by Randy McInnis, June 12, 2020

“Through hardship to the stars,” a saying I use to overcome the battles of life and transcend me further into my success. Another quarter has ended, and I feel great because I have accomplished the Art of patience and the tenacity to excel under pressure. Dating back to when this quarter first started, I had mixed emotions of how I was going to maneuver my online classes and not physically being in a learning environment due to an announced pandemic that paralyzed the economy, especially the educational system. I didn’t know if I would survive in terms of passing my classes, knowing that I am inexperienced in the department of online classes. My advisor Holly helped pick the next best courses so that it wouldn’t be so challenging for me, given the situation. So, the three months journey started, and classes began. I laughed to myself because my professors created an atmosphere in which it felt like I was in class physically. The energy in the virtual classroom was positive, with great discussions and strong argument points. This positive approach to online courses in which the students were very engaging motivated me to reciprocate the right attitude. To be more comfortable minded towards learning despite my discrepancies.

I want to shed light on a course that I found exciting, and that is Philosophy, which was taught by Daniel. I learned about many philosophers and their theories, including Kantian moral laws. While understanding, I realize some of his arguments can relate to racism and immoral actions. On a day-to-day basis, we should do the right actions, so other people can see and perform similar actions. I can share with you a little about Kant’s Universal Law in small detail. He states that act only according to that maxim by which you can, at the same time, will it, so your actions become a universal law. I hope you understand this Universal law, and I implore you to do some more research on this.

In much higher light while being home, I discovered myself and made some improvements in the departments that I was failing. I wouldn’t be able to fix myself on the road every day and go to school because I didn’t know I had issues in this aspect of my life. In saying this, I hope you do the same thing in discovering the negative side of your life so that you can fix it, and the positive side will come naturally. I admire these classes in which they helped me to open my mind and receive some level of wisdom because I had to do some in-depth research on each course.

I learned many other things, such as dietary needs, a class that opened my consciousness in taking care of my body health wise and helping others in terms of cooking healthy and manipulating natural ingredients to create specialized menus for the elderly. I respect all the classes, including my Art class, which gives me a sense of taste on a professional level in presenting myself, which was kind of weird. This informative data impacted my life educationally and mentally, in which I am grateful.

I respect my lectures, professors, and advisors who contributed to the molding of a continuous good man and the time they put in, to deliver such tedious topics. Most of all, I want to thank God for assisting me in the application of absorbing all of this information. Last but not least, I like to thank the Kendall College Trust. The Trust has been the fertilizer to my educational growth. This Fund has greatly assisted me partially in financing this very expensive process of educating me. Without this Fund, it would easily be costing my parents over 1.3 million Jamaican dollars per semester. Moreover, I want to thank the Trust for this wonderful subsidy. There are so many words I can use to express my gratitude towards them, but I will say this; I couldn’t have done it without the help of board members, Catherine and Deb, in keeping me ten toes up and pushing my motivations through this time of hardship. Also, my dad, enthusiastic about being my assistant in completing my writing a paper classes and sharing my grade as if he was in college, it’s so funny. I will end with, through hardship to the stars and foundation that brought me here.