Cover Letter

Dear portfolio readers,

When I signed up for English 101 I was happy because that meant that English 090 had helped me improve. When the day to step in English 101 came I became nervous. I wasn’t sure if I had improved enough to actually be in the class. I had so many questions running through my mind, like was I going to do well in the class, was it going to be hard, was I going to able to do what the professor wanted? When she gave us our first assignment I became extremely nervous but what I was trying to put in my mind was that practice makes perfect and that the only way you learn is by making mistakes. The assignments in the class where intriguing because I wasn’t being told what to write, I had the freedom to pick any moment in my life or any topic I wanted to write about. All my assignments in some way had to do with me.

The annotation assignment was one that was very tricky. I chose my topic on smoking. When i was assigned to to this assignment  I said to my self “finally something easy.” When I actually put some thought into what my topic was going to, I was getting a little stressed because I didn’t know what to my assignment on. I went home that day, and as i went up the stairs to my apartment all I could smell was cigarettes. It reminded me how mad i usually get almost everyday with the same issue. When I walked in my apartment I said to myself “that’s it I finally found my topic.” Getting all the research was’t easy because either the websites weren’t to credible or it didn’t have the information I needed. I changed my mind so many times on what paragraph was going to be about what, mainly because I wasn’t finding enough information on the topic. When I finally finished it and handed it in I thought I was going to get a good grade on it, since I had worked so hard on it, but the teacher handed it back to me with lots of correction and no grade. Throughout the whole thing I had forgotten to cite where I had gotten my information from. It was an easy fix but citing is not fun at all. It can get confusing really quickly. Citing was the trickiest part of this assignment but overall I think I did well.

“Can Persistence be Taught?” was the name of another one of my assignments. I had to do some research on something that I did actually believe in. I do believe persistence can be taught. My parents always taught me never to give up and this is why I am here today at BCC. I am not giving up on any of my abilities. Writing may not be one of my Strongest abilities, but I believe that with these English classes, I have improved my writing. My primary language is Spanish and it has been hard for me to learn how to speak and write the way I do now. I’ve made mistakes along the way, but that’s how I’ve learned. This assignment was fun to do because I got to chose the topic. I chose it because I feel like it is important for every parent to teach their children persistence. It is important for us human beings to be persistent about school, work, and even in our lives. We need to know how to face situations that may happen at any point and that giving up isn’t an option. My struggles for this assignment was mainly my Work’s cited. I have gotten the hang of it by now.

One of the few assignments I did was called “Practice Makes Perfect.” This assignment also had to do with persistence. The difference with this assignment was, that there was no research involved. This assignment had to with me. It was a personal essay I wrote on a moment in my life where I had to be persistent in a situation. I wrote about my hair styling  class. This essay was easy for me because it had to do only with me. I like to express myself by writing and in this assignment I had the opportunity to talk about me. I think that talking about yourself can be very fun because the only source I needed was my brain. In this assignment I had some grammar errors here and there and some fragments. It is all in the process, we all make mistakes when writing.

I hope you enjoy reading my work. Even though I still need some work on my writing skills, I think that I’ve gotten a lot better. I finally understand why we have to cite our work and how to. When I walked into this class I didn’t know what citing your work meant or how to do it and I can proudly say that thanks to my professor now I do. Thanks for taking the time to read my work.

Sincerely, Keicha Serrano

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smoking…

 

 

