This document summarizes a student's journal responses about their experience returning to college after many years away from formal education. Some key points: - The student was concerned about failing based on poor performance in previous grades, but is maintaining a 4.0 GPA by working hard and smart. - They are interested in extracurriculars like teaching office skills classes but time is a limitation. - The purpose of returning to college is to eventually get an MBA and become a CFO to help build a robotics company with their husband. - The student feels their life experience and maturity has helped them succeed where they previously failed in school. Support from their husband has also been important.

1. Excellent Journal Example
Why? Good format, use of quotes and reference page numbers,
and personal thought
1. Make a list of concerns you had or have about starting
college. Which of them are you feeling right now? How do you
think you can begin over coming them?
The main concern I had when I returned to college last year was
that I might fail miserably the way I did in my 1st through 12th
grades. I was a twenty-nine year old high school drop-out who
was mostly convinced that school was just not for me. I've
always been an extremely dedicated worker in all of my jobs,
but I was a terrible student and earned deficiency notices
regularly. Last year, when I decided to give community college
a try, I figured I would just jump in with both feet and do
everything I could to not sink. I ended up taking two summer
classes during the same term: English 1A and Elementary
Algebra. I was absolutely terrified of failing again because I
figured this would be my last chance to earn an education with
which I could actually do something. (p. 4)
Another terrifying concern was how far behind I am from
having just a basic education. Especially because "…college
teachers are much more demanding than high
schoolteachers" (p. 11), and then I wonder how much more
demanding will a four-year college professor be from a two-
year college professor. I was such a horrible student in my
youth, I rarely paid attention in class and retained very little of
the basics taught in those grades. I'm not confident about my
writing ability, and I can not explain the basic structure of a
sentence to save my life. In fact, I was at Costco the other day
and was flipping through one of those home study workbooks
for grade schoolchildren. I was looking at the grammar section
for 4th graders, and I realized I couldn't remember most of it
from my childhood.

2. My approach to overcoming any issue is to 1) identify the issue,
2) identify the cause of the issue, and 3)actively work towards a
resolution. I'm just going to continue working as hard (and
smart) as I can. In the words of Scrooge McDuck: "work
smarter, not harder!"
2. Think about the extracurricular activities that you might like
to be involved with. Have you looked into them yet? If so, have
you signed up for the activity? Explain why or why not. If you
have not looked into them yet, what do you think is holding you
back?
Unlike many of my classmates, Ihave no desire to "…go to
athletic events…," "…build camaraderie with new friends…," or
"…feel a sense of school spirit" (p. 5). However, I am
interested in two other activities:H.O.O.K.E.R.S. and holding
free classes to teach people office skills. H.O.O.K.E.R.S.
(Handmade Out Of Kindness Equals Rescue Scarves) is a group
I tried to put together last year in which I would teach people
how to crochet in exchange for one handmade scarf. All scarves
collected were going to be donated to homeless shelters, but I
had a heck of a time trying to get people together. Not many
people were interested and those who were interested were
mostly unresponsive. So, I just ended up not pursuing it after a
while. I had previously put together a group in the Seattle area
and I will try again in the future when I have more
acquaintances interested already.
I have just created a free website
(www.officejobs101.webs.com (Links to an external site.)Links
to an external site.)to help people in their search for office jobs,
but it's so new and I have to add a ton of information. Once
I've completed the website, I want to create and conduct free
seminars involving the information on my site as well as classes
on how to use the Open Office suite. The only thing holding me
back on this project is time, so it's going rather slowly. If you

