Dominican Republic: Mission Trips During My High School Career

Upon our arrival to The Dominican Republic, my mother informed me that we were going to spend most of our vacation at my grandparent’s house. Immediately, I was filled with exhilaration. After so many years, I would finally visit my beloved grandparents. I had already visualized what spending the summer at their house would be like. Rolling in the sand of the clear see-through beaches, listening to the birds sing and chirp around us as we savor our early morning breakfast, enjoying the sound of waves smashing into the rocks on the shore, and laying in an air-conditioned room when the temperature got too high.

Looking back on high school, one memory usually stands out. For me, it was when our band marched in the Tournament of Roses. Preceding the Rose Bowl in Pasadena every January, we were thrilled to be in the parade. Considered one of the best bands in the state, the parade officials contacted our band director. The problem was only paying for the trip. However, holding spaghetti suppers and car washes, the money was eventually raised. We went to California two days early to visit Disneyland. Covered with thousands of flowers, we also got a sneak preview of the floats. Reporting to the parade site at 6:00 a.m., our place in the parade was assigned. Marching the six-mile route, more than a million people would watch us. Watching the parade on

In high school, I had a very positive experience throughout, but perhaps the most memorable experience would come from my involvement with the FFA. I remember the Ag classes was unlike any other classes on campus because we would go to the school farm to learn from hands-on experiences. My teacher Mrs. Keverline would become more than just a teacher for me she would become a role model. Mrs. Keverline would help me improve with showing pigs as my SAE project, she teaches me about the importance of agriculture, and lastly, she helps made me into the public speaker that I am today. In FFA I had the opportunity to do public speaking competition or event and at the time I was scared to do them, but glad I did because it helps me out in the long.

One major experience that has shaped me as a person would be the decision to join FFA my freshman year. FFA has allowed me many incredible opportunities and experiences these past four years.

Not only did I excel in my academics but I excelled in doing volunteer work as well. During sophomore year I would spend every Wednesday lunch time going to the third floor to make blankets, hats and scarves for homeless people. It was very satisfying knowing that the work I would do is going to help make someone’s life better. I plan on resuming this activity this year and my senior year as well.

It was a hot, searing day as the sun beat down on my skin. The lush green palm trees provided me shade as I sat and observed my surroundings. Children, barefoot and dirty, wearing tattered and stained clothes were running around laughing and playing. Their joyous giggles put a smile on my face and warmed my heart as I watched them.

An experience that has made a profound impact on my life was when I directed and completed a community service project to fulfill a requirement for the Eagle Scout Award in the Boy Scouts of America. In order to competently act as coordinator for this service project, I had to develop both my interpersonal communication and leadership capabilities to a proficient level. Besides improving my professional skills, this project gave me the opportunity gain hands on experience working with groups of people who had varying skill levels. So, not only did these skills allow me to complete the project successfully, they have also proven incredibly useful throughout my academic career.

This paper is about the time I went to the Dominican Republic and Nassau, Bahamas with my family and the wonderful lessons I learned or thought about even more. I learned a lot when I was in those two places because there were a lot of examples of the lessons I learned. Both places are very large and there are multiple people who show the lessons in their everyday life.

1) As a Roncalli student, I have been able to participate in many memorable service activities both as an individual and in a large group. From freshman year, I have accumulated the most service during the summer time when I have had the opportunity to be involved coaching youth teams in different sports. This service is the most special to me because it is a way for me to volunteer in activities that I myself love and have a passion for. It has taught me a lot, and I think I have gotten as much out of it as the girls I coach have. Another notable service is the service I was able to participate in with my classmates as a volunteer at Journey Home. This service really opened my eyes to the issues people and families face here in Aberdeen. I was happy that I was able to experience and learn something new while helping a cause and helping people in my own community that I otherwise would have never known about. This year, I was also able to volunteer to be a group leader at a Roncalli Junior High Retreat. When I was younger I always knew it was something I wanted to experience and I loved being there. It was great to meet the younger kids and help them along throughout the day while they experienced a retreat for the first time. I hope to continue these service activities as I get older and move out of my time in high school wherever I end up.

Growing up in a Chinese family sharing their traditional beliefs and in a different cultural environment, Dominican Republic, have make me feel inferior to the ones surrounding me; since they are fill with expectations and judgments. In most of Asian tradition the oldest are expected to have more responsibility and be an example for the youngest siblings. My parents are business person, who are always working and didn’t spend much time at home. Indeed, I played my parents role and took all the responsibilities at home. Since I was 13, I cook, clean, and take care my youngest siblings.

I was born in dominican republic santiago in May 21, 1997. I'm 19 years old. My weight is 132 pound and my height is 5.9 feet. My skin color is dark and my eyes color are black. My favorite color is yellow and my favorite singer is Daddy Yankee. I'm a student from Bronx Community College. My major is Liberal Arts & Biology because I want something related with medicine. Now I was thinking about become a physical therapy or doctor with a specialization in pediatric.

My most memorable school experience, revolves around the extracurricular of being a cheerleader. Being able to have the opportunity to thrive in school spirit and to be able to build lifelong friendships has allowed me to cherish my high school experience. Even though being a cheerleader consists of many responsibilities and events; my most favored school experience is being a part of the schools organized pep rallies. Pep rallies are memorable to me because it is a couple times out of the school year that each student comes together to support and encourage our own fellow students. By encouraging students of all ages to be apart of this experience is important to me, because seeing each student happy in sight of their school is inspiring.

The next positive defining moment in my education was making the cheerleading team my freshman year. I have been cheerleading my whole life and started when I was just in second grade. My town had a Pop Waner team and I did that every year through elementary school and middle school. My mom was the coach and we even made it to nationals in Disney world in eighth grade placing 7th in the nation. Cheerleading has always been a huge love of mine and has really shaped me into the person I am today. When high school came around I tryout out for the varsity team and made it. This was a huge accomplishment for a freshman and I was very proud of myself.

My most memorable moment was when I came to Job Corps. Before Job Corps I was a different person. I was more into the street life but I would have to blame my environment the PJ’s. Growing up in that environment you see a lot, hear a lot and be ahead of the kids that’s in your age group.

One of my personal favorites was when I was in 5th grade. At my school we had something called “Safety patrol,” and that is where we come before and after school to tell the K-4 to stop running and to walk to the playground or the bus. Usually, after school, I would go to my aunt’s work and it would be the best time. I got to see all the different things she does. She gets to see people at the hospital, which I got to do 1 time and the patient was the nicest in the world. She gave me 10 dollars to buy food of my choice and I got a cheeseburger and fries for lunch. Since my aunt and my mom work at the hospital usually after about 20 minutes I would go over to my mom’s office and go and finish my homework. Then I and my mom would go home. this really reflected on my life because after going home I learned that even though people are not as safe as other people we can still help them in certain ways.