Anthony Hernandez

Ms. Mas Advisory

Senior Retrospective
Hi my name is Anthony Hernandez and I am here to talk to you about my high school
experience and my long journey towards graduation. First off I would like to say that I was never
a really great student. High school was just never easy for me, in any sense. Academically I was
below average for most of my high school career and attitude wise I was just horrible. I spent
roughly three years causing trouble in school and failing my classes half of the time. During this
time I just did not care about academics or school and was just wasting my time. I was on the
fast track to working at McDonalds for the rest of my life if I had kept that act up. It was not till
recently that I had realized my mistakes and began my journey to change my ways to make
something of myself.
Since then I have done a complete 360 from the student I once was. Currently I am
passing all my classes with a B+ average, which is not the best but is still a complete turnaround
of the average that I had before. Although most of high school was wasted for me, I do not regret
anything that I have ever done one bit. In the end of it all I have come away with more
knowledge and have learned my lesson through my struggles. I have made up every class that I
have ever failed and continue to pass my current ones. To my surprise I am even going to
college. It is no major University or Cal State but it is still college and I am endlessly proud of
myself for beginning the next stage of my life. I plan to use all the skills and knowledge that I
have gained through my years here at Vaughn, which you will soon see coming from my

graduate portfolio. I plan to make up for wasted time from high school, in my college career and
plan to focus especially on my education after I graduate from high school. Thinking about the
feelings that I have towards Vaughn, I will say that I have split emotions. I went through a lot of
trouble here at Vaughn and things that I did not agree with along with teachers that I did not
agree with, but it was not for nothing. They all have taught me so much and I am thankful for
Vaughn and its staff members. From my advisory teacher who I have clashed heads with since I
got to V.I.S.A, all the way to the yard moms who force me to take off my ear phones every
chance that they can.
Next I will talk about what it is that has made me a global citizen, what allows me to
stand here talking to you and will allow me to graduate from Vaughn. I will take you through a
collection of handpicked projects from my graduate portfolio. I have completed these projects
through my years here at Vaughn and they have all taught me necessary skills towards becoming
global citizen.
It all started in ninth grade where I got my first taste of what it meant to be a global
citizen. Im going to take it way back to digital literacy which was a class that taught students
critical skills with computers and other technology. Im not even sure if the class is still offered
here at V.I.S.A. It should be because it was very helpful. It helped pave a pathway for the rest of
my high school projects to come. Anyways, I was given my first major tasks a high school
student to create a formal proposal letter and send it off to the school cafeteria. During my
freshman year here at Vaughn the lunch lines were very chaotic and people just did not want to
deal with them, so hardly anyone got their lunch. This was a major problem for the school
financially because the school receives grants from the government providing free food, so long

as the students eat it. You can see the problem here. The objective of the project was to come up
with an idea that would help more students to eat their lunch. After learning how to create the
proposal, each student sent their own proposal to the cafeteria for the staff to read it, for them to
decide which proposal would prove to be the most helpful for the situation that was at hand. It
was a major thing to be completing a project like this because it was the first time I ever
completed an assignment in hopes of creating change in the environment around me. After
completing this project I had come away with new skills for academic success. I had learned to
properly write a formal proposal letter. Aside from just learning to write a proposal, I had learned
to establish a formal and professional tone in the papers that I wrote. Before I could not really
tell what was too formal and what was not okay for academics. Completing this project helped
me through the rest of high school, with thesis papers, business letters, and so on. Another skill
that I gained in ninth grade that had helped me towards my ultimate goal of becoming a global
citizen was learning the ability to Gain Perspectives. I did this through an English project
assigned by Ms. Schonert, a teacher who no longer works here at Vaughn. Anyways, in this
project I was tasked with doing research on a Greek deity of ancient times. I needed to write my
first research paper which was only a few pages long., pretty easy stuff. But I also needed to
present it to the class and come dressed to my presentation in a toga or some other ancient Greek
attire, which was pretty fun, completing this project gave me insight on other people lives and
their beliefs , taking me back to ancient times. This project taught me to view things from other
perspectives for academic purposes and gaining knowledge. Learning this skill has been the most
helpful through all of high school for me. Not only does it allow me to view new perspectives for
academics but for other situations, which always proves to be helpful. This was something I
never really did before.

