Hello my name is Alex Feng and I am an ASAP student at City Tech. I am currently a freshman that is majoring in civil engineering technology. Hobbies are what differentiate one individual from another individual and a hobby that defines me is dragon boating. For those who do not know what dragon boating is, it is a competitive water sport where you have up to twenty two people on one boat paddling together in unison down a race course against other teams for the fastest time. This sport not only made my life more competitive, but it also completely shaped me into a new person. The sport and the team that I am a part of, the people and community I met, and the races and dinners that happened, all influenced me to become who I am today. From being a part of the biggest team in the city to having several mentors and coaches who had coached the youth team for team USA this year, and to all the events that I participated in, made my past few years incredibly exciting. Prior to joining dragon boating, I lived an average boring life like many other teenagers do. Dragon boating appealed to me as a way to get away from this mundane lifestyle.

Growing up from a child to a teenager, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life or the direction that I want to take it in for that matter. As I attended my high school, I still had no idea what I wanted to do. Then junior year started. For that year’s resolution I vowed to myself like everybody does to themselves to change. So I thought of multiple ways of how I could accomplish this objective. Then I remembered that a couple of my friends had recommended me to join their club, dragon boating. I initially was not interested because it sounded like I had to put a lot of time, effort, work and dedication into this club. Despite these thoughts I had, I started attending the club activities, which was primarily going to a gym in Queens that was in somebody’s basement. Upon discovering this, I was skeptical, but my worries were dissolved when I got the opportunity to meet students from other high schools. Later on, as the temperatures began to increase, I had my first water practice which was incredibly fun, but still freezing. I began to show sincere interest and curiosity in this sport as I watched my fellow peers push themselves to their limits at the gym and on the water and gained admiration for the adults. Afterwards, I did some research about this club and learned that it was actually part of the biggest dragon boat team in the city, DCH. Being part of this team and sport taught me dedication, commitment, courage and loyalty. Becoming a dragon boat paddler who paddles for DCH gave my life a new purpose and opened up my social life. The team taught me to be dedicated to what I do, to give my best effort, and to always be thankful for those who helped me to where I am today. While it showed me the beauty of loyalty, the team also showed the negative social aspects of being in a club. There was always someone talking behind another’s back. Fortunately, I had the courage to face this one negative aspect of the club and remained unfazed by the drama. Having said this, my fellow peers and teammates played the most important role in shaping me.

When I first joined this club, it was extremely awkward as I did not actually know how to interact with others normally. When I went to the gym in Queens, it was full of students who I did not know from other high schools and my high school. As a result, I was a lonely individual who looked gloomy all the time. The only two people I was acquainted with were my two friends that recommended me to join and a few others from classes that I had. However, as time passed and I learn about others from their conversations, I slowly started to unconsciously open up to them and tried to interact with them. I really admired and envied them on how they could be extremely funny and be openly weird without caring about how others viewed them. These same people that I admired, my fellow peers and teammates, reached out to me to eventually and I joined their circle. Prior to this happening, I had never experienced that feeling of warmth and defining moment of making a friend. My new friends made me feel like they were the family that I never had. Today, I would say that two of them are my best friends and I am glad that I met them by joining this dragon boat club. Aside from the friends I met, there were also two particular coaches that influenced me as well. Randy Ng, the head coach of DCH racing and the head coach of team USA U18, and Irene as well. Randy Ng, the head coach of DCH racing and Irene Hu, head junior coach of DCH. Never before in my life did I have a role model until I met Randy and Irene. Randy is a man full of charisma, open minded, tough, but caring at the same time and can crack a few jokes here and there. While Irene is very kind and dedicated as well since she sacrifices a huge amount of her time to coach the juniors while studying to become a doctor.  What Randy and Irene is capable of doing and the sacrifices they make is very touching and I hope to follow in their footsteps by becoming a junior coach this year and continuing their and the team’s legacy of coaching a youth program as it helped me changed.

As I was part of the youth program in DCH, all youths were invited to attend all sorts of events that DCH hosted or was participating in. There are countless amount of races across the country, but as a team, DCH usually only participates in the closest ones. Although we were all teenagers, we won against adult teams. This accomplishment boosted my own self-satisfaction and ego. However, aside from the competitiveness at these races, every single paddler at these races, regardless of gender, age and race, are very friendly and have good sportsmanship. I realized what a great and united community this is and I was astonished by how random strangers would lend a helping hand to other strangers. Living in New York City, it is natural to see people ignoring each other while commuting. However, I immediately became a member of the dragon boat racing community and found myself interacting with strangers and helping them with my team. Aside from attending races, the team hosts their own team dinners such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and the annual sponsor dinner after the New York race. At these dinners, I was interacting with everybody from playing cards with the juniors to dancing and lip synching for the adults. Every single time that I attended any of these dinners it was a fun experience that I would never forget. Also other than the races and dinners, as a team annually we would fundraise during Chinese New Year, clean up our team equipment when the season is over and clean up the whole area near the docks where we practice at. There is never a boring moment for me as a paddler in DCH and I am glad that it has helped me improve with my social interaction with others.

If I had to tell another about dragon boating, then I would say, “DCH for life.” I acknowledge that DCH and dragon boating is what completely changed my life. Dragon boating, the people I met and will meet, and the countless of events that I will attend are what defines my life aside from currently being a college student. My plans this upcoming year is to become an apprentice junior coach that assists both Randy and Irene. Also to continue to improve my social interactions to the point that I can be weird and talkative without caring to much about other people’s views on me. Lastly for all the years to come, I would love to give back in any way I can to the team as my sincere thanks for the existence of DCH and dragon boating.

When I became a student at City Tech, I met a lot of new people who would ask me about myself. They asked many questions as part of the process of getting to know me, but the first question was usually, “What’s your name?” That one was the easiest to answer: Arjoon Hansraj. Other questions, however, were more challenging to come up with a satisfying answer. One such question was, “What makes you, you?” With some thought I said with one simple word, Drumming. Playing the drums has undoubtedly made me into the person I am today. It defines who I am, because it reminds me of where I came from, teaches me discipline, sparks my sense of innovation, creates a competitive mindset within me and shows me how to help others. Without these important traits, which I gained and continue to gain through drumming, I would not be the person I am today.

Drumming constantly reminds me of my humble beginnings and the struggles my ancestors overcame. Originally from a small, overlooked island at the southernmost tip of the West Indies, my ancestors came from India to work in sugar plantations for the British government in their new home as indentured servants. The British Government and its business representatives did not honor many of the agreements with my ancestors and they outlawed many of our practices from our Indian homeland. In the small shacks where they lived, they practiced their culture in secret in order to keep it alive, and they risked everything to pass it from one generation to the next until they eventually won their independence. I think of these things often, especially when I go out to play the drums for work or religious practice. When I was younger, I wondered why the elders would be so happy to see a young boy like me playing the drums, but after having learned the history of my ancestors’ struggles, I now understand. They are joyous to see their culture alive and thriving among the younger generations, because when many of them were my age, their parents had to practice and teach the culture of our homeland in secret. As a young drummer, I take pride in my talent and am ready to vindicate my ancestors’ struggles by being successful and embracing my culture through drumming.

In addition to the importance of drumming to my cultural heritage, learning and practicing the drums instills a level of discipline within me that I can transfer to any task I wish to accomplish. When I started to learn to play the drums I was frustrated easily because I had to sit for hours on end doing one boring task after the other with none of it seeming to be related to playing correctly. I began to get frustrated to the point where I would complain all the time to my father that I wasn’t learning anything and I was just wasting my time. However, my mind and attitude began to change as I progressed through my lessons and began to realize the method to the madness.  I began to understand why I had to do those boring tasks and the role it played in me becoming a professional drummer. Taking this understanding further I was able to teach myself many other instruments off of online tips alone. I learned to play the guitar by just practicing scales for hours and hours on end. I learned the piano by scales and tips from friends. Because of the discipline instilled by learning drum I now understand what it takes to be at an exceptional level of anything. I know that to be great at something you must understand it at its most basic “black and white” fully before you take it further. The discipline instilled in me from learning to play drum has made me into the calm and collected person I am today

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As part of learning to play the drums, I was taught the importance of maintaining the drum but also new ways to improve upon the original design to make it more suitable for myself as well as someone else. This has made me into an innovative person, always viewing the world from the point of view of making things better by improving upon it. For example with drumming, the original way to make one of the drums is to use an animal skin and rope with a clay pot, and to tune it you needed to heat it first with an open fire. This design works out great in the islands however, does not work so well in America where the laws are stricter as well as the weather different. To make life easier and to aid in bringing the full extent of our culture to America we had to innovate and experiment until we made the design that we have today. Instead of the clay shell we use half a propane tank, instead of the animal skin we use the plastic snare drum skin and instead of rope we use nuts and bolts. This base design has held over the years but is still being changed slightly by every drummer. I share that same way of thinking when it comes to everything I encounter. For example, as a junior in high school, I made a simple heat engine with an incandescent light bulb, a bicycle rim, and rubber bands. It worked by having the rim suspended and when the rubber was heated it expands and turns the wheel. Seeing that the design was not using most of the heat produced by the bulb I changed the design and added a piston made from a paint can and a rod I spot welded on to the lid. I also replaced the light bulb with a small food heater placed under the paint can which was filled with water and holes drilled almost at the top. This caused the water to boil which made steam which then pushed the lid up and by extension the wheel that was attached to the can by a rod. By innovating the design of the heat engine I was able to create something that was more energy efficient and proved to be stronger than the original. This innovative attitude that I have developed from being a drummer is one that I can bring to my career and use it to my advantage. Thanks to drumming I am able to view the world in a different light and have the drive to innovate as much of the known world as possible to make it an overall better place to live and hopefully rid it of anymore pollution.

