Personal Awareness and Responsibility

Strengths
1. I am personally responsible, self-motivated, and can advocate for myself.

I am able to take the initiative to complete assignments and tasks on time and to the best of my
ability. I am always looking to excel in whatever I do, so I draw motivation from my own desire to
exceed expectations. I take accountability for my actions when I am unable to complete work or
when it is done poorly, rather than making excuses. I can advocate for myself and don’t need to
constantly be reminded to do something. My own personal goals motivate me to do well in
school, at work, and while learning in general.

2. I am learning to take care of myself.

Recently, I have been ensuring that I make time to take care of my mental and physical wellbeing
by first, better managing my time. I try to properly manage my schoolwork, my job, my
extracurriculars, and my family responsibilities, by making myself a schedule for what I plan to
get accomplished that day. When I have my day planned out, I know that I will have time to take
care of myself. I can get enough sleep, take breaks, and have time to do something to unwind
like read or watch TV.

Weaknesses
1. I understand learning takes patience and time.

This is something that I struggle with because I hate the feeling of not understanding something
right away or struggling through learning something new. I realize that I’m not going to
immediately be great at everything I try but the fear of failure lurks behind me through every
unfamiliar situation. I often get impatient and frustrated when I am struggling to learn
something. This was especially difficult when switching from pre-IB to regular stream classes.
Trying to adjust to the new environment, marking system, and curriculum took a lot of getting
used to and when the things I excelled in for my pre-IB classes didn’t translate to my new
classes, it was difficult to stay motivated.

Social Responsibility
Strengths
1. I can identify and appreciate different perspectives on issues and use and evaluate strategies to
resolve problems.

I believe that you can’t resolve an issue properly if you don’t consider multiple perspectives.
There are always going to be different ideas on how to approach certain issues or assignments,
and you cannot effectively settle on one idea without discussing and comparing different
perspectives first. I always ensure that everyone’s voices are heard and try to include certain
aspects of multiple different ideas in a final draft. If I’m working alone, I actively seek out
feedback from others. I am able to resolve problems by approaching something from different
viewpoints.

2. I value diversity, defend human rights, advocate for others, and act ethically in all my
interactions, including online.
 Diversity is something that is very important to me, being a woman of colour living in Canada. I
always make ethical decisions and am always looking for more ways to learn about how to
properly advocate for other marginalized groups. I use social media as a tool, not a weapon, to
both educate myself through authentic stories and do my best to advocate for others in every
way I can. I took a social justice course last semester in hopes to learn more about the history
and long-lasting effects of discrimination, in order to learn ways that I can initiate change. I am
not one to let someone’s struggles go unnoticed or to abandon them when they are in need of
support.

Weaknesses
1. I am aware of my community and environment and work independently and collaboratively for
the benefit of others.

Something that I’m interested in doing but have never taken the initiative to do is volunteering. I
have participated in activities and helped plan events within our school community to promote
diversity and benefit others at our school, but I have never reached out beyond that. I think that
there is a lot more I could be doing to give back to my community in some way, and I need to
take the initiative to seek out those opportunities rather than waiting for an opportunity to
present itself to me. While I care a lot about the wellbeing of others, I wish to take those
thoughts and actually do something about, gaining hands-on experience volunteering and
benefiting my community.

Critical Thinking
Strengths
1. I can assess my progress.

I have a good understanding of how I work and the progress I have made. I always have an
accurate idea of how long I need to complete something and the steps I need to take in order to
do so. If I am struggling with something, I am able to assess what I need to do to improve, and
which areas specifically need improvement. If I need additional support, I am able to recognize
this and seek the assistance I require. If I feel I’m not making any progress or not using my time
effectively, I can create a strategy to help myself continue to make progress in my work.

2. I can ask good quality questions, gather relevant information, and come up with well-developed
conclusions.

I think one of my strengths is my ability to analyze the work I am doing. It’s very important to me
to be able to connect with the work I’m completing in some way. One of the ways to do this is to
find meaning in the work, even in the smallest of tasks. Asking questions is something I have
never shied away from, always eager to understand everything there is to know about what I’m
learning. I am able to take the information I’ve learned and conclude the impact, meaning, and
overall importance.

Weaknesses
1. I can analyze and critique my work and my learning.
 I often struggle to identify areas for improvement and tend to be overly self-critical. This inability
to effectively analyze and critique my work is a struggle for my growth and development as it
prevents me from identifying mistakes and necessary changes. I often find myself unable to start
progressing through my learning because I am unable to see my mistakes myself, as well as
recognizing if work I’ve produced is good enough. I need to work on being able to edit and
review my own work rather than relying on others to give me feedback as my only source of
material for editing.

Creative Thinking
Strengths
1. I can create new and unique ideas that may provide new perspectives that influence how people
think about topics.

