Personal Qualities, Work Habits, and Attitudes
When I first entered this school as a sixth grader, I was extremely shy and reserved. It was really hard for me to make friends, because I was so reluctant to talk to other people. However, ACLC had such small class sizes that I was forced to interact with my classmates so I gradually opened up, and became more social. Joining leadership in my freshman year was the biggest catalyst for the development of my social skills. Not only was it necessary for me to talk to my fellow leadership learners, but as a small group leader I had to be a role model for the rest of the community. At first the skills were very difficult to grasp, but I learned how to hold myself by observing the more experienced leaders in our community. Slowly, by observing how they conducted themselves in front of other learners, I learned how to be confident, and to generate buy-in as a leader. Joining Interact Club and attending Interact sponsored leadership conferences also allowed me to progress as a person. I’ve learned how to overcome initial awkwardness in social interactions and to be more willing to meet new people. Throughout my years at ACLC, I’ve seen myself slowly grow into a more open and sociable learner.
New Basics
I used to have distinct favorite subjects: math and science. I would feel bored in my humanities classes, because I felt that the work was tedious and irrelevant to what I wanted to do with my life. However, ACLC taught me to broaden my mind, and expand the scope of my interests. Because of our school’s emphasis on project-based learning, I’ve come to realize that communication is vital to every field, especially STEM related jobs. By participating in science fairs, bridge building programs, and robotics competitions, I’ve honed my writing and oral skills, in addition to utilizing my knowledge in math and science. I’ve also learned to take advantage of ACLC’s flexible class schedule by enrolling in courses outside of the campus. I’ve taken AP European and American History, as well as AP Studio Art at Encinal, and also pursued higher level mathematics and sciences at the community college.
Thinking and Reasoning Skills
By taking a variety of intellectually stimulating classes I’ve nurtured skills that can be applied outside of the classroom. All my mathematics and science classes emphasized problem-solving skills that could be applied in any scenario. I was lucky enough to be able to utilize these skills in more practical settings by participating in the EAA Bridge Competition as well as UC Berkeley’s Pioneers in Engineering program. Robotics pushed me to think creatively and exercise flexibility to conquer unique problems that I hadn’t encountered before. Every year we design a robot to play a new game, so every year we come up with a new, innovative design for a robot that will perform superior to all others. Not only does our robot have to function, but it should accomplish the task efficiently in order to outperform the other robots. Thinking analytically is just as vital as thinking creatively. The key to winning is to break through preconceived barriers, and think outside the given three feet cubed box.
Interpersonal Skills
Social skills are paramount to success at ACLC and success later in life. Leadership, Interact Club, Robotics, group projects, and presentations are just a few relevant examples of pursuits that heavily rely on interpersonal abilities. Every time a group project is assigned the first task is to break the ice as group members, and then to divvy up the labor. For example, for the EAA Bridge Competition, I worked closely with my partners to design and construct the bridge, as well as prepare an oral presentation to explain our thought process. The entire project is too much for any one person to take on themselves, so as a group we delegated tasks to individuals, and ultimately integrated our particular tasks to create a cohesive final product.
Technology
Throughout my years at ACLC, I’ve been introduced to many new and useful technologies. I have tons of experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Prezi, Google Docs, Presentation, Sheets, Gmail, etc because of school projects and extracurricular ventures. Now, if I have to present my work, I have a whole array of tools to utilize. I’ve also acquired the ability to use mechanical tools after being in robotics for four years. Taken together, going to ACLC has certainly made me a more technologically capable person.