Christopher Lara, January 29, 2016

Looking Over First Semester

                First semester had its joyful moments, but it also had day’s weeks where I struggled. An overarching concept stayed true though, and it was that commitment meant everything in my life. Most of the academic and social success that I have had at Cristo Rey and in Southwest Detroit has come from staying committed to my community and grades.

                This first semester, I went beyond my goal of achieving a 3.9 GPA and earned a 4.05 cumulative. The boost came from the AP Environmental Science class and Honors Latin. Throughout both of those classes, and all my classes in general, I had papers due, projects to work on, Environmental Groups- like the Green Paws- to plan with, and the National Honor Society to lead. In Environmental Science, we have salmon that we have to keep an eye on. Even before they hatched from their eggs, I had to check the ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and pH levels daily to make sure that they were healthy. I also treated the water if the levels were unusual. This project is still going on and will go on until around May, so that means that I will be checking on the fish to keep this project going. In Latin, I wrote a paper that took a lot of energy and resources that dealt with conspiracies in modern and Roman society. It took a couple of months, but I turned it in on time and will all the requirements, leaving me feeling as accomplished as ever. It took commitment to stay on those projects, and I learned what it meant to meet deadlines and split my work up to complete it in milestones. I had some previous knowledge on how to do this from my previous commitments to the community.         

                Working with the community parks in Southwest Detroit has taught me how to stay committed. For the last five years, I’ve stayed on board with Cadillac Urban Gardens and Scarcyny to make sure they are ready to be worked on in the summer. Every year, I help plan out what will be done and what can be improved with the Merritt Street Clean Neighborhood Initiative committee and it gets better after every year. By observing and working for multiple years, I’ve learned valuable skills, but also gained close friends and inspiring mentors. If I hadn’t kept my roots in Southwest Detroit and just quit when times became difficult, I wouldn’t be the refined youth leader I am today.