CAS Reflective Essay
An Eye Opening Two Years
Reflecting on some of the extra-curricular activities I have engaged in these past two years
Session:
May 2014
Candidate number:
000480-0061
Word Count:
3373
Contents
St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux Centre 1
Friendly Shopper 1
Security Assistant 2
Volunteer Committee 3
Healthy Active Living Assistant 3
Summary 4
Contact Information 4
Indian Carnatic Music Lessons 4
Contact 6
Swimming 6
Contact 7
The Yearbook Committee 8
Contact 8
The Sears Ontario Drama Festival 9
Contact 9
Breakfast Club 9
Contact 10
Conclusion 10
St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux Centre
St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux Centre (SPLC) is an old age home located at 3333 Finch Avenue East, by my house. The centre provides housing and services for older adults and seniors. Initially I chose to volunteer at SPLC to get adapted to the caregiving setting since I wanted to pursue a career in the medical sciences in Grade 9. I have since been volunteering at SPLC, throughout Year 1 and until the middle of Year 2. Although my work at SPLC has made me realize that I am not suited for medical sciences because of my mysophobia and the ages of people I may have to work with, I learned and gained a lot of experience regarding life, life choices, and my own individuality through my work as a friendly shopper, security assistant, volunteer committee member, and healthy active living assistant.
Friendly Shopper
Due to the limited volunteer positions available, I was placed as a volunteer shopper when I began to volunteer at SPLC. My duty was to go shop at the nearby mall for groceries and other personal items for my client, Dirk Roest, once a week. Despite my initial dislike of the position, over the past years, I have developed a strong connect...
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...of my high school years, I will definitely take the skills and lessons I learned there with me in the future.
Contact
If you have any questions about my involvement in Breakfast club, please do not hesitate to contact:
Ms. Rose Ullah, staff advisor of the Breakfast Club, at 416-395-3310 x 20040.
Conclusion
Over these past two years, I have gained a lot of valuable life experiences through the many extra-curricular activities I have engaged in. I have been able to develop my creativity, maintain active, and serve the community in numerous ways. As an individual and a learner, I have strived and succeeded in being an inquirer, knowledgeable, a thinker, a communicator, principled, open-minded, caring, a risk-taker, balanced, and reflective. These experiences and qualities are highly substantial and I will cherish and strive to improve them in the many years to come.
One extracurricular activity that I am very passionate about would be the FFA. FFA has taught me so many things and it has brought me so many places. I 've learned how to be a great speaker from different events my advisor has challenged me to do. Public speaking has taken me so many places and I have attributed most of my success to FFA. When I was a freshmen I competed and received gold in the creed speaking competition. As a sophomore, I tried extemporaneous speaking and received a gold for that as well. As a junior I really wanted to challenge myself so I took up agricultural sales as my winter career development experience. I ended up being recognized as the state runner up individual agriculture salesman as well as the 15th best agricultural sales man in the nation. Now as a senior, I have been going around speaking at different school board meetings, advocating
When he is not running a successful dental practice in Massachusetts, Lennox Lin, D.M.D. can be found in one of the many soup kitchens or homeless shelters in his area. In addition to this work, he also volunteers his time and knowledgeable services to provide low income families with free dental care. Dr. Lin boasts that volunteering is as much a benefit to him as it is to the hundreds of people that he helps. It is truly a reciprocal endeavor, one which he believes everyone should take part in regularly. Through his various volunteer work, Lin has had the chance to reach out to his community and meet new people. This interaction has given him a greater understanding of the different classes and walks of life that live in Massachusetts. Volunteering has also heightened his social skills, as he has had plenty of practice in meeting and befriending new people. He also believes that the act of self service increases a person 's own self confidence. In general, people who give of themselves and their time feel better about who they are and how they are contributing to society. Having this new sense of purpose keeps everyday issues and stresses in life in greater perspective. When he has a rough day, he can think about the many people in his community who deal with far greater stresses and
Right now, most of you reading this are twenty somethings with extremely bright futures ahead of you. Many of you were the stars of your high school, if not area, if not state, if not country. Then you got here and things changed. All of a sudden, everything was challenging. From the first moment you got here you were in competition with all the other freshmen for spots in a fraternity, sorority, independent living group, or dorm. You compared SAT scores, compared achievements, and found that they, like you, were amazingly accomplished. Many were National Merit Scholars, AP Scholars, Governor’s School participants, Math Olympiad winners, Science Fair winners, and Scholarship recipients.
In the beginning of my senior year I was eager to expand my understanding of how it would be to work in a hospital. An opportunity arose allowing me to volunteer in the hospital at the University of Chicago. I was able to volunteer at the children's playroom, which consisted of a weekly commitment. The daily tasks I had to perform where to enlighten the spirits of children and reduce the amount of anxiety that developed within them when they approached a hospital visit. I would play games, read books, or just company the patients at their bedside. I especially love to interact with the younger patients because their laughter and innocence warms my heart up.
