Introduction:
My name is Jiayang Situ. Over the years at ACLC, I have become a unique member of the senior class of 2019. Although I did not understand much English when I first came to ACLC, I felt positive vibes throughout the campus, everywhere from the outback to the Gatorade machine to the Center and the portables. Unlike other schools, the community here contains at most 400 people, people who are funny, friendly, weird, crazy, and dramatic. All adjectives you can name will somehow fit into this interesting community. Attending this school was a good decision; it made me who I am today.
Personal Qualities, Work Habits, and Attitudes:
In my first years at ACLC, I wasn’t always honest, but over time the environment around me improved me as a person. I wasn’t a troubled kid, but I did lack motivation when it came to school work. This led to a particular incident in which I plagiarized an assignment because I did not want to study. Though I got caught, I was given a second chance and wasn’t given a punishment. After that I was motivated to do my own work. I learned my lesson: motivation and self-worth are the key to progression. Interacting with people is always a pleasure unless you’re in the quiet area. Being sociable is useful in ACLC, it’s a small school and you will be running into the same faces every day. By the end of the year, it’s likely that these people will be some of your closest friends. From sixth grade to senior year, making friends and getting A’s on group projects wasn’t a problem. Projects that involve art skill are some of my favorites; for example, building a cardboard boat that can function in a swimming pool. This project was in eighth grade. Eighth grade me did not understand much English, but he was able to communicate with his teammates about his creative ideas to create a cardboard boat that won third place.
New basic:
Art keeps possibility around, seeing things from a different perspective and using it to enrich life. After three years of art class at ACLC, I learned that I am not skilled at drawing. Although I’m not fantastic at making art on paper, I use art a lot in my life. With art, I am able to visualize the way I want things to be. One example of this is barbering, which requires visualization skill to make sure the haircut matches the client. Barbering is a type of art that allows you to communicate with others. When I give haircuts, I often have conversations with the client; not just to give the client a comfortable experience, but also to build a connection. Art is a way to express who you are; with art, you can ignore the judgement of people and do what you want to do. In addition to art, I also love math. One of my favorite projects in my math course was graphing a word in four different fonts. I was able to combine my interest in art and math to create this project (https://www.desmos.com/calculator/aczjf726ca). By using art skill as a tool to visualize the size and shape of the graphs, I finished the project by graphing 61 equations in one day.
Thinking and Reasoning Skills:
Everyone is born with their own way of thinking, and I think creatively. I believe creative thinking will help me greatly throughout my life because that way of thinking is what makes me unique. My type of thinking creatively is to conceptualize things that have never been thought of before:to generate new ideas. Whether people like it or not, I share these thoughts. For example, when my class was selecting a mascot for all seniors, I suggested that we could be the “Senior Citizens”. Although the mascot was changed after a week because people thought it was “dumb” I was happy to share a new thought. With creative thinking, it's not always perfect so my problem solving skill might come in handy to fix the imperfection of my future plan. I believe progression will appear when commitment is shown.
Interpersonal Skills/Relationships:
I believe that negotiating with others will make this world a better place. Solving problems nonviolently makes one more independent, whereas complaining will make you rely on others. Through my years at ACLC I realized people often complain in bad situations. While other people would complain, I would think about the best solution to the situation. For example, in my junior year, many of my classmates complained about our math teacher because of their low scores in the class. I was one of the learners that had a subpar grade. Because I knew that complaining wouldn’t raise the grade, I decided that the best solution was to go to office hours to learn more about the subject. By the end of the year, I got an A.
Technology:
I was not well-versed in technology before I went to high school at ACLC. Thanks to all the online assignments ACLC assigns, my eyes were opened to technology. My handwriting is not the best, but with Google Docs I’m able to write in something other than my unreadable handwriting. I’m thankful for Google Slides, which makes presentations that are far more organized than posters. With Youtube, I can learn things that help me academically and personally by watching videos. With all this help from technology, I was inspired to build my own PC. It was built in under 4 hours, and it was fully functional.
Conclusion:
Looking back, I realized how fast time goes by, and how much I’ve changed throughout the seven years in ACLC. In these seven years, I experienced many ups and downs, but through those events I became who I am today.
