Judith Botello
Dr. Preston
Expository Composition 1st
1 June 2014
My
Senior Year Experience
People
always told me how fast high school would go by and I never believed it. They would
also mention that year senior year would go by even faster because you have these
amazing things to look forward to like prom and grad night. Well, they weren’t kidding,
these four years went by really fast and senior year was by far the most fast
and also best year.
This
class is so much more than I expected it to be. When I first found out who the
teacher of this class would be I was scared, I though “What did I get myself
into, this guy is going to be crazy hard! He has a PhD!” now looking back at it,
I’m so glad I stuck with it because it has been the best and most diverse class
I have taken. This class has done more for me in just one year than all my
other classes in my high school career. A lot of people, including myself, are
scared of change but when the change is this good there is nothing to be afraid
of. I have realized that I am more responsible than I ever imagined I would be
at 17. This course has helped me become
the person I am today. It has helped me build relationships with my parents,
employers, colleges, classmates, and friends. I’m not afraid to take risks,
knowing I could possibly fail, which at one point was my biggest fear. Failing
is an opportunity to learn, if that’s what you decide to make of it and yes it
can be scary, but you must fail a few times only then will you learn and
succeed.
For
this class we were so independent; we were each in charge of our learning
experience and what we got out of it. We were given the opportunity to learn
about anything we wanted to while still meeting the high school district’s curriculum
and that was interesting. It wasn’t boring, busy work or pointless. We didn’t need
to memorizes things that in our minds were pointless to our interests because
we found a way to connect everything in a way that was interesting to us. Being
taught practically the same way for 11+ years, we’ve grown used to those ways
and those ways only. Change is hard, especially after the years and years of
repetition. None of us were willing to take the risk, to take the first step.
We didn’t have to earn this independence. It was just given to us, and no one
really took full advantage of it. That is probably my biggest regret, and I
probably speak for majority of the class as well.
There
is a universal theme that I see right off between a majority of the masterpiece
presentations. Most of the projects are intended to help others, create
something for someone else to enjoy, bring a smile to someone’s face. Each one
of us has to be passionate enough about the subject to do what we are doing and
that is also another thing we have in common. In my opinion, it goes shows how
none of us are really self-centered in life. We have such a wide variety of
topics that all have similar qualities.
Amparo
and I did our masterpiece together and we worked on volunteering and giving
back to other people. We both volunteered our time helping the kids in the
resource program on campus. By doing this, we were not only helping out the
teachers and people that are in charge, but also spending time with the kids in
the program and helping them out around the classroom. That takes a lot of time
and dedication, but to us it was all worth is and I personally loved doing it. It
not only brought a smile to the kids face, but also to mine and the adults who
saw us every day.
Mackenzie
is spreading awareness about human sex trafficking. I had no idea that was
still a thing until she gave her presentation and informed me more about it.
She wants to create safe houses for people who are victims of sex trafficking
and get the word out there that this is still an issue. I hope she gets the
funds and support she needs in the future because she could become a huge
inspiration for many people and just make a huge difference in those affected
by this.
Austin
is interested in comedy. He wants to entertain people with jokes and stories.
He wants to be able to really make people laugh. Everyone loves a good laugh
every once in a while and he wants to be able to do that for people. I enjoyed
listening to his stand-up acts in the classroom and I think he could make
something out of this, even if it were just for a hobby. He is pretty
entertaining!
This
year has been the most challenging of them all. I have learned a lot about the
person I am and the person I want to be. I enjoyed this whole year and
everything that I experienced. I really enjoyed being in the Expository
Composition class. Whether it being networking, communication skills,
developing relationships, creating connections, using my resources, not
procrastinating; I learned a lot this semester that will be very useful and help
me out next year in college. And I really don’t think that those are things
that I would have learned in a traditional English class while managing to have
fun and learn as much as I did and all these skill are skills that I will always
remember.
To
anyone reading this, if you ever have the opportunity to take an open source
learning class -TAKE IT! You learn so much and these are skills that will help
you throughout the rest of your life. I was very lucky to have not only this
amazing opportunity but an amazing teacher to teach this class and having him
as a teacher made this class so much more wonderful. With that being said,
thank you Dr. Preston.
