CLASS 7!

WE MADE IT, I AM SOOO PROUD OF EVERYONE AND MYSELF FOR MAKING IT THIS FAR WITH ALL THIS HARD WORK PUT FORTH. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL INSTRUCTORS, ADVISORS, AND IMPORTANT STAFF THATS BEEN DEDICATED TO ALL STUDENTS!

Internship Readiness

Being the first to find out what internship I am attending is really exciting for me and has really changed my mindset and my ability to cope in the business world environment.  Entering my internship the first thing that I would to display my skills on is my excellent customer service and the ability to do many tasks that my manager asks me on a computer. The reason for this is because I have had many wonderful opportunities to represent Year Up in many ways, and by showing off my skills towards my internship will give me a chance to learn and be open-minded on new ideas. One of the questions I plan on asking my manager is what roles that I am required to do, and what will be a typical day like in our work environment. The kind of office environment that I would enjoy working around is enthusiastic, and being around colleagues with positive energy every day. I also enjoy working in groups because I love to hear everyone’s idea and to be able to present a presentation as one. I am also nervous about how I will adapt to different tasks given to me, is going to be Too hard? Too easy? I am also nervous about how am I going to impress my manager, I don’t want to seem like I know everything, but I also don’t want to seem like I don’t understand anything.  How I plan to stand out in my internship is doing excellent in all my work, asking open-ended questions on things I don’t understand, and communicating with all the people that may be in my department. In the end I just hope I leave a good impression on everyone at my internship and hopefully get offered a job!

My Thoughts Today

I am ready to go back to work, one thing that is stressing me is my Tech homework, quizzes, and tests. It seem like I have forgotten about everything, and I don't remember anything for computer technology. Once I get to work I probably would remember, but the reason I want to go to work so soon because I'm not doing anything over my break, its getting so boring because I'm running out of money! Being at work makes my days go by faster and I know I'm getting closer to my internship. That is one thing that I am excited about my internship, I am so nervous about what internship I will be placed at. One thing I pray for is to be able to get hired at my internship, I know its to soon to be thinking about this but I want to be able to have a stable job and continue to go to school while making a decent amount of money. These days are going to go by really fast and before I know it, it will be time for my internship which is very exciting. On Monday I plan on catching up on my Business Communication work and my Computer Technology work so I can have a clear understanding what I learned so far. I also can't wait until my 21st birthday which is May 21st, I don't know what I'm going to do but I know it has to be somewhere far that I want to visit. This year is definitely going to be the best year for me and my family!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE! I am really excited about 2012, now is the time to leave my past in 2011 and move forward with new opportunities that are coming my way. I was kind of upset on December 31st because I spent my new years in the house with my mom while my sister was in Vegas partying. All I could think of is maybe its meant to be in the house during new years, but with all the fun I could be having my sister is having. I just know that since 2012 is here my priorities are going to be straight including my money, making a lot of money in my internship and saving a bunch of money for my future vacations. I mean it sucks to not go on trips because of my budget and how much money I am making. I'm not saying it's all about having fun but for the last 20 years I've been here I haven't really took a great vacation, and my plan is to take a trip to Jamaica when I do get a chance. My focus has to be straight now that its 2012, I plan to be more organized, more responsible, work hard, and take lots of vacations, and plus make a lot of money. I'm really excited to start my New Years off right with no outside noise distractions. This is my year and my chance to shine and I would do whatever it takes for me to be successful in my career or my future job. Once again everyone HAPPY NEW YEARS!! So thankful to be here another year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Finally Christmas has come and I am so thankful for everyone that is in my life right now! I am so excited about my Burberry coat and my expensive hand bags that Year Up's guest has donated to us students. I spent my Christmas in church, which was so refreshing and a great place to enjoy my Christmas day. Since it was early in the morning I got a chance to spend it with my older sister and my father who plays the piano. I prayed that my family will be alright and soon we don't have to worry about struggling with money anymore. So after church I went to my mothers house where dinner was prepared and lots of desserts! I am just so blessed to spend my Christmas with the one's I love and cherish. Even though I thought I was going be able to buy gifts for myself and family, that wasn't the case because I had to help moms with groceries and bills. My sister was still able to buy me and my mom gifts that meant the world to be. I learned that Christmas is not all about sharing gifts, it's about being with the one's you love and celebrating Jesus on his birthday. Something also irritated me on this day, which was a lot of people on Facebook kept posting merry xmas. This was irritating me because how could you x out Christ? I learned in church that never to x out Christ and to see people post this was so irritating, but I ignored it. Christmas was also a beautiful day and I'm glad I spent it with my family. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Intership Readiness

The qualities of someone who is internship readiness, is someone who has grown on their growth areas. This may include participation in class, being active and a leader, and also completing work in class. I plan on demonstrating my internship readiness by continuing to be on time to every class, not earn any infractions this module and also be actively ready to participate in class. For example I would ask questions on things I don't know, being more responsible with following up with my instructors on my growth areas that I can improve on. Also I would be emailing my advisor more about what can I do more to prepare myself for my internship and my future. The changes I will make this module is organizing my binders, having more energy in class, and soaking in all the information I am learning and apply it to my internship and other future jobs.

