Senior Reflection Essay

When I first got accepted into Stuyvesant High School, I heard countless of rumors stating: “Oh the workload is terrible”, “The competition is so fierce” or “Out of schoolwork, extracurriculars, or sleep: you can only pick two.” I found it hard to let it faze me, since I graduated from one of the most prestigious middle schools. However, the rumors transformed into reality when I stepped into Mr. Nieves’ Freshman Composition Class. The workload at the beginning of the year was brutal, coupled with assignments from other core classes that seem unaware of the workload of other teachers. Reading assignments were a regular, and there were journal entries and occasional quizzes to keep us in line. What made it bearable was the friends I made in that class; everyone had their own opinion about the topic we were talking about, and listening to other perspectives really broadened my horizon and enriched my learning experience in Stuy. Another thing that this class has taught me is the importance of time management, a skill that I will carry on for the rest of my high school career and life. When I choose to sign up for Mr. Nieves’ AP American Literature class in my Junior Year, I was hoping to relive the discussion-based lesson plans and meet more outstanding peers. I was not disappointed, to say the least, reflecting through all the experiences at the end of the course. The lesson plans he laid out for us were an interesting mix between small lectures and class output, and what I

It is still so surreal to reflect back on my first semester as an incoming college student in the ENC1101 course, analyzing at my progression as a reader and writer in literacy. Since the first day of class I set in stone my goals for this class: receive a 4.0 GPA, develop my connecting theories skills in writing, and become more aware of objectives for each Unit throughout the course. All of these goals became achievements that not only make others proud but most importantly give me self pride. In order to earn the grades and achieve these goals, I went after every opportunity that I was given as an incoming college student, such as office hours and extra credit. By taking this course I have gained confidence with the utilization of literacy, and made an addition to my group of impactful literacy sponsors. Once students are finished with high school they assume that there is nothing else to learn beyond the stereotypical five paragraph essay, but they are so wrong. I was able to obtain so much knowledge about numerous course concepts from Writing about Writing, articles, and my professor. These concepts will carry on with me throughout a bright future of writing courses, job interviews, and any other skills that require literacy. The four outcomes listed below will help illuminate how I improved as a writer, by being a driven college student and going out of the way to earn my achievements in this course. In the first outcome I improved comprehending scholar texts,

Before attending college here at Seattle University, I never necessarily thought that I would be interested in learning about religions other than my own. Throughout my life I was raised to follow the Christian faith. Everything that pertained to my life revolved around my faith. Although I do not regret being born and raised in a Christian home, some occasions have risen where I felt a sense of being “forced” into the religion. This caused myself to ultimately grow a disconnection from my faith. Coming to Seattle University with a sense of disconnection from my religion in actuality provided me the motivation and inspiration to possibly learn about different religions in order to compare and contrast their views from my personal ones, which

Fresh from Truman, just starting out, I must admit I was at a loss on what to do with my Biology studies. Furthermore, in this economy I had doubts as to whether I could obtain a job lucrative enough to support myself with the degree once I received it. This is why, heartbroken and disappointed as I was to have learned that I had not received my degree, I consciously put it off for a while until I figured out exactly what I wanted to do. It turned out that what I learned majoring in Biology not only gave me the tools to save my own life but helped me to do what I believe I was put on this earth to do.

For the first time, I was taught the basic beliefs and values of Mormonism. I was both shocked and intrigued to learn both the main differences and similarities of Mormonism and Christianity. I learned that the community of Latter-Day Saints are dedicated individuals who are strongly committed to both their faith and fellow members. From this experience, I learned to take assumptions and stereotypes about other communities with a grain of salt. Not all of the original assumptions I had about the Mormon community were correct and the ones that were had bigger meanings behind them than what I had originally thought. In the end, I believe I gained a new sense of openness and understanding of Mormonism by attending these

From hard work, comes success. At the beginning of the year, I did not know how I was going to be successful when it came to Senior Project. I had multiple ideas with what I wanted to do, I was struggling to find connections, and I was even going to be a part of a completely different group. I tried one idea, that failed. I tried another idea, that failed. I thought to myself, “What am I going to do???” All my ideas had one thing in common: photography. I knew for sure I wanted to use photography as a way to help others or bring awareness to a certain issue. It was not until late September when I figured everything out. It was the end of cheer practice and Ms. Korba was handing out pink cheer bows for us to wear during the month of October

