First Year Reflection Paper

Here I stand on the brink of adulthood, a daunting place to exist. I peer over the edge and gaze into a chasm, bright but blurry. I am afraid. I am anxious. But I am hopeful. I am hopeful because I know that my past has defined me, but it is my future that will continue to mold me. As my years as a teenager draw to a close, I find myself reflecting on pivotal moments that taught me what it really means to be a good human being.

I went into junior year without any fear or stress whatsoever. I started a new program at my school called the Associative Arts program in order to graduate high school with a two-year college degree. This program entailed not only taking both on site and online college classes, but also completing high school classes in order to fulfill my high school graduation requirements. Unaware of the academic rigor this year involved, I decided to take AP Chemistry along with these other classes. My older sister took, and passed, an AP class her junior year, so I expected myself to also pass this class. However, in my case, this teacher had never taught an AP class before, especially not chemistry. After completing my junior year, I now understand there is an important difference between setting high goals and pushing myself beyond my limits.

First year seminar was a very useful tool. I learned a lot of valuable things that I believe I will be able to utilize while I am a student and also in life. I am very lucky that this course is a part of the curriculum at West Coast University and I plan on utilizing the tools learned to assist me in getting through the nursing problem.

I have always enjoyed telling stories, it was just quite difficult for me to express my ideas well. I took this class in the hopes I could form a well written, organized paper. Expository writing has taught me my different strengths and weaknesses and how to use them accordingly. My writing skills have improved and changed drastically since the beginning of the semester. I learned to eliminate wordiness, to add detailed analysis, and improve grammar skills. This has made a significant difference in my writing abilities, preparing me for my future in college.

I was extremely lucky to be placed in a first-year seminar that had such a unique topic with great individuals to share the class with. Throughout the last few months, I have gained friendships and knowledge within the course, Plants and Human Affairs. Within this course, I have learned and extended my understandings on the interactions between humans and plants. Throughout the semester, the class has read a variety of books, all relating to plants and people interaction. We have also been exposed to films and projects that have helped further our understanding of the plant world. I feel that I overall have learned very important lessons during this class in a wide range of areas including my personal life, how to approach college and about a variety of plants.

I have great interaction with individuals from all levels of society, education and backgrounds. In the past, I have demonstrated that I can deal with highly sensitive issues (hostile and angry individuals). For example, my co-workers regularly request my assistance dealing with the public, and I help them prevent the situation from escalating to a public relations issue. Recently a claimant came to the office extremely upset. She wanted to file an Appeal because she disagreed on how the Processing Center (PC) calculated her back payment and issued the SSA-1099 with the incorrect information. After reviewing the actions taken by PC and her records, I determined that the letter sent by PC did not contain all the necessary information; it did not include the Worker’s Compensation and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) offset. I explained to her how the offset was applied and sent a request to PC for a detailed letter with the offset information. She understood and was relieved that I clarified how her benefits were calculated and decided not to appeal the decision. I also have the tact and sensitivity to deal with individuals from different social backgrounds and education levels. I am also fluent in Spanish and English, which gives me the opportunity to deal effectively with a wide variety of individuals, organizations and groups from different cultural backgrounds and nationalities. I was referred a claim that was previously denied because the claimant didn’t

“Khong Oi! Lam mot viet nay cho ma..khong you do for ma-my okay? ”--which translates from Vietnamese to “Child of mine! Do one more thing for me, child, you do for your mommy okay?.” I honestly use to hate when my mother asked me to do something for her. Even worse, I would feel embarrassed when she asked me something in her broken English. Being an adolescent, I did not understand the reasoning behind her persistent nagging or why she would ask to do so many chores, run all these errands with her, or do all these cleanings around the house. I would constantly retaliate to her firm scoldings and fiery lectures which made me believe she did not love me and I could do nothing right by her. My mother raised me with such an iron hand and back then I could not understand why. Back then I could not comprehend the meaning behind everything she did or how little I knew of the endless ways my mother showed me strength, empathy and resiliency, all in her non traditional way and how I would reflect those attributes growing up.

As what happen in the supervision meeting every week, the students review their weekly activities and tasks at the beginning of the meeting. Thus, I reviewed my activities during the last week in the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh ICP which include contacting some clients to complete their applications, helping one family joining the Food Pantry Program and obtaining Sadaqah, and meeting with the practicum advisor.

