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.

As a believer in Christ grows they become more aware of the gifts that they may have been given by the Holy Spirit. It is up to us to use the gifts for the right reasons. We are to allow God to work through us to edify the body of Christ. I see a lot of so called Christians these days using what is supposed to be a spiritual gift to use for ministry of the local church using them for self-edification. They are looking to see how much praise they can get instead of how much pleasure God will get through their service. We as believers need to be able to discern between what a spiritual gift is and what virtue is. A spiritual gift is related to the ministry of Christ and a virtue is related to our character. It is very easy for someone to blur the line between two and get confused. Our spiritual gifts are not the same for everyone, where all who believe should show the fruit of the spirit. To some believers the Holy Spirit gives the gift of serving, teaching, administration, and so on. But in the end it is not what spiritual gift we have but how we use it; this is what makes the difference between edifying the body of Christ or oneself.

I’m turning the pages of my life to find the parts that have made me who I am today. I don’t believe who I am is static, though.

When I was 16 years old I realized I had written a paper about how me and my Nana are different and had forgotten the first paragraph. I do not know how I managed to do that but I need to introduce the ways in which we are different. I like to eat, food is good which means you should a lot of it and often but my Nana is is a big health junkie, she was visiting us and every time we had a meal we would hear why we should not be eating what we are eating and why we should be eating something else. Secondly, stars are in the sky everyone knows that, but how the stars are aligned should not decide how you live your life most people know that, not my Nana she would ask when I was born and then log on to her computer and tell me to watch out because how she believes in ideas that are more out there then what I believe in. Ideas such as, yelling at ice will make it freeze weird or that the Earth is a computer simulation. And now that this part is done I can turn the paper in.

Today, November 16, 2016, my perspective altered drastically. The hot humid air of Honduras made my skin sticky and my hair damp. The sun beat down on me as if I sat in an inescapable sauna. Houses made of tin and cinder blocks flew past us as the police escorted us to the clinic. 10 minutes later my dad and I reached the clinic and gratefully exited the bus and rushed inside. “Ahhhhh...air conditioning! What a blessing!” I thought. We expected 10-15 patients to come to our dental chair to get their dental work done for their mission papers. I look around at the church gym, full of rickety makeshift dental operatories. The stark white walls, the dusty tan floor, and the porous off-white ceiling engulfed me entirely. My heart beat out of my chest as I felt completely inadequate for the tasks lying ahead of me. Patients began filling the church bench, which acted as a waiting area. Each patient shared a timid smile, offered to speak their best english if possible, and expressed their gratitude for us coming to their country to serve them. Even though Spanish is not my first language, I knew how to speak kindness. Gratitude knows no language barrier. I finished setting up our tools, chairs, and trays for our first patient. Giddy and anxious, I raised the lime green flag high above my head signaling for a patient. Almost immediately after raising the flag my stomach plummeted further, I’m nervous again! Why am I so nervous? Pull it together Cambrie! This is the fifth day of

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.

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.

During my first year in college, I did not realize the major challenges I would face being a first-generation college student that was undeclared as a major. I knew I had to continue my education as many of my teachers and advisers in high school had mentioned. But I never knew the struggle of not having a family member to ask for advice or guidance to navigate my college education or choosing a major. I became interested in helping other students in their path post-high school by volunteering, mentoring and working with high school students in their process of applying or learning about their postsecondary education options. After working with different ethnic groups I came to realize that those that identified as

Leading up this stress reduction course, I have had a history of letting things get to me (even small things). This would build up, and at times in my life I have had to withdraw from some commitments in order to practice the self-care that I did not consistently provide myself. I had a stressful adolescence, and my adult life has just started to become more stable and happier in the last 6 years. A lot of this change has to do with my effort to live more mindfully/practice meditation, which can be transferred to my every day interactions, cognitive processing/appraising, and caring for myself and others in my life. I jumped at the opportunity to take a stress reduction course because I knew that there was room for improvement in my methods of self-care, mindful living, and stress management efforts overall.

It was two and a half years ago, in Conroe, Texas. The sun beat down and drew every bit of moisture from my breath. Every move that was made was a sweaty and laborious process. I was atop a steel frame, eight stories in the air. Laying on my belly with my feet dangling over the side pulling measurements and creating pools of sweat in my safety glasses. This was a typical Monday for an ironworker; pouring sweat by 8:00 a.m., cursing the sun, and disregarding your own personal safety to benefit someone else’s interests.

It is extremely difficult to estimate the amount of knowledge in existence today. While knowledge is flowing in incredible pace, extraction and application of the relevant information from the bulk of knowledge is vital for many aspect of our lives. As an IMBA student in Florida International University, I have never thought that there was such a strict distinction between the information and the knowledge in today’s technology driven world. However, after taken this course, it is quite clear to me that gathering the beneficial information is not an easy task as it seems before. There are crucial elements to obtain valuable information for the businesses. Every business is unique so the strategies for them too.

Many governesses before Maria considered the von Trapp children to be incorrigible. They hated the children for the mischief that they do and the children hated the governesses in return. Hate begets hate.

I believe the goal of education should be teaching students to work individually and with other people to be able to apply their knowledge to function in the real world. By this I mean students should be able to use everything they have learned, both from text books and from teachers being personal with them and teaching them real life applications, to be a successful person after school. I base these assumptions on the realist, pragmatism, and existentialism philosophies. In the realist philosophy, Plato and Aristotle believed that life’s questions “could be answered through the study of ideas” (Sadovnik et al, 2013, p. 185). In the pragmatism philosophy, “Dewey proposed that children learn both individually and in groups” (Sadovnik et al, 2013, p. 189). In existentialism, “education as an activity liberating the individual from a chaotic, absurd world” (Sadovnik et al, 2013, p.191). By combining these ideas, the student should be able to make decisions independently and also contribute ideas in a group, to help become a successful person in this world.