While practice, discipline, and maintenance are primarily solitary activities, drumming also developed my competitive mind set. As a professional drummer, you meet others who share in your passion but are also your business rivals. You must prove yourself a better musician in order to be hired and to make money. This competitive spirit learned from drumming is one I can use to make myself somebody notable in this world. When I first started drumming our group was already established as one of the best and therefore I had to fill some very big shoes. To add to that pressure, there are a lot of other upcoming groups that have the drive to be the best. This meant I not only had to play well at private gigs but also to hold my own on stage so that our reputation would not diminish. Starting from nothing and coming so far I know firsthand what it takes to be the best at something and it’s an attitude that I plan to carry with me to all aspects of my life, both public and personal. The competitive spirit means you strive to be the best no matter what and that is what I truly seek to do and who I truly am at the innermost. I strive to be at the top, to be the one peoples greatness is measured by. If it wasn’t for drumming I would have never had this mindset and I would have not accomplished the things I have so far in my life.

In addition to competing with others, you learn from those you compete with in drumming. Learning from everyone and taking bits and pieces of everyone’s style you begin to develop your own. However, when you first start learning the basics you must find a way to break down each of the parts of playing drum so that you can understand it as well as memorize it. This inadvertently leads to you becoming a good teacher, because you can relay your own tricks and methods on to your students in order to help them. This is why drumming has helped me be able to help others. When encountering a problem, I break it down into small parts that I can asses individually which in the long run helps me solve the bigger problem. I developed this way of thinking due to drumming. When learning new beats that your hands aren’t accustomed to, you struggle a lot and become frustrated easily. By breaking each part down you can train yourself piece by piece until you can play the entire beat. This same mentality can be applied to your job, career and even your life as a whole. being a drummer has made me into a problem solver but also into a teacher. Since I understand the way I think and asses situations, I can pass that knowledge onto someone else so that they wouldn’t have to struggle as much as I did and can understand  things easier. Because of drumming I have developed the problem solver mind which is key to being an engineer but also a teacher mind which is also helpful when you have reached a senior level position and have to train new workers. If drumming was not a part of my life I would not have developed this mindset nor would I be able to have any idea as to how to help someone.

Without drumming in my life, I would be a different person who does not think or act the way that I do now. I owe my life to drumming, because without it I would never have been as successful as I am now. Some of these success would include attending college, another is actually studying and focusing on school, instead of being a “B” student now I strive to be an “A” student. Another of my successes include disciplining myself to stick to a schedule in order to always be ready for school as opposed to how I was in my past years. Drumming has provided me with almost all of the ideal mindsets that are conducive to a healthy career. From staying humble to helping others drumming has paved the way for a bright future ahead of me. The only thing left now is to make sure I use all the lessons I learnt from playing drum in my everyday life and continue to strive forward no matter what. All I ever need in my life is there for me to take and thanks to drumming I now have the tools and experience needed to take what is mine.

Aaron Chen                                                                                                                 September 29, 2015 

Prof. Ellis – ENG 1101                                                                   New York City College of Technology

                                                       Working My Life Out

            I believe that in order to live a happy life, you have to be healthy. Growing up as an unhealthy kid in family that has bad medical history was never the best. Knowing that eating one thing can lead to me amputating a leg or being labelled an obese teen was enough to ruin my childhood. Realizing this, I wanted to be a healthier person, which is when I found my love and passion for the gym. Going to the gym and working out has always been in my daily routine for the past year and a half and I can’t go a day without doing so. Not only is it a hobby, it has also become a lifestyle that you must be determined to live. I really enjoy working out and it has become a necessity in my life. Working out in the gym defines my personality and the way I live my life in so many ways. Starting with the physical benefits from working out and the determination to keep a strict diet, to being mentally and emotionally strong as well.
             The gym has helped me in so many ways with one of them being physically. Being a fat kid was really hard. Being called names and being insecure of taking off my shirt were some major concerns. Constantly thinking about what people might call me when I take my clothes off. Being called fat, fat-so, huge and obese were just a few. Then there’s mental and emotional factors that come into play. Thinking about if your gut is sticking out or your pectoral muscles being way too droopy. Being wary of the clothes I could get just so I don’t look “extra” big in those types of clothing. Being uncomfortable wearing the clothes I like because my “flaws” that I would try to hide, would show. These hardships I’ve been through lead me to be so determined to get fit. I was tired of being so worried and insecure to walk out the door and just be comfortable with being myself. With this determination, I worked my hardest to fix the flaws I saw in my body and eventually, things slowly got better and better. Not only was I able to wear the clothes I like, I was never called “fat-so” anymore. Finally being more comfortable in my own body and live life with less worries really makes me content. Being capable of doing the things I could barely do before I worked out. As a fat kid, I couldn’t even do a push up, whereas now being able to pump out a reasonable amount now reminds me of how far I’ve come. Being able to just run a couple blocks and struggle trying to catch a breath of air. Being able to carry myself without the help of others and most importantly helping those who may need a helping hand. Working out has really benefitted me physically. Seeing what I’m able to do now and being able to be comfortable in my own shoes will motivate me to continue my love for working out.

           Being on a strict diet isn’t the best or easiest thing to do in the world for most people, including myself. Seeing your friends eating Shake Shack and sipping on a sugary refreshment is tempting enough to make anyone do the same, but for me, I can’t. Munching on some good delicious steamed chicken breast and a half a cup of brown rice with a side of broccoli is the way to go. It might not be the most appetizing but the benefits are worth sacrificing for. Trust me, I would much rather just buy delicious fast food than to eat some bland and dry chicken breast. If chicken breast and all these other healthy foods weren’t benefitting me, I wouldn’t even think about eating them but in order to be physically fit, one must also eat right. As an amateur, i thought that if I eat anything I want and just work out and do cardio, I’ll eventually be as fit as Christian Guzman or even Steve Cook. Obviously, I was wrong and I’ve learned that you need to eat the right things to build the right muscles. Eating fast food once in a while is alright, but eating fast food constantly while working out won’t get you anywhere. You know what they say, “you are what you eat.” I honestly don’t want to be a McChicken for the rest of my life but rather be healthy and be a chicken breast. I’ve learned to give up what I want now for what I’ve been longing for in the future, a healthier and a more aesthetically pleasing body because nothing is more satisfying than to know that you’ve stuck to your game plan and achieved your goal. That to me is more satisfying than a cheat meal and I’ll say that any day till the day I die. Working out has definitely made me more determined in the way that I will stick to my goals and do anything it’ll take to achieve my goal. I will forever use this determination in anything I do because I know that in the end, I’ll get what I deserve.
      Mentally, the gym has made me a stronger person. Pushing myself to my maximum potential knowing that I will get results in the end. It has taught me in order to get good outcome, one must put in work. No matter how hard or how stressful, you must pull through and persevere because in the end, it’s benefiting no one but you. “Wake up with determination. Sleep with satisfaction.” I want to never live a day knowing I didn’t accomplish what I told myself needed to be accomplished. If I can, then I will. End of the story. I’m grateful that working out has engraved this mindset into me and made me who I am today.
    Finally having what you’ve been yearning for will be your reward. Experiencing the reactions of old friends seeing you after a long time and not recognizing you, is the best feeling ever. Being asking “What happened? You used to be so fat?” and “Oh my god! You’re Aaron?” are a few of the things I hear. Hearing this, I was filled with joy and satisfaction knowing the transformation I had gone through. Knowing that I lost a good twenty pounds of fat and put on a good amount of muscle, boosted my ego. Emotionally, I was very happy and satisfied with what I’ve done. I will forever acknowledge what working out can do to one physically and emotionally. The gym has taught me to not judge those who aren’t capable of doing what we may be able to do, but to see the potential and the capability of someone if they put their heart into it.
    Working out will always be part of my life. I’ll continue to live my life with the mindset, working out has engraved in me and continue to seek the emotional moments I get when people compliment me. I may be happy of where I’ve come since the start, but I’m not at my goal yet. As a passionate gym users, we who work out, are never done with working out. There’s much more to learn and much more to build. I will continue to strive for my health in the future and continue to live my life happy.

