Outcast Reflection Paper

Here I stand on the brink of adulthood, a daunting place to exist. I peer over the edge and gaze into a chasm, bright but blurry. I am afraid. I am anxious. But I am hopeful. I am hopeful because I know that my past has defined me, but it is my future that will continue to mold me. As my years as a teenager draw to a close, I find myself reflecting on pivotal moments that taught me what it really means to be a good human being.

Carrie Fisher once proclaimed, “Stay afraid but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually, the confidence will follow.” I had to learn the hard way that confidence does not show up ready for you to utilize, just as the quote says. You have to put yourself out there and the confidence will develop. In the seventh grade, I joined the beginner band and chose to play the flute. Beginning band was far more terrifying than my twelve-year-old self imagined it to be. I learned that each student would have to perform in front of the class for a weekly grade. Even worse, the one other flute player next to me had already been playing for a year and I constantly compared myself to her. Later in that semester, this girl and I were talking and she said to me, “When we first started, I thought you were going to be the worst player in the band!” I was completely baffled that this girl, who had only been playing for a few more months than I had, would have the audacity to say that to my face. I did not understand that, at the time, it was okay for me to not play as well as she could. I had only been playing for a few weeks at most after all. Twelve year old me took it to heart and I felt like I was two inches tall. Sadly, that was not the last negative interaction I had with that girl. She stayed with me all throughout middle school, where she made fun of me for making last chair in eighth grade, and overall, put my

Next I started editing the clips on Movie Maker and noticed it was hard to hear me while recording the in busy Student Center with the noise of people and the background music. So I decide to finish record in a study room in the library so it was quite with no music or distraction of other people. Recording in the library worked much

I was extremely lucky to be placed in a first-year seminar that had such a unique topic with great individuals to share the class with. Throughout the last few months, I have gained friendships and knowledge within the course, Plants and Human Affairs. Within this course, I have learned and extended my understandings on the interactions between humans and plants. Throughout the semester, the class has read a variety of books, all relating to plants and people interaction. We have also been exposed to films and projects that have helped further our understanding of the plant world. I feel that I overall have learned very important lessons during this class in a wide range of areas including my personal life, how to approach college and about a variety of plants.

I was born and raised a Catholic throughout my whole life. My family wasn't die hard Catholics, but we went to church every Sunday. I went to catholic school until 9th grade when I switch to public school, more so because private school cost a lot and sports are better at public schools. Growing up as a catholic I didn't really know God, I just went through the motions, church was boring to me. I'd go to the restroom just to miss certain parts. I'd find myself skipping the boring parts of service. Really, growing up as a catholic was living by the laws God set for us, namely the Ten Commandments. Keep Holy the Sabbath, don't take His Name in vain, and don't steal, etc... Really I just lived my life without God meaning anything to me. Didn't care much about my future other than wanting to be a baseball player and have a beautiful family. Throughout my life I've learned things and learned from mistakes. I've always had a respect for women, elderly, but I always found myself judging others for who they were. Man have I changed... anyway let's not go off track! Going into high school it's still the same, going through the motions living life. I started to mess around and do ungodly things, but they didn't mean anything because it was 'just for fun', little did I know that would end up hurting me. I dated a girl named Audrey sophomore-junior on and off, eventually that broke away. Then middle of senior year decided I was going to take a break from girls and 'find myself'

I know that I’m not very old, or old at all for that matter, but I think that as you get older, you realize more and more how little time you have and how fast time goes. Time is a mysterious object. You never truly realize how much you have until you’re all out of it, wishing that you did everything you wanted to do. It doesn't matter if it’s a year or a school year or even a lifetime; they both end before you know it. Everyone always tells you how fast life comes at you, but you never really realize it until you experience it firsthand. Everyone says that high school goes by lightning fast, but nobody ever believes it until it happens to them.

As the year of 2017 is coming to an end, I think about all that has happened this year. I have to say; this year has been nothing short of a chaotic roller coaster. We had the largest mass shooting our country has ever seen, a president who is far too obsessed with Twitter, and had a hurricane named Irma, that was the size of the state of Ohio. There have also been incredible breakthroughs that we’ve seen for the first time this year such as: Women being given the right to drive in Saudi Arabia, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is legal in all states, and an Israeli scientist named Dr. Rachel Lichtenstein has found a treatment for Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) and Alzheimer’s. (Times of Israel) There have been many headlines this year, some positive, some negative, but one in particular is disturbing to me. That is, an athlete by the name of Colin Kaepernick of the National Football Association (NFL) kneeling during our country’s national anthem.

It was during my first year of University when I followed love on a journey that was not my own that I learned a valuable life lesson. A challenge harder than anything I had faced before was waitng on the horizon. I dropped out after getting married to my High School best friend who had enlisted in the United States Army. He gave me an ideal picture of traveling the world with someone who knew me, accepted me and loved me like no one else did. Instead was a person who started controlling me the minute I was away from everything we had known. He was trying to change me, make me think who I was, who I was capable of loving was just a phase since I decided to share the rest of life with him. He started to despise the fact I could love men and women which led to his insecurities fueling his passive abuse towards me. I just hadn’t noticed it yet. He had his façade of a loving protector fooling everyone, even me. Thus, it is that I learned there are experiences we go through in life that have us question whether we are strong enough to beat the struggles and pull through, but when we do, it’s the most gratifying feeling of self-worth, hope, and relief.

