Faith Wakefield: A Personal Analysis

Many of you have people in your life that influence you in different ways, to help you make decisions and to help you in your journey through life. Others of you have people you see for merely a minute or two but they do something that impacts you for the rest of your life. Many people call people like that heroes, even though the people who are influencing you and helping you will never feel as though they have done anything that is worth the title "hero". For me personally the person that I would consider my hero would be my youth leader at church, Stephanie. She has inspired me to do many things to help other people as she has helped me. Some of the different ways that she has showed heroism is in the way she goes on mission's trips all around the world to help other people. People who are less fortunate and are in need of help. She has helped me in other ways as well, by showing me how to be a good role model to the other girls in my youth group, how to show leadership with the people around me and to get out of my comfort zone and engage myself in activities that I normally would avoid.

Shannon L. Alder once said, “If you were born with the ability to change someone’s perspective or emotions, never waste that gift. It is one of the most powerful gifts God can give- the ability to influence.” This quote above has always been my favorite line of admiration. Up until now, I have been influenced by a lot of people, but the person that I admire most is my older sister, Nhi.

Faith can be defined as a spiritual entity that can shape a person’s confidence. My faith has influenced the young woman that I am today. I characterize myself as a person who is optimistic, intelligent, full of self-confidence, independent, and charismatic. My faith has delivered me through a lot of trials and tribulations. I come from a low income, single parent home, where the sight of Lupus and kidney failure is taking my mother’s life. These circumstances have made Carolina Medical Center my second home; I have celebrated Christmases and birthdays right beside my mother's hospital bed. Even though she is sick, we make time to give back to the community. As a child, I was taught the hard work of volunteering: from working with Operation Christmas Child, feeding the homeless, and volunteering at my church’s annual back to school drive. My journey has encouraged me to want to become a role model for young girls and women. I want to show them that your past does not define you, but the content of your character does. My mission to help young women strongly correlates with the purpose of Alpha Kappa Alpha

I have more than one mentor in my life, teachers and friends that one way or the other helped shape the person that I am today. One person that I will always remember is Mrs. Luz Rodriguez, she was my Supervisor at a hospital where I used to work as a Purchase Agent.

1. Leaders ought to speak out. The educated people in the public, community and religious leaders, musicians, school heads, market coordinators etc. Should have spoken out with a load voice, rejecting the report. “It is not the wickedness of evil men that destroys a nation, but the silence of the good men,” (King, n.d, p. 1).

People ask me who inspires me the most in the world and the ones that pop right into mind are my mother and Mrs. Napoli. Mama Naps is the only one who left a lasting impression in my life. She has done so much for other students including myself. She always goes out of her way to make sure her ‘kids’ are always flourishing.

Most people are inspired by celebrities or adult figures in their life but for me, im inspired by someone a few months older than me. Her name is Jaclyn West. I was having a hard time writing this paper because I really just wrestled with the idea of who inspires me. I prayed about who I should write my paper on and then it came to me, Jaclyn. I met Jaclyn in the second grade and she has been a light to me ever since. Our friendship grew as the years went on and I noticed a change in my life, a positive change, a craving to know more and more about Jesus.

I would have to say that my middle school life science teacher had a tremendous impact on my life. I met Mrs. Anderson, who at the time was Miss Olsen, when I was in 8th grade. She was a first year teacher.

My best friend. My biggest supporter. My brother. For those of us with brothers, we can easily say that they tend to be aggravating at times, but at the same time they can be one of the most positive influences in our lives. This describes my older brother Abraham, or Abe for short. All through my life, having him next to my side has been one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me. From the headaches of school, to the carelessness of child play, to now living in his house; Abraham has helped me become the person that I am today.

Everyone has someone in their life that gives them a great amount of inspiration. The people that have given me the most inspiration are my Grandparents. My Grandmother has done a great deal for me in my life. My Grandfather has done something with his life that nobody expected him to do. My Grandparents have greatly changed my life. If it was not for them, I would not be the person I am today. My Grandmother is a great person inside and out.

Like any other major important life events, faith takes lots of thought, sacrifices, and support from others. Your faith life tends to fluctuate greatly throughout your lifespan. Family and peer influence can have very high impact on all your decisions. For this project, I figured I should reach out to my great-grandmother and my aunt, who doubles as my godmother. Both women are incredibly strong, independent, religious, and I look up to. I don’t always get the chance to talk to my great grandmother, so hearing her voice and having a deep spiritually based conversation with her was very nice.

One person who has made an impact on my education is Mrs. Worley. Freshman year my science classes got messed up and I had to take General Physical science with Mrs. Worley. I was supposed to be taking Principles of Science like the rest of my classmates. As someone who is typically good at science, I was confused as to why I was in a general science class. In my previous science class 8th grade year, I felt as if my teacher thought I was stupid. I had explained to her that I did not have internet connection at home and the library was not in walking distance from my home at the time. She would assign online activities very often that I was not able to complete as homework. I vividly remember her saying “Well, that’s not my problem”. As a younger child, I was confused as to why she was not trying to help me to the best of her abilities.

The most influential person in my life is Frank Guedon. Frank is not the most influential person because he is perfect or because he does everything right. He influences me through the things he has and how he got those things. Through my eyes he has the ideal way of life. He works until he has whatever he wants. He has enough money to buy a beautiful house and fill it with expensive treasures, instead he lives thirty miles out of the city on two-hundred acres of land filled with animals, motorized vehicles, an airplane, and not to mention the six children that roam around his property. I look up to him through the family he has created for himself. He is a man of many colors and will be hard to describe in just a few short paragraphs. Frank Guedon is my father, and there will be descriptions of his attitude, his style, his family, and his work ethics.

I have many people who influence me in my life, but the person who influences me the most is my Grandma Sandy. I have always been close with my grandma. She has always pushed me to be the best person I could be. If she ever saw me not putting in 100% effort in something she would tell me to evaluate myself and what I was doing. She was always the first person to be there to support me with things at school, things at dance, and other events in life. The fact that I spent lots of time with her when I was growing up probably influenced this a lot. She also lives very close to parent’s business so whenever I had a day off of school or just wanted to see grandma after school I would walk there.

The person who inspires me the most is Minhong Yu. He is the funder of New Oriental Education. New Oriental Education is the biggest English training school in China. It was very hard when he first started his business, but he finds the way to success. All he achieved today are based on his hard work, accumulated knowledge, as well as his perseverance, which I should learn from him.