This past week I had the greatest achievement of my entire life happen! My first article for my final product about the ISM program got published in the Frisco Enterprise newspaper! I am so thankful to Karen and everything she has done for me thus far, she has opened so many doors for me and I will be forever grateful. Besides getting to see my work in print, I also applied to an internship at Community Impact newspaper, finished two scholarships and worked some more on my second article for my final product. I am in the process of finishing it now so that I can show it to Karen tomorrow, and I am excited for her feedback. As the year inches closer to its inevitable end, I am both excited and nostalgic, but ultimately inspired to make this final presentation night the best ever. Senior year has definitely been the best year of high school even with the stress of college and scholarships. I am looking forward to rehearsing my final speech, putting finishing touches on my board, and creating invitations! The time has passed incredibly fast but I hope to continue spending time with Karen at the Chamber through the summer. My experience in ISM gets better with every passing day, so I am more than ready for my mentor visit tomorrow!
This past week has been one of the most hectic that I have had this entire school year. From back to back tests, quizzes, competitions, volunteering opportunities, and going to work, I barely had time to complete all of my responsibilities! Luckily, everything turned out okay, though on Monday I had so much I had to leave my weekly blog update for Tuesday. Through all of this, I can absolutely say that my greatest adversity last week was finding the time to do everything I had to do and manage it well. Although I did have a lot of struggle within the motivation department, I achieved many things inside and outside of my independent study. The most exciting thing I discovered was an internship opportunity that I may or may not explicitly qualify for, but that will not stop me from applying anyway, and when I emailed Karen about it she encouraged me to as well, so I will be working on and submitting that this week. Plus, I have a couple of scholarship essays to write this week along with finishing my second article a week ahead of its scheduled date because I am feeling inspired and ready to have it by my next mentor visit on Friday! All in all, though this last week has been hectic, I feel I have conquered it well and am ready for more challenges to come this week!
This past week I continued working on my final product with a productive mentor visit at the Chamber. Karen and I discussed ideas for my second article until I finally settled on writing about what attracts young people to Frisco. I edited my product calendar and gave myself some more time to work on my articles, and I think now everything will go over fairly smoothly. I have begun to create my website and I am happy with how it is looking so far. This weekend I plan to finish the second article since I will have time. Other than that, it is nice to have regular mentor visits because I am really enjoying my time with Karen! Last year I only got to see Dr. Ennis once every month or so, which tended to put a damper on my study. I am lucky to be so close to my mentor this year! I feel like I have improved as a writer and am excited to show my final product to everyone, as well as get published. It is seriously going to be so amazing! Some challenges I have faced are the ever-strengthening epidemic of senioritis spreading throughout me, but I think I am doing a good job handling it and having enough fun to keep it at bay at the same time. I am looking forward to the upcoming months for sure.
This last week has been the most ISM-filled of the entire last two years of my time in the program. I went on two back-to-back mentor visits on Tuesday and Thursday, volunteering to help Karen and Christi with anything they needed in preparation for the Frisco Number Ones Gala. With how much time I spend around the both of them, Christi has essentially become an honorary mentor of mine since I have learned a lot from the way both she and Karen work together and my experience observing and speaking with her. Something I have not been able to stop talking about, and definitely my greatest accomplishment not just of the week, but of my entire life, is that Karen spoke with a woman on the school board about my article and that led to it now getting published in the newspaper! One of my goals this year was to get published, and now I am not only getting published online but also in print. I have learned so much this year that I could not possibly have without Karen, and I am forever grateful for everything she has done for me and am looking forward to what is next. For me, ISM has finally become what it was intended to be, and I know I am studying the right thing. I have found my niche, and I could not be more excited about it.
This past week I gave my speech on my original work and mentorship experience during the first semester. I feel like my achievements this year have truly made all of my hard work finally become worth it. The highlight of last week was finishing the article I wrote about ISM for the new Chamber website. Even though I have not edited yet, both Karen and Coach Goff gave it their stamp of approval so I am feeling pretty good! I am excited to go on my first mentor visit of the new semester tomorrow and talk to Karen about my final product, what has been going on at the Chamber, and more. Even though the stress of college admissions decisions finally being released to my peers is a little hard to handle, I am more than able to overcome my emotions because I have already conquered so much since the beginning of my junior year. From moving into the top nine percent of my class to getting into my dream college to having the opportunity to be mentored by the coolest woman to ever exist, I have earned every achievement and feel proud of myself. I am really excited to continue working on my final product, too. I have no been this excited about something in such a long time! More details on my progress to come soon.
