Ryan McDermott, Period 8, 10/22/2021

Goal Setting and Growth

At this current point what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why?

At this point my goals are focused on my future college endeavors. My main goals are to improve my grammar and writing skills, as well as my time management. I need to vastly improve on my writing skills due to the fact that college application due dates are fast approaching. Writing in an eloquent way is something I have struggled with. I will need to learn how to improve on this for my college essays. Additionally, I need to get better with time management. I feel like I  need to juggle my homework, my job and college applications to ensure I get everything done on time. This juggling of time has been something I have struggled with throughout my time at Staten Island Tech. Many times I would find myself choosing to play games instead of doing homework or studying. Which is why I need to work on my time management.

How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal?

I demonstrate resilience towards achieving my goal of time management by reducing my free time and by doing my school work in a more efficient manner. During the pandemic I found myself slacking off regularly. However, this year I worked on being more proactive by finding job opportunities, putting more effort into my homework and doing my college application process earlier. By writing my supplemental essays in addition to my common app essay, I feel like I have been improving on my writing skills. I am improving on my writing skills through peer review of my essays which has allowed me to fix grammatical errors. I often struggle with creating engaging essays, but by working with my cousin I have been able to craft essays that can actually hook the reader.

How does the world around affect your perception of your goal?

The world around me greatly affects the perception of my goals. For example, observing my peers work on their college applications has assisted in motivating me to work on them myself. Additionally, pressure from my parents and myself regarding the importance of college has made me put more importance on achieving my goals. This has caused me to actually start improving on my time management skills. This being the time of year that college applications are around the corner has made me think of these goals as way more significant than I did during the summer.