Self Reflection Essays

The areas of productiveness in this session for me included the paraphrasing and minimal encouragers. Throughout this session I felt that my paraphrasing was clear and concise. It allowed the client to think about what he had said, while being able to provide me with feedback and allowed for the conversation to flow naturally.

| |the intellectual conversation of topics that were discussed. I also enjoyed the learning |

After writing the personal awareness paper I learned about who I actually am. I also learned more about Gods purpose for me and the path in which is in front of me.

The College of Charleston was my preferred college out of the colleges I applied to. A majority of the time this was a good choice. Then there are times when part of me thinks attending a different college would have been a better idea. Then again, it is only the first semester of my freshman year. Freshman year has a handful of requirements for classes, including the First Year Experience and the seminar that goes with it and many other general education courses. There were a good many choices to choose from for my First Year Experience class and The Gullah Community: Ethnographic Research in Gender and Identity was the one that stood out to me the most.

The first time I told my mother I hated her was during my freshman year of high school. That was the year of painful adventures, questioning of sexuality, and a developed bond with drugs. It was the year I met my demons, and they became my confidant. My mother was God’s advocate, and we attended church every Sunday morning, always sitting on the second pew. She said we had to sit close to God so we could soak up all his glory. She would hold me in her arms and stain my cheeks with her lipstick. In her eyes, I was the quintessential golden child. However, when she discovered I was dating another female, everything changed.

Enrolling to Heritage University I wasn’t sure what to expect. While obtaining my Associate of Arts degree at Yakima Valley Community College my ultimate goal was to become a social worker. Although, towards the last quarter at YVCC I realized that I was not passionate enough to continue that career pathway. Transferring to Heritage I looked into the Business program. Now, I will be graduating with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration with a concentration on Entrepreneur. During my junior year I realized I wanted to concentrate in marketing but was not completely sure, so taking a internship with the Heritage University’s Academic Skills Center was a great opportunity to put into place my interest for marketing.

Throughout my high school and first semester of college I have achieved great lengths academically and through the community. Beginning with high school I had the amazing privilege of serving the Charlotte community along with the surrounding neighborhoods with a team of peers. I was a part of CONNECTIONS Youth Leadership group and through this program we learned about all the other great leaders before us through the theme of Underground railroad. We spent the one summer following the trail of the Underground Railroad beginning in North Carolina driving until with reach freedom and in this case, it was Canada. Of course, this was completed with the help of modern transportation until we reached freedom. After learning about many prominent and lesser known

Over the course of this summer as a CIT at RISE camp I have used this experience to identify many skills that would be advantageous as a counselor.

When I was eight years old I was diagnosed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), a disorder characterized by an extremely painful chronic burning sensation and amplified symptoms of everyday injuries. This disorder presented itself as an obstacle in my life, both physically and mentally. With no cure known I learned how to make myself feel normal and be able to do everyday tasks, while at the same time dealing with the bullying and the emotional toll that having a chronic pain disorder can cause. While health issues are not something anybody wants, I believe that this challenge in my life helped to teach me lessons that made me who I am today.

I have always enjoyed writing, and I believed writing was a subject I was naturally good at. I turned in papers that were still rough drafts, I did not evaluate my sources, nor did I ever take the time to fully understand the prompt. It was not until my first semester of college, in my writing composition course, I realized that I had a lot of work ahead of me to be as good a writer as I thought I was. In the writing course, the students were required to compose several essays using different methods to help progress on the course objectives. The work in this portfolio demonstrates that I have used the methods of synthesis and evaluation of sources to advance my critical thinking skills and develop personal responsibility. Though I have

When I address groups, I know how to motivate them. I am a strong speaker who is both realistic and motivational. I understand what to say and when to say it and recognize that humor can be a powerful tool. Through my day to day life I strive to set a good example and to demonstrate how a person can be strong and influential though actions alone. I seek to make a difference in the world, to help others. I view a life without the chance to serve other and to make a positive difference in the world as a wasted life.

During the course of the quarter, I feel that I have progressed somewhat. I've gained a lot of knowledge on rhetorical strategies and how to present arguments effectively. In the writings I have written, I feel that each writing works towards meeting the course goals. Logos, ethos, and pathos were strategies and ideas we were introduced to (if not already in the past) and were built upon throughout the quarter. The knowledge gained over the course of the quarter weren't only those three types of appeals. Rhetorical strategies like proposals helped reinforce the course and using rhetorical analysis in different situations have become easier throughout the quarter. I believe that I have made sufficient progress towards becoming a better

The second to last essay type we wrote this year were personal essays, which were a blend of reflection, analysis, and persuasion. The first was about A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and the second was about The Odyssey. The purpose of writing this kind of essay is to develop a thesis, which “probes” the theme of an issue or text. While writing these essays, I learned to “probe” and question the meanings of a certain issue. I also learned important techniques and lessons for integrating multiple sources, such as a book, philosophy, or personal experience. A sentence that I feel used both personal experience and historical evidence was in my first paper, where I state: “If not hero had ever thought to allow women’s rights to education so long ago, I would never have written this essay in the first place.” This sentence, I felt, was a personal sentence yet still upheld my thesis. Another sentence I felt was well crafted was in my Odysseus essay, where I state: “Because we can shut our mouths when we want to beg. Because holding onto the world for what it’s worth makes you human again. Because we can drop our hand.” This sentence, to me, sums up my entire paper while still alluding to an earlier metaphor, which aided me in “showing” my ideas. Altogether, it was difficult to balance my ‘showing’ and my personal essay, as a large part of a personal essay includes taking from multiple sources. Explaining several sources while still connecting it to a thesis is complicated,

“Self- awareness doesn’t stop you from making mistakes, it allows you to learn from them”. Self-reflection is an important factor in improving oneself. In the past, the essays that I have written have mainly received positive feedback. Despite this, there is still much room for improvement in my writing. Earlier in the semester, I was assigned an essay for my chemistry lab class. We were instructed to watch a video about Dr. Stephen Hawking’s theory on the origin of the universe and then to summarize the video in a 500-word essay. In my opinion, the essay I wrote titled “Dr. Hawking’s Origin of the Universe” was merely average. Although there were some very strong points made throughout the essay, it can be improved on in many other areas. My strengths in this assignment were my use of accelerated vocabulary and the essay’s strong conclusion. The weaknesses of my essay were the vague nature of my explanations in addition to my lack of a works cited page.

As the semester of my first year in high school comes to an end, I look back to the beginning of the year to when I had no idea on how to write a quality paper or even how to use correct format and evidence. However, with a teacher who connects with students and using tools to enhance my paper, I feel more confident in independently writing an essay. In spite of the fact that it’s been a little over four months since the beginning of the year, I feel like I have improved. From “to-be verbs” to sentence structures, I have slowly seen my work advance and progress. Although I do not have the most superior grades for my papers, in my opinion, I have improved in all skill types including reading, writing, speaking/listening, and learning