors like you, you feel like you can get work done, and you make a difference in the world. Simple as pie.... of the Apple variety.




I'd have to say by far one of the more interesting changes that happened was being joined by friends from Camden County my Junior year. There were a lot of Camden transplants to the Statesboro area, something I had been looking forward to. I can't really describe the level of excitement, other than to say I was looking forward to it. Sure, there were a lot of Camden transplants to Statesboro when I came to GSU, as well as the year after. But, in particular, the people coming in this wave were long-lasting friends of mine.

It's complicated to explain. Bear with me.

It was an experience, I will say that. I'd morphed a bit from my 2 years away, and at first it was a bit strange for me to be around my friends again all the time. It wasn't BAD per se, but there were some things that were obviously different. It took about a week to get use to it, for the most part, but it was like old times after a while. And to top it off, it saved a great deal on gas too.

One thing, there was some serious drama that first semester, drama that had some longing effects on some friendships (and even in some cases, basically ended others). It was a learning experience for all those involved, and to their credit, my friends handled it all relatively well. It had an effect on the environment, simply because it did create a huge rift in one of my circle of friends, one that was rough to get over. Luckily though, this only truly lasted the Fall semester.... in some cases anyway.

I learned a lot about myself. In a particular case, I learned to stand up for myself when it came to expressing how I felt I should be treated as a friend. It was a bit rough, as I'm a person to readily avoid the conflict versus confront it. But, it needed to be done. It set the mood for a change in life for myself, and for the first time, I started to confront a lot of inner demons about a lot of things in my life I had begun to question...



There were a lot of cool experiences my Junior year. I was a Peer Mentor, meaning I got to work with Freshmen who were more at-risk for retention past their first year. That put me on the front line as a person to depend on and talk to, and more or less help with the process of adjusting to college life. With the exception of one, all my "Mentees" made it well past their 3rd year in school.

I was also a Peer Leader, which was conjoined with the Mentor position. I got to work with an FYE, or First Year Experience, class dedicated to particular subjects. Because of my musical interest and interest in all things general, I was partnered with Dr. Adam Con, who taught Tai Chi. I was a bit apprehensive on my first few meetings with Dr. Con, but I grew to like and appreciate him greatly. And other than one time when I overslept and missed my first section (I worked with him on both sections he taught) I would say it was a pretty harmonious relationship. AND, to top it off, I made around 10-15 friends from it, most of which I still talk to today.




Given how it started, my Junior year ended quite well. I was really happy with the outcome of everything, despite how it started. There were some other things in there too, but I chalk it up to the experience of being a 3rd year.


We'll see what I can remember tomorrow for my 4th year.