I’ve never been so excited for the weekend than I am right now!! Wow, what a week. Classes started at Lake Area on Wednesday, we had kick-off day on Tuesday, and the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday before that I was teaching my first ever class! We had a pretty good turn out for the first ever EPIC 090 class. I think we originally had about 40 some students sign up, but we had 27 who actually came. But all of them came all three days, so I can’t complain about that!

We talked with them about topics such as mental health, time management, goal setting, study skills, financial literacy, etc. A lot of important stuff that we should all learn how to do effectively at some point, anyway. Basically, it as an adulting 101 class! My part involved student activities – of course – as a way to get some social engagement and make new friends, so we had a couple of games and ice breakers to get them rolling and talking to each other each day.

I also taught a section on how to access community and campus resources. I went through the handbook with them, we gave them a tour of the school and helped them find their classrooms, and we took them on a bus tour of Watertown. There were plenty of people in the group who didn’t know the area very well, so we took them around so they’d know where things were, such as the hospital and the clinics, the courthouse and police station, the library, Walmart, and other places they will most likely use throughout the year.

I was in charge of MCing for the bus tour and who would have ever thought that I’d be good at something like that?? I had a script ready, but barely looked at it and just went along with it. One of my coworkers was sitting next to me and halfway through, half the bus is giggling and she says I have a real knack for this kind of thing! We had the students do a review of what they learned, liked, or what we should change about each section, and there were a handful of them that said they liked the bus tour because of me! So, that definitely made me feel pretty good.

Overall, the class was a success. I was super nervous about it, because this was kind of my first time “teaching” but it went well and we had a really good group of students. Quite a few of them even stopped by my Student Activities table on Kick-Off day just to hang out and chat, which was super awesome.

The rest of this week was crazy, but I definitely felt better about it this year than I did last year. This is my second time around, and I knew a lot more information, and I answered a lot more questions students had, and overall, I think my confidence level has soared since this time a year ago, too.

I remember being the quiet new girl who was scared and had no idea where things were or who people were. I still don’t know EVERYONE here, but I know most people and I can safely say I’m not the quiet one anymore. I’ve broken out of my shell, at least part way, and I hope to keep breaking through that thing as the year goes. As the Student Activities Coordinator, I’m basically being paid to have fun, and it is so much more fun when I’m carefree and not always worrying what others think of me.

I’m the “adult” who comes to all the activities, and not all the students are going to like me no matter what I do, so I’m just going to be unapologetically myself, and if they don’t like it, they don’t have to come. There’s still plenty of other people who have said great things about the activities I put on, and I’m not going to let a few ruin my attitude for everyone else.

I’m more than ready to get this school year under way and meet new people! AND I have a whole new session of EPIC 090 starting on Monday, so I get to meet a whole new batch of students who are eager to learn. I’m excited to see what this school year will bring!

Until next time! 🙂

Megan Reiffenberger