Humanities Portfolio

Dyan Urboda

2nd Semester

2004-05

Murphy Site

Intro… For this second semester I’ve struggled to keep my focus, to not be

distracted by the challenges and even just simple things that come. As the semester passed I’ve committed myself into making the best out of life despite all challenges. Best, meaning I will not get myself into things that is giving my religion and my God a bad name. I will strive to follow God’s provision of guidelines. And as you view my portfolio you will see my strengths and my weaknesses but keep in mind that I will not give up. This portfolio contains information about me as I grow in Jesus. The 10 J2E goals, which will be focused on this portfolio, has helped me grow physically, spiritually, and mentally. These 10 J2E goals are Acceptance of God, Commitment to the Church, Interpersonal relationships, Responsible citizenship, Healthy balanced Living, Intellectual development, Communication Skills, Personal management, Aesthetic Appreciation, and Career and Service.

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Table of ContentsSection 1: Journey to Excellence

Goals: Acceptance of God Commitment to the Church Interpersonal Relationships Responsible Citizenship Healthy Balanced Living Intellectual Development Communication Skills Personal Management Aesthetic Appreciation Career and Service Conclusion The end

Section 2: Artifacts

FOR:

Acceptance of God

Commitment to Church

Interpersonal Relationships

Responsible Citizenship

Healthy Balanced Living

Intellectual Development

Communication Skills

Personal Management

Aesthetic Appreciation

Career and Service

Acceptance of GodSurrender one’s whole life to God; develop a relationship with Jesus Christ; and allow the Holy Spirit to

work in one’s life.

During this semester the assignment that help me develop in this area of my life was the Leave a Legacy project. Because it not only gave me the opportunity to share Christ to others but it also provided me of a new light, a new way of understanding others and seeing their needs and a new way of life for me.

The leave a legacy project has two parts. One was to create a website and the other was to do a service to the community or to others on our own and for this the sophomore girls from the Murphy site are sponsoring a 16 year old child from Thailand. Her name is Paw and she is a refugee. Her parents can’t afford to send her to get good education and can barely provide for her shelter and food so we help them out by sending 18 dollars a month. The program REACH enables us to help out Paw. Paw sends us letters telling us how much she enjoys school and how much she’s improving. It is a nice feeling to know that we are making a difference in Paw’s life. By doing all these things for Paw we are creating a difference in our lives. And as for the website, at first it was so frustrating! I could not figure it out! But I didn’t give up, well, more like I COULDN’T give up so I had to keep pursuing and slowly but surely I created my Website. It’s not too technical and stuff but it is a start. It has some information about Paw and I had some ways of making a difference it was all because I simply wanted to leave a legacy. All these things that I did for the legacy project gave me a new perspective in life. I can imagine being in Paw’s life and it just wants to make me do more for her. I always tell myself, what you do unto others you do to God so BE the best that you can be and when times get tough, don’t give up. Never give up! He is always there with you and he will never forsake you. Coming into a relationship with the people that I get to serve and the people that I serve with, gets me into a relationship with God. It helps me to accept God in a manner where I WANT to serve Him and I WANT to love him and it’s cool that nobody can take that away from me. I chose Him and I choose His ways. I will always and forever love Him more than anybody else. And the best part of it all is that it feels wonderful! Leaving a legacy definitely made a positive change in my life and it’s something that’s going to stick and I choose to not let it go.

Artifact for Acceptance of God

My website is:

www.ae21dj.50megs.com

My legacy project.

Legacy Project

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Commitment to the ChurchDesire to know, live and share the message and mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

During this semester the assignments that help me develop in this area of my life were a lot of the FFT Journals. Because they have helped me develop a sense of understanding about the importance of having a commitment to the church.

