When you were in preschool, everyone continued to ask you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Although my answer most of the time was “a princess” now is the time in my life where I seriously have to figure out what I want to be. When you’re 5, nobody tells you that your senior year will be that year that you decide. At one point I thought I knew what I wanted to be. Now that I continue to think about that, I’m not sure anymore. Being half day at Ben Logan has given me an opportunity to take Teaching Assistant as a class. During this course I have been assisting a 2nd grade teacher. I have become close with all the kids and they hold a very special place in my heart. I just adore them and I love hearing all about them. (Of course, sometimes it’s more than I’d like because they filter very little.) Being in this class has made me consider becoming a teacher. I absolutely love the little light bulbs that go off as soon as they really understand something.  As much as they sometimes frustrate me, they make me happy more of the time. I feel like I am truly blessed to be able to spend my mornings with those little balls of sunshine. Sadly, now is the time where I seriously have to consider what I will do for the rest of my life and what I will enjoy when I am older… I have to figure this out by the time I start college because I don’t want to have to spend lots of money on something that I’m not going to do for the rest of my life. Fingers crossed for big decisions.

Everyone always tells you that your senior year will the the fastest (and most expensive) year of your high school career. I can now promise you that they are completely true. This year feels like it may have just started. It is a depressing thought to feel like everything you have worked for the last 13 years, is given to you on a piