Gilberto Lopez

Growth Trajectory Essay

Like most freshmen, when I first got to highschool I felt intimidated and was shy. I would only

talk to those that I had already met throughout middle school. Whenever I was inside a classroom

I wouldn’t answer out loud, as I thought all these new kids would make fun of me if I was wrong.

The projects we were assigned were always sudden to me, so I always hoped I would be the last

one to go. It was really high school as a whole that changed this trait. In Ms. Pinto’s class I was

asked to read, and I sat in a table full of strangers. Luckily, they were as shy as I was and we

ended up getting along just fine. Not only was I beginning to talk to the class, but to Ms. Pinto as

well. I found out that I am not the shy type. All I needed was a small push to let my real

personality take over. Before I knew it, I became friends with everyone, talked to most of my

teachers, and I would always convince my group to volunteer first. Now, I am confident and

outgoing. I know that I won’t have a difficult time in college making friends. I’m at an advantage

by being so outgoing, as now I don’t struggle to talk to anyone, whether they are my age, or

older, or younger. This is a huge benefit as I will also be able to network with ease in the future,

without having to think twice.

My presentations skills were not always as refined as they are now. I used to be mediocre

at best, when it came to presentations. I would rarely present before coming to HPIAM, and when

I would, it was usually to other students with no experience of what a good presentation really is.

I would also do what I dislike now; I would read off of my powerpoints, and not focus on the

audience. That changed when we began to prepare for our first Interdisciplinary Project. Every

class begin to prepare us in a different way, but it was in our English class where we began to do

many presentations. Presenting to our class over and over again, while receiving feedback from

our teacher, helping us improve after every presentation. Then the IDP itself exposed us to

present to teachers, upperclassmen, and people from our community in different career fields.
Now, I had gotten accustomed to presenting to professionals who could easily catch a minor

mistake whether it was the content, or mispronunciation. Along with exposure to different

audiences, we would practice and read our slides multiple times until they would eventually stick,

making us look more professional during the IDP as we would have the presentation memorized

even with transitions. At this point in time, presentations are second nature, no matter who they

are for, I can present with ease. Whether it is a presentation for college or for work, it’ll be an

easy task.

As long as I can remember I have always had the horrible behavior of procrastination. I have

always been in an honors program, or cohort, and I had never truly struggled or had a reason to

study and do my homework right away. Even in high school, if tests were enough to get me an A,

then I wouldn’t do my homework because I would just understand the lesson thoroughly enough

to ace the test. However, because I wouldn’t do my homework, I wouldn’t get the perfect scores I

knew I was capable of getting. It wasn’t until Precalculus that I could no longer procrastinate and

I had to break the habit. After taking the first test, with the same behavior, I cam to having a

69.90% in the class. I was technically failing the class. After going to tutoring and talking to Ms.

Matos, I realized that homework is just another way to help me get practice and points. It would

only benefit me to do it, even if the tests were a majority of the grade. From this point I started

doing my homework and studying for three hours for two days, the week of a test. After I stopped

procrastinating, I began to receive perfect scores on almost all tests, and my grade remained at an

A throughout the rest of the school year. I finally broke a horrible habit, and now I would be able

to handle the workload that is to come from college or any job in the future.