One particular FFT journal is the journal on thankfulness. We were to choose an FFT (Food for thought) out of many and one FFT stuck to my mind. That was “God has two dwellings: one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.” (Isaak Walton) To me this one means a relationship with God requires you to be committed to Him. And I think that commitment means that you need to be thankful, courteous, kind, patient, true, just, and loving. If you want to have a relationship with Him then you got to let Him because he gives you the freedom of choice. He could force you to do anything and I mean anything at all if He wants but He doesn’t force you. He gives you the choice of either loving Him or loving somebody else more than Him. Personally I would rather love Jesus than love myself, others, or things. He makes things more simpler and so full of life and so light and I’d rather have that feeling than having a burdened heart. Sure it’s not easy. I did another journal on the CLQ courage. There I displayed things that I sometimes find myself doing. Courage is not easy. Courage is standing up even though you may stand out. That takes courage and that’s not just talking about special occasions but that’s speaking as a matter of everyday rustics. It takes commitment to follow God and it’s not easy but it’s all up to us to choose Him or to choose the other guy. We have the freedom but do we have the brain? Yes, yes we do. It’s just that sometimes we don’t use it! Just like as I said in my journal that everybody seems to want to be somebody, “the” somebody, and usually everybody looks like everybody else. Because everybody’s trying to be that somebody. The world is full of gullible people, are you going to be one of them? Are you going to buy that hot pair of tennis shoes like everybody else is doing? Or what? Choose wisely everybody. That’s what I’ve learned not only from doing all these journals but also from past real-life experiences. It’s not easy but don’t give up. I ask you and I ask myself to be courageous. I want to stand up and stand out for Him in any way that I can. It’s not much compared to what He did for me but it’s enough to make Him happy. I know because He is a great God and He doesn’t forsake us or laugh at us when we stumble or fall but picks us up and encourages us to go on. All we have to do is listen. All we have to do is be committed. He needs our commitment.

Artifact for Commitment to the Church

Here are a couple of my FFT Journals.

ThanfulnessCourage

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Interpersonal RelationshipsDevelop a sense of self-worth, skills in interpersonal relationships, an understanding of the

responsibilities of family membership, and the ability to respond with sensitivity to the needs of others.

During this semester the assignment that help me develop in this area of my life are the Drama Retells because well, it’s pretty much self explanatory. Drama means working with other people and this one was a tough one to crack but I did it.

It’s not likely that you find people you just unbelievably get along with. Because I mean, I even have arguments with my best friends. The Drama Retells were an excellent way to practice interpersonal relationships. At times I found myself in a not-so-good positions but I was able to conquer evil not let evil conquer me. There are a lot of crazy people out there that will constantly try to step on your pride and everything else you have but that shouldn’t stop us from being the best person that we can be. All of us are capable. So the Drama retells helped me to realize that I should pursue to understand other people’s feelings. If we want to have a good product out of all the talks and everything else we do before presenting a drama for class, we have to listen to each other’s suggestion and if we disagree we got to be in a tactful manner so that they will be receptive of what we have to say about their ideas. We cannot just bombard it all of sudden and in a mean and judgmental way because then, they will tend not to even bother to hear your ideas out. Then what seemed so impossible in the first place, can be accomplished. Find each other’s differences and then find a way in which everyone can be happy about the whole situation. One can’t accomplish a good drama without other people backing them up. You got to have back-ups. Interpersonal relationships was definitely one of the tough ones that I had to encounter but despite all the struggles, all the misunderstandings, and just plain old jealousy, I have improved on my interpersonal relationships and I not only show these skills in school but also incorporate these skills into my personal life like with my sister. Now you all know that’s tough but I survive! Because I’m a survivor. Because I’m with the knowledge of other people’s sensitivity and I have an understanding of the responsibilities I have as I am. Interpersonal relationships takes understanding and patience by this alone you can improve your relationships with not just the people you work with but also your mom, dad, sister, grandfather, grandmother, cousin, and etc. It takes some work since patience is not easy to attain especially if you have obnoxious relatives but you have to try. I mean, what’s the hurt in trying?

Artifacts for Interpersonal Relationship

Here are a couple of Drama retells.

Drama RetellDrama Retell

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Responsible CitizenshipDevelop an understanding of cultural and historical heritages, affirm a belief in the dignity and worth of

others and accept responsibility for local, national and global environments.

During this semester the assignment that help me develop in this area of my life is the legacy line. Because the legacy line helped me to learn about people and what things they did in life.

