Happy (almost) April everyone! I’m currently blogging from sunny Daytona Beach, Florida with temperatures recently around mid to upper 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The weather is turning absolutely beautiful, sunny, and warm and there is only one month of the spring semester left before finals and graduation!

I am so excited to graduate and I am hoping April flies by! My schedule has been shifting a lot lately as I am finishing up some of my obligations and will hopefully have more time to spend working out and putting more energy towards my senior design class. More free time means more gym days, ROTC events, and study time! Major shifts in my schedule have been due to my ERAU Worldwide (WW) class finishing up! Not many people are aware, but you are able to take both in-person and Worldwide classes at the same time. This past semester was my first experience both learning about this opportunity, and taking a solely online course through ERAU-WW. Experiencing an intentional online course, voice my limited experience with courses that transitioned to online and hybrid versions during the pandemic, went very well! Be sure to check with your advisor if you choose to take WW courses.

WW classes typically require the same amount of coursework as normal classes, and have a greater emphasis on various papers, essays, and Discussion Posts via Canvas, the online platform all classes at ERAU use to facilitate syllabi and assignment deadlines. My first WW class was a 3-credit hour course I opted to take as an upper level humanities elective, SOCI-300 Marriage and Family. I was surprised how well the course was facilitated virtually and the communication with the professor was more accessible, clear, and frequent than some of my experiences with in-person teachers! A ‘pro’ or general positive aspect of WW classes is that the semester length varies slightly from the regular in-person semester schedule. Thus, my WW class has officially concluded and my grade is finalized and ready for my end of semester grade report!

Another aspect of my schedule changing mid-semester, that is enabling me to have more free time, is my Peer Mentor workload in University 101 winding down! Typically the busiest time of the year for both UNIV 101 students and Peer Mentors is during the preparation of Academic Study Plans. However, since those assignments have been turned-in, my Office Hours time commitment has greatly decreased and the entire UNIV 101 class will be finishing up completely in one week! I am so grateful my schedule is opening up just in time for final projects and lab reports to pick up their pace. I am eagerly awaiting the end of the semester! Keep on keeping on folks, will report back soon!