January 16, 2017 Reflection (Personal Finance)

My second Personal Finance class started off with fifteen minutes of silent reading. I'd been looking forward to it since Tuesday -- even as a second semester senior, I still have a lot of work to do and rarely get time to read. I'd been trying to read it since the beginning of winter break, but I was bombarded with countless other distractions. Three weeks passed, and my book was still unread. The fifteen minutes was just enough time for me to get into my novel, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I'm glad I had those fifteen minutes to read, because those fifteen minutes let me read fifteen pages of hilarious writing.

I was almost sad when the fifteen minutes were up, but it didn't last for long. It was exciting to get started with finance. Going through the article we had to actively read was also fun. I got to learn about my classmates' viewpoints on the article, what they found important and interesting. Learning about compound interest and what Dow Jones Industrial Average was also really interesting. Even though I learned a little bit about the stock market through my Precalculus money project, I hadn't learned about indexes in much detail.

As always, I'm looking forward to sitting in the room wallpapered by magazine covers, learning yet another way to improve my financial choices for the future.

January 12, 2017 Reflection (Personal Finance)

As of January 9, 2016, I am officially a second semester senior. Most of my classes are year-long, so I didn't have much adjusting to do, but I have one new semester class: Personal Finance. I suppose I know most everyone in our class. That is to say, I know of their existence, but I've never spoken to most of them: a few words exchanged here or there (Hey, could you pass this down? or I think this worksheet is yours), but never a full conversation. I'm really looking forward to getting to know them better.

Coming into class not having spoken to many of my classmates before, never having learned about finance but the classic Save, don't spend! was actually pretty exciting. It made me realize how much I enjoy being the "new student," putting myself in that slightly uncomfortable situation, forcing myself to meet new people and opening myself up to learning new things. After being at SAS for nearly five years, it's almost a relief to feel unfamiliarity seeping through the walls.

Of course, it wasn't completely unfamiliar. I'd had Mr. Bisset as my World History teacher way back in freshman year - it was the class where I learned how to write a strong essay, how to give confident speeches, how to spell the word "occurred" (2 r's!), and gained an interest in history, something a geek girl like me might not have enjoyed before. I was excited to come back into Mr. Bisset's room, to look at all his magazine posters on the wall (I absolutely loved those as a freshman, and I still love them now -- especially the clown nose), and to learn something new from him as I always have. Or to learn how think about everyday things in a new light.

It happened within the first ten minutes. I learned that curiosity is the most important trait I should develop. That before investing in anything I should invest in myself. Maybe not directly related to finance, but they definitely resonated with me. As a computer scientist, as an engineer, as someone who loves to solve problems, it was important for me to hear. Without curiosity, without the drive to find out what makes things work, I wouldn't have anything to do.

It was a good start. I'm really excited for what next class will bring.

Notes:
You should know, Mr. Bisset, that I'm quiet for the first few days of class. I don't remember what I was like in freshman year, you might, but I've noticed that it takes me a day or two to get used to the dynamic of the class, to figure out how to form my sentences before I speak. 

And you should also know that even though I no longer participate in debate, I am still actively involved with public speaking! I'm part of the Oral Interpretation team, and I've given multiple speeches last semester. I suppose the reason I didn't like debate as much was because a) I was concerned about the impromptu aspect of rebuttals and POIs, and b) I was finding it difficult to juggle many things that year. While I know both aren't good enough reasons for my stopping of debate, and that I would have definitely improved, I'm still glad that I'm finding time to voice my opinions still.