The fall semester of my sophomore year, I took Economics 217 with Dr. Melanie Marks. The class was surrounded around the principles of microeconomics. This class was a requirement for the business core of my major. It was also the first class I’ve gotten an A- in at Longwood, which brought along its own personal challenges.

For this artifact, I have chosen a picture of my notes taken from class to represent how much meaningful information I learned.

We learned about how businesses work on an individual level and the need to make crucial decisions based upon how well the business is doing. These graphs demonstrate the difference in costs if a business were to stay open versus shutting down. One might see the state of a business and make a bad decision, unknowingly without the right information. However, with the economic background I have gained, I am now able to work through a situation and make an educated suggestion of what I think a business should do.

As Econ 217 being my very first Economics class, I learned so much valuable knowledge which will continue to help me along my educational and business careers.

I also faced challenges taking Econ 217. Even though I learned so much, at times it was hard to understand brand new concepts. I ended up with an A- in this class, making another first here at Longwood. I strive for perfection and pride myself on how well I do in school, so receiving this grade was very difficult for me; however, it helped me understand and see the beauty in learning, growing, and embracing the imperfections we make as humans. I have been more lenient with myself and caring for my mental health, realizing there are more important things in life than stressing over being perfect 100% of the time. I am allowed to get an A- or even a B because I gave it my all, and that is enough.