cadet blogs

So Much To Do, So Little Time

(The Cadet Experience, Class of 2014) Permanent link All Posts

One of my classmates once shared on Facebook that there are three facets of college life: grades, a social life, and sleep. And you can only choose to have two of them.

In many ways that is true. Take this weekend for example. Most people chose to use the Columbus Day Long weekend to go home to visit family or to travel around the area and have fun. I decided to go to Boston to visit friends and enjoy the city. Funnily enough I also decided to bring homework along with me. My time management skills were put to the test when I used the day to have fun and devoted the evenings as my study time. In fact, I am typing this blog post on the bus as I ride back to the Academy!

3/c year so far has had its share of challenges. I felt prepared to take on more responsibilities in the activities that I am involved in, but at the same time feel the pressure these responsibilities are putting on my academic life. I expect very high standards for myself academically and militarily, and this no doubt comes with some sacrifice. I find myself often torn between giving myself some down time and using that extra time to study. But I guess part of the Academy experience is finding that balance. For instance, I feel like I enjoyed myself fully in Boston, although not wasting any time in getting some work done!

This additional pressure that I have put on myself doesn’t come without its benefits. I feel like I have learned so much more by putting more pressure on myself to get more involved in the Academy. The peer tutoring that I started doing this year helped me get to know the 4/c cadets in my company better and helped to develop my skills as a role model to them very quickly. Through this experience, I not only solidified my foundations in academic core subjects, but also learned valuable leadership skills in helping to shape the learning of the 4/c cadets. The satisfaction that I gain from helping them is immense and indescribable.

The coming weeks are just going to be more intense. Midterms are upon us, but the semester is just heating up. There are going to be so many different events happening concurrently as everybody tries to get the most from the weeks ahead before winter is here. I will be attending and performing with the Glee Club at the Coast Guard Foundation Dinner this Thursday, which will sure be a treat for us young sailors. I will also be attending two separate conferences the week after, to the Boston Model United Nations conference and the AROW Conference in Orlando, Florida. I am very excited for the coming weeks and will be sure to report back about my experiences to the blog soon.

More about Jerry.

Posted by Leann Strickland at 2/16/2012 10:08 AM