My name is Jean Betances and I have been playing video games almost every day for the past 10 years. It quickly and easily became my favorite pastime and source of entertainment. So much so that even when not playing video games, I probably looking at something related to it. Video games are something that with time started to define who I am today. It helped me make connections with people and learn a language. Videogames also made me more competitive and taught me teamwork.

I was born in New York City but lived in the Dominican Republic with my grandmother for 7 years before returning back to New York. As a Spanish speaker it was a challenge to make friends with the other kids, who only spoke English. When I turned 8 my aunt gave me a Gameboy Advanced, the latest handheld gaming device from Nintendo. When I took the Gameboy Advance to school, it gained me sudden popularity with my schoolmates. Since not many of the kids in my grade didn’t have one, they took turns playing with the game, and in turn, we got to know each other. Without realizing the handheld device was helping me make friends in elementary school. Since the games I was playing were all in English, it was also an incentive for me to learn the language, since I had to know what was going on in the game to be able to pass the levels.

Even a couple of years later in middle school, when I was speaking English almost fluently, video games still helped with social environments. I remember inviting a group of friends over to play Guitar Hero on the PlayStation 2, a game in which instead of playing with the regular PlayStation 2 controllers, it was played with smaller plastic imitation guitar controllers with buttons in the place of strings and a long switch to strum. Inviting friends over to play different games became a regular occurrence.

Throughout my life, without me realizing, video games have helped me develop long term friendships. Even to this day, after going to different high schools and now colleges I still play online on Xbox Live on the Xbox 360 and on PlayStation Network (PSN) on the PlayStation 4, which are networks on home consoles that allow players to play together through the internet. I used to stay up late to play online in these networks with my friends after school on the weekends.

As I grew up and kept playing, I began to understand what the difference was between a casual gamer and a hardcore gamer. The type of gamer you are is usually defined by your mindset about games. While casual gamers play regularly for fun and entertainment, it’s more about having fun with your friends and socializing. On the other hand, hardcore gamers dedicate more of their lives into gaming, including going to competitions and conventions, like the Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as E3, which is an annual convention for the video game industry in which studios present their new and upcoming games, ideas, and projects. A lot of the times they also spend large quantities of their money to build their own computers, gaming setups, and to grow their home theater sets. I felt like I didn’t really fall into a specific category, but got the best qualities from both sides. In that I like to have fun with my friends and relax while playing games, I can also get competitive and try to become a better player and beat the game with as much skill as possible.

Another way that my love for video games developed was through watching people play video games online. I liked watching these videos to see their own experiences while playing the game, or just to watch them play a game that I couldn’t afford or wasn’t planning on buying anytime soon. Gaming videos became so popular that YouTube recently decided to make a specific section just for the gaming community, and a separate mobile application, which made gaming videos easier to find. I usually watch gaming videos almost every day as a source of entertainment. So much so, that it became a regular habit and I don’t really watch television programs as often anymore. Some of my favorite gaming YouTubers are DashieGames, TheRadBrad, SeaNanners, and DownrangeGaming. The reason I watch these specific gamers is that they are funny and entertaining, and they play most of the games that I enjoy. By watching these guys, they help me consider and decide on certain games that I wouldn’t have considered buying before. They also inspire me by doing things that I would enjoy doing for a living, like getting paid to play games.

Going back to the YouTubers in the gaming community, there are channels that are dedicated to gaming videos, information about the games, guides on how to play and walkthroughs, as well as fan made videos based on the games. A popular video genre that has recently become more popular are game reaction videos where you get to see people’s genuine reactions to games, usually horror or thriller ones. A couple of popular channels with millions of subscribers are IGN, Machinima, and RoosterTeeth. They have become popular because they make great informational videos about old, recent, and upcoming games that are going to hit the market. These are channels which I frequently watch to compliment my gaming experience.

In the beginning I thought that playing video games as much as I did was common, but later realized that this wasn’t the case. My friends and I were more into games than other people our age, who were more into other activities, such as basketball and baseball. I thought everyone was into gaming as my friends and I were because the people I was surrounding myself with were all into the same things. Videogames also opened up other doors for me because through the people I met because of video games, I was also introduced to other things, such as basketball, weight lifting, and anime, which is a style of Japanese animation.

Since I was a young boy I started collecting more and more consoles, beginning with the Gameboy Advanced, then the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo 3DS XL, Xbox 360, and finally the PlayStation 4. As I grow older and gain more responsibilities, I will still continue to buy new consoles and make time for games because I believe that you are never too old to enjoy some relaxing videogames might not be for everybody but people of all age ranges enjoy them. When playing online multiplayer you will be paired up with random people usually in your region but sometimes even from around the world. When in these multiplayer matches you could choose to plug in a microphone into your controller and speak with others in the group. You can talk to people of all ages and from places all around the world. In the online group people might not always be saying the nicest things, but it is still a fun experience. The different types of people that usually partake in the online groups ranges from little kids in a mature rated game like Call of Duty, to adults with responsibilities in games like Mario Kart.

Though some people believe that video games are a waste of time and for people who don’t have any responsibilities, it can actually help young kids to make friends, become confident in their skills, and learn new things, such as in my situation when I came from another country. Video games helped me make longtime friends and learn a new language and I now consider my first language. As long as there is a balance between your responsibilities and leisure time, everyone can enjoy video games. My passion for games is something that will not let down in the future and will definitely continue to grow with me.

My name is Terris Greene, and I major in Computer Information Systems at New York City College of Technology. Growing up as a young boy from Brooklyn, the sounds of Jay-Z, Barrington Levy, and the Backstreet Boys would fill my Brownsville apartment. The balance that music brings to everyday life is something that should not be taken for granted. Through various style and genres, such as Hip-Hip and Pop, I relate with and connect to the emotions that we receive from listening to the different genres. The way that I speak, dress, move and approach life are all based off the lyrical influences of Kendrick Lamar, and production from beat makers like Kanye West. Whether you were born and raised in the melting pot known as New York City such as like I was, or are from the depths of France or Italy, the appreciation and transfer of music is universal. This makes it more of a living aspect of my life.

I keep my headphones on me at all times, listening to anything when I get the opportunity to. Artist like Lupe Fiasco, Kendrick Lamar, J Cole and Nas, speak on matters that are important to society such as police violence. These songs are enhanced through producers such as Kanye West, Just Blaze, 40, Boi-1da and many. Whatever I decide to feed my ears with are usually based off my emotions at the time. If I feel the need to turn up and dance then I’ll listen to something upbeat like Daft Punk’s Discovery album. If my mood is calm and relaxed, I’d listen to Old School Rap, more with a Southern feel. The sounds of OutKast and TI give a mellow feel to my emotions, as I enjoy the slow downed tunes and uplifting lyrics. Still with me being human, I also have my sad and depressed moments as well, which is when I would let R&B or alternative Rock, such as Ne-Yo and Panic! At The Disco, take over my mind and keep me in a positive state. This is something that I’m truly grateful for, knowing that these days there is a song for every emotion and occasion. I appreciate this more due to the fact that I have had a dark past and I would need something to listen to as a reminder of the state I’m in now and how much I have grown from the person that I was a few years ago. The song that I listen to for that constant reminder is “u” by Kendrick Lamar, in which he would speak from the views of a person in my situation.

My love for music also helps push my love for dance. I have been dancing since I was four years old but I haven’t done on stage performances until my first my year in middle school. I would listen to Michael Jackson and imitate his style of dancing. It took me several years to properly learn how to do the Moonwalk and even to this day I still don’t feel that I am doing it correctly. I also learned the famous Thriller choreography like every other child at my age, and I would perform for my family and their friends at get-togethers and family dinners like Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Aside from MJ, I also learned from Usher, and like their style of singing, their style of dancing was different as well. Michael Jackson was more precise and smooth, where Usher showed a lot more aggression and energy with his dancing. Picking up from both styles helped me develop a great sense of rhythm, and eventually I would start incorporating what I had learned into other styles of music like Pop or Electronic. Listening to Daft Punk and watching the music video for “Around The World”, I learned about popping at the robotic style of dancing. As time passed and I’ve gotten more comfortable with the different genres of music, my passion for dance grew. I wanted to learn how to incorporate movement into all different styles, which led to me joining the Performing Arts program in Middle School.

I attended Medgar Evers College Preparatory School, which ran from Grades 6 to 12. I had been a part of the Performing Arts program the full seven years I attended that school. With a variety of styles of dance, including Modern, Ballet and even African, came different styles of music. From Afro-Caribbean to Live Instrumentation, I found an even greater appreciation for instruments, pitches and tempos that came from songs. It also helped me show emotion that I had felt from either listening to the music or from how I was feeling from before. Songs with a strong bass and heavy play on drums and pianos led to stronger, aggressive movements that would derive from my anger, while softer, acoustic based songs had more of a gentle and liquid like flow which helped bring a happy and calm vibe to my choreography. What I enjoyed the most though was when my dance teacher would bring in West Africa drummers to play while we dance. The energy of fast tempo of the beating always brought a whole new life to the dance studio. I would jump and move so fast that I sometimes forgot how tiring it is to keep up with the drummers. The influence of the music would energize me in such a way that is hard to describe, and is one of the things that keeps me going while I dance.

