Community Service Opportunities

Instead of an actual final exam, we have to complete ten hours of community service. I like the idea because instead of taking a multiple choice test of A, B, C, and D, you can actually apply sociology to your life. And, with an exam you study the material, test, and forget everything, but with something like community service you will remember that and grow from it. One community service opportunity I had was going down to a soup kitchen in Chicago during the holidays and helping stack the pantries, serve meals, and play with the kids that were at the shelter. It's heartbreaking to see all these people with nothing. I saw how the people at the shelter are just worrying about where they are getting their next meal, and I'm worrying about trivial things like if my hair looks OK. It helped put things in perspective. But, the most memorable part of this volunteering experience was giving gifts to the little kids. It was right around Christmas and we got to give each kid there a little present. They weren't expense gifts, and probably not even what they exactly wanted from Santa, but it didn't matter to them. When they got the gifts it made their world a little better for a little bit, and that's all you can do. You can't make sure that all the kids in the world have presents under their Christmas tree, but you can still make a little difference and maybe brighten one kid's Christmas.

Silence

The first day of class when Mr. Sal sat in the back of the class and it was just silent it was confusing and awkward. As students, we have been trained to come into the first day of class and expect that the teacher will take charge and fill the silence. We don't even realize that we all go into certain social situations with certain expectations. And, in this case the expectation was that the first day of a class the teacher would stand in the front of the room and talk. I have experienced a lot of awkward silences, but for me silence does not always have to be awkward. Silence isn't awkward between me and my best friends. Its fine if we're driving in the car and not talking. When you get to know someone, and you get comfortable around them, there is no longer a need to fill every time you spend with them with words. You can just enjoy each others' company, whether that means talking or not. On the other hand, it's awkward when you first meet someone and its silent. I feel like when you first meet someone you have to talk to fill the air with words, because you are expected to introduce yourself and get to know each other. For every social situation we face we use our past experiences and form expectations, and sometimes we don't even know it.

About Me

Who am I? That's hard to answer since I really don't know myself but I'll start with the basics. My name is Jasmine. I'm a senior in high school. I like to make jokes, but mostly I'm the only one who laughs at them. I like to laugh. I like to have fun and shop. I like to sing in the car even though I'm tone deaf, and I like to dance even though I couldn't dance to save my life. I have a lot of interests and I wish I just had that one thing that I love to do but I like to do and try everything. I'm an open-minded person. I also ski and I tried snowboarding but that didn't work out. My favorite color is yellow because it's the happiest and brightest color. I don't believe in luck. I don't make a wish at 11:11 or pick up pennies that are heads up. Next year I'm going to California for college. My top choice is University of California Santa Barbara. The biggest influence in my life is my older sister. She lives in Los Angeles. She inspires me to work hard and take chances. I'm scared to go off to college so far from home because I don't even know how to do the laundry but my sister reminds me to take chances and things will work out if you work hard enough. My goal in life is to become independent. I think I also want to be a marine biologist and work all around the world!