My ability to generate unique ideas comes from my open-mindedness. I think that I am able to
introduce perspectives that wouldn’t otherwise be considered about certain topics. I also believe
that everyone has that ability, and it is that fact that influences my perspective further. I believe
that all of us have important things to share and that by considering all perspectives and having
meaningful conversations, we can change people’s outlooks on certain problems or topics.

2. I can take my ideas, evaluate, develop, and refine them, and make something productive out of
them.

I enjoy developing my ideas in a creative way and taking unique approaches to make my work
meaningful to myself and others. I love to be proud of the work I’ve created and know I’ve
created something productive that was a good use of my time. I think that I am able to do this,
always completing work to the best of my abilities and putting lots of time and consideration
into what I do. I think I am able to effectively go through the creative process, properly
brainstorming, drafting, refining, and perfecting my work.

Weaknesses
1. I can persevere and understand that failure can be productive.

I struggle with perseverance and often find it challenging to see the productive side of failure.
When faced with setbacks, I often feel unmotivated and discouraged, affecting my work ethic
and the quality of my work. It's difficult for me to understand that failure can offer room to grow
and show you how you can improve, because I would rather realize those things during my
learning process instead of having to feel bad about myself to gain motivation. It tends to do the
opposite because I am unable to feel like I am good enough to do a better job when I do so badly
that I fail. This lack of motivation is something I need to improve on because it is important to
realize that I am not going to be good at everything I do right away, and that’s even more
important to know in order to prepare myself for in my post high school life.

Communication
Strengths
1. I can listen, learn to contribute meaningfully to discussion and debate, consider different
perspectives, and build consensus.
 When engaged in discussion or debate, I actively listen to and acknowledge diverse viewpoints,
recognizing the importance of considering different perspectives. By remaining open-minded, I
can contribute to meaningful conversations with a wide range of knowledge and perspectives. I
think that in almost every debate you have, there can be points on both side that an individual
can agree with, and I often find myself being swayed by both sides of a debate and finding good
points from each perspective. I think this is important to be able to do because you are going to
encounter so many contrasting opinions and ideas in your life, and if you refuse to consider that
you aren’t always right about everything, you will find it very difficult to find any work or social
environment that fits your sole understanding.

2. I can reflect on the processes of learning and share what I have learned.

I recognize the importance of reflecting on my learning processes and sharing the knowledge I
gained with others. By looking back on what I learned and sharing it with others, it gives me the
opportunity to further solidify the knowledge I learned and better retain it. By taking the time to
analyze my learning and understand the strategies that I used, I can continuously improve my
learning processes. I not only solidify my own understanding but can introduce new information
and new learning strategies with others, which can help them improve their own learning
processes.

Weaknesses
1. I can engage in deep and meaningful inquiry for a variety of purposes and audiences.

It's hard to engage into deep and meaningful conversations when faced with diverse purposes
and audiences. I often struggle to connect with some topics when I am unfamiliar with the
complexities of them. I am empathetic and curious when approaching new topics, but I find it
hard to provide input when I feel that I’m not the right person to, and when there are people
who are more qualified to address something than I am.

Personal & Cultural Identity

Strengths
1. I understand that culture is a broad concept that includes things like my geographic region,
nationality, sex/gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality, language, and religion.

When considering culture, I understand the many forms it can take, and the many aspects of
peoples lives that it affects. Acknowledging this fact allows me to appreciate the diversity of
human perspectives and how it is shaped based on their culture and identity. I myself am a
product of my own cultural heritage, and my values, beliefs, identity, choices, and my future are
all affected by my culture. Because of this, I am able to understand the unique experiences of
different people and celebrate and appreciate the many cultures that surround me and
contribute to our collective community.

2. I understand what is important to me.

The things that are important to me are what drive me to do my best every day. My family is the
most important thing to me, and my desire to make them proud pushes me to both excel
academically and personally, by being a kind and considerate person. My friends also motivate
me in school. Having people that deeply care about their education like I do is one more reason
 that I wish to succeed. To strive alongside my friends fills me with a great sense of
accomplishment. Career-wise, what is important to me is pursuing a career that above all, makes
me happy. I want to do something with my life that I am passionate about and that fits into my
other goals and wishes for my future, like travelling and having a family of my own one day.

Weaknesses
1. I know my strengths and what makes me unique.

I struggle to identify my strengths and recognize what makes me unique. When asked to
recognize my strengths or unique traits I possess, it’s rare that I can list some off the top of my
head. I often rely on other people to provide me with feedback or comments that inform me of
my strengths or individual characteristics. This uncertainty leaves me feeling wary about my
abilities and what I am capable of doing. Because I am not fully aware of my strengths, it’s
difficult for me to consider what career path would be best suited for me. Without a strong
sense of my unique qualities, I often struggle to differentiate myself in various aspects of my life,
unsure of how I present myself and how others perceive me.