Monday, January 16, 2017
So Glad its Over
College Applications are a whole 'nother level of stress. Just knowing that these applications and essays play a large factor to where you will spend the next four years of your life is truly frightening. The worst part is that not only are you trying to focus on these essays but at the same time you have to try to balance schoolwork. For the first time in my whole high school experience, first quarter was hard as I found myself trying to find the balance between extracurricular activities,college apps, and school work and this was quite difficult.
I know everyone says this but the best advice I could give is DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. For UC Applications the essay prompts release in August and the best thing I would suggest you do is start as soon as they come out. Do not be the person who barely starts two weeks before the applications are due (this was me). You will hate your life when everyone else is done and submitted and you are barely on your second prompt. Another handy tip would be to build a relationship with your teachers. Teachers offer so much support through this process. Not only will they support you but by building a relationship, when time comes you will have a great source for a college recommendation letter because you will be receiving it from a person who truly knows you. You will have a genuine letter rather than a generic "they are a hard worker." My last and final tip would be to take advantage of the college and career center. I can honestly say that without Ms. Jessica I would not have been able to finish these applications. She supported me throughout the whole process by checking for errors not only on my application but on my essays and I am truly grateful for all her help.
Honestly just write what you know. This is the perfect time to reflect and finally brag about the hard work you have put in. Although this can be a very long and tedious process, do not forget to enjoy! This is your last year so do not forget to make the best out of it.
Saturday, January 14, 2017
How to Reach Out to Lil, Tiny Freshies
As a freshman entering an entirely different environment, it took me awhile to figure out the school and as i was going through that process, I finally realized every other freshman was going through the same thing. I grasped that maybe it wasn't on the top of everyones' list to reach out to their Pres. and leadership class and they may not understand leaderships role in the school so as the year started, even now, I tell my classmates about everything. I inform them of events and anything they can participate.
In the future I hope my class can listen to their leadership and be a helping hand we can count on. I also hope out efforts of giving them information will succeed and actually provide them the resources they need. If all these acts are successful, I see a very bright future for my class because, as you know, we are the best class ever! Gooo co/ 2020!!!
Thursday, January 12, 2017
MC Karii blog 1
This is my third year in leadership and now i am one of the permanent MC hosting the school rally's alongside with Maddie. One of the challenges ive faced this year and proud that i have faced is being able to host these rally's while making everyone feel welcomed and making sure that they are having the best time that i can offer. I feel as if its important to be able to entertain while interacting with the crowd, rather than just reading the schedule, and thats just what ive done. I did this by beginning to joke, hype and make the crowd have a good time.
Goals...
I haven't been in leadership for a very long time but I would like for the junior class to have a successful senior year. No one wants their senior year with little activities. I`m glad that the Junior class has been fundraising since the start. We should continue fundraising and try to raise as much as we can. We should come up with new ideas to fundraise.
A school goal I have is to have a good GPA for the 2nd semester. Hopefully I get the chance to do my SAT this year. I would also like to visit a few colleges this year so I could get a feel of what campus I'm interested in. Also I would like to play baseball this spring.
I would like to go to more school events this year since I haven't made many. I'm very excited to be a senior next year. However I don't wanna rush the rest of my high school experience. I'm gonna enjoy every second of it and being in leadership has made it fun.
Blog #2 - The Future
Future Upcoming Quarter
blog #2
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
I Just Wanna Graduate Already..
College Applications
The day I submitted was the day it was due. I was really stressed about whether or not I was going to submit on time. At the end I submitted on time and I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. If you want to avoid that stress, I recommend that you submit before the actual due date. One thing I wish I would have done was started my applications during the Summer. During the Summer, I did start my personal insight questions but I didn't work on them much. That caused me to work on them while going to school which was overwhelming because I had that and school work. Once finished with your personal insight questions you should have at least three people review them before submitting them so that they can be at their full potential.
Filling out college applications can be long and tedious but at the end it'll be worth it. One thing I learned throughout the process is how much I've been successful throughout school and how involved I am in my community. It made me feel good to know this. For any Juniors and under class men I recommend that you always put your best effort in to school work and to be involved within your community. I wish anyone who has applied and will apply in the future good luck! :-)
Need help with college apps? Go to the college center!!
When people say that Senior year will be easy, they are lying! One thing that is for sure is that college applications will be stressful. However, I will give you some tips on how to make your life easier during what I like to call "college app season."
Let's start off even before senior year. I recommend to start looking for extracurricular activities from the beginning of High School. Just like everything in life, you need to find a balance. So, don't sign up to every single club and program because you think it'll look good on a college application. Make sure to find clubs that you are interested in and genuinely think you will commit to. Also, don't start signing up to clubs your last year of high school, when you finally realize you never got involved in school. It is important to find things you are interested in, but don't stress yourself out and be involved in too many things.