Incoming Freshmen reflecting on my first semester, some things that you might want to think about when coming into the High School. Teachers are one of the main concerns that I had when coming into the High School. Some people are nervous about oh are these good teachers or are these bad teachers. I do have to say there is a very wide variety of teachers here that have different standards. Also the schedule I advise that you try and memorize it as quick as you can. Once you memorize your schedule you are able to navigate the hallways much easier to navigate. It really helps when you want to get from point A to point B without getting a tardy. If your nervous about the work your going to be given wether its harder or if you given a lot more

My decision on a major field of study at Western Michigan University was a process that took much thought and reflection. With my high school teachers’ strong leadership, they inspired me to possibly pursue anything as a career. The long process of finding out what I want to do with my life started in the summer when I was trying to figure out what career would best suit me for the future. Im that kind of person where I need entertainment in my life, so I narrowed it down to some jobs I can't do, such as being a business major and sitting in a office my whole life, and accounting, because I despise math. During my thinking process, I utilized what subjects I enjoyed in high school that I’d like to learn more about in college. I came to a

I have learned and changed much from when I first entered college. There have been many events and situations that I experienced that aided in making more mature, and improve as a person. The past year has been somewhat of a transformational period.

I feel that I haven't impacted Suitland High School per se in the most ways that I could have but I have worked my hardest to impact the whole Prince George's County Community but some of the different times I have impacted stool in high school are my volunteer participation with National Honor Society and my volunteering Girl Scouts and creating opportunities to Girl Scouts.

Have you ever just felt like high school was too easy? Well I have because I felt like the teachers just passed you on. They didn’t give me a challenge like I was supposed to have and from that being, now I have to prepare myself for the college life and teach myself the things I was supposed to be taught in high school. The school I came from didn’t have a math teacher or a history teacher all year so we just sat in the class rooms and played everyday all day and I still ended up passing and that school was Albany Early College. They told me that I would finish high school with an associate degree but all I got was a discombobulated school and an uncontrolled school. The next school I went to didn’t care either. They showed me that I can skip class everyday and still pass with an A average. Despite all the things I didn’t get taught in high school, I did learn some unique aspects that I can reflect on and use for college. The skills I reflect on are annotating, using the Cornell note-taking system, and how to be on time for school.

In the past four months, I am glad to have invested my time in senior studies by volunteering in the NICU at Sky Ridge hospital, attempting to teach myself guitar, shadowing various positions at a local veterinarian's office, as well as doing related research and reading books. This was all done to further expand my success as a student and continue to understand my personal goals for the future. During this project, though the overall outcomes have changed from my initial expectations, I have gained valuable people skills, expanded multitasking capabilities, and a greater understanding of my interests in the type of person I want to become.

Throughout the time that I was in high-school I have taken many English classes leading up to this Ivy Tech class. During my freshman year I was required to participate in English 9 which required students to do more reading than writing. During my sophomore year I took English 10 that involved more reading. Then last year I took AP Language and Composition for college credits. Reading and writing were split 50/50. We were required to read a new book every nine weeks and be quizzed. We also wrote a total of six MLA formatted essays to prepare for the AP exam at the end of the year. I think my classmates and I were taught well which resulted in a good score on my exam.

I went to Ning’s informational speech section. The classroom is located room 209 at Williams Building (WMS). It took me a while to find this building because I seldom go to the area around Westcott Fountain. Williams is large compound building that served as lecture halls and classrooms for undergraduate’s general education courses. Room 209 is where the public speech class took place. It is a middle-size classroom in the corner and next to a lounge area. I saw some of the students rehearsal their informative speech at the lounge when I arrived early and wait for Ning to come. Ning’s class has 15 students with varying major background. On the day I visited, most of the students came to class on time. Three students arrived about 5 minutes late, and Ning said she would mark them as “late.” Ning told me that too many “late” marks would negatively affect the student’s participation final grade.

I have completed courses in philosophy, creative writing, community-based cross-cultural experience, cultural psychology, psychology, theology, old and new testament and world history. These courses have helped me to understand human nature with regard to human logic, moral reasoning, and social norms that vary between cultures. Upon completion of these courses I have learned that health outcome is influenced by multiple factors including the environment, level of health literacy, and how one interacts with others and solve problems based on social and cultural norms.