Reflective Journal Concerning Life in Campus - Coursework Example

Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Name 24th August 2012 Life in Campus (Reflective Journal) I sat there wondering why the environment-sensitive campaign was so much advocated for in the university than how it used to be conducted in my high school years. My first week in campus was dubbed “the environmental week” and by then I thought it was a matter of wasting time. Apart from the decorations that could be perceived everywhere within the university’s compound, everyone was wearing a green t-shirt printed with environment-sensitive words that advocated for protection of the environmental. Leon, a friend that I had managed to secure while undergoing the induction process, was as blunt as I was and his ever inquisitive nature portrayed that he was even more confused than I was. The main campaigner of the program was there in sighting other students to keep the Mother Nature and its environs as clean as it could be. While still wondering why the university administration had granted a whole week for the program, I came to learn that the university had suffered several environmental menaces. Keeping in mind that it accommodated more than fifteen thousand students, litter was seen everywhere in the campus as students overlooked the need to keep the surrounding clean. Even with the deployment of the garbage collectors, it was still hard to keep up with the ever-growing litter. The fact that the university had spent so much on purchasing litter-bins and placing them strategically did not in any way reduce litter mismanagement. Therefore, I decided to enter the venue of the campaign and listen to the host as he spoke on numerous challenges facing the campaign. By then, I saw it fair to attend the program because I realized that as much as I was seeking to ignore it, environment was going to be part of my life while still in the university. I felt that I was also obliged to keep my surroundings clean if at all I needed to learn without plights altogether. Also, Leon had perceived it safe to attend the program lest we break stringent environmental rules as postulated by the campus policies. So we took our sits at the back where every freshman had his or her sit placed. At this point in time, I wondered why the campaign was attributed to sensitizing the freshmen more than anybody else while they (freshmen) occupied the back sits altogether. So many questions kept lingering in my mind and I kept asking myself what could have happened if the university knew that the motive for which the program was initiated did not in any way meet its objectives. It is a common occurrence of educational institutions to hold such programs without keeping in mind the need to meet the goals and scope for developing it. Inside the venue, the host kept on talking about the need for keeping the environment clean and we were perturbed by the very little matter we took for granted whichif we as students could have took time performing, then Mother Nature could not have been the way it was. Such things like keeping the litter bins at our near vicinity, making sure to burn and decompose gathered litter as well as planting trees at the rarest opportunity grasped. Even though I began feeling like the environmental program had its way of impacting relevant knowledge to students about the importance of taking care of the environment, I could not hold aback especially because I was now reflecting on other approaches which could have been utilized to come up with a more sensitizing drive. I learnt that even though the university had the program conducted year-in-year-out, there was little effort put in place to catapult the need to keep the environmental “fire burning”. I felt that there was supposed to be an environmental club in place which was to be used to rekindle the desire of having the environment clean and safe for future generations. Also, I felt the need for acquiring environmental sponsors who were to provide basically financial aid to have the already created club into conducting environment-sensitive campaigns both inside and outside the campus since I learnt that the demographics living outside the campus had in one way or another succumbed to the plight of keeping the environmental clean. Leon and I choose to take the next step that entailed having the program operate even long after its ending. Our next step involved formulating a proposal plan to the dean of students whereby permission was to be granted to commence with our plan. I also thought of amassing other freshmen into the program as I knew the importance of power in population. I carried on an insightful conversation with Leon. I talked while he interrupted with talks about the matter and I could feel the desire and passion he had for the environment. We stood there still rooted to one spot as we talked and talked like two old friends that had meet after a long period of time. However, he could perceive that my conversation was serious just but to say the least. The conversation was centered on the aforementioned key topics and his ideas were fairly simple yet crucial at the same time. I even came to learn later that he was from South America and that he had experienced the menace of bad weather first hand. He kept talking about the effects of global climate that had changed the activities back home. As I sat at the dean’s office ready to enter and air my views, I kept wondering, what if the dean dismisses the whole idea and rebukes me for holding such a proposal as I was only a freshman in the university? On the other hand, I felt that I was doing the right thing and that even if I was going to be “let down”, at least I would have made a significant step into sensitizing other students about the issue at hand. Joining the university was in itself a significant step into achieving my career path. Career, like any other issue outside there is a matter of significance worth considering and I knew this as joined my freshman years. Having selected to pursue nursing, my mother always aspired to have a business graduate in her house and I took it as a challenge to fulfill her dreams. I knew that I had to search for a business career that would determine my career path. I choose to undertake the course offered by this university as I saw it fit to do so in an internationally recognized institution. Also, I was told that the university had numerous programs which ushered