12th Grade
How has DRSS prepared me for the real world?
I came into STEM looking for a challenge in my academics. Little did I know, I would learn many valuable life lessons that would impact me well passed my high school years. Nearly 7 years ago, I presented my 7th grade portfolio. It was one of the most terrifying moments of middle school, but at the same time, this academic landmark was the beginning of a new skill: communication. Having minimal experience in this quality prior to becoming a student at DRSS, made the starting point of growth difficult. In this initial presentation, the preparation it took to have a successful is drastically different than today. Preparation for this presentation took dozens of practices, notecards, and several sessions of feedback. My notecards included key words, bullet points, and even full sentences. At the time, communication was clearly a rehearsed skill, not a natural skill.
Above shows my reference notecards from my 7th grade portfolio presentation.
A few years later, in 10th grade, we had 20th century debates. When debating there was only so much you could prepare for. Instead of memorizing key words and phrases, I needed to utilize the information and facts that I had researched. I learned to communicate on the spot, rather than speak scripted responses. I learned that communication did not only involve speaking effectively, but also listening effectively. In order to communicate our team’s stance, I needed to not only include convincing facts and statistics, but also alter my response to the opponents counter arguments. My communication skills grew more than the academic field though.
To the left shows my rebuttal notes from my 20th Century Debates.
Using the skill of communication in school projects and presentations was beneficial, but how would it help me in the real world? These experiences grew my confidence which made the choice to start a devotional based Bible Club seem right for me. Project 7 Bible Club was the transition from learning to speak to others academically to speaking to my peer’s lives spiritually. I grew to understand that effectively speaking to others solely depends on how you connect with the audience. By understanding this concept, I was able to alter devotions to connect to my peers. I wrote lessons or utilized other resources that were available to me and then made the devotion my own, personalizing it to my peers. Through this, I became a reliable peer and friend that my others could come to for advice and encouragement. I had come from communicating in a 7th grade presentation to communicating to others around me about complex topics that influenced lives.
In conclusion, it may seem like the highlight of my time at DRSS was obtaining experience and growth in the skill of communication, but this is not the main lesson that DRSS taught me. My experiences at DRSS has taught me to do hard things, to get out of my comfort zone, and go beyond the status quo. I’m grateful for every challenge and stress that I have encountered here, because it has caused me to grow in multiple qualities. Overall, I continued to be challenged in every project, assignment, and learning process. For me, my biggest struggle was communication. By using the tools of perseverance, courage and passion to reach the quality of effective communication, I believe that in my later years of college, those same tools will help me to achieve other qualities and other “hard things.” Attending a school that truly prepares me for the real world, will set me apart from other college students and even adults. Life lessons and skills are things that we cannot be tested on or be lectured about, but can only be experienced through challenges that we overcome.