Academic
Preparation
&=
nbsp; It’s
Saturday morning and I am sitting at a coffee shop reading Dante with my
teacher and nine of my peers. “I am Beatrice who cause you to go; I c=
ome
from the place where I long to
return; love had =
moved
me and makes me speak.” Emotion-Movement-Expression… Beatrice to Virgil, Virgil to Dante and now, Dante to me. It
is now my turn to express how I am moved by this
emotion.
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nbsp; We
meet every Saturday as the Dante Club to analyze Dante’s poetry, disc=
uss
the different themes and levels of interpretation, and go on cultural field
trips. Dante has expanded my awareness of the political, religious, and mor=
al
world. In his work he combines the classical
Greek, Roma=
n and
Medieval themes, allowing me to develop a sense of Western History that I h=
ave
not been exposed to at school, even one as diverse as Mission. Through Dant=
e I
am more
academically prepared to
succeed in college. I have developed a cultural context for many
concepts, and feel prepared to take on college level reading because I now have the schema to<= o:p>
understand my professors and peers.=
Potential to Contribute
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nbsp; OHANA!
I yell out to the new members of the Polynesian Club and they yell back OHA=
NA. Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left
behind or forgotten. In my deepest thoughts I
hold this word =
close
to me. I yell out this word because although the majority of the club
isn’t
Polynesian =
we
work together as a family. From the experiences and memories that I’ve
shared
with this IR=
17;ve
developed a commitment to my Polynesian family.
&=
nbsp; Unfortunately
this year, Papa, the sponsor of the club, left leaving me with most of the =
responsibility. I thought=
to
myself, how could the Polynesian Club continue? I didn’t know any
new dances,
traditions, or the island culture except for my knowledge from last year. B=
ut
then I remembered what Papa always said, “we̵=
7;ll
ride together until the wheels fall off.” Since then I’ve conti=
nued
to commit my time to making this the best club at my school. By doing so,
I’ve organized fundraisers and I’m teaching myself new dances a=
nd
the different island cultures through research and videos. Until the wheels
fall of I’ll continue to roll together with my OHANA.
Open-ended
&=
nbsp; When
Cabin 5 came down with a cold during our sophomore trip to
&=
nbsp; As
the oldest child, I learned young how to help others, whether it was doing
homework,
preparing food, or g=
iving
advice. Recently, a good friend was kicked out of her home. I helped by
offering her a home and getting her on the right track. She was planning to
drop out of school to get a job. I helped her realize that going to school =
is
very important. If she wants to get far in life and break the negative cycl=
e,
she needs an education. Since then, she has decided to make arrangements
with her father and is now applying to college. I support her whenever she
can’t support herself and I’ve become the light that guides her
when times seem dark. I’m her strength when everything seems to go wr=
ong.
I do this out of a passion for helping others.
&=
nbsp; When
school gets tough for my fellow classmates I hear them calling my name,
“Mama Chelly can you help me?” One =
day, I
stopped by my 5th period class and my classmates Gigi<=
/span>
and Erica asked me, “Where are you going? You don’t have this c=
lass
anymore?” and I replied “No, I transferred to 6th period.”
They seemed kind of upset but before leaving the class I told them
that although
I’m not in their period I will always make time to help them out when=
ever
they
are falling be=
hind.
They simply smiled and said, “I know you will Ch=
elly.”
Knowing that I
help out my fel=
low
classmates to succeed gives me this feeling that I’m using my talents=
to
do well. Seeing myself succeed is great, but hel=
ping
other students out in school makes me
feel that IR=
17;m serving
my purpose in life.
&=
nbsp; Similarly,
I also help out my community at the Children’s Day School. During my =
free
period I assist a second grade class every Tuesday. I love watching the
students silently reading. I go around asking every student how their day w=
as
and if they need help reading. If they don’t need assistance I just
listen to them and later we participate in a closing circle to end the day.
During my time at CDS, I’ve helped little kids improve in their readi=
ng,
spelling, and pronunciation. I’ve created a bond with the kids as if =
they
were my little siblings.
&=
nbsp; People
ask me all the time why I do the things I do. I always respond by saying,
“Why
not? Why
shouldn’t I assist others to succeed or