JOURNAL 1
1/26/20
Dear Journal,
I’m super behind on work as always, this is my first journal of the year and of course i’m behind on that. Before the school year even started I thought senior year would fly by as fast as the rest of the years, but it’s going much slower. Being and staying on top of my work was most difficult because I came into senior year behind on college essays, and continued to be behind. In the beginning of the school year, I tried to be on top of capstone but as you can see I wasn’t very successful, I did do the major part and assigned myself a capstone project that I've enjoyed since I started. As senior year continues, I hope to keep up with all my work and make sure it’s done properly. Although, I didn’t start my senior year off right my work over the years has paid off , I was offered two scholarships from Eastern and Saint Josephs, and got accepted to five out of the nine out of ten schools I applied to. I also applied to five other scholarships and was able to finish my fafsa on time. Although negative things happen at first it doesn't mean positive things won’t happen. My capstone has been coming along well in terms of the field work and going to the schools and doing the actual job. For the rest of the year I hope to get more work done and open to more opportunities that present itself and make me become a better person. Senior year so far has had some highs and lows and is beginning to speed up, Junior Achievement has also changed the way I view senior year and has taught me to take life day by day and not to speed it up. Having this new responsibility has also taught me leadership and why it’s important to be organized. Once you have kids looking up to you and watching your every move you have to make yourself a positive and good example.
JOURNAL 2
Dear journal,
Recently because one of my team leaders got another job all of their responsibilities behind the scenes has fallen on me. For the past week i’ve suffered burns from the copy machine and paper cuts from unboxing kits and my hands being so dry. Walking into the building last week I was overwhelmed with the amount of lesson plan kits that needed to be unboxed and sorted by school. I also had to make over 200 hundred certificates for about five schools for different grades. Time management was a big lesson I had to learn this week. I wanted to get everything done fast but it’s important to be accurate when it comes to dealing with these other schools. I wanted to get the certificates done but there were kits missing and I started to put the lesson plan template and certificates in the wrong place and had to start all over again.
Time management is a struggle right now more than ever since I’ve been offered to help out more with more important things. I really want to be able to go to more schools but Junior Achievements lesson plan time and my school schedule don’t match up so I have to plan a day when the workload at school isn’t heavy and I can miss one day of school. They recently also gave me the option to stay at the different elementary schools and stay for the whole school day and not until lunch time. I’ve also gained the job to recruit volunteers from different businesses to send them to these schools and give them five minutes of my time to teach them what they will be teaching to the children in these schools. Junior Achievement has become something I enjoy and has prepared me for the difficulties and the enjoyment of the working world. I also enjoy my time at Junior Achievement. They treat me like another coworker and have become people I go to for advice or school work whenever I need it. The environment was warm and welcoming from the time I first began my capstone.
JOURNAL 3
Dear Journal,
I finally did something other than unpacking lesson plan kits. I started this new activity called “rotations” at Junior Achievement , taking out each lesson plan session by session and putting them all together for one class. I also started working on Lesson Kits for middle school students at Milner and Breakthrough Magnet. I was sick of unboxing kits and was happy to get a break and start something new even though I would eventually have to get back to them. My mentor also invited me to go to a Junior Achievement conference later on this month, to discuss future plans and ideas for Junior Achievement and look to bring it to the high schools more. I also found out that my mentor actually listens to me and remembered that I wanted to be a Physical Therapist and gave me a paper form for UConn Medical Center workshop for high school students in Connecticut. They also gave me paper for the Junior Achievement scholarship opportunity that’s due soon, so I have to get my life together in order to receive this opportunity.
I also met with my mentor about going to other schools with her to help volunteer, and she said we can come up with a plan that works with the schedule of the school we plan to go to and my schedule to see if it’s better to do it in the morning for the afternoon. My “co-worker” also gave me tips on how to approach the kids and what kinds of words to use with the kids to understand the material better. I also found out that her son did his capstone project on Junior Achievement and found out some of the same tips that I did like working on time management and learning how to be responsible. She also told me not to stay up the day before the presentation because it wasn’t a good idea for her son. It made me even more nervous to present then I already was and I don’t know why. I did get help on a research question and before I exclose the final product I need to reread it a couple times and then it will be in the next journal.
JOURNAL 4
Dear Journal,
Yesterday was probably the slowest day at Junior Achievement. I was caught up on the schedule kits for now so there really wasn’t anything for me to do. I wanted to stay busy so I started on Homework and asked everybody in the office if there’s anything I can help with. I also made a point to show up earlier than usual because i’m always getting piled with work and never get to finish on time and it bothers me until the next time I go. Of course this time there wasn’t much for me to do. I watched time go by slower and slower until I felt like it was at a stand still. I called to confirm with volunteers the schools they were going to, the time and address of the school.
