Introduction

The reflections unit was something that each class participated in. Every class had a different project that would somehow tie together to relate to the question “ Who am I”. In Digital media we created an audio rant and recorded a piece that we wrote in English. In english we worked on writing an essay that talked about important things in our life. WHAT IS DESIGN ASPECT. This topic helped me learn about what I valued in my life and that I felt was important and worth writing about.

Personal Essay

Our personal essay was written to be used for our college essay. We had to brainstorm ideas by thinking of important events that have occurred throughout our lifetime or things that we value and care about. We used a book called “College Essay Essentials” to help us brainstorm and figure out what type of essay format we wanted to use. Writing this essay went along with the topic of “Who am I” because we had to give a deep personal insight into who we are and the experiences we have enjoyed or challenged we have had to overcome in our lifetime.

      After seeing a post on Facebook about a dog in need of help, I wasn’t at all surprised when my mother told me that we would be adopting another pit bull. This wasn’t the first time that she would do anything to make sure that a dog didn’t needlessly lose its life. Her tenacity meant that we soon brought Boss home. My mom knew she could count on my support and that I would help Boss to integrate into our family.

      Our intention was to train him and help him find his forever home. My mom decided to seek help from our trainer to teach Boss obedience and help him adjust to new people. To make sure everything went smoothly with Boss we had to build up his trust in us and create a connection so that he felt comfortable at all times and understood we weren’t going to harm him. Many people questioned our judgment when it came to adopting a pit bull and spoke of all the risks it would entail, but we knew from the beginning that this dog was special. We wanted to show everyone they were wrong to judge Boss just because of his breed. My mother knew she could count on my support and dedication to helping this dog no matter how long the process took. My mother inspires me in many ways, but seeing her determination to help a dog that would be killed reinforced my admiration.

      Finally, the day came when Boss would be adopted by a former Marine and would go on to become a full-service dog. He was able to go from being “an unadoptable, vicious” dog to being a true companion and helping someone survive. Helping this dog mattered so much to me because I have learned that I will always work to destroy myths and perceptions that have no truth. I won’t accept unfounded assumptions, I won’t put anyone or anything into categories, and I am always determined to find the true story. Pit bulls got a lot of negative media attention for being profiled as vicious fighters, which wasn’t the truth, so I knew that something needed to be done to change the conventional wisdom about this breed.

      When it came time to select a topic for a class documentary assignment, I knew that I wanted to address issues relating to rescuing animals.  As a student at Freestyle Academy, an art and technology program in my high school district, I have the opportunity to communicate my ideas visually. At Freestyle we learn to welcome criticism, to defend our ideas and to listen to new points of view. It was in this environment that I determined that the best topic for a documentary would be adopting pit bulls. This was my chance to honor my mom’s work and create a book that could change people’s minds about how they view this breed.

      I learned that providing a safe place is important to me. I have been taught the values of inclusion and giving others a chance to let me get to know them before making up my mind about them. Using my documentary to support that idea was the best way possible for me to communicate how I felt. I will never stand by and allow others to judge without encouraging them first to gather the facts. I know I may not always be able to change people’s minds, but I will take pride in my ability to try.

Perspective Piece

Another short project we did during our Digital Media class was the Perspective Piece Project. The idea of this project was to allow us to explore any topic that we wanted and share our opinion on it. After recording a minute long rant, we used Adobe After Effects to make a slideshow using photos that helped support our opinion.

For this project I decided to talk  about colleges and how the process of applying and getting in is so gruesome and time-consuming. As well as the struggle of not getting into school after putting your heart and soul into doing your best throughout high school and have it make no difference.

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