Through the traumatic experience of my father’s illness, a positive and optimistic perspective of commitment to nursing career evolved. My journey of becoming a nurse and commitment of shining a bright light on another individual life has been my life long goal. I moved to the United States in early 1980 and with God help and guidance, I followed the nursing career and promised to make a small difference. During my first years as a nursing student, I took a part-time volunteered position as a candy-stripe and a part-time position as a nurse aid in a community hospital to provide relief and support to hospital staffs. I rocked and read poems for babies in the nursery, as a nurse aid I assist nurses with vital signs, blood pressures, fill ice pitchers in patient rooms, runs specimens to labs and sit with patients in the room and feed patients. I still volunteer in my hospital oncology department and the underserved and homeless clinics with several Emory physicians at the Good Samaritan Health Center, Mercy Care and National AIDS Education and Services for Minorities (NAESM) all in Fulton County, Ga, because it gave me fulfillment and appreciative of life
I ambitiously decided that I would brighten the lives of the elderly by volunteering at a rest home, but discovered that the elderly were being neglected, shoved aside and forgotten. As I stepped into the home a pungent odor penetrated my nostrils, causing an instantaneous gagging reflex. The place was abounded with neglected and subdued inhabitants, yearning for attention. Anybody that passed them caused a sudden outburst of ranting. The negligence and disregard the home displayed appalled me, but helped me to realize that I wanted to make a difference and change the condition people live in.
Extracurricular involvement through one's school, is a key and crucial factor in succeeding, while growing and developing during the early stages of a student's life. I am an actively involved and motivated student, for I participate in numerous school activities while consistently undertaking superb grades. Throughout my past two years in middle school, I have prospered in the following activities: Newspaper club, Cross Country, Track, Academic Olympics, the Ocean County Math League, Chorus, National Junior Honor Society, and finally, Student Council. In the duration of these activities, I have flourished and excelled greatly.
My extracurricular and academic activities have helped mold me into a person with character and good qualities. These qualities--respect, humility, kindness, ambition, appreciation for diversity and collaboration, and courage--have not come without valuable failures and lessons. I can continue to develop these qualities and build upon these lessons as I go forward with my university goals and the desire I have to enter the healthcare profession as a nurse. I am able to look beyond the exciting, glamorous parts of both and see that there will be lots of hard work and difficulty. I am ready to face those challenges and do my best and give my all.
...lings that overcame me: it was the first time I felt as though I was important, the first time I felt as though I was a scholar, and most importantly, the first time I felt as though I belonged. I want to be an active voice on campus and in the classrooms; I want to be a role model to the diverse student body; I want to branch out with the opportunity given by GS; and most of all, I want to grow into the leader I dream to become.
I was fortunate enough to have spent my last two summers as a high school student actively engaged in numerous ways. Two summer ago, I decided to be a counselor of a wonderful enrichment program called Camp Invention, a renowned science camp for young children to explore and invent creatively. During this 40 hour volunteer service, I learned how to handle children with both care and responsibility in a subject I am greatly passionate about. In addition, I also was responsible for my employment as a cook at Hwy 55. During the most recent summer, I attended the NC Governor’s School for Natural Science, a six week residential program that focuses on integrating academic disciplines with the world around us. This was an enlightening experience,
I have been given an awesome privilege to be able to call Hope College my home for the last four years. The memories I have had here will last a lifetime. From the friends I have developed with professors, students, to Phelps and Cook employees. I can honestly say that there has not been a bad experience with any of these people. It’s been awesome here at Hope! This experience has taught me many different life lessons and helped mold the legacy in which I feel I will leave behind when I am done. The legacy I want to leave behind entails one of respect, and hard working. I will tie all of these together will explicit examples from here at Hope and will end with how I plan to finish up on a positive note.
There is so much to be offered at ________________ University for people like me, such as intramural soccer and basketball, environmental and study clubs, and the honors college. As I’m not sure what career I’d like to pursue for the rest of my life, I’m excited to be able to explore my options in college. I am both eager and nervous to start the next chapter of my life down the unique path of my own choice. I know that what lies ahead of me may be new and scary, but I also know that if I stay true to myself and go with what I feel is best, there will always be hope in the distance no matter what choices I make. I try not to get caught up looking ahead in my future, letting my doubts and worries get to me too much. I set my goals high because I will not let anything or anyone convince me that I’m not good enough, smart enough, or experienced enough to achieve what I want to accomplish. I am determined to carve the path to my future unapologetically, and let the rest fall into
People’s lives are changed every day by their actions and experiences. This past summer, I participated in a community service project, an experience that opened my eyes in many ways. I was a volunteer at the County Memorial Hospital. In my time as a volunteer at the hospital, I was able to meet patients and staff members from all over the world and learn about their life experiences. Listening to all of their stories has made me truly appreciate everything which I have.
The multitudes of extracurricular and academic activities I participate in were chosen because of their focus on my interests. I want to pursue a career in computer engineering and/or biological engineering. In order to help me accomplish this I carefully consider how extracurricular and academic activities will assist me in the future. Currently I am participating in several rigorous academic courses such as AP Physics C and AP Calculus BC to gear me towards a college environment, as well as a variety of clubs that focus on engineering and the sciences. A vast majority of the classes I take are advanced placement, which gives me the chance to obtain college credit before entering college. Advance placement classes also challenge me with faster paced instruction, which prepare me for the speed and difficulty of college level courses. I am currently taking AP Biology, AP Computer Science A, , AP Literature and Composition, AP U.S. Government and Politics, Pre-AP Chinese IV, and Honors Independent Research. In terms of extracurricular activities, I currently participate in the Stock Market Club, Science and Engineering Club, our school’s FRC team, and Chinese Club. In my free time I enjoy building computers, putting together parts lists for computers, programming, playing video games, and learning about various technical jobs and new computing technologies such as server administrator and quantum computing.
For the past 13 years of our education we have been on a journey - a journey full of experiences, challenges and accomplishments. We have made it through elementary, middle and high school. It hasn't always been what we expected and certainly not easy, but as we progressed down the road, we stretched ourselves to reach across barriers and found ourselves in new and expanding roles. We were given the opportunity to explore our interests and discover what really excites us. We have become more independent and complete individuals. Our growth and self-discovery has placed us here tonight.