Year Blog

    

Time really just zoomed past us, honestly, ever since the start of the school year, I didn't really expect it to end this quickly than how it is right now. The years sort of just seemed like they didn't even last for a month. I didn't really think I'd be able to progress this far, I still can't believe I even managed to make it through advanced courses and all those other things. Leadership & 8th grade in general have truly made an impact that will always stick to me, and I can greatly appreciate that entirely. Of course, my first thoughts on it weren't exactly like this, I didn't have an exact thought or occurrence on the title of leadership in general. I'll just say that on August when I first stepped into the classroom, it wasn't as ideal as I'd think of it today. I didn't know any of the leadership kids, so out of response I just pushed them away if they ever tried to respond or talk to me. It's not exactly like I was rude, more or less just distant and introverted. In retrospect, I still am introverted, entirely. It sorts of stood like this for a while; my period specifically forced me to be more interactive which was against my free will, but I still had to go through it. They first made me practice presenting on TV which I wasn't too fond of, but this was just the start of how they slowly made me open up to leadership. The first quarter went by simply, not much had happened nor did I have any thoughts on leadership still besides finding it as a chore. However, that overlook changed during Fall Break, aka the retreat. The retreat was sort of like a resort used to bond the leadership students and to plan out some things during the mean time. Planning out had no impact, but it allowed me to form a stronger bond with those around me. It also started a lot of satirical problems between me and a specific chihuahua looking girl, but that's beside the point. Retreat was an amazing experience and allowed me to see the good side of leadership. It's a little embarrassing to say that I didn't really realize that at first, but at least it's good that now I know. Also, retreat was just a fun experience in general, the food was somewhat great (I wouldn't really know since I didn't eat much there), but I enjoyed everything that happened. It allowed me to also talk to others and make friends. Retreat brought a cordial experience onto me that truly makes me appreciate the time there. Besides that, included the afterschool participation for leadership, this I didn't really mind, but I will say that they are time consuming. A few of those events included Family Nite, which is just some frequent event hosted around the school year to represent a specific curriculum. You could also include recognition night, which represented those who are "Highly Recognized" students for their proud accommodations & accomplishments to the school, via their grade. After school things like these at first were annoying to me, I won't sugar coat it, it's the truth, but I got used to it and managed to make it pass by because; I managed to talk to the leadership students more. Apart from that included the more long-term & thought-out assignments that we had to do. Some of which included something small like Aloha Dinner, Aloha Dinner is hosted at the end of the school year. It's mainly used to represent the past memories and to review how we improved since the start of whenever to leadership. The event itself was nice, I found it cherish-worthy; however, one event that I didn't have that exact experience or thought on though was Orientation. I've covered Orientation multiple times, and my opinions on it aren't exactly identical to one another depending on whatever happened during that whole experience. Orientation is what introduced 6th graders from elementary schools to Ilima, it made the exposure to Ilima and its rules/standard orders more familiar to them once they transition between elementary and middle school. We had to help out and organize a little of the orientation, in order to make it more appealing, we also had to follow a certain theme that would progress throughout the years for preparations and getting ready for the actual orientation event. The theme is usually something like a movie or book, but our theme was based off of Shrek. Everybody had to help for the orientation to process, I was one of the choreographers and made the boys dance. The experience with orientation was something, it was stressful to say the least. Making the dance, having to teach it, organizing a costume, and praying that you won't mess up is an actual hassle. There were good moments, like teaching the choreography and having to help out with anything else others needed. Another event that sent mixed signals was the ISA events, I really like the ones such as Bowling, but other ISA sports have me at an edge. Soccer was horrendous, I wouldn't go back there if you ever paid me. We went in with hope and come out dignity less with a twisted ankle. Overall, that's all I can really talk about that really stood out over the year; leadership truly changed me as a person. It allowed me to open up and be more comfortable, I felt more confident to do what I felt like doing. More so, it made my 8th grade experience amazing. Even with other incidents like intramurals that didn't sit right with me, those bad moments are what make it so favorable. I'd do anything to reexperience all of that once again, leadership changed me, and I hope it does the same for whoever decides to come into it. Unfortunately, I don't see myself coming back as I don't want to disturb my mother's working hours. But then again, these memories will last a last time with me, I'll never forget 8th grade when I graduate, when I get a job, when I'm on my death bed. It truly just means a lot to experience all of this, and I just hope that wherever I'm guided aimlessly will make that experience worth it.

First picture that correlates to leadership

    A high this year could be the ISA bowling, nothing specifically, it was just really fun to attend to and allowed me to interact with other people. I also liked retreat, but ISA bowling was something I was willing to go through from the very start, retreat was a sort of slow realization that it was beneficial. A low this year could be the orientation, if you haven't read the overview, it just wasn't an extremely pleasant experience. I guess there were some good memories, but it's mainly just a blur that should've been cleared out a long time ago. It was an actual melting pot in the changing room, the choreographing was a little difficult to transition between move sets, and it was just a little complicated.

Bowling (Was my favorite) :)

    A moral I learned from this year is to be open to try new things. I understand people have their own comfort zones, and that's entirely fine. It's alright to have your own boundaries or own preferences, but it's also great to open out to new things. There are mainly possibilities that you can manage to reach towards that can help relieve pressure off of yourself. There are places to go too, opportunities to take, people that you can talk to, etc. You'll never grow if you stay put, and you'll never progress if you freeze and stay still. As a person, you have the right to move forward at your own personal pace, but that doesn't mean that you should rush forward to achieve something. In order for it to feel like its worthy of an accomplishment, it's best to let it flow and see where it takes you. Something you may over anticipate happening may never even have been a possibility. It's unsettling to expose yourself to something unfamiliar, but it's also exciting to see what will happen if you allow yourself to make the person who you want to excel to become.

Orientation

    The biggest thing that I'm going to be taking with me as the year ends is most likely all the new confidence I've build up. It allowed me to notice that my voice could be heard, and that I'm also a person that has a choice in what I believe is correct. I may not be ready for what's to come, but I'm not willing to back away either. With what I've built up over leadership, it'll help me overcome that stress I've had.

Opening up to other people

    Overall, I loved leadership, it built me into a stronger and more confident person and helped me to develop friendships with those around me. Of course, there are some highs and lows, but there's never a success with a steady graph of emotions, it usually has it highs and lows. However, it doesn't mean that one bad day is one bad life. Leadership allowed me to realize an advancement of opportunities that I'll never forget, nor refuse to attempt meeting that expectation.

Moving forward