Reflecting On Sophomore Year
As a sophomore at the University of Rhode Island, my past year has been filled with hard work, exciting accomplishments, and fulfilling memories to look back on. I wanted to reflect on my sophomore year and delve deeper into everything I have learned since September. To say this year was jam-packed is an understatement however it was so fulfilling to accomplish all that I did and am overall so proud of my year.
Before the start of the spring semester, I was officially accepted into the College of Business which was very exciting to achieve! Throughout my coursework, I have gained a new perspective on business as a whole. My sophomore year was dedicated to getting an overall sense of different business directions I could take and allowed me to explore different career paths as a whole. I took different business classes relating to the different majors within the College of Business. This allowed me to gain a better understanding of each major that is offered and allowed me to narrow down what I wanted to and wanted to learn about. Overall, I am very happy with my choice to be a marketing major after taking all of these courses. It is so fascinating to me how many directions you can take in just marketing alone and how creative the major can become. Everything that you buy was marketed and placed there by someone and I find it all so intriguing.
Besides my marketing courses, my other favorite class to take was supply chain. I was interested in learning more about the major as a whole and was excited to expand my knowledge on this topic. I felt as though I got the best information as a whole from this course and left with a new perspective on the major. I realized how vast the major is and how many channels there are. When I dove deeper into the course I was shocked to realize how much goes into each product that is either displayed in-store or online.
I also took classes in which I gained a lot of knowledge and experience in as well. During the spring semester, I took a Microsoft Excel-based course. This was an amazing opportunity to practice my skills and at the end of the course, after passing the certification exam, I am now Excel certified! This was a great accomplishment and will further help me in the career field. Having Excel under my belt will be a great thing to add to my resume and my list of skills.
I am humbled to say I was able to achieve the dean's list for both the fall and spring semesters. I work hard on my academics and continue to go above and beyond with both the faculty and staff within the College of Business as well as working with a close network of students. I give a lot of credit to my professors. They are so accommodating and whenever I have a question they do take the time to help me answer it. I also love getting to know them as well by going to their office hours. I find that teachers are much more accommodating when you are taking the time and showing effort within their classes. My biggest advice for any student is to take the time to get to know your professors and express your interest in their course as this will only benefit you for the course and in the future to have this connection. Take advantage of their office hours because it can only benefit you.
In the College of Business, I worked within the Business 101 peer mentor program. This was an amazing opportunity to both make connections with younger students and network within the faculty as well. Within the peer mentor role, I taught the Business 101 course to empower student transitions through their pivotal transition to college life. I worked within a collaborative instructor partnership to forge strong and productive student connections to form a cohesive support team for students and one another. Additionally, I collaborated with instructors to design and deliver lessons centered on essential objectives.
In the spring semester, I was then promoted to the interview lead on the mentor team. Within this role, I collaborated with the mentor team to coordinate interviews and review candidates. I scheduled and led all interviews for recruiting new mentors for the Fall 2024 semester. I created questions, hypothetical scenarios, and more to discuss with candidates during interviews and analyzed data to create reports for curriculum changes and program suggestions to the program director for the coming semester. I deeply enjoyed both working with the mentor team and getting to interview prospective students.
Additionally for the College of Business, I was a part of the welcome day program in welcoming prospective students to the college. I spoke in panels during these days discussing the opportunities within the college as well as the curriculum at hand for incoming students. I presented about the marketing program as a whole and talked about different avenues available for students to take as well. I enjoyed getting to speak with prospective students and families and I was thrilled to answer any questions they had. I overall loved speaking on behalf of the College of Business and look forward to participating in the welcome days again next spring.
In April, my sorority participated in Greek Week. Greek Week is an annual week with events each day to raise money with all fraternities and sororities on campus for a designated cause. This past semester, we raised money for the Ronald McDonald House charities, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and the Outreach Program. My team raised over fifteen thousand dollars during the week and Greek life as a whole raised over one hundred seventy thousand dollars! It was such a success and so fun to participate in!
Overall, this past year was filled with such success and I have an immense amount of gratitude for all of my professors, mentors, and fellow students who have helped me throughout the year. I can’t believe how much I loved this past year and am very thankful for all the opportunities that have come my way. I am very much looking forward to the fall semester as I step into my junior year as an upperclassman and can’t wait to see what lies ahead.
Xoxo, Jules
