New Years

New Years is always an exciting holiday to celebrate. What's your new years resolution? Some common resolutions are spend more time with family and friends, exercise at the gym, loose weight (eat better), quit smoking, enjoy life more, quit drinking, get out of debt, learn something new, help others, and get organized. My new years resolution is to get out of debt for sure! If you have a new years resolution you would like to share, post it! Happy New Year! 2012 will be a fantastic year!

Christmas Tradition

Christmas is a very special time when my family gets together to celebrate and spend time that is cherished. We eat food from turkey all the way to tamales. Just thinking about the food makes me hungry! After we eat, we all engage in playing a competitive game such as MAD GAB or Taboo. It gets intense... While all this is happening we of course share the gifts we received and plan shopping trips to spend the gift cards. That is my family tradition in Salida. In Denver with my other family, we open gifts on Christmas Eve and go to church to watch a Christmas play. Then we all get together on Christmas day and eat! I'm always looking forward to Christmas gatherings... You always have enough food to last you for weeks!

Internship Readiness

Someone who is internship ready must prepare themselves to have outstanding qualities to show their managers that they are ready and motivated to work in their work place. Some examples of excellent qualities are organizational skills, be prepared, having confidence in yourself, staying focused on whatever task you are working on, always having an open mind, be willing to learn new things, have a hunger for more information, keep a positive attitude, ask questions if you're unsure of anything, BE ON TIME, and always make sure that you are managing your time well and getting tasks done ahead of time so you can proofread for any errors. Before your internship it will be important to demonstrate all these important qualities so your manager will be impressed with your outstanding characteristics. Some ways to demonstrate these characteristics in Mod 3 are by asking questions if you are unsure about anything, participate in class discussion, participate in extra curricular activities, get involved in community service opportunities, and do homework ahead of time for the best quality. Some changes I am planning on making in order to be ready for my internship are managing my time better, raise my hand often in class discussions, get more involved in what Year Up has to offer, make sure I get clarity on my assignments, and have a positive motivational attitude. It is key that we all take this time we have very seriously so that we can go to our internship prepared to be hired on full time.

Best and Worst Job

 Working at Boys and Girls Club in Colorado would have to be one of the best jobs I've ever had. I was responsible for helping youth grow into becoming responsible healthy citizens. It was a beautiful thing because I was able to see a lot of youth start out at age 6 and become an amazing part of our community all the way through middle school. I think the skills that I developed at BGC that will serve me at internship are skills like being on time, being accountable for my actions, keeping a positive attitude, having good communication skills with parents, etc. At BGC I learned that it takes a lot of hard work and effort to keep consistent with every youth that attends BGC so that each youth knows your expectations of them and how they can always strive to learn and do their best. Through this process, I learned that it takes a lot of self discipline to be able to go to work everyday with a positive attitude and be ready to take on whatever comes your way. The worst job I ever had was helping my mom clean two buildings. It was the most exhausting, worthless job, that paid the least amount of money I've ever had. I had to make sure each building was clean so that my mom and I never received any letters of complaints from the staff that occupied the buildings. From this experience I know I learned how it feels to really work hard and get my hands dirty. Also, I always made sure to keep in mind that I was doing this to help my mom out so she didn't have to clean both buildings by herself. Which made me feel good in the end because I enjoy helping people.

Occupy Movement

Rivera's mural captures what is going on with the occupy movement today. To me, The top painting shows the busy city of New York with the people in it going about their everyday lives who have jobs just like any other city, even San Francisco and Oakland. The middle painting is the one that can get a little depressing if you really can take a stab what the meaning can really be. People are jobless and are in economic turmoil. Where else can they sleep but in shelters or on the street? If you look at this painting you see not just a few bodies in a shelter but it is packed full of bodies of people resting. In the room there is a guard keeping watch which can symbolize a form of control over the people like the government who is in control of what seems like everything. Where as at the bottom of the painting, you see a bank with rich people investing their money in the bank when they could be helping by giving back to their community somehow. The people who are occupying the streets of New York, San Francisco, Oakland and many more are making a statement that is very similar to Rivera's mural because today there are people homeless and jobless like there was when the Great Depression took place. According to thegreatdepressioncauses.com, The unemployment rate in America had dropped from a high of 25% to 15%, largely due to the New Deal programs introduced by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939. The Great Depression began in 1929 and ended in 1941 when America prepared to enter World War II. That's a great deal of time and I believe today's situation is very similar to the Great Depression back then if not worse. Rivera's mural is a perfect portrait painted for what is happening in the world today.

My inspiration

The first time I was inspired was when I moved to San Francisco in 2010. I met a woman by the name of Geraldine who pushed me past my limits to better myself in everything I did. Geraldine always said you can't settle for what is good, you must strive to get the best. Follow your heart and fulfill your dreams. No one ever told me encouraging words like that. It made me really think about what it was to never settle for just the ok things in life and to always push myself to get the best. For example, I was three years out of high school with no college behind me, she always put "fire under my butt" to go with her to City College to take some general classes, which I found that I enjoyed. That is one of many of my goals is to have a college diploma and with Geraldine's help, I can reach that goal. A year ago, Geraldine came across a flyer, in big bold letters, it read YEAR UP BAY AREA. She did a little research about the program and knew that a have a love for the technology world. She said you better jump on this opportunity because not many have this kind of chance. So I researched more about the program and decided that Year Up was something I wanted to be apart of. In the past, I was always told I wouldn't amount to nothing. That I was nothing. That college shouldn't even be in my vocabulary. Today, I am something because I know I can contribute some way some how in this world. Each time I struggle I am asked who said life was easy? When you go through these troubles, that is what makes you stronger. Everyday I always keep in the back of my mind that I am getting stronger with all the trials and struggles I go through. I also remember that there is always someone else out there who has it a lot worse than me. I appreciate Geraldine and what she has instilled in my heart because it advice that will last a lifetime.

The Community of Boys and Girls Club of Chaffee County

Boys and Girls Club of Chaffee County was a community that I was apart of about two years ago. It is a safe place for children and young adults to come and have a good time as well as learn and get a better understanding of their education. At BGC education is very important because children are able to get tutored and mentored to encourage them that furthering their education is very important. At BGC the staff provides a positive environment so the children know that they can always come to a positive place for advice, for a shoulder to lean on and a place where they can feel most comfortable. At Boys and Girls Club children and young adults can engage in physical educational activities such as kickball, basketball games, soccer and more. There is a place in Boys and Girls club called the Games Room where there are activities like pool air hockey, wii Fitness, Dance Dance Revolution, Puzzles etc. There is also a place for the children and young adults to express themselves in art. The building itself is full of amazing things for children and young adults to take part in. I take pride in this particular community because it is a positive place for anyone from ages 6-18 to come.