Hello all, my name is Vanessa Alvarez, and I am a History and Hispanic Studies double major. History has always been my favorite subject in school, mainly because it combines my love for reading and learning. My passion for History stems from reading; my favorite books have always been about the extraordinary historical events that have shaped the world as we know it today. What I love about History is the idea that if a particular event hadn’t played out the way it did, life, as we know it today, might look completely different. It’s fascinating to ponder what society was like hundreds of years ago and how changes made over time have affected our own personal lives today. That being said, the types of History subjects that excite me the most are the kind that focuses on the struggle for human rights: the rights of slaves, the rights of child laborers, the rights of women, the rights of immigrants, etc. I have a passion to learn about these topics so that I may pursue an education/occupation that raises awareness for human rights and fights to grant rights to people who are struggling for human rights today.
Other Tidbits
An interesting fact about me is that I am a triplet. All three of us attend different colleges, although I am the only one who moved away from home. People often ask me how I manage without my sisters because we’ve been attached at the hips since we were born. I don’t feel lonely without them because we talk every single day, and our bond is so strong that I feel them with me all of the time. I love to read fantasy and historical-fiction novels, my favorite series is The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. My favorite T.V show is Game of Thrones, The Blacklist, and Peaky Blinders.
2018 Fall Semester Artifacts
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=2eae475804964728be56800f1da7d527
Above is my Story Map for History 244: Women and the American Experience. For this assignment, we were to choose a historical topic that focused on women. My Story Map focuses on white women and their efforts to aid newly freed slaves, post Civil War. I posted my Story Map as an artifact because I felt my topic was quite thought-provoking and not something many people knew about. I thought it was important to present to my class how some white women fought to improve the lives of newly freed slaves. I also posted my Story Map because I felt that I did well on it and delivered content that displayed the efforts of those women, considering the lack of images that were taken during the time period after the Civil War.
Above is a link to one of the essays I wrote in my Women and the American Experience class in the fall of 2018. I wrote an essay about Ida B. Wells and her anti-lynching campaign. I’m extremely proud of this essay because I received a perfect score for it which I believe goes to show how much I enjoy writing papers. I enjoyed writing this paper during our exam because I was confident in what I was writing and I knew the material well. I included this as an artifact because I felt proud of myself and wanted to share my thoughts with all of you on Ida B. Wells.
2018 Fall Semester Reflective Questions
So far, at the end of the fall semester, I have come to the conclusion that my favorite type of project is writing papers on historical topics. Researching and tying everything together into an essay is what makes me feel proud because I’m able to explain to others what they can learn from my paper. I also enjoy reading the work of others because this helps me to respond to their ideas in my own paper. By doing so, this makes each essay unique and fun to read!
Being a double major, I would have to say that my other classes haven’t quite intersected with my history courses a lot. This is because I have to balance the two and there isn’t much room for them to cross paths. Also, being a first year student, there aren’t as many options as to what classes are available because they are usually filled by older students first. Next year, I’m crossing my fingers that I get to take the course about the Holocaust, it’s one of my favorite things to learn about.
Strengths from the Fall 2018 Semester:
- Something I applaud myself for from the fall semester was turning in quality work on time. I chose this strength because in high school, I struggled with turning in work on time. I feared that this would be the case once I went to college but I found this new level of independence and accountability that I now hold myself to for every class. I quickly realized that no one was going to nag me about turning my work in on time and I am proud of myself for not being such a procrastinator anymore.
- Another strength I am proud of is participating in class. I am proud of myself for participating in class a lot because I know it’s intimidating sometimes to speak up and join the discussion. I got over this uneasiness by reminding myself that everyone else if probably just as nervous as I was. I also realized that as more people contributed to the discussion, the more enjoyable class was and the less time I spent looking at the clock waiting for the time to pass by.