I’m pretty sure that many have heard people around, or even doctors say that second hand smoke is worse than the person smoking the cigarette. People who smoke need to know where they smoke and around whom they smoke. Secondhand smokes causes lung cancer to people who have never smoked and it causes 7300 deaths in the US yearly (Health Effects and Secondhand Smoke). It is very true when people say that second hand smoke is the worst. The smoke being burned off of a cigarette has more harmful ingredients than the ones being consumed by the smoker. Those harmful chemicals that are being released by the burning of the cigarette is being inhaled by someone else and on top of that, the person is also inhaling the smoke being released from the smoker, making it twice as harmful and worse for the person that is surrounding. Smoke released from a cigarette contains over 7,000 chemicals, hundreds being toxic and about 70 that can cause cancer” (Health Effects and Secondhand Smoke). Secondhand smoke causes many health problems in infants and children. Some of the problems it may cause are, “frequent and severe asthma attacks, respiratory infections, ear infections, and sudden infant death syndrome”(Health Effects and Secondhand Smoke).  Adults’ health conditions caused by secondhand smoke are heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer. Non-smokers who expose themselves to secondhand smoke increase their chances of getting heart disease by 25-30% and the chances of getting a stroke by 20-30%.  There are around 34,000 premature deaths each year in the U.S among nonsmokers and it also causes nearly 8000 deaths from strokes due to secondhand smoke (Health Effects and Secondhand Smoke).

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There is up to 600 ingredients in a cigarette. When burned, it releases up to 7,000 chemicals in the air. At least 69 of these ingredients are known to cause cancer and to be very poisonous (American Lung Association). Many of these ingredients are in consumer products and have warning labels on them. There isn’t a warning label in a pack of cigarettes that have a complete list of ingredients. Just like the American Lung Association says,” While the public is warned about the danger of the poisons in these products, there is no such warning for the toxins in tobacco smoke.”  One of the many ingredients in a cigarette is acetone, which is found in nail polish remover. Another ingredient in a cigarette is Acetic Acid, which is found in hair dye. Other ingredients found are ammonia, arsenic, benzene. Ammonia is found in many common household cleaners; arsenic is used in rat poison; and benzene is an ingredient that is found in rubber cement. Butane, cadmium, and carbon monoxide are also some of the ingredients in a cigarette. Butane is used in lighter fluid, Cadmium is the active component in battery acid, and carbon monoxide is the fumes that cars release through the exhaust. As you might see, cigarettes are very harmful to our bodies. Nicotine, which is one of the main additive ingredients, is used as insecticide (American Lung Association).-

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People start smoking because of many reasons, the most common is stress relief (How Stuff Works). For many years soldiers smoked cigarettes to calm their wartime stress.  Another example is people experiencing stress in a high-pressured job. People may start to smoke as a way to manage the tension and nerves associated with the situation. Unfortunately, even though the stress might be over, people become addicted and in their mind they are still feeling stressed, cigarettes become a psychological crutch. Every stressful situation makes people reach for a cigarette. The cigarette becomes a stressor; it shifts from fighting a difficult situation with the help of nicotine to fighting the nicotine itself. Another reason why people may start to smoke is media influence. Advertising can have an influence the viewer’s decision-making. For example, those commercials where we see a new fashion trend or the appearance of a new trendy object in a famous actor or singer’s hand, can influence the viewers to want to look like the actor or singer or want that new object in his or her hand. In a research that was made, they conclude that, “Studies have suggested that when young viewers see a main character smoking, they’re more likely to see smoking as well as something socially acceptable, stylish and desirable”(How stuff Works).  People, especially teenagers, may think smoking is cool because their favorite actor, singer, rapper, comedian, etc. smokes. One other very important reason why people may start smoking is parental influence (How Stuff Works). Many don’t realize that the closest and number one influence is parents, we want to be just like them when we’re young. We learn from what parents say and do. Children that grow up seeing their parents smoke are more likely to smoke than children raised from non-smoking parents. It is said that, “According to some studies, a parent’s choice to smoke can more than double the odds that the child will smoke” (How Stuff Works). Even if the parents don’t smoke, they can still influence their children to do so. Parents that don’t make it clear for their children that smoking is bad and why it is bad, can leave that option for them to try it at any moment. If parents aren’t strict about smoking or controlling what their children watch on TV that may influence their kids to smoke, leaving that door open for them to try a cigarette (How Stuff Works). Parents have to encourage their children to stay away from cigarettes. (How Stuff Works)

