Community Essay Pre-Writing Prompt

Members: The members from my community are the Year Up staff and students.
Interact: The interaction within my community is academic, friendly, and professional.
Membership: There are a variety of ranks within the Year Up organization. Such as the site leaders, followed by the teachers, and then comes the students.
Choice: Yes, students choose to be part of the Year Up program to obtain an opportunity, education, internship and a successful future.
Community Characteristics: Year Up’s expectations for everyone is to be respectful and professional. Year Up has great learning and safe environment.
Benefits: some of the benefits Year Up provides are education, weekly stipends, internships, and a variety of great resources.
Disadvantages: Only 80 can be chosen at a time to participate.
Successes: Graduates have a higher chance to keep on succeeding. Year Up graduates have more education and experiences.
Problems: Unprofessional behavior can sometimes set Year Up to have a bad image.
Like: What I enjoy about the community is that it has a powerful support network within the community and corporations. I also enjoy working with my colleagues. I like the education topics and the great teachers that teach them.
Dislike: What I dislike about my community is that cell phones and tablets are not permitted to be used in the building at all. For example, you can’t use it during break and lunch.

Writing Topic 10/25/11

Some of the things that I learned about myself, is how dedicated I can be to the Year Up program and maintain strong to stay committed to avoid other distractions. I surprised myself on how far I was willing to push myself outside my comfort level to succeed in the first module.

Plus: The following is a list of my strengths for module one.

• ·         I helped out a lot
• ·         Was able to complete assignments
• ·         Learned new skills
• ·         Experienced by applying knowledge
• ·         Quizzes
• ·         Cooperating
• ·         Focused
• ·         Dedicated
• ·         Came everyday ready to learn

Delta: The following is a list of my growth areas for module one.

• ·         Not being able to get work done efficiently
• ·         Public speaking
• ·         Paying attention to detail
• ·         Work under pressure

The Mission

When I think of the Mission district I see art, culture, restaurants and parks. I moved a lot throughout my life but it was always within the Mission district. Despite the gangs, homeless, and police, I felt safe running the streets as a kid. I remember me and my neighborhood friends would always go buy smoke bombs to play hide and seek, cops and robbers in the streets. It was all fun and games at first but when I got to the age of 11, it started getting serious. Me and my friend that I’ve known since the age of three witnessed our first shooting and never spoke about it after. I had no idea why I would see letters and numbers crossed out with Ex’s and why almost every block I walked seemed like there was someone trying to find out where I’m from. My friends eventually became part of it, which made me guilty by association. I didn’t feel like I had to get jumped in to be accepted because deep down I knew they had me. Although I never became part of their organization, I was still accountable to follow the rules and carry out orders. Aside from doing things I am not proud to say, I spent my teenage years roaming the Mission streets. Whether I was riding on busses or on cars, I would always like to sit by the window just to look at the Mission and its colorful murals. Art always caught my eye. When I returned to the Mission on early 2010, it wasn’t the same anymore. Gentrification was happening right in front of my eyes. I couldn’t walk around my own neighborhood or be at a park without a cop stopping me to search and ask questions. I can say that most of my childhood has been wiped off because the murals I grew up watching aren’t there anymore. The friends I grew up with are no longer around, it seemed like everything just crumbled down. I’ve become anti-social growing up in this type of environment. The Mission is changing, I am too.

Corporate America

Companies profit from low-wage earners by being sneaky about their businesses. They talk more about how the company can help the consumer but they don’t get into detail on what you have to do in order to pay them back. I think the corporations, government, or individuals hold responsibility for alleviating this issue. Corporations don’t say too much on what you really have to owe them; they talk mostly about what their services can do for you. Governments hold responsibility as well because not much education on how to do businesses with the corporations are provided. A majority of the responsibility goes toward the individuals for many reasons, for example, ignorance, busy, not doing enough research, and poor decision making.  One thing about me is that I never do business on the spot unless I have a good understanding; otherwise I go do my research. I remember a time when I was looking for a bank and this one particular bank tried to persuade me to join them by offering a cooler bag with their logo on it. I wasn’t fooled by all the free gifts; I was focused on what they really had to offer and what I had to do for them in order to benefit both of us. I talked to at least one representative from each bank but never did any agreements on the spot until I did my research to concur with their statements. I am glad I took the time to educate myself and get a good understanding on what I got myself into. When the government decides to push toward this issue, there would be resilience in the opportunity divide. If the government decides to educate individuals on this topic many businesses would go down because they would no longer fool people just so they can get support for their companies.