For me understanding the way other people in history lived and how much they left legacies to people for the future made me a better citizen. Not just a citizen of a country or community but as a citizen of God. In my legacy line there are people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Genghis Khan both men who struggled and fought to become good citizens. They worked and there were tough times but they surpassed it. Now these men are definitely good examples of people who are responsible citizens. Responsible citizenship to me a is a big responsibility. It not only takes determination but also understanding and trust and loyalty. All these things make up a good citizen. Because it makes you aware of your surroundings and by that alone can you become a good citizen. What happens if you have no understanding? If you don’t understand the people then you don’t understand your country because the people is the country, the people is what makes the country a country. Therefore, you have to know the people and you have to understand the principles of the people. Now it’s not easy to get to know the country because there will be people that will mock you for your good doings but this should not stop you. You have to have determination. Show them that you can be a responsible citizen and you will be by being determined. And when you’ve gained their trust and they gain yours then comes a tough part of it. That’s being loyal. Loyalty is hard especially with all the temptations and allures people make these days. It’s not easy avoiding all these things but loyalty is a very important part of being a responsible citizen. This is what I’ve gained from my legacy line. It helped me realize the importance of a responsible citizen and it also helped me become one. This J2E was not a particularly hard one for me to achieve because I was taught to be responsible so during this semester or more like the half semester, I was only to improve it and in way where I can keep the lesson. And not just keeping it but also using it. I know it will come in handy one of these days. Well, it does come in handy everyday!

Artifact for Responsible Citizenship

Here is my legacy line where people who left legacies for the future are listed.

Legacy Line

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Healthy Balanced LivingAccept personal responsibility for achieving and maintaining optimum physical, mental and spiritual

health.

During this semester the assignment that help me develop in this area of my life is a journal on selfishness and unselfishness.

This journal was about the things that I did selfish like and the things I did unselfish like over the Christmas break. The reason why I thought this assignment is because it helped me realized three things and that is:

First, one cannot achieve or maintain optimum physical health when one is selfish. Two, one cannot achieve or maintain optimum mental health when one is selfish. Three, one cannot achieve or maintain spiritual health when one is selfish. Selfishness pollutes your brain, which literally means your whole body. Selfish people don’t have friends and when they do not have friends, they become depressed which will affect them mentally and physically. Selfishness pollutes the whole body. So one should accept the responsibility of understanding other people and not just be all on one’s self. You have to share to maintain a healthy balanced. This selfishness/unselfishness game is tied into the J2E goal, Healthy Balanced Living. For me this goal was hard mentally because I do procrastinate a lot. So whatever comes in my way of just chilling and having a good time, I will tend avoid and then at the last minute cram it all in. It’s a bad habit. I was not responsible if was procrastinating. Every student has a responsibility to turn in their assignments but every student seem to avoid it. It’s mixed up world and it’s going to be hard to maintain a healthy balanced living and when they do achieve it, people tend not to go through it the whole way. Balancing life has got to be one of the hardest things to do in life especially with the world being all hectic. It’s even hard to find time to exercise. And spiritually, I think most of the people in the world is almost at the pits because of the excitement and curiosity, people fall in Satan’s traps and like I said, it’s hard to keep life balancing. It’s hard for me because doing the right thing seems to get you in the wrong side with most people. This assignment definitely help me see the world and myself better and that I realize how important to keep our lives in balance because a little to much of one thing may lead you into disaster. We must gain balance if we want Jesus.

Artifacts for Healthy Balanced Living

This a journal about selfishness and unselfishness.

Selfish/Unselfish Journal

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Intellectual DevelopmentAdopt a systematic, logical and biblically-based approach to decision-making and problem-solving

when applied to a developing body of knowledge.

During this semester the assignment that help me develop in this area of my life is the persuasive paper because writing this paper required awareness.

