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PERSONAL VISION
During the time I've been at ACLC, I learned to seize the day and live in the moment. I try not to worry about my future and what it holds, but it doesn't hurt to think ahead a bit. In twenty years, I honestly don't know where I'll be, heck, I don't even know where I'll be tomorrow. I like to plan as I go, but in twenty years, I hope I'm well on my way to a successful life. I would like to be at a good job, either in engineering or architecture. I hope not to get too caught up in my salary, as long as I'm doing something I enjoy. Hopefully, I'll be designing and manufacturing cars or something awesome like that. I want to be able to settle down and raise a family and live a little above average life. I just want to be happy and still be alive in twenty years. Alameda seems like one of the best places to live a simple life and raise kids, but my current perspective of Alameda is that it's a boring place and that you can't rely on the city to give you options for fun. You need to make your own fun out of the place and hopefully my kids are imaginative or easily amused. To plan for such a life, I hope to just live in the moment and let the wind take me with it. I hope to find that one true love that is meant for me. I plan to attend a UC to major in Architecture or Mechanical Engineering in the fall of 2011, but before that I hope to graduate and walk the stage in the spring of 2011. With that in mind, I plan to stay at college (most likely UCSD) for the regular four years and if I'm still up for attending school longer, I'll get my Masters degree. Throughout all this, I'll probably be getting a job to help pay for whatever I need. After I'm finished with school, I'd like to come back to the Bay Area from wherever I may be and share an apartment with a friend. I plan to get out into the work world immediately and get hired at an easygoing job. I'll work there for a few years paying off student loans, rent, and other necessities. After getting decent experience in my field, I hope to move higher up on the chain and have high recognition. I'll probably work at a nine to five pace, but in the middle of all this mess, I'll find the girl that's even better than my dreams and marry her. After saving up money, I'll get my own house in Alameda and start raising my family. I know my dreams wont end up anywhere that I'd like them to be, but I don't care. I'll play by ear and just go with whatever life throws at me. I'm prepared to take whatever steps I must in order to achieve a great life. Most likely, after I graduate college, I probably won't get a Masters degree or even be able to live in an apartment with a friend. But all of that doesnt matter because I know that my dreams will always constantly be changing; otherwise there would be no more chase. The chase in life is what makes life worth living, and without it, life just becomes dull. I live for the chase, and only the chase.
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
It all began in the summer of 2007. I wanted to go to Alameda High School; the thing was that I didn't live in the district. I accepted the fact that I was in the Encinal High district. My mind was set on EHS and I was fine with that. Then, my sister apparently heard about Alameda Community Learning Center so she decided to get me into that, I wasn't fine with that. Against my will, I was forced in to attending ACLC for four years without any say. It was my life, but I guess not anymore. It was all up to what my parents decided for me, and I'm glad they did what they did. Throughout elementary, I was an outgoing child that would try and do everything. As middle school came along, I began to regress and I didn't exactly like where I was attending. Wood Middle School seemed to offer nothing to me and the three years zoomed by. I looked forward to a bright future at one of the two schools I had heard about before; AHS or EHS (neither of which I attended). I then started my path throughout ACLC with a grudge against my parents, but that soon turned into joy. I feel that I've personally progressed into a better person than I ever could have been. I was able to test my abilities as a learner and take college courses. Along with this, I was given the chance to meet a brand new group of people. Community was such a big thing pushed into our little skulls that it finally got through to me. After that, I was able to bond with everybody and see the silver lining on everything and I came to be a true learner. I began to learn more about responsibility and would work on my work during project time. I would manage my time much better so that I would no longer have much work to finish after school. With this, I had time to take upon new hobbies, such as learning/playing guitar. I took up the opportunity to become a leader through leadership and it has helped me focus and envision what I want to express. I soon learned that both Franklin Elementary and Wood Middle got me completely off on the wrong foot. Once I began attending ACLC, I had no idea what to expect. I was told it was a charter school, and I had no idea what that exactly meant (I still barely have any clue as to what that means). What Franklin and Wood had prepared me for was an ordinary high school with either six periods a day or a block schedule consisting of either a six period day or a four period day. My previous schools didn't prepare me for project time. It didn't really affect me all that much because I always seemed to adapt quickly. What had thrown me off was that I started off in a Physics HP class as a freshman and I worked my way backwards through the ordinary cycle