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The damage to the lungs start early in smokers. Smokers have a lower-level lung function than non-smokers. Lung function worsens while smoking, but it takes years to get to the point of noticing lung diseases. Smoking causes many lung diseases related to lung cancer. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (lung-term lung disease) is one of the many lung diseases. It is a mixture of chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Nearly 12 million people are diagnosed with COPD, another 12 million have it but don’t know it because they don’t know the early symptoms of this disease (American Cancer Society). COPD is the third leading cause of death in the US, more women than men. There is no cure for COPD.  Some early symptoms of this disease may include: shortness of breath during activity, noises in the chest (such as wheezing, rattling, or whistling), and coughing up mucus (American Lung Society) Overtime COPD can make it difficult to breathe even when you are asleep, “It makes people gasp for breath and feel as if they were drowning” (American Lung Society). Another disease is chronic bronchitis, a type of COPD. It is a disease where the airways produce too much mucus causing the person to force the mucus out by coughing. This is really common for smokers. The airways become swollen and the cough becomes chronic. This can lead to bad lung infections (pneumonia). There is no cure for chronic bronchitis, but quitting smoking can help the symptoms keep under control and help the damage from getting worse. Emphysema is another type of COPD (American Lung Society). This disease slowly destroys the ability to breathe. Oxygen gets in the blood by moving through the lungs, usually thousands of sacs make up the space throughout the lungs. In emphysema, the walls between the sacs break down. When the sacs are broken down, larger but fewer sacs are produced. That causes the lung space to become smaller, which causes less oxygen to get through the blood (American Lung Society). Overtime, the pace of the lungs becomes so tiny that the person has to work harder to get a breath of air. People can only breathe comfortably with the help of an oxygen tank. This disease is not curable but it is treatable if the person decides to quit smoking (American Cancer Society).

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Smoking during pregnancy can affect the baby in several ways. The baby can only get the oxygen and nutrients it needs through the bloodstream.  The two most dangerous chemicals for the baby are nicotine and carbon monoxide. These two chemicals work together and reduce the baby’s oxygen and birth weight (Woolston). Both of these chemicals are responsible for premature birth and low birth weight, ”Nicotine chokes off oxygen by narrowing blood vessels throughout your body, including the ones in the umbilical cord” (Woolston). It is almost as if the baby was breathing through a thin straw. It gets even worse because the red blood cells, which usually picks up oxygen, start to pick up carbon monoxide so then it reduces the little bit of oxygen that was going through the thin straw. A shortage of oxygen can affect the baby by not letting it grow or develop properly, “On average, smoking during pregnancy doubles the chances that a baby will be born too early or weigh less than 5 1/2 pounds at birth” (Woolston). Women who smoke a pack a day reduce their baby’s weight by 1/2 pound. If women smoke two packs a day, they are taking away a full pound off of their baby’s weight (Woolston). Baby’s that are born underweight and before their official due-date, tend to not have their lungs fully developed. Not having the lungs fully developed restricts the baby from breathing on its own. The baby has to stay attached to a respirator for a days, or even weeks (Woolston). Even when the baby starts breathing on their own, they still continue to have breathing problems, ”Children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are especially vulnerable to asthma, and have double or even triple the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)” (Woolston). Babies can also be born with heart defects.” Smoking during pregnancy can have a long-life effect on the children causing them to have learning disorders, behavioral disorders, and maybe even score low IQ’s (Woolston).

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Work Cited

 Cunningham, Matt. “HowStuffWorks: 10 Reasons People Start Smoking” HowStuffWorks. n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.

“Health Effects of Secondhand Smoke.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 05 Mar. 2014. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.

“How Does Tobacco Smoke Affect the Lungs?” American Cancer Society, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.

“What’s in a Cigarette?” American Lung Association. 2014. Web. 09 Apr. 2014.

