Student Performance Event

I went to the Co-Ed Basketball game as my Student Performance Event. This event was held in the gym. It was the first time I had every been in the gym so it was pretty exciting. The game was really fun. Everyone on the audience was really excited and full of energy. It reminded me of when I cheered at Basketball games in High School and how excited the crowd would get. The teams playing were really good and most of the game was tied. It wasn't until the fourth quarter that one of the teams got ahead and won. The final score was 107-106. It was one player who ended up taking the ball from the other team the last few seconds of the game and made the winning shot for his team. It was really fun to see students playing the game because although they weren't actually basketball players they were really good! More students should definitely attend these types of events. 

Student Life Activity

On November 17th, I participated in an Bracelet and Holiday Card event in the SJ Lounge. We made bracelets and cards for children of the Ronald McDonald house. In a lot of the cards we wrote things like "Merry Christmas", "Happy Holidays" and encouraging things like "Never give up", and  "Always shoot for the Stars". The goal was to make the children happy and put a smile on their faces when they receive these gifts. I had a lot of fun making the bead bracelets because I hadn't made some in a long time. A lot of people from my floor went to the event which made it that much more fun. I hope housing hosts more of these events because it does give back to the community and encompasses the idea behind Hallmark 4 "We commit ourselves to community service". I would definitely recommend these type of events to students.

Student Life Activity

I went to Mass on Sunday, October 30th at 7 pm in the Chapel. In complete honesty it was the first time I had gone to mass since I moved to school. The reason I had gone was because I had been feeling really down, more specifically lonely. Before coming to college I was in a relationship for about a year and it ended a month before school started. I was going through a really rough time, and I began to lose myself as a person. I questioned myself and my faith a lot. I wondered why someone would let me go so easily after giving them everything, I always thought if you gave your all you would get the same in return and I felt cheated of that. I finally told my mom how I had truly been feeling and she suggested going to mass. That same week I decided to start a journal, writing in it how I felt during the week and what I expected to get out of mass. During the actual mass the priest talked about forgiveness. Stating that "through forgiveness comes peace. Because we forgive those who have trespassed against us". I truly felt that the message behind the mass was directed towards me. For the first time in a long time I got a sign from god, and I felt like I was going to be okay. I just needed to forgive what this person had done to me to finally forget about what happened. Going to mass really helped me and I have been going every Sunday since then. I even decided to start my confirmation classes next semester and actively participate with activities in the Spirituality center. Everyone their has been so welcoming and loving. It makes being away from home so much easier. I would highly recommend mass to everyone.

Student Life Activity (Winter Formal)

On December 3rd, 2016 I went to the Winter Formal dance that Campus Programs held. Formal was at the Mr. Tipple's recording studio in Downtown San Francisco. I was really excited to go to this because it was the first time I would be dressing up formally since Prom of my Senior Year. I went with a group of friends. Although the venue was small, it was still a fun dance. For the most part everyone was dancing and taking pictures at the photo booth. It was a really fun atmosphere and I had a great time. I'm really looking forward to going next year. I would definitely recommend this event to other students.

Social Justice Speaker

On November 17th, our FYS class listened to Social Justice Speaker Rose Jacobs Gibson. Rose Jacobs Gibson worked for the San Mateo County of Supervisors for 14 years. She just recently stepped down, but she continues to help her community in any way that she can. While listening to her give her speech, I thought that the Hallmark she most reflected was Hallmark 4. Hallmark 4 states "We Commit ourselves to community service.". Throughout her time of being Supervisor she committed most of her time to community service, and coming up with ways she could help her community. While she was giving her speech the topic she talked about was giving back to people of her community. She also believes that Justice and Peace are two very valuable things in the world that need to be practiced in our everyday lives. This also closely reflects Hallmark 3, "We educate for an act on behalf of justice and peace in the world.".

I aspire to reflect these values in my own life because they very closely relate to what I want to do with my career. Being that I want to work with foreign policy, I have to work for Justice for people around the world along with peace. I need these two values in order to come up with compromise, and compromise is something that is always needed when negotiating with other countries. I also aspire to obtain the type of Leadership that Rose Jacobs Gibson had. She was able to make a difference in her community, and I want to be able to make a difference in the world.

Freshmen Seminar Conference

On November 3rd, 2016 I attended and participated at the Freshmen Seminar Conference. At the conference I learned more about the Happiness class and what their class is really about. I also learned about the Altruism class, and what really differentiates a person that is altruistic, and a person that is hospitable. Being a presenter for our class I learned a lot about the aspects of cooperative and collaborative learning. It was really a difficult task in my personal opinion. It was hard for the entire class to come down to a single agreement. And it was hard to communicate with each other outside of class if we wanted to get a task done, especially with people that are constantly absent. This project helped show me the pros and cons of cooperative learning. If us the students would have been more responsible, and managed our time well this project would have gone a lot smoother. Regarding the other class presentations, I felt like I learned more when people asked questions after the presentations. Because students actually analyzed the information being given to them, and wanted more insight of it.

Call to Action Refelction

On October 11th, our class participated in Call to Action Day. We went on a trip with 5th graders from Ravenswood to the Marine Science Institute in Redwood City. I had so much fun on this trip, not only were the kids entertaining themselves but so were the activities that we were doing on the vessel. We the students were suppose to serve as mentors towards the 5th graders, and I truly believe we accomplished this. The one moment that I realized I was really making a meaningful impact was when I helped translate the instructions of an activity in Spanish to some students who were not very fluent in English. What I learned about the value of service through this activity is that just being able to assist someone with something makes so much more of a difference towards the person that you’re helping. In this case I was able to make the trip more fun for the students which makes me happy. This activity gives me the opportunity to branch out to similar organizations and help as a mentor for students during their trips as well. I would definitely do this again.