of science classes. Physics with Maafi Gueye was the best though because even though she was very humorous with her non-stop jokes and tales of her past, she knew how to connect with the people and teach. Without her, I wouldn't have felt that Physics would be one of my strong points, but now I know it is. This has led me to want to major in some sort of subcategory in engineering. I have never had any idea what I really wanted to do as I grew up. When people asked, I just wanted to be a computer engineer because my older brother did that for a living. My older brother had been my greatest idol in life until I was released into more of a realistic world. My idol soon shifted to become myself, because the one I feel I can always truly depend on comes back to me. ACLC helped me realize this and helped me become more of a thinker than a learner. I didnt know who or what I wanted to be, but by taking the classes necessary to graduate, I was able to realize what I liked and disliked. I am now able to see that path that comes out of the tunnel and which way I want it to lead me. I can now justify myself, my being, my reasoning behind every mistake and decision I choose. Through numerous group assignments and taking leadership, I learned how to take control and stand in the background. I can find myself working well with the other learners and figuring out which of my strong points would help assist in the assignment. I do try to use my strongest points on all pieces of work, but I also like to work on my weaker points. This is one of the biggest reasons why I took leadership. Leadership wasnt just a class to have a voice in the school, but it gave one more of a sense of the community. It allowed me to open up to the community more and helped with my public speaking skills. I volunteered as a small group leader to help speak up and get better at taking charge. When it comes to collaboration, I can do whatever it takes to make the piece of work a success. Before I had joined ACLC, I always knew a bit more about computers than the average kid. My brother majored in computer engineering and had a job related to computers and software. He passed on the simpler knowledge down to me, such as how to generally use a computer and most of its usual software (Microsoft Office). Thanks to ACLC, I reinforced my knowledge about computers and I picked up little things here and there, such as shortcuts. Thanks to my parents, I've become something more than I ever would have imagined myself as. I adapted to an entirely new environment and came out on top. I used all the resources I had to the best of my ability and became friends with many of the other learners. But, here and there, I always like to look back to the past and wonder how I would be if I went to Alameda High School. Whenever I think of this, I imagine myself being stressed out and a bit obese. Having class all day would tear me apart and all those restaurants nearby would just be too tempting. I'm glad that I went to ACLC for high school because it made me learn how to seize the day. I don't worry myself with the little things and I live in the moment, this seems like the only way to live a great life, and ACLC has shown me the way to this.
RESUME
Michael Caomcao103_gmail.com Education Alameda Community Learning Center, Alameda, CA (2007-Present) Expected Graduation Date: June 15, 2011 o 4.2 GPA o Academic Honor Roll (August 2004-Present)College of Alameda, Alameda, CA (August 2009-Present) Courses Taken: Calculus I, Psychology 1A, Art History o 4.0 GPA Experience Hannah Camp Counselor (2010) Supervised a number of kids at a school-wide, overnight camping tripACLC Small Group Leader (2009-Present) Led small, class-sized groups of students in activitiesKhanh Phong Supermarket (2005-Present) Worked as cashier, bagged groceries, restocked/cleaned shelvesCycles of Change (Summer 2008, 2009) Volunteered and helped others fix small/minor issues with bicyclesExtracurricular Activities Guitar (2008-Present) Three years of guitar: Self-taught and played with four other members to form a rock band, weekly practices (sometimes twice a week)Waffle Fundraising Club (2007-2010) Fundraise for school and other clubs at ACLC, helped plan events, attended school events, helped obtain materials, helped make waffles for student bodyACLC Ultimate Frisbee (2008-2009) Played and practiced with team throughout year, could not participate in all tournaments due to injuriesEPGY Engineering Camp (Summer 2007) Summer camp that took place at Stanford over three weeks. Daily program included academic learning related to engineering, along with recreational activities (team sports, outdoor/indoor games, dances, musical events) Other Skills Fluent in EnglishConversational in SpanishProficient in Microsoft Word, Publisher, Powerpoint, ExcelOrganized and has ability to manage time efficientlyAbility to work well with others and work well under pressureAbility to utilize surrounding resources and adapt to situations
INTERNSHIP
