Personal Narrative: Positive Change Academy

Growing up with a father in the military, you move around a lot more than you would like to. I was born just east of St. Louis in a city called Shiloh in Illinois. When I was two years old my dad got the assignment to move to Hawaii. We spent seven great years in Hawaii, we had one of the greatest churches I have ever been to name New Hope. New Hope was a lot like Olivet's atmosphere, the people were always friendly and there always something to keep someone busy. I used to dance at church, I did hip-hop and interpretive dance, but you could never tell that from the way I look now.

Week two has been a bit of a rough week for my behavioral change project. I became sick and was stuck at home for three days this week. This caused me to have a bit of a relapse because when I am not feeling well I turn to things that comfort me. A big comfort for me is technology and I hate to admit it but I binge watched a lot of television this week and I used social media quite often. The worst part is that now that the binge has started I am having a difficult time stopping again. I am so stressed now because I missed a great deal of class and as a result I feel extremely far behind and anxious about if I can make it up successfully. Yet, all I want to do is watch Netflix and in all honesty that is all I have been doing this week. After the first week, I felt so strong (naively so) but now I only feel defeated by my own mind. That is a hard concept for me to grasp because how is it that something that feels so good, relaxing, and happy is so detrimental to my life in the areas of education, work, and relationships? I suppose though that part of the reason we do this project is to see what will make us relapse. For me and

For my Make a Difference Project, I decided to donate 2 large boxes of unused toys to Goodwill. I also wanted to donate $50 to Riley Hospital. I exceeded my goal as I donated two boxes of gently used toys and a full desk set to Goodwill. I also met my goal to donate $50 to Riley Hospital. I earned the $50 by lawn mowing. Something I could have done differently was to maybe focus on one organization rather than two. This would have helped because I could have helped that one organization more. This inspires me to do more service projects because I would like to help the community. I really enjoyed doing my Make a Difference

As a Venezuelan international student, sharing my voice in English has been a challenge. When I first came to the Community College of Aurora, fear clearly affected my learning process and social life. As I struggled with the language barrier, I received a call from the school to attend a Student Government meeting, where I first met Kathryn Sturtevant. Since then, she strived to discover and understand my professional and personal goals and has pushed me to overcome challenges that have shaped me as a better human being. As advisor of the Student Government Association in which I am Vice-President, Kathryn has incorporated a variety of trainings such as Strengths Quest and True Colors that are meaningfully aimed to improve and empower not only myself but

culture. As a business student, I am no less influenced by money than the next

The Change-Readiness Assessment was right on point on most of the scores. After adding my scores, I started asking questions. In fact, I thought I was going to score high in all but for optimism, but I was wrong. The resourceful, confidence, and passion/drive score reminded me of my first job as a sales associate. It was mandatory for all to make monthly sales goals and it was tough associate in my location since our location was a dead shopping center. Even though I was not doing badly, I was bored stiff. Something terrible happened in one of our busy high volume stores and due to that, our District Manager fired everybody in that store. He reached out to all the other store locations close by for Spanish speaking volunteers to work in that

Corins Pov~ After I got done eating my food I got dressed in a pare of worn jeans that had holes in them from numerous things, and a old t-shirt that i have cut the sleeves out of. Then I put on my combat boots, braded my hair, and found my headphones. Then I ran out my door and down the stairs praying that no one saw me. Im not running away or anything Im just going to explore the grounds a little and take my dirt bike out for a spin.

I personally have strong beliefs in change for the better. In the couples of years that I've matured I realized what was going on in the world around me, life has taught me so much. The right and wrongs, the left and rights, and even the ups and downs. Being that there's so much more to look forward to, i'm curious to see where life takes

Friedrich Hayek stated, “What is most urgently needed in most parts of the world is a through sweeping-away of the obstacles of free growth.” Change is a heavy and formidable force that you either participate in or stand by and watch as it unravels--no inbetween. Change is raft that you jump into to cross an aggressive river stream--life. Some distrust and fear unhindered growth. They chose to remain on shore, complacent in the familiarity of the life they know. Some--my ancestors--are not averse to change; they jump in, paddles in hand. They leap into the raft, embracing unobstructed change and the subsequent tools of human innovation that emerge. This is no easy feat, but each time the raft slows down with enough time for its riders to catch their

Back, in my high school days I can remember the voice change and I started sound like my brothers, when answering my mom call she wouldn’t know which son she would be talking with if she did see us. However, in my physical development I grow taller about six feet, and my musical developed on my body fast. Yet, the thougths I had as a child had changed, when I became a teenager I cared about friends and relationships with opposite sex

My sister, Amanda, and I used to be very close. After all, we got through some of the hardest times like when our dad died. We were like two trees planted together three years apart that got attached by their roots. We shared some of the best memories: she let me sleep over when she had her friends sleeping with her and I would play games everyday, last but not least, we shared a room together. Her and I were always crazy together, we just became carefree when we were outside together and made up some crazy games we would play for endless hours. I remember that one of the games we would play together is one of us would be the lion and one of us would be the antelope. We would chase each other around our front yards for hours.

To grow, I must change. If I remain the same, how can I grow? If I had never transformed from my six-year-old self, I would not be who I am today. I would not be as tall, as brawny, as intelligent, or as self-reliant. I must change in order to survive.

In order for us to do the Make A Difference project, together we came up with a creative idea. We decided to help those who think negatively about themselves because of bullying by creating a group called Sticking Together. We wanted to say (and encourage) positive comments to people. So, we decided to write positive comments on sticky notes and put them on student’s lockers. We started writing positive comments on sticky notes on April 27th, April 28th and put them on student's lockers and gave some to the teachers. We also recorded students and teachers reactions when they saw the sticky notes. But, before we did all of this, we made a banner on April 25th. We worked on the banner for about two to three hours. The banner was full of handprints

You’ve seen my worst. I threw unreasonable demands, unpredictable rages, and tantrums. What I wanted was usually beyond the realm of the possible; consequently, I‘ve been terrible when you were two and terrifying when you turned three.

I entered the change rooms to prepare for my weekly sport agenda. Today is the only day of the week I do sports, like seriously, which kinda explains my fat ass weight. As soon I stepped in to that place, it's like the fucking the 'Holocaust: The Sequel'. The stench of fuckboy aerosol and piss filled the room. Why guys use excessive amount of fucking spray deodorant? Like have you heard of shower or bath? Are. You. Even. Fucking. Alive? I mean seriously. Every time I come out that horrid chamber, it's like getting hit by a train [Yes, I did insert a cliche because I'm lazy as fuck]. And I smell like fuckboy aerosol and piss and shit when I come out. I also call the change room, 'Nude Hall' or the 'No Homo' room. I mean, I didn't see it but,