Daisy Valadez

Mr. Ewart
Advisory
24 April 2015
High School Retrospective
Good morning fellow classmates, my name is Daisy Valadez. I am a
senior here at VISA coming to share my experience with you all. Ive
attended Vaughn for almost 12 years now and I can definitely say Im ready
to leave and see what college is like. Moving on from such a small protected
environment will be difficult for all of us when we graduate, but it must be
done. Every student that has had the opportunity to attend VISA has faced a
tough curriculum with lots of work, many projects, and teachers that push us
to do what they know we can accomplish.
Starting freshman year, I knew exactly what to expect with this
college prep school. We dove right into projects in almost every class. My
favorite was the Digital Literacy Lunch Proposal, in which each freshman had
the chance to try and solve a problem that we had with our lunch. Each of us
communicated our ideas to other students and the staff to help with the
issue that people werent eating and VISA was losing money. We all
recognized the perspective of the administration as well as the perspective

of the students who were not eating. We could not look at the issue from just
one lense and expect to agree on a solution. We did research, conducted
surveys, did some calculations, and took action to help out our lunch staff.
This helped me grow during freshman year because I learned the impact that
we as students have and that we need to come together to solve a problem
in any way that we can, trying to benefit all sides of those being affected.
This helped me grow in my ability to recognize the perspectives of those in
authoritarian positions.
Later that year, I had another person to help using a school project. In
Algebra II, my teacher had us become financially literate to help her devise a
plan for getting out of debt. I was given lists of monthly expenses and credit
card information then expected to present the quickest, most realistic
solution to getting her and her husband out of debt. This project involved
Excel knowledge, Prezi skills, new vocabulary, budgeting ability, presentation
skills, and mathematical conceptualizing. Due to the fact that I was going to
get myself into debt soon with college loans, I took this project seriously and
found a unique solution to her issue, out of about 150 students. With this
project I was able to learn how to use excel, a skill that many businesses look
for, and how to budget for myself when Im older. Being that we are all going
to have debt soon, this was extremely beneficial to model mathematically
and understand how credit cards work, what order to pay off things, and how
to limit spending in order to minimize debt.

Freshman year was great, and it all went by so quickly. Starting that
summer was a year of travel. I had my first travel experience across the
pond and without my family when I went to China for 10 days, while there, I
interacted with delegates from 10 different cultures while attending the 2012
Shanghai International Youth Science and Technology Expo. Later that year I
also went on a trip to Spain and France. Traveling to these places without
family was extremely liberating, but as the clich goes, with great freedom
comes great responsibility. Traveling without family also means that I had to
pack for myself properly. Before, I could pack and forget things here and
there but itd be okay because my mom would remember to pack extra just
in case; this time it wasn't like that, I had to really pay attention to what I
needed and made sure I took it with me. While I was away I had to budget
my money for every day so I wouldn't be short by the end, I had to get up
early by myself, and I had to go to bed at a reasonable hour or suffer the
consequences of being tired the next day. I plan to leave the state for
college, and Im not going to have someone tell me to get up and go to class
every day, or do my homework, or to save my money. These trips gave me a
lot of independence which I needed to have before leaving for college. I feel
much more prepared to be able to take care of myself now that Ive had
these little tastes of living away from home.
College at the time seemed pretty far off, as did the rest of my life in
general. Mrs. Mohrs honors project really helped me see that the rest of my
life wasnt very far off, or very long. For the project I had to create a bucket

list of 100 things I wanted to do before I died, and blog about it. This blog
assignment was not the typical research and writing assignment, it was more
like a life project. When I researched for this project, I learned to do it in
different ways; I investigated the world around me using social media, books,
magazines, TV and movies, books, asking people, and just the internet to
find things I wanted to do. Once I did my research I had to tell people about
my research using the blog. I communicated my ideas using videos I found,
screenshots, links, pictures, and just my own personal experience. For every
item I crossed off, it was taking action. Not the typical taking action of
helping some organization, or anything like that, but taking action in getting
my life started, accomplishing what I wanted to do or helping others do the
same. Before this project I had some ideas of what I wanted to do when I got
older, traveling was always something I had in mind, but I had no idea about
the Tomatina festival in Spain that Id love to participate in, or suspended
coffee that Id want to buy for people someday. The Buried Life blog was
something that gave me a new perspective of research and writing as a
student, but I think I grew more as a person. This project helped me see what
I want to do in life, and helped me plan on how to accomplish my goals.
Once Sophomore year ended, I knew I had to get my stuff together for
the most important year of high school, Junior year. Everyone knows Junior
year is the most difficult and most crucial for colleges decisions. Knowing
this, I decided to leave AP, and focus on getting good grades in average
classes. Beginning the year in American Literature, the play The Crucible was

