Jenny's E-Portfolio
Hi! It is Jenny, and right now I am currently an eighth grader in AdVENTURE. This is my last year here, which is making me begin to feel a little nostalgic. Yes, I know my 5 paragraph essays have always been what it means to be an AdVENTURE student, but as I read all these, I realize that I was wrong, and how my mind has definitely changed about AdVENTURE. I used to say being an AdVENTURE means being collaborative, technology open, etc. But I never took in mind how I truly, on the inside, felt about being an AdVENTURE student. Only now as an eighth grader, I understand how I truly feel being an AdVENTURE student for 4 years. I think that being an AdVENTURE student is all about change. I am surprised how easily my mind has changed being here. I think if I just continued my elementary school education at regular schools, my mind would not have changed, nor would I feel more open or changed. And being in the nostalgic mood that I am in; along with some regrets and cringing, I believe that being a student at AdVENTURE means change and acceptance.
When I look back as a fifth grader, my ideals on life were so strange. I used to think that sometimes trying to accomplish your dreams were impossible. Even to the point where I thought that it was ridiculous to want to be an athlete (these thoughts were really weird). I remember very clearly that I wanted to be a lawyer, and I wanted to be a name partner at a law firm, or handle a really big case. All these ideals, have slowly faded away as time passed by. My goal in life at the time as a fifth grader was to make as much money as possible, so I can take care of the people around me. Now, if you compare my ideals in life as an eighth grader to mine in fifth grade, you would think that they came from two completely different people. Now, I want to be a writer, rather than a lawyer. And I do believe that accomplishing your dreams are possible, as long as you set your mind to them. My current goal in life is to do what makes me happy, and make sure that I don’t regret anything in my life. Although one thing that I do want to note, is that as the time to attend high school and college gets closer, I feel less confident in my grades, as well as my certainty of the future. In the past, I had a big plan for my future and how my life will turn out. I believe this is because of how little I understood the world in the past. But with the influence of the people around me, I realize that I can’t plan my life out down to the last second, things will happen that might mess those plans up. But the feeling of uncertainty has been welcomed, with the help of the people around me. That is what I think being an AdVENTURE student means, it means that you may come in with specific ideas in your head, but that doesn’t mean that you will come out the same person, and probably in the good way. Your ideas will change, your mind will be more open in the world.
It might be just me, but the classmates that I have been with for years might have wore me down. Trust me, in the good way. In fifth grade, let’s say I was not the most amazing person in the world. I felt bitter about everything, and I was oblivious to people’s emotions. I was always grumpy, and someone once noted that I had a ‘very angry face.’ Even thinking about this makes my stomach turn. But being with all my classmates, and talking to them, I believe that they have made me into a better person (at least better than fifth grade). As the years pass, I think I became more aware of who people are and how they feel. I think as I grew and learned with all these people in my class, they helped me become more aware as a person. (As well as learning about empathy in class). I also learned more about my classmates and became more aware of their situations, rather than judging them so easily. I think that the empathy that I learned throughout AdVENTURE will stay with me for the rest of my life.
Honestly, a lot of things within me have changed a lot throughout my years as an AdVENTURE student. But I think the thing that changed me the most is my views towards education. This might be an odd one. I used to believe that there was nothing in the world that I was good at other than school. This might have been a sense of denial on my part, but the only thing that I was very proud of was my abilities at school. But when I got into seventh grade and eighth grade, I was about to learn more things, and join more activities. Around these years, I believe I was more aware of who I was and I was willing to do anything new. Although everything that I tried, I was not quite the best at. I learned that having high marks in school is not the only thing that I can be proud of, and if I try harder in things that I am genuinely interested in, then it can be a hobby as well as a thing that I can be proud of. In fact, I just started my second week of violin lessons, and I am actually excited to learn deeper into how to play it. With my seventh and eighth grade years, I was able to understand learning and hobbies, and that school does not have to be the only thing that I do in the spare time.
I truly believe that I have changed a lot since fifth grade. But then again, maybe in my senior year of high school, I will believe that I have changed a lot since eighth grade. Being an AdVENTURE student is all about change, acceptance, and become a good person for the better. No matter what you do, you will come out as a person with new thoughts, ready to take on the world. I think I have been more relaxed with my point of views in life. And for future AdVENTURE students, they might not leave with the same ideas that I have now. They might leave with other thoughts, maybe even better thoughts. We change because of the people that are around us. The future students of AdVENTURE will have different classmates than I did. So no matter what, the new people that we meet on the first day of fifth grade, will be the people that stay with you for years, and be the ones who will truly impact this part of your life.