I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to an Information Technology professor here at Illinois State University by the name of Tonya Pierce. I had the chance to be a part of Tonya’s programming courses for a total of three consecutive semesters, and I can confidently say that her appreciation with the programming languages has heavily influenced my perseverance as I continue my journey of earning my college degree. Entering university, I had a goal of achieving a degree, but not just any degree, an information systems degree. I knew that it would not be easy, especially considering that information technology was an advanced field with nearly unlimited amounts of evolving information. Correct about the fact that seeking a STEM degree is challenging, I faced a lot of obstacles the first two years into schooling, and it ultimately hindered the way I perceived my capabilities.
Tonya is one of the many professors who taught the introductory java programming course, and I was very fortunate enough to land a spot in the course with her as the professor. Tonya never sugarcoated the difficulty and failure rate of the course, but she often emphasized the importance of giving it your all and not being afraid of trying and failing. I was one of the students feeling the intimidation of the course and heavily doubted my ability at being successful regarding the completion of the course. I was constantly stuck on how to approach the next steps with many assignments, and I often sought after Tonya’s support with assignments simply because I was afraid of trying and failing in order to understand what I was doing. Each time Tonya was very willing to help with any difficulties I had regarding the learning materials of the course, but she never failed to reiterate to me that trying, failing, and learning from the failure was something that a successful programmer needed to learn.
Unfortunately, I did not utilize the advice that Tonya provided to me until the last minute. I ended up dropping my programming course after being told my chances of passing the course were slim. I despised the fact that I did not utilize Tonya’s advice until the last minute because that ended up costing me not only time but my confidence. Being told that “I want you to try” and “don’t be afraid of testing some problems out to get to the bigger solution” was something that I heard frequently within her office hours. I needed to reflect on how Tonya was truly trying to help and support me, and I needed to appreciate her dedication to trying to help me succeed. She wanted to genuinely show that I have the capabilities of being successful in my degree and beyond, but I genuinely had to see it and want that result for myself. Still till this day, I thank Tonya Pierce. With so limited time in her courses, her impact in learning still resonates with my progression daily.