Sophomore Personal Statement

Everyone has something that drives them to succeed every day. Some people feel a need to compete with others around them while others feel they need to make their families proud. For me there are two major factors that encourages me to try my best. One is to show my parents that everything they have done for me has not been a waste and the other is my curiosity.

In my upcoming high school years I hope to try new things and push my comfort zone, strengthen my academic abilities, and make new friends, as well as strengthen my existing friendships. I look forward to attending Villa Maria Academy next year for high school. I am excited for all the new high school experiences, from the increased responsibility to the new freedoms gained. I would also like to attend Villa because I value my faith. Villa Maria Academy, founded in the same tradition of the IHM sisters that I experienced at Lower Villa, can help me to maintain my strong relationship with God.

It's impossible to think about things that have significantly impacted my life without considering my mother's diagnosis with cancer. It has changed the way I approach nearly everything in my life, and has led to other significant experiences. She was diagnosed the beginning of my Sophomore year, so I've had to balance home and school obligations nearly my entire high school career. I had to take responsibility and start acting more maturely, whether I wanted to or not. My mother suddenly couldn't do many things she used to be able to do, and as my father travels every week I had to step up and fill the void. Through doing this, I've become a lot more independent, and gained better clarity into my priorities and what I want out of my life.

I believe I can help to be a positive influence on the incoming freshmen by using my skills, qualities, and experiences to help their transition into a new beginning.

Year 2015 is when I started my freshman year. Although I was in high school since 8th grade, the title “Freshman” made this school year more nervous. Freshman year starts a lot of things for me. Such as academy program, swim team, and grade that would actually count toward college. It is very hard to get used to high school and creates a lot of stress.

As a nontraditional student as well as a Sophomore my goals as well as responsibilities are different from the typical student’s. As a father of three, including a six month old balancing my professional, academic, together with my personal life has been the most challenging aspect of returning to school.

Since I was in Elementary School, I have known that my passion was teaching. While in High School, I decided that I wanted to teach Middle Schooler’s. Once I decided that Middle Grades was the correct area for me, I began to accept any opportunities to work with Middle Schooler’s. In Tenth-Grade, I began my journey to preparing myself to become the best teacher I could be. I was offered the opportunity to apply for a week long internship working with Star’s Academy, which is a program dedicated to the success of Middle Schooler’s, specifically Seventh-Grader’s.

In a few short months, I will be graduating from high school. With that comes large responsibilities to take care of my own schooling and my own needs. There will be no one there to motivate me to finish my homework or to push me to school everyday. I am in charge of myself now, and it will take some time to get used to. Going to college is a big part of 2018 for me, and I want to start the year strong. Instead of picking a resolution or goal, we picked a word that we wanted to work towards this year. My word is strive. I want to strive to do and be better than I think I can be. To make my resolution easier this year, I picked a word that I can drive towards to get me through any trials.

During my teenage years, I was extremely indecisive in the career I wanted to pursue and if I could even successfully complete middle school and high school. I was constantly surrounded by students who were not enthusiastic about academic performance and I did the minimum effort to get through the academic week. Education was my least priority.

On August 26, 2015, all of the new freshman to Lindenwood University had to go to Freshman Convocation. It was a time when the most prestigious figures to the school could introduce themselves to the freshman body and explain what studying at Lindenwood was about. They welcomed us, spoke about the school, spoke about what they wanted to proceed to do, and granted us best wishes for our time here and afterwards. We heard from administrators, the Voices Only Choir, and our freshman senators.

It is hard and diligent work that brought me out of my troubled state, and I grew to believe that it is hard and diligent work that offers me the best chance of success in life. Moreover, I have grown to take pride in my work, whether it be a major project or simply just daily homework. Freshman year was difficult for me and I would never go back, but the lessons and values which it ultimately instilled in me are

I remember being a little girl and hiding behind my mom when someone came up to me to say hello; I used to be so nervous to even meet their eyes. At our family get-togethers, for Christmas and New Years Day, my family attempted to start conversations I would politely smile and hide behind my closest parent. I remember her telling me “It’s okay to say Hi to the people I talk to, just do not talk to strangers.” I tried to listen to her and follow her instructions but every time I would try chickened out.

I just can’t believe there is only few more days of high school left. As the days are getting closer and closer, it's getting sad. I still remember the day I stepped into Maine East High School as a Freshman, at that time, all I wished for was to graduate from this school with good grades. High school was not the way I imagined, it is way different from what I thought and definitely different from Middle School. Freshman year was the “exploring/adventure” year, finding where each classes were, what activities/clubs were offered at this school and many more. Freshman year went quickly and then Sophomore year came up. Sophomore year was probably the least stressful year in high school but from Sophomore year my family and friends started asking me the scariest question “What are you doing after high school, which career?

The teenage years often set the trajectory for a person's life. It is my hope that with an engaging youth program that speaks the Gospel to the needs of teenagers to help them realize their identity, vocation, and gifts. It is my hope to create an dynamic, exciting environment for youth ministry that speaks blatantly about the issues the student's are facing and present an open opportunity for confession and doubt. I believe in challenging youth to form their own faith and embrace a habit of spiritual disciplines that will remain beyond their teenage years. I also believe that discipleship is pivotal in fostering ones faith. I feel called to form networks of relationships between teenage peers, adult leaders, and parents to help instruct

A few things I expect from my freshmen year at Calaveras High School is new friends, like weather or not they are going to be my friends just through high school or if they are going to be my friends throughout my whole life. Another expectation that I have is sports I expect to play high school football and baseball. There are so many more expectations that I have for my freshman year at Calaveras High School.