Khanh Phong SupermarketOakland, CA 94607Supervisor: Anh TranPosition: Store Clerk/Filing Clerk/CashierFebruary 5, 2011 I've been here at my mom's supermarket countless times now. I've helped out in tiny doses here and there and over summers, but today it was now considered as an internship at Khanh Phong Supermarket. I strictly followed all guidelines and whatever my mom had asked me to do. This time around, I could only take breaks whenever the others did and had to do my job with my full effort. I could not slack this time and I had to pay attention to every little detail. My mom started me off in the morning at 9 and I filed receipts for the remainder of the day until the eight hours were up. I took a lunch break or snack breaks here and there, but I filed all transactions my mom made with other companies into alphabetical order into a filing cabinet.February 12, 2011 Since last week I filed all the receipts my parents had, my mom placed me on the cashier today. As cashier, I rang up customers and bagged whatever items they had. The hardest part was when an item did not have a price tag stuck to it so I would have to wait for another worker to ask them. This also goes for the numerous produce that my mom sells at the supermarket. I would have to weigh each amount of fruits/vegetables and put the cost on the scale. I could barely ever remember the cost for each specific fruit and vegetable, let alone differentiate all the different types. Another issue today was the language barrier I had with most of the customers. I was only taught a rarely used Chinese dialect when I was young and it was more similar to Taiwanese rather than Mandarin, Cantonese, or Vietnamese. I was unable to communicate with the customers well other than greeting them and saying thanks. I would always go to another worker and ask them for translations, but this became redundant. This continued on for the rest of the day.February 19, 2011 This week was more of the accomplishing moments. I was put on the cashier again, but this time around one of the workers at the store tried to help me with my language barrier. They slowly tried to teach me Cantonese and Mandarin throughout the day, but all I could grasp was how to say the prices to the customers (which is still a big step). After having dealt with the produce a lot the previous week, I had a general sense of how much each item costed and what to put on the scale. I would always double check with one of the other cashiers though. Towards the middle of the day, I basically remembered all the prices and I no longer checked with the rest and just went throughout the day ringing people up on the cashier. At the end of the day I restocked some shelves and put price tags on the items. After all that I sweeped the floor and headed home. February 26, 2011 Today was probably the last day that I would work here as an intern. I missed having a more relaxed working style for my parents since I was unapid. I did the usual as cashier and stocking shelves. Another thing added to the schedule was that I went with one of the other workers to the supermarket's warehouse. Once we arrived, we stocked the big moving-sized truck full of items that were running low at the market and then we headed back to the store and I restocked everything.Closing Report My organizational skills were put to its fullest on the first day after I had filed for countless hours. After that, the rest of the days were more based upon communication and adaptation skills. With the issue of the language barrier, I had to find other ways to communicate with the customer, whether it be using my hands and playing charades or asking another worker to help me translate. This in the later weeks no longer remained an issue because I began to pick up on the languages they spoke (except Vietnamese). I could not fully understand what the customers said, but I picked up words here and there and then connected the sentence together to make sense. This worked for most of the time and I was able to communicate back to them. In terms of adaptation, I had to remember all of the countless prices of the groceries. So many prices to remember, but I eventually got a general sense of them and I was able to differentiate all the fruits and vegetables and distinguish the specific prices to each respective item. The daily duties were pretty basic and the consisted of either filing, running the cashier and bagging, restocking shelves, or cleaning up. Throughout this internship I was able to get a grasp of how rough my mom has it for the 9 to 5 pace. Working day in and day out every day of the week is quite stressful (I assume, since I only worked four full days). I learned about organization and how things should be placed when bagging and I learned a lot about how businesses run. I also learned about having to account for all the other little factors, such as prices and people wanting to steal. My favorite experience throughout all of this was when one of the other workers began to teach me bits of Cantonese and Mandarin. This came in handy a lot and I always felt like I should be familiar with the languages since my parents and I have always had a language barrier. The biggest obstacle for me was the lack of the ability to communicate correctly. I got a hang of the prices over time, but it's way too hard to learn two languages completely in such a short time. It would take forever to learn both Cantonese and Mandarin and I do hope one day that I will pursue that even further. My initial expectations were basically how the experience was like. I had worked here before and I knew that this time around I would have to be working even harder and do everything as my mom said. A change was that the store was no longer owned by my dad. He had decided to retire and hand the store over to my mom. My dad isn't nearly as crazy as my mom while working and he's a gentleman and businessman at the same time. My mom is initially not easy-going so I had no choice but to follow her orders.
ARTIFACTS
FIGHT CLUB
POEM ANTHOLOGY
SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT
FIGHT CLUB
POEM ANTHOLOGY
SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT
MICHAEL CAO Senior Portfolio
HOME
PERSONAL VISION
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
RESUME
INTERNSHIP
ARTIFACTS
Michael Cao
Senior Portfolio
ACLC Class of 2011
mcao103_gmail.com
