Reflection Paper

Learning that school is something to be glad about was one aspect I will never forget. School helps spark and form the character of discovery in one’s mind. To find problems in the world’s society and attempt to fix them so future generations will not be forced to make that same mistake. Other than social media, education is the most powerful tool to train an adolescent’s mind. Coming from the Nobleboro Central School I have this story. The first trimester was a long one, I had never presented a project before and didn’t know the first thing about talking out loud in front of a class. Also, my English was considerably bad with papers handed in, in rough draft form. My English is still a little rusty, although my past teachers have guided me past the few trimesters preparing me for an average High School paper. Concludingly, the first trimester of public school was a real learning experience with mostly a C average in most of my classes which left room for improvement. The second trimester I had an understanding of school and was trying more and more on improving how I could understand teachers. This time of education at public school was the aha moment wherein I could explore the true reasons of presentations, tests and open book exams. The third and final trimester was a matter of consistency in grades. Because of this, most of my trimester average grades were in the B+/A range. Thankfully, because of this I had finished the 8th grade with most subjects having a yearly average of a

I remember the very first day of school, I felt isolated and misunderstood. When I got there all eyes were on me, looking at me as the new kid, I was sweating in the cold. I felt like going back home. In a classroom full of 7th graders, students were

After our family has stop growing, we moved three times until finally we found our perfect home. Growing up with a mother who works in school, my sisters and I had a taste what would school be like at a very young age. I remember going to my school running around and going into teacher class rooms and playing with their toys. I also remember once I was able to actually attend pre-k at the age of three! After that experience I was so ready for school! As a child I wasn’t say much my mom tells me

Over the long summers without school was always the worst. No school, no constant, and no safety. The only constants I ever had in my life was school and the beatings. I believe that is why I have always loved school so much. The familiar surroundings in the hallways filled with people you know and trust to not hurt you. The faint smell of antiseptic and cafeteria food. The teachers in the hallway awaiting your arrival. Same desk, same classmates, just everything the same. A lot of my teachers never knew this, but in a lot of their classes that was my home. Where I was my safest. My teachers were the only adults that ever made me feel safe. And for that, I have vowed to become a teacher and strive to change the lives of each student that walks through my classroom door. It is also the reason I want to become a motivational speaker and book

Looking at that small building that held too many big memories, I started reminiscing about the past and remembering every little detail. I felt very nostalgic. Everything seemed memorable and remarkable to me: the cracks in the old building that we used to make fun of, the old candy shop that we used to come to at night when we are too tired and too hungry to study, the pushes and the tiny garden we used to sit at and stare at the stars, the roof we used to sneak to in the middle of the night just wandering and talking about everything, and of course the playground where we used to run, play, dance, laugh and cry in under the evening sky, and even the school building and the dark classes looked nice to me. Everything held so many memories of us. I knew that being at a boarding school would change me on so many levels, but it never occurred to me that most of the change would be thanks to my friends, and I am going to talk about what I learnt from each one of them. The most important thing I learnt in this school is

When I was a kid, school for me was waking up early in the morning. I also have to study a lot in school, then after school I have to do homework. I remember my first day at school. My mom and dad, both were so happy and prepared but I was so nervous and cheerless. I didn’t like to wake up early in the morning for school , but as time flew by I started loving school which made me wake up with energy instead of tiredness. I began to enjoy the school as I made new friends and I got to know how it is like when you meet people out of your neighborhood. With my friends I had lunch together and study together. I started to understand what the purpose of the education system. Based on what I understood I think the purpose of education is really aimed at helping students get to the point where they can learn to be on their own. In this journey of education I had a lot of positive and few negative experiences,but the negative experiences also helped me growing. Positive experiences are my teachers helping me improve, and I improved more when I moved to the United States.

School, to me and among many peers of my age, is not a distant term. I have spent one-third of my life time sitting in classrooms, every week since I was seven years old. After spending this much time in school, many things and experiences that happened there have left their mark in my memory. Some are small incidences while some have had a great impact on me. However, regardless the degree of significance, things that happened all contributed to shape the person that I am now.

