MY LIFE STORY

Early Childhood

From my first day in kindergarten, I hated going to school. My first experience as a student is a vivid memory marked by negative emotions of that day. My father promised to stay with me, but he left as soon as I lost my mind. I cried the whole first day, and while I'm sure that's something that often happens with kids on their first day of school, I think that was the first really impactful, negative experience I've had. I had in my development as a student, perhaps my hallmark is insecure attachment to my parents (Belsky, 2016). Reflecting on how this might have affected my later attitudes, I realized that although I was used to school, I still enjoyed the holidays and only needed to go to kindergarten 3 times per week. Another vivid memory is the relief and relief I felt when my older brother had to go to school and I could stay home. I've always loved being home after school, and it baffles me that I don't understand my classmates who say they hate staying home sick.

Your world made sense to you when you were a child. I don't know any other world, so our socio-economic situation is taken out of context for me, and I don't realize that we are poor and malnourished. For example, my typical breakfast has Bolognese as my main source of nutrition. I returned to an empty house and ate junk food instead of home cooked food. It's not bad parenting, it's just what we can afford. It was an obstacle for my brother and I when we were children because we were both tired or hungry often at school. It's safe to say that children with bologna in the system will be at a disadvantage when trying to focus and concentrate on their studies compared to other classmates.

Adolescence

Family instability was another aspect of my childhood that was not fully addressed at the time, but in retrospect I think it had a huge impact on my growth and development. When we were 13, our house burned down, turning our world upside down. In the year we fixed our house, the place we call home has been inconsistent. We live in hotels with our family and in our family car when needed. It was only a temporary issue for me, but it was difficult and had a huge impact on my ability to focus on my homework or anything school related.

The benefit of my negative experiences as a teenager was that the few good teachers I had were so obvious when I was lucky enough to have them. These few outstanding teachers used a different and extremely effective approach to classroom management, and they individualized their approach based on my unique strengths and those of their other students. In 4th grade, my teacher used my artistic interests to teach us how to play the piano, through scaffolding and modeling, which I excelled at. My 8th grade teacher was like a saint, at this point in retrospect I had obvious emotional regulation issues. I tend to act out, act impulsively, and be very destructive in class (Belsky, 2016). Luckily, my teachers were very efficient and stuck with me, constantly telling me how smart and capable I was and pushing me to the limit. Looking back, these two teachers have always pushed and challenged me to learn new skills using Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (Belsky, 2016). My grade 8 teacher connected with me on a personal level and she took the time to get to know her students. I consider these two exceptional teachers to be major contributors to my progress and development. As a result, I gained confidence in my creativity and my ability to write and express my thoughts, and although that confidence lay dormant for years after me, the seeds were planted and I owe them my life. later. Already achieved

A milestone in my life occurred in my 8th grade despite the obvious risk factors in my current life. I grew up in the gang-infested and dangerous neighborhood of East Salinas. My school is where all these gangs exist and are important. The risk for me was obvious, I was surrounded by students caught up in this way of life, but I did not see it. I was young and in my mind they were just my friends, not dangerous gangsters. The chances of me fitting into this group of people are huge, but I'm blessed with huge protective assets at this point in my life. My older brother and my cousins ​​have been a big influence in my life. I fell in love with the sport and made it my focus, largely because of its impact. They are also the ones who guided me away from the risky parts of my life, for which I am deeply grateful. I feel lucky because looking back I know that no matter what they did I would follow in their footsteps. If they get involved in a gang, I'll follow suit. Fortunately, my protective assets were strong and kept me from going down this path.

Gradual Maturation

Later in life, another milestone occurred when I found myself stuck in a job that I hated and that lacked respect for hard-working employees and customers. The job was in a bank and I regularly met people from all walks of life and had long conversations with them about their education and finances. Many of them have a college education and are thus successful in their careers. After these accumulated conversations, I realized that their career and their life are much better than mine. Talking to them, I also realized that they were often no more eloquent than me, or particularly intellectually impressive, which added to my misconception of myself as somehow inferior or incapable of working at the college level. ,eliminate. This really big hurdle was overcome once I realized that going to college and being ambitious wasn't some mysterious, intangible thing that I could never do. I quit my job and realized that I could do more with my life, have more autonomy and do something that contributed to society instead of draining it like my job in the bank did. .

Along the way, I suspected that some teachers and counselors are treated and treated differently. Unfortunately, the history of career counseling does not reflect a strong commitment to being sensitive to client diversity (Niles, 2014). I was considered a failure because of my inability to focus on subjects that didn't interest me. I'm not a misbehaving bad boy, I spend most of my time being quiet and drawing instead of doing my assigned job. However, negative stereotypes do occur, especially as high school and college students. My high school counselor wasn't interested or helpful when I fell behind. Instead, I was sent to another school. When I first entered community college, a college professor told me to drop out. I met a college counselor who acted very nonchalant and forced me to tell him what I wanted to study, which made me feel ashamed because I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. I was so embarrassed and confused by this meeting that I left the meeting and decided that school was not for me.

Maturity

When I came back several years later and went to community college, I was determined but also totally unsure. Because of this uncertainty, I vowed to work harder on every mission to make sure that even if I failed, it wasn't for lack of effort. I give myself a week, and if I do well I stay, and if I do poorly then I drop out with peace of mind knowing that I really won't make it through college. I worked harder than ever the first week because I wanted an official diagnosis of my academic abilities. Luckily for me, through hard work, I developed a genuine interest in academia for the first time in my life. I love all the subjects I have studied, especially sociology. I had great feedback the first week and since then my confidence is higher than ever and my commitment to changing lives through academia is unwavering.

I have been blessed with wonderful advisors and professors who have helped me discover my interests, needs, values, and how my personality type fits into a list of some academic majors (Niles, 2014). Majoring in sociology and going to a big university like UC Davis were two big steps for me. Once there, I fell in love with the surroundings and was inspired by the teachers and counselors who went out of their way to help and guide me. They inspired me and I decided to live in this atmosphere for the rest of my life. Choosing a career in consulting was therefore a no-brainer for me, unlike previous jobs which neither motivated nor respected me.

Conclusion

One important thing I learned about my development in this class is that my development was disrupted more than I thought before entering this class and was forced to think about it. As I mentioned before, things are still normal for me. As an elementary school student, it was normal for me to come home to an empty house and cook myself junk food with little or no nutritional value. Also, being friends with gangster kids and having my parents warn me not to go to their house, those things didn't quite stick with me at the time, they were just good kids and friends for me. My interruptions are normal, and this stands out. Being poor, not looking directly at strangers because I was taught to fear for my life, that's normal. It wasn't until adulthood that I realized everyone else around me had good jobs and was going to college and this disruption of "normalcy" completely kicked in. Once I saw that, I was able to normalize the process and tangibility of going to college and getting myself a better job.