At this point, Graduation is about 3 months away. 3 months until we’re free from high school. 3 months until we start a new path towards our future. Graduation is right around the corner and I cannot wait for June 9th, 2017. I am ready to leave and start my own life. I am probably going to regret saying that within the next year but it’s okay. I am kind of nervous to graduate simply because I have had a fear of falling on stage since my 5th grade graduation where I tripped on my dress and almost fell, but other than that I am really excited to graduate and finally have a summer with no homework.
Even though my summer post-graduation is homework free, I still have college stuff to worry about. So far, my parents have started to understand the fact that I am leaving soon so they have finally started hearing me out on what are the things I need for my college life. Plus, my sister has started “helping” me pack for when I leave. I think she just wants me to leave already so she can have my room. One thing I still need to do is choose a college to go to. So far I have been accepted to 4 schools, CSU Channel Islands, San Francisco State, University of the Pacific, and UC Merced. Out of these schools my first choices are UC Merced and CSU Channel Islands. I am still waiting on UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, CSU Fullerton, and Washington State. So far I have been denied from San Diego State and UC San Diego. I thought their rejections would have hurt more but all it did was bruise my ego just a little bit. Since I kind of didn’t want to go here, their rejection didn’t really hurt me. A rejection that will hurt me is UC Irvine’s rejection. Irvine has been my dream school since 7th grade so if one day I don’t go to school; it might be because they rejected me. If I do get rejected from Irvine, then I’ll most likely go to Merced. But if money wasn’t a problem, I would for sure go to University of the Pacific. Denying University of the Pacific hurts more than if I would have been denied admission. It would have been easier if they denied me admissions. Other than this pain, I am really looking forward to leaving high school and starting my new life at a university. I cannot wait to get the taste of the college life and finally live the independent life I have longingly lived for. I am also very excited to become a certified nursing assistant right after high school with the rest of my NATP classmates. We all look so sharp and cool with our matching scrubs. We’re starting clinical this upcoming Tuesday and I am so excited to finally get that hands on experience on real people. I think it is really cool that the health science academy is the only academy that basically ensures a career for the students right after high school. This is also a great stepping stone for those who want to continue their nursing career since people need their CNA certification to continue their nursing career. Since I want to become a doctor, this won’t really help the same way as it’ll help those who want to become an RV or LVN. But I am still taking this class so I can have a good job to help me pay for college. Looking back on my senior year, I am most happy on the progress I made in school. I finally made it onto the honor roll after two years of struggling in the PBS system, I’ll be getting an honor cord with the rest of the National Spanish Honors Society, I had the opportunity to become a nursing assistant, I got accepted into two of my three dream schools, and have helped LHS in many ways. My family doesn’t see it, but have changed as a person and I can’t help but feel proud for myself and the person I became. If someone were to compare my 18-year-old self to my 15-year-old self right when I moved to Lindsay, they’d see two completely different people. I am so happy and satisfied in the person I became and I hope I continue to grow and become excellent. And now I wait for June 9th, 2017…
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I am half way through my Senior year and it has been a complete struggle so far. Between excessive schoolwork and college application deadlines, I feel like I have no time to pause and breathe. Having to juggle 6 demanding classes every day is hard enough but with college stuff added on top, I feel like I’m drowning. I know all the struggle will be worth it at the end but I can’t help but feel like I’m being buried alive. I have one word that explains everything, Senioritis. Senioritis is as real as the Earth we walk on. I know I shouldn’t blame my procrastination on that but it seems right.
As of now, I am on pace in all my classes but one, Food Service and Hospitality. The reason behind this is that we cook about every single time we have that class and when we don’t cook, Ms. Koch gives us all the work we’re behind on all at once. It’s hard to catch up on her work when I also have other work for more important classes and other deadlines. Food Service and Hospitality is a class that I need for my pathway so I need to catch up before the semester is over. Hopefully I’ll be on pace before winter break. Aside from that, one thing that I have been putting my time on is my Senior Website. As of now I am almost done with all the requirements, but I need one more journal. I plan to write that journal about half way through my second semester in March or earlier. One thing I really need to do is ask an LF to look over my website and see if that journal is really the only thing I need. One thing that I have noticed and I see as interesting is how much I’ve grown since I moved to LHS. I went from someone who couldn’t stand the idea of a new life to someone who accepted the major change and made something out of it. Because of this, one thing I am most looking forward in my Senior year is the college acceptance letters from all the schools I’ve applied to so far. In total I have applied to 9 schools: UC Merced, Irvine, San Diego, and Santa Barbara, CSU Channel Islands, Fullerton, San Francisco, and San Diego, and University of the Pacific. By the end of this year, I’ll have applications submitted to about 8 more schools. 3 of them will be out of state, and the rest will be around California. So far, I have received one acceptance letter to CSU Channel Islands. Although it’s a provisional acceptance, I can’t help but be excited that I got into my first choice of CSUs. Hopefully I’ll be seeing more of those acceptance letters next year. My goal for this year is to finish the semester strong and be ready for another semester that will be even more demanding and stressful. Hopefully by the end of this High School roller coaster I’ll see how much I’ve grown as a person and go on to become someone. As of now my plans for the future changed just the slightest. I went from wanting to become a Pediatrician to wanting to become a Family Physician. I plan to do great things with the MD I’ll have in about 13 years that will benefit my people and community in so many ways. The joy of getting to help people in a working class community and lower is what is making me strive to become a Doctor in the future no matter how long it will take. It’s sad to think about August 15, 2016 being my last first day of high school. If I look back at the last three years of high school, all I see is obstacle after obstacle, after obstacle. Moving to Lindsay has been the toughest part of my whole high school experience but now that I’ve started senior year, I’ve seen that the school wasn’t the problem, it was me, I started my sophomore year with a negative outlook on my future which I now realize that it affected my whole high school experience and the path that I was creating for my future. This first week of senior year has been an eye opener not only to my future, but also to what I have around me.