The way I dress and act comes from me wanting to be more like my favorite artists and wearing something close to what they do. At the moment I can’t afford to wear exactly what are talked about and shown in music videos, but the ideas and the influence is still grasped. I could remember wanting to wear baggy sweat suits from Sean John, RocaWear, Enyce when I was 5 and 6 because Brooklyn rappers like Jay-Z and Fabolous would wear them and talk about them. From there it moved to wanting a pair of Nike Air Force One’s all because Nelly said that it was cool to do so. Around Halloween time I wanted to be a different version of Michael Jackson, from his Billie Jean outfit to the Bad era. Eventually I started to listen to more Old School Hip Hop and became influenced by Run DMC, trying to have every Adidas, a trend that I still follow today. My biggest fashion influences today are Kendrick Lamar, Chris Brown and A$AP Rocky. From my influences I also learned that your demeanor is key in life. From the lyrics of Kendrick Lamar I could tell just how humble and grateful he is for success. Listening to him just about every day I pick up on some of his ways, including his humbleness and appreciation for the small things in life. From him I also learned to always remember where come from, because that’s the place that made you how you are today. I have no shame in where I’m from. Being raised in Brooklyn has made me aware of things that I don’t see myself possibly learning anywhere else. Plus the fusion of cultures from New York City as a whole helps me learn about other cultures and adopting them into my everyday life, including their music.

If I could make a successful career out of listening to music just for my own enjoyment, I would do so in a heartbeat. My appreciation and love for music has helped shape me into the person I am today. I learn that everyone is different and being judgmental only holds you back. There is so much you can learn from others, and the type of music of music they listen to in my opinion is one of the best ways to connect with them. Music affects all in some sort of way, and its hold on the world is one that will always be appreciated.

My name is Alejandra Avila, I am from Colombia and I have been here in NYC since 2008. This is my first year in NYC College of Technology.  I enjoy the way the city is build up and the way it works. The world becomes a multy-scenario for every individual to build and learned from their own personality and person. In life there is always one thing that defines who we are going to be, and later on it become the reason of who we are, and it helps to build our personality. In many cases this reason may be an object, a song, writing, our family, experiences and in many cases our sentimental partners. In my case there is one experience that has helped me to build up and define who I am which was cheerleading. Being a Cheerleader means to leads the crowd by shouting encouragement and supporting a team at a sports event with discipline and happiness.  Being a cheerleader was one of the most wonderful feeling and experience that I ever had on my entered life. I was a cheerleader for my elementary school “San Jose Campanath” in my native country. These memories define who I am because my family got together all in one place to support one of their family members. Cheerleading made me feel free and released me from all of my problems. Cheerleading forced me to be accurate and feel the adrenaline during the flips & the competitions I participated in were amazing.

Being all together in one place made me enjoy what I was doing and made me even happier each time it happened. I am the kind of person that loves family unity and even more when the whole family gets together to support one another. Years ago when my sister just started as cheerleading, the whole family went to support her. She was having an important presentation in one of the most famous theaters of our city Cali, Colombia. We all were proud of her because she was having a big moment. She was just 6 years old and she was having a presentation in the most famous theater as a cheerleader. This experience that I had that moment seeing my whole family together to support her made me realize that it can be even better if it was the two of us. The thought of my sister and I doing a presentation as cheerleader, along with our family cheering us on, encouraged me to become a cheerleader.

Becoming a cheerleader gave me the feeling of going to a psychologist. Prating this sport made me forgot about all my problems for at least a day, and aided me in finding solution to my problems. During my practices and presentations I tried to release all of my problems and focus in what I was going to do with my love for the sport. I gave up all my stresses that I was carrying with me, whether it was anything about school, fights with my family or with me. There was a time that I had a problem that I didn’t know if it could be fixed. My grandma who was my guardian at the time didn’t have any method of picking me up after every afterschool practice, so my mom told me that I have to quit. At first I thought how I’m going to quit the thing I love the most, I knew I was going to come up with a plan to prevent that my mom took me out from the team. Days later we had a competition between schools. During my performance I released all of my stresses, because I was doing what I loved by releasing my frustrations in a productive manner. When we were on stage we had the ability of making faces to the judges. That was the best way I could release all of my problems, moreover going into the sky while doing my flips made me feel like a free bird. I felt that no matter what there will always be a way to be free instead of being stuck in a cage. After this competition, we were in semifinal and it was a time that I couldn’t quit. My mom found a way that I could go home after the practice. She made this decision because my grandma told her how happy performing as a cheerleader made me. She realized that after every practice or presentation I was content due to cheerleading, my confidence grew and found myself happier than I’ve ever been.

Cheerleading was my biggest passion when I was just a girl. Everything around me was about this awesome sport. When I was playing with my friends I wanted to teach them what I knew the flips that I knew about acrobatics and the choreographies that the couch had taught us. I knew that it was dangerous because when the teacher was teaching us we had special equipment. However, when teaching other outside of the cheerleading, we didn’t have anything like that yet, we till did it. My sister and I tried to teach them the basics. These basics were the bridge, and the half-moon. I wanted them to feel the adrenaline that I was feeling when I did them. Yet, I  couldn’t tell if they were enjoying it as much as I did, but what I could tell it’s that I love and till this days love doing my flips and enjoy the sensation of being in the air and flowing with majesty beauty. I love the sensation of adrenaline that goes through my body. However, if you’re not careful, you may get injured.    As it happened around 9 years ago, we were preparing ourselves for the semi-finals. We were doing great. In this sport there must be four people as base and the one that goes on the top and does the flips in the air. Our couch saw that one of the base girls wasn’t paying attention to the girl on top and she could have gotten injured. Our couch gave us us and speech about the safety, looking after one another, and the importance of our focus. At the begging I was little worried because I was one of the girls that goes on top, due to being short and slim. I was afraid that I would get injured due to my classmates making a mistake. However, since this was a team effort, I felt my fate in my team mates’ hands and did what I had to do in the practices and presentations. The risk and the adrenaline never go away in this type of sport. It’s like doing an extreme sport but in a less extreme way.

You may ask yourself, why do I love the feeling of adrenaline so much, even thought I was just a little girl? Well I can say that I love the felling that I had during each performance we did for the school. Each time I was on stage it was awesome. I can’t describe the feeling that I used to feel with words. You can only understand the way I was felling if you saw my face during each of my performances. While I was cheerleading I enjoy more than what I could. There was a time while we had a really important presentation for very important people on one of the most famous theater in Cali. We were all prepared for this big day. We all were nervous of course but when the time arrives I was so nervous that I stood laughed and couldn’t stop. Before us there was an art presentation they had trees, clowns and all that kind of things on stage, I couldn’t control myself, which caused one of the trees to fall and people started laughing. It was not my intention, but it worked in a way because that is the purpose of our performance. It is to entertain people. It wasn’t the way I used to do it but it still work, but after that embarrassing  moment I pulled myself together and them I caught up with my group. The presentation ended up being a success. I love the feeling of happiness and freedom that this sport gave me for few minutes or even seconds. We made crazy faces and entertained the audience. Felt the air on my face and body, made figures on the air with my body and heard the reactions of the people that were surprise by the things we were doing. Hearing these things will encourage you to do them more offend and better. Being apart of the competitions or participating in the practice made me the cheerful girl that I needed to be in order to have the energy to participate in the cheers that were made by our couch. I enjoyed these performances as much as I could until I quit because I didn’t tolerate the mates I had.

Now that you know more about an experience that helped me build up my personality I will like to share what I would like to do with this experience and how it can help me in the future. Being a cheerleader is a thing of my past. Now I will like to be focused on my studies and becoming and engineer, moreover I really don’t have time now to be on sports. As you can notice I really love this sport, but in order to enjoy this sport to its fullest potential I need to dedicate time to it and that is what I don’t have at the moment. However I will like in the future to teach or at least tell my children about the good times and moments cheerleading have provided me.  I will love to see one of my children to share the passion I once had, but if they don’t like it for any reason I will be more than happy because I had the opportunity of been part of an awesome group at my time.

My name is Taylor Marie Hernandez and I am an Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) student in my freshman year at the New York City College of Technology (City Tech). I am 18 years old and enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I am majoring in Architectural Technology and want to be a licensed architect when I complete school. I went to Tottenville High School and enjoyed all four years at that institution. Drawing and architecture are an important part of who I am, because they give me a way to demonstrate my creativity. I enjoy the process of sketching my ideas and watching them come to life in the physical world. In this essay, I will explain how drawing and architecture have created who I am and give me a firm direction on what I want to be by talking about how I became interested first in drawing and then architecture, and how I have seized the opportunity to move forward into the field of architecture.

