Ideal Group Interns

For me, one of the most fun and exciting sport to play is soccer. Don’t be fooled though, I’ve only been playing for half a year, but I enjoy every second I of it. It started when I took the risk of joining the team in the summer of 2015. I didn’t know if I was going to smoothly transition into it, or become the laughing stock of the team, but I tried anyway. During the summer, I started off with defensive role because I wasn’t trained well enough to be a mid-fielder or forward. Because this was a school based team, I got to know many of my unknown classmates and freshman just coming to Detroit Cristo Rey. It might sound cliché, but we bonded and became a family. As the games progressed, I started to ask questions about certain tactics and took notes of how mid and forward players conduct themselves.   I was eventually moved up to mid-defensive, which was an upgrade from the solely defensive role. Moving up meant that I had to guide my defense up and down the field, and assi...

Christian Perales February 23, 2016 Significant Event in my Life             There have been many events in my life that may be seen as life changing, but you cannot just single out only one event in particular. Each even has played a role in leading to the person I am today. To be even more specific, you must categorize the types of changes that may have come from any event in particular. In short, there is a very broad range of choices and many different paths to be taken when going about answering the question “What the most significant experience, accomplishment, risk you have taken, moral dilemma or personal triumph you have faced and its impact on you”.             The one of the most life changing experiences, accomplishments, moral dilemmas and personal triumphs I have had all in one, occurred when I was in 6 th grade. There are a few parts to it, and it h...

With college decisions coming up, I applied to Loyola's scholarship program with offers a full ride. My application essay is the following: Loyola University Chicago provides a transformative educational experience in a Jesuit tradition. In 700 words or less, please explain how the Cristo Rey Scholars program will assist in your own transformation while at Loyola. It is uncommon for the youth in Detroit to challenge themselves to improve their capabilities;  fortunately, the help I’ve received from my high school- Detroit Cristo Rey- and local business partners has developed me into a youth leader for the Southwest Detroit community, and an ambassador for the student population at Cristo Rey. Because I have transformed into an advocate of change for my demographic in Southwest Detroit over the last five years, my development will not stop after high school. I am grateful for being accepted into Loyola University and I will continue my success in college by receiving an e...

                 Pages six & seven are very important, so it’s a great addition to this article. They are surprisingly easy to understand, given that the world of money management seems overwhelming. The example they give on page six sticks out to me because it seems like something I will buy later on. Also, the example truly shows how graphic using credit could be. I also really like the comparison charts they have between credit and debit because it shows that it is much safer using credit. The “70-20-10 Rule” might come in really handy further on to pay off simple loans (college, overdue payments, etc.). Lastly it is also it gives a great detail telling people that there will be deductions in their pay because I understand the confusion of the first paycheck.                Today was pretty relaxing and joyful. In the morning I went into the kitchen and grabbed a cup of steamy coffee. And for...

Christian Perales February 16, 2016             Today I read a couple pages of the Financial Literacy packet and it opened my eyes to the importance of knowing how to be smart with your money early on. As a teenager, you wouldn’t really think too much about what bank is the best or whether or not you should use a Bank or a Credit Union. Being informed early on about all of these things is a great way to have a leg up on the competition. Since we have all of our lives to make money, we should be aware early on of what is smart and what isn’t when it comes to spending and saving the earned money. 

I started my day like any other by going to Surplus. Right away, I sat down and started working on the Ebay listings. I worked on it and was able to get 3 pages down before lunch. I did a few homework assignments while I ate lunch. I got back to work but ran into a problem. The page wouldn’t load and it took about 30 minutes to load. This was time wasted for the project. I was able to get 2 pages done before I stopped to write my blog. I also had to read another 2 pages of the financial literacy packet. My day was great; the project is coming to an end. We have the remainder of this week and next week to finish building our robot for robotics. Time has been very crucial lately for us; we need to quickly finish our robot. I’m part of the mechanical team, so I worked on the chassis and manipulator. Currently the chassis is done, so we’re working on the manipulator. Other members are working on electrical and programming as well. We’re going to meet today and hopefully our robot wi...

             During these last weeks of the build, for Robotics, I have felt superfluous amounts of excitement, content, accomplishment, and a tad bit of stress. Towards the finalization of our robot I have been very busy with learning Java, the programming language. Learning Java has been very arduous but the concept of it all seems so simple. As for the rest of the team, the programming team has been learning Java and adapting last year’s code to this year’s and waiting on the electrical to test some of the programming. The chassis, manipulator, and the electrical teams have all been working together to have put all three sections together. We, as a team, have been mixing subdivision teams to help one another and work as a whole. Besides completing the robot, I want the team to feel satisfied and accomplished. I just want the team to be happy with the time and work its put into that robot.          ...

Christian Perales February 9, 2016 During the season of Lent, is it better to Give Something Up? Or do more of a Good Deed?             In the past few months, I have been trying to cut back on certain foods and watch how much I eat of a certain food, but I have not been too strict about it. Because of the fact that I am an athlete and most of my time is either in school or in the gym is one of the main reasons why I am able to maintain my athletic physique. Though I should still try to eat cleaner and drink more water. This is why I will be cutting out junk foods. Over the Lent season I am not only going to give something up, but also do more of something good that I already do.             One good thing I do, although there are many, is showing respect and kindness to others. This should be done all the time but in many cases, it’s not. In doing more of this deed,...

        It starts off very interesting and the idea around saving money is very appealing. Giving a metaphor about going on a diet really will catch people’s eyes and also help them better understanding the concept. Proceeding along the article spits an eye-opening reality about our social life and I found that to be a real reason to keep reading. It somewhat captures the mindset of a teen and young adult because it states that we don’t want to wait to achieve financial independence. Being a young adult/teen I can agree.          Going on to the “Banks versus Credit Unions” section, it explains pretty well what a bank/credit union is. Although it does that well it really lacks in telling the difference between them. Yes we know many things have an application, direct deposit, & online banking. That should be a given because most industries have a websites and are connected through various means of the internet. I think they should give...

Lately I've been trying to avoid what I eat and drink, so I didn't make myself a coffee today. I started my day by going to Ideal Surplus. I sat down at my desk and started working on the Ebay task. Since we've been given a deadline for the task, I've been trying my best to do the most I can per day. I worked on the list for the whole morning. I was able to get about 3 pages down before I had to go to lunch. Osmara and I went home for lunch. When I got back to Surplus, Gary handed me another task. Gary wanted me to go through our website inventory and remove some items that we had sold. I was given list of items that needed their quantity changed. This was simple but time consuming task. I was able to finish the list in less than an hour. I continued to work on the Ebay listing until 3. I checked how many more pages we needed to finish and we need about 30 more. Christopher and I will have only 7 more workdays combined to finish the task, if we do about 5 each ...

Abnormalities in My Life                 When I went to a meeting with Frank and Sylvia today, I was asked to describe myself. I went with above average because a student with my grades and leadership is above the average student at Detroit Cristo Rey. Frank agreed, but renamed my personality as abnormal. That word didn’t work with me though. I didn’t like the word abnormal because that means that you’re not normal. People would infer that I was weird or unqualified if I was abnormal, which was disappointing to hear; however, Frank did explain to me the true meaning of being abnormal.                 Frank said that I was special, but that word came a long way since he was young. He was also called special, but in a negative way describing uneducated kids. He added to his account that he was abnormal too, but he could do things th...

I started my day by serving myself some coffee. I walked over to Ideal Surplus to start working. I sat down and continued working on the Ebay listing. While I was working, Gary informed me that Chris and I need to get the list done by the end of February. After this day, Chris and I will only have six days to finish the list. I did about 3 pages before lunch. I had a great lunch and I did some homework as well. After lunch, I continued working on the list. I did about another 2 pages before I stopped to do my blog. My day was great, now I have a deadline for my project. Why Do Detroit Cristo Rey Ideal Interns write Blogs? I believe we write blogs to see our growth in a professional environment. Many of us start off by doing some simple tasks as we start working at Ideal. As the years go on, we are given more important tasks because our employers trust us. We get to experience new stuff and for us writing how our day was, we get to see our improvement and growth. I also believ...

           The most memorable experience for me this past year was getting a summer job. This is because it gave me a bigger experience in what is in my future. I would be able to spend money on whatever I wanted and I learned some more tricks on how to save money. It also gave me a great internship opportunity working for Ideal. I think I would like to take the chance to live 2015 over again to fix some mistakes from happening. I would save more and fix some personal mistakes as well. I would also remember to get exercise every day. Besides me messing up a couple of times I really enjoyed 2015.             Today was a really casual day for me. In the morning, as usual, I made coffee with Richard and we parted ways. Not many people were here so I immediately started on scans. When lunch came upon me I quickly ate and ready a section on physics as a part of homework. As soon as lunch ended I went bac...

Christian Perales February 2, 2016 Why Do Detroit Cristo Rey Ideal Interns write Blogs?             The reason why Detroit Cristo Rey interns for Ideal write blogs, in my opinion, is to keep track of the growth of the student, see their opinion on events and how they would improve certain things in a given situation. While writing a blog post may seem like an easy and mindless task done at the end of each work day, it actually helps each student practice on going into detail for a given situation, expressing their opinion in a professional manner, and developing leadership qualities for future events. Writing both in a professional and creative way may seem hard to do at first, but with practice and a set goal it becomes easily obtained. For a student intern who may not be overly fond of writing, a blog post at the end of each work day may be undesirable, but with the right mindset and help from supervisors, writing a bl...