My senior year US History teacher Mr. Seagars told the class a story about a student that could write answer so believable that it even made him question whether he had his facts wrong about history. He stated that by the time he finished reading the incorrect answers of this student that most of the time he gave him credit just because the story was so good. That student was me. I grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood in the small town of Anderson SC. The average passerby would most likely sum me up as the runt of the neighborhood if they did not know me. There were only a handful of kids my age to interact with. The majority of my playmates were much larger and much older than I. This upbringing taught me many lessons growing up. Any wrong move, word or reaction could result in ridicule or even worse, a beat down. I quickly learned to navigate the jungle that people called a neighborhood but more importantly I learned what makes people do things they do. This knowledge has help guide and in many cases protect me as I have gone through my adventure so far in life.

Growing up in a small town in Northeast Vermont, there isn’t much of anything. The economy is poor, there isn’t many jobs, and it’s cold. My hometown is similar to the made up town of Catamount in the novel, Continental Drift, by Russell Banks. I saw my family in likeness to the Dubois’s. My mom stayed home with us kids until we needed extra cash so she began to waitress. My dad got one of the better jobs at the new correctional facility a town over.

Growing up, my vision appeared to get worse and worse every year. Until I was in first grade I never thought to told my mom, considering it never caused any problems. It was until I would find myself squinting at the board everyday did my teacher wonder if something was wrong. Shortly after, I found out I needed glasses. From first grade to tenth grade, I went through multiple pairs of glasses, and my vision continued to deplete. I never complained about having glasses because they rarely got in my way. That was until high school, when I started running. Trying to sprint with glasses on can be extremely challenging. It took me two years to finally get the courage to get contacts. As someone who struggled with getting contacts in everyday over the summer and struggles now, I want to help those who go through the same conflict.

I am an element of change. As situations come and go, I have learned how to adapt myself to be in the best position to succeed. Change is not just what drives me forward, it is what keeps me balanced. I have developed into a person that is able to successfully go from various changes – to mistakes – to learning and being able to move forward. Without making these critical mistakes and experiencing the almost-facetious amount of changes, I would not have been able to become the person I am today. Many facets of adulthood have been introduced as changes to me, some very recently. Some of these include creativity, a competitive nature, and individuality.

I grew up influenced by strong women. Growing up, I use to watch Disney’s Mulan on repeat. It became a habit that I would belt the songs from the movie from the very tops of my lungs. Bear in mind, I was only in the single digits of age at the time. Being a child, I thought I was a good singer. I know now I wasn’t. Doesn’t matter now. Turns out, I was terrible. I would also watch Atlantis: The Lost Empire and any other female led Disney movie though I could never stomach Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. Even now I have no idea why.

In middle school, my family switched churches to a nondenominational church that had grown out of a Baptist tradition. I also began attending a more conservative evangelical Christian school for middle and high school. Gradually, I realized that things were different in these new communities. While I was still involved in leadership at both my church and my school, I encountered for the first time the idea that I was too involved. It was the first time I was told that I needed to let the boys in my class answer the questions, to let them lead me. I could be affirmed to a certain degree in my gifts and heart for the Lord, but never so much as to think I had a ministerial calling on my life. The church, the place I had felt at home and in community, now became a place where I seemed too much. I asked too many hard questions about the Bible, about women, about people who the church deemed different and undesirable. The new theology this new church taught did not line up with what had been instilled in me before—that God was love, and Christ was love, and all people are welcome at the table.

By the time the world considered me to be an adult, I had an unshakable competitive spirit traceable back to as early as my junior high school days, if not before.

During my Junior year in high school I was assigned to write a narrative about a conflict in my life. While the story did not have to be necessarily true, the emotions that I felt had to be conveyed in some way to the reader. After spending a whole weekend not once contemplating which dilemma in my life I would elaborate on in my story, I finally began to brainstorm for the assignment, the night before the rough draft was due. Unfortunately for me, I never quite caught onto the fact that my mind does not handle procrastination well. No matter the vigor with which I contemplated my own life, no matter the duration in which I stared at my computer screen, and no matter the albums of my photos I went through struggling to find a memory I could write about, not one single idea struck me as one that had any significance to my life. Although many may have viewed my struggle as simple writer’s block, my personal dilemma quickly evolved into a more dangerous phenomenon: the existential crisis.