Professional Foods

Since I decided to pursue nutrition, it only made sense that I take a foods course, right? I actually really needed something to fill my extra course slot, and really thought that Professional Foods would be something I could get through in highschool. I decided though, that next year rather than finishing Foods I'd take Psychology 20 and 30. After making this decision I never wanted to second guess; it's too late to change my mind anyway, but when I walked into Foods class today my teacher offered me a "job" to help out afterschool on Wednesday and Thursday for a staff interview thing (new teachers coming in) and cater for wrestling. I didn't accept because he added in the fact that I would get paid, I accepted because I want to take every opportunity I can to become more experienced in the real world. It doesn't matter how relevant it is, because it's still taking every opportunity I can to ultimately work my way towards my goal. i'm really thankful to my teacher for choosing me though I'm not sure why. I noticed during the hands on cooking I'd be the one who made most mistakes, get lost looking for something, feel frustrated for not understanding the recipe but at the end of the class I still feel accomplished for learning something, trying something new, and the mistakes I made I know I'd never make again. This should be relevant to health and nutrition, right? I think of this as my last opportunity in this field of work in high school because after grade 11, I'll be off to psychology to pursue my second interest. At least I'll know that I gave hands on cooking a try, because it's better than assuming that I can't do it.

Option Switch

A while ago I already made the decision to pursue a psychology minor, but having not been able to take psychology this year I felt like I wasn't caught up. Right now I'm taking foods and it really isn't something I enjoy or feel passionate about. There were many times I wanted to quit something, but I don't like to think of myself as a quitter and when I do quit something it's after much thought. After deciding not to drop communication technology next year (which took one whole year to confirm my final choice), I've decided to drop foods 20 and 30 for psychology 20 and 30. It might seem unreasonable right now for someone who wants a nutrition major but hands on cooking is something I know for sure that I have no talent in. For now, in school, I just want to focus on desk work and psychology may teach me more than foods will; at least criteria I will remember and find fascinating. I decided this after thinking for a long time, probably over four months and I learned that if choices were easy, they wouldn't be choices. When one side is at 100%, there's nothing to choose from. For me right now, psychology and foods are both 50/50 and I need to choose one and turn that 50% into 100% and work hard to prove that it was the right choice. Now I'm finalizing that I want psychology over foods, and after registration in a few weeks there won't be any going back. I hope I can make this decision the right choice for me in the end. Either way; no spare for me next year!

Internship Update [1]

I finally managed to get my resume, cover letter, attendance report, transcript and application form together and headed to see my school's job coordinator today. She told me that she was going to start promoting the internship to my school in a few months and was confused at why I had the form in the first place. I don't know why but I did feel intimidated by her; but I tried my best not to show it. She glanced at my application and said, "You do realize that you have to write up a resume and cover letter, right?"  and I told her I already had it done and it was in the folder. She flipped to my resume and frowned, which made me panic. I spent a lot of time revising my resume and even had help from my essay tutor, but I guess it didn't meet the standards of my school. She said, "You didn't take CALM yet, did you?" as she bit her lip. I replied with, "Not yet." She told me that the sequencing in my resume needed work and I didn't tailor it well enough for the health positon that I was looking for. Disappointed, I knew that she would give me another chance to make my resume better when she told me she would hold meeting regarding this internship at noon hours later on. She did not mention when. I still felt determined because of the fact that I was trying in the first place. More disappointment fell upon me when she said that this year there were less spots open for applicants in hospitals and other clinics, and if they couldn't provide a job I'd have to go look for one myself. She said that they will probably only accept 50 applicants out of an anticipated 500, me being one of the 500 that really needed to work hard to stand out. That gives me a 10% chance of being placed by the internship program, but I can only pray that the 10% is in my favor because I only realized how limited my social network regarding the health department was. She told me to consider dentistry or optometry, but my mind wasn't so opened to those fields. I wanted to go into nutrition at best but this really isn't my time to be picky. Something is always better than nothing. She told me not to worry too much and that she'd try her best to help me out because it was her job to, and that my resume wasn't too bad. Who knows what she thought of my cover letter? I can only say that when I wrote that cover letter, it really came from the heart, though I had to take out certain things that my tutor found unecessary, I really wrote it in a way that would express my thoughts. Whether I get a job or not, I don't want to doll up my resume and cover letter to make me appear as someone I'm not because if anything, at least I could still claim that I was honest with myself and with my potential employer. To be honest I'm really nervous about this because having no other job alternatives to turn to, all I can count on is to get into one of those 50 open slots. I pray that I'll get lucky in life, but even if I don't get in I won't give up. I'm in grade 11, and being rejected from a health internship is far from the end of the line. I actually do believe in myself and I know i'll make it somewhere, someday, somehow. The how will unravel itself to mee soon, I hope. This was juse one small and early step that I took to reaching my career goal. It wouldn't be much of a goal if I just gave up at the sight of adversity, would it? But I'll stop with the negativity because until it's confirmed, I'll never know. Through life I've learned that even if the chance is small, it's still possible. In my case, a 10% chance is already something to be grateful for. I really have to thank some people now for supporting me from the day I mentioned the internship to them.

