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PERSONAL QUALITIES, WORK HABITS, AND ATTITUDES

          To see what I have been able to create in the last six years of life at ACLC would never have crossed my mind when I made the decision to take my education on a slight turn away from the traditional schooling in fifth grade. I didn’t exactly know what was special about ACLC at the time and I honestly cannot tell you a straightforward answer to why I chose ACLC over the traditional schooling. However, adapting to the ACLC environment, I’ve come to develop the many wonderful qualities, habits, and attitudes that have helped me as I take ownership of my education and into college and the career world. One in particular that I know has helped many alumni and me personally is being able to acquire time management skills. From using free periods practically, to engaging in college classes within my schedule inside and outside of school, time management skills have been crucial and makes my day go much smoother.  With time management skills, I’ve also been able to balance my schedule for time for different things that benefit the ACLC community and have led me to my passion for pursuing a career in the business world. As I held different positions of varied committees and boards, I developed many skills within the areas of finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, and even law. As one example, I was given the opportunity to represent ACLC as a sophomore when I attended the Explore Develop Growth Empower leadership seminar. This was eye-opening experience that motivated me to plan a similar experience at ACLC, a leadership conference of our own as an appreciation for what ACLC has done for me. Unexpectedly, because of the motivation and leadership that people saw I had for this community, one guest speaker offered to send my resume to one of the top worldwide law firms. Using the skills that I had developed from ACLC, I was able to receive an interview and was eventually hired to work in the Legal Secretary department. Nervous with excitement, I had the opportunity to be one of the youngest people to work at the firm. I saw some of the finest lawyers of today working, in particular, dedicating themselves to pro-bono work and helping the less fortunate. To witness the generosity of these people have also broadened my future career possibilities with considerations in possibly pursuing a career in law. Because I have developed the critical qualities, working habits, and attitudes over the years, I am able to take them with me to seek the necessary knowledge and practical experiences as an investment for the endless possibilities my potential can highlighted in college and my future career.

NEW BASICS

          I’ve always been on the curious side. As a learner, one question I have asked many college students and adults in the career world is how do we apply what we’ve learned now to the future? Although many have said that the knowledge that they have gained is forgotten or not applicable anymore, one answer has given me motivation to learn more. As I asked, an adult of the business world told me that people may not necessarily remember and can apply to what was learned before, but it draws a foundation for what’s to come. It is the simple things in learning like how to structure a sentence or do multiplication that help us in the future. Pondering over the answer, I can see the many lessons and projects in different classes that have helped me come a long way. In English classes, I couldn’t understand at the time why there were so many outlines dedicated to a certain text. However, as I have been writing more essays lately for college classes and applications, I have come to appreciate the many outlines that were done in class as practice for essay structuring and creative writing. As a student planning to pursue an economics major, the math classes at ACLC and at the community college have supported me tremendously as I have worked to acquire prior knowledge about macro and micro economics. In government and history classes, I was also able to focus on understanding the economy and the issues affected by it through current news topics discussed in class. Studying the economic and the issues around it, I didn’t realize how much science is also involved. Being in Environmental Science has helped me connect how positively and negatively environments are affected based on local and national economic issues. I had the opportunity to learn a lot about how we as a human population can benefit our surroundings by doing even the small things like recycling and composting or making more efforts in environmental awareness throughout urban communities. This initiative has not only helped many people develop appreciation for the environment, but have also taught a life lesson to care for what we have now and fight for what is right or what one is passionate about. Knowing the basics of these different areas, I am able to lay down the foundations for what’s to come.

THINKING AND REASONING SKILLS

          While knowing the basics of different areas is important, being able to achieve critical thinking and reasoning skills is also essential for a learner’s success. For the different committees and boards I am a part of, a lot of times creative thinking and problem solving are necessary in helping me make decisions. As a board member of the Creative Community Education Foundation, I often listen and chime in funding requests presented during the monthly meetings. Although there are many funding requests that benefit to enhancing the education of learners at ACLC, I had to make a decision to abstain or deny a few requests because of a financial issue that may be caused for the board if approved. Other times, I have generated new ideas like the annual Walkathon to not only improve the funding bettering the education, but also to improve the bond between the different people of the community. Every year, the Walkathon brings all the learners, facilitators, and parents together in different aspects of the event. The learners and facilitators bond over the walk in small groups while parent volunteers help set up a meal for after the walk. Knowing how this event is a big part of the ACLC community that encourages community bonding and funding for the school, I am proud of what I am able to accomplish with the critical thinking and reasoning skills I have developed as a learner of this community.

INTERPERSONAL AND COLLABORATIVE ABILITY

          As an active participant of the ACLC community, I have been able to closely work with a diverse group of learners, facilitators, and even the parents. For the past six years, from a solar system project in Math 6 to card board boat races in Science 8 to measuring species diversity in Environmental Science, I have contributed within a group effort to make best from the experiences we had. As such, I have gained much knowledge as other have gained from me as well through these group projects. And though many arguments have risen from time to time for group projects, my peers and I have learned to deal with these situations in a well-mannered way with using compromises to benefit both sides. Because of these issues at school, I am also able to negotiate and communicate with others when problems arise for the different committees I serve on and at work. For instance, the reason why I was given the job at the law firm over the many college students who applied for the job is because my expertise in leadership and communication with others as well as other work abilities has allowed me to easily meet the expectations of clients and colleagues. Having an understanding of working with others and individually, I am able to adapt to different working environments in parallel with what I do.

TECHNOLOGY

          As a STEAM-Powered School, ACLC students thrive around using technology for scholastic and professional needs. Since the sixth grade, I have been taught to use different presentation programs to help me become a better presenter in classes, LLCs, and even in extra-curricular activities outside of school. As a part of my presentation expertise, I was able to create the PiE Robotics presentations for judges the last three years using Prezi. The judges consisted of UC Berkeley students, professors, and people with an engineering profession were very impressed to see that ACLC has focused on building presentation skills for all learners as this is an important part for many career fields. Also a part of the curriculum, learners at ACLC are taught to find resources from the Internet in level with the college standards. Taking college classes within my schedule since the freshmen year, understanding how to find the right resources to sight for a research paper in an English course has been crucial to a well-written paper. This past fall, I took an accelerated hybrid English Composition and Reading Course consisting of minor and major essays as well as many journal writings throughout the eight weeks. This meant a lot of writing was involved in each week and being able to the right sources with information I needed was most definitely helpful. Appreciative of what ACLC has taught me about technology, knowing how to use different technology to help me with assignments has supported me to many ways to excel in my academics and experiential learning.

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