Reflection Paper

On September 6, 2017, I were documented for an incident that involved a University Housing policy violation. I was charged with violating the University Housing Alcohol 1.2 policy. With my violation, came consequences. I met with The Residence Conduct Coordinator to discuss my actions and came to the conclusion that I would have to schedule a meeting with The Campus Alcohol and Drug Education Center (CADEC) and with that, a reflection paper.

At this moment there are currently 7,430,931,842 people in the world. Nearly 3 billion of those people are currently living in poverty. Today, 350,000 babies will be born. The world, continues to grow, to prosper, as I sit in my bedroom staring out the window waiting for creativity to strike and give me the words that so effortlessly describe me. There is currently only one person in the world with the name Gabrielle Vozzi, and right now she is attempting to describe something that is indescribable: herself.

Last summer my cousin and I were enjoying a meal with our families in China. It’s been 7 years since I last saw my cousin. We are about the same age and my favorite memory of her was celebrating her 11th birthday. I remember my uncle and aunt sitting to my right and my grandparents sitting to my left singing happy birthday as she blew out her candles. It has been so long I almost couldn’t recognize her when I arrived at the airport 2 weeks prior. My mom receives a call and leaves the room to pick up her phone. She comes back 10 minutes later in tears. She breaks the news to the family and that our trip would be cut short. She was diagnosed with breast cancer. In the following week, we pack up our bags and head out to the airport. She had to start treatment as soon as possible. I knew I would become the man of the house to take care of my mother and brother, who has autism, while my dad worked in New York.

At this moment there is currently 7,430,931,842 people in the world. Nearly 3 billion of those people are currently living in poverty. Today, 350,000 babies will be born. The world, continues to grow, to prosper, as I sit in my bedroom staring out the window waiting for creativity to strike and give me the words that so effortlessly describe me. There is currently only one person in the world with the name Gabrielle Vozzi, and right now she is attempting to describe something that is indescribable: herself.

Throughout our discussion there were several intriguing and engaging questions that were asked and sparked a good conversation among our group. One moment where I believe I was most successful in the discussion, was throughout minutes six through sixteen. Throughout this time, we discussed how the Party’s control in 1984 can be seen in the world around us today such as in North Korea. This question was first prompted by Leo but what I feel made this our groups most engaging point was how everyone added to the question by rephrasing it, or adding additional information and perspectives, or incorporating it into aspects they are most passionate about in their lives. From this point, I related it to history and how history can be rewritten to correct ways a nation or person has morally failed. I used the example of slavery to show this point. Starting from about minute eight I discuss with my group how according to an article my English class read last year, Texas history textbooks teach slavery based on how it economically impacted the South rather than by teaching the dehumanizing and awful treatment of other people. This question and the points brought up by this question were what I found to be most engaging. Our group spent nearly ten minutes on this point, because this point took a personal side and everyone had something to discuss from it. I believe the passion developed from this point is what made this not only my most successful moment but one of our groups best

In 1994, my parents immigrated to Canada from Vietnam to seek better living conditions and a promising future for their soon-to-be children. However, to live in a free nation filled with opportunities, the two left everything behind. While living in rent, my father worked full-time at a factory while my mother had found a job as a cashier. Although they had a sustainable income, my father understood that raising a child would cost them more than they were currently making. In 1997, my father decided to study computer science at Langara in search for a better-paying job while working part-time as a security guard. Meanwhile, my mother took up housekeeping, working at two different hotels to earn more money for their coming child. Understandably, my parents had made their lives much harder immigrating to Canada, but their sacrifices - I can say - has paid off.

Everyone has at least one point in their educational life that has shaped them into the student or person they are today. For me, coming together after being separated as the “Germantown” and “Farmersville” kids for the first six years of school changed the way I built myself as a student. Becoming friends with new people, having new teachers for every subject, changing up the routine, and actually having to switch classes has taught me a lot of different things.

Being in a life or death situation, or at least believing you, can radically affect how you feel about the world, and everything around us. To unknowingly shake loose your repressed feelings and thought, through the rush of adrenaline and reflection on your own actions, is a truly freeing experience. While such a freeing experience comes with a terrifyingly dangerous cost, I was able to find a refreshing outlook on life.

