My Time At ACLC 

As a senior attending ACLC one of my graduation requirements is to reflect on my time here, and exemplify my growth as a person over the past four years as a member of the community. Everything from my personal qualities to technological abilities to academic preferences are reflected on and reviewed in this essay.

 

Of the personal qualities, work habits, and attitudes expected in a graduate of ACLC I feel I embody sociability, selflessness, humanity, and, against all odds, self worth. Sociability means to handle people respectfully and in a understanding manner. Empaths have an innate ability to detect facial expressions and body language allowing them to infer the emotional state of those around them; I would be one of those empathic people. This ability ties into sociability by giving me an advantage and allowing me to be able to tell who the people around me are feeling. I have always cared deeply for those around me to the point where I would sacrifice myself even if I don’t know them very well. Some would call this selflessness. As a politically active member of ACLC, I have always fought for that I believe in. Just the other day there was a long thread on listserv concerning the longevity of the community and a democratic society, I felt it my responsibility to step up and say my part as a learner; since then I have received a lot of praise for my eloquence and bravery. At one point my concerns became so great that my friend and I ended up going to our sister school, Nea Community Learning Center, to advocate for their construction of a Bill of Rights. All of this developed amongst some of the worst moments of my life. Before I could learn to listen and respect others I had to learn to respect myself. At the beginning of my high school career I was bullied ruthlessly by those I considered friends. By the time I finally stood up for myself and made it all stop by getting help from the lead facilitator at the time, I had already lost so much of myself. I viewed myself as broken, tainted, and worthless; but over time I got help and ended up growing into a stronger and prouder person than I had ever been before. I developed a sense of self worth that allowed me to shine as an individual in my community.

 

Reading and writing have always been two of my favorite pass times, as a child they allowed me to escape to another world or even to create my own. I have read and analyzed hundreds of works ranging from authors such as Ray Bradbury to George Gordon. As poet laureate I’ve written over seventy pages of work, 50 of which is poetry. My passion for art also can be exemplified by the massive quantity of artwork I’ve created. However my passion for knowledge does not lay only in the words of text, but also in mathematics and science. I get an unexplainable joy from discovering new things through observing nature and theorising about quantum physics. I became- ecstatic and find a peaceful joy in solving little math puzzles or finding the derivative of a polynomial in my head as I'm trying to fall asleep. My interests are not solely academic, I always make sure to keep up with world politics and especially any advancements in the homosexual community. In my sophomore year I was co-leader of my schools GSA club, Gay-Straight Alliance, and I have always kept my eye on the world of George Takei. In general I like keep a global awareness of politics. All of the above is all very intellectual and thought biased, but it doesn't mean I'm not capable with my body. I have always loved to dance, ever since I was a little child music would run through my veins.

 

I plan to go into the sciences as a career; either research and development or environmental sustainability. In those fields it is very important that I have a strong grasp of thinking and reasoning skills. Something I love is my ability to visualize; it comes in particularly in handy, not only in creative arts but also in higher levels of math such as calculus. In calculus class junior year I was able to picture in my head what the derivative of some random polynomial will approximately look like. I am also an interesting blend of both a creative and systematic thinker, I have always found the patterns within anything I see, from complicated orchestras to the very behavioral patterns of other people who inhabit the world with me. Creativity plays a part when it comes to my ability to predict the next step in any pattern, whether it is an instrumental riff or a friend’s reaction. Some would call me wise, not decisive exactly, for I won’t rush into a decision, but someone who thinks about all the aspects and ways the consequence. To be able to make decisions like this I have to use both reasoning and problem solving skills. I weigh all aspects of a situation determining what I know and more importantly what I don’t know.

 

What ACLC has done a wonderful job at is turning me into a strong, sure, and proud learner and leader, strengthening my interpersonal abilities. When I first enrolled in ACLC I was the sort of person that would hide in the background and was terrified of failing. But it is exactly those failures I feared that developed me into a leader who can reach out and support others in my community. Now I love to help others and teach people new things. The only times I have trouble are when I have strong opinions and the people I am with refuse to compromise, this is when I have to negotiate with them. Which I surprisingly have been able to do with some of the most stubborn people.

 

Something special about ACLC and in extension myself is the overabundance of technology that functions only part of the time. These malfunctions are more of a blessing in disguise; without the failures I would have never learned how to troubleshoot a broken or jammed printer or retrieve a lost file. Since joining ACLC I have learned how to completely take apart and put back together a desktop dell computer, how to decide which program to run for different projects, how to properly type, and how to make the tech work for me. I learned all of this through someone I considered my mentor and friend, an alumni, we was head of tech team when I was just a freshman, James Williamson.

 

I have learned many things throughout my life, and though I can not attribute all of the trait listed above solely to my time spent at ACLC. However ACLC has given me one thing in particular: the strength, confidence, and leadership needed to question what I have been told, advocate for what I believe in, and even at time rebell against what I find to be corrupt. I personally grew more from my experience of growing up in a very different community than I did in ACLC. However that is at no fault of the school, I simply spent my years as a young child when I was most susceptible for growth elsewhere. Though what ACLC did do is in phenomenal, they took the raw developing skill set of a young shy girl and directed and formed it into a strong and proud leader. ACLC didn’t “invent” or design me, as I have been asked to claim it has, instead it put my pieces together to form a functioning active member of their society.