Reflection Paper

Three days a week, sixteen students drag themselves out of bed before the crack of dawn, wishing they had an extra ten minutes of sleep. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, without fail, they begrudgingly get ready for the day as they pack their bags and eat breakfast. As one of these sixteen students, I myself often wondered if what I am about to do will be worth the lost hour of sleep and studying. But ultimately, I, along with the other fifteen, continue to drag myself slowly towards school week after week. One by one, we walk through the glass doors that welcome us to the place we have learned to call our home: St. Daniel’s Hall. The large hall, usually filled with groups of students joking and laughing, is still dark and quiet, waiting to be filled with the life of the day. It is so silent, we almost balk at disturbing the atmosphere. As we half-heartedly greet each other, we discuss our day to come and lament over our lack of sleep.

The second day of school into sixth grade was going fine, I was having a good day. I was excited that I was in middle school. The clock finally hit three I went straight home. I got home, I ate and watched tv shows on Netflix.I was having a laid-back day since I didn't have homework to do.It was around 8:50 p.m. and my mom told me and my sisters to go to bed since it was a school night. I went to my room but didn’t listen to my mom. My younger sister Samantha and I were playing around with my baby sister Gema. We were playing on my bed by the corner.

Life can change in the blink of an eye. One moment it is smiles and laughter and the next moment it is tears and feelings of hopelessness. I never fully comprehended the reality of this life idea until I was coming to the end of my freshman year of high school. Just like any other day at school, he was radiating with joy and happiness. However, that night many lives changed. It was apparent to me and many others that the radiating joy and happiness was fake. That specific night, May 2, 2017, his joy turned to sorrow and his happiness turned to an excruciating pain. On this very night, my innocence was stripped away and my outlook on life was drastically changed.

Over the course of this semester, there have been a number of on-campus programs that I have worked to facilitate including orientation, the Involvement Fair, “Before the Course”, Commuter Student Appreciation Week, Diwali, “Mini Commuter Student Appreciation Week”, the Graduate Student Study Break Session, and Cram Jam, in addition to several off-campus trips that I have supervised. I have found that a vast majority of programs have broadened my perspectives since I got to learn and understand many of the scheduling difficulties that make it difficult for graduate students and commuter students to attend events. However, one of the most eye-opening programs for me was the Diwali event since I got to learn more about the international student population at Merrimack, as well as how different cultures observe this special occasion. I have also attempted to attend some of the events of the clubs and organizations I have worked closely with, but given my busy schedule I have only been able to attend events hosted by the CSA and Italian Club. Nonetheless, I have found my attendance to be extremely valuable as I aim to show my support for all the hard work they continue to do. Additionally, I have also worked to get involved in the campus community through other contexts outside of my fellowship including the student conduct board and graduate student senate.

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

The school that I work for is Parkview Middle School. Parkview is in Jeffersonville, Indiana and is part of the Greater Clark County School district. Our current school grade for 2017-2018 is a B. Currently our pass rate for ISTEP+ is 62 percent.

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.

“Hooah! Oohrah! Hooyah!” The United States Military is full of brave men and women who swore an oath to defend the constitution against all of its enemies. These men and women were different before they enlisted; they were changed by their experiences. The brave souls who commit to serve in any of the branches of the military are transformed into disciplined, confident, courageous, considerate, and motivated members of society. These men and women who have served, changed for the better thanks to their involvement in the United States Military.

“Pay attention!” My abnormally boring teacher snaps at me as she struggles to catch my straying attention. I’ve just discovered that if I trail my eyes without moving my head, I can look at anything I want rebelliously and ignore the lesson. However, my teacher is less than thrilled. It’s as if she was just told to put a collar on a flying dog, which by the way is totally possible. She’s frustrated with me, as I’m the only child in this vast class who gives her this much trouble. I won’t even sit still and pretend like I know what’s going on around me. It’s not my fault, I just can’t understand, therefore I can’t pay attention to the “meaningless” words like ‘cookie’ or ‘ball.’ I can hear obviously, but what I’m supposed to be learning isn’t registering in my tiny five year old brain.

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

Growing up in a community were violence and crime was present at all times knowing that people’s life’s would be in danger. Church became the sacred protection of humans making the bad turn good on relieving their own mistakes to god to make them forgive. Being born in Oak Cliff was really tuff because the schools that I attend brought allot of attention to people’s eyes through children acting up in class not showing respect to the teacher’s.

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.

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.