My greatest influences are my parents and my brother. My brother suffered from Guillain- Barre Syndrome when he was eight. He lived in the hospital on an artificial ventilation for 97 days and later he had to continue physical therapy for at least ten years as he was completely paralyzed. My parents and my brother devoted their few years completely for his treatment. Today, my brother is a successful engineer working in the bay area. I learned that with dedication, determination and diligence we can achieve our dream in life…
She was born on a busy summer night on September 13th 1918 in Brookline, Massachusetts. I always had the feeling that Rosie was a little different from the rest of us. On the day of her birth the midwife arrived late, and my theory is that this action deprived her brain of oxygen. We were proven right when she failed to advance from kindergarten and was deemed to suffer from intellectual disabilities. When this happened our parents began to conceal their third child from society.…
The day of the eighth grade promotion was filled with mixed emotions. I was very nervous but also excited to be leaving middle school. I was mostly nervous because I would have to walk up onto the stage in front of over a hundred people. I didn’t want to go because of how nervous I was. The school day was uneventful. We went over what we were supposed to do in the gym multiple times. Even though the day was boring and uneventful, I was nervous the entire school day. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, Sean Covey states, “Putting first things first also deals with learning to overcome your fears and being strong during hard moments” (Covey 106). In order to overcome my fear and stay strong I had to put first things first. I was worrying…
I learned a lesson all the way back in first grade, and that lesson has stuck with me ever since. I was coming in from recess, and I was talking to a friend of mine off to my left. Unfortunately, I was not watching where I was going. I kept barely taking glances of what was in front of me, and that was a huge mistake. Someone was running behind me, and wasn’t watching where they were going either. As I approached the building I heard yelling, but thought nothing of it. After all, recess had just finished, so obviously kids would be yelling, right? It turns out some kids had been playing tag, and decided to play until they got inside. One that was still running away, because God forbid he’d be “it,” was Nick.…
Honesty, authenticity, genuineness, bravery, and valor are my top strengths. I was shocked by these results not only because I feel they are extremely accurate, but these are the things I value most in life, especially honesty, I feel that you can hate a man to the core, but if that man is a truly honest man you can only respect him. I want to be an epitome of a truly honest man, and I believe my character strengths will help me achieve this goal. My bottom strengths were the love of learning, self-control, and regulation. I feel these strengths are just as important as my top strengths, and I need to maximize them all in order to become a great leader. Marilyn Vos Savant “Success is achieved by developing our strengths not by eliminating our…
I use the advice you gave Dan almost every day. I get teased about my schedules. I just asked my daughter to tell me what we have to get accomplished by ten tonight. She gave me a list of things and I wrote them down. We worked together to plan the order of events to make sure everything gets done. Both of my girls write out list when there are multiple tasks to complete in a day. This shows that it is a learned behavior for those who do not use sequence at a use first level.…
At a young age, I waited on the benches for my mother to retrieve me from carpool. I observed my peers laughing together as they walked towards the gym for after-school sports. My mother, who soon arrived to find her kindergarten son sitting in solitude, scheduled numerous parent-teacher conferences. She would share her concerns while my teachers assured her that my "individuality" was what attracted friends to me. I had been a leader rather than a follower regardless of the opinion of others, and, to this day, that has remained static. I have evolved from that careless kindergarten leader, to an aspiring college graduate.…
As most children grow up, they are aware of their surroundings and take in everything they can understand which adds to their personality and their structure of life. As a child I developed at a level more advanced than the children around me. I learned to use a computer at the age of 3 years old. I read at an 8th-9th grade level while in the 5th grade. In addition, I could handle complex situations better than a average elementary student. The mindset I had as a child unlocked new doors for me. For example, I was not afraid to try new things and accept the lessons that came along with new opportunities. Also, I learned from my parents that going down the path of success isn’t always easy. Lastly, I experienced that life is filled with…
Since I grew up in a family with an abusive father, my response to conflict differs from most people. My father resolved conflict by shouting, degrading, and often physically abusing the other person. My mother’s response to conflict was to try to settle a compromise or walk away until her own frustration was no longer there. I think based off the conflict responses I observed growing up, my responses are a mixture of my parents. When in an intense argument with someone, I attack their character and then silence them out. Family members play a big part in how we resolve conflicts, because a good portion of our lives begin by us spending time with and watching our relatives. We, as a society, adapt skills and mannerisms from those closest to…
My mother, “Regina Hopkins,” has been a positive influence in my life. She has raised 6 kids all by herself as well as earned a Bachelor’s degree in nursing from a City College in Gainesville, Florida. My mother has been through pretty much everything a person can go through outside of war and was still able to be there and provide for all 6 of her kids. In high school, my mother wanted to play football and couldn't because she was a girl and back-in-the-day women were not allowed to play football with the guys. However, she remained strong by raising 6 kids and independently took care of all of us on her own. My mother has several qualities that I would love to develop. The first quality she has is balance; she certainly knows how to make…
When I was 17 it was 1995, I went on my first real date. We were going to see First Knight. The boy in question was the friend of a friend and I had only ever talked to him on the phone. He said he would pick me up at 7 and we would catch a movie. So far so good. 7 rolls around and he isn't there, he calls and says his Dad is running late so they won't be there till 8. I didn't realize his Dad was driving but whatever, I am withholding judgment. 8:30 they show up and he knocks on my door and I go out to join him. He leans in for a kiss and I lean very far back and awkwardly stick out my hand to shake his hand. He doesn't act like he knows what to do next and he is just staring at his feet and his Dad is staring at us and time just crawls. We finally just painfully walk to the car. It is not immediately apparent where we are going to be sitting. Now, this dude's Dad was HUGE. Not just his weight, but his entire freaking frame. He barely fits in his car. He has the driver's seat all the way back and in the front seat next to him is a cage of living breathing birds. The back seat is really only half a back seat because his Dad is filling so much of the car. I look at my date and look at the car. My date seems to have come to the same realization that there is really only one seat. I squeeze into the backseat while my date squeezes into the front seat with a bird…
Growing up, most of the children I knew would go to church on Sunday’s, visit their grandparents’ house to bake cookies after school, and have milk and cereal for breakfast every morning. But I had never set foot inside of a religious building, couldn’t even speak the same language as my grandmothers, and ate congee with fermented soy beans like it was the most natural thing in the world. My little town where I’d grown up, made friends, and built memories was, to say the least, completely un-diverse.…
My early literacy experience was not a big of a deal for me at an early age. When I was in school I always took a reading and writing course with a grain of salt, it was just one more class on my schedule. Literature did not really appeal to me in my early experience. I always think that why do I need to take a literature course in order for me to succeed in the future.…
When asked to write about a childhood experience most people think of the time they lost their first tooth when they were 6, or about the time they started school when they were 5, however, I’m going to write about summer. It wasn’t just any summer it was the summer that I went to the lake with my Dad and Papa. I was about 4 and couldn’t be any more excited about what was going to happen…
Growing up can be challenging even with the ideal surroundings. Your teen years are even more puzzling because you seem to be stuck in between being a child and an adult. Throw in not having a father or mother around and life gets difficult. The year 2001 was a difficult year for my family and the nation. My life growing up wasn’t picture perfect, but in one very long month I learned that kindness from those around will help you endure and survive.…