Jenna Williams

Honors 100
November 23, 2021
Autumn Quarter Reflection
This first quarter at the University of Washington has taught me a lot about myself. In the
beginning of the year, I had hopes of achieving the perfect school-life balance. I wanted to be
able to have lots of friends and explore the city while keeping up with assignments, clubs and
activities. As this quarter has progressed, I have realized these expectations are difficult, if not
near impossible to put into practice. Now that I know myself a little better, I know that instead of
trying to achieve this constant balance, I should prioritize what I think would be the most
beneficial to my mental health, physical health, and school life at any given time. Practicing this
mindset has been difficult but with time, I am sure it will get easier.
Something that surprised me in this first quarter in honors was my success in my Honors
230 class. In the beginning of the year, as I wrote about in my artifact annotations, I was worried
I wouldn't be able to keep up with the class’ work and conversations. This was because I was a
first year student in a class of mostly upperclassmen. However, I was able to stay up to date in
class and through many peer review sessions, started getting grades on essays and projects that I
was proud of. I was also surprised by my ability to immerse myself in a completely new area of
knowledge. I had previously only taken core classes or easy elective courses where I either knew
some of the material, or the class didn't expect much from me. In 230, I had to adapt to new ways
of thinking and researching. I am still impressed with myself for the level of understanding I
accomplished in such an unfamiliar area.
This year I have met many new people through the Foster School of Business living
learning community. Being someone who has only experienced business through DECA clubs
and competitions, it is helpful to be around people who have more experience in the area.
Through the people on my floor, I have learned of opportunities like the “Women in Business”
and “Business Ethics” clubs. This year I plan to learn more about clubs like these on campus and
join a few that fit my interests.
By the end of this year I hope to complete or have planned one of my experiential
learning requirements. Right now, I think I would either help coach a sport or study abroad. I
played softball for a majority of my life and have some experience helping coach a team which
would make this volunteer opportunity a great fit. In addition, I think the study abroad in Italy
would be very interesting as I have little knowledge of Italian society. If I am unable to study
abroad this summer, I hope to be able to sometime before my time at the University of
Washington is done. Another goal to achieve before I graduate would be to take at least one
Spanish class. Although I have taken six years of it, I have not practiced in awhile and have lost
most of my literacy and ability to speak in Spanish. Especially in business this would be
beneficial as it would allow me to participate in international business if that is something I want
to do.
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