Final essay

Judith Botello

Dr. Preston

Expository Composition 1^st

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.