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Also, I can confidently say that I have learned a lot of beneficial things from my classmates as well. I think it helped that we were able to share our experiences in class openly—otherwise I would have never developed interpersonal skills. For example, in the first learning assignment where everyone was sharing their schema, I learned about the problems they faced in life through their presentations. For example, I saw that some people had distorted and defeatist views in relationships, due to past relationships that had gone terribly wrong. If I had ever met someone in the past with such views on relationships, I would’ve dismissed them as crazy. However, as these people shared their schemas about relationships and told their stories to the entire class, I felt more sympathetic towards them. I also got to know people in class who had identical success schemas as me, and I felt more connected to them. I’ve always felt that my struggles were unique, but after hearing about other people who had similar perceptions on success and failures, I was glad that I wasn’t alone on this struggle. It was interesting to see that a variety of people we had in class—students ranging from athletes, adults, transfer students, students with different majors, could get together and share their problems openly. And during the sharing process, we all recognized that even though we were all different people with different issues, we were able to connect because we had a common goal—supporting and encouraging each other through the skills we learn in this course. As Chickering said in his article, “respecting differences in close friends can generalize to acquaintances from other continents and cultures” (Chickering and Reisser 48). I took this to heart, and as a result, I was able to become more close to most of the people in my class. People who I never would have reached out in the first place became my friends, and I am very blessed for that.
