These past two years have gone by so quickly, and I feel like I have grown since my level two reflection. My 300 and 400 level English courses, particularly ENGL-390 and ENGL-477, were essential in my completion of my senior thesis. 390 helped me hone my research skills and stretch my writing ability, and 477 allowed me space and time to complete the project.

When my class of then-juniors were first told we would be writing a rather hefty and researched senior thesis, we were stunned and overwhelmed to say the least. We were to be the pilot class, so there was a lot of uncertainty when it came to what we were expected to do for the project, its scope, and how we were going to pull it all off by October of our senior year. However, under the guidance of good professors, we were able to settle on our projects and start the process of creating the most extensive written work we would write in college.

I had a bit of an easier time choosing my project because of my experience in the university honors program. These courses were a regular part of my semester schedules from freshman year until the first semester of my junior year. Honors as a whole taught me to be a better thinker and a better researcher. Throughout the courses, I was preparing for a big senior year project. This put me at an advantage when I entered into ENGL-390. My strengths in the class were largely the results of the rigorous coursework and training I did prior. I was a strong researcher because I was practiced, and I was very well-versed in determining good sources and properly writing source annotations by my junior year. Compounding upon this knowledge, 390 and 477 tested my ability to apply these skills.

In 390, during the project planning phase, I struggled to decide on the direction of my project. Through several discussions with my peers and conferencing with the professor, I was able to find out how to narrow my focus. Peer reviews helped a lot with this aspect of the project. I appreciated the many opportunities for my peers and I to trade papers and talk through ideas, thoughts, and feelings about how our project was going. My peers were generous and kind in their criticisms, and they were able to catch both little and big things that I was missing or things I overlooked. We also aided each other and encouraged each other to be proud of our work and keep writing and researching and questioning with purpose and passion. We helped each other overcome our insecurities as writers and thinkers, and we were able to work through our weaknesses with each others’ support. In ENGL-477, we furthered our projects and did a lot of independent work. It took a lot of tenacity to continue to finish strong and complete my thesis.

Some future academic and career goals include first working as a high school English teacher for a while, and earn a Master’s in Business Administration in order to further my career as a school administrator. But for now, my main focus is on building my teacher toolbox and learning how to structure my classroom and pedagogy to best serve whatever school I end up in.