So far, I have enjoyed this English course. It is pretty laid back, and Professor Light is actually cool. I like how the English class is more writing than reading. Some English classes load up heavy on reading which is just not a great fit for my learning style. I like the fact that we write more because it helps me to actually be doing things and being engaged. The draft days are helpful because we have the ability to focus completely on our paper and can ask questions as often as we need. The most recent peer review was very helpful because our whole group got to review our paper. It helped a lot to have four different people give feedback on how I could improve my paper. The book we read is nice because it is less of a traditional textbook and more of a humorous book. It is almost like the author is having a conversation with you. I also like the fact that we get done what needs to be done and get out early. I’m not just saying that because I like getting out of class early, but some professors finish early and then jump right into the text section and it throws off the schedule. The blogs are really fun for me because it’s a fun and laid back way to just free write. It is fun because it does not feel like a standard essay. I am looking forward to becoming a better writer.

            For the most part, college so far has been amazing. I get to build my schedule to fit my personal life, I get to go out and party with friends on the weekends, and I am for the most part free from my family. As much as I love my family, it is nice to finally be out of the house basically on my own. The food on the meal plan has actually been surprisingly good. It has gotten a little old, but I am pretty sure the University of Dayton has one of the better meal plans compared to most colleges. I also got lucky because I live in Marycrest so there is a dining hall right downstairs which makes eating so much more convenient. The basketball games might be my favorite part so far. They bring the Dayton community together like I could have never imagined. I only have had one problem with college life up to this point: laundry. Doing laundry would seem like an easy task. It seems like with the large variety of schedules that everything would line up so when you go to do your laundry it would not be busy, and you could get in and get out. Wrong. The laundry room is always busy. There is literally not a single good time to do laundry. I remember the first time I ever did laundry I was waiting so long that I fell asleep in the laundry room, and I woke up to RAs telling me I could not sleep in there. The biggest problem is the dryers take so much more time than the washers so the dryers are always full when the washers are done. Adding two more dryers would most likely fix the problem. Other than that, college is great.

            My name is Court Westerkamp, and I am currently a freshman at the University of Dayton. I am originally from Cincinnati, OH where I attended Saint Xavier High School. My family consists of me, my sister Brooke, my mom Lisa, my dad Tom, and my two dogs Bomber and Milo. Throughout high school, I was in various clubs and sports. I was on the Bombsquad which was the hype squad for our student section at football games. I was also on the baseball team, which I was cut from three years in a row until making it my senior year. At the University of Dayton, I am also involved in various ways. I am part of the boxing club, and I plan on joining some type of community service soon. Being from Cincinnati, I am very passionate about two things: Cincinnati sports and Skyline Chili. Cincinnati sports can be very hard to watch, but I will never give up on my teams. The Reds have made some good moves this offseason, and the Bengals have the first pick in the draft. Assuming the Reds live up to their potential, and the Bengals draft Joe Burrow, I have high hopes for Cincinnati sports in the near future. Skyline Chili is typically something you don’t like unless you’re actually from Cincinnati. I will never let anyone tell me it’s gross. I was raised on it, and it is delicious. Finally, I am currently a Discover Arts major because I was undecided coming into college, but I have started the process to transition into Pre-Med.

            I will start by saying I do not really have a strict process I stick to when it comes to writing. When it comes to the drafting and brainstorming stage, it normally depends on my situation. In high school, I would mainly just free write and put stuff on the page as it came to me – which is not the right way to write. As I started to learn more about writing, however, I started to construct outlines. Normally, if I have made an outline for a paper, I will be little notes on the outline and have the outline in chronological order of what I plan to talk about in the paper. Then, as I read down my outline, I just use it as a reference for what I need to address in a given paragraph and free write from there. My English teacher in my junior year of high school taught our class a great method. We would first make ourselves aware of the due date and from there we would see how much time we had until the paper was due and put various drafting stages in place. So I guess I do have a handful of good processes I like to go through when writing a paper, but I do not really have one concrete process I stick to. I hope throughout this course that I can construct a better version of my current processes if not a whole new one that I will be able to stick with throughout the rest of college and my future career.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

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