Humanities 12:
College Essay Final Draft
Sweaty Palms As I stood at the front of the room, my curled hair and pleated dress did not accurately represent the chaotic tornado I felt inside. I was completely unprepared to convince my peers of my semester’s accomplishments when I was not convinced of them myself. At Animas High School we complete POLs, “presentations of learning”, to show our teachers and peers our personal and academic growth over the semester. The presentation consists of expressing why you believe you have earned the opportunity to continue to the next semester through course work and anecdotes. Freshman year was my first encounter with POLs and coincidentally was a period of my life when I was struggling with self-confidence the most. I was once again melted by frustration. Standing in front of my peers, my eyes filled with tears and words barely escaped my mouth. Ultimately, I failed my presentation and would be one of the few required to return to school the next day to redo it. Basically, I was crushed. I’d worked exceptionally hard on my presentation and tried my best but still was unsuccessful. Since I can remember, presentations in front of the class have always given me butterflies. I have a tendency to become nervous and stumble over my words. Something as simple as meeting someone new can give me a hopeless stutter. I have never been confident in my abilities and this has left me with an unfortunate fear of judgment or disapproval of others. My reservations about my ideas have created massive barriers around them, often preventing me from sharing with others. The looming possibility of failure hinders my plans and my lack of confidence depletes my motivation. The possibility of failure crushes my ambition before I even have the chance to succeed. Each difference between my peers and myself pushed me further down while elevating them. Constantly decreasing my value left me with a disadvantage- I had no confidence in what I could achieve or what I had achieved. Throughout my adolescence I did not lack supporters or love. I never felt that I wasn’t good enough for my family or my teachers. I felt accepted for who I was and felt the freedom to be myself. I just wasn’t happy with who I was. I longed to have the same charming attitude and beautiful hair that girls around me seemed to possess. I wished I was less quiet or that I would not rather go home and stick my nose in a book on Friday nights. I became unhappy with who I was and it left me with no sense of accomplishment. I couldn’t be good enough for myself. My self-loathing became my biggest disadvantage when I lost the ability to advocate, present, and explain my ideas the ways I needed to. When I lost confidence in my self, I lost confidence in all of my academic abilities as well. Constantly assuming my failure was inevitable was the quickest route to failure. It stopped me before I began. Through this, I discovered that without confidence in myself, I lacked confidence in my work. However, one failed presentation was not an extreme revelation that tossed me into a world of self-love and acceptance. Nevertheless, this presentation provided me with insight on how important it was to realize success was an option I was free to choose. Perseverance through challenges and acknowledgement of obstacles will lead to success. I have grown immensely since freshman year, lost my fear of public speaking and have become more self-confident. I can freely participate in Socratic Seminars without fear of judgment and haven’t cried during a POL since freshman year. Although I have not overcome with struggles with self-confidence, the past three years at animas have been extremely beneficial in gaining confidence in my work and I am excited to continue on my path towards self-assurance. |
College Essay 1st Draft
Coloring Inside the Lines My mother often reminds me of the way my eyes would swell with tears while doing my homework at the dining room table when I first started school. She jokes about the way the frustration would melt out of me following a tiny mistake. Erasing rouge pencil marks was just a slight inconvenience, but to me was cause enough for a complete meltdown. I’ve always had an unachievable expectation of perfection as my ultimate desire and struggled with it immensely. Being the eldest child of my family, my big accomplishments as a young person were greatly acknowledged. From losing my first tooth to making honor roll in middle school, my parents doted on my positive behavior. I prided myself on doing things the right way and always tried my best to be as “perfect” as I could. Throughout elementary and middle school, I did everything by the book. And it almost worked for me. Everyday I showed up with my pencils sharpened and my homework completed, but I could not fit into the standardized mold of public education perfectly. I was told that if I studied, I would find success. It wasn’t until I became a freshman at Animas High School that I was pushed to discover the freedom in individuality. At Animas, we do POLs- “presentations of learning” to show our teachers and peers our growth personally and academically over the semester. The presentation consists of standing up at the front of the room and expressing why you believe you have earned the opportunity to continue to the next semester. Freshman year was when I first encountered POLs and coincidentally was a period of my life when I struggled with self-confidence. The harshness of middle-schoolers had taken it out of me and I was completely unprepared to tell my peers my accomplishments over the semester. With my hair curled and my dress ironed, I was once again melted by frustrations. Standing in front of my peers, my eyes filled with tears and words barely escaped my mouth. Ultimately, I failed my presentation and would be one of the few required to return to school the next day to redo it. Basically, I was crushed. I’d worked exceptionally hard on my presentation and tried my best but still failed. This went against everything I thought I knew about success. My presentation left me shaken about life and I cried for hours. |
Mini-Project Reflection 9/2/14
This mini-project, titled “Street Law”, was an excellent opportunity to investigate how personal privacy is legally balanced with the need to keep a safe and just society. We covered multiple situations to understand both our rights and those of the police during stops and on the street. We developed understandings of when police can search without warrants and of the extensiveness of the searches. Understand our protection under the 4th amendment and be able to identify the differences between probable cause and reasonable suspicion. To demonstrate our learning through this project, my partner and I created a board game.
I enjoyed every aspect of this project because of its relevance and the importance of understanding your legal rights. It’s important to understand the ways your rights are protected under the constitution so you can properly manage your freedoms, including rights to property and privacy. We choose to include law in school, involving vehicular stops, and on the street in our game. These are the 3 categories we covered in class and each of varying properties and different protections.
If I could explore one aspect of this project further, it would be diving into more amendments to develop a deeper understanding of my personal freedoms. However, I believe we are learning more about the constitution and our rights in our next project. I learned a lot about legal situations with police from only a few days, so it would be (will) an excellent opportunity to broaden my knowledge.
This mini-project, titled “Street Law”, was an excellent opportunity to investigate how personal privacy is legally balanced with the need to keep a safe and just society. We covered multiple situations to understand both our rights and those of the police during stops and on the street. We developed understandings of when police can search without warrants and of the extensiveness of the searches. Understand our protection under the 4th amendment and be able to identify the differences between probable cause and reasonable suspicion. To demonstrate our learning through this project, my partner and I created a board game.
I enjoyed every aspect of this project because of its relevance and the importance of understanding your legal rights. It’s important to understand the ways your rights are protected under the constitution so you can properly manage your freedoms, including rights to property and privacy. We choose to include law in school, involving vehicular stops, and on the street in our game. These are the 3 categories we covered in class and each of varying properties and different protections.
If I could explore one aspect of this project further, it would be diving into more amendments to develop a deeper understanding of my personal freedoms. However, I believe we are learning more about the constitution and our rights in our next project. I learned a lot about legal situations with police from only a few days, so it would be (will) an excellent opportunity to broaden my knowledge.