5/30/2019 Lizbeth Arias - Sophomore Summary Essay - Google Docs

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Lizbeth Arias

AVID 10

29 May 2019

My Sophomore Year

Sophomore year has definitely been one for the books! This year has been great but like

any other year there has also been many challenges that have helped me learn a lot about myself

and who I want to be in the future. One of the biggest challenges that I faced this year was how to

manage my time wisely. Managing my time wisely went for my personal and academic life. I

would always stay up late to do homework because I had to go do community service or I would

always be late to everything.

Thankfully, I found a way to overcome this challenge. To manage my time more wisely I

would try and make a schedule and stick to it. Using a planner and my phone calendar helped me

out a lot. I would put all my homework and projects on my planner so that would track all my

academic things. On my phone’s calendar I would put all the times that I went to community

service, cheer practice, football/basketball games, had a doctor’s appointment, any important dates,

or when I had a Saturday off to do something hat I enjoyed. This helped me out so much because I

knew what needed to be done or what was planned for that day. Another thing that helped me out

a lot as well was giving up my phone for a long period of time. At the beginning of the year I

would get home and instead of doing what I needed to do, I would go to the couch and just use my

phone. I realized that if I continued to do that then nothing would get done. So because of this,

now when I get home, I give my phone to my mom and tell her to not give it to me until it was

time to go to cheer practice or community service. Without the biggest distraction I would actually

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do what I had to do. I’m glad that this year that was my biggest challenge and it wasn't worse like

drama or anything like that.

The life lessons that I learned during sophomore year in high school is be who you want to

be and not who everyone else wants you to be. That sounds very cliche but it is so true. Many

years in the past I was scared to be myself because I didn’t want to be judged but this year was

different. I just let go and became myself. I was scared to show that side of me that wasn’t

considered “perfect” but it was hurting me not being able to show or tell anyone the things that I

was struggling in. Another life lesson that I learned this year was to have a little more fun and just

relax some days and not pressure myself too much. Everyone needs to have a little fun instead of

just focusing on your school.

The three people that helped me out the most are my mom, Carolina and Mrs.Brewer. Out

of these three people my mom was the one that has helped me out the most because she is always

there for me. I know that no matter what she will always be proud of me. She’s the person that I

can talk to about anything and the one that I always go for advice on what to do with my life. She

has shown me so many valuable lessons. My mom has made me realize that I don’t have to be

perfect and that not everything is going to turn out how I want it to be. I’m so grateful that I have

a mother like her. Carolina has also helped me the most this year because she is the person that I

hangout with everyday at school. She has helped me on assignments that I don;t understand and

has also made the last two years in high school so much better. Another person that has helped me

this year is Mrs. Brewer she has helped me decide what classes will benefit me next year.

I had a couple of achievements this year that I’m very proud one. One of them being that I

was able to articulate in my child development class. That means that now I have college credits

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for my child development class. I had to write about seven essays on the different types of

development during a child’s life. Then I had to go take a test at the college and I got an A in both

the essays and the test. Also I’m proud that I have a GPA of 3.8 all year. Academically I’m proud

that I have a B in math since math is the subject that I truly struggle in. Another achievement that

I’m super proud of is that I made the varsity cheer team for next year.

The AVID lesson that was the most helpful to me was the artistic coverage. It made me

realize who I am and learn more things about myself. It made me really think about what

represents me and what I want to become in the future. I had to think about a song, quote,

3-dimensional artwork, poem, 2-dimensional picture, a scene from a TV show or a movie, an

article, and a book that represents me and who I want to become. I struggled and thought that the

lesson was just a waste of time but when I finished I realized that it had actually helped me out a

lot to really figure out who I am.

Out of the three API goals, I accomplished two out of three. I accomplished the academic

goal of having a GPA of 3.8 or higher. At the beginning I thought that this goal was pretty

attainable because I always push myself to get better grades. The other goal that I accomplished

this year was that I wasn’t going to procrastinate as much. Ever since I started using my phone less

this goal was so much easier. I learned that my phone is my biggest distraction and the biggest help

with my procrastination. The only goal that I did not accomplish was to join another club other

than FCCLA. My action plan to meet this goal is that next year I already have a club in mind that

I want to join. That club is HYLA and that would make this goal be accomplished.

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