{"id":856,"date":"2026-04-25T04:18:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T04:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/?page_id=856"},"modified":"2026-04-28T20:53:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:53:56","slug":"reflection-5","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/reflection-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection #5"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I started the Community-Oriented Digital Engagement Scholars (CODES) program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville now going on two years ago. I remember coming into the CODES orientation freshman year feeling so many mixed emotions. I was scared, nervous, excited, hungry, and a little tired too. I was worried about who would be in my cohort, who my teachers were, and just so many intrusive thoughts that kept me spiraling. Was I smart enough? Or creative enough? Would I fit in? These thoughts had me sweating as I walked in, late by the way since I got lost trying to find the building. However, after getting there I realized that this was college and also a program where you aren\u2019t meant to fit in. From the get go, you want to be different; stand out against the grain because not fitting in is how you rise to your potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, going off of that, my biggest takeaway that I got from this experience of CODES is that I should never dampen who I am as a person, and I should instead take my personality and put it into the work I want to accomplish. Everyone does things a different way, so it&#8217;s imperative that I always bring what I can do, and what I\u2019m best at, into my work. By doing that, it will allow me to take my work to the next level and make it have more of a personal touch that people can recognize and know that it was me who worked on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In conclusion, my journey through CODES was an eventful one that I will never forget. The people I met, the relationships I built, as well as the skills I obtained and sharpened, all played a big role in my first two years of college. I will continue to look back on this time to help me remember how I got to where I am now, as well as what I need to do to continue moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/79\/2026\/04\/CODE320-Reflection-5-Ayiana-Baynes.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of CODE320 Reflection #5 - Ayiana Baynes.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-b788e4eb-c87c-4b89-a01f-776d0080f244\" href=\"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/79\/2026\/04\/CODE320-Reflection-5-Ayiana-Baynes.pdf\">CODE320 Reflection #5 &#8211; Ayiana Baynes<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/79\/2026\/04\/CODE320-Reflection-5-Ayiana-Baynes.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-b788e4eb-c87c-4b89-a01f-776d0080f244\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I started the Community-Oriented Digital Engagement Scholars (CODES) program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville now going on two years ago. I remember coming into the CODES orientation freshman year feeling so many mixed emotions. I was scared, nervous, excited, hungry, and a little tired too. I was worried about who would be in my cohort, who my teachers were, and just so many intrusive thoughts that kept me spiraling. Was I smart enough? Or creative enough? Would I fit in? These thoughts had me sweating as I walked in, late by the way since I got lost trying to find the building. However, after getting there I realized that this was college and also a program where you aren\u2019t meant to fit in. From the get go, you want to be different; stand out against the grain because not fitting in is how you rise to your potential. So, going off of that, my biggest takeaway that I got from this experience of CODES is that I should never dampen who I am as a person, and I should instead take my personality and put it into the work I want to accomplish. Everyone does things a different way, so it&#8217;s imperative that I always bring what I can do, and what I\u2019m best at, into my work. By doing that, it will allow me to take my work to the next level and make it have more of a personal touch that people can recognize and know that it was me who worked on it. In conclusion, my journey through CODES was an eventful one that I will never forget. The people I met, the relationships I built, as well as the skills I obtained and sharpened, all played a big role in my first two years of college. I will continue to look back on this time to help me remember how I got to where I am now, as well as what I need to do to continue moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_sb_is_suggestion_mode":false,"_sb_show_suggestion_boards":false,"_sb_show_comment_boards":false,"_sb_suggestion_history":"","_sb_update_block_changes":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-856","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":862,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/856\/revisions\/862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/ayiana-baynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}