High School Reflection Paper

In the first few years, I was reserved. Because I only hung out with the people I knew and rarely stepped out of my comfort zone back in Florida, I acted the same way moving to Georgia. Making friends wasn’t important to me because I was used to being isolated. Going on to high school, I came to a realization that I needed to step out into the world. I knew that I couldn’t always depend on myself. I needed to make connections and branch out. I took my chances and joined clubs to help not only myself but others as well. High school was also the transition of my life where I started focusing on my grades. I started working harder and as the curriculum started to get more difficult, it only motivated me to be more diligent.

People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are often misunderstood and discriminated by society at large and many health professionals. Furthermore, Spanish speakers face additional barriers. Due to such marginalization, dental services, while essential, can be neglected. This can result in tooth loss, infection, or other ailments that can rapidly deteriorate the health of persons with compromised immune systems. With the creation of a robust and culturally competent assessment tool that evaluates the needs of dental clients, a reversal of this trend can occur and ensure that necessary dental care becomes the new standard.

As I look back on the beginning of my journey to a better career and life I can remember the weeks and months leading up to the first day of class. I remember visiting the college and speaking with an advisor to decide exactly what it was I wanted to do, and the steps it would take for me to reach my goals. I recall talking with the advisor about the requirements for my General Education credits as well my need to take a preparatory class for algebra because I scored to low on the placement exam to be allowed to take the full college level math. Along with the preparatory math class my advisor told me that I needed to take “Foundations for College Success”, which I questioned. My advisor explained that the

Hi class, I hope you enjoyed this days at elementary. Back to reality you have to do...

As teenagers, we’re all told in high school that “These are the best years of your life! Don’t waste them!” or something to that extent. Though in reality, high school is nothing more than a stress filled scramble to find your own identity or at the very least, one that will allow you to survive the next four years of hormones and midnight cram sessions. Some people find it unnaturally easy to find their clique, and others struggle to do so. I fall in with the latter category.

Growing up is a journey we all have to travel. Everyone makes their own paths on an adventure of change. Along the way, the path will be beautiful and smooth-sailing, bumpy and rough, and sometimes conflict will appear out of the blue. At times forks in the road will show up and decisions must be made. Change is inevitable. Throughout a lifetime decisions made will be small and slight, or huge and major. It does not matter because one decision can change one’s path completely. Even the slightest change can make the difference. The decision could even be a change of hairstyle. A change in hairstyle could lead to a new fashion sense, to a new genre of music, to a completely new person. I myself have noticed many differences and similarities between my middle school self and now; and it is only the beginning.

As a child I was shy, and still am, but I always tried to make friends. But that did not always go well because of the culture boundary’s that were between me and most of the other students. Many students of the same race would stick together, leaving me usually alone because of the very few Caucasian students in the schools. Spending most of my time working alone unless the teacher assigned groups. That did not change much when entering middle school. Middle school just became a bigger version of the years pasted. Spending my time feeling like I was the outsider because most people already knew each other. The first year of high school was no different from the past years, I began to gain a few friends who had classes with me. I tried to venture out and stared becoming friends with more people with the help or sports and my advanced classes. When you are a student in Advanced Placement classes you began to have classes with a smaller group of people. This was when I finally did not feel any different from the other students in my

Starting a new chapter in life is difficult, it comes with new experiences, new conflicts, and a lot more tension. To be honest a lot of things change when you start to experience the generation of junior high your mind set swifts off of the child set themes to more productive thinking you try to understand many things that are not meant to be understood.

My high school experiences have become imprinted into my memory and parts of me. I changed entirely from the first day I walked in as a freshmen to the last day I walked across the stage with my diploma. Not only do I look different but I act, think, and understand differently. I realize now that an individual’s character is largely constructed by other people’s opinions, unwritten rules, and a subliminal hierarchy. The reality of high school makes it difficult to escape the ideal image of a perfect student, friend, respectful significant other, and model child. With all these different forces pulling students back and forth, the primary goal is to be accepted; despite how much change one must undergo. From my high school experiences I know how to deal with labelling, peer pressure, alienation, and cliques. Thus my former high school social lessons and knowledge allow me to reshape my perception, values, and self-image to this day.

I went through all of middle school having many friends; even though everyone was going through possibly the most awkward stage of life, there wasn’t a disconnect between all the cliques as there is now, in high school. Freshman year was basically the same as middle school, although everyone in the grade started dispersing into their own cliques, I had my main group of friends, and like every naïve freshman, I thought they were going to be there for my entire high school experience. I hadn’t reached the point where I realized that I was no longer in middle school yet, and then everything was completely different. Sophomore year came and a few people in my friend group left, maybe because they got a boyfriend or because they were on a different sports team and became closer to those players, but I hadn’t lost them entirely yet. But slowly I became distant from those friends. I noticed that by the end of

During my freshmen and sophomore years of high school I began to become frightened, high school was much tougher than middle school, the competition was troublesome, and certainly building new friendships had no time on my calendar. I didn’t fit in the teen society, and so I grew up to believe that I had excluded myself from that society and decided that my thoughts, intentions, circumstances, even goals were different from theirs.

It all started at the beginning of fourth grade, when everyone moved to a new classroom, a new teacher, and, the most pivotal point, a new class of students. I, introverted and shy as I was, had to break boundaries and find different people to spend time with. My

Roger’s responses to the lesson were very positive; he was interested and engaged at all times. Throughout all class, he was constantly involved by being asked to provide examples and participation in discussion. One of the lesson’s activities was brainstorming when students needed to resolve a conflict with someone. Roger was, at the beginning, a little exalted on his comments, but as the class activities progressed, his interactions improved. He was then given the task of resolving a hypothetical conflict between him and a classmate; students would exchange roles. The scenario: A classmate has asked Roger for the twentieth time to borrow a pen. Every time Roger lends him one, he does not get it back, so this time Roger would say no. The other student gets angry and starts to yell at Roger.

I have participated in many administrator level activities so far this summer. This reflection will center on setting up summer school for students and summer school teachers. Summer school is being held at several schools in the HCSD this summer. My school, Saucier Elementary, is one of them participating in the program. The purpose of summer school is to remediate any deficiencies and provide enrichment for some attending.

Initially when I began this project, I applied to a school which I went to called Abington Senior high school. I wanted to go to this school, so I could see my old teachers and learn from them again. Unfortunately, that did not happen. When I applied, I provided the school with all the necessary clearances and I sent an email to the head of the education department as they instructed. However, the department head did not respond to any of my emails.