Life represents a culmination of unforeseen events that eventually lead to success, and in the minds of the majority college symbolically defines the first major obstacle one must overcome to continue that journey. Every year, high school students across the nation eagerly anticipate the coming of their senior year and the rapidly approaching adventure to follow, but for many it simply reminds them of the heartache that is soon to come. My own personal experience began with the blinding influence hope cast over my judgement as inner levels of excitement exponentially increased and my emotions became steadily influenced by the people surrounding me. However, little was I aware that my future had already been decided and no external force would have the necessary impact to reconfigure my current course. In a sense, my ship had already sailed and was leading me in ironclad chains to foreign lands of which my presence was to be forced. College, to me, would soon become an indescribable burden where reality would suddenly become brutally clear and all hopes for a productive future existed upon the fate of an unstable pendulum.

To be sure, John, I could never hope to sum up this entire experience in a hundred pages, let alone one or two. That said, this paper will center on the dangers of cliche´, staying in your own lane, and continuous improvement. Despite their seemingly innocuous nature, these particular topics are fundamental aspects of learning any art and cannot be stressed too greatly.

My life once consisted of waking up, school, homework, church and going to bed only to do it all once again. When I was six, I moved across the Atlantic from Nigeria, and away from a life that I was told to appreciate, and classify as pure happiness. My first community was one that consisted of people that looked exactly like me, who had the strength to move mountains. I was taught to appreciate my culture as I watched my grandmother carry the load from the market on top of her head for the thirty minute walk from the market without any complaints. My mom was a working woman, and still found the time to raise me and take care of her family, without ever really taking a moment for herself. The strength that I was surrounded by would motivate me to be the best version of myself, and to work harder, despite any obstacles in my way.

Every student deserves the best chance at getting the highest level of education they can, however, some students need a little extra support that others may not. A student, Axel, who is currently in my classroom has had a hard time keeping his focus and is often avoidant when it comes to his work. It has become clear that his avoidance becomes a distraction to the whole class. His behaviors currently include but are not limited to: rolling around on the floor during rug lessons, yelling across the room, walking around the room talking to friends, sharpening his pencil five or more times throughout the day, asking to go to the bathroom at inappropriate times, spending fifteen to twenty minutes in the

I witness students in my Pre-Algebra class that seem to know all of the answers while I sit there completely lost. They have no problem jumping ahead while I scramble, trying to get my life together. They seem like they are professionals at school, always early, always ahead, and always answering while I stare at the teacher like a deer in headlights when he asks for an answer to a question. Those types of students are what I wish I could be. Though some students allow nothing to stand in their way to success this semester, I have a harder time dealing with the obstacles I face. Some of the obstacles I face are my lack of motivation, poor time management and several distractions.

Throughout life, you learn new things about yourself everyday. You never know what can affect you in so many different ways. The smallest thing can change the way you see things. It can affect you both negatively or positively. I feel like for me personally, I have learned so much about myself but I still don’t know everything about what makes me into the person I am. There has been countless amounts of things that have shaped me into the way I am as a person. I have accomplished so many things so far. The smallest accomplishments change me and make me into a better person, a more sensitive person, a happy person, bubbly and all the aspects of who I am. A few things that have changed who I am is, a person as a learner, an individuals, a member of a community and two things that are extremely important to who I am.

From the early moments of my childhood, I remember seeing my parents go to Russian Orthodox Church a lot. They would explain to my younger brother and me what was right and what was wrong from the religious perspective. On my 4th birthday, my grandma gave me the Bible for kids as a present, and I remember my mom reading it to me before going to bed. Back then it was just another interesting story that happened somewhere very far away. And yet mom would always find a way to tell these stories in such a manner so they translated really well into the reality we were living in. The more I grew up the more I realized that there was something missing in the big picture of my understanding of the world. I saw a lot of suffering that was happening everywhere, death, natural disasters, and I thought there must be a reason for all of it. Otherwise, the God does not care about any of us. I started to look for the answers everywhere: in the philosophical and religious books, movies, wise counsel from the people who lived a long life. I could not find the truth in church because the whole purpose of its existence with all its rules and restrictions, its idea of God who is something or someone out there, separate from us, and the only being that knows all the answers, was totally alien to me; mainly so due to my unwillingness to accept the fact of transferring all the responsibility for everything one does to someone else. I believed it to be a weakness to acknowledge one’s bad thoughts and deeds as something natural, as an external influence of the evil spirits. For me, it sounded like people who agreed with this concept simply wanted to escape the punishment for what they had done, choose an easy way out.