Personal Narrative: Former Mentor

I know understand how privileged I am to have a good community that supports my academic endeavors and gives me the opportunity to meet my maximum potential. Helping students who do not meet the national literacy standards is a way to give them the chance to excel in life. This opportunity, something I didn’t value at first, showed me how small acts of kindness can transform the lives of others. My time at Birch Grove not only made those struggling students go home with better communication skills, but it also gave me a lot of satisfaction and made me proud of what I was doing. I felt as though I was changing the world one child at a time and volunteering at elementary schools is now one of my strongest passions.

Through teaching these lessons, I have learned how to effectively present to large groups, and have discovered various methods of keeping a group of students interested and engaged. Through being part of the Link Crew program, I have developed various transferable leadership skills that will surely assist me in achieving my long term ambition of becoming a

My senior project began with me stepping into a unique and exciting world; an adventure into modeling. I found myself wanting to learn everything regarding becoming a model and ways to break out of my shell and into a new comfort zone. The goals I planned before I finalized this project is to be in my first personal photo shoot, why? I loved seeing how rewarding it is to be photographed, and the self-esteem that builds within. The beginning of this project I had questions about what sort of person I am now and how I will shape afterwards, my road to gain these answers by how much work and effort I can accomplish this summer. My progress so far hasn’t been enough to modify my mindset into a people person professional, this has made shape into

My mentor and I are complete opposites. She is open and outgoing. Around 5’3 with tan skin and dark brown eyes. Her teeth are straight and white. Her silhouette was pudgy, kind of like that of a chef that cooks soul food, but she was attractive with her newly short, burgundy hair. I was a was meek and laid back kid, standing 5’6. Dark hair, medium brown skin. My smile was crooked, but you could only tell if I’d open my mouth wide and tilt my head back. A peculiar relationship of contradictions, I know, but we clicked nonetheless. We were always smiling and laughing. In contrast, we did shed a few tears of silent moments. Our friendship was raw and real, it’s been that was since my freshman year coming back to Ohio from Pearland, Texas after only living there for

that all students can be successful. We have student tutors avaliable for several classes. Call

“Nothing ever goes my way!” we, as teenagers, sometimes like to think. I, myself have been caught thinking this same way when I desire something, whether it be a tangible item, or a chance to hangout with some friends. Upon completing my senior project, my eyes were wide open. I have always been aware that there are homeless and impoverished people in Sacramento, but witnessing a large number of less fortunate children in one setting, whom all feel that “having a little” is the way of life was a bit appalling to me. There isn’t much that I could have done for the children financially, but I do feel that I left an impression on some of the children’s hearts.

I’ve never really thought of myself as having a mentor, I mean yeah I have my family, friends, and all of the people that care for me around me, but when I really think about it Terry would have to be my mentor. Terry has help me through so much! My track career and has made me a better thrower, and a better person. He always gives off a really good vibe and he treats all of his kids like one of his own, and as me coming in as a freshman it really helped not having one awkward moment in this track year because of Terry.

In the fall of my freshman year, I began an internship with Children Beyond Our Borders, Inc. (CBOB), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing at-risk youth in Latin America and Central Florida with access to equal opportunities for education. My involvement with CBOB has grown immensely since then: I now also serve as an officer for their UF student chapter, volunteer with children in their local program, and work with students in Colombia every summer through their Bound for Peace program. In October, I was awarded “CBOBer of the Year” for my all-around commitment.

My advisor is Laura Jennings and she works in the Student Center but she has many more jobs. Not only she an advisor, she also a student coach and a teacher at RCC. Even with a busy schedule, she able to see you within short notice. Longs time I’ve waited to see her was about one day, but the matter wasn’t urgent. Theirs has been times where I’ve just shown up at her office without notice and she was able to see me. The first time I met her, I was with my brother so he could help me get the classes that I needed. At first I was very confused with the names of the courses and the numbering of them, but she was able to explain everything to me. And she was very knowledgeable about the colleges I wanted to attend. Her attitude is very positive,

I teach Career Technical Education in a Title one high school for students who are in a credit recovery program, some with poor attendance and others that are struggling academically. Participating in the Kenan Fellows Program would grant me access to experience, tools and resources, which will increase my knowledge base. My goal is to incorporate this training into my lessons to connect and increase students’ enthusiasm for learning, thereby increasing student retention.

In both Camden and Lindenwold, there are initiatives to help reduce “the gap” between the town’s students and students from the wealthier surrounding areas. In Camden, and in fact, across the nation, there is a program called JumpStart. In Lindenwold, one if the high school english teachers has started a non-profit named Book Smiles.

There have been many people in my life that had served as a mentor to me. This one in particular has had the biggest impact on my life so far. He was my basketball coach, Coach Ham. Our relationship ever since the first day I saw him has always been good. We both met at the Euclid High School girl’s gym. My sister had basketball practice that day and the coach wanted me to go up there too. When I walked into the gym, I saw him sitting in an athletic sports chair on the side yelling out plays to run to the other girls. After my sister, Rashida, introduced me to him, he asked me if I wanted to practice with them, probably because I had already had my basketball gear on from my previous practice at the middle school. I did and but didn’t want to practice with them because they were all older than me. I thought I would not be able to keep up with the other girls and they would get angry at me or I would slow them down. After a lot

Tell us about an experience, in school or out, that taught you something about yourself and/or the world around you.

At School X, they hold strong belief that AfL needs to be a part of every lesson to create independent learners. They focus on lessons driven by WALT (we are learning to) and WILFs (what I am look for) as well as rich questioning, peer- and self-assessment, amongst many other key strategies to develop learners to their full potential.

My previous manager unforgettable. His name was Farshad, he provided me inspirational motivation, eventually becoming a true surprising mentor. He motivated me to further my education, directed me towards a path for career advancement. He explained to me having an education combined with work experience, would benefit me. I always envisioned going back to school, but never knew which educational route I needed for my career advancement. So, I never took the necessary steps to move forward.