Introduction
I came to ACLC two years ago. The reason why was that I had a reputation for skipping school. Before attending here, I attended two other schools; I liked my first school, but I used to skip class and was not the best student. After my time at my first school, my mom signed me up for a different school in the hopes that I would become a better student. To be honest, I hated the idea, and told her directly “If you put me in that school, I’m going to skip every day”, and in the end, I did. A whole year passed, and unfortunately, I did not learn anything my freshman year. Now I go to school every day and I do all my work and I’m just trying to get out of here so I can help my mom out at home.
Personal Qualities, Work Habits, and Attitudes
Some skills I have expanded sociability and responsibility, sociability is one skill I learned as time passed by. I learned sociability because now I can work with more people for group work and talk and collaborate more. In some classes I sometimes do not understand the things we do, but I ask for help and I feel more comfortable with the people in all of my classes. For the past three years I was very antisocial and I would not talk to nobody and any group work I would do, I would just sit there and do nothing. Last year in U.S. history I worked together on a presentation about the United Farm Workers Movement. I think my partner and I worked really well together and we even got an A. I think this showed that I really have improved my sociability and that I can work together in groups. I have become more responsible over the past years because now I do my work and turn it in. For example last year in chemistry I did a project on Tums and I got a final grade of a B+. I worked really hard for the grade and I received what I wanted I was satisfied. Another example is that in History last year I did a project with a friend and we knew a lot of information about the topic. We also worked very hard on it and we got a final grade of an A- and I was so proud. I had started with a bad grade in that class and ended up having a good final project grade. The problem was always that I would do all the work but I would not turn it in because I did not want to or because I would forget. In English class I would always do my work last year but most of the time I just did not want to turn it in because I did not want anyone to look at my work I had done and so I would just keep it. As the years have past I’ve learned more and improved with communicating with my peers, family and people that cross my way. I used to hate talking to anyone. It was so bad, I wouldn't even go order food when I was alone because of how antisocial I had become. The only people who heard me talk on a regular basis was my family and that was it. Whenever I needed anything I always had my mom speak up for me and I depended on her for basically anything that required for me to communicate. As I started growing up, I learned that my mom was not always going to be there to speak up for me. When I learned this I started to act differently. I hated speaking Spanish! If it wasn't spoken to my parents, if it was up to me I wouldn't ever speak it. I didn't know if I sounded funny or I had a funny tone speaking it. I was self conscious about it. When it hit me, that I needed to put that all aside, I started to change slowly. And nevertheless I started communicating with everyone before I knew it. I always knew I could do it, I just never thought it was so simple. As of today, I still face challenges when communicating with strangers but I remember it's not so hard! I can do it.
New Basics
Before high school, I never really knew the importance of a high school diploma. I had always heard about it but to me, I couldn't care less. I always had negative attitude when it came to things like that. I always knew that I wanted to do something after high school but it wasn’t college. I never thought of going to college because I thought it wasn’t the thing for me, I thought it was so many years of school for what? Just so you can work all your life and honestly the idea of college to me was dumb. But I realized that all these years of me being in school were going to be worth it after all. I also thought of maybe working at a shoe store or at a clothing store. I have 2 older siblings, both who didn’t graduate. I saw my parents somewhat disappointed. I knew after that, my goal was going to be to make my parents proud. I never thought that going to college and pursuing my goals of becoming a nurse was ever going to cross my head. But thankfully it did. Seeing my mom come home tired from work and seeing my dad pay rent for more than 20 years on his own for his family encouraged me to work my hardest. To make sure when I'm done with college and I start working my mom can stay home and relax meanwhile my dad lays back and watches his daughter shine. My dream is to make my family proud. And that's something that I'll always want to achieve.
Thinking and Reasoning Skills
To tell you the truth, I wasn't always focused on school while in high school. I had a point in my life where I didn't want to stay in school for personal reasons. My sister is 2 years older than me. We would skip school together and I didn't see the consequences it would bring to my future or her future. I wasn't thinking about how it would affect my GPA or my grades, my mind was set. I didn't care about my grades. I didn't care because it was only 9th grade. I remember thinking to myself, college doesn't even see your grades when you are a freshman why are they getting mad? Wrong. I was so wrong. Little did I know that those grades would hold me back from getting into a good college when I approached senior year. Now that I look back and I think about it, I laugh it off but I wish I would've had a different mindset. Thankfully, I'm now doing better in school and I'm almost graduating. I would have never been able to say that if I kept skipping school. I know my sisters proud of me too for changing my ways.
Technology
What is a phone for? Communicating through technology. We've come a long way from sending letters and smoke signals. But sometimes, technology gets misused and its simple to see why. There are so many apps nowadays for your smartphone. I’ve used some of those apps. I use Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. But I also understand that the technology should be used more wisely. I always pictured what it'd be like to live in the era where in order to communicate with someone far from you, you had to send a letter. It must've been hard if it was something urgent. Nowadays, everyone's only a call away. I use technology whenever I need to do my homework or when I do in-class assignments. I also use technology whenever I’m free and I'm bored. We use technology when we have some homework to do, when we have some work to print out.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I overcame obstacles in my life that I have shared here in this essay. I never pictured my life the way it is now. Seems like everything was simpler after getting past the boundaries I had set myself to. Eventually everything will fall to place for anyone trying to surpass the obstacles in their life, I've learned.
