Reflection Paper

When I was born to about the age of 8, I kept to myself and enjoyed playing alone. I didn’t want anyone else’s input on what I had to say, because I was happy with the choices I was making when I was playing with my toys. My mom told me I would sit in my room and play with my stuffed animals and My Little Pet Shop toys for hours on end just talking away, but when it came down to group settings I would just be quiet. I have been trying to figure out why that is. I do not remember being to told be quiet or to listen. I just did it. I enjoyed listening to others, because I was learning from their words. I already knew what I thought and didn’t see the importance of sharing that.

Pastors need mentors, mentees, and true peers. I have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with two pastor colleagues both in very different places in life and ministry. Yet, even from these different places, all three of us share some very basics understandings and needs as we strive to serve the church. Rev. Bev Dempsey and Rev. Nikki Brown Rice are the two selected clergy persons I chose for this connection exercise. All the best plans were intended to email and create a great long thread of emails to turn in. One thing we all have in common is that we are much better face-to-face connections than in email. Therefore, when given the chance to decide to connect through email versus personal conversations, we all agreed on personal conversations.

I grew up in an Adventist home, both my parents are teachers for an Adventist school and my grandpa is a pastor for the SDA church. I don’t have one of those stories of not knowing God or learning about him in a miraculous way. When growing up I went to church every Sabbath and didn’t question it because that was what we did. I got baptized by my grandpa when I was twelve, and started going to my church’s youth group every Wednesday. I continued this lifestyle for a while, it wasn’t until high school that I started to become more relaxed with my relationship with God. It started with me skipping church, I skipped because I would be too tired to get up that early, or it was because I would go on backpacking trips. My senior year of high school is when my relationship with God hit rock bottom, I had two people close to me die. One was a friend that I knew from going on mission trips and seeing them at Walla Walla tournaments, the other was my best friend since kindergarten. They died decently close to each other, and it made me question the existence of God. I would ask myself if there was a God why wouldn’t he save them. Both like me grew up Christian, and both were more involved in the church and showing others God. After that I stopped going to church all together except when I wanted to see my friends. That summer I worked at camp, and while it was a good experience I still hadn’t forgiven God. I got to the point where I knew that there was a God, but couldn’t care less

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.

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.

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.

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

When reading “Dedication to Reality” and discussing it in class it helped me to understand how humans have influenced basically everything in the world, because in class we discovered that knowledge is a human construct. When thinking about this it makes me question everything that I believe I know because how can I be sure that what I think I know is actually so? It also makes me think about how I have most likely had experiences where I probably had the chance to revise my map but failed to do so because I did not want to admit that I was wrong or I did not want to change my point of view and perspective. So I think that discussing this in class helped me to understand that I need to be more open to accepting and learning about other

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

As a college student, I go through many obstacles. Whether it’s a relationship, family, or school, I manage to surpass any issues that are brought upon me. Although I have managed to live freely with merely any problems, one issue that recently has encountered my life is my job. I work for Sprint as a retail consultant where I deal with customers everyday regarding phone issues or account issues. It’s a pretty good paying job and my manager works around my schedule. Sounds great right? So what can possibly be the issue? Well the job feels forced, meaning that I have to sell products with rules and regulations set by the company. I’m unable to sell it the way I want. I have to accommodate by their sale needs and requirements. It makes me feel that my skills are worthless and unhonest to my clients. It also seems like most of my co-workers have the freedom to sell how they want. Dealing with this issue would increase the positivity in my life drastically. I wouldn’t have to come home everyday exhausted and guilty from being dishonest and untrue to myself. It would influence who I am as a person by giving me the freedom I deserve. It would ensure a brighter future and a better working environment, but more importantly, it will ensure who I am. The four agreements presented by Don Miguel Ruiz has broadened my perspective on life and my on-going issues as well. Adapting to the four agreements will give me a chance to live my life with more freedom, peace, and happiness.

It was two summers ago and I was sixteen years old. I was at that perfect age where I could stay up till two every night and not have to worry about work or school in the morning, but I had just gotten my license and my own car so I had all the freedom in the world in my eyes. Most of the time that I spent staying up late was playing PlayStation with my friends who, like me, had no responsibilities to worry about in the morning.

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.