freshmen into various careers they chose to pursue let alone the well-established career departments that linked the students undertaking various courses into industrial attachments. I, thus, decided to visit the career department, where I met Mrs. Lorna, a middle-aged secretary who had worked within the department since the inception of the program. I took her hand as she had already raised it for a shake and without taking much time, I mentioned to her why I was there. I could perceive her hospitable attitude and the manner in which she handled other students kept me asking myself whether it was fit for me to inquire about my career path since I was a mere first year student. As if she had already read my mind, shecongratulated me for the initial step I had took to inquire the matter, reason being that “ most first year students shun from inquiring here within about the issue” claiming that they were still tender in their respective careers. She told me on the need to focus on certain subjects which were to assist my career path. She even drafted a plan for me to pursue if at all I was interested in meeting my goals. The plan indicated the various challenges that could be meet along the way and how it was made possible to avoid them. Furthermore, it constituted time schedules and significant levels I could attach to the various subjects within the course altogether. As my time with her lapsed, I felt I had accumulated so much knowledge about my career and I could not stop but wonder “what if I had, like most of other freshmen did, overlook the matter? Will I have gathered the significant knowledge altogether or was I to end up pursuing a career path that was in no way marketable in the job market? I held the draft plan in my right hand as I swung the left back and forth while heading to the hostels. I knew that if at all I was to be successful in my career path, then I was to build a firm foundation while still in fresh years lest I got poor grades and have me derailed from attaining the minimum required grades needed to pursue my course. You see, my main objective was to pursue finance and become either a financial analyst or a financial manager in reputable company. Of course, I knew that I had to work in other departments as I was to acquire relevant knowledge that was to assist me in attaining my long term objective. In thirty years to come, I knew I would have gathered reliable experience to utilize while in my area of career specialization. Although I had few doubts on the manner in which circumstances change one’s destiny, I knew that in one way or another, I was to decide for what I needed to be and in order to attain that desire then, I had to stick to the plan I had sourced from the career department. But then again as Iwas reflecting on the methods for which I was to utilize to becoming a professional in my career path, I could not overlook the need to adhere and embrace professional ethics in the course of my training period. Ethics ensures that a professional undertakes his or her area of expertise with diligence, trust and precision. For instance, in my area of specialization, I knew I needed to emulate trust, accountability and competence if I was to succeed altogether. Ethics involves doing what is believed to be right while exposing deceptions at the same time. I knew it would take a lot of effort to adhere to these elements and I was thus in for a challenge. However, I understood the rewards that came with being trustworthy in a financial institution, firstly, there was to be minimal chances of getting into the wrong side side thus being safe from penalties and loosing employment in that matter (Schon 12-45). During a one-day tour to a nearby financial institution, I could not stop but wonder whether I could emulate the staff working within the company, they had a way of dealing with people that depicted professional compassion as well as the friendly environment within the organization as a whole. The financial manager was a down- to-earth man whom I noticed I had already met long before that day. We had meet in a bus station and he seemed to have been so much concentrated with reading the financial section of the local daily. He even threw in some words to some fellows sitting behind while they argued about the current economic crisis experienced across the globe. As the afternoon slipped away, I wondered whether I could ever acquire the specific skills needed in performing the task at hand. To say the least, I figured it out that the better way to emulate the profession was by being trustworthy to my immediate friends while still in campus and that involved taking the truth and being accountable to whatever undertakings I participated in altogether. Also, I knew that for any successful professional activity constituted significant levels of maturity as well as competence since, the involved professionals had in one way or another dedicated their respective career lives to sustenance of life’s crucial principles in respect to the expectation of the society as a whole. It is safe to emulate emphatic custodianship when nurturing passions (Platts 4-15). I took my pen and paper to reflect on what I had learnt from the visit and saying the truth, it was much more than I could have learnt in class. My conscious was clear and was thus ready to formulate personal strategies I would utilize to meet my objectives. While I was contemplating this matter, Leon came rushing to me and asked whether I had meet the finance manager: he already understood my passion. I answered him that he had met me. We laughed and laughed together knowing that as a group we would make it as business professionals in the near future. Works Cited Albanese, Mark A. Crafting the Reflective Lifelong Learner: Why, What and How .Medical Education, 2006, Volume 40, Issue 4, pp. 288 – 290 Alisa, Simeral & Pete Hall. Reflective Feedback, Building Teacher’s Capacity for Success: A Collaborative Approach for Coaches and School Leaders. 2000, p.137-159 Bond, John& Ellis, Arthur. Reflective Assessment. Principal Leadership, 2011, Volume 11, Issue 6, p.32 O’Donnell, Joseph & Hatem, David. Reflections: Journal of Cancer Education, 2000.Volume 17, Issue 2, p.106 Platts, Jim. Developing Competence and Trust: Maintaining the Heart of a Profession, Professional Ethics: Multidisciplinary Journal, 2003, p.3-18 Schon, Denver. The Reflective Practioner, Aldershot, 2003, Ashgate Publishing Ltd. p.23-46 Print Read More