Now, I was luckily enough to be apart of two programs that helped me out so much throughout high school and college app season. The first program I found was EAOP. This program gave me the opportunity to take SAT prep classes for free at UC Berkeley! So it is very important to look for resources at school. I promise they are there. The second program I found was Summer Search, where I had mentor who helped me with my academic and personal problems. I also got my personal college advisor that guided me through the college process. I found both of these programs at De Anza and I am very grateful that I did. We are also very lucky because we have our college center where Ms. Jessica dedicates time to teaching you how to apply and is available to answer many questions. She also helped me save a ton of money with fee waivers for the SAT and college application fees. So go ask for help!! I can't stress this enough.
Like I mentioned, yes, college applications will be stressful, whether you started 4 months in advance or 4 days before the deadline. Which you should really not start the application the week of, or else you will be extremely stressed out. Personally, I started writing my insight questions for my UC apps in August when the questions were first released. My essays were very rough and over the word limit but that is okay. Starting early gives you so much time to perfect your essays and shorten it to get straight to the point. However, don't forget about the application itself. I was so focused on the essays that I didn't realize how long and time consuming the application is. Finish 1 or 2 sections per day! CSU's are fairly easy to fill out and once you fill out one, all the information transfers to the other schools you are applying to. So make sure to submit to one school first and don't start multiple applications at once.
Finally, the most important tip I can give you, is to take care of yourself. You will get through this process and you will be happy with where you decided to apply and how your essays turned out. Don't ever doubt your worth and it doesn't hurt to apply to competitive schools. You can do it! I did it and I'm still alive, barely... but alive!
Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Done with college apps, stress free.... SIKE.
As your senior comes closer and closer every year, you should start to think about what colleges you want to apply to. It's something that takes a lot of thinking but you will know your top colleges that you want to apply to. A good key point to keep in mind if you're still young is to document all the extracurricular activities that you do during school, after, or even before. That way when your senior year is here, you have something to look back at and have a reference to any activities, sports, clubs, or volunteer service that you have done. a good way to keep track of it is starting it on a google document, then write the date of the activity, the name, and where it took place. Then when you start your college applications, you can just glance over the document to see what you have done over the past couple of years.
As supposed to your classes, a good key point to keep in mind that although the classes may seem impossible, they truly aren't, all it is is just a challenge. The only way you can pass that class is through doing your work and studying for an upcoming test. Pace yourself as well, with all your classes. If you have homework one night, just finish it up. Instead of spending that wasted hour looking through people's snapchat stories, take that time to incorporate it into your homework. It's no hassle and your grade will be at higher percentage, so why wait until the end when the quarter is almost over?
WHAT I LEARNED FROM COLLEGE APPS IS...
Future goals
Another goals for all my fellow sophomores in leadership, is for us all to become pros at fundraising. It is a dream for us to have a lot of money so we can have unlimited opportunities when we're seniors. Dreams such as: a beautiful prom venue, nice rally supplies, a successful Grad night, etc. Plus, when becoming an expert at fundraising a lot of more leadership things become easier. Also, for us to become liked for selling good food whenever first Fridays happening.
For the rest of this year, I hope everybody at De Anza gets to accomplish their own goals, no matter how big or small they are. Also to enjoy the new year, make good memories, and over all have lots fun.
College Apps 101 With Hennah
I was literally deciding where to apply one week before the CSU and UC deadline. But hey, I finished, and so will you!
I applied to a total of 13 schools so I would like to think I have some tricks up my sleeve about applying.
1. Write your essays from the heart.
I know it seems like you need to have perfectly crafted essays for your college apps that make you seem like you're Albert Einstein. But college essays are all about showing who you are, what makes you you and what you've done these past 4 years. Be genuine, its alright if you go over the word count and have fun with it. I personally always went over the word count and when I tried to reduce it didn't sound good anymore. My suggestion is write your heart out, almost as if you were telling a story to a friend and then have a college adviser read it. It may sound crazy for me to say that you should have fun but if you're writing about something you truly care about - you should enjoy writing about it. If you don't know how to elaborate on something, you're probably forcing it. Don't. Try writing about something else, even if it seems hard at first. Ask someone you know or a college adviser for advice.
2. Prioritize your happiness.
Ever since my freshmen year, I was told the formula for success was doing lots of extracurricular activities, getting high SAT scores and straight A's. I tried my best to follow these instructions. I overwhelmed myself with activities, AP classes and stress. Your happiness and insanity is SO important. Do not ever do something "because it looks good on a college app". I did that for the past 3 years and I have found that if you do something for the sake of doing it, it is not going to help you much in the long run. If you do not care about something, there is no way you're going to be able to write about it in an college essay. There is also a limited amount of activities you can include in a college app. So do things for you, no one else. You should definitely push yourself and try new things but do not do them so colleges like you. If you are a hard worker and want to success, any college would be lucky to have you. If a college does not want you, its their loss.
