REFLECTIVE ESSAY

Reflective Essay

My name is Xanders Zachary Navasca. I attend a charter school in Alameda, but I reside in El Cerrito. I have one sibling, and 12 cousins that come from the same aunt. I don’t know a lot about my mom’s Native American heritage, but I know everything on my father’s side. There are things that I am good at and things I am bad.  Literature is not my strongest subject; I tend to be more adept at math. I don’t want to grow up, but I am ready to try.These are some of the facts that define me and my life. My main goal in life is to succeed, but how I defined that may be different from other peoples ideas. I want to live, and what I mean by living is to be happy, and when I mean happy, I want to do the things that make me happy. I wish to explore the world, to see the beauty of the earth, and to see all of its vast colors and the shapes of the world.

 

Personal Qualities, Work Habits, and Attitudes

I am confident, and believe that “I can do anything if I put my  mind to it.” My father would preach quotes similar to this one when I was very young. He would say things like this constantly to me to the point that it was repetitive and annoying to hear. He would do this to drill the words in my head until I could remember the quotes. Hilariously, he was once the coach for the San Leandro Crusaders football team and he would scream quotes like this every minute during the games and practices. These quotes mean everything to him, but also mean nothing to me because I know it, I’ve heard it, and I understand it already. It was, again, annoying, but he had his way with motivational speeches making me feel confident in my abilities to pursue my dreams. Of course, there are other things I am very skilled at. I am a very compassionate person and I am good at being patient with people, which I got from my mom’s side. I care for people and I have good intentions to help in any way I can. There were multiple times when I have aided people outside of school: either by assisting the elderly or taking care of people’s pets. I mainly helped my mom’s boss’s pets, which was enjoyable. However, I am not a perfect person. I can easily direct my anger against people when it is unnecessary. I tend to create a lot of anxiety with only minor situations such as special events, or projects. Most of the time presentations will give me anxiety. Every time in leadership class where we  have to get up and speak about our CCC plan I always build up anxiety and start to practice my lines. I lack faith in my abilities in certain subjects like writing, reading, and speaking. English essay, really reflect my abilities because I have never received an A. Speaking, however, does not affect my social skills. I am quick to talk whenever I feel the need to do so or I need to speak my mind on an issue. Even though I lack a lot of key points, such as writing skills or some work habits, I´ve always had a positive outlook on my life.

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New Basics

Although there are some skills I lack in, such as writing and reading, some of my others skills I’m pretty good at it. I have never been the social type of guy during my young years because talking wasn’t my strong suit, but math, on the other hand, did. I quickly saw that numbers came very easy to me because it was like a puzzle inside my mind. That’s why English, in my opinion, is too complex, Some rules are broken and words are not necessary spelled the way the sound. Math was simple, it was facts and super easy to understand for me. I was able to complete other problems that some people can’t do. I once took a tested that consist of shapes that required me to match it a similar shape. the point of the test was to see how well I could comprehend patterns. Obviously, I did well because most of those problems were too hard for other people. So far I have done well and all my math subjects, and have consistently gotten A's in them. I'm playing and keeping it that way so that I can continue my success as a math person. It's funny to think that one of my dream jobs is architecture. Coincidentally, the job is like math. As I said before speaking was never my strongest suit, however, I have gotten better at it over these past years. I have been able to coordinate my thoughts as well as express it very clearly. I have the ability to socialize and relate to people problems as well as resolved them. I have demonstrated that presentations are my specialty in some way. Nonetheless, my true specialty is Art and craft. I have always been a creative person with my artwork.who's in the past art was my way of escaping from reality I slowly became very good at it at the point other people notices. So far during this year that ACLC I've been the one who must he does the posters, which reinforces the idea that I should be an architect because I'm so good with my hands.

 

Thinking and Reasoning Skills

I have a real sense of creative thinking when it comes to important topics. I am always thinking about ideas that can benefit the world and the environment. Most of my projects and science projects were about how to improve the world in a more cleaner way. I've always cared about the Earth and always wanted to make it have a health, and so I recognize problems that the Earth had such as carbon dioxide that’s increasing. I soon came to the conclusion of how to fix it through intense researching and experimenting. Usually, through my creative thinking and problem-solving, I like to research and think logically about my ideas. Sometimes I question my thoughts so that I can have a better understanding when thinking realistically. Observation seems to be one of my key things in order to think clearly depending on the topic. To be honest, I have always been a strong thinker but I have never really verbally said my ideas because I like to keep to myself. I have always been an observer not really a speaker with ideas, nonetheless, I still socialize well with people.

 

Interpersonal and Collaborative Ability

I have never ever been a true leader in my school, I have led before but not truly. I am a leader in Leadership. I have lead groups, made discussions, and have taken action. I have used my authority and have proven too many of my peers that I can take lead. Still, that does not prove that I am a true leader. A true leader has a passion for his followers. A true leader actually understands his followers and can see his mistake and takes accountability. as a leading member of ACLC, this is not necessarily required of me. However, this does not mean I don't try to reach for this goal. I have shown this through the years of football as a Veteran. I have shown my love as a leader and passion as well as the respect I have with my followers. I want to show this as a leader in life, I want to prove to myself that I can be a leader. The one thing I can provide for my success is motivation. I can easily persuade people to be spiritual during special events. Of course, it takes a lot of time to motivate people. Nevertheless, I have confidence in my ability to lead people. I can work well with others, I'm diverse and I am energetic. From now on I plan on being a true leader.

 

Technology

When thinking about how to use technology, I struggled with the concept. I struggled with it because I grew up  not being surrounded by technology as much as peers. My parents were concerned about what would happen if I was constantly using the computer, but we live in a century where we rely and live off of technology. So, I would say that I have quickly adapted to this time and age. During the past few years I involved myself with technology through collaborations with people who were willing to help me. I work well with others during assignments involving digital work and can contribute my fair share. Powerpoint seems to be my strongest strength in technology. I understand how to properly form a presentation and can manage the basics when solving a problem with electronics. So far in life, I have constantly used any technology to my advantage and will continue to do so throughout out my academic career.

 

Conclusion

Education is important to me. Never have I meant any school that has done work creatively like ACLC. I have friends in this School and seen its diversity. This school helped me socially, academically and independently through long periods of hard work. I know am still going struggle over years even with my disabilities, but struggling is apart of growing. If I didn’t struggle or stress out on certain things, I wouldn’t necessarily call my life healthy. Some people are naturally gifted in thinking in creative and logical ways, but again that does not mean they don’t struggle. Struggling is apart of life. To see the bad in life so that you can understand the good. Non-stop struggles are going to continue in life and I’m prepared for it.