The reason my senior year means so much to me is because throughout my journey I experienced so many things that slowly shaped me as not only a student but as a person. “With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, You’re too smart to go down any not so good street.” Dr. Seuss. With my head full and my feet snugly fit into some beat up Converse, I walked myself into the wrong crowd and some crappy situations. After the cloud of adrenaline drifted out of my sights I realized that I was too smart to be in the situation I put myself in.
Before I even stepped into my high school as an official freshman I knew I was going to be a part of my school one way or the other. I made it a goal to be a part of some type of extra-curricular project all four years. This goal I know I have succeeded in because I have been a part of the following extra- curricular projects: three years of SWAT club, four years of Raider Riot, and three varsity sports. All of these extra- curricular projects have made my high school career not only interesting but also made me a better person in the long run. One of the only clubs I was able to be a part of in high school was the SWAT club.
Growing up in Cypress has been a phenomenal experience to say the least. I was raised in a supportive middle class family. With a strong backbone behind me. I grew up to become independent and mature. Along with many friends that helped me get through rough times to make me the person I am today.
However, students with severe disabilities often face uncertain futures, and sadly, disappointing outcomes. The early employment outcomes is disappointing. National Study (NLTS2) indicates that just 2 years post school, only 25% of peoples with intellectual disability, 32% of people with autism, and 32% of people with multiple disabilities were employed (Westling & Fox, 2000). That leaves a significant amount of young adults unemployed, and without hope for a positive career outlook. There is much work to be done in helping children with severe disabilities to become fully capable, productive members of
In my position as a healthcare assistant, peer advocacy is quite important. Peer advocacy is the process of offering support, direction, and representation to people based on common experiences and shared understanding. Peer advocacy for me as a healthcare assistant entails using my own life experiences, expertise, and empathy to speak up for patients and help them navigate the healthcare system. My ability to relate to patients more deeply is made possible by my role as a peer advocate. I can relate to their difficulties, phobias, and worries based on my own experiences.
I also hope to contribute to my community by offering support, resources, and education to families and individuals affected by speech and communication-related disorders. In my personal life, I have also had the opportunity to work with individuals with disabilities. I have been the only babysitter allowed to watch a neurodivergent child, which has given me unique insight and understanding into the challenges faced by individuals with disabilities. Additionally, my experience volunteering at the Ballet for All Kids, where I helped teach dance classes to kids with disabilities, further strengthened my commitment to helping individuals with
In my high school career, I helped out with the special education program by taking them to NC State Fair, to the Special Olympics, and around Christmas time we took them to the mall so they can shop for their family. At the State Fair we would walk around, play games, eat food, and if they were able, ride some rides. At the Special Olympics there were schools from all over and it was so much fun watching the kids have such a great time. What we did was we would walk with our buddy to an event they seemed interested in and wanted to do.
While Finalizing my senior project portfolio and accomplishing dream goals, comparing this to my high school experiences is nothing. I accomplished so much and am so proud of what I have done. The knowledge I learned while completing this project is that there are so many people who you can trust. I learned how to get jobs and learned how to be a model. I learned to trust my gut about people.
I’ve met some amazing people and had great experiences. In High School I always tried my best, every quarter I was on the high honor roll and if I wasn't I was at least on the honor roll. I always did what I was expected to do. My school years what I enjoyed doing was dance. I’ve been dancing since middle school.
My second rewarding school experience was in high school senior year. I chose my senior experience because I had to fix what I had done my earlier years of high school. I had to retake some classes and sacrifice my time and my teacher 's were willing to do the same to get me to pass. My teacher 's noticed my main struggles were in math and English and we made a plan of success to help me get on the path to graduate. This year is important because of two reasons reason one was it was my senior year and the second reason was that my school was closing down and there wasn 't going to be any summer courses to take to make up the classes.
Positive Experiences One of the most positive experiences in my life was when I got my cosmetology license. It was such a great feeling because I had finally accomplished a major goal that I had. It also meant that if I wanted to I could get a job in a hair salon and be a hair stylist. I love hair, nails, and makeup so when I finally got my license to practice cosmetology I was so happy. My second positive experience was during this past semester because it was the first time in my whole college career that I got a 4.0 GPA.
Wow! I cannot believe that a semester just flew by. I still remember how scared and timid I was when I first started and how nervous I was when I spoke to a student as a counselor. I have learned so much and I have been granted the opportunity to work with an elementary, middle school, and high school counselor. By far, my favorite age group was middle school and my least favorite was high school.
I was born in Japan, but I’ve grown up in different places. I lived in New York for two years and moved to San Jose and lived until I was four. Then, I moved back to Japan. Therefore, I am not afraid to go other places or move on to next step.
During this time, they primarily worked on worksheets designed for the special education classroom as well as working on achieving their goals for accelerated reading. There were a few students who came in for an hour with work from their general education classroom and needed extra help completing their work. There were two students who had more severe disabilities, but they worked with paraprofessionals and did not do the same work as the rest of the class. One method of adjusting the work to meet the needs of the students that I noticed being used a lot in the classrooms I observed was cutting down the amount of work that they had to do. I
As high school went on, the workload grew, but I also grew, so I was perfectly capable of keeping up with the work. This type of growth came rather easy to me. It was important for me to have one thing I could be confident with through all of the drama and chaos in my life. Growing in my community was not challenging thanks to the Live Algoma movement. Our community itself has experienced so much growth over the past four years, which allowed many students, including me, to grow in their community involvement as well.