- Joining extra-curricular activities was one of the highlights of this first semester at college. I decided to list this as a strength because I’ve never been the type of person to want to go and join clubs. During the first few weeks at IWU, I just wanted to get through my classes and then go back to my dorm and sleep. I was convinced by my friend to step out of my comfort zone and join a club. I took the plunge and joined two clubs: the Spanish and Latino Student Association (SALSA ) and the IWU Autism Social Group. Since joining these groups, I have made new friends and have looked forward to the group meetings because the people in each club are such great people to be around.
Struggles from the Fall 2018 Semester:
- Something I struggled with extremely was asking my professors for help. I still struggle to take advantage of office hours and communicate with my professors when something in class isn’t making sense to me. I felt too intimidated by my professors to show up to their office by myself and ask for their help. This is because I felt as if I could handle things on my own and for the most part of the fall semester, I did well enough by myself. I failed to realize that my life would be a whole lot easier if I just got help when I needed it instead of stressing myself out. I am making it a goal for spring to take advantage of the resources offered to me before I end up suffering the consequences.
- My biggest struggle has always been putting others before myself, especially when I should come first. Like I mentioned previously, I enjoy writing papers. That being said, it seemed like everyone I knew needed help with an essay at the same time that I was trying to do get things done. Being the helping person that I am and unable to say no to people, I would set my priorities aside to help them. This led to me staying awake until 3 a.m studying for tests or reading for my next class. I didn’t handle this challenge very well and I am still trying to learn how to tell others, “At this moment I am busy with my own priorities, you will have to wait”.
- The class that made me want to cry every night was my Human Origins class. My ANTH160 class was a struggle for me because it was one of the most interesting classes I have ever taken but it was also one of the most difficult. I couldn’t seem to figure out how to study the material in a way that would make it stick. I was fascinated throughout every lesson but when it came time for exams, my brain hurt from how complex they were. I didn’t handle this struggle well because I couldn’t bring myself to ask Professor Nickels for help during office hours. This caused me to get a B in the class when I could have easily gotten an A, had I taken initiative and asked for help
2019 Spring Semester Artifacts
Above is a link to one of the papers I turned in for my Spanish 303 class during the spring semester of 2019. The prompt we were to write about was who we were as a person, who/what has contributed to the way we turned out, and where we plan on going in this journey called life. I chose this as an artifact because I enjoyed writing about how my family and education have contributed to the person I am today. I included this artifact because it’s entirely in Spanish and it is very personal to me.
Above is a link to a 500 word response I completed for my HIST244: Promised Lands class during the spring semester of 2019. This 500 word response is about the conditional promises of a better life for African Americans as described in Chester Himes’s novel, If He Hollers Let Him Go. The 500 word responses were something I struggled with a lot during the semester but this one received an “A”. For the first responses I had received a B+ and was feeling very discouraged about my writing. I finally felt so proud of myself and regained a bit of my confidence; for this reason, I included this 500 word response as an artifact.
2019 Spring Semester Reflection Questions
- In the 2019 semester, my favorite history project was definitely the Discoverable Artifacts final project for my Promised Lands HIST/ENG class. What I enjoyed about this project is that it forced me to delve into my creative side. I don’t have much of a creative side but this project really let me showcase my small amount of creativity. This project let me take an idea from the Great Migration and expand that idea into the story of a person. I put together an authentic project that I was quite proud of because I felt that it truly captured the meaning of the Great Migration. I loved this project because it wasn’t an ordinary project like an essay or an exhibit, it was completely unique. I chose to have my cousin, Cortez, pose with a violin in front of my high school; I then printed the picture out and tried my best to make it look aged. I paired the picture with an aged acceptance letter to Juilliard and the two artifacts together told Cortez’s story of migrating from the South to the North because of his musical talent.
- My Gateway class has intersected with my love for history because my Gateway is about war and peace. That being said, the class was centered around conflicts of the past such as the Mexican Civil War and the Cold War. The class also talked about historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. I learned much about important topics that I was previously uneducated about which made the class worthwhile and interesting.
