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Sara Gamboa

Mrs.Casady

IB English HL Y2

21 May 2019

Reflection Essay

Prompt Number 1: The Towering IOP 

I can definitely say that the work that I am most proud of is my IB English IOP from

junior year, IB English HL year one. This was such an agonizing and treacherous moment that I

anxiously anticipated and of which I felt that I was thrown, abruptly into. At this time in

December, I had missed approximately 2 months of school because of mental health challenges,

from which I have now grown from greatly. Coming back to school was so agonizing as I

struggled with extreme social anxiety and depression, and it was so hard to become involved in

the program again I constantly felt incapable of moving on. I once again became existential in

my thoughts and believed that I would fail junior year and get held back. I struggled so much

with catching up with all my classes and wanted to quit. Fortunately, I had the most amazing

teacher that year, Mrs. Priest, who was genuinely concerned and involved in my wellbeing, she

encouraged me so much and supported my every move, more than any of my other teachers of

junior year, so with her support and guidance I started to build confidence and persevered

through presenting my IOP and to my satisfaction I received a 26/30, a solid 6, which I was more

than proud of. Although not a perfect score, I didn’t expect myself to do a perfect job because
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I’m not, but it was perfect to me because I know how difficult it was to get through it and I am

still proud of myself.

Prompt Two: Arithmetic 

Math has always been something that I have struggled with, and I would say that it is

really one of the only major things that I struggle with. As on my transcript, freshman year I

received a C in Algebra one, during that year I struggled and honestly did not care about math or

my grade in the class. I often got frustrated and didn’t feel the need to try and I greatly regret it

as I look back on it, due to the fact that as of know, I can say that I enjoy math. As evident in my

sophomore year, I received a B in geometry, a whole letter grade improvement, than the previous

year. The following year, I received an A in Algebra 2, my junior year. I would say that junior

year was the year that I developed an appreciation for math and the way that it challenged my

brain and critical thinking and I couldn't have done it without Mrs. Castillo. She sparked my

appreciation for math and she made me learn to reflect on and embrace my failure and learn from

them. I learned to not be ashamed from my failures and use them as a learning experience. I

began to see math as a puzzle, and tried to make it entertaining for myself and most of the time it

worked. I can definitely say that I have greatly improved in my work ethic and dedication to

challenging myself with math.

Prompt 3: There’s Always Room For Improvement 

As previously talked about in prompt two, I strongly believe that I will always have room

for improvement in math, but that's not to say that I can’t improve in otherways. I can say that I

am proud of my performance in other subjects, but I know that I will continue to face challenges

in high school as I go through nursing school, which I already know is going to be extremely
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difficult but extremely worth it. I know that I will continue to grow as a student and as a human

being as well. I think I have steadily improved over the years and I am really proud of it.

Recently I was rewarded a SPIRIT award for my efforts in spanish, in which I was enrolled in

the IB Spanish SL program, which I have greatly grown from and learned from. I also struggled

with whether I was worth being involved in the program and had a lot of anxiety during my first

year of IB Spanish, yet I can proudly say that I am so confident in my spanish skills. I remember

wanting to drop IB spanish and speaking to my teacher Mrs. Jones about my anxiety, yet

fortunately she pushed me to continue and I’m so glad that I did, just recently I finished the IB

Spanish exam and felt to confident and I left that exam with a huge smile on my face, with my

experience I can definitely say that I will now encourage myself to believe in myself and

challenge myself with whatever comes my way.

Prompt Four: How GOHS Prepared Me for “A Great Oak Life” 

I would say the main way that GOHS has prepared me for the rest of my life is thanks to,

marching band and the IB program. In terms of marching band, I developed so many leadership

skills and created so many bonds with people that I know will last for many years to come. There

were many times that I felt like it was too much and I was overwhelmed with the endless

responsibilities that I had, yet I learned so much. I learned to work with people, even if we didn’t

always agree, and now that I’m working I use those teamwork skills on a daily basis. I also

learned to deal with great pressure and multi-tasking as there were so many things to keep track

of, foot timing, music, peripherals, visuals, and counting all at the same time, because of this I

have obtained somewhat of a glimpse of what reality is like and I am so grateful for my

experience with the ensemble. In terms of IB, I can’t believe how much I put into this program,
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from all the HOTA notes, all nighters, preparing for the IOP, the IOC paper 1’s and 2’s, Internal

Assignments, and even though I wasn’t enrolled for full diploma I still learned and grew so

much. I used to struggled so much with presentations due to social anxiety and as of now I can

say that I am quite comfortable when getting in front of a crowd and, I would never have

expected to say that I will be singing at my graduation in front of thousands of people, truly

amazing, and I couldn’t have done it without my experience at Great Oak High School and I

wouldn’t change anything from the past four years, because it has shaped me into the young

adult that I am today.