the focus. After reading the play and watching the movie, each student took
on the challenge of creating a character and incorporating them into a scene,
as well as writing letters to two existing characters. Once we chose who to
write to from the play, we had to choose a topic: adultery or false
accusations, the focuses of the play. To complete this assignment, I was
forced to delve into the life of an accused woman about to be hung during
the Salem Witch Trials, recognizing a perspective from another century. That
helped me not only learn the history behind the Salem Witch Trials, but to
understand how it felt being accused. As an accused wife and mother, I had
to leave behind my child, having them be an orphan because my husband
was being hung along with me. I had to think about what itd feel like
knowing I was going to be hung, and channel the hatred into a letter to
Abigail, yet some sympathy for Elizabeth because her husband was being
hung along with my husband and I. Putting myself in someone elses shoes
from history was a concept that Id never had to do for any other
assignment, so completing this assignment helped me grow in my ability to
do so. This skill will benefit me whenever I have to argue for something I am
opposed to; I will be able to recognize a perspective other than my own.
Hearing the stories of brutal occurrences in history is very different from
becoming a part of it in a sense; it helps with the understanding of what the
people of that time dealt with in daily life.
Closing out first semester Junior year in Computer Science, I was
assigned a major group project to end in a 55 minute presentation to

complete on a country of our choice. My four group members and I chose

India to focus on. The project included creating a virtual handbook with
statistics on population, art, music, entertainment, fashion, food,
government, social issues, and economics. Then, we were required to plan a
trip with a full itinerary, hotels, restaurants, transportation and budget. All
this information was to go into a website fully coded from scratch. We
decided to split the project and play to each of our strengths. Since one of
the components of the project was an interview with a person residing in that
country, it made it easiest to put me in charge of that since I had friends
from India that I met in China. Using skype, I was able to speak effectively to
a member of another culture in a foreign country. Digitally, I communicated,
was able to retrieve information, and interpret it correctly to properly infuse
it into the presentation, providing me with skills for academic success.
Another portion I had to do in the project was create the itinerary for all 28
days for travel with a calculated cost. I was able to complete this using an
excel spreadsheet separating the city, the hotel wed stay in, how much it
costed per day, how many days we would be there, what restaurants we
would eat at, and where we would go within the city as well as how wed get
around. I had to research places in India and their history, then the costs and
most effective means of transportation. I discovered sites that showed
hostels, kind of like a hotel, but smaller and cheaper. Doing so much
research, I was able to gain knowledge that allows me to better understand
key concepts of planning a trip, and budgeting for a longer period of time.

Finally, at the end of the project, I also grew in my college and career
readiness with the 55 minute presentation. For the actual presentation, it
required some major preparation and planning to organize the lesson-plan
we had to follow. Just the actual act of presenting for so long helped me grow
in my ability to withstand public speaking, a definite skill required in college
or the career I decide to pursue.
Finally, the year was over, Id taken the SATs, and I was ready to start
my final year in High School. Beginning the summer I obtained a job as a
hostess at Six Flags Magic Mountain/Hurricane Harbor. In getting this job, I
had an enormous responsibility on a daily basis. Since my parents had
refused to drive me to and from work twice a day, I had to do research about
the bus system and the metrolink schedules for my everyday commute.
Before I started working, I didn't use public transportation. Now, I have
acquired knowledge about public transportation that I will likely use in
college when I am away from home. Working for six flags also gave me an
income I had never had. As a kid, I was not given an allowance, so this was
the first time I would have a regular income. When I first started getting paid,
I was excited to see the number in my six flags card growing. I hardly used
the money because I did have some cash saved from my birthday to use for
bus fare and metro passes. Time went on and I used up the cash so I started
using my card. I took out cash for bus fare at the end of the week. One day
came though, that I irresponsibly misplaced my card one day when I went to
work. I ordered a new one immediately, but I was left without money for 2

weeks. I struggled everyday trying to find money for the bus in my jeans, at
the bottom of my purses, and between couch cushions. I actually started not
taking my first bus to the metro station to save myself the $1.50. Instead I
would walk thirty minutes to the metro station, and back home every day. I
saved $3.00 which gave me lunch for 3 days or money for my other 2 busses
after the metro. I started calling for rides home in order to save myself the
trouble of not having enough for the bus the next day. Too embarrassed to
admit that Id been so irresponsible and had no cash, I stayed struggling this
way until my card came. From all of that, I learned about budgeting and
saving, two valuable skills in college and career readiness. Learning to spend
money wisely, and to save for an emergency is a necessary skill for when
there is a limited amount of money to be spent. Before, I didn't save cash for
a predicament like the one I got into, but I definitely learned and saved
enough cash for a week of transportation.
Now, it is second semester, Ive applied for college, been accepted,
and made my decision. My time here at VISA is coming to a quick end, while
you still have a long while to. For your remaining time at VISA, I want to give
you a couple pieces of advice: 1. take the PSAT junior year, because it gives
a lot of scholarships for decent scores. Along with that, search for as many
scholarships as you can. I didn't, and Im going to have a lot of debt because
of this when I finish college. 2. Dont treat school, and your remaining time
here as just something to get through, make plans for the future, and figure
out the steps you need to get there. Work backwards so you know where to

go from here, and what you need to get done. As for the staff, my only
advice is to help VISA become the international school were supposed to
be. Assign projects to help our students communicate with other countries,
teach the perspectives of other countries, have students travel to more than
just China. Yes, we are part of Asia Society, but China is not the only country
that we need to focus on, Chinese is not the only foreign language we should
have. Hopefully you all will make the most of your remaining time here at
VISA, good luck and thank you for listening.