Strengths from the 2019 Spring Semester
- This semester, I put more dedication into my writing. Since my Gateway is a writing intensive course, I was required to write essays every other week. Before my Gateway, I didn’t put much effort into my papers. I would usually just write a draft, make the bare minimum changes, and then submit that as my final draft. This semester I visited the Writing Center on multiple occasions, made multiple drafts for my essays, and also met with my professor about how to improve my current draft. This new process of holding my writing to a higher standard was at times difficult for me, but the results were evident in my essays that received A’s.
- Something I’m extremely proud of from the spring semester is that I removed myself from the distraction that is my friends. When it came to important things such as doing homework and studying, I realized that I do more socializing than actual work when I am with my friends. Therefore, I made the responsible decision to separate myself from them and study/ homework on my own. This way, I was much more productive and better prepared for classes/exams.
- This semester, I greatly improved the way I conduct research. Before, when I would write papers, I didn’t put much effort into what sources I used nor check the authenticity of the sources I was using. This semester, I utilized the library’s online search engine and discovered authentic sources that supported my research. My papers were stronger as a result of weeding out the sources that weren’t authentic or valuable to my research.
Struggles from the 2019 Spring Semester
- This semester, as hard as I tried to stop it, my procrastination increased. I told myself over and over that I would begin projects/homework early, but this did not end up being the case most of the time. I put them off to the last minute, which only stressed me out more and made me feel as if I didn’t do the best that I possibly could. My procrastination inevitably worsened as the semester came to a close because I had so many things on my plate. My time management needs to get back on track as soon as possible because I refuse to turn in mediocre work like I did on a few occasions during the spring semester.
- This semester, I struggled to pay attention in my War and Peace in the Modern World Gateway. This is because it was more of a lecture type class and my professor would talk the entire 50 minutes of class. We didn’t have class discussions often and so having to sit in my chair and just listen to my professor talk the entire period without asking any of us our opinions made class a bit boring. I would spend my time staring at the clock, willing the minutes to pass by faster. It would have helped if the lecture was about an interesting topic but most of them were about things we had already discussed the previous day.
- My Promised Lands class made me question my ability to write well on numerous occasions. When it came to the 500 word responses that we constantly had to write, I found it to be one of the most difficult parts of the class. I struggled immensely because I couldn’t summarize what I wanted to say in a mere 500 words, I needed more words to get my point across. I received mostly B’s on my responses and I began to doubt myself every time I sat down to write. It wasn’t until I received that first A on my response that I slowly began to believe in my ability to write well again.
2019 Fall Semester Artifacts
- Above is a link to my essay discussing gender expectations and how they are learned through subtle yet searing messages. I wrote this essay for my Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies 102 class and I throughly enjoyed writing this assignment. I explored the points of views of two different women and how they learned the expectations of their gender through their home life and culture. What made this assignment worthwhile was realizing how influenced our minds are by subtle messages that convey to us what the ideals are for our genders. The amount of power that these ideals hold over our minds is insane, this essay helped me to realize that.
2019 Fall Semester Reflection
- I have explored mainly history topics that cover the experiences of oppressed peoples in the United States. I have explored the woman’s experience in the United States from the seventeenth century to the twentieth, I have explored the experience of African Americans during the Great Migration, and I have explored the experience of children growing up in America. What I would like to explore is the experience of immigrants in America, especially that of Hispanic/ Latinx immigrants. My favorite genre of history is historical fiction and documentaries/movies. These are my favorite because it makes the events more exciting to learn about and helps me remember the importance of such events when they are presented through a film medium. As of right now, I don’t know which Potential Pathway would be best suited for my interests. I know I don’t want to work as an archivist or librarian but I am unsure of what pathway would be the best fit for my strengths. My Women’s and Gender Studies essay does not hint at any of the Pathways.