So far the first week of senior year hasn't been as demanding as I was thinking it would be. Aside from my senior project, I believe I will maintain on pace my first semester in all of my classes. The classes I’m most nervous for are Physiology, AP Spanish Language, and AP Calculus. I’m most nervous about these classes because these are the three classes that will be the most time demanding and with my senior project nowhere near done, I’m going to be stressing all year long. Right now I’m trying to start my job shadow but I’m sort of struggling with starting it for two specific reasons, I’m a very timid person and develop anxiety when I have to talk to other people, and the pathway I’m in has nothing to do with what I want to be in the future. I'm in the Food service and Hospitality pathway and my intended profession in in the medical field. I plan to either be a Pediatrician or a Veterinary Physician. I don't know whether I should job shadow someone in the food service profession or someone in the medical profession. I fear that if I job shadow someone in the medical field, I’ll end up failing the exit interview because it has nothing to do with my pathway. I’ll have to ask someone about my predicament. I can already tell that being a senior is going to be very stressful, even though only one week has passed since school started. Something I’m looking forward in my senior year is getting all the college applications out of the way and finishing my senior project so I can fully focus on my school work. I feel like college applications and waiting for their letters of acceptance or rejection is going to be very stressful and nerve wracking, but I can't wait to see if I end up getting accepted into the school of my dreams, UC Irvine. I'm also looking into some other options for schools but the most promising second choices seem to be California Lutheran University and University of the Pacific. These schools stand out the most to me because I feel like they actually want me to be a part of their schools since they’ve sent me “Select Scholar Status” applications which have more benefits than their common applications like early admission decision, no essay, and priority scholarship opportunities. California Lutheran seems more promising to me because they’re more liberal in their studies which help the students there find what they want to major in. I have a lot of goals in life that can all go downhill if I end up making a wrong decision in my life. The fact that I’m going to have to be making a huge decision later on in my senior year scares me because I’m not used to making choices that can either improve or affect my life in the long run. Sometimes I can't wait until all this decision making is done and over with but sometimes i just want to go back in time and redo all of my life to try to change something so my life could have turned out differently but ohh well. Life is life and all i can do is live it. Junior year is almost coming to an end and i can’t say I've been this stressed before. We’re about 2 months away from ending the year and I can easily say that i have an early case of Senioritis. I feel like the queen of procrastination at this point! I admit that i have gotten behind pace is some of my classes like English, Spanish, and Foods and Nutrition. I guess it was a combination of the teachers giving us too much work at a time and us lagging to do our work. I say “us” because i'm not the only student off pace in those classes as well. These are the classes that move through MT’s really fast so it’s also hard to keep up with the teachers if we start something new every time we meet. So far, Mrs. Koch’s class has been the class that has been killing me because she moves onto other things so fast and we’re having a lot of labs which take up our class time. I can already tell these last few months as a junior are going to be hectic and stressful.
Since i moved here i haven't had time to think about myself in terms of joining stress relieving activities. I haven't joined any clubs during my time in LHS and i guess that’s my fault. I tried joining soccer but due to personal reasons, i couldn't keep going regularly and I had to quit going. I’ve attended some Adventure Club and Key Club meetings but I can't say that i'm officially a part of the club due to it almost being the end of the school year. One thing i could say i was a part of was the Prom Committee. We already have the theme ready for 2016’s prom and are in the process of creating the best prom for the class of 2016. I wish i was more committed to clubs at this school but i can't find time in my homework filled schedule to join and actually commit to some clubs. I will for sure join as many clubs as i can next year though. Something else that is also making me stress even more is the idea that i will have to apply for colleges soon. I don't feel prepared for any of that and i feel like i'm getting no help when it comes to applying for colleges. I don't know anything of the deadlines for applications or where to go to apply. I haven't even taken my SAT yet! I feel like i'm already behind in college applications and i'm not even a senior yet. I have so many goals in the future that can easily get ruined if i don't get onto my college applications soon. I should work on my personal statements soon though. Maybe over the summer. I plan on applying to UC Irvine, University of the Pacific, Cal Lutheran University, CSU Fullerton, and CSU Channel Islands. I plan to major in Biology, even though i don't like it, because i plan to go on to Medical School after getting my Bachelors in Biology. I want to become a Pediatrician and work in a hospital with children of all ages. Maybe even be a Pediatrician for the military! I'm also thinking about becoming a Kindergarten teacher since i love kids so much. Anything that involves being with children throughout the day is the job for me honestly, but my parent expect a lot from me so i’m making myself shoot for the moon and become the first doctor of my entire family in the United States and in Mexico. Back to the present, i really don't know how the last year of high school is going to be for me. I have a feeling that it’s going to be one full of stress due to the major choices i will be forced to make that will either make or break my future, as well as the inevitable Senioritis... |
AuthorMelanie Pena Archives
March 2017
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