Last week was the 2019 ISM Research Showcase at the Star in Frisco, Texas. My second and final experience at the showcase was amazing, and I am so proud of how far I have come both professionally and academically. I met so many interesting people and even got to meet my mentor's daughter, Abbey, who attends UT Austin as a sophomore. Not only did I get to talk about college stuff, I also got to talk about my independent study, both of which are topics I am really excited about, especially right now. I am hard at work on the article about ISM for the Chamber website, and I know it will turn out well and I will be proud of it, I just keep doubting myself even though I know I should not. My next project, my final product, is now coming up as well. I am still quite uncertain as to what I want it to be, but I know I want it to be something communications related. The product proposal due this week is sure to get me thinking hard! I am excited to write articles for Karen and progress our mentorship. Who know what else is going to happen and what other opportunities will come my way? I am looking forward to what is coming next!
The time for research showcase at the Star has finally arrived and I could not be more excited! I have spent the last week putting the final touches on my display board and finishing up my portfolio, so now all I have left is to get excited about Wednesday! Karen confirmed that she would be there which makes it even more exciting, too. However, one of my greatest adversities in the last week has been coming to terms with the fact that I have finally caught senioritis. Since I am officially attending UT Austin, I feel more secure about college and I have been slacking a little, but I feel like I am entitled to a break since I have worked so hard, especially on my original work. I know I will not let my excitement for the future cloud my productivity, since I am more responsible than that. The good news, however, is that I feel like I truly have evolved as a student and I feel more prepared for college than ever because of my year and a half in the independent study program. Even though the workload has been hard to handle at some points, my passion has led me to exactly where I deserve to be, and I could not be happier.
Winter break has come and gone and I am officially showcase ready! I feel really proud of all the work I have put in to get to this point in my independent study! Since this is my second year, it feels easier and less stressful too. Maybe that is because I am studying what I really love, maybe it is because I know what to expect, maybe it is a little bit of both. All I know is that I could not be more excited for research showcase next week. Personally, I like showcase more than final presentation night because I can talk to more people about my study! As far as challenges I have faced go, I would have to say that now that I have conquered the hurdle of first semester, These past few weeks preparing to present everything I have learned have been a breeze. It feels pretty great to have reached not only my graduation year, but the official beginning of my journey towards a career in communications. I seriously cannot believe it has been a year, but I am the happiest I have been and I know that my study is the reason for it.
This past week I finished my original work! I am so proud of myself after months of hard work, dedication and creative thinking. Altogether, my short story is around 5,000 words which blows my mind since I never thought I would write a fiction piece that grew to that extent. It was definitely challenging getting my project in on time since I had finals and work that I had to worry about simultaneously, but now that I am officially finished I feel fantastic! I had to put aside the article my mentor asked me to write in order to put full force into my short story, but now that I am finished I am excited to write something in my comfort zone and make Karen proud! Now I get to complete the most exciting part of getting ready for the research showcase: Putting together my display board! My vision this year is bold and I am excited to put it together. Spending a few hours at Hobby Lobby will really help put me in the zone. Altogether, I am really looking forward to starting off the new year on the field at the Star telling hundreds of people why I am passionate about writing. I can't wait for 2019!
This past week I went on another mentor visit and got to see Karen and Christi (who is the director of events) doing some planning for the Frisco Number Ones Gala, which is the Chamber's largest event of the year. Watching them work was really cool, I so more insight as to what Karen does for her job. We also talked about my original work, and how I have so many ideas that I am getting writer's block trying to figure out how to sort through them all. I have been working really hard on my story, and already have almost twenty hours of work put into it and it's not even halfway done! I am excited to see where it goes, since I started somewhere very different than where I have ended up, but that is creative writing! I have realized, however, I need months to recreate an entire novel, so now I am just aiming to write a short story before it is due next week. The thrill of the deadline coming up is really pushing me to get moving, and I think I have finally come to a storyline that I am proud of. Writing fiction is definitely something that is out of my comfort zone, but I am having so much fun doing it!
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