Woolston, Chris. “How Smoking during Pregnancy Affects You and Your Baby.”BabyCenter, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.

Can persistence be taught? ♥

I grew up with persistence around me day by day. My parents taught me to set goals for myself and to meet each and every one of them even if I failed. They always taught me that practice makes perfect and that there is only so many times you and do something wrong until you finally got it right. I still remember when my parents taught me how to ride a bike; they made me go around the little park next to my house. They held me until they let me go on my own, they were cheering very happy and told me to keep going. Even though many times I fell off of my bike they motivated me to keep going because I was eventually going to get it. My parents have definitely been my role models when it comes to never giving up. We moved from Puerto Rico to the U.S. without knowing a word of English just so my brother could get the medical attention he needed. My parents were told in Puerto Rico that my brother wasn’t going to live for long because he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his brain at the age of eight. My parents’ persistence got my brother live many years; today he’s twenty-six years old. We faced many struggles along the way such as being homeless, being hungry for days, but we are here today and that’s what matters.

Parents teaching their kids persistence is very important because one day these kids will look back to what they did and understand that we get what we want when we fight for it. As already mentioned, my parents fought for my brother’s life and he is still here with us today. Parents letting kids master persistence is the key because, “Students who have mastered persistence are able to work through challenges, deal constructively with failures and adversity, and achieve the goals they have set for themselves”(Wiessen). The best way to teach children persistence is by teaching them with the sport they love or any one thing they love to do.  They will have the passion for it and they’ll try and try to get it right. For example, if the boy/girl loves playing basketball, they will try to be the best at it because they enjoy it, and no matter how many times the ball doesn’t make the hoop, they will keep shooting. Parents need to cheer for their kids even if they got it wrong because they tried. We as parents have to let our kids fail and not jump in even if it’s tempting. If they fall, let them get back up again on their own. Little things like that will teach kids to persist.

Some kids learn to persist at a very young age on their own. I read a classmate’s essay in which she had to learn how to walk again at the age of nine because of a car accident. Her doctors said it would be very rare that she would walk again. She kept trying to walk no matter how hard it was. It was hard for her to maintain hope as she says, “A few times I thought I was able to but I was mistaken, I fell and I cried, but I got back up” (Tribou). Her parents were always there to support her and not letting her give up on walking again. Even though she was so young to even understand persistence, this shows that when you really want something you do anything it takes to accomplish it.

Persistence is in each and one of us, some more than others. I read another classmate’s essay about fixing a car. He knew he needed the car to get where he needed to and even if it was a tough job he had to get it done. Even if he was losing his patience he didn’t give up, like when he says, “Every little bolt on this car tried my patience and continuously had me cursing at my car as if it were an actual person” (Pinto). He ends up asking his cousin for help. They both end up finishing the process together. Instead of giving up because he couldn’t do it on his own, he looked for help and that’s what persistence really is, it’s not giving up. Teaching kids persistence is important because when they grow up and face challenges like this person did, they will know how to face them.  They will learn how to appreciate every little thing just like he did when he says, “All those hours spent banging my knuckles against metal as I tried to loosen a bolt in a tricky spot and all those shirts that went in the garbage from being covered in grease all seemed worth it.”

Persistence can be taught and it can also grow in you. Parents have to encourage their children to grow up strong and never be afraid to keep trying. It’s easy to show kids to persist, you can show them in board games, sports, learning to ride a bike, etc. When you persist, you learn. Learning new things is very important in life in order to adapt to new situations and the only way you learn is to persist. I’m very happy that my parents always told me to persist because today I am a very independent girl that won’t give up until I accomplish what I want. If I ever have kids in the future, I’m going to make sure they learn how to persist for their dreams.

 

Works Cited

Tribou, Molly. “Persistence Research Paper.” My Writings English 101. 12 Mar. 2014 Web. 06 May 2014.