In this paper I talked about selfishness and what it does to you. It pretty much kills you. It helped me develop in intellectual Development because it made me think about all sides of being selfish. I had to pay attention and learned how to approach any resources to help me solve my the problems I had with this paper. Intellectual Development is a good thing and for me it’s more of a mentality game and I know sometimes people really get caught into it. When one develops intellectually they become obsessed and they spend all that time trying new inventions and all that anyone can forget why they were there and how they were there in the first place. Also for students at time all they want to do is improve academically because that’s what they’re parents are fussing about. It’s hard to really develop intellectually. I’m sure this development only happens when one really wants to develop. It’s a person’s choice and it should be because they want too and not because they are forced too. I know I feel like that sometimes and too many expectations from parents and teachers will just cause the kids to revolt. Intellectual Development is not something that stops when you stop being in school. Everyone learns everyday. Every one is constantly learning and there’s not stop. Even the oldest people in the world still find something new. Intellectual development is something that can be used and is important to achieve because it is badly needed in life. It would be sad if we had stupid people working in the stock market. Without intellectual development this world will crash. Where will the people be if they never learned to invent and to solve problems. Where will we be if the prophets of the old days did not think biblically-based and what would girls be like if they never learned to make good decisions? The world will come to an end and humans will seize to exist without intellectual development.

Artifacts for Intellectual Development

This is my persuasive paper.

Persuasive Paper

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Communication SkillsRecognize the importance of effective communication and develop the requisite skills.

During this semester the assignments that help me develop in this area of my life are the vocabulary and TIME article reading assignments because they worked out my vocabulary.

For me communicating with the people was the hardest thing about coming to America. When I first came here I understood English but could barely express a word the way everybody else does. It wasn’t easy especially out here in the South where they have their own way of talk. I could barely understand them with that southern accent. It wasn’t just about the talking though. It was also the way I communicated through my portfolios and my reports. Doing the vocabularies throughout the semester helped me improve my vocabulary skills. I know words that I have never known before and not just the word itself but also it’s definition. Words like castigate and de novo now I know because of the vocabulary words we had to look our of the TIME articles. The time articles did not just teach me words. It gave me understanding. Many of the TIME articles were about challenges people face today. Most of them were more of a political type. Like that Terri Schiavo case, it affected the government and the church. The fact that I understand all that was going to get affected and what not help me develop in my communication skills. All these skills are requisite to daily function. Because communication is important everywhere you go. To be able to understand you homework at school you have to be able to communicate with your teachers and classmates and facilitators. To be able to function well at home you have to be able to communicate with your parents, grandparents, sibling, and other relatives. Communication is important in life. Without the skill to communicate, you can pretty much say your life is short and bitter. Communication helps you to be happy because you can make friends and keep friends. It’s not possible to get a job if you don’t know how to communicate. All these things I learned and developed and incorporated into my life because of all the readings about life in those TIME articles and I not only developed my communication skills mentally but I can also share them through speech from all the vocabulary words I had to look up.

Artifacts for Communication Skills

Vocab

Here is a vocabulary assignment.

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Personal ManagementFunction responsibly in the everyday world, using Christian principles of stewardship, economy, and personal management.

During this semester the assignments that help me develop in this area of my life are the journals because the journals were a challenge to get done every single day.

It’s not easy to function responsibly in the everyday world especially that there’s so many things you can get distracted with in everyday life. Like for example your TV or just playing around on the computer with the games and all of that. It’s so simple to procrastinate. Doing the journals helped me with managing myself. It was hard to be able to accomplish everything including the ten minute journals everyday. It was so constant and it was really getting old. Thankfully, I had a little help from our site facilitator. We are able to get 10 minutes off after Geometry class and journal. It was really nice that Mrs. Kelley help us get our journals done and on time too. I didn’t miss a single journal. Doing the journal did not just challenge my management skills but also taught me other skills like different Habits-of-mind and Christ-like-qualities, and with this, I was able to manage through the everyday school work that was provided to each student by the wonderful, caring, great, fun teachers! To manage my life on my own was not easy. I’m growing and there are so many new things that I do not know how to do that is scaring me. I’m slowly getting out of my security and with all the journals that I had to do, I’m able to to face it. Sure I make mistakes and I fall but I stand up and correct everything using all the things I learned from journaling. The journals helped me to be successful in all the things I do and it enables me to share Christ to other people. Through my actions, that I specifically learned from the journaling of HOM’s and CLQ’s, I am able to share Christ through a light. With this light I am able to conquer darkness and without darkness is a God who will never forsake us if don’t forsake him. As the summer comes I challenge myself to keep managing my life in a sense hat will be for the best. It will take determination but with the Lord’s help I know not one person can stop me because with the Lord everything is possible!

