Personal Narrative: My Emerging Leader Program

I woke up and took one bite out of my pop tart but that one bite was all I could eat. My legs were shaking, and my heart was pounding. My dad told me, “It is a true honor to even make it this far so go out there and have some fun.” Once I heard this statement, I knew I was ready to go. I arrived at school and boarded the bus. The car ride was an hour and fifteen minutes of hearing the squeaking of the wheel on the bus. My teammates were getting their heads ready for the big game.

I was surprised when I learned that I didn’t have only one mentor, but I had three mentors. I was anxious as to who was going to be my mentor and felt scared that I wouldn’t be able to create a connection. One of my mentors had work that day, so I had to arrive a little earlier to have a quick talk. I thought this was going to be my only mentor but it wasn’t. I also, have Dani Barajas and Adrian Camacho as mentors.

Over the past two summers I have done quite a bit. In the summer of 2013-14 I went to the Summer leadership Academy. SLA is a one week boot camp for AFJROTC cadets. With approximately 10 schools including Dickinson high school. I was appointed guidon bearer. We woke up at 0430 and went to the field for PT, and had breakfast at 0600.throughout the rest of the day we did several activities from navigation class to the marksmanship course. At the end of boot camp I was awarded the Spirit award and Distinguished graduate award. In the summer of 2014-15 I stayed home to help my cousin in his home repairs. From redoing some of his deck to building a shed. We also worked on his car changing the oil, brakes, rotors, spark plugs

For the past 3 summers I have been a part of a Leadership in Training summer Camp run by the YMCA. It is a two week event, the first week is your “Training”. This is where you play team building games, and learn to solve problems as a group. The second week, your skills get put to the test. On the first day of the second week you get assigned to a group. The groups are sorted by age, the ages range from preschool to 5th grade.( I normally request the preschoolers). There is normally 1-2 counselors per group. You assist the counselors along with help the kids do fun activities such as fishing, canoeing, archery, and arts and crafts. A lot of patience is needed for this, along with the ability to say “no” sometimes.

The gifts, motives, role, likes and dislikes as a religious leader after serving in my supervised ministry setting are vast due to having two different settings in which I served. The first half was as a spiritual leader within a role of chaplaincy at Morristown Medical Center. The other half of the year was in my role of Local Licensed Associate Pastor which was appointed to me by the Bishop of the Greater New Jersey Conference. Each of the positions I held had both positive and negative experiences. I can honestly say I have learned something from all of them.

’m the first one to be born And it’s my responsibility To leave traces For others to follow I have to be cautious Or I might step into The wrong ground Letting the roots swallow me up There’s so much pressure in me

With the mid-semester already here, my mentor and I have fit into a routine where he expects our time together. Jason has seemed to have ease with excitement and is accustomed to having me as a mentor now. However, I feel as though since now he knows what days I mentor for him, this has caused some issues, as well as perks between us working together. I feel that I have been now doing this long enough to experience the best of both worlds when it comes to enjoying time with your mentee, as well as experiencing quite difficult moments and situations while mentoring. I am now accustomed to the rules and procedures that every student follows in the classroom, and in the hallways and on the playground as well. I am far into this program to better

As I sat down to write how I have improved and what my weaknesses are it took forever for anything to come to mind. I kept thinking, “Well I did improve on this, but I would still consider it a weakness.” I was staring at my blank page on my laptop and my outline I did not come with any ideas. I excel at writing, and punctuation; however, I struggle in writing a thesis, comma splices, and word choices.

Every morning we would be waken up by 7 AM. Breakfast was served by 7:30, and we had to have our lunches made before breakfast.

The opportunity I received to go to the Chapter Leadership Camp has allowed me to experience a wide range of leadership aspects that I can apply to my chapter. I went on behalf of Mountain Pointe’s Early Learning Center Program as the president and as a part of FCCLA. We were able to attend leadership sessions based on your position, learn about success strategies based on your chapter, and take part in team-building activities. I had the favorable circumstance to meet others from all around Arizona and discuss different views on what it takes to be a leader. The experience has left me with the knowledge and understanding of leadership that I can apply to school and my everyday life.

only time we will discuss is yours, and the only applause will go to you. Many self-help books bring in other people, but I call that baggage. If it’s not your personal baggage, then it’s too much luggage.

How are things going? I see that life has been exciting for you these past few months, that's is so great to see! I want to follow up with you on a conversation we had a few months back when I invited you to a Challenge Group, I can't remember where we exactly left the conversation, I do remember you wanted to lose some fat, get toned, and be healthier in general. I am leading a Challenge Group that starts in February and wanted to see if you, or anyone you know, might be interested in joining. I'm specifically looking for ladies that want to get started losing weight over 30 days.

Island life is nice… if you don’t live it every day. I’m sure any teenager you ask born and raised on any small island like St. Thomas will tell you the same:There are barely any clothing stores, grocery prices are high, and the worst part: there are only two public high schools. The metaphor, a “big fish in a small pond” becomes real to you, especially one you enter middle school . After enduring this for about five years, I decided that I needed to leave St. Thomas ASAP for the sake of my education, my future and, most importantly, for my sanity. August of 2016 I boarded a plane headed northward to Georgia leaving my parents an empty nest early, to live with my aunt and uncle. Four hours from my new life, I was hit with the most agonizing realizations :I don’t know anyone. I don’t know how to act. Georgia? I don’t know her.

My team spend one day per week work on our project at the client's workplace, and we have maintained high professional standards to contribute to the Techlauncher public image. I also had attended the Techlauncher showcase, and tried my best to network as much as I can.

When my seventh grade year began, I thought I was perfectly fine. In actuality, I was not. I was making wrong choices which caused my grades to drop. When people tried to help me, I ignored them. Later on, I started to see my errors and this caused me to become really upset and ashamed of the person I was becoming. My family was also extremely disappointed in me. I was tired of being lectured and punished. I didn’t like the girl I was turning into and I wanted people to see and know me for who I really was. Therefore, I needed to make changes.