My first semester at SIUE was far from what I had expected. In the beginning, I mostly believed that it would be similar to high school, and it felt like that at first. But as the struggles of becoming an adult began to interfere with my school performance, it started to become more and more difficult to keep up. However, I did not give up, I knew that this was just a rough patch that I had to get through, I had to keep going.
It took a while, but I eventually found a job in Edwardsville. I submitted over five different applications one week in October, and I almost immediately received a response. The head of Walmart’s Digital Department messaged me and gave me a date for an interview. Within a week, I was already working for them. Even though I have only been working there for little over a month now, this has already become my favorite job. It is the first job I have had where I can tell the management cares about its workers. The benefits, number of breaks, and check ins from managers perfectly exemplify just how important the employees are to Walmart. It is a major step up from the last job that I had, and I am truly grateful that they hired me.
Another accomplishment that I made through this period was connecting with my classmates. I often thought that I was the only one struggling in my classes. This made it even more difficult for me to find the motivation to keep moving forward. But I eventually found a group of people in my CODES courses that I became close with. I started to realize that I was not the only one having difficulties in my classes. My friends were struggling as well, but seeing their determination in their classes helped me keep pushing forward. I finally found a group of people that pushed and motivated me to work harder and not give up. They were one of the main reasons I was able to keep a positive mindset throughout this rough patch.