When I was about seven years old, I began to develop what has become a lifelong interest in drawing. Whenever I would go to the mall, I would stop by a certain kiosk where an artist would draw and sell his artwork. As I would watch him practice his art, I would picture myself as a professional artist one day. When I was home and did not have anything to do, I looked around my immediate environment for objects and pictures, I imagined them in my mind, and then, I tried to draw them exactly how I visualized them. Also, I, tried my hand at drawing people. The days I went to the mall and stand by the artists kiosk, not only was he drawing places and objects, but he was drawing people. , The first drawing of a person I did was Miley Cyrus, who portrays the film and television character, Hannah Montana. When I completed each drawing, I would decide if they were good or bad. If they were bad I would try to critique them in a way where the drawing wasn’t so dull and if i didn’t like how it came out at all, then i would just throw it out. This has made me work even hard because I feel that every piece of art should be very creative and very unique from another. . I can connect this to my drawing of Miley Cyrus because whenever I tried to draw her if I didn’t like how the photo was coming out, most likely I would throw it out ad starts al over again. The days I was in school and I had library class, I always took drawing books home so I would be able to practice my drawing skills.

My interest in drawing eventually led to my fascination with architecture, which began when I was in the fourth grade. At that time, I began to wonder how buildings were designed, what materials were used to build them, and what tools were used to construct them. My interest in architecture took place when I was about nine years old and would go to Buday and Schuster Architects with my grandma and mom. Whenever my grandmother had an appointment to see her architect and discuss her plans, I always tagged along. I would sit down at the table and pay attention as the architect explained the exterior and interior of the blueprints, such as, where the rooms are going to be, how big they will be, what the outside would look like, etc. Once we got home, I would go on the computer and research different types of architectural plans. When I found a plan that looked simple, I would sketch it out myself and label where everything is located. When my dad was home he would always be on the computer making different layouts for kitchens. At the time my father worked for a company called Modern Kitchens, and every time he would come from work with a packet of layouts I would look through it and I would take a marker and write all over them. I would label where and what everything is. One day I asked my dad what he was making on the computer. He said he was creating a kitchen layout for the building he was working on. I asked him how he made it and if he can show me how to, and so he did. He showed me what to do and I was really proud of myself for making my first layout.

Recognizing my commitment to drawing and architectural design, I focused on ways to improve my artistic skill and architectural knowledge. By doing this i would look of books, ask people for advice on how I could make my work better, look through the grandmothers set of plans, etc. When I entered high school I continued to challenge myself by taking up art classes since I wanted to learn different drawing techniques. Every time I went to the city I would look up at the tall structures and observe the details and textures that are inside and out. During my four years in high school I decided to setup a goal for myself. During my last three years in high school, my plan was to take up architecture classes. From there I would branch off by taking these classes during my college years. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite able to do that. For 4 years my school decided to ask me why I didn’t take architecture classes if I knew I wanted to take this as a my future career. I responded to the question by telling them how I asked my grade advisor, and the teaches if the school offered architecture classes and how they told me they didn’t offer it. However, here at NYCCT I have the chance to follow my goal. The classes that I am taking now are a little difficult because in the beginning, you are learning all new material. By the end of the day you have so much information stored in your brain, that you will say to your self, “I’m done. I’ve had enough. Time to go home.” I know because there are days where I get like that.

Now that I am in college, I have the chance to make my goals come to life by working hard and showing people that I have the ability, skill, and dedication to be successful as a future architect. I want to pursue architectural design as my career, which will enable me to create places for people to live their lives in safe and inspired surroundings. My goal is to be the best architect out there and constantly stay on the top of my game. As part of being an architect I want to be able to design houses, building, floor plans, etc. No matter how hard the work may get, I will push myself through every obstacle out there just to achieve my goals and to get to where I want to be. As you were able to see, drawing was a big part of me ever since I was a little girl. I always had an interest in creating different things by using my imagination along with objects I saw around me. I first started out wanting to become a professional artist one day, but then as I got older and more mature, I started to have a different perspective on life and many other options started to come to me. Therefore, I got into doing different types of things on the computer with the use of different software. Fundamentally, it is amazing how you can take something abstract like a design and make it physically real. This is what I intend to do with my work.

My name is William Santiago, I am eighteen years old, and this is my first year of college at New York City College of Technology. As a beginning college student, I can reflect on the first phase of my life that has led to me becoming who I am. However, what makes me who I am? When it comes to what makes me who I am, the number one thing that I believe that makes me the man that I am would be my commitment to working out. Exercise is something that has changed my perception on everyday life. It has helped me to evolve and grow into the man that I am today. I consider the path that I have paved myself through working out to be my self-proclaimed “road to greatness”. This “Road to Greatness” as I like to call it, is a vision of a path that I have laid out for myself. It is a vision of thoughts becoming things. This very vision came about as I experienced many different things while working out starting from the very beginning where I was not really into working out and my road to greatness did not exist. I was just a sophomore in High School, who had athletic potential. It was after I had an epiphany that my “Road to Greatness” began. With time, consistently working out eventually became a personal drug of mine, enabled me the ability to overcome adversity and allowed me to set out for personal goals and seize each and every one of them.

You can say that I was just physically active. I was just above average in the sports that I chose to partake in. I would play both football and basketball whenever the opportunity presented itself. Even though I was average at both sports, I enjoyed playing them thoroughly. However, a point in time came where I really wanted to be physically inclined with something. I did not want to be just physically active; I wanted to be the best that I could possibly be. I had the desire to be great at something, I just did not know what that something could be. One day I actually looked at myself in the mirror from head to toe. Then thoughts of people always calling me “skinny” or “flaco” popped in my head. I stood staring at myself for about 5 minutes or so, and then said to myself “I’m tired of being skinny”. After that day, I vowed to myself that I would work out every day to change my physical appearance, thus began my road to greatness.

My journey began around early 2014. For Christmas, my Aunt Mille bought me a pull-up bar since I told her that I wanted to start working out. While I might not have been the best handy man at the time, I read the installation manual, assembled the pull-up bar, and then, installed it inside my kitchen doorframe. Now that it was ready, all that was left to do was to test it out. The pullup bar has various grips from wide, standard, narrow, and neutral. Therefore, I decided to try a standard grip. When I did, I found that I had a hard time getting myself up to do just one simple pullup. I stopped for a second since calluses were forming on my hands and were hurting quite it bit and sat down for a few. While sitting down I thought to myself, “How the hell am I supposed to do a pull-up without it hurting my hands?” Since I could not think of an answer, I took the logical approach and decided to look it up on YouTube. After I did so, I went to my pull-up bar again to attempt the same pull-up except with a more efficient grip that I saw on YouTube. When I did so I still struggled to do one pull-up, however I found that calluses were not forming on my hands as much as when I did pull-ups the first time. For about a few weeks, I tried to do at least three pull-ups every day, and within a short span of time, it became easy for me to do pull-ups.

Around the time when I could safely say that I mastered pull-ups, the second semester of my junior year of high school began. I was given the opportunity to do weight training in my gym class. Once I saw that I had a chance to be able to exercise every day at school and not be limited to only my pull-up bar, I signed up for it immediately. I discovered the school weight room to be the ideal place for my evolution into who I wanted to become. It is where I grew exponentially and learned most of the things that I know about exercise.

The weight room that I used in my High School would not be ones ideal commercial gym to workout in. It was about the size of a big classroom. It had a white board with a bunch of different graffiti’s that were written on it with permanent marker. It smelled like dirty metal, B.O, and sweat if you did not open the windows. It had sets of dumbbells ranging from 5lbs being the lightest to 55lbs being the heaviest. It contained about eight Olympic barbells and sets of weighted plates ranging from 2 ½lbs to 45lbs to utilize on them. It also had one power rack everyone used. There were two types of machines used for the back. One of the machines were broken. That machine was the machine press that was used for the chest. There were multiple benches in the gym, two individual flat benches, one flat bench to do bench press on, an incline to do inclined press, and a decline to do decline press. The weight room had one gym seat that the weight-training teacher would always sit on, as well as more broken equipment. This equipment was a broken preacher curl beach, a broken easy curl bar, and about four safety clamps. Lastly, there was an oddly placed bathroom at the end of the room located to your left hand side where the benches were that had a dirty toilet that did not work, and a shower that did not work with a dead cockroach inside of it.

As you may be able to tell, it really was not ones ideal commercial gym, yet for me it was the best gym I have ever been to, although it would not qualify to be one. It was in this very gym my vision of my “Road to Greatness” came about. In order to achieve greatness, you need tools. All of the weights that became available to me in the weight room I used as my essential tools to carve my own road. Through the many trials and tribulations that I had endured in this weight room alone, along with the many triumphs, I find that this is where the idea of my “Road to Greatness” had first originated. This is where I decided to make small things become very big things, and where most of my physical evolution took place.

