Dry Dry Run:

As a Sophomore in college at UNE, I’ve been through enough school to recognize that I can always improve upon my academic self. For me, going down this path made the most sense because it integrates pieces of a professional self and personal self by making me go outside my comfort zone and experimenting with ways I’d like to better myself in general. I feel I don’t need personal improvement as much as I need academic improvement; not to say that personal improvement would deter me from going down an academics-based path, but my academics definitely help me think higher of myself and therefor incorporate personal-improvement into the mix anyways. Academic improvement has helped me improve my own critical thinking and analytical skills, both of which being gateways to career opportunities when I graduate from UNE. After being in classes in high school that weren’t challenging me, I got used to the fact that I’d probably never have to try and be good enough for school- especially in an environment where all of my friends were taking AP classes and were constantly either helping me with my homework or putting me down for not being as smart as they were. I did robotics for four years throughout high school, and while I love my hometown friends and hold them in high regards, they are pretentious and thought little of my academic self. They’d avidly put me beneath them, and because of that I thought their idea of me not being smart to be true. I was told by everyone around me that I’d never amount to anything because I wasn’t academically smart enough to be at their level. My family hadn’t helped either, constantly saying that I was their “incompetent” daughter and comparing me to my younger brother. But there are no levels, this façade that people put up to seem smart is a social construct- it’s like how Einstein said “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”, and this has always applied to me since the way I was taught in my upbringing just wasn’t my learning style. Originally, I was a bio-science major throughout my my first semester of my Freshman year at UNE. I had only chosen bio-science as my major because all of my friends back home had gone into science-based fields, and I wanted to amount to something in their eyes. But I ended up switching to the English major in my second semester at UNE; and when I had come out about this to my friends back home, they barely supported me- saying that the English major was so easy that it made sense I’d go into that over bio-science, as if the two are even comparable. Because of my surrounding environment and these factors, I’d given up on trying to improve myself by my Sophomore year in high school; and only after my second semester of Freshman year at UNE over the week of spring break did I start actively participating in classes and trying in school overall. While I had really wanted to improve my grades after a rough first semester, life had different plans for me. I had wanted to look at my second semester as if I’d be turning over a new leaf with the major I wanted. But life had different plans and the first half of my second semester at UNE proved to be harrowing. There had been an accident in my family, and I had gotten an infected wisdom tooth which caused me to miss about two or three weeks’ worth of classes. I found myself truly reflecting as I was put on academic probation over the week of Spring Break. I’d made up 20 assignments in one week and had decided that instead of caving to these ideas that I wouldn’t make it anywhere, that I’d carve out my own path that my friends and family couldn’t taint with the idea that I wasn’t smart or capable. Looking back, improving my academic self has definitely been an ongoing goal I’ve had all my life- but it never fully took root until now since no one is telling me that I can’t achieve being what’s deemed as “smart”. After this past Summer break where I decided to stay on campus working at the library, I was set to start fresh as an English major with no limitations unlike last year- over this past Summer I had time to shape my mindset and I immediately came back and started utilizing UNE’s support systems now that they were in my grasp. Even now as a Sophomore I find myself not scared or intimidated to use SASC or schedule more meetings over office hours with professors. I work at the library and only study during the hours I work there, and I schedule meetings with counselors so I can keep my mental health in check as well. I also find that using my calendar has given me the most support so I can keep myself accountable to deadlines and I know what is due and when. My biggest goal has always been prioritizing academic time over social time, and I’ve finally begun doing that this semester.

Reflection of my Dry Dry run:

For the dry dry run of my speech, I asked my room mates to listen to me talk. I already knew I had pacing issues, and that the speech was a bit long in general, but with more practice I can at least help myself with eye contact. My roommates said that it felt rushed since I knew it had to be in a certain time frame and that it was quite a bit over four minutes long. They also said how I needed to make more eye contact, but I’m certain that by the time the final speech presentation comes around I’ll be better with that- and the speech will be shorter. They said that they did like the message my speech gave off, but that it centered more around myself than relating with the audience. They also said that I was very vulnerable which is always appreciated when giving a speech- I felt as I was writing that I shouldn’t be placed on a pedestal so I could relate to the audience more. I didn’t have much charisma in terms of body language, but when I memorize the speech, I think that’ll work out better.

