Final Reflection 10th Grade 2nd Semester

The past month has been crazy. There was so much going on in terms of my extracurricular, outside school commitments along with the work load of school. Like I mentioned in my previous blog post, I was eager to get started on my Phase 4 project. It wasn't as easy as I anticipated. Theoretically, it should've been working perfectly, but it didn't really go the way I expected it to. For one, the easy did it in five minutes YouTube videos aren't realistic. This is a very very important lesson that I have to make sure I remember. I tend to read one article or watch one video and run along with the idea they suggested. My bead based phone microscope didn't work the way I hoped it to. The microscope would take forever to focus. In the end I took pictures of a leaf and my hair strand. I made the change from using wood to secure the bead to the phone to using this putty clay. They defiantly worked a lot better.

Although my phase 4 project ended up okay - its good that I've had the experience of it not ending up the way I hoped it would. I learned this semester/year that I am not a risk taker and that is what usually keeps me from "going to the next level." In the following year I hope to manage a personal project from start to finish, one that doesn't have all the guidelines set yet.

But looking back - I can't believe I've lived and done well with all the things I was nervous about. I was a part of a nonprofit, MiRcore, that taught high school students how to analyze gene expressions of patients, create a hypothesis, write and publish an abstract. This involved weekly online meetings with people across the nation. Super shy me, learned how to open up and bond with people over Skype. I've also bonded with an El Salvadorian teen and wrote about her for our class project Amigos En Las Americas. This project pushed me to become a leader and a better communicator. I tried to be a democratic leader instead of someone that just delegated or did all the work. This project will always have a special place in my heart. I tried to play an active role in formatting the entire class book and I helped out with the documentary my class made.

My second semester class was the best. It pushed the artistic side of me and for a change, I did have a great stress free time. I learned how to use a DSLR and developed the portfolio part of my website.

I've also happened to finish an introductory college calculus class. There were only two sophomores in the class. There were times when the class was hard, but I stuck through with it. I made many friends and developed a bond with the teacher. The class forced to analyze my strengths and weaknesses. I learned that I move through problems on worksheets and life faster than necessary and sometimes slowing down a bit can make a difference. I am glad for the experience for it gave me confidence to sign up for a freshman biology class this summer.

My biggest accomplishment of all though, was starting the HTH Science Magazine Club. I definatly couldn't have done it without my friends, but I am proud of myself for initiating the process and sticking with it till the end. There were so many problems that kept getting in the way, but I did end up publishing and I am proud of that.