Throughout my studies at Goucher College I have always had a very individualistic mindset. My classmates were not my friends or resources but rather my competition. I never wanted to appear weak or less than enough in their eyes because I want to be thought of as smart and independent. I dreaded group work and needing to socialize with the other students because I rarely felt that I could level up to them. And when I sat down in Being Human in the beginning of the semester, I was nervous about all of the group work that I would need to do. I would rather fail on my own, then be the weakest link in a group; so I pondered withdrawing from the course. The group work started out slowly, and I found myself becoming much more comfortable both participating in class and in groups but when the Collective Values Project was explained I thought there was no way that our loud, and sometimes unfocused class could work together, but it actually …show more content…
Overtime we have learned to listen to each other and work together. Most of the people in this class I now consider to be my friends and not merely my classmates. The friendships and connections that we were creating during these picnics did not end when class our did. Whether it was going to the gym together after class or going to grab dinner or even just saying “hi” to each other on Van Meter, our connection had grown. I believe I contributed to this by always prioritizing my presence at these picnics and listening intently to my friend’s stories. In our project’s simplicity we were able to be open and honest with each other, which is something that I have always had to work on. I’ve always been very closed off and untrusting of people but this project provided an opportunity for me to show parts of myself that I usually would not. This project’s main focus was on how our class works internally together but I think through this process I was able to work internally on myself as