In my second year of high school as a sophomore I learned even more valuable skills that
would help me down my path of becoming a global citizen. English class played a major role in
tenth grade giving me my next two skills towards becoming a global citizen. I learned a lot more
than just reading and writing. I learned to communicate ideas and spread key information that is
useful for the community and to the globe. The butterfly project from Mrs. Mohrs English class
helped me teach me to raise awareness and spread the word of valuable information. In this
project I created a butterfly with arts and craft supplies in remembrance of a lost child during the
holocaust. At this time the holocaust was our unit of study. We learned about this harsh but
important part of history that brought the world pain and death but also great works of literature
and art. This project affected me because it taught me that there can be emotional ties to even a
school assignment if a person feels strongly enough towards something. Before this project I
never really realized how important things are to some people. I learned to help communicate
ideas by helping to spread awareness. Something I never did until this project. The next project
from English class was a lot more difficult than the one I just spoke of, which was the final
speech. We spent a while studying great speakers like Martin Luther King and former presidents
to learn what it is that helped them present their ideas so amazingly. The assignment was to write
and present a speech on a topic that we felt strongly towards. The topic that I chose to speak on
was bullying and its effect on people of the LGBT community. I chose this topic because I have a
cousin who has been bullied for all her life for her preferences. After this project I had realized
that I gained another skill that is necessary towards becoming a global citizen, career readiness.
This project taught me how to speak with confidence and communicate with ease, a necessity in
the professional world. This is important for when I have to communicate with clients, business

partners and other important people who will affect my future career. Before this project I spoke
nervously and stuttered frequently in presentations, now I can speak with authority.
Heading into my junior year I continued to grow as a global citizen by completing the
fast food nation project assigned in my English class. In class we read a book called Fast Food
Nation, written by Eric Schlosser. This book covers the dark side behind the fast food industry
and the role that they play here in America. While working on this unit we also learned about
inspections and the rules and laws that hang over fast food restaurants heads. My teacher, Mr.
Shoji wanted the students to go out into the real world and have inspections of our own. I got
into a group with other students like the rest of the class did and decided which restaurant we
were going to inspect. In the end we decided on the Jack in the box on Foothill and Hubbard here
in Slymar. My group and I did research on our restaurant and discovered that the restaurant was
up to date on all the requirements set by the health department. Even after finding that the
restaurant was adequate in its ability to follow regulations, we needed to see for our selves. This
is where I learned my next skill towards becoming a global citizen, INVESTIGATING THE
WORLD. Just like a journalists who finds the truth for themselves, we went out to find our
answers. You can not always trust everything that you hear, seeing is truly believing. Before I did
not really understand that the truth behind that phrase but now I see that you must go out and
find the answers you need, they wont just come to you. This next project from English class
really helped me to grow as a global citizen by giving me very valuable knowledge. The Helping
Holden heal project was a very touchy one because it was on topics that are not usually discussed
in our society. The point to the project was to help bring change to our issue of choice that
involved the youth of the community. The topic I chose was substance abuse with young teens.
My group and I created a presentation and presented it to a class of seventh graders to help raise

awareness on the issue. In doing my research for the presentation I gained so much knowledge
on the issue and became efficient enough to be able to explain it young teens. Before I had no
idea that substance abuse was such a major problem in our community but now I know how and
why it has become such a major issue.
Coming into my final year here at V.I.S.A, college had still not slipped into my mind.
That was until the opportunity to go and visit my local community college came, at Mission
College. I went on the trip just to see what information I could find. Deciding to go on that trip
has been a really great decision because it has opened my eyes and has allowed me to see that I
can restart my path towards my education. After two years at community college I plan to attend
a four year university. I can only do this if I really focus and do well at Mission. This trip has
literally been life changing for me and has allowed me to become COLLEGE READY. Before I
had no idea about college but now I know what is necessary to have a successful future. College
readiness is just one of the final steps towards becoming a global citizen, along with my next
skill, taking action. I gained the skill of taking action through an earlier project coming into the
senior year for advisory. In this project I needed to do research on the career that I wished to
pursue later on in life and present my finding to underclassmen like you. I learned about all the
requirements I would need to become an electrical engineer and the steps that I would need to
take. Before this project I knew that what I wanted to do in my future, but I did not know how it
was I was going to get there. Now I know what it takes to follow my dreams, both for college
and my career, all by taking action.
My advice to underclassmen is to learn from my mistakes and understand that I was
lucky enough to have not dug myself in a hole so deep that I could not climb out. School and

academics are more important than anything else really. Your friends will not pay your bills and
feed your family 10 years from now. The new shoes you just bought and your outfit you have on
right now will not matter 10 years from now. The only thing that matters in this stage of your
life is to start strong and be focused on your education and your overall happiness. Do that and
the rest of your life will be easy.
My advice to the Vaughn staff, especially to teachers is to understand that their young
students are in an awkward stage of their life currently and have other things besides academics
going on. Teachers know what I am talking about because they too faced the issues that their
students face today when they were in high school. I think that teachers should take into
consideration the many problems that their students may be faced with and help them not just to
become great students, but also great people.