3. happen to visit my website, please note that I haven't edited it
yet and will not until I'm close to completion… Just FYI.
3. What is your purpose in college? Explain your answer.
My purpose in college is to eventually get my MBA and become
a CPA. I then plan to work in a corporation focused on
developing new technologies for enough years to learn what I
need to become a CFO. Once I've attained that level of
knowledge and experience, I plan to help build Jina Logic
Robotics with my husband,Robert, who is currently at UCSC
working towards his Master's in Computer Engineering. I want
our company to be on the front lines of developing cutting-edge
technology, and "without a college degree, it is much more
difficult to be a leader…" (p.4) capable of building such a
corporation.
4. Have you received any grades in any of your college courses
yet? If so, did you get the grade you expected? How did this
make you feel? If you have not received any college grades yet,
think of a time you did receive a grade.
I have completed 32 units, and I am maintaining a 4.0 GPA. I
would have had more completed last semester,but I had to drop
some classes because there was a strong chance I was going to
have to have a second surgery on my arm. I'm also going to
have to drop several classes this semester because of my
extended stay in DC, so I'm pretty bummed about that.
However, I do feel I earned the grades I received, and I am
happy about it. I have noticed that while I may be further
behind in certain areas, I am slightly ahead of some of the other
students with regard to my maturity level and work ethic. I
have noticed that my "age and life experience" (p. 10) has
enabled me to work smarter and get better grades than some of
my peers.
5. Describe the differences you have noticed between the high

4. school experience and being a college student. Describe howyou
feel about these differences. If you believe that there are some
negatives about college versus high school, explain how you
might turn them into something positive.
For me, the primary difference between high school and college
is life experience, which has involved being married. I had to
live in the "real world" for over ten years before I could fully
appreciate the value of an education. Also, before marrying my
husband, I never knew what it meant to study or how to be
organized. My husband and I are opposites in so many ways
(example: he won a French spelling bee in grade school), and I
needed his influence to know what succeeding in school even
looked like. His continued support has a lot to do with how I've
been able to succeed this time around. I do kind of like the fact
that college professors do "…rarely monitor your
progress…" (p. 10) because whether I'm going to succeed or
fail, it will be on my terms. I despise being treated like a child,
and I am happy to face the consequences of my actions (or non-
actions) like a big girl and without my mommy's note of
disappointment. The only negative about college vs. high
school that I can think of is the financial investment.
6. Describe in detail how you would go about building your
portfolio.
Actually, I have already created an online professional portfolio
(www.tajina.webs.com (Links to an external site.)Links to an
external site.),but I haven't included much from my academic
career as of yet. I currently have the following pages:
• Resume (though, the truncated version is posted)
• Accomplishments: Where I have listed some of my
professional accomplishments.
• References: I have letters of recommendation posted from my

5. last manager and my last accounting teacher. However, out of
respect for their privacy, I have not included their personal
information, such as name, contact number, etc.
• Performance Evaluation: I have posted my most recent job
performance review/evaluation.
• Work Samples: I only have a sample flier posted at the
moment, but intend to post more in the near future
I will be working this year to post more about my academic
career, such as samples of accounting reports I've created,
homework excerpts, a course listing with grades and GPA, and a
summary of the accounting course content I have studied. At
first, the idea of a"skills matrix" (p.14) seemed a little
convoluted and not straight-forward enough to get people to
actually take the time to study it, but I think a more condensed
matrix with fewer example columns might actually be an
effective way to convey how each skill was attained/developed.
7. What else is on your mind this week? If you wish to share it
with your instructor, add it to this journal entry.
I am just excited to be back in school after the summer break!!
I've really missed the assignments,deadlines, and getting good
grades! Actually, I do have a question… Since you also work in
the "counseling center" (p. 13), is there a way for me to get
bumped up on the schedule to pick my classes for next
semester? I had to wait several days after the registration
process started to register for my fall classes, and I figure there
has to be a way to allow me to register at an earlier time.
Thanks!

6. Lecture 3: History and Development
of Evolutionary Theory—Darwin and
Beyond
The Point
• The theory of evolution is an explanatory
framework that makes sense of observable
facts about the biological world; it explains
the diversity of life, the geographical
distribution of species, and how species
change over time in response to changing
environmental conditions.
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by
Natural Selection
http://media.smithsonianmag.com/images/Charles-Darwin-1880-
631.jpg
Voyage of the Beagle
Voyage of the Beagle
• In 1831, Darwin was hired as the naturalist