It was called the washing. Its purpose was to "wash the impurities" out of everyone’s head. Man no longer had morals, and no one followed laws. Brother was scared of brother and sister turned on sister. The bigger picture was, if no one remembered wrongdoings in their past they would not do it in their future. it was kind of like a reset button...but for humans. Really, it was just a way to depersonalize the population because robots are always easier to control than human’s who had something to fight for. They started with small, with inmates, then moved to anyone even accused of a crime. Soon workplaces and schools required it. Some resisted, and they were executed, so if the soldiers came to your door you had to comply or die.

We all have different experiences with different things sometimes is just a difference from when you were younger to when you're older. My experience of church was different when I was younger compared to it now in the matters of Sunday school communion and church itself.

“I understand we all have our differences. But while learning about history I've read about white people coming together, Jews coming together, Spanish coming together, different cultures and religions understanding and coming together despite their differences. Slavery was never something that shocked me. What shocks me is how black people have not yet overcome the odds and we're such strong smart people. Why we can't just stand together?” ― Jonathan Anthony Burkett Social Class, Race, and education are all major things that an average young Black male like myself think about on a daily basis.

We often are apprehensive to immerse ourselves in a location where we feel we will be the odd one out. No one ever wants to feel that they are be judged or stared at when they are going to a new place, so we tend to avoid those situations. But what people do not realize is that we are creating most of these scenarios up in our heads. That by making ourselves feel uncomfortable or anxious before we even go, sets us up to over analyze our day to day activities to the sport teams we root for.

Like many Catholics, I was welcomed into the faith shortly after I was born. My mother and father had me baptized at only four months of age. From then on, I was raised in a Catholic household. My faith was prevalent in my school life as well. I attended St. Bernard Catholic School from preschool to eighth grade. There were some parts about being Catholic that I really liked. I enjoyed the church songs we sang at mass and I loved having shorter classes on the days we said the Stations of the Cross. However, I wasn’t fond of being an altar server and I found no joy in having to wake up early on Sundays to go to mass. Though it was a part of my everyday life, Catholicism never really became part of my identity. I never took it upon myself to learn more about the church or strengthen my faith outside of school. I only really participated in Communion and confession and whatnot because it was what I was told and taught to do. Whenever I prayed, I felt more like I was speaking to the ceiling than to God. I hadn’t even considered that I could have my own set of beliefs until high school.

For most of my elementary and middle school career, I averaged about two or three absences in a given week. I hated class, didn’t understand why I had to be there all the time if I could come every other day and still get A’s. While this may have been true, albeit arrogant, I now see how I had misunderstood. It took me until my sophomore year of high school to realize how passionate I actually am about it. It was then, with the aid of two specific teachers, that I realized how the most noble and honest thing one can pursue in life is knowledge and education. These two history teachers, good friends to each other, not only taught me about the history of the world and how relevant it is to life today, but also taught me the two most important lessons I’ve learned up to this point.

There will be times in life that knocks you down so hard that you feel as if you don’t have the strength to get back up. It is all about how you handle the situations that show just how strong you truly are. All my life I have been a victim of bullying. Every time the bullies came to me I acted strong but once I got home I would lock myself in my bedroom for hours crying asking God what have I done wrong, and why me. The bullying had gotten so bad that it had led up to depression. I have tried cutting and overdosing more than once. But nothing was there to ease the pain that I had felt. One day I didn’t eat. That one day lead to a week, which leads to a month, which led to 3 months. I lived off half a baby plate of food for dinner a day because my mindset was saying to me that I needed to be skinny for people to like me. So, yes I was physically starving myself at the age of 14. Once it was time for Freshman year to start I finally felt beautiful, at least that is what I had thought. Shortly within the school year, the bullying came back and the depression hit me in the face once again. This time I wasn’t trying to starve, I was eating excessively and I wasn’t cutting. I wasn’t doing anything but lying down in my bed with earbuds in trying to isolate myself. People think that depression is just sadness. It isn’t. Depression is when you feel completely empty. You start to think and wonder what the future hold for you but yet all you see is black because you start to see a