My name is Ashley Schoonover, and I am an undergraduate at the Pennsylvania State University. I am majoring in Japanese with a minor in Chinese. This past year has been a journey, and I have had to take another look at my academics and how I manage my time. After all, studying for an exam entails a lot more than it used to, but I have come out a better person who is dedicated to eliminating her habit of procrastination.
I have learned that while some things come easy to me, I still have to put in my best effort to ensure that I get the best possible grade. My classes where I do not feel as comfortable, or where I find the most difficulty made me confront the fact that I am not always going to get the stellar grades that my parents expect. Sometimes I just don't do well with certain things, like remembering the differences between
sonkeigo or
kenjougo
(honorific or humble verb forms in Japanese) or remembering the names
of all of the characters in the stories I read, even though I studied
them for hours. Some things just are not possible, even with the amount of effort that goes into succeeding-- not that it can stop me from working my hardest.
Through all of my courses in the past year, I have taken a look into a variety of topics ranging from Astronomy to Chinese and Japanese. The most marked improvement that I noticed is that, though I was not very confident when I was speaking in a foreign language at the beginning of the year, I am now able to speak (most times) very comfortably during my classes. Then again, at the beginning of the year I was unable to speak any Mandarin, and yet I can now do things such as give directions in Mandarin. LA101H was also very helpful, because it caused me to be more aware of what I am saying, how I am saying it, and how these can impact the message that is being conveyed to the audience.
To say that I am coming away from this year with a plethora of new knowledge is an understatement, because there is no way to fully describe the experiences I have had and the things that I learned. This portfolio provides a brief glimpse at what I have done, and is divided into different categories based on the type of media or presentation of the piece. I would like to welcome you, and I hope you enjoy browsing through this glimpse of my academics.