7. aboard the survey ship, HMS Beagle. His task
was to observe and collect specimens of
plants, animals, rocks, and fossils throughout
the journey. He recorded his observations and
later these formed the foundation for his
reconsideration of the idea of fixity of species
and the development of the theory of
evolution by natural selection.
Darwin’s Finches
http://www.tokresource.org/tok_classes/biobiobio/biomenu/opti
ons_folder/D2_speciation/54911-004-B661673C.jpg
Darwin’s Finches
• Darwin observed that the 13 species of finch that
occupied the various Galápagos Islands were all very
similar to each other but differed in their beak size and
shape. This ultimately led him to suggest that all of
these species of bird were descended from a common
ancestor, a common ground finch from South America,
that was blown across to the islands and adapted to
the different environments on the islands. The
differences in diet between the finches explain the
differences in their beaks.
• This is a classic example of adaptive radiation.
Darwin’s Finches

8. • Adaptive radiation
– Rapid expansion and diversification of organisms
into new ecological niches; Occupation of
different ecological niches by closely related
species
• Ecological niche
– Position within the environment–diet, habitat,
activity pattern, etc.
More Key Terms
• Evolution—a change in the genetic make-up of a
population over time
• Natural selection—the primary mechanism of
evolution that refers to changes in the frequencies of
certain traits in populations due to differential
reproductive success between individuals
• Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Natural
Selection
– Overproduction of offspring, leading to resource
competition
– Variation within a population with some variants being
better able to obtain resources than others
– Variation is heritable

9. More Key Terms
• Reproductive success—the number of offspring
an individual produces and rears to reproductive
age. This represents an individual’s genetic
contribution to the next generation.
• Differential reproductive success—the result of
natural selection; some individuals produce more
offspring than others
• Fitness—a measure of relative reproductive
success of individuals. Fitness can be measured
by an individual’s genetic contribution to the next
generation compared to that of other individuals.
Even MORE Key Terms!
• Selective Pressures—forces in the
environment that influence reproductive
success in individuals (includes the physical
environment, other species in the area, social
environment )
• Adaptation—an evolutionary shift in a
population due to environmental pressures

10. Key Points about Natural Selection and
Evolution
• Natural selection acts on individuals; populations
evolve.
– Natural selection only acts on characteristics that affect
reproduction.
• Natural selection is NOT about “survival of the fittest”.
– It is NOT about which individuals survive but which
individuals survive to reproduce, produce the most
offspring, and have the most offspring that also survive to
reproduce.
– It’s more like “more offspring for the better adapted”,
which is not nearly as catchy.
• The environment determines what traits are beneficial
or harmful.
California Salamander
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/ev
olution-action-salamanders.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/evolution-action-
salamanders.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/evolution-action-
salamanders.html

11. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/evolution-action-
salamanders.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/evolution-action-
salamanders.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/evolution-action-
salamanders.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/evolution-action-
salamanders.html
California Salamander
Evolution In Action
http://www.nature.com/nchembio/journal/v3/n9/images/nchembi
o.2007.24-F1.jpg
Evolution in Action
• Using the Grants’ work with the finches (Weiner and
video) and the sockeye salmon (Weiner) as examples,
answer the following questions:
– What trait is under selection?
– In both examples, there is a change in the environment.
What are the relevant selection pressures from the
environment?
– Under each environmental condition, which individuals in
the population are better adapted? How does this lead to
differential reproductive success?

12. – Using your answers to these questions and the relevant
key terms, explain how these examples illustrate evolution
in action.
Evolution in Action
http://www.sierracollege.edu/ejournals/jscnhm/v2n2/EvolutionA
ction.html
Sockeye Salmon in Weiner Article
Evolution in Action
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/l/loom/wk%2015/finches.JPG
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v442/n7102/images
/nature04843-f4.2.jpg
Common Origins of All Life
• One of the most powerful predictions of
evolutionary theory is that all life shares
common origins. That is, everything that is
living today the planet Earth shares a common
ancestor. Scientists refer to this common
ancestor as the Last Universal Common
Ancestor (LUCA). In the 3.8 billion years there
has been life on earth, there has been gradual
adaptive divergence, which has led to the
great diversity of life on this planet.

13. Common Ancestry
http://biology.unm.edu/ccouncil/Biology_203/Images/Phylogeny
/lifecladogram.gifa