Artifacts for Personal Management

self-repect journal

courage journal

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Here are a couple of journals that I would like to share with you.

Aesthetic AppreciationDevelop an appreciation of the beautiful, both in God’s creation and in human expression, while nurturing individual ability in the fine arts.

During this semester the assignments that help me develop in this area of my life are the Emma assignments because they were in the matter of literature in which, I had to learn to like.

I’m not really the kind of kid the reads a lot of novels and stuff like that so the Emma assignments were something that was hard for me to do not because the assignments were hard but because the assignments were not an excitement for me. I had to learn how to appreciate literature. I read the book and after laughing at the arguments of Mr. Knightley and Emma, I began to enjoy the book. It was interesting how the book really relate to the real life and the real world. The author Jane Austin was really able to capture each of the characters’ characteristics. Each were different and each work unique but Emma really stood out like a sore thumb which made her the most interesting character out of the whole book. She kept trying to set-up every one the way she wanted. At first I was deeply concerned with Emma’s attitude. She was rather selfish of not thinking about others’ feelings. She simply wanted to do her own thing and nobody was going to stop her. Well, that’s what she thought but comes Mr. Knightley, the man who was going to stop all of Emma’s childish games. I learned to appreciate this book like any other novel lover. It was very entertaining and I learned lessons. Lessons that I can bring with me throughout my life and pass it on to my children. It was interesting how this book made me think about God creates every human differently and each one has it’s own unique personality. Not one is like the other. Everybody is different and that’s what makes this world special. It’s what make this world interesting and so full of life. The Emma assignments also helped me to develop my skills in writing. The assignment that is displayed as an artifact is a writing about the Emma book. It displays my knowledge of the Emma book and her character and displays the art of it all if you look carefully. I stated my favorite characters and my least favorite characters and why.

Artifacts for Aesthetic Appreciation

Emma Assignment

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Here is one of the Emma assignments.

Career and ServiceDevelop a Christian work ethic with an appreciation for the dignity of service.

During this semester the assignment that help me develop in this area of my life is the Gandhi paper because it made me realize the importance of service through your career.

This paper is about Gandhi. Gandhi was a good man. He had his abilities and he used it for the good. As an attorney, he knew the rights of every human being despite who they are. He realized how the British were treating Indians and he believed it wasn’t right so he acted against it even though he was risking his life. Gandhi made speeches and led rallies for the people of India. Gandhi and the people wanted freedom and they were able to conquer it because of the service of one man, Gandhi. It’s amazing how much he went through so India could gain it’s independence. He lost his life when a man shot him but he left the people a legacy for the future. That kind of service is not easy to do. It’s one of the hardest things to encounter with. It is knowing that standing for what you believe in can cause you your life. It takes a courageous person. It’s like Jesus dying on the cross to save us from all our sins. He suffered, he bled, he died. And people, at that time did nothing but spit and mock at Him. They did not appreciate. Then His disciples with the realization of the truth began to spread God’s message and through this doings they were appreciating Jesus’ sacrifice. People found out about His message and they began to appreciate Him. We need to appreciate people’s dignity of service and even our own. It is a way of encouragement and I know without my parent’s appreciation of my work at school, I will have no inspiration and I feel rather useless and like there’s no point in trying to make good grades in school. By realizing all that Gandhi has done for the India and for the world, gives me hope of standing up for what I believe in even though how hard people try to persecute me for doing what’s right. I have the assurance that one person, even like me, can make a difference and I will. I call myself a Christian and I should act like one.

Artifacts for Career and Service

Gandhi paper

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This is my Gandhi paper.

Conclusion

In conclusion all of my work in the Sophomore Humanities class were somehow connected to one of the J2E goals. And as I grow I will work hard to incorporate all these goals into my life. Hopefully in the end I will the person that God wants me to be.

THE END

Thanks for viewing my portfolio.

Peace out

home

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