3. Don't struggle alone.
College advisers will change your life! I personally got a lot of help from Ms. Jessica and my Summer Search counselor, Joni. Joni pushed me to apply to more schools. I was not even going to apply out of state. But Joni convinced me to push myself and apply to Ivies and liberal arts schools. Begin talking to a college adviser as soon as you can, the sooner the better. Often, they will see potential in you that you may not see. They are also more experienced in the process and the sense of security they provide is priceless. Put in effort to reach out to them and they will put in effort into helping you succeed.
4. Start early.
Practically anyone you talk to about college apps will tell you that you need to start the summer of your junior year in order to finish. It is really helpful to start early. I personally started pretty late and although I was able to finish, I wish I gave myself more time. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize. There will be times where you have to decide between studying for a test or working on your college apps. It is bound to happen, so make the decision you think is best for you. I personally wish I prioritized college apps over my schoolwork at times but you live and you learn. I also suggest being done with your SAT junior year. I finished my SAT December of my senior year. WORST DECISION EVER. I had no time to study and it was way too stressful to worry about on top of college apps. So don't be like Hennah and get the SAT over with.
5. Breathe.
You'll be done soon. Remember to still enjoy your senior year and spent time with your friends because after this, who knows where you will all be. I believe in you.
Hope this helps, at least a little.
Second Phase
The first quarter of leadership was really fun. We had many exciting events that came up that was very successful. I loved helping with the dances and spirit days. I felt so much joy that we were making students happy with our events. Everything we planned in quarter one was it hit and we were really happy about that.
As quarter two started, teachers started giving more and more work and classes started getting hectic. Throughout my freshman and sophomore year upperclassmen always told me that junior year was the hardest. I have mostly AP and honors class so as a junior I can personally say that that is not true. Junior year is not "hard" is it just a lot of work. I have had a 4.2 all year and that is due to being present to school for the most part and trying your best no matter how difficult your classes are. Leadership didn't have much events in quarter 2 so we took the time to plan things early while making sure we have all of our grades together.
Quarter 2 with leadership has been fun as always. We have many things in store for the rest of the school year. One goal that I have for leadership is that we keep building and getting better as a team. I hope we continue to make students happy and meet their wants and needs.
Monday, January 9, 2017
UPCOMING GOALS
Being president in my opinion is not easy because, you can`t just think in the moment. I personally like to take risks when I know that it will make the junior class finish strong. Fundraising for example, you can`t fundraise on bad days because it will jeopardize your profit. Also you can`t sell the same thing twice because people will get bored. You need to bring new ideas and advertise it at all times.
My goal for the junior class personally is to raise $10,000. So far we are half way there and its just half of the school year too. Lately we haven`t been fundraising so far due to sports, finals, and weather. However, I`m just waiting for everything to cool off and we will start again. The goal won`t come to us, we have to approach it.
I haven't thought about what it would be like after we reach our goal or not. All I do know is that our Senior year will be filled with fun events/trip because, when you have the money its a little harder for others to say no. I just wanna make sure that our class can reduce the No ideas, because there`s no budget or to much paper work. I`m tired of adults cutting off students goals or dreams. It time to make a difference!
Saturday, January 7, 2017
class goals
Leadership has been productive and successful in hosting many events and promoting school spirit, and I'm happy to say there isn't anything major I would like to change. My goals for the Leadership class of 2016-17 are to branch out to the rest of De Anza more, and to fundraise more often. I think it'd be great for other students to feel more connected, and to feel encouraged and comfortable communicating their ideas and concerns to us, so that we can actually make positive changes.
I think fundraising more often would be wonderful; the funds would be great for helping charities and community programs, amping up rallies, and boosting material budgets for next year's floats.
A personal goal of mine in Leadership would be to get to know students outside of the freshmen class. Socializing isn't a forte of mine, and I'd definitely like to work on that.
I'm excited to see the progress our class makes during the new year; it'll be interesting to look back on everything we've accomplished at the end of the school year!
Friday, January 6, 2017
Chapter 2
Thursday, January 5, 2017
second year.
Our leadership class this year has been really organize with planning. Every time we have a class discussion everyone is involved and is really positive about someone's idea. My goal for our leadership class is to stay organize. One goal that I really want my sophomore class to accomplish next year is to win a spirit week or participate more in spirit weeks.
I have high hope for my leadership class s the years progress. I am certain that my class and I will continue to grow and succeed and manage to make this year great.
Leadership
My First Beginning
Monday, January 2, 2017
Class Goals
A goal that I have for my class is to fundraise even more than we already have been in order to have a fantastic senior year, and seeing all of the positive attitudes from my leadership team, I have no doubt that this is a goal we will surely accomplish. In addition, I would really like to see my class become more involved in school overall, including participating during spirit weeks.
Already having accomplished so much, I have high hopes for our class as the years progress. I am certain that my class and I will continue to grow and succeed and manage to make our senior year a memorable one.