HEY! My name is Gabriela Rivera, I am currently attending El Camino College as a first time student. I come from John C. Fremont High School in South Central. Besides school, I am Mexican American, and come from a big family. I love burritos and have big dreams. I recently graduated from high school in early June, which was one of the most surreal moments I have ever experienced throughout my high school career. Throughout high school it was pretty tough to focus on my studies and be serious about my future. However, when I hit senior year, and counselors started talking about college and asked about how we pictured our future, it hit me like a brain freeze after eating ice scream. I didn’t realize that I hadn’t really thought about what I wanted, so that’s when I decided to apply for college and here I am now, a happy freshman ATTENDING COLLEGE! I learned a lot since the beginning of the school year. The book Ten Skills You Really Need To Succeed In School by John Langan has taught me so many things because I learned that just because I am a college student does not mean I am ready to do college level work such as improving my memory, study power, and taking tests. I really  love this book because it gives me advice on how to do improve.

I learned a few things from chapter six in the book, I learned why and how I can memorize important things such as the material, ideas,and how it will help me focus on the main points, it also helped me comprehend the topic very well and it shows me steps I can take to complete these tasks. The first step is, organize the material to be learned. I can start by number listing what I have to do and by then I can be able to memorize what exactly I’ll be learning. The second step will be for me to test myself repeatedly. This will help memorize the material perfectly. Thirdly, I learned to use keywords that will help me remember the idea of a topic. For example, if I need to remember what I need to buy in a grocery store I can make something called acronyms. If I need to buy milk, eggs, bread, and flour. I can make a made up word like “MEBF” or “FEMB” just to help my remember what I need to buy. I feel like this chapter really helped me to figure out how easy it really is to study.

Another chapter I learned new things from will be chapter four. This chapter taught me how to manage my time especially now that I am first time college student. There are few advantages that help me manage my time. One advantage of chapter four, is that it has taught me that looking at the syllabus that my instructors gave me will help me prepare myself in advance and not fall behind on my assignments. The second advantage having a calendar! Having a calendar will help me be extra prepared. For example, writing down what’s on the syllabus onto the calendar gives me more control of what I’ll be learning. Thirdly, I can do a “to do list” by making a list of all my assignments and what I have I to study, it’ll help me get things done. I can use this technique for everyday of the week, and this will help me be more self-managed. Finally, I learned that having a daily planner is a lot like a calendar and a “to do list” combined and I really don’t need to have every advantage with me. For example, I can have a daily planner and just look back at my syllabus so I won’t fall behind. This chapter made my life easier because I was not used to having a really busy schedule and knowing how to manage my time.

KINDNESS

Kindness to me is an act that comes within oneself  and is not forced at all. Kindness is making someone's  day better and making a difference no matter how small it is. I experienced kindness in a college class that I took in high school. On the last day of the class  my professor Ms. Garcia gave us each a balloon and made us write all our goals on it, and then took us outside and told us to let them free. She told us that letting them go free is identified as letting all of our fears and doubts go and to go ahead and accomplish what we want done.

Top Picture: (I am on the far left chair)

Bottom Picture: (I am on the far left holding the highest purple balloon)