I used to have a lot of headaches maybe because of stress and because I was always anxious about something or nothing at all. Recently I’ve learned that I need to take things one step at a time and not rush into anything so I won't suffer from as much headaches and it’s worked for now and I hope it stays that way. I’ve also learned to sleep in a little bit but not too much because I wake up early EVERYDAY even on weekends and it makes me really tired in school and at Junior Achievement to the point that I can take a nap just about anywhere. I’ve also been trying to drink a lot of water because it does help with your physical help and things like making your face clear and your lips aren't as chapped. I also tried to cut back on things like candy and McDonald’s things that make me gain weight fast and tired easily. I also have been trying to stay off of social media and just do homework or spend time doing something other than being glued to the phone all day like i used to.
JOURNAL 5
2/25/20
Dear Journal,
Every time I get into the office there are tons of boxes stacked on each other for me to unpack and put away, and all of the boxes belong to one guy who I barely sees and never says hi or bye to me when leaving or coming into the office. But, I am so quiet that people sometimes know I’m never there, but every time I walk in the rest of the acts like they just saw their guardian angel or superman. When I leave they give me puppy dog eyes like they will be waiting until I come back. Today, when I walked in with my heavy backpack and lunch for the day, all my stuff on my desk was moved, it wasn’t any personal stuff , just papers I needed for the kit unpacking and my laptop.
The desk was wiped clean as if something was stolen from the office but it was noticeable from afar. Sumayya, my mentor and one of the only people I talk to in the office since Mara my friend left to go to another job, came up to me and said “we switched your desk space” and I was confused and said okay. Oddly enough they gave the quietest person in the office the biggest desk, in the front where I have to greet people and all eyes are on me. I sat down at my new desk putting things in order, I forgot all about my lunch for a couple minutes, until the rest of the people in the office went across the street to my mom’s job and got something to eat. Being the awkward person that I am, I tried eating normal but thought about it too much and started eating like I didn’t know how. Of course by the time I took my first bite people started walking in and saw me stuffing my face and drinking an orange soda. I was kind of embarrassed and my body started getting hot of course and I felt like I was covered with tons of sweat and the room started getting smaller a little bit, I might be getting a little dramatic LOL but that’s how it felt.
JOURNAL 6
Dear Journal,
None of the past seniors are going to have journals like the class of 2020. This year has been most confusing for us and the fact that we might have to finish school over a computer screen is really different and I hope no future class has to go through the things we have. Because of covid-19 we some of us aren’t able to finish our capstone because most of the senior class work in schools or public areas but now all of that is shut down and it’s hard for people to finish the great work they started. The day before the shutdown of schools and stores, Junior Achievement also shutdown so now all my “co-workers” have to work from home through a laptop like most people nowadays. I think this quarantine showed us we took things for granted like going to school and being able to go to work. It was things we complain most about that we miss most while being locked in the house. Getting a car ride or being able to see our friends still even though we aren’t supposed to is enjoyable. I think this quarantine will make us appreciate the little things in life that have been taken away from us, like outside, going to the store, going to the park, being around a lot of people and more but this virus has taken that from us. Now we question if it’s spring because it’s still cold, cold enough that my ears ache when the wind touches them. I honestly believe this is the best journal I've written (just a sidebar before I forget lol). Things in my life have changed like I can’t see my family for family dinner because my grandma doesn’t want us to get sick and believes everything she hears. I’m currently at her house and I accidently touched her hand and she immediately put on hand sanitizer ( so extra lol). I hope this is over soon, I doubt we will be going back to school but I hope we’ll still have a graduation later on.
JOURNAL 7
Dear journal,
During this quarantine I've mainly been sleeping and I've found it extremely hard to stay awake when I first wake up. School work has been my first priority and because the days keep on repeating it’s been hard to find new things to do and or complete. And now that my high school days are over there’s nothing more to look forward to, nothing to be excited about. This is just a long summer vacation. On the bright side this quarantine sounds like it’s going to be over soon hopefully. It’s getting harder and harder to find new things to do while being home, all it’s been is watching Netflix series, doing homework, eating and sleeping. All of my days have rolled into one, feels like everyday is just one extra long day for no reason. I’ve also tried to find new things to do but nothing has come up yet,
On the brightside: None of my close family members or friends have covid, we’re still living and enjoying talks on the phone, ordering food just about every other day and spending a lot of time with each other. I’ve started watching new shows and movies on netflix and disney plus. My mother and I have gotten closer, now we aren’t too busy to talk or aren’t home enough to not speak as much as we should. I feel like quarantine has become our new normal and when things go back to being our original normal we’ll have a hard time adjusting to it. Being in quarantine so long actually changed the way people think, act and do with their lives. People have found new hobbies to complete, new people to talk to, families have reconnected and talk more, new personalities, new looks and styles and more. People have evolved into the person they believe they think they want to be and it can be both a good and bad thing for the people doing it.