Veronica - My best friend for informing me about it in the first place and having such high hopes for me. Sometimes I think she's more confident me than I am in myself, but I really hope that I don't disappoint. I also wish her well with this internship too. Unnie, Hwaiting!

Wanda - My essay tutor who guided me through writing my resume and cover letter and giving me so many useful materials and templates to refer to.

Irene - My English tutor for 5 years who started out as my preschool teacher back when I was a kid for immediately supporting me with this and giving me background information about the work field as well as reassuring me of my capabilities.

Daniel - My brother for pushing me to do my best and strive further than I imagined. He helped me show myself that I could surpass my own limitations, and immediately supported me when I chose this career path consideirng how unrealistic my past choices were. He also plays a huge part in guiding me through literally everything, but that's what older siblings do. Hehe.

Ms. Murphy - My biology 20 teacher who helped me to really see that with hard work I could be academically amazing. Of course, not the best, but I was happy when she wrote that I was her top bio 20 student on my teacher references. She was a great teacher to me, so for having a 92% in Biology as a final mark, I have to really thank you.

Ms. Ogeer - My Chemistry 20 teacher who was my second teacher reference for this internship. She was an outstanding teacher to me as well, and for getting a final mark of 90% I have only her to thank. I really appreciated her thought out comments and support throughout my last semester.

Eunice - For being my close but far role model who is pursuing a similar career path than me. She's obviously further down the road than I am so in a way I feel like an apprentice to her sometimes but I'm so glad that she's always willing to share her experiences/knowledge with me, because it makes me feel less lost in the bigger world outside of highschool.

2010~2011 Semester 1 Report Card

I received my transcript yesterday but my report card was handed to me today! I'm really happy with the results!

Chemistry - 90% [1% drop]
Biology - 92% [2% drop]
English - 90% [1% drop]

I'm really happy with these marks which gave me an average of 91% because this is one of the highest report cards I've ever gotten after the final exams. I think my average was 94% in term one but that was without finals so it was easier, but to have been able to maintain a 90 after finals is really shocking and pleasant at the same time. I could have sworn I did worse on my English. My guess is that spending 1 hr memorizing the poem that I would use as my literature for direct referencing helped me out. For Chemistry, I guess I could have expected something similar, possibly 88% or 89% but I'm really glad to have kept a 90! I even got the highest mark in my Chem class, and highest final mark in my class. In biology I don't know if I expected more or not because I've studied hardest for this subject and was certain I didn't get over 5 questions wrong. I might've done bad on my lab exam, but either way I'm satisfied with a 92% Actually, I'm pretty happy about it. I don't care if I have the highest mark or not because this in itself is an accomplishment for me! I hope I can continue to work this hard in Social Studies and Math starting today!