https://youtu.be/G7Kzbi-sLIg

Project Reflection

For my project, I decided to talk about something that means a lot to the development of my high school years and my character. I have been involved in many different situations in my life so far and some were not very good. I found myself getting in trouble, getting low grades and making decisions that I knew were not me. The main reason for all of this was because of the people that I was hanging out with. I had a lot of friends, many good, but some bad. They influenced me to participate in stupid things because they considered it cool. I found myself drifting away from them because in the end they were not true friends but instead temporary, and damaging. It took a lot for me to realize that these people did not mean anything, for I always thought they were always going to be there for me. Once I made my shift to Hamden Hall, they completely flaked and turned on me. I then knew they were never really my friends. I learned that figuring out who to trust and let influence you is one of life's hardest skills to learn. I learned how truly powerful peer pressure is and how no class or advisor can prepare you enough for it. It is a psychological fact that in our teenage years we spend more time with our friends than with our parents, causing us to worry and care more about what your friends think than your parents. It is sad to think that in a time period where you need guidance the most you shut your parents down because you think you don't need them anymore. Once I realized how important the opinion of my family was, it enabled me to realize what type of characteristics I needed to look for in a good friend. Another thing I learned was to not let other people influence who you are and to always stick to your roots and be yourself. If you spend your time worrying about what other people think, than you have no time to worry about yourself and ask if you are doing the right things. While it is good to make sure people like you and have a good opinion on who you are, you should create that positive judgement by being yourself. One of the worst qualities a person can have is being fake. Fake people are crippled with fear that their real personality is not good enough, and that they cannot be themselves. You need to focus on evolving your true character, and not a fake one. High school is a breeding ground for fake people, so it can hard to dodge and decide which people are right for you. But once you have learned how to do that, you will find yourself in an extremely content place. Knowing that you are involved in a good group of people who bring out the best of you means that you are succeeding in being you, and that should never change.

Where I am with my project

For my final project, I will be discussing the life lesson of choosing the right people to surround yourself with and who to let influence your life. Something that I am doing well is using examples that I have gone through. Using life examples can allow people to relate easier especially with a topic like this. Everything I say holds meaning and is the truth. I repeat many lessons that my parents have taught me and lessons that I have taught myself through experiences. This is something that has affected me and changed who I am so I am passionate about what I'm saying. Something that I need to work on is making the sentences sound less similar. A lot of my sentences kind of go together and I need to add more variety in my style of sentences. I am close to finished with my project but my conclusion needs to be improved. It ends a little short and doesn't have much meaning to it. My project holds a lot of meaning and I feel like my conclusion just doesn't do it justice. Once I figure out my conclusion my project will be finished.

This I Believe First Draft

I believe that people need to care less about what other people think about them, and stop letting them influence your decisions on a day to day life. Your life should be decided by you, and only influenced by people who truly hold permanent meaning in your life. Many people enter your life, and only a very small percent of those people are here to stay. So why would you let something temporary alter who you are? Worrying about what other people think about you results in making terrible decisions that are not who you are. Part of life is deciding who to trust and let influence you. Whether or not you trust your family or not, they are here to stay and should not be taken for granted. I have realized that it is a whole skill to decide who to be influenced by and who not to. I have found myself influenced by people that hold no meaning in my overall life, and have experienced negative results. You often become the people you surround yourself with, and other people see that as well. As much as people admit they don't judge others, they always do. The company you keep can create a good or bad first impression. Nothing is harder than turning down your friends when they want to do something stupid or what they consider cool. You are taught from day one to not give into peer pressure, but it's nothing like the real thing. When the people you consider important give you all the reasons why doing something is good, you believe them, without hesitation. I have learned that if your people know what will hurt you, they won't push you to do it in the first place. With trial and error I have learned how nice it is to meet the right people and fall into place perfectly. If you are smart with you let influence you and let the people who are important influence you, you will be happy and content with where you are.

This I Believe progress:

I am going to write my speech with the outline of everyone should trust in themselves and the people who mean the most to you, rather than people you think are important to you. I am constructing my draft now and have completed the thesis paragraph.

After reading the This I Believe speech samples I got an idea of what generally is written about. I feel that the good aspects of a This I Believe speech is to write honest and not to use too many cliches. Many people tend to fall asleep when listening to someone just write about the typical event that changed their lives or something like that. You should write about something you feel strongly about and not forced. The more strongly you feel about a topic the kore younwill be able to write about it with a passionate tone. Ifnthe topic is forced you often repeat certain ideas to have more substance and it doesnt sound true.

This I Believe Proposal

Highschool for me has not always been the easiest thing thing in the world for me. Freshman through junior year I did not take things seriously and my grades relfected that. Compared to now I didn't do any work and coasted along and didn't really care. But this changed when I transferred to the private school setting. I believe that the enviroment that you are in can alter your perception of everything. I believe that it is important to be surrounded by the right people and resources to help you achieve the highest result. I especially needed a place that would work with me much more closely than CHS ever did. The content of work here is harder but they make it easier to achieve satisfying results. My teachers at CHS were incapable of demonstrating an efficient and understanding form of learning and  I struggled because of that.

Another example of this is being in the right friend environment. One of the most common mistakes teenagers make is picking and trusting the wrong people. Through experience (5 years of high school) I have come to realize that you can only trust a select few people. You cannot be best friends with everyone because that will only end up upsetting you. I believe that with picking the right people and friends that bring the best out of you will result in a happier time growing up. I have experienced picking the wrong group of friends and it was confusing and upsetting but it made me realize what a true friend really is. To conclude if you place yourself in the right environment to thrive work wise and surround yourself with the right people, then you can't lose.