I came to ACLC two years ago. The reason why was that I had a reputation for skipping school. Before attending here, I attended two other schools; I liked my first school, but I used to skip class and was not the best student. After my time at my first school, my mom signed me up for a different school in the hopes that I would become a better student. To be honest, I hated the idea, and told her directly “If you put me in that school, I’m going to skip every day”, and in the end, I did. A whole year passed, and unfortunately, I did not learn anything my freshman year. Now I go to school every day and I do all my work and I’m just trying to get out of here so I can help my mom out at home.
Personal Qualities, Work Habits, and Attitudes
Some skills I have expanded sociability and responsibility, sociability is one skill I learned as time passed by. I learned sociability because now I can work with more people for group work and talk and collaborate more. In some classes I sometimes do not understand the things we do, but I ask for help and I feel more comfortable with the people in all of my classes. For the past three years I was very antisocial and I would not talk to nobody and any group work I would do, I would just sit there and do nothing. Last year in U.S. history I worked together on a presentation about the United Farm Workers Movement. I think my partner and I worked really well together and we even got an A. I think this showed that I really have improved my sociability and that I can work together in groups. I have become more responsible over the past years because now I do my work and turn it in. For example last year in chemistry I did a project on Tums and I got a final grade of a B+. I worked really hard for the grade and I received what I wanted I was satisfied. Another example is that in History last year I did a project with a friend and we knew a lot of information about the topic. We also worked very hard on it and we got a final grade of an A- and I was so proud. I had started with a bad grade in that class and ended up having a good final project grade. The problem was always that I would do all the work but I would not turn it in because I did not want to or because I would forget. In English class I would always do my work last year but most of the time I just did not want to turn it in because I did not want anyone to look at my work I had done and so I would just keep it. As the years have past I’ve learned more and improved with communicating with my peers, family and people that cross my way. I used to hate talking to anyone. It was so bad, I wouldn't even go order food when I was alone because of how antisocial I had become. The only people who heard me talk on a regular basis was my family and that was it. Whenever I needed anything I always had my mom speak up for me and I depended on her for basically anything that required for me to communicate. As I started growing up, I learned that my mom was not always going to be there to speak up for me. When I learned this I started to act differently. I hated speaking Spanish! If it wasn't spoken to my parents, if it was up to me I wouldn't ever speak it. I didn't know if I sounded funny or I had a funny tone speaking it. I was self conscious about it. When it hit me, that I needed to put that all aside, I started to change slowly. And nevertheless I started communicating with everyone before I knew it. I always knew I could do it, I just never thought it was so simple. As of today, I still face challenges when communicating with strangers but I remember it's not so hard! I can do it.
New Basics
Before high school, I never really knew the importance of a high school diploma. I had always heard about it but to me, I couldn't care less. I always had negative attitude when it came to things like that. I always knew that I wanted to do something after high school but it wasn’t college. I never thought of going to college because I thought it wasn’t the thing for me, I thought it was so many years of school for what? Just so you can work all your life and honestly the idea of college to me was dumb. But I realized that all these years of me being in school were going to be worth it after all. I also thought of maybe working at a shoe store or at a clothing store. I have 2 older siblings, both who didn’t graduate. I saw my parents somewhat disappointed. I knew after that, my goal was going to be to make my parents proud. I never thought that going to college and pursuing my goals of becoming a nurse was ever going to cross my head. But thankfully it did. Seeing my mom come home tired from work and seeing my dad pay rent for more than 20 years on his own for his family encouraged me to work my hardest. To make sure when I'm done with college and I start working my mom can stay home and relax meanwhile my dad lays back and watches his daughter shine. My dream is to make my family proud. And that's something that I'll always want to achieve.
Thinking and Reasoning Skills
To tell you the truth, I wasn't always focused on school while in high school. I had a point in my life where I didn't want to stay in school for personal reasons. My sister is 2 years older than me. We would skip school together and I didn't see the consequences it would bring to my future or her future. I wasn't thinking about how it would affect my GPA or my grades, my mind was set. I didn't care about my grades. I didn't care because it was only 9th grade. I remember thinking to myself, college doesn't even see your grades when you are a freshman why are they getting mad? Wrong. I was so wrong. Little did I know that those grades would hold me back from getting into a good college when I approached senior year. Now that I look back and I think about it, I laugh it off but I wish I would've had a different mindset. Thankfully, I'm now doing better in school and I'm almost graduating. I would have never been able to say that if I kept skipping school. I know my sisters proud of me too for changing my ways.
Technology
What is a phone for? Communicating through technology. We've come a long way from sending letters and smoke signals. But sometimes, technology gets misused and its simple to see why. There are so many apps nowadays for your smartphone. I’ve used some of those apps. I use Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook. But I also understand that the technology should be used more wisely. I always pictured what it'd be like to live in the era where in order to communicate with someone far from you, you had to send a letter. It must've been hard if it was something urgent. Nowadays, everyone's only a call away. I use technology whenever I need to do my homework or when I do in-class assignments. I also use technology whenever I’m free and I'm bored. We use technology when we have some homework to do, when we have some work to print out.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I overcame obstacles in my life that I have shared here in this essay. I never pictured my life the way it is now. Seems like everything was simpler after getting past the boundaries I had set myself to. Eventually everything will fall to place for anyone trying to surpass the obstacles in their life, I've learned.