My name is Jiayang Situ. Over the years at ACLC, I have become a unique member of the senior class of 2019. Although I did not understand much English when I first came to ACLC, I felt positive vibes throughout the campus, everywhere from the outback to the Gatorade machine to the Center and the portables. Unlike other schools, the community here contains at most 400 people, people who are funny, friendly, weird, crazy, and dramatic. All adjectives you can name will somehow fit into this interesting community. Attending this school was a good decision; it made me who I am today.
Personal Qualities, Work Habits, and Attitudes:
In my first years at ACLC, I wasn’t always honest, but over time the environment around me improved me as a person. I wasn’t a troubled kid, but I did lack motivation when it came to school work. This led to a particular incident in which I plagiarized an assignment because I did not want to study. Though I got caught, I was given a second chance and wasn’t given a punishment. After that I was motivated to do my own work. I learned my lesson: motivation and self-worth are the key to progression. Interacting with people is always a pleasure unless you’re in the quiet area. Being sociable is useful in ACLC, it’s a small school and you will be running into the same faces every day. By the end of the year, it’s likely that these people will be some of your closest friends. From sixth grade to senior year, making friends and getting A’s on group projects wasn’t a problem. Projects that involve art skill are some of my favorites; for example, building a cardboard boat that can function in a swimming pool. This project was in eighth grade. Eighth grade me did not understand much English, but he was able to communicate with his teammates about his creative ideas to create a cardboard boat that won third place.
New basic:
Art keeps possibility around, seeing things from a different perspective and using it to enrich life. After three years of art class at ACLC, I learned that I am not skilled at drawing. Although I’m not fantastic at making art on paper, I use art a lot in my life. With art, I am able to visualize the way I want things to be. One example of this is barbering, which requires visualization skill to make sure the haircut matches the client. Barbering is a type of art that allows you to communicate with others. When I give haircuts, I often have conversations with the client; not just to give the client a comfortable experience, but also to build a connection. Art is a way to express who you are; with art, you can ignore the judgement of people and do what you want to do. In addition to art, I also love math. One of my favorite projects in my math course was graphing a word in four different fonts. I was able to combine my interest in art and math to create this project (https://www.desmos.com/calculator/aczjf726ca). By using art skill as a tool to visualize the size and shape of the graphs, I finished the project by graphing 61 equations in one day.
Thinking and Reasoning Skills:
Everyone is born with their own way of thinking, and I think creatively. I believe creative thinking will help me greatly throughout my life because that way of thinking is what makes me unique. My type of thinking creatively is to conceptualize things that have never been thought of before:to generate new ideas. Whether people like it or not, I share these thoughts. For example, when my class was selecting a mascot for all seniors, I suggested that we could be the “Senior Citizens”. Although the mascot was changed after a week because people thought it was “dumb” I was happy to share a new thought. With creative thinking, it's not always perfect so my problem solving skill might come in handy to fix the imperfection of my future plan. I believe progression will appear when commitment is shown.
Interpersonal Skills/Relationships:
I believe that negotiating with others will make this world a better place. Solving problems nonviolently makes one more independent, whereas complaining will make you rely on others. Through my years at ACLC I realized people often complain in bad situations. While other people would complain, I would think about the best solution to the situation. For example, in my junior year, many of my classmates complained about our math teacher because of their low scores in the class. I was one of the learners that had a subpar grade. Because I knew that complaining wouldn’t raise the grade, I decided that the best solution was to go to office hours to learn more about the subject. By the end of the year, I got an A.
Technology:
I was not well-versed in technology before I went to high school at ACLC. Thanks to all the online assignments ACLC assigns, my eyes were opened to technology. My handwriting is not the best, but with Google Docs I’m able to write in something other than my unreadable handwriting. I’m thankful for Google Slides, which makes presentations that are far more organized than posters. With Youtube, I can learn things that help me academically and personally by watching videos. With all this help from technology, I was inspired to build my own PC. It was built in under 4 hours, and it was fully functional.
Conclusion:
Looking back, I realized how fast time goes by, and how much I’ve changed throughout the seven years in ACLC. In these seven years, I experienced many ups and downs, but through those events I became who I am today.