Armando Gonzalez

Advisory
V.E.I. And PTSD Thesis Paper
As my sophomore year comes to an end I cant help but say it was better than my
freshman year by far. The projects were more challenging because they were new, something I
had never done. The environmental science class that I had was fun because it was a class almost
led by the students. This was demonstrated majority in our V.E.I. project. V.E.I. stands for VISA
Environmentalists Initiative project. The whole project depended on every single student in my
period. We came up with a problem that we had to solve in the environment. We had to contact
with many different people, including our administration and the mayor of Pacoima. This project
made more college and career ready because it allow me to experience things I will experience in
work and in school such as working with people I dont like. This project was so hands on and it
made me go out of my comfort zone and I had to collaborate with people who not only did I
dislike but also didnt complete the work they were asked to.
Before this project, most of the projects I worked independently and did not have to rely
on anyone else to complete them. This project was so big there was no way I could work alone
and if I decided to not participate then I would automatically fail the class. Since my freshman
year I failed my English class both semesters I did not wish to fail any classes anymore. I was
not the CEO of the project so I also had people constantly telling me what to do and reminding
me of the deadlines something I also was not accustomed to. Then I had to tell my group
(Communications) on what exactly they had to do. While the project was coming to the end we
did our job and cleaned up the bridge by the school it was finally time to present. We had to
present the whole school, parents, and representatives of the mayor. I did a lot of the talking

because I spoke both Spanish and English well enough to present and I was not nervous to talk to
other people anymore I knew I just had to do it.
Also in my second semester another huge project was thrown at us. We were expected to
write our first thesis paper. When I first heard five to eight pages on one topic, I almost lost my
mind. I had never written more than two to three pages max. I admit I was a little scared. The
process of writing began shortly after we were told about the assignment. We were to pick our
topics and then research them so we could become experts on it to write this paper. My topic was
the effect of PTSD on war veterans from World War II. The deadlines were coming up faster than
expected and I felt as if I was running out of time. Since it was most of the class first time they
felt the same. The teacher never lost hope and guided us every step of the way.
By writing this paper I investigated the world and communicated ideas. I investigated the
world because I had to research different cases of PTSD and how they affected people and what
we should do to help them. Then I gave a proposal to how we can just help anyone with PTSD
and why they deserve the help. I ended up getting 95 out of 100 because I wrote an irrelevant
title but it was still funny. From this project I gained the ability to write a good thesis paper and
add my humor to it.