Best/Worst Job

The best job I’ve ever had was volunteering at the Dunsmuir in Oakland California. The Dunsmuir was a historic Mansion built back during slavery, the mansion was owned by the White Europeans, and slaves were kept upstairs and were servants to their masters. My position there was a personal assistant event planner, and what I did there was plan for weddings, proms, receptions, and concerts. I had multiple responsibilities such as making sure our customers had tickets for which ever event at the ticket booth, making sure tables were set nicely for the weddings in our pavilion, cleaning the bathrooms, and setting chairs outside for outside events. The mansion was set for Christmas activities for the children and adults to come out and watch movies. This job was so enjoyable because I was volunteering with my sister and a guy named Chris. We had the most fun anyone could have at a job. During someone’s reception my sister and I would be dancing on the grounds to the music while putting up the chairs. My co-worker Chris would take me on a ride every night on his Suzuki Motorcycle to check the grounds. I developed my communication skills, learning how to be patient, and working at a faster pace. It was a very ephemeral job, but I really enjoyed it.

The worst job I’ve ever had was working at senior home as a waitress. My responsibility was taking orders, bringing out food, and cleaning up the kitchen. I disliked this job because elderly people can become a little mean and have their days and dealing with this it interfered with my work ethics. I’ve dealt with this because I had to make money, so out of this work experience I learned how to communicate with words and what words are appropriate to use in a work environment.

Rivera's Mural and the Occupy Movement

The connection between Rivera’s Frozen Assets mural connects to the Occupy movement today because the middle picture Rivera drew is mainly homeless people who don’t have enough to survive, and those who had jobs lost them, and now are being kept in a homeless warehouse. Then going back to the Occupy movement that’s going on today, every day when I’m heading to work I see that same picture of homeless people, or those who are just volunteering, to help protest the 99% who are being taxed and becoming poor. Across from the protestors who are camping out in their tents are Officers guarding business buildings. Now that I think about it, Rivera’s drawing is similar to the Movement today and it makes me think of what people were going through, through the Great Depression. When I think about how today banks are trying to charge those who use their debit cards makes me refer back to how the picture at the bottom of the drawing how the people are trying to take all their money out their banks. My research about the Occupy Movement is connected back to the Great Depression and how a lot of people were going through tough times just like we are today. Rivera’s mural top drawing and the Occupy movement makes me think about what people who are working and have on their business attire, think about those who are becoming hopeless.

My Inspiration

What inspires me is music to be specific Afro Jack. This inspires me because recently I was in club waiting for my sister to sign up for the bad girls club show, and I was there to support her inside a club in San Francisco. As I was waiting for her they was playing music and it really inspired me, as I was sitting there. I was in the VIP area by myself and as the music was playing it made me forget about everything I was going through and somehow it was uplifting me to become a better person. As the music was getting louder my focus was looking into these blue lights and I was beginning to smile more and more as the music continued to play. I never felt so refreshed like this, by listening to music and I felt like if this kind of genre of music makes me feel this way I should listen to this all the time. My feelings and emotions were more into the sound and the lyrics of the song; the song was just sending a message to be higher in life. Feeling this way I was alone at the time, and I realized with me being by myself my focus was on my life and how I wanted to conquer the world and be successful. The first thing it reminded me of was Year Up, and I felt like I can achieve whatever and accomplish what ever goals that are set for me.  I think this inspiration would last for a long time with me, when I’m walking to school and from work. It changes my whole days forgetting about all the stressful things that are going on in my life. By listening to Afro Jack it inspires me to become a better person and be in my own little world, so I believe this inspiration would last years for me.

My Community

The community that I was involved in was BSU, which stand for black student union. This community was not exclusive just for African Americans. Most of the members who were involved were Asian, whites, Filipino and other different races. What we do as a community is we go out and do volunteer work for the homeless, feed them, and join them in church. We do all of our volunteer work in San Francisco. We also make sure that we celebrate black history month and all the African Americans who made history for this country. What I disliked about my community is that we never were organized, and when it was time to perform on the rallies we couldn't because most of our members didn't have good grades. It seems as if we didn't have a strong relationship within our community because everyone wanted to be the leader and talk all at once. So we lend roles to everyone and I was secretary of our club and we picked someone who we knew would be responsible for the club as president. When we did that, it made our club more organized and stronger, but we still had problems performing for people. I believe it was a hatred and racist thing at our school because the population was mainly whites. Overall we were a community and it made us who we are today.

Plus/Delta of Module 1

The things I learned from Module 1 about myself is being able to understanding the different utilities of a computer, I thought I was computer savvy before starting Year Up, but I learned a lot of things such as different operating systems and why is it so important. I was actually surprised at myself for participating in discussions I thought I would never be apart of, so with that said I was proud of myself, and also being able to communicate with others about my knowledge of computers and apply it to myself. A couple things I wasn't proud of was not being able to take time out and study for tech quizzes, or exams. I did well on all of my quizzes but I didn't understand the material that well, I just remembered from the book. I think if I was to at least take time to process the information a little more I would be on the same page as everyone else. Being here has really boosted up my professional, and listening skills, I've already knew how to code switch in a professional environment because I was raised to do so, so that is also one thing I am proud of.

The things I need to work on to grow as a professional is my writing skills, sometimes when writing I get stuck to where I lose track on what I am suppose to be writing and I lose focus on the subject. Also my grammar plays a role in my writing, I seem to not go over what I've written at times and when someone reads it, it makes no sense to me and I get so upset at myself because I didn't catch it. I've also been informed of a growth area to take more leadership in my community. It seems to be in me but I am afraid to take that spotlight and not doing things well for my community. Also my organization has gotten out of hand this module because of so much work, so I need to be more organized of my work and environment.