Nicholas Sirota, Period 1, 3/23/22

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

    My current goal is to become more engaged in the classroom and during discussions in not only Modern Mythology but also all of my other classes that I have this semester . Earlier in the year was one of the most important times for many seniors, including myself. We were all busy with the college application process by writing essays and maintaining a high GPA in order to make us strong applicants for our top choice schools. However, now is the period of time where seniors have finished applying for college and are receiving their college acceptances. This period of time can cause seniors to feel like they have finished high school and as a result they feel less motivated to do well in their second semester. I myself have been experiencing this lately, and although I do feel proud of my accomplishments in getting accepted into my top choice schools such as Northeastern, I noticed lately that I have not been able to achieve the same motivation towards my schoolwork that I had in previous semesters. It is not that I have not been giving any effort in school, but I recognized that lately I have been more mentally exhausted from school, especially after having lived through one of my most busiest high school semester, and that I focused more of my energy towards other things such as working out and spending time with my friends and family before I go away to college. Although I knew most seniors experience the same phenomenon that I am currently experiencing, I did not anticipate that I would also experience this lack of motivation, since I have never had an issue with a lack of motivation. One way that I am trying to return to the level of motivation I had previously is by actively being engaged in class lessons. Through active participation, I feel more confident in my academic abilities, and ultimately a greater level of engagement can help me leave a better lasting impression on the school that I have helped build up in my previous 3.5 years as a student at Staten Island Technical High School. 

How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal? (or these goals?)

    One of the first instances where I noticed that I needed to be more engaged in my classes was actually from my Modern Mythology course. As I was checking my course grades for the second semester, I noticed that my Modern Mythology grade was surprisingly lower than I expected. When I further checked my grades for this course, I noticed that my engagement grade was a B in that class, which originally caught me by surprise since I have never had problems with engagement level in any of my previous classes. At first, I felt concerned that my engagement level was low, however I recognized that it was still very early into the second semester and that this problem could easily be fixed. Since the Modern Mythology course I am currently taking is primarily focused on classroom discussions, I made it my goal to build on my classmates’ ideas and contribute some of my own ideas to the discussions at least once during every class. Although my course instructor Ms. Fusaro recognized my raised level of engagement and changed my grade in that aspect to an A+, I make sure to continue to be involved in class discussions for not only this class but also for all of my other classes as well.

How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal? (or these goals?)

I noticed that around this time all of my other classmates also experience feelings of mental exhaustion from school and less motivation to succeed during this time of year. However, most of the time they have succumbed to these feelings and as a result grades have been significantly dropping.  What keeps me motivated to pursue my goal is to make sure that my grades do not drop to a significantly high extent and also to make sure I do not gain feelings of laziness during my final months of high school, since I do not respond very well to those feelings. I have had many role models that have continuously helped me realize the value of hard work. Kobe Bryant is one of these role models, and one of his famous quotes that stuck with me is to “never rest in the middle”. Although I am about to embark on a new personal journey heading into college, my high school journey is still not over yet, and one of the most significant hurdles that I along with many others have to overcome is to recognize that our high school journey is not over and to keep making an effort towards our academics in high school, no matter how challenging it may be with all the hard work we put into our previous years of high school. One aspect that has also affected my perception of this goal is the teachers and faculty at our school, and they are significantly influencing me to be more engaged in the classroom since they are all very supportive of the students and are understanding of the situation that most senior students have in common. All of my teachers, including, Ms. Fusaro, are very open to questions and are willing to give feedback whenever possible, which encourages me to ask more questions and ultimately influences my learning by increasing my level of participation.