Feb. 9th, 2023
Dear Maya,
There’s no doubt that you’ve set yourself up for quite a challenge, however, when you read this letter, I feel it will only give you further satisfaction and proof that you can do hard things. This semester you’ve decided to commit yourself to your passions including looking into career paths in industrial design, spending time with friends at soccer, pursuing a diverse range of academic interests as well as beginning to learn the importance of financial stability through working shifts at Weshop. While part of the reason you signed up for CSPL was to get an additional credit boost to ensure your graduation as you attempt both the 3+2 Dual Degree Program and a University Major, hoping to encapsulate the technicality of Arts, the technology of the IDEAS Lab along with expanding the social/cultural aspects of design and innovative technology, you also picked the course to practice reflection and ground yourself at the moment.
I hope that you can take advantage of this opportunity as you’re already very much aware of what a privilege it is to even be at an institution like Wesleyan just focusing on learning and your future. This semester, even more so than last, it’s going to be important that you keep a rational head as well as institute as much balance in your schedule as possible.
Through taking CSPL405, I hope to be able to really look inwards and look at the things that I’ve already done, enjoy doing, and are inevitably helping and preparing me for a life beyond Wesleyan. I think the course gives me the opportunity to get a jumpstart on investigating and discovering everything and anything that interests me, so I hope to take advantage of that. Additionally, there are so many resources at Wes, some of which I’ve already utilized, however, some that are still unfamiliar. It feels like this course is the perfect place for me to start to begin to find my career goals and the aspects of working that are crucial to me. By engaging in coursework, I’ll most definitely get myself out into the real world and the sooner I do so the better.
Another thing that I’m hoping this course will allow me to see is the interconnectedness between my academic, personal, and professional lives as it’ll become apparent that the common denominator is me. I hope to also in this course learn how to take care of myself in order for me to have success in all three ‘sections’ of my life, as to neglect one it to be neglecting them all essentially.
While I’ve been practicing before the course, reaching out and taking initiative and asking for the resources I need, CSPL405 will help me further grow my self-confidence by regularly making me assert myself in tough situations and in order to be heard and taken seriously.
Wishing you all the best,
Maya