It is  finally the day, final registration at the college. As I sit there waiting to pick my classes, I saw a lady teaching a little girl how to play a game of cards. I always had my mind set on teaching and I knew that picking a grade to teach was going to be a tough decision. As time went on I planned on teaching a high school grade in history, I even had a teacher cadet class where I shadowed a freshman history teacher, helped with the class, and even taught two lessons.

My parents used to tell me that education was a privilege, not a right, and that I was fortunate to live in a democracy where I was legally entitled to my education. As I got older, partially because of this upbringing, I used to think the word privilege could only be applied to address the wealthy people of higher social hierarchies who were bestowed benefits and advantages from society, a true life of privilege. I never once thought that word could refer to me. I made that mistake during a conversation I had a year ago with my brother’s girlfriend, Sara. To put it simply, she is a bright and radiant twenty-four year old woman whom I admire profusely, specifically for her intelligence and wit which got her into Dental School. With regards to this, it is important to understand that she is Asian and of Chinese-ethnicity, and I am of Macedonian-ethnicity but considered Caucasian. That particular day, I started applying to universities and was talking spiritedly to Sara after-school about my hopes and ambitions; I told her that I wanted to enter the English program and potentially head off to Teaching College afterwards. She challenged me by asking if I had ever thought about Law School. In fact, it was something I had never thought about, which I told her. To emphasize her point further, she told me about how when she was in her Biology program she had never aimed academically higher than getting into Hygiene school, let alone Dentistry. The idea seemed ridiculous to me.

During this lesson, the students will be focusing on building their emotional intelligence. The students will learn about the concept of perseverance and will work on their empathy and interpersonal skills. My hope is that the students are able to start thinking and building on personal strategies pertaining to these concepts so that they will be able to use these strategies throughout their daily lives. I want the students to understand importance of expressing their emotions, working together, and never giving up. During this unit, I would like to explore how the impact of integrating dramatic activities will help students to form a deeper understanding of the concepts being discussed in the lesson. In addition, I am interested to see the effect that implementing the art of drama has on the students and the way that they view not only themselves, but also the community as a whole. Through the use of dramatic activities such as covering the space, tableaux’s, total physical response, two corners and role-playing the students will be able to look at the story from different perspectives, express their emotions as well as learn more about their peers’ thoughts on the subject matter. These activities will also encourage the students to think deeply and use their background knowledge to form connections between the story, characters and their own lives. Throughout this process the students will be actively involved and engaged, which will help them to fully comprehend the

I started my life in San Salvador, El Salvador and lived in Zacatecoluca with my parents. They decided that the murder capital of the world was not the best place to raise their first child; therefore, they did what any other parent would, immigrate to a better place. While I was 18 months old, my family immigrated to the United States in New York, and we lived with my cousins. After a few months, my parents decided to become more independent and moved out of my cousins house and rented a basement of an Arab family. During this time, my father worked two full time jobs to provide for my mother and me. I cannot even imagine how challenging that must have been. However, after 6 months, my parents decided New York was not the best fit, so we moved to North Carolina with my other cousins. Lived with my cousins for a few months, and then we finally found a place to call home in Raleigh, North Carolina. I only came to find about my immigration status through a conversation I had with my parents when I was about to enter middle school. Furthermore, trying to constantly suppress my family’s immigration history when it came up in certain friendly conversations, prevented me from making close friends in middle school. If I got too close to my friends, I feared that I would reveal my status, and then I would be seen or treated differently because of the prejudice that revolves around undocumented individuals. I feared the misconception so much, I was dishonest about my status in my

Coming from a small stagnant town, I choose to take the class "Jerusalem: Holy City of Conflict and Desire" in hopes of better understanding religion and the history of the Middle East. This class surpassed my expectations by vastly expanding my perspective on identity, politics, and human behavior. The religious conflicts and cultures I learned in Jewish 231 directed me towards an intended major in Political Science, International Relations, and Middle Eastern Studies.

I was raised by a father who immigrated from Haiti and a mother who immigrated from France. Both were first generation Americans, who brought along a lot of their culture into the states. I was raised by a mix of both cultures and very little American culture. With hard work and determination, my parents were able to afford a very nice house in a very safe neighborhood. This city was predominantly Caucasian and we were not only one of the only African Americans but also, one of the only French or Haitian families in the city as well. Coming from such a diverse background the majority of my peers thought of me as weird. I was often asked why my skin was brown, why my hair was so “poofy” and why I acted so differently from everyone else. I spent several nights crying to my parents wishing they could give me white skin and straight hair so I would not have to be different from everyone else anymore. My confidence was so low to the point where I had no motivation to do anything. My parents were unable to help me and they began to fear that I would never overcome this.

As time progresses In elementary school, I learned to write sentences. As time went on I learned to put those sentences in a paragraph, which was three to at least five sentences. When I finally entered the high school, I learned to put those paragraphs together which will make the essay. When I was in Composition one , I know that writing had so much more than just having five paragraph. The writing was a way of expressing your creativity, idea, values, and emotion. Throughout composition one i have learned that there are countless abilities that writing has. The most powerful thing writing can do is to change the opinion of thousands of people. When i was in middle school i didn't knew What exactly is English 1100? Now i have learned and experience that, is about improving your writing, reading and thinking skills. There are seven learning outcomes students that can get from this class, for example, communicate effectively, demonstrate rhetorical knowledge, engage in critical thinking, writing and reading, develop effective composing processes, collaborate during the writing process in a social setting, use appropriate conventions for the format, documentation, and editing, Adapt is composing process to the electronic environment. By the end of this course, all students should able to demonstrate those learning goals as stated on the packet.