College Freshman- Survival in the pandemic
I am Arieana Rodriguez, a proud freshman at Montclair State University. I am a commuter and I am majoring in journalism. My academic goals include having 3.0 GPA by taking the time out my week to study at least 8 to 11 hours a day for each class. I have been building my personal brand by work and joining clubs. In school, so far I joined the woman’s basketball club and looking into joining photography and writing clubs. Unfortunately, clubs and activities are being shut down because of the pandemic but I plan on joining through zoom to discover different options of activities and clubs. I do participate with helping my church and soon I will be writing newspapers for our representation. I also work as an assistant for a small owned black business called Boujie. This is a place where I have a chance to not only work under a clothing line but to create my own line as well. She gives me a chance to share and give my ideas to the table and is giving me an opportunity to start thinking about and creating my own business.
Passion and Interest
I express everything through my writing. Anything I do, how I feel, the world problems, I write about all of it. I love to play most sports but my favorite sport is basketball. Basketball is where I display core values such as resilience, hard work, and teamwork. I am able to use those values both on the court and when I am working at my job or school. I displayed these values when I was working on my project for my journalism class. I always thought this wasn’t enough or that wasn’t good enough until I started gaining recognition for my work. I noticed that I was just trying to be a perfectionist. At that point I thought to myself and thought I need to give credit to the work I have and stop being stuck on one thing. This picture was one of the first I took for one my first projects in my journalism tool kit class. Taking this picture made me realize this might be another way I like to express myself. The rose I took a picture of remind me of myself. A rose, naive and blooming in her own space, with her passion growing on side of her, while everyone else is bind together somewhere else.
Investing and Getting involved
About 15 years from now I have a vision to have my own business. My job has inspired me and has sparked many ideas that I can incorporate for my future business. I’m also interested in becoming a script writer/screen writer. From there I would like to advance from being a writer to becoming a director and creating and writing my own shows and movies. To start, I am gaining experience and meeting new people so I can be accustomed to expectations and meeting different types of people. The picture above is where I work and while working I also embedded my work from school to my work place. Meeting new people gave and still gives me new opportunities because I get to spread my talent and actually show people what I can do. This is my work space, where I can create and explore.
GRIT and Long-term Goals
Grit is perseverance and passion for your long term goals. I am very passionate and persevere when it comes to taking action towards my goals. It’s about the amount of effort you put into anything you do. Put 100% effort in all you do so you’ll have a 100% chance of succeeding. A great motto to live off of is “You get what you work for, not what you wish for” because nothing actually comes easy in life. My biggest motivations right now is my mom, high school coach, my boss and my nana. They are the four strongest and hard working women I have in my life fight now. My nana is the oldest but she is a lady of pride and fashion. I recently just met my boss but she taught me that even though mistakes are made they aren’t really mistakes but they are made to create better. My coach is the creator of my physical mindset, which is why i’ll never give up on something I love. Lastly, my mom, the woman who raised me into being the best I can be and no matter what test and trails come my way she’ll be the only best friend I will ever have. Taking those values from these women had helped me see a better future for myself and I will only continue to work harder in order to perfect my future for success.
