Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

So then. As we all know, we've been told that if we post a little something extra on the Wiki, we will get, unsurprisingly, extra credit. I need some extra credit, so here goes nothing. The only challenge I really had to face is the notion of just what is worth posting here for that credit. So here I sit, puzzled and looking at a blank Wiki space. I've decided the only thing appropriate would be to provide here a short introspective as to my experience here at UMass so far. Not just Steph's class. We call those Reflection Letters. Think of this as my UMass Reflection Letter. It's being written to the entire campus. I'll be lucky if a kajillionth of the actual campus even knows this little love letter exists. Let me start by painting a picture. You wake up, whether it be at ten in the morning or three in the afternoon. You look out your window, which has the prestige of a twenty two story advantage on the ground. With a view this high up, you can see everything below you, from the people scurrying like ants to the looming mountains that preside over our quaint little valley from a distance. The view, needless to say, is simply breathtaking, whether the day is rainy or sunny or snowy or just about anything in between. Next, think about the sheer enormity of our student body. Anyone is likely to have their head spinning when they think of the true mass 26,000 people represents. There are enough people here to fight as an army, create social change with even the briefest of unified pushes, and swallow up one tiny little citizen whole. You feel like that student at first. Everybody does. But then you realize that every face here feels the same way, that every eye is turned in the same directions as yours and that everybody has as small a handle on our population as you do. Then you start to feel a little better. And you realize that this many people just means a new face and a few new handshakes every day. You realize that it means it will be all the more important to make real friends here, and all the easier to tell who they are once you've made them. You realize, at base value, that every student here is going the same places you are, trying the same things you are, and attempting, at the end of the day, to do here the same thing you are. And before you know it, you feel better. Better than better. You're proud of your school now, and no one can take that away from you. You're glad to be here, and you're praying that this fun won't stop, that this learning will last, that you really can pull yourself together enough to spend the next four years of your life here. That's as far as I've made it in the UMass world thus far, but I can say without a doubt that every thought here is true. And I can say that I have no doubt that I will want to stay here as long as my education allows. For me, things have changed drastically since I first arrived here. I showed up at the doorstep of JA a few months ago as nothing but a child, alone and unsure of himself and still thinking high school thoughts. Now, fast forward those stormy and influential months, and the Andrew Reynolds that sits at this computer is completely different. I am sure of myself, and I can only thank my time here for that. I'm certainly no longer alone. I have a roomate smarter than me and a good friend, and I have an entire floor beyond, full of loving and helpful allies and friends. I can't say that I'll ever think high school thoughts again. The world is too big. Our school is too big. High school is a thing of the past. And, lastly, I am no longer a child. I don't yet think enough of myself to say I'm an adult. I'm sure there are more than a few people here who would agree with me on that. But I'm no longer naive enough to call myself a child either. I am a student at UMass, and that's the only way I could ever think or want to identify myself. I can only imagine there are other students who feel the same. Call it school pride. Call it wishful thinking. Call it blind romanticism if you have to. I call it UMass.