As my final essay for my Libs 327 writing Intensive course, I wrote an I Believe essay. In this piece, I use my love of chicken wings as a metaphor to describe my core beliefs. “I believe in creating an existence where the people in my life support my genuine self, and will happily share an experience full of laughs, messy faces, and an abundance of chicken wings.”

“The real transformation happens when we understand our freedom.” In fall 2018, I began my journey in the Hutchins Program with Mercy Romero as my Libs 101 professor. Through this experience, I began my transformation as a college-level writer. My “Human Enigma Essay” describes my personal evolution as a religious individual, and my relationship with my parents as open-minded adults.

As a global pandemic required me to conclude my time in lower division Hutchins virtually, I wrote a response to my “Challenge and Response in the Modern World” course, and reflected on my lower division Intellectual Journey. While making connections to texts from many courses, I recognize the knowledge I have gained about human rights and injustice within many of our systems.

Through this Libs 327 piece titled “Resilience in Quarantine,” I developed my reflection tool to the greatest degree as I wrote about my darkest moments living in isolation after having my college experience taken away at the blink of an eye. I elaborate on my journey of finding tiny, beautiful things to make the darkness just a little more bright.

In Stephanie Dyer’s Libs Core, I had the opportunity to write my own travel autobiography. As a well-traveled individual, thanks to my very blessed family, I summarized by continent and shared specific, highlight stories.

As my final essay for Ben Frymer’s Film Noir Libs core, I wrote a compare and contrast essay about two female protagonists in film noir. After studying The Seventh Victim by Mark Robson, and Midsommar by Ari Aster, I was able to describe similarities such as themes of death, cults and fear of the unknown.

In Stephanie Dyer’s Travel and Tourism Libs core, I had the opportunity to begin the learning experience of collaboration in a virtual educational setting. Kiana, a friend and a Hutchins peer, and I collaborated on a research project in relation to the impact of COVID-19 on airlines. This paper was developed about eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic.

Throughout Kevin Nguyen’s STEM Learning Libs core, I deepened my understanding of the process of informal learning in relation to all learning, but more specifically, STEM learning. I reflected on my experiences with learning during the pandemic, and addressed ways I have demonstrated informal learning in my own life. While making connections to texts, I write about my informal STEM learning and my STEM activity of pouring resin to create dominoes for my Etsy shop!

For my Libs 312 course, I wrote this response to a reading introduced in class called It Won’t Be Easy. In this response paper, I acknowledge the difficulties of comparing and contrasting the experiences of being fair, and being equal. Can everything be equal if we want to be fair? As an educator, creating accommodations for individual learners creates a space for a diverse classroom. As an educator, I accept the task of promoting change and making a difference to remove racial inequality.

For my EDMS 419 course, I wrote this response paper to the text titled Restorative Justice: Resources for Schools. In this response paper, I highlight a restorative justice program in Oakland, define key terms related to restorative justice, and elaborate on the impact this text had on me.

One of my favorite books introduced during my time at Sonoma State University is titled You Can’t Fire the Bad Ones! For my Libs 312 course, I wrote a response to this text and reflected very deeply on my experiences with the education system from the point of view of a student, and as a future educator. I reflected on what it means to measure the effectiveness of a teacher, and questioned the process of standardized teaching. Wages, funding and the value of an educator are all topics addressed in this response paper.

The final reflection of my journey in the Hutchins Blended Program. A tribute to the professors who impacted me, experiences that shaped me, and opportunities that pushed me to become the college graduate I am today. Thank you, Sonoma State University, for supporting the program of my dreams

As a Hutchins Track III Blended Student, I applied to the credential program as a Sophomore and began my time in the program as a Junior. As a part of my application, I submit my statement of purpose to the SSU Credential Program. In my essay, I identify the people who have led me to this point in my teaching journey thus far, recognize the qualities in good teaching practices I would like to develop, and the reasons Sonoma State University is the place for me to continue my education.

For my EDMS 464 course in the credential program, I created a Text Set including a diverse range of books for many reading levels and ages to acknowledge a consistent theme of Inclusivity. I wrote a book recommendation for The Junkyard Wonders, and described the book in the form of a book talk. All of this information was presented to my student teaching placement class, and my EDMS 464 peers using this presentation.

For my geology course at Sonoma State University, I created a field trip lesson plan for a kindergarten community to use hands on learning to recognize how humans, plants and animals change rocks on the surface. In this lesson plan, I consider time, multimedia sources, materials, field trip procedures, assessment and so much more.