The first few months of my training were not very great. It was what I like to call “the learning faze”. It was now that my nervous system was learning various new motor patterns with each workout that I did. I did not know what I was really doing, so just like what I did when I was trying to learn how to do pull ups efficiently, I returned to YouTube for workout tips. On YouTube there are many different YouTube fitness related channels, however, I was not sure as to which one I should rely on as a good source to follow in order to ensure that I make the most efficient gains I can possibly make. Therefore, like most people who do not know much about fitness I looked for the best-looking person in terms of physique to rely on since they would probably know what to do. However, at the time, what I did not know was that on YouTube they are quite a few people who claim to be natural, yet use performance-enhancing drugs to make easy gains and give off a fake persona to easily fooled people. Additionally, I did not know that genetics play a large role in how efficiently you can build muscle, as well as the result of what they will look like. I ended up watching generic videos on how to do certain workouts, and eventually I knew a decent amount when it came to lifting weight, but my technique in terms of executing the workouts themselves, among other things was not on par just yet.

At first, I was quite conservative as to how much I would try to lift, even though the people who were actually working out in the weight room, instead of being couch potatoes like the majority of the class who signed up for weight training, lifted sub-maximal loads that looked heavy. Although they seemed to struggle with the weight and would just move it, instead of control it. On top of that, their form was mediocre. I was no guru at the time, but I had watched enough YouTube fitness related videos to know the difference between doing alternating bicep curls and looking like you are doing a throwback to 2004 when Lean Back was a hit. After some time being above the influence of heavy lifting, I gave into trying to challenge myself with lifting some serious weight. It all started with the Flat Bench Press since it was said to be the king of upper body exercises, and since almost, if not all stereotypical meat-head would ask you “how much you bench bro?” I thought that being able to bench some heavy weight would give me some credibility. The first time I actually tried to flat bench, I had a hard time just benching the bar itself. At the time, I did not know it was due to my nervous system learning the correct motor patterns in order to perform the workout efficiently. I thought it was because of the frail arms that I had at the time. Once my body had developed a better understanding of how to do the workout, my bench went from just the bar, to being able to bench 135lbs. For me it was a big deal. For the first time ever, I actually felt strong. It gave me the sensation that I could do anything I set my mind to; it also made me feel like I was the man. Of course, as I have heard many people say before that, “You have to get hurt in order to learn to never make the same mistake again.” That is exactly what happened one day while benching.

Around the end of my junior year, on a Monday, which for most “gym rats” or regular weight lifters is chest day, it was the one day I always benched. I did my warm up, slapped on some 45lb plates on the barbell so that it weighed 135lbs, and started to do my thing. I had no spotter since I always used weight that I could handle and since I was already used to benching 135lbs all the time, I saw no need in having one. During this point in time, I had developed a bench press technique that had my hands gripping the barbell relatively wide, so wide that the ends of my hands were located right near where the barbell itself rested on the bench. After finishing the second set, I racked the weight, in the process; a small portion of my skin was caught in between the 135lbs that I was benching and the bench itself. It pinched my skin hard enough to cause eternal bleeding, and it hurt so much that I almost passed out. The weight-training teacher immediately took me to the nurse to make sure I was all right. Luckily a few minutes after feeling groggy, I cleared up and felt better, although the side of my left hand was killing me, it was bearable. You could say I got off lucky there. Ever since that day, I never benched so wide again, and ended up narrowing my grip by a few inches.

As some time passed, I began to incorporate more heavy compound movements, those movements being the Barbell Squat and the Deadlift. The Squat is known to be the king of lower body movements and known to get rid of those chicken legs that one may have. The deadlift is also known to be a great lower body workout, yet involves much more back activation and stabilization than leg power. The Squat is a workout where you carry the load over your base of support, Squat down as low as possible, then get back up to a normal vertical stance. The deadlift on the other hand is a workout where you pick up weight right off of the floor, stand up with the weight in your hands, then put the weight back down, hence the name “Deadlift”. These exercises sound relatively simple in retrospect, however, the execution of both exercises are much easier said than done. Both the Squat and Deadlift require a certain amount of flexibility within one’s joints in order to properly execute each exercise, as well as be taxing on one’s central nervous system due to the integration of the various muscle groups being exercised. Both exercises will expose any imbalances that you may have in your body, and aid you in building immense lower body strength, posterior chain strength, grip strength, and mental toughness.

I began deadlifting before I began squatting because I did not want to stunt my growth by barring any load over my base of support and causing spinal compression, although I was done growing in terms of height once I turned 16. The process of learning these movements was relatively similar to that of when I began bench pressing. I trained my body to efficiently perform the movements before proceeding onward to much heavier loads. Around the beginning portion of my senior year, I once again made weight training my go to gym class, as this was the case for the rest of my High School Career. During my senior year, exercise truly found a stronghold within my heart, for it helped me get through many hardships I had endured during my senior year, the main one being breaking up with my psycho girlfriend that I was with for almost two years. During the “recovery phase” of breaking up with her for the last time, I found working out being my safe haven. Exercise was my escape from all of the stresses of the SAT, college hunting, applying for financial aid, working at McDonald’s, and trying to keep my overall GPA as high as possible. I used working out as my personal drug. I would go into the weight room every week, five times a week, lift some heavy ass weight in order to release all of my anger and frustration, and get out. With each day I got to work out, I found myself turning exercise from a mere hobby, to an addiction of mine. I found myself watching YouTube videos on working out to be not just for workout tips any more, but for my personal entertainment. During last winter, since I was on Christmas break and did not have access to the weight room, I would run about a mile or so in the snow, then I would go to a jungle gym near a baseball field around where I live and do all kinds of calisthenics just so I could get to work out.

I also found that with my physique drastically improving due my consistent exercise that everyone I knew began complementing me on how strong I was looking. There were girls coming to the weight room to check me out as I exercised, as well as flirt with me. I began making more friends with people who lifted in the same weight room in the other schools in my high school campus during class periods that I did not have class. Due to working out causing this entire chain reaction of things to fall in place around me, I found my confidence was through the roof. I was at a point in my life where I was pretty satisfied with myself in terms of what I was becoming, yet, at the same time I really was not due to the fact that I found myself heart broken. Although working out was my escape from everything, it did not provide me an escape from my ex-girlfriend, for I had to bare seeing her every day I exercised. The relationship we had, although no longer together was still strong. Strong enough to have me continue to go back to her every time I felt the need of some sort of love and affection, even though I still had other girls talking to me.

A point in time came where she had “moved on” to another. However, this other, so happened to be a person who was known to be one of the strongest guys in my school. I had nothing against him, yet the fact that he ended up going out with my ex gave me a very disgusting feeling of jealousy on the inside. I realized that it was not my place to be jealous. I broke up with her, and she found another. Once this happened I found myself in a deep depression. Even while exercising, I found myself to be a pitiful, pathetic excuse of a man. I was no longer the person that I wanted to be. Exercise gave me that sense of assurance that I never had, however, it just could not heal a heart that was longing for love. Yet, during this difficult time, I met my current girlfriend on Facebook. While our initial connection was only over social media, the feeling that I had when I talked to her compared to that of girls that I had talked with before, during, or after my workouts was completely different. She seemed to be a genuine girl, although I knew there would be a chance that I could be getting cat fished. After the first day I met my current girlfriend, I asked my weight room teacher if he could let me stay in the weight room by myself. He told me that he was not allowed to do such a thing, yet allowed me to do so anyway. From about 11:35 to 2:00 o clock I stood inside the weight room just thinking, reminiscing, contemplating, and plotting multiple thoughts. I found myself in the same exact position that I once was when I made the decision to begin working out. I asked myself, “What kind of man do you want to become Will?” “Do you think that if you keep up this weak state of mind going that you will continue to make progress not only in the weight room but in your life?” At this point, I stopped thinking and began to take action. I no longer found any interest in longing for love, yet allowed love to find me. After a month, my ex-girlfriend broke up with that person and began trying to get me back. She would tell me how she just did not feel the same with him as she did with me. She began to flirt with me more than the other girls at my weight room did and would get extremely jealous when they did. I was even able to get her to dye her hair a color I found that suited her very well. Yet, although a piece of my heart longed for her, I found myself in love with only weights, and falling in love with my current girlfriend. She soon knew the love that I once had for her was fading away, so her efforts eventually came to an abrupt halt. She had lost that piece of my heart that was longing for her in the midst of many careless actions that I found out that she had partaken in, all of the leading on she had put me through, and all of the headaches that I had to put up with due to all of her nonsensical crap. A point came where I found that same love that my heart longed for went to loving the weights. I used that desire to love to be able to Overhead Press 135lbs, Bench Press 185lbs, Squat 225lbs, and Deadlift 365lbs. It was at this point that I knew that nothing and I mean nothing would stop me from achieving my goals. I had developed a fire inside of me that was not just a flame; it was an inferno so massive that it could burn down a village. This fire consisted of a few things… love, sweat, and tears.

