Community Reflection Essay

When I first got accepted into Stuyvesant High School, I heard countless of rumors stating: “Oh the workload is terrible”, “The competition is so fierce” or “Out of schoolwork, extracurriculars, or sleep: you can only pick two.” I found it hard to let it faze me, since I graduated from one of the most prestigious middle schools. However, the rumors transformed into reality when I stepped into Mr. Nieves’ Freshman Composition Class. The workload at the beginning of the year was brutal, coupled with assignments from other core classes that seem unaware of the workload of other teachers. Reading assignments were a regular, and there were journal entries and occasional quizzes to keep us in line. What made it bearable was the friends I made in that class; everyone had their own opinion about the topic we were talking about, and listening to other perspectives really broadened my horizon and enriched my learning experience in Stuy. Another thing that this class has taught me is the importance of time management, a skill that I will carry on for the rest of my high school career and life. When I choose to sign up for Mr. Nieves’ AP American Literature class in my Junior Year, I was hoping to relive the discussion-based lesson plans and meet more outstanding peers. I was not disappointed, to say the least, reflecting through all the experiences at the end of the course. The lesson plans he laid out for us were an interesting mix between small lectures and class output, and what I

It is still so surreal to reflect back on my first semester as an incoming college student in the ENC1101 course, analyzing at my progression as a reader and writer in literacy. Since the first day of class I set in stone my goals for this class: receive a 4.0 GPA, develop my connecting theories skills in writing, and become more aware of objectives for each Unit throughout the course. All of these goals became achievements that not only make others proud but most importantly give me self pride. In order to earn the grades and achieve these goals, I went after every opportunity that I was given as an incoming college student, such as office hours and extra credit. By taking this course I have gained confidence with the utilization of literacy, and made an addition to my group of impactful literacy sponsors. Once students are finished with high school they assume that there is nothing else to learn beyond the stereotypical five paragraph essay, but they are so wrong. I was able to obtain so much knowledge about numerous course concepts from Writing about Writing, articles, and my professor. These concepts will carry on with me throughout a bright future of writing courses, job interviews, and any other skills that require literacy. The four outcomes listed below will help illuminate how I improved as a writer, by being a driven college student and going out of the way to earn my achievements in this course. In the first outcome I improved comprehending scholar texts,

Although the small group of church goers were mostly elderly Caucasian people, they were diverse and friendly towards new individuals. Those who wore the traditional, elegant attire of a Sunday worship service greeted with a firm handshake and a gentle smile. On the other hand, those who preferred to wear casual outfits greeted with tight hugs and hearty laughter from seeing a new face. After talking to more than half of the attendants, it was evident that everyone knew a lot about each other. It was nice to hear that most of them had overwhelmingly positive words to say about the church itself. Then, I finally met the middle-aged pastor who was glad to see someone new and introduced me to his wife. She had a stoic expression and had nothing to say. Honestly, the wife’s silence struck me as surprising considering how the other people were talkative, but it is nothing to be overly concerned about. After all, it was almost time for the Sunday service to

On May 29th, 2015 at about eight a.m., a group of eleven youth and three youth leaders from Fair Haven Baptist Church loaded into two vans and prepared for a twelve hour drive. Our destination was a new church located in the middle of a crime-packed, non-believing neighborhood in Sulfur Springs, Florida. For the week, we would partner with a missionary group called Hope Street. Our mission was to take flyers that advertised the local church and go door-to-door, inviting people to the grand opening, which would also be their Easter Sunday service. Little did I know of the huge impact Hope Street would make on the Sulfur Springs community.

Imagination plays a crucial role in creating communities and its identity. Fiction, in this case will cover both absolute fabrications and biases in the discourse of history's narration. History can be malleable in the hands of narrators, which they use to unite their audience into a common interpretation of their history. Alicia Barber, The author of the essay, Local Places, National Spaces: Public Memory, Community Identity and Landscape at Scotts Bluff National Monument, talks about two community's disagreement on a tourist spot's proper use and maintenance. Barber analyzes the community's relations to the landmark and how it affects the discourse of history's narration, the malleability of public memory, and how it all connects with

On Tuesday I attempted to participate in a Day in the life as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. I faced several challenges with identifying as a member of the community, both internally and externally. I found that the biggest struggle was that I couldn’t connect because I am not a member of that community. I also battled with my personal beliefs and how comfortable I felt based on my research and the basic understanding I know of the LGBTQ+ community, I attempted the impossible. With my work schedule being so extensive I set an alarm at every two hours to review what happened in the past hours and jotted down how the situation would have been different had I been a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

People of long ago have attended church and it’s been known and shown from centuries to centuries on how families have attended this church or that church, this denomination or that denomination to no denomination. This family or that family, this race or that race and lately the key point in the matter of going to church seems to be missing.

For the many people who choose to follow a religion, the place of worship associated with their religion often serves as the center of their religious experience. For followers of Christianity, this significant place is a church. By attending church services weekly, or sometimes even daily, more common among extremely devoted members, people give meaning to the church itself. Without the church community, meaning the people who belong to the church, the church could be just any another brick building at the end of the street. This is not the case, however, as active church members, and even just visitors, like myself, each instill their own meaning into the church, and the sum of all of these individual experiences is what makes the church so meaningful.

Young at Art museum- Creativity and imagination is often overlooked in our current school system, this organization aims to change that by allowing kids to explore the arts through creative projects and hands-on activities. While volunteering here I was able to assist kids with their arts and craft projects and pushed them to to think more creatively. I believe that creativity sparks innovation which is an important value to have in life. I was in charge of overseeing projects such as the creation of puppets using recycled thrash, drafting digital comic books, the setup of fashion week, and many other creative projects. I played an active role in inspiring kids to use their imagination to create masterpieces and enriching the community as a result.

