Learning Outcomes:
1. Identify own strengths and develop areas of growth. 4. Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.
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This summer I proposed myself many things from which I accomplished them all. Waking up early, getting an actual job, exercise myself on a daily basis. These were some key things that would allow me to enjoy my summer to the fullest. But, there was one thing I was very proud of: reading two books. I have to be very honest; I am not a constant reader, which means that I don’t get to read many books as a hobby on my free time. This is definitely one of the biggest things I need to work on, reading different types of texts, not only articles or news about things that happen everyday. I read a book called “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” and “Messi”. I can say that Messi is now the best book I’ve read so far. Not only because he is my favorite player and the book is a biography about his life, but because the way the author writes the book, with lots of real details, and moments you can only live by falling inside the book.
I am a huge fan of Messi, so as soon I saw the cover I was immediately attracted to it. The first few pages give the reader the sense that it will be as any biography out there, however when the author conducts a personal interview with the one and only Lionel Messi I couldn’t get my eyes off the book. One of the things I liked best was that not only he talked about Messi and how great he is, but also he talks and interviews many people that were around Messi his entire life such as his family that carefully explain all of the sacrifices that Messi had to go through so that he can carry on with his passion, as well with his coach in Newell’s Old Boys who recalls how devoted he was, as well as how impressed he was when he gave Messi a chance to play his first match, he said he had never seen a player so talented as him. These interviews and details are the ones that make this book truly unique. I also enjoyed very much how he asked other players to give their honest opinion on how is Lionel Messi both in and outside the pitch. As Mascherano said, “ Nothing he does surprises me any more. He’s extraordinary.” I recommend this book basically to anyone who wants to be inspired by someone that didn’t have any advantage but still he got to be chosen the best player in the world for 4 consecutive years, and for me he will always be a legend. It is amazing how people can change by just proposing themselves a new goal and a new style of living. During the summer I proposed myself to be better and to grow as a person, both in school and in my life in general. This would happen by creating more and more good habits and by exploring new things, as well as pushing myself forward every time, without even looking back.
During the summer I’ve learnt many things, from learning how to do my chores on my own, to creating new habits that have definitely changed the way I feel about myself. I also had a lot of time to reflect; think about my future and the things I wanted to do when I grew up and I realised that I couldn’t be lazy anymore or couldn’t leave the things for the last day, I needed to become more responsible and more organised. As Mr. Horsington once told me, “Anyone can be “suitable” for a job, but it is the particularly set of skills (ATL: organisation responsibility, etc.) That will put you in front of everyone.” This definitely had an impact on me because it was a time in which I had been put in a contract because of my poor decisions in my classes and not caring about my ATL skills. After that, you couldn’t see more than 2 "below expectations" in my report card. When I realised what I was doing, I knew I had to change. This has definitely helped me through all of this time because I managed to improve most of my grades by being more pro-active in class as well as more organised and responsible with my assignments. During this week, I saw an interesting article on the Ivy League schools and how they seem to promise success but also may lead to depression. The first thing that came to my mind when reading the title was why would a student that is so privileged to study in one of the leading universities in the world may even think or find themselves falling in depression? That is just nonsense. As it says in the article, people with that type of mindset feel they are simply worthless when they get a “bad grade” which in most cases is a 6 out of 7 or an –A.
Why does this usually happen? This is driven by the idea that they always have to be perfect and that if they are given a certain task, they will do everything to get the top level of achievement possible without giving any type of interest in the importance and the learning from this certain assignment. Obviously, this is not all of them, I believe that a big part of them are truly passionate and are the best in the class because they are passionate about the things they are doing. I have always been taught that I should aim for the best university possible but after what I saw about the guy who was admitted in Yale but went to another school that is not even compared to Yale in the ranks of the top schools, I realised that you should go to the college you feel it is the best for you, no matter what position on the Forbes list it is, you need to be completely happy with it. I still obviously have a lot of time to think about where I want to go or even what I want to do in college since I am not 100% sure, but what I do know is that I will certainly choose a college that fits with my character completely. I remember being a small kid; the only thing I looked forward to during the entire school day was LUNCH. This was the moment in which we could be free and do whatever we want, my friends and myself always gathered ourselves in the picnic tables and in the moment the bell rang, we went running as fast as we could to get the big goal, or maybe to be in the best foursquare field. That is one of my unique memories from my childhood, all of the unique lunch soccer games that we treated as if it was the Champions league final, with lot’s of emotion; we may have sometimes gotten angry with each other, but at the end of the game we went back to being normal friends.
For me childhood is one of the most important things in life, playing with friends and interacting with others is essential for you to become a better person. So you may be asking yourselves, what is the problem? The other day I went to the library during lunch and saw maybe half of the 4th and 5th graders playing computer games, mostly MINECRAFT. I felt so bad for them, that they are putting aside all of the great time they could have by playing soccer or in the playground, but instead they are sitting in the computers like freaks building an online house with their online character. They put more effort on making their online character great instead of making themselves great. All they do is play with their ipads or spend their time in the social media instead of socializing with each other. I saw a video the other day which I found very meaningful that a guy said” I have 422 friends in Facebook but yet I am lonely, I talk to them everyday yet none of them really know me” This is so true when looking at kids now a days, the only thing that matters to them is how many likes they have or even who has more friends in Facebook without truly knowing even half of them. If you think it as I do, each generation is getting worst with these new technologies coming in each year, what will happen when we have our children? Will everything be through the computer? Will they have the chance to have a great childhood and playing with their friends instead of playing videogames all day? Who knows, but personally I would tell all of these kids to stop for a minute, and enjoy all of the little things in life; go out, play with your friends, build new relationships, maybe try new things. I am asking you to leave your computer/ipad/iPhone for a certain time each day, and dedicate that time to enjoy life as it is. It will maybe not be now, but in the future you will look yourself into the mirror and think about all of the things you could have done, but instead you were busy in what we call the “social” media which is everything but social. |
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