Wiesen, Norene. “Teaching Persistence: How to Build Student Stamina.” Teaching Persistence: How to Build Student Stamina. Scientific Learning Corporation, 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.

Pinto, Dillon. “Grease Monkey 101: Making Money-Revised.” 18 Feb. 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2014

“Practice Makes Perfect” ♥ ☺

Cosmetology is one of the passions. I love everything about it: the hair, the makeup, the nails, and even the massages. I was one of the lucky few who got accepted in the cosmetology program for free in Durfee High School.  When I started cosmetology I had no idea what it really was. I just thought it was straightening or curling hair, but it was more to it than just that. My main goal was passing the class and getting my cosmetology license.

 

I started cosmetology when I was a sophomore in high school. We read in class every day and took a test every week. I was pretty upset because the tests were hard and all I wanted to do was hair not book work. Every week I got my tests back and I always scored low. Out of the five days we were, in school, three of them were book work days and the other two days were hands on and tests days. Every hands on I passed but I failed the tests. The teacher spoke to me and told me, “KEICHA, in order for you to stay on this class and pass it, you need to do well in both hands on and book work.” My heart dropped when she told me that because I really wanted to be in that class, so I decided to study harder for my tests. Every night I read over the chapter study guides she gave us and I answered all the questions at the end of every chapter. My grades started to improve every week and I passed the class that year with a B.

 

I took cosmetology until I graduated. I had to complete a thousand hours to pass the overall course and to be able to go for my license. Junior year was a lot different from sophomore year. Now instead of being in cosmetology for one period now I had to be there three periods. This time it was less book work in class and more hands on but we were responsible to read the chapters and complete our study guides for homework to go over them briefly in class. We still had tests every week but, now the tests where longer and harder. I started scoring low, but I stepped it up fast. Every night I studied harder to score higher on my tests. The hands on work was getting more serious, and we were being judge harder. Every little hair sticking up affected our grades. When we straightened hair it had to be paper thin with no frizz. Sometimes it was hard for me because the straighteners weren’t that great, so I bought my own. When I used the new straightening iron, my grades when up. Hearing the teacher criticize your work every time was hard. Many times I wanted to give up, but her criticisms were what made me work harder so that all I would hear out of her mouth was, “good job.” Every day I went home and told my mom what I did in class and how hard the teacher was on us and she always told me, “I love you and I’m very proud of you. I will always be here to support you in anything but always remember that to get what you want in life you have to fight hard to get it, and most importantly never give up.”

 

My junior and senior years were harder and tougher. I had to focus on passing the course and completing my thousand hours. Being absent affected the hours we had to complete in the course. I always tried to be in class as much as I could even stayed after school to make up hours. We were now accepting clients outside of school to perform on them what we had learned with the supervision of the teacher. I became more and more nervous at that time. I asked myself, was I going to mess up? Was I going to be able to do it? I still remember the first haircut I gave to my first client. My palms were sweating, my knees were trembling, and I was extremely nervous. I wanted to tell the teacher that I couldn’t do it, but I already knew what she was going to say. All I heard in my mind was her telling me “You’ll never know if you don’t try, practice makes perfect.” I had to dye my clients hair black and I used every drop left in the bottle making sure I did great job. After dying it I had to cut it in layers, which meant I had to lift up the hair in a 180 degree angle. I went over and over every part of hair making sure I didn’t leave any behind. I really took my time with her hair, even when I had to straighten it, which I was already good at. The client and the teacher were both amazed and happy with my work. My hopes in succeeding in cosmetology immediately grew and it felt great.  Every day after that went buy as usual I had my struggles and my achievements. I learned that not everything comes out perfect at the first try.

 

Every moment in that class was amazing, It really taught me a lot. So many times l felt like giving up, but my faith kept me going. I can say that my persistence got me to pass the class and become a licensed hairstylist today. I learned to never give up because when you want it, you fight for it, and when you fight for it you get it. I always keep in mind what my teacher told me a million times, “practice makes perfect.”