Since I am no longer in High School, I no longer have access to the weight room that was in my High School. I decided to join a gym where I can continue to exercise and strive for success. I have some personal strength goals for the distant future, those goals being to Bench Press 225lbs for reps, being able to Squat 315lbs, and to be able to Deadlift 425lbs. I also have long-term strength goals in mind that may come sooner than later with the amount of effort I constantly put into lifting weights. In addition, I would like to compete in a power lifting event someday. Other goals of mine include helping those who wish to get into exercising, whether it be just to look better, to get stronger, or to train for a specific sport. I would like to spread the knowledge that I have acquired on exercising to the majority of people to help society.

I find exercise is more than just exercise, I find that it has to become a lifestyle choice that one integrates into their everyday routine. Exercise—including lifting weights and doing pull-ups or dips—has helped me grow into the man that I am today. Put another way, I would have become a different person without the exercise. Exercising has become a part of my lifestyle and the more I do it, the more I learn about my body’s physiology and myself as a person. It has given me the sense of accomplishment for it was once a dream of mine to be where I am now. As I stated previously, I was tired of being skinny. The reflection that I saw of myself was not the ideal sight that I wanted for myself. The sight I wanted to see was the greatness that I see of myself now, as well as the greatness that I have envisioned for myself through these thoughts of mine becoming things. These very thoughts becoming things are the dreams of mine that I wish to become a reality. Working out so happens to be one of these main thoughts for it is something that I think about every day on the hour. I am always looking for a way that I can better myself. I continue to look for ways to get stronger. Because of working out, I want to be the best I can be in every aspect. By being more organized, more personable, and more studious, I continue to find ways to expand my horizons and improve myself.

At this moment in time, as I look towards my future, I am not sure what is awaiting me, but what I do know is that it will be greatness. I do not say this to sound arrogant, I say this because of the confidence that I have. I say this because I will not allow all of the hard work and effort I have put into consistently pushing my body further and beyond its own limitations to be in vein. I will not stop until I know have reached the end and have attained nothing but greatness. Even when I reach the end, I will continue to seek greatness, for this how I will leave behind my legacy. The mindset that I have is similar to that of a soldier on the battlefield. They will not stop until they know that their mission is complete, with one day hoping they will leave behind a legacy for other soldiers to be in awed. Once I have reached the end of my road, I would like be able to inspire others to achieve their own greatness. Until then, I will continue to walk along my own road to greatness.

Hello, my name is Darien Laurencin, and I’m pursuing a major in Computer Systems Technology at New York City College of Technology. A topic I would like to discuss that is personal to me is the impact that negativity has on the mind. It is personal to me, because as I walk through life I have dealt with a great deal of negativity, and learned to withdraw from it, but unfortunately for others, things turn for the worst. I believe that negativity weakens the mind mental capacity in which it is not able to function properly. There are different variations of negativity in the world. As I progress through life from a young boy, to becoming a college student, negative influences, or thoughts, changes the mind as a person ages. The human mind is like a super computer, but like everything else, there is a limit to what something could take, and like a computer, the mind can only take a certain amount of negativity, then starts to turn against its carrier by embracing the side effects of what negativity causes. Like negativity in the physical world, in this generation the digital world is also very important, showing how negative variations can be exemplified across the world, by Facebook, Twitter, CNN and other media, which can then alter the state of mind. By preserving my mind with positive thoughts, and emotions I’m not only nurturing a healthy mind, but also strengthening it to fight against negativity when it comes my way.

The human brain is an amazing thing. Age however changes the human brain as we grow. During my transition from a young boy to a man, my mind gradually developed, based on my life experiences. One important experience that changed my mindset as I grew up was in middle school. Throughout my time in middle school, I was a straight “A” student. I worked hard, studied hard, and tried to the best of my ability to stay in my high level class. Marine Park was the name of my middle school, it is a dominantly white school with both staff, and students. The class level ranged from 8-1 to 8-12, 8-12 being the highest level. The level of classes was based on academic performance. I was in 8-8, which meant I had privileges classes 8-1 to 8-4 didn’t have, such as band class, art, and music. One day during my walk to math class, one of my friends got in trouble, so I asked him, “What’s wrong?” The teacher standing by him told me to mind my business, and then I told her to “watch who you talk to.” After that incident the “white” principal, and “white” dean of the school demoted me from 8-8 to 8-4. The teacher who I had the conflict with was not one of my 8-8 class teachers, therefore that punishment was invalid. In addition to that I also lost my 8-8 privileges. Being one of only three black students in my 8-8 class, and now I’m being forced to leave, something felt wrong. Even though I was demoted to a lower level class, which included mostly African-Americans, I maintained my 90 average, but still wasn’t able to move back up to a high level class. The negative value of that situation created a dramatic change in my minds view point on education. I believe that I was targeted as a black man doing well in a dominantly “white” environment. This belief made me think that in education, African-Americans are being downgraded no matter how much they try to achieve their goals. The negative mindset I had in the past still haunts me till this day, because now that I’m in college, I’m scared to even talk to my professors, thinking that they only want me to fail. Negative thinking like this weakens a student’s mind ability to function properly when confronted by their professor, or teacher. It does not only weaken the mind ability, but also weakens the connection between teacher, and student because of the distrust from the student.

Have you ever watch a commercial about some sort of drug? The commercial starts saying the positive values about the drugs, but then a few seconds before the end the commercial, it talks about all the side effects such as nausea, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Negativity is similar to these commercials. Negativity feeds the mind into thinking that whatever negative circumstances a person is surrounded by, must happen. To elaborate on that, 2 years ago in 11^th grade at Acorn Community High School there was this student by the name of Danny. Danny loved to fight from boys his age, to even the school safety agents. At only age 17 I’ve seen Danny in three fights, so one day I approached Danny to ask him, “why do you fight so much?” Danny simply answered, “I like to fight.” In Danny’s case he feels the negative attribute of fighting is a part of him. Like the commercials I stated earlier, fighting was like Danny’s pill, and soon after he will have to face the side effects. When it was time to transition from 11^th grade to 12^th grade, I didn’t see Danny in the senior orientation. 3 months pass by, and I finally saw him in school. Danny didn’t seem that he was fighting anymore, but did seem depressed and sad. I soon realize that the negative influence of fighting consumed Danny’s mind. Danny wasn’t able to focus in school, and eventually I stopped seeing him in school. What I learned from this experience is to get out of your negative influence, pleasure, or emotions before it’s too late. People are surrounded by negativity every day; we do not have to embrace it. The side effects of negativity are much more drastic. Similar to Danny case, after negativity consumes the mind to the limit it can take, the mind starts to give up on its carrier. Danny kept on fighting, and fighting until soon after he couldn’t bare the sight of fighting anymore. He faced the backlash of the constant fighting, by falling under depression and sadness. Don’t let your mind give up on you. The biggest side effect of the mind turning against its carrier is suicide, and everyday an increase in suicide is shown on the news. If we stop those negative influences, pleasures, and conflictions early we are giving our minds a second chance to not only function better, but to also help the mind distinguish from what’s right, and what’s wrong.

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all share one major thing in common, they are all connected to the internet. All these applications and websites are able to share news and information quicker. Some news are loveable such as a picture of a kitten to a dog getting rescued, but as I observe the activity on these sites, the information people are more attracted to is rather negative. Negativity is generated faster, and easier through the internet without someone even leaving their home. When I’m on Facebook, I would usually see funny videos, lovable videos, but the more viewed videos are negative videos, such as fights, bullying, and gossip. The negative videos would usually get the most likes then the uplifting videos. A few weeks ago I decided to conduct my own study on Facebook. On the first week of September, I wrote positive uplifting statuses for example, “Keep pushing no matter how much you fall down,” “Remember to love yourself,” and “You are amazing never forget that.” The likes I got for these statuses were around 10 to 14 with no comments. The week after I wrote negative statuses such as, “I’m tired of people, they get on my nerves,” “I hate this girl,” and “Ready to fight someone.” The likes I got for these statuses was around 17 to 25, which is above average for my Facebook. As I observe the negative statuses outcome, I had got many comments, including inboxes asking for more information about them. The comments and inboxes seemed to be more nosey, and trying to gossip, then caring comments to help me. This led me to the conclusion about what negativity on the internet have done to the mind. People, mainly the youth minds are being program to react to negativity, and withdraw from positivity. The human minds adapts to what a person do every day. If someone is consistently flooding their mind with scenes of fighting, arguing, and other negative things, then the mind will be program so that negativity is all a person be attracted to. I also being a victim to this form of programming, the mind want to be able to find out more on the negative interest a person is watching, that is why drama shows gets more, and more views each episode. I’m always watching fights, and arguments, not because I love watching fights, but because my mind have been program to be focus on only negativity on the internet. The mind have been so used to seeing negativity, it is unable to distinguish the positive aspects of something on the internet, making it unable to function properly. So whenever you see something that looks like any form of negativity, KEEP SCROLLING!

