From my first day at ACLC in 6th grade, I’ve definitely improved my work habits and academic responsibility. It’s been weird getting here, because coming into freshman year I wasn’t ready for the increased workload that high school would bring. I got some grades that I’m not too proud of in freshman and sophomore years, and I almost failed calculus. I worked hard last year to stay on track and it was probably where most of my progress was made. Socially I’ve always enjoyed making new friends, so it wasn’t that hard to fit in. I think that I’ve lost a bit of that talent but I hope that other people are comfortable enough with me to have a conversation at least. I can usually manage my school work, social life, and circus, but sometimes it’s overwhelming. I train at my circus gym for five days of the week, and it usually takes up time from the end of school to six o’clock. I’ve had to constantly check in with my parents about what’s going on, and it’s helped me stay honest and have good communication with people who are at ACLC to help me.
There is so much that I’ve learned, and at least 80% of that knowledge has stuck. Enough of it stuck in sixth grade when I passed the algebra readiness test and I skipped pre algebra. I’ve taken all of the math classes that were offered in the school. One thing that I’ve enjoyed learning this year is Government. I am surrounded by democracy at ACLC and the idea of democracy in the U.S. My early modern history class was a big part in preparing me for the course, because it introduced the philosophers that put names to government systems and laid the foundation for our and many other constitutions. On the topic of listening and speaking well, even my math class has helped me advance. Learners give tours to new students and parents, and I have led a fair share of them in the past. I wouldn’t even think about leading if it wasn’t for all the presentations and projects that have been assigned over the years.
The projects that have improved many of my thinking skills and reasoning are the science projects that we’ve been assigned throughout the years. My skills looking at data has improved a lot since I was in sixth grade, and even since freshman year. One of the most important things that I’ve learned is standard deviation in a set of data. Many of the science fair projects I’ve done would have been mostly invalid if I knew that. My favorite project that demonstrates my creative thinking and problem-solving is a timeline of the earth that I created with a group in Biology. The task was to choose a length of paper and plot important points; we were required to put extinctions, the evolution of different animals, and the position of the continents at the time. It is very important at ACLC to know and understand our system of democracy, and the process of learning the system has improved my skills in that area vastly.
Because ACLC is such a project based school, I've worked by myself and with many others on projects that have all gotten good grades. In all of those I’ve proved myself a good leader when nobody wanted to hand out jobs and a good group member for making compromises with my and others’ ideas. I know that I am professional and work ready because I have a summer job at my circus gym, coaching classes as well as taking care of the groups of kids that come in for summer camps. The people at the gym and in my own grade are all very diverse, and I always like meeting new people with different backgrounds than me. Diversity is one of the top criteria that I have while searching for colleges. I understand that I’m spoiled in terms of diversity in the SF Bay Area, but most bigger cities will have all sorts of different people that I can meet.
The diversity of people and learning styles pales in comparison to the technology that is being created today. I’m lucky to be in the generation that grows up with many of the cool new devices, while being able to navigate them well. I feel that I have a good awareness of technology because my uncle is a tech reporter for an international news company. Sometimes he will get free things sent to him in the mail and gives them to me. One of the greatest things that I’ve used at ACLC is google drive. For group projects and other people to edit my solo projects, I’ve used this platform to perfect anything that I do. It also saves me from having to spend more than $100 on microsoft products. These don’t come without problems and glitches, however, and there are many times that I’ve had to fix the software on my laptop or some unplugged cords on the computers at school. I hope that I can always appreciate the technology that I have, unlike some kids who are getting the latest iPhones in fifth grade and can’t live without a wifi hotspot.
There is so much that I’ve learned, and at least 80% of that knowledge has stuck. Enough of it stuck in sixth grade when I passed the algebra readiness test and I skipped pre algebra. I’ve taken all of the math classes that were offered in the school. One thing that I’ve enjoyed learning this year is Government. I am surrounded by democracy at ACLC and the idea of democracy in the U.S. My early modern history class was a big part in preparing me for the course, because it introduced the philosophers that put names to government systems and laid the foundation for our and many other constitutions. On the topic of listening and speaking well, even my math class has helped me advance. Learners give tours to new students and parents, and I have led a fair share of them in the past. I wouldn’t even think about leading if it wasn’t for all the presentations and projects that have been assigned over the years.
The projects that have improved many of my thinking skills and reasoning are the science projects that we’ve been assigned throughout the years. My skills looking at data has improved a lot since I was in sixth grade, and even since freshman year. One of the most important things that I’ve learned is standard deviation in a set of data. Many of the science fair projects I’ve done would have been mostly invalid if I knew that. My favorite project that demonstrates my creative thinking and problem-solving is a timeline of the earth that I created with a group in Biology. The task was to choose a length of paper and plot important points; we were required to put extinctions, the evolution of different animals, and the position of the continents at the time. It is very important at ACLC to know and understand our system of democracy, and the process of learning the system has improved my skills in that area vastly.
Because ACLC is such a project based school, I've worked by myself and with many others on projects that have all gotten good grades. In all of those I’ve proved myself a good leader when nobody wanted to hand out jobs and a good group member for making compromises with my and others’ ideas. I know that I am professional and work ready because I have a summer job at my circus gym, coaching classes as well as taking care of the groups of kids that come in for summer camps. The people at the gym and in my own grade are all very diverse, and I always like meeting new people with different backgrounds than me. Diversity is one of the top criteria that I have while searching for colleges. I understand that I’m spoiled in terms of diversity in the SF Bay Area, but most bigger cities will have all sorts of different people that I can meet.
The diversity of people and learning styles pales in comparison to the technology that is being created today. I’m lucky to be in the generation that grows up with many of the cool new devices, while being able to navigate them well. I feel that I have a good awareness of technology because my uncle is a tech reporter for an international news company. Sometimes he will get free things sent to him in the mail and gives them to me. One of the greatest things that I’ve used at ACLC is google drive. For group projects and other people to edit my solo projects, I’ve used this platform to perfect anything that I do. It also saves me from having to spend more than $100 on microsoft products. These don’t come without problems and glitches, however, and there are many times that I’ve had to fix the software on my laptop or some unplugged cords on the computers at school. I hope that I can always appreciate the technology that I have, unlike some kids who are getting the latest iPhones in fifth grade and can’t live without a wifi hotspot.