THANK YOU
When you are born, your mind is clear of all external influence. As you grow older, the people you meet and the experiences you encounter help mold your mind into the unique and creative person you are today. A lot of teachers and role models have influenced my life for the past 18 years; however, few have helped channel my creative potential into various pursuits. Because this is a creative writing portfolio, I felt that my portfolio would not be complete without mentioning my gratitude and experience with them.
Mr. Weinstein,
English has never been my strong suit; I have struggled in reading and writing since I was little. When high school started, I was doing poorly in my English classes. Furthermore, I was not motivated to try to improve my writing skills in those classes. In Mr. Weinstein’s class, I learned many creative approaches to writing – such as mind mapping. I decided to take a risk and try new learning techniques to improve my writing and reading skills.
Last year, I tried a different study technique for a Macbeth test. If I just read the book, I knew I would not remember much. This makes that process useless to not only the test but also the enjoyment of the literature. I decided to try Mr. Weinstein’s mind mapping technique, but to an extreme – a macroscale mind map containing all his mind map lessons from the book. The mind map took about 2 days to make. I looked for important quotes that supported the main points on Mr. Weinstein’s lesson mind maps. I would use Spark Notes and the internet to confirm the meanings of these quotes and anything else I found interesting (it was intriguing to find many people super passionate about the book). In terms of results from this technique, my grade on the test was the same as if I had just studied for it; however, I was engaged by the information I had learned - which is obviously more important, right? I felt as if I could enjoy the analysis of Macbeth more than just reading it. Even when my friends were reading the book for their AP class, I jumped in and started telling them random interesting facts I learned during my analysis. This experience further emphasized the importance of spatial intelligence; I must use my visual skills to engage in and learn new information.
This year, I did not experiment and take as many risks as I wanted to. This was partially due to my poor time management skills this year; I had too many things going on at once, and it was hard for me to handle. For that, I am so appreciative towards Mr. Weinstein’s patience. Even when I turned in things past the deadline (like this portfolio), I made sure it was with 110% of my effort.
Thank you Mr. Weinstein. Thank you for being the one to push me in the right direction to improve my writing, to be creative, and to find my potential in English. It was truly an honor to have you as a teacher for my last two years of high school.
Dr. Truglio,
Since I avoided the “science life” majority of my life (despite growing up with doctors in my family), I did not know what to expect in Dr. Truglio’s research methods class. Surrounded by future geniuses and competition-winning banners, I felt extremely unconformable and intimidated at first. However, Dr. Truglio’s open-mindedness towards my rebellious and different ideas (how I convinced him why I left my PowerPoint blank) encouraged me to explore and create my own journey in science.
One of my ideas, for the class project, was to create a contraption that could measure depth perception. I thought by doing this, I could explore the field of engineering by making orthographic drawings of my design and building them. I spent the night finding cardboard boxes, pipe cleaners, and wooden dowels around my house. I begged my parents to buy me an X-ACTO knife and hot glue gun for this project (the class became my excuse to buy artsy and technical tools). When I tested it in class, I realized there were HUGE design errors, which made it difficult to accurately measure depth perception. Even though my contraption was flawed, it allowed me to embrace the failures I would eventually encounter in science. However, some of my creative risks have led to success. One time, I decided to cut up my poster board, so it could have an interesting and unique shape. I also thought it would be cool to add sound-recorded buttons to highlight the results Tooba and I found to our project at the time. I believe this got our (chemistry) judges intrigued and fascinated by the project – that and how enthuastic we were about our project.This is just the tip of the iceberg of all the risks I took in that class and for the next four years.
Thank you Dr. Truglio for letting me explore things on own and pursue my own creative choices. You have been such a great mentor for the past four years I have bothered you, even thought I was no longer in your class. I am so grateful to learn from someone as knowledgeable as you and Dr. Hersh – even more grateful to have experienced it in high school.
Mr. Christy,
Ever since I was little, I only had one form of communication: art. Growing up, my family spoke a different language (Tamil), so it was very hard for me to speak to others. I struggled in reading and writing – that has not changed. Art become my only form of communication and expression. It was so important to me that my art could carry the messages my voice and writing could not. I even spent many hours perfecting my handwriting so that people could easily read it. To me, communication was the key to success. I remember in preschool when my teacher would give me writing assignments. My attempts to write coherently ended up looking like random Egyptian hieroglyphs. Instead, I would draw out what I was trying to say and the teachers would finally understand it. Ever since then, my peers and teachers encouraged me to follow an art-centered career path.
I did not continue that much art in elementary school. My teacher was more into abstract art; she only had one rule: “there is no such thing as an eraser.” We did not get along well. Middle school had the biggest impact on my art endeavors. I met the art god: Mr. Christy. Mr. Christy inspired me to never lose hope on a piece of artwork just because it looks “off” or “wrong.” He believed that artwork, regardless of how “awful” it may look to you, could always be visually stunning to someone else. My raccoon piece (shown under the “art portfolio” tab) is a great representation of this. When I first started this piece, the proportions and shading were off. I hated it. I decided to start again on the backside of that paper. Mr. Christy caught me turning it over. He encouraged me to continue. I am so glad he did because that piece eventually was displayed at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tennessee. He also encouraged (required) me to get a sketchbook – the one I still use today. He told me that your sketchbook could be used for anything: writing, drawing, etc. He would show me all his sketches in his previous sketchbooks; he would always be experimenting with different mediums, the human anatomy, and his dreams from the previous day. One day, I hope to complete the sketchbook (3/4 there!) and mail it to him. He has been the most influential art teacher I have ever had; he help me create my own art style. Every piece you saw in this portfolio was heavily influenced by him.
Thank you Mr. Christy for teaching me that there are truly no mistakes in art. He taught that every mistake has a purpose in art; it has allowed me to experiment more with my artwork (still not enough to do abstract pieces).