The mind needs to be preserved with positive thoughts and emotions. Because of continuous negativity, one cannot love or feel love the way a positive person would. The minds functionality is based on what you see, hear and feel. When I filled my mind with the negative environment I stated in my previous paragraphs, my mind was unaware of the positivity I was surrounded by. I have a wonderful family, and great friends. My mom would be always there for me, no matter how much I annoyed her. When I’m feeling down, or angry, I have good friends to cheer me up with laughter, hugs and food. With these positive aspects in my life, I was able to now withdraw from negativity, and pull in positivity. Knowing that I am surrounded by an army of positivity, it relaxes that mind to a state of peace and calmness which helps the brain function properly. One day while walking down the streets of Manhattan, I came across two homeless brothers asking for food. At first I passed the homeless brothers and went in Dunkin Donuts. While I was on the line, I was thinking to myself what if that was me, and my brother. I decided to get them a sandwich and orange juice. When I gave the two brothers the food and drink, they broke down into tears, then started thanking me a lot. That moment filled my heart with joy, and so much love, I wanted to do more. If I ever come across a homeless person, I would try my best to give them what I can, even if it’s the only change I have. I am not only filling my mind with positivity, but I am also passing on my positive vibe to anyone I help. The same way this positive chain works, a negative chains could be created. If I didn’t help the two homeless brother, other people would take notice and not help them either, but because I decided to help the homeless brothers, people took notice of that and gave them money. With a great deal of positivity, one is putting less stress on the mind, and giving it a healthy antidepressant. Ways that I keep my mind on the positive side is by helping others, writing positive statuses on social media, and listening to uplifting music. When I do those things my mind stay worry free and functions better.

Peace, happiness and good vibes should be in all of us. Positivity comes to those who stay positive through it all. In the future I seek to gain a deeper understanding of the mind connection to negativity. By learning this I am able to overcome all obstacles. As technology advances, the sight of negativity will increase in the minds of the youth. I want to be able to speak to the youth and share my experiences with them, so that I’m able to shield them from the negative world. It is a harsh world out there, and the mind is too important to waste. The mind is your overall control center that guides you through life. We need to be able to say at the end of the day, “I lived a good life.” On quote that I made for myself to stay positive is, “Be kind to your mind, because with that, positivity you will find.”

My name is Rolando Barredo. I am 18 years old, and I am currently enrolled in City Tech. I am planning to get an Associates in Electro Mechanical Technology. In my life, computers have made a great impact in my life. This is something that defines me. One reason is that the idea of a machine that is intelligent fascinates me. Also, the fact that video game consoles and handhelds are computers is a topic that I think of every time I play games. I have built my own computer, and I can consider it a defining moment in my life, which made me realize what I can do with that knowledge. Lastly, the fact that I have been surrounded by computers, or things that I now know are computers in itself is something that has impacted me the most. Those are reasons that computers, in general, define me as a person.

Computers are intelligent machines, whether or not we realize it. Computers are made up of many components. The basics are, a processor, or the brain, the chassis, or the body, and the monitor, where we can see the processes. One way that I saw this was when I was in elementary school, we had the old style Macs. This was the first year I used computers. They had the giant monitors with the large chassis, and they still accepted floppy discs. There were so many different colors, and I always liked the blue, since it’s my favorite color. Then, we started using them. Note, this is in my 2nd or 3rd grade mind. They did so many things like play YouTube videos, or listen to music. We can use Paint to draw. I had no idea that a machine could do such a thing. I saw a computer as if it were a person. It thinks, it has a body, which can be different, and a monitor, where we can see what it’s thinking. If it has a webcam, the computer has eyes. I was fascinated by this idea, as childish as it seems, but this is the way I laid a foundation in my mind of how computers work at the most basic level. It really sounds ignorant now, but that is how I now have that mentality of a computer being an intelligent machine. Now I know how those processes happen, what they actually are, and obviously, it isn’t a human with a brain. It is a machine we have developed that can do so many things. Being around one makes you feel like you are around something powerful. In other terms, a strong computer is equivalent to a car with a lot of horse power. This shows how an elementary school experience really impacted my view on computers.

Video game consoles and handhelds are computers as well. This idea is something that deepened my interest in computer hardware. Everyone has played on a Playstation, an Xbox, or a handheld such as a Gameboy or PSP. Obviously, we see them as devices in which not only we can play games, but at a certain age, our full entertainment system. We wouldn’t focus on the other things a handheld or a console are. They process info and handle graphics as well, just like a computer. Why? Because they are a computer. I remember when I broke my PSP, and I wanted to see what was wrong. I removed the screws holding it in place, and what I saw inside was another world. I saw a bunch of little components and chips, just like a computer has. I honestly thought all handhelds were just a screen and a game cartridge. I never knew how similar the complexity between a computer and a handheld are. That opened a whole other world for me. I started to investigate what else these handhelds can do that a computer can do as well. In that little research I did, I also saw the insides of an Xbox. I saw a green board and more chips inside. I realized that all the devices we use to game and entertain ourselves are also computers. My view on gaming devices changed completely with what seemed like the demise of my PSP. Who could’ve known? That realization of gaming devices being computers changed the way I viewed technology overall.

I see building my own computer as a defining moment in my life, since it made me aware of what I can do with my knowledge. Around 2 years ago, I watched a YouTube video on how to build a computer. It was several videos as it was a series of 3 videos. It was purely out of curiosity, because in that moment, it wasn’t even an idea in my mind to build a computer. Before that, I heard that building a PC is complicated, and not everybody can do it. While watching these videos, I saw how every component came together, like a puzzle. Each part complements the other, in terms of the functions that they do. I also saw how you can change the parts used to build the PC, depending on what you want the computer to be more efficient for. The specifications can be changed, and so on. It got me wondering, “What if I saved up the money to build my own PC? Would I do it?” I decided to take on the challenge to save up and build. I researched a lot in order to know what to get to build a gaming PC. Now that I reflect upon that, I see that it didn’t require so much reading. It took me 6 months to save up the money and buy all the parts. When everything came, it was so many boxes, I couldn’t believe it. When I started to build the PC, I didn’t need to re-watch the series, as the whole process was embedded in my mind. While I put everything together, I realized that I can do so much with this knowledge that I gained and put in practice. I wanted to go deeper, so I asked myself, “How is a computer part made?” Looking at a CPU (or processor) made me wonder how that individual component is made. That turned on a lightbulb for me in my mind. It wasn’t just a lightbulb for a temporary idea, it is a lightbulb that is still on, because now I’m actually learning how these components are made. That is a huge reason why I am currently studying in the field that I am and some of the questions I had before have been answered. For example, one part of a motherboard that is used in its production is a resistor, which I have already done a lab for. It’s like now, the pieces of the puzzle are coming together again, only on a smaller scale. That is why building a computer, in my eyes, is a key part to what defines me as a person.

Being surrounded by computers and things that I now know are computers has impacted me the most. You can say that it still influences me now, as we see how more and more technology is released. Just recently, the new iPhone 6S was released. The release of the iPhone had more people wait outside the Apple Store than people waiting outside Central Park to wait for the pope. That is impressive and we can see how many people carry computers in their pockets. We live in a city where big things happen, after all, we do live in NYC. We have areas like Times Square that attract so many people. My high school was around Times Square, so I got to see it everyday. The way I see it, though, is quite different. The amount of LED billboards and lights that are on all day is quite mesmerizing. The amount of computers surrounding us just in that area is surreal. You wouldn’t believe the amount of hardware that goes behind every electrical equipment that is used there. Going back to the anecdote of the Apple Store, I remember the first time I went to the Apple Store in Grand Central. It was when it just opened there in my freshman year of high school. That was an amazing experience being surrounded by all those computers. All those iPhones, iPads, and Macs… Wow. This impacted me, by making me think that not only would it be cool to work with computers, but to always be surrounded by any type of computer is what I want to do as a career.

Overall, computers were, and still are a huge part of my life. I plan on keeping it that way for a long time. There are many things I still want to achieve in my life that revolves around computers. For example, I would like to start off by successfully getting my Associates of Electro Mechanical Technology. That would be a huge step in my life, whether or not I choose to pursue a Bachelors. A Bachelors would be a degree in Computer Engineering Technology, which would go more in depth into what I studied the previous years. Also, I would like to go to a convention called CES, or the Commercial Electronics Show. In that convention, manufacturers display the prowess of their hardware in terms of them being the next best thing. Seeing the YouTube videos for that really shows what the future looks like. It makes us see the phones we will use, the TVs that we will watch from, etc. Going to such convention is a dream. In general, using my career opportunities for something revolving around computers is what I would like to do. That is my dream and I won’t stop chasing it.