Goal 2: ENGL 150
ENGL 150, or Freshman Composition, is part of the second General Education goal at Longwood University. Because I chose to complete this course as part of a Dual Enrollment program at my high school, the credits transferred to the university and I was exempt from taking the course during my freshman year at Longwood.
I took the course through J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, which was the partner school for my district’s dual enrollment offerings. The professor made sure we spent one semester of the course focusing on learning to read like college students have to, with the increased amount of work they have to do throughout the semester. The second half of the school year was devoted to writing papers and essays that qualified as professional, college-level content.
Below, I have included an artifact from the course, in which students were asked to write a report/review of something they were interested in. The professor’s goal was to expose us to other forms of writing than the standard five-paragraph essay. I chose to write a review of the 2005 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic, Pride and Prejudice. At the time, my review received a good grade and I was pleased with the content. However, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t change anything about it now. I’d probably add in more information and quotes, as well as cleaning up my grammar a bit.
In some regards, I felt that this class did prepare me to go into college English courses because the professor was very particular about what he liked and he was a pretty tough grader. Therefore, he didn’t let us slack on our work quality. However, there’s also a part of me that still believes no one is ever truly prepared for college until they experience it.
Because I am an English major, I have had to take more English courses at the university than other majors would typically have to. My experience in English/Literature courses didn’t stop once I’d completed Goal 2 on my General Education checklist, and the upper level English courses continued to get more detailed and advanced as I progressed in my degree. I don’t know that any Freshman Composition class could’ve fully prepared me for that, but I am thankful that the English professors at Longwood have helped me in any way that they possibly can. They made sure I had everything I needed and they have prepared me as much as they can for the day when I become an English teacher myself.
If there’s anything I learned about myself during this process of taking a college course in high school, it’s that college isn’t something to be afraid of. When you have helpful professors and resources, success is achievable and knowledge can be gained from the experience. While this course didn’t prepare me for everything I would experience in college, it did usher me to the doorway and showed me that I had nothing to fear.
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