Personal Statement - Reflective Essay- Option One

By Jocelyn Ugarte

My job is based on supervising kids after school. I work at the after-school program at

multiple schools in the Cajon Valley School District, and this supervising role gives me a lot of

opportunities to positively influence others. I have worked at five schools so far, but the past few

weeks, I have been working at Meridian only. During my time at Meridian, I have gotten to know

a second grader named Amethyst.

When I had my first conversation with Amethyst, I could tell she had a speech delay, but

I could understand most of what she said. I asked what grade she was in because that is

usually how I start a conversation with the kids. Amethyst did not know her grade. It made me

sad that no adult had taught her what grade she was in. I tried to figure it out so she could know

because after I asked, she seemed like she wanted to know as well. I could not figure out what

grade she was in, but about a week after I asked, she came up to me with a big smile saying

how she is in second grade. I asked her how she found out, and she figured it out because she

asked other kids in her class. I feel like this was the first step of my positive influence on her

because before I worked at the school, she never questioned what grade she was in; she was

fine with going with the little kids because she would rather not speak up. However, because of

me asking her what grade she was in, she took initiative to ask for herself and find out.

Another example of my positive influence on Amethyst is a time I asked if she had any

homework. Amethyst did. So, she went to grab it from her backpack, and I started helping her.

She could not read. I tried to help her read out some of the words. The next day, she asked me

to help her again, and I did. I have been at the school for a few weeks now, and she still asks

me to help her even though she gets frustrated when she cannot read the words out loud. This

positive influence makes me really happy because now she wants to do homework when before

she would not.

 Overall, I do feel that I have grown from this experience as an after-school supervisor

because it makes me grateful that I had the help I needed in school when I was younger. It

makes me want to help more kids. I believe this job has made me more mature because I am

around a bunch of kids who I just want to influence positively. I am happy that my leadership

skills led Amethyst to advocate for herself and become more confident.