Dry Run:

Much like all of you, I’ve been through enough school to recognize there is always room for academic improvement. I’m a Sophomore English major here at UNE, and for me, going down an academic path made the most sense because it integrates pieces of a professional self and personal self by making me go outside my comfort zone and experimenting with ways I’d like to better myself in general. I feel I don’t need personal improvement as much as I need academic improvement; not to say that personal improvement would deter me from going down an academics-based path, but my academics definitely help me think higher of myself and therefor incorporate personal-improvement into the mix anyways. Academic improvement helps improve critical thinking and analytical skills, both of which are gateways to career opportunities when we graduate. Back home I was told by everyone around me that I’d never amount to anything because I wasn’t academically smart enough to be at their level. In high school I graduated with a 1.9 GPA, and with my dad going to Princeton and all of my friends getting into MIT and Cornell and Harvard, it felt like everyone kept me around so they could feel better about their academic selves and flex their knowledge to me. But what I learned is that there are no “levels” to being smart, and this can go for anyone. If you have an English teacher you hold in high regards, that doesn’t mean they’re suddenly amazing at math. Or if you yourself have a friend here who’s really good at their pre-med major, which I hope they are I mean that’s important for their future patients, chances are they’ve definitely needed help with English homework. As someone who works in the library, I’m constantly seeing people with medical based majors ask for help with English-based classes- which I always find funny. This façade that people put up to seem smart is a social construct- it’s like how Einstein said “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”, and this has always applied to me since the way I was taught in my upbringing just wasn’t my learning style; I’m a very hands-on learner, and I was brought up around teachers who were very auditory based. Originally, I was a bio-science major throughout my first semester of my Freshman year at UNE. I had only chosen bio-science as my major because all of my friends back home had gone into science-based fields, and I wanted to amount to something in their eyes. But I ended up switching to the English major in my second semester at UNE; and when I had come out about this to my friends back home, they barely supported me- saying that the English major was so easy that it made sense I’d go into that over bio-science, as if the two are even comparable. Because of my surrounding environment and these factors, I’d given up on trying to improve my academic self by my Sophomore year in high school; and only after my second semester of Freshman year at UNE, over the week of spring break, did I start actively participating in classes and trying in school overall. After that break, I was scared to put social time with my friends over academic time, as if integrating any social aspect would have to have been cut out altogether to focus and learn. But I found that all of my friends in Maine were here to support me, and instead of being held back I felt pushed forward academically. Together we utilized the library’s resources with their study rooms and databases, and we’d go there so often at the end of last year that it helped me get a job there over this Summer and into this school year. I’ve learned that not only can improving your academic self help improve your personal self, but also your professional self. While I had really wanted to improve my grades after a rough first semester, life had different plans for me. I had wanted to look at my second semester as a Freshman at UNE as if I’d be turning over a new leaf with the major I wanted. But life had different plans and the first half of my second semester proved to be harrowing. There had been an accident in my family, and I had gotten an infected wisdom tooth which caused me to miss about two or three weeks’ worth of classes. I found myself truly reflecting as I wasn’t passing any of my classes over Spring Break. I’d made up roughly 15 assignments and had decided that instead of caving to these ideas that I wouldn’t make it anywhere, that I’d carve out my own path that no one could taint with the idea that I wasn’t smart or capable. Over this past Summer I had time to shape my mindset and I immediately came back and started utilizing UNE’s support systems now that they were in my grasp. As a Sophomore I find myself not scared or intimidated to use SASC or schedule more meetings over office hours with professors. I work at the library and only study during the hours I work there, and I schedule meetings with counselors so I can keep my mental health in check as well. I also find that using my calendar has given me the most support so I can keep myself accountable to deadlines so that I know what is due and when. My biggest goal has always been prioritizing academic time over social time, and I’ve finally begun doing that this semester.

Dry Run reflection:

For my Dry Run I was so nervous to actually go up and present, but at about a minute in I felt more at ease as I was getting accustomed to the amount of eyes on me. When I presented in Professor Miller’s public speaking class last year, I found that what always eased me was that five or ten minutes after you present, no one will even remember since the speeches aren’t that significant compared to other things that people have going on in their lives. Taking a step back has always helped me secure my footing when giving speeches, but I still felt that my pacing and lack of eye contact was a problem. With more practice I hope to improve, and I need to get better at breathing techniques so I know when to slow myself down. I didn’t sway as much as I did last year, but maybe that’s because I was so dependent on looking at my paper and getting my speech right. I felt that I projected nicely with my voice since most times I’m rather quiet, but I wasn’t that charismatic with my hand gestures, so I feel that body language improvement could help.

Reflection as a whole:

As someone who has taken Professor Miller’s Public Speaking class last year, I’ve grown fond of the class structure. With so much preparation and rehearsal, I feel it would be hard not to do well on this speech. Watching over the video that was taken of me while I presented my Dry Run of this Lone Wolf Speech really relaxed me and grounded me, facilitating in my reflection of how I could do better with pacing and posture. Using that as a guideline really helped as I rehearsed over the two weeks that followed. While I was still quite nervous presenting, I felt confident because of how often I rehearsed and checked my body language as to not look closed off when I presented. Not to mention constantly being able to look back and reflect on something instead of not having structure really helped. I feel that the peer review process and drafting stages only helped my speech grow as I found myself able to take and give feedback- an important lesson that everybody should learn. I’ll always find myself rehearsing and checking my pacing and body language since nonverbal social cues are just as important. Something I found myself struggling with, however, would have to have been audience connection since it wasn’t something that I’d found myself actively thinking about.