Being a Student
Written by Maia Furer
What does being a student mean? Does it mean jotting notes in a white-walled space? Or does it concern more than a classroom? For Kyndra Trevino-Scott, being a student means being a University of Hawaii at Hilo Natural Science major and member of the university's Women's Volleyball team. Indeed, the student has learned lessons from the volleyball team that are unavailable in classroom settings.
“You learn what it is like to rely on people," Trevino-Scott explained, "and have people rely on you, and I think that is really key, because when you're in a class you don’t learn that.”
Other important skills students could benefit from, Trevino-Scott acquired as a member of the sports team. She has grown, she stated, more confident and outspoken, a growth which eradicated her fear of sharing her work or voicing her thoughts in the classroom. This courage she gained also gave her the ability to take criticism from professors and peers as well as learn from it.
Kendra Trevino-Scott is a vollayball play for the UH Hilo Vulcans. Photo courtesy of Maia Furer.
Trevino-Scott affirmed that the dynamic of the volleyball team is extremely different from that of a classroom. In lecture classes, all individuals tend to be interested in the subject at hand, but on the team, each individual has different thoughts and expertise to voice. Due to such diversity, it is extremely helpful when members apply their knowledge. For instance, the Natural Science major asserted that one of her teammates, a Kinesiology major, put another teammate's dislocated shoulder back into place.
Overall, Trevino-Scott prefers active learning to lectures, since she performs better with hands-on techniques. She expressed that constantly working with computers is difficult and that she wishes more classes offered hands-on and active projects. She thinks that each student learns differently, and if the university could do more to accommodate this diversity, then students would have better experiences in the classroom.
