Self Reflection Paper

I had a nickname for my friends because my actual name was difficult to pronounce, I used the slang my friends used and spoke different, at times I would display interest in certain things that I wasn’t really interested in to feel as though I had things in common with them. In many case I was made fun of because my family was from African which made it more difficult for me to express my true identity to my peers. As I grew older I started to develop more pride and interest in my culture. During the last few years of high school I made friends with people who were from the same country, or other parts of western Africa who had similar experiences that I had growing up. Hanging around people that have a similar background made me feel more comfortable being myself, not only for me but also for other people who had similar experiences as

As you know, I am Ethiopian. I was born and raised in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia. I belong to the Ethiopian community not only in Ethiopia, but also here in America. Finding Ethiopian friends who share the same interest as me, understand their culture, practice their languages, and have interest in returning back to Ethiopia someday, has always been a struggle for me. Most of the Ethiopians who I meet are Americanized. When I was studying at NIU, I was blessed to have a small circle of Ethiopians who grew up there. Spending time with me made me feel secure, like I actually belonged. Lucky for me, I am also a part of the African community. There are 53 countries in Africa; however, there is an unbreakable bond that is seen amongst Africans around the world. We share the same identity and have the upmost love and respect for our continent and the people still living there.

There is something very important an individual may develop after graduating high school, or for some, even after college. A life skill that is required sometime before someone is put into the “real world”, which is what most teachers would label as the start to earning one’s own income and live on their own. For most people, they may acquire this skill after graduating college or high school. For me, I developed this valued skill at a young age. In my household, I grew up with one brother in high school, a father, and a mother, a normal family. What’s different is that I grew up in an Asian family. In fact, I was the only one to be born in the United States in my family tree. What that means is that I have had to gain responsibilities at a very young age, one might say too young. My past is represented by many negative effects due to my ethnicity, but now I have found that the repercussions has caused me to develop everything I need to successful later in my life.

did not fare as well as I expected on my portfolio. I enjoyed this class immensely too, including my professor, Dr. Susan DeLuke. I learned a great deal during the course as well as after the course from Dr. DeLuke, with the multiple homework assignments, and papers, and achieved very good grades under her guidance. However, applying it to the portfolio was challenging. It was a great deal to absorb, retain and get accurate in a short amount of time and I have a tendency to let tasks likes these overwhelm me. I know I could have performed better on my portfolio now. I went from an A in this class to a C+ because of my final portfolio. I thought I did well on it, and I did not. It was very disappointing results for both the student and Professor

I wonder if everyone, despite their varying backgrounds from one another, has experienced “imposter syndrome” at some point in their life. There are numerous ways in which one can feel out of place, as I can firmly attest to. I feel like an outsider all of the time. Dating back as far as my early childhood, my personality and my interpretation of my personality, has lead me to believe that something is very wrong with me. Why am I so different from the outgoing and energetic people I see in movies and even in my everyday life? Why are there so many misconceptions about people like me, and why am I starting to actually believe that they are true? I can recall many experiences in my life in which I have felt inadequate compared to my

So far in this semester I have learned so much about myself that it really puts me in a perspective that I can’t really believe I have somewhat found myself. I have yet to fully realize my potential, but I have notice the things I really want to pursue and become. Before coming into college I had no clue what I truly wanted to do with my life or what I was capable of doing, that was until I came to college. I came to SUNY Oswego so worried and so ashamed of not having a major and it really freaked me out because I felt so unprepared. I was told that it’s okay to not have a major and it’s even better cause when you don’t have a major you can explore so much more and it has been so much fun finding myself and really seeing how I am. During

Finding the right words to describe my adolescent life is nothing short of impossible. When looking at myself, I did not know who I truly was and lacked direction in life. In essence, my teenage years were tough. When I was growing up, as most girls do, I struggled with self-esteem, particularly in regards to my physical image. Turning to food was always comforting, which in turn led me to become an overweight teenager with no self-esteem or drive. During my sophomore year of high school there was a turning point; I reflected on myself physically and emotionally and realized I needed to change my outlook in order to go towards what I wanted. I knew with my family history, that the odds were stacked against me. A few of my family members

It’s a day in mid-July right before my freshman year and marching band is about to start. My mom has the day off because in order for me to be in the band, I have to go to the doctors to get a sports physical. The nurse calls me to the back and tells me, “Okay Maryna, we’re going to weigh you and take your blood pressure.” I am super self-conscious about my weight especially when other people have to see the exact pounds, so hearing that and knowing I have to get on a scale in front of my mom and the nurse is the scariest thing I could ever hear. My heart is a train pounding down the tracks. As I took my shoes off to get on the scale I would think to myself, the nurse and doctor are going to talk shit about my weight, my mom is going to be so pissed about how much I’ve gained, What the hell is wrong with me? This is when I realized I have a poor self-esteem.

Throughout this course, I’ve definitely seen an entirely different side of myself. I've become aware of my strengths and characteristics that I never knew I really had. I started to see myself more positively and that I am worth it.

Emotions are feelings or thoughts that are hard to express to family or loved ones, the actual taught definition of the word emotions is “Emotions are processes shaped by physiology, perceptions and social experience.” (Lecture 3, Slide 3). When thinking about all the emotions an individual could have, two emotions that are difficult for me to express would be sadness and affection. When experiencing emotions from someone else it’s difficult for me to handle grief and anger, due to certain situation I personal had to deal with and situations I seen people around me dealing with. When looking back at my notes, lecture two, slide six has taught me how that there are major influences on us and that determines the relationships we have with

Self-awareness is important in everyday life, for certain individuals, it can conduct an entire day of activities and decisions. This reflection of my self-awareness is based off personal positive and negative attributes which are a direct reflection of who I am as a person. To have an outside view of these attributes, I interview my girlfriend Stephanie Russo who is also my best friend. Stephanie has been close to me for the past three years as we grew as individuals. Because of this growing process, I believed that Stephanie would provide the most accurate account of my true inner qualities and weakness. Stephanie started with my strengths which described me as a hard-working individual who is determined and both kind and very caring of

Every individual is raised with beliefs, values, and assumptions about life that impact who they are. Children learn from their families about different aspects of religion, race and socioeconomic class that play meaning in their lives. Although culture plays a role in individuality, one must also be able to develop their own beliefs and views, while respecting that of other cultures. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how one’s upbringing and exposers in youth can influence personal attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs throughout life.

It is amazing what you can achieve if you believe that you will be successful; I found this statement to be true pertaining to myself over the process of these past few months. And that more than ever, if you really want to do something you’ll go ahead and do it. Motivation is self induced and drive is something that will come naturally when you’re doing the things that you love.

Academic: I am not sure in what manner I am mercy shower in regards to my current academic situation; however, I would like to be able to aide my fellow classmates as much as possible. Since, the classes I take are online I do not get to know my fellow classmates in the way I would if we were in a classroom setting. So, instead I try to pray for my online classmates, especially when I feel like an assignment may be stressful for everyone.

To begin I want to state that I had passed all my classes and thus I was allowed to leave early at 1:15 pm. The first week we came back from spring break though, our main goal was to start raising money as fast and efficiently as possible. Starting the week of April 24th my main job in the classroom was contacting and social networking our project, while still helping to fundraise. This week I also created the GoFundMe page and shared it on all my existing social media accounts. My main p.m. goals that week were more centered around linking our prototype ideas and sketches, going to Home Depot for materials. On Friday the 28th, my teammate Laurel and I had to go to set up a conference with City Councilman Mike Bonin. Instead, we set it up with Field Deputy Anna Kozma for the next week.