Sunook Cantal
Nice to meet you, I'm Sunook Cantal
ESSAY REFLECTION
"People calls those imperfections, but no, that's the good stuff"
-Sean McGuire(Robin Williams), Good Will Hunting
I vividly remember the last week of summer before my freshman year. My family had recently moved into a new house in Hayward, California. We had previously in lived in Alameda for the duration of my middle school, and moving felt, well, strange. I had previously gone to Lincoln Middle School, and expected to go to Alameda High School along with all the friends that I had, but it didn’t really go that way. Instead, my parents presented to me two options: go to a charter school in Alameda, or to a public school in Hayward. Of course, I chose the Alameda option because I absolutely loved the Alameda community and its environment. That week, the week before I would take off at the Alameda Community Learning Center, I spent contemplating about how I would decorate my new empty room. The house that we bought was a duet that was brand new, and we were its first homeowners. So I was there, sitting in the both literal and metaphorical room in the midst of a summer heatwave, of how I would decorate my room. The answer that I reached was satisfying to me; I wanted to decorate my room and spend my high school life in a very minimalistic manner. I wanted to keep my room clean and tidy the same way I would go to school and study to get good grades. The answer was one that I liked, and so I followed it…
To this day, my room is one that I could say is an “absolute mess”. The moment you walk in, you’re greeted with a abominable pile of papers, clothes, and miscellaneous items across the carpet floor. These are items that I had accumulated during my time at the Alameda Community Learning Center, and are ones that I appreciate, even though they are all over the place. They also describe my highschool life, but I wouldn’t say it was an “absolute mess,” but probably something similar. I would describe my highschool life as “unexpected”. High school for me was an experience that I have unconditional feelings for. And throughout this reflective essay, I’m proud to present to you what I have gained the last four years in the whimsical life of mine.
Topic: Personal Qualities, Work Habits, and Attitudes
In the social environment that both middle and high school provide, many students desire in becoming popular among the rest of the student body. For me, that was different. Instead of trying to fit into norms that everyone was accustomed to, I wanted to do what I was best at: being me. I didn’t want to be the center of attention, I simply wanted those who admired me to be around my circle. I wanted people who appreciated what I did, and why I did it. At my years in the Alameda Community Learning Center, this was an extremely tough challenge because it meant going through many phases and challenges that I absolutely found disgust in, but now looking at it not so much. Back then, I was arrogant, too ignorant to take criticism, and thought I was the absolute best. But this wasn’t really the case. After going through challenges such as leading a team of “knuckle head” middle schoolers at my summer camp, which required me to break out of my comfort zone, I was left tattered and exhausted. Immediately, I found the faults in myself, and began participating in events that I considered were “outside my bubble”. I began to participate in events that were “outside my bubble,” and from there I was making progress. To up to this day, I find myself to be more honest, persevering, and what I could finally claim as “confidence”. I am undoubtedly thrilled to share the past experiences with anyone who is at where I once was, with an honest heart. I am proud of the progress it took to be the person that I am today, and I will not stop growing. From here and the future, I will not stop going to grow.
Topic: New Basics
In middle school, there were many kids that were carefree and that didn’t really mind about their grades at all. I was one of those kids. Back then, I thought that intelligence was something that rather only special people had, and I thought that I wasn’t really qualified as one of those people. So I lived most of my middle school life breezing through my classes without much incentive to work at all.
That was all until my parents started putting me into after school academic support classes in the eighth grade of my middle school. From there, I began to realize that “intelligence” is not something that the talented had, but rather one that people who worked hard could obtain. Realizing this, I began to take this concept into high school at the Alameda Community Learning Center. From there, I began to force myself to improve my academic skills. I trained myself to read long and lengthy novels such as Frank Herbert’s Dune. From reading different kinds of novels, I soon became accustomed to the language that they contained, which ultimately helped write mechanically. I sort of had the desire to live the “Casey Neistat” life in a sense. I wanted to engross myself into new experiences which I could learn from everyday. I quit swim club and began running half marathons at Lake Chabot everyday. I joined weekend events such as the Stanford Splash and the AMSA Pre-Health conference where I would gain inspiration to pursue my career — nursing. I have participated in many events that have showed benefits in my academic growth. To this day, I believe that hard work is valued more on a scale when compared to raw talent.
Topic: Thinking & Reasoning Skills
During my time at the Alameda Learning Community Center, I have drilled the confidence in myself to get through my failures. I originally believed my failures lead to the end of everything, but over the years to come I began to realize that failure was rather a sign of progress. I have failed many test, projects, etc. over my years at the Alameda Community Learning Center. Recently, the ACLC Ski Trip Team, a team that I was apart of, failed to get enough people to make the trip successful. However, despite the tragic loss that I faced, I continued to persevere. Instead of blaming others for the failure, I looked upon myself to see what I learned from the project itself. I found that I honed many skills, such as communication and marketing, which I am sure will come in handy later on. Perseverance is a trait that I find crucial when taking action to be successful.
Topic: Interpersonal & Collaborative Ability
I believe that the greatest type of teammate is one who has the ability to adapt to any situation that they are present to, and that they do not let their emotions overrule them in the process of finishing a task. I learned this concept from working with kids, specifically a summer camp that I volunteered in over the summer. At the camp, I was assigned a group of middle schoolers that were in fifth to sixth grade, and I had to lead them at the camp for a week. The most difficult problem that I had to face with them was not that they were annoying nor clumsy, but the fact that they would insult my co-leader and I for the entire week. At the beginning I was extremely annoyed by this, and absolutely hated the words that came from their mouths, but over time I began to grow used to it. Instead of having a strong animosity towards them, I instead scoffed off what they said and continued on with the day. Near the end of the week, I found myself to be very grateful for having the opportunity to strengthen my mentality. After the summer camp, I was a lot more confident in myself, and was able to establish better communication with the people that I came across. I now adapt to the situation at hand, and look for ways to finish the task without ruining my mentality.
Topic: Technology
Other than learning how to manage tools such as Powerpoint, Google Docs, and other online tools that have definitely helped many students achieve, I have found one technological skill that will definitely help me in the years to come, which was the ability to produce music through a Digital Audio Workstation.
Out of all four of my years at the Alameda Learning Community Center, I have never taken a year without Digital Music as an elective. I took the class all four consecutive years, and over the years, my feelings were very unconditional for the class.
Digital Music is a class that requires learners to produce music on DAWs. Throughout my high school experience in the class, I learned that being a music producer required two things: lots of knowledge to work the software, and lots of time and creativity. Honestly, I would say that Reason and Ableton Live, two DAWs that the class is built upon, took about three years to comprehend.There are still more concepts that I am still trying to learn, which are incredibly difficult master, but I accepted the fact that it will take time to learn. From trying to learn how to work the DAWs, I found new shortcuts and tools that will definitely help me in some way in college.
It's hard to believe that I have changed so much at the Alameda Community Learning Center. I will take what I learned from the Alameda Community Learning Center and hopefully apply it to future situations. I have made countless bonds with people at this school, and there will be many more to come. Even though it will be tough saying goodbye to the people that struggled alongside me in this stage called "high school," I am ready to carry on. As I go on, I will always remember the people who have helped me get to where I am today. And that's a fact.