I had no idea what to expect walking into ACLC for the first time four years ago. I had never attended such a close-knit, community oriented school before. Little did I know, ACLC would provide me the best possible high school learning experience I could have asked for. Between flexible schedules, free periods, and project based learning, I found a perfect flow that allowed me to participate in extracurriculars without drowning in homework. I am so thankful for ACLC’s support in not only my academic needs, but my personal needs as well. ACLC has supported me all the way through my high school career and has allowed me to blossom into who I am today
Some of my personal qualities and work habits include discipline, a hard work rate and timeliness. Discipline to me means being accountable of your actions and I demonstrate this in school by always turning in my homework on time. As far as hard work goes, I always put a hundred and ten percent into my assignments. I make sure to stay optimistic even if know I have hours of homework to do. Knowing my strengths and weaknesses helps me allot the correct amount of time in order to finish my work in a timely manner.
Throughout my time at ACLC, the most significant growth I’ve had academically is in my writing and my knowledge of science. Using templates in English class has helped me organize my writing in a way that’s easily understood. Second semester junior year I enrolled myself in an English 1A course at COA. I did this because I knew English in general was not my strongest subject and by taking this class my confidence in my English intellect and actual English skills have improved. Similarly, sophomore through junior year I took extra science classes at the college including astronomy and biology. I was able to get a college education in so many topics that my school didn't offer. Since I’m not 100% sure what I want to study in college, I’ve made sure to experiment and try different subjects out. I chose to complete my internship recruitment at a local acupuncture and fertility business. There, I learned an incredible amount about Chinese medicine, health and fertility. I’m so thankful that I expanded my horizons or else I may not have been able to find interests in subjects I would have not been exposed to.
Because ACLC is a project based school, I have learned to work in teams and solve problems on the spot. I’ve learned to recognize each person's working style and adapt in a way that allows us to collaborate effectively. For example, one of my group members was a quite speaker but worked really well on a computer. We ended up doing the majority of our work on the computer and finished the project early. Since joining honors English junior year, I have been forced to think outside the box. Analyzing text and films are difficult enough, so you can imagine the difficulty in doing so in an accelerated, intelligent group setting. Between all the courses I’ve taken at ACLC I’ve learned that I’m a visual learner. I best retain and understand information when I can see it. This means I learn well by watching videos, whiteboard demonstrations and physical examples. These skills come in handy when playing sports; for example, if my coach were to draw a play on the whiteboard I’d be able to learn it quickly and help my teammates understand it as well.
Throughout my four years at ACLC I have developed interpersonal skills such as leadership, negotiation and learned to work with diversity. In terms of leadership I have participated in many lead role position at my school. I was VP of the robotics club, helped in the school's annual leadership conference and helped with a previous senior project, beautifying the campus. While those were some of the bigger leadership roles I took on at campus, I also took on smaller leadership roles. I became more comfortable leading group discussions and asking more questions in Socratic Seminars. Even these little things helped me develop and put my leadership skills into action. Secondly, I got very good at negotiating during my time here at ACLC. I grew the confidence to speak to my facilitators and decide what we thought was fair. If i thought I got an unfair grade I learned to become comfortable approaching them and asking why that was the grade I got. Lastly, ACLC forces their students to practice diversity within their educational system. For example, table groups and group projects are constantly being assigned and every time they are different. This makes learners accustomed to change and fit for dealing with diverse situations.
ACLC is lucky enough to have laptop and desktop computers ready to use no matter where you are. Unfortunately, these computers are not exactly the most stable or newest pieces of technology out there. For those reasons, they happen to break a lot. So, over the past four years I have learned to deal with all sort of technological mishaps. Sometimes the errors will be easier than others, for example, turning the computer off and then back on versus wedging myself all the way under the computer desks and hoping i'm plugging in the right cord. Aside from computers, I have also been exposed to technology of other sorts at ACLC. Danny forced the PreCalc class to use spreadsheets which were very hard to learn how to use but very efficient in the end. While these were done on the computers, it was a separate program on them that took a lot of practice to perfect. All in all, I have learned a couple new ways to fix and use technology by practicing at school.
Throughout my time here at ACLC, I have learned and developed many crucial life skills. Between my hard work ethic, technological knowledge, and ability to lead and work with diversity, I believe I’m on a good path to success. College and my future endeavours will throw other obstacles at me, but with the knowledge I already have, I can take on anything.