fsp

The speaker reflects on their first year at UT and their personal success project. They highlight the significant people they've met and the diversity they experienced at UT compared to their hometown in Houston. They express their desire to find their place in the world and become the best version of themselves at UT. Breaking old habits and overcoming challenges have been memorable experiences. They enjoy the anticipation and joy of being at UT and look forward to meeting more people and sharing connections. Despite their differences, there's a shared story and connection among everyone at UT. They genuinely appreciate what UT has to offer and want to contribute to the community. So, for my first year reflection slash personal success project, I wanted to do a little voiceover of a timelapse I did of an illustration. In this illustration, I wanted to show off a couple people who I feel like were very significant to me here at UT, especially in my first semester. From the people in the first-gen LLC here on the 14th floor, to the people in KVRX, to the people who I met in KVRX, to my best friend, to my friend group, to my mentor and bevel buddy, to FSP, my mentor in FSP, too, already, and everyone else who I've just met. Firstly, I want to say my name is Alexander, but to others, I like to go by Alex or Ale. Prior to college, I attended high school over in Houston, and when I mean Houston, I'm talking about the core city of Houston, the heart of it, not one of the cities around it like Dallas or Katy, and I'm emphasizing on this because I want to mention how in Houston, I was accustomed to the amount of diversity, to the amount of people who are different, yet it felt like home. My home was being surrounded by other people who were like me, but also different. We were all different, yet we all shared the same love and connection all to each other. I came to UT to find my place in the greater world. I'm actively searching to become the best version of myself here. It's also not far from home, so I can always visit back and forth, and I feel like here at UT, here in Austin as a whole, it can be where I can offer the most of myself here to the world. I believe the main challenge from transitioning was breaking old habits, habits where I grew from living in my family, from living over in Houston, from being self-conscious, from being insecure. Here in Austin, here in UT, here in college as a whole, I feel like I can easily break out of that. I can make my own decisions. I can be myself. I can find a new version of myself. I can be the better version of myself. Trying to overcome these habits have also become some of my best memories here. The people I've met, the new food I've tried, exploring the city, all of these moments, all of these little connections that I've done throughout my first semester here have been so influential that it's given me more to look forward in my next years than I ever have looked forward to in high school and in my previous 18 years of living. My favorite part of being here as a Longhorn at UT is just the anticipation and joy from being here, from knowing that the longer I stay here, the more people I'll meet and the more people that I'll be able to share a connection with, the more people that I'll eventually get to know and share my story with, to have them share their story to me. I feel like as a whole, as people, we all have our own different stories, yet we all share the same story here, especially here at UT. Despite how different we all are, there's always a connection between each other, either through a mutual friend, through the college, through the university as a whole. We all share something along with each other and it's something that allows something really beautiful. There's no other better way to describe it other than it's beautiful. I genuinely do enjoy being here and I've enjoyed it so much greater than my previous years over in high school. I'm here to direct myself to fulfill a goal, become the best version of myself, because I genuinely do appreciate what UT here has to offer, what I can offer here for UT and other people here, where we can all share a story together and all become something greater as a whole.