Meetings. An adviser shall be present at chapter meetings for the election of officers, revision of chapter Bylaws and Standing Rules, preparation and presentation of the budget, committee meetings — including those of the Nominating Committee and consideration of disciplinary action by the chapter and Standards Committee — and for Chapter Council meetings, membership selection sessions, officer training, and Initiation. G.

What do you think of when you hear about a community? My first thought was that a community had to be a small group of people that share a common interest, but why can’t a community be a large group of people with things in common? I understand it can be. A community can be a large or small quantity of people that have any one thing in common. When I hear the word community, I see various of images. I see numerous numbers of people with such a variety, but coming together as one with commonalities. So, when I was asked to write about a community in my life I had no idea how to choose my topic, there is so many options, however, when we were assigned to read the article “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” written by Ann Hulbert I got my inspiration to write about my generation because I do believe my generation stands out from the past generations.

Patience is the key in accomplishing anything. My most challenging class this year would be my Math Analysis Honors course. My main struggle was fully understanding the curriculum that I avoided my sophomore year, with Algebra 2 Honors. The curriculum was knowing the domain and range of a graph, I assumed that this notion would stay in Algebra 2 and not follow me into my next math course. Starting off the year, the class was simple as it was review of Algebra 2, however days later I am faced with domain and range. I took tests that dealt with this concept and would always get those specific questions wrong. I remember, my teacher saying how most concepts in math would never go away and would be there when taking math in college. My first thought was getting help right away and was exactly what I did. I stayed after school in the Godinez Grizzly Lounge where I got aid from a tutor who took her time in fully explaining the essential way to understand domain and range. After a couple of weeks attending tutoring sessions with her I felt more confident in working with domain and range and was able to get these questions right on the next test that I had. Learning how to figure out these two concepts on a graph was harder as a result of giving up my previous year. I knew, however that I needed to address the issue differently and that's what I did. Although I may not be an expert, I can now figure it out without having to guess or give up on the question. Aside from a challenging

I recently had the privilege of spending a week with a community called Furaha Community Center that provides education, social services, and community action efforts within a slum community called Haruma located in Nairobi, Kenya. The community of Haruma has roughly 500,000 people living in the equivalent of 12 square blocks. The community suffers from poor sanitation, rampant disease, and violence. Furaha Community Center serves the poorest and the sickest of the community in efforts to provide food, education, micro loans, and social services. The community is defined by some outsiders as poor, sick, dirty, lazy, disease ridden, gang infested, violent, sexually deviant, uneducated (education is not free in Kenya so many families cannot afford to send their children to school) and beyond hope. Although some of these descriptors are partially true, I found the community to be generous, supportive, hard-working, resilient, and joyful. To live in Haruma and be a member of the community you have a difficult life. Tribal hierarchy defines your ability to obtain opportunities to better yourself. Religion is a source of comfort, but is also used by some religious leaders as a way gain power and influence over the desperate. Most people work as “day laborers” and live day to day. They often do not eat every day because they cannot find work. Fires, building collapses, gang activity, and violence are a part of everyday life. Diseases spread rapidly while no medical care

Dreary gym. Flickering lights. On a Sunday afternoon, my parents obligated me to waste an hour of my day at my dreaded Sunday School. The heavenly site upon which you are supposed to learn about God, Jesus, and how to become a “better” person. In reality, it is just an old gym that smells like my brother’s sneakers with some worn out bleachers stuffed with one hundred-fifty teenagers. Although I do not have much expertise in the teaching religion, I am sure that teenagers do not learn best by having a man in his fifties screaming Jesus at the top of his lungs for five minutes. Nevertheless, the demographic of the people who attended this youth group were Latinos. But upon arriving, I found that many greeted each other with hugs and kisses and complimented one another on their “fye” clothing. As I tiptoed up the bleacher stairs trying not to make a deafening squeak, I heard somebody yell, “Hey U ain’t wearin’ Uggs!” I looked down and realized that I was not wearing my Uggs that day. Instead, I was wearing a similar brand called Baretraps. I turned around and politely commented that yes, she was right, I was not wearing Uggs. In my mind I wondered why she even cared. She simply threw her head back and laughed while her friends emulated her, “What? Are you a white girl now?” I was left speechless. Obviously not; I was raised by two Peruvian parents, and I thought I looked like a Latina, so I did not understand what they were implying. Was it because of my clothing? No, it could not be, other girls were wearing a sweatshirt, leggings, and boots. We were all of a minority group, no hate should exist between us. But what was it that made me so different? As soon as they turned around and started swaggering over to the boys, the answer hit me. I spoke differently. I noticed that they all used slang, different words than I utilized, in every sentence they spoke. Whenever they spoke it sounded like the beginning of a hip hop song, but where did that leave me?

Last semester as I was planning my schedule for Fall 2017, I wouldn’t have ever envisioned taking this course. This course didn’t change my beliefs but it certainly changed the way that I view the LGBTQ community. I enjoyed the discussion boards and reading materials for they both provided a huge insight into the troubles and hardships of this community as a whole. I was especially fond of the way that students are able to interact in this course. Before taking this course, I was opposed to because I thought that I wouldn’t be able to voice my opinion without offending someone in some form. But, halfway through the semester I realized that everyone was so respectful and voiced their opinion on every topic without confliction. This course has most definitely opened my eyes to a lot of issues that I had no idea about.