Stacy Hernandez

Hi, my name is Stacy Hernandez. My name was chosen by my grandmother. My grandma waited for my mom to be asleep and told the nurse what name I was to be named. I was born in Harbor City but raised in Hawthorne. Both my mom and dad are from Lima, Peru. I am eighteen years old, and this is my first year at El Camino College. I graduated high school on June 9, 2016 and decided to continue my education so that's why I am here. During my first year of college I was put into a "remedial" class, meaning I am not quite yet college level ready. I don't think its something to be ashamed of because I am learning many things and I have a lot of support from my classmates, teacher, and tutor. I am in a remedial class because I didn't think the placement test was important and also because I did not study for it so that's why I got a low score on my test. I plan on continuing to do my best and keep attending college and hopefully in two years or three be able to transfer to a 4 year University and become the successful teacher I want to be. This remedial class has been helping me out with being a better student so that I am prepared to transfer to a university.
 

The book Ten Skills You Really Need To Succeed In School by John Langan has been a huge help for me. This book has helped me be more organized and help me understand what my priorities are. In chapter 4 I learned how to manage my time more efficiently. The chapter has showed me how I can sort out my plans for the day, week, and months ahead. This chapter taught me how I can have time for everything if I just sort out my priorities correctly. Before I was a very unorganized person, I didn't know how to manage my time correctly nor know what my priorities were. This chapter helped me become more organized. For example, the chapter said it would be helpful to get a calendar and a daily planner, which I did. I bought the calendar and filled the dates with due dates of homework's, projects, and quizzes/tests days I had.  The daily planner helped me remember each day what homework's I had due or what classwork's I had to finish for the next class day. Time management was not easy for me, I always complained of not having time to do things but now that I know how to manage time and be organized I don't complain about not having time to do things or complain that teachers don't give us enough time to do our work.

Another chapter that has helped me is chapter 8 Taking Tests. This chapter has helped me know what main points I need to focus on when I am studying for a test. Before I wouldn't even study for a test, I would simply wait for the test day to come and Ill go over my notes quickly and just take the test. Obviously, I didn't pass the test or I would get a low score on it. This chapter has helped me figure out what are the key points I need to know/ look for when I am studying. I learned that I should always look for key terms and define them because it will let me have the correct meaning of the words This chapter has also showed me that I shouldn't take notes on the whole book I am studying. I have to look for points that are emphasized in the text or mentioned in class during lecture. This chapter has helped me not stress out anymore when I have test. I know what my key points are and what I have to be focused on. I have also learned more about test taking strategies, something I did not know before nor cared to learn about. Chapter eight has helped me tremendously because now I am able to study correctly and not get nervous when taking a test.

Kindness

I believe kindness is when someone is willing to help another person out and being able to leave all judgment aside.