Final Portfolio Reflection
It has been an incredibly thought provoking exercise to go back through my old school work. I have rarely looked back at where I started because I have a tendency to be very critical of my own work, and I get worked up when I see mistakes I have previously made, as I don’t have a way to retroactively fix them. With that being said, I do take constructive criticism very well, I just have a tendency to have unconstructive feedback for myself. Luckily, I have enjoyed completing almost all of my coursework, and it has made it much easier for me to look back at the finished products. To choose the content of my portfolio, I went by what projects I enjoyed the most while creating. As I reflect on my work, I notice that I am passionate about a subject, the work I produce is of a higher quality. This portfolio is made up of all the different subjects I have fallen in love with during my journey studying Classics.
I will admit that I did not immediately have an idea of which projects I wanted to include. I knew which projects I enjoyed, but the ones I enjoyed far outnumber the ones I did not enjoy. I also wanted to make sure I chose samples of work from many different areas of study and from various moments throughout my academic career. I start my narrowing process by taking a look at my degree audit and making a list of all the Classics classes that I took. Once I had my list, I took the time to look up my final project for each class. The one exception was the Art of Insulting paper. Once I looked at the final project for each class, it was fairly easy to pick the ones that reflected my love of the subject and the quality of my work. For all the assignments I chose I did receive great grades, yet I still believe because they are from different points in my journey, they reflect the growth I have had. Some are, in my opinion, objectively better than others.
As for the design of my website, I wanted it to be visually pleasing and clean looking as that tends to be the type of site that I am attracted to. However, it was also important for me to have a bit of color in it. The template that I originally chose was all white, and while it looked clean, it felt too sterilized for my personality. If this portfolio is a reflection of myself, then it needs color. I will admit that working with a template (which was my only option using Domains) could be limiting. For example, I did know I wanted to create a dropdown menu for my portfolio, but I also did not have an option to list my works front and center because the menu was small and off to the side. In terms of organizing the drop down menu, the order I put my samples of work in on the drop down menu was fairly random. However, I have found that there is a pattern present. I would say that it goes from the projects I loved the most and were the most proud of to the ones I was least proud of. Although the Antikythera mechanism is currently sitting towards the middle of the drop down menu, and that has been by far the project I feel all highlights all the work I have done at Skidmore, and my college career in general. I also decided to add a passions page, even though that was not required. I think that it provides a good opportunity to bring up other skills I have that don’t always appear in my academic work. I chose three interests to talk about and they were archaeology, music, and cooking. Archaeology is definitely an academic interest, but due to the focus of this portfolio being on my Classics work, I did not feel like there was sufficient space (or projects) that were done in the Classics department that I could talk about. Music and cooking are both very important to me and I believe that they truly do help me in other areas of my life. Performing (whether musical or acting) has helped me tremendously while giving presentations and speaking in front of a large audience. One of my favorite things about cooking is being able to know a recipe so well, I can make it from memory. In a way, it reminds me of the Greek language. When learning Greek it is important to memorize the paradigms of every word of every part of speech, factoring in different declensions, it’s a lot. In cooking, I believe there are similar themes of memorizing what certain ingredients do, how to substitute, how to problem solve.
In general, reflecting upon these assignments have not only made me proud of the growth in the Classics department, but it has also made me insanely proud of the progress I have made since entering college. When I entered college, I was not at all confident in the work I did, and I found it hard to find teachers and professors who truly believed in me. I had a couple of teachers like that in high school, but during my first year of college at Providence College, I felt like I never really found professors who fostered my love of learning or cared enough to push me to do my best work. Granted, I entered college during the height of COVID-19 and it was certainly not an easy time for anybody, students and professors alike. Still, I made the decision to switch schools, and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Almost immediately, I rediscovered my love of learning again from the classes I took in my first semester. But even with the learning issues resolved, I still wasn’t satisfied with my college experience. I made a pact with myself to pursue all the good things the school had already offered me and see where it leads. One of those great things was the Classics department. After taking Classical Mythology with Professor Oh, I just knew I had to stick with the department! As I reflect on my entire college journey I know I sound quite sappy, but I am so happy I discovered and tapped into the Classics Department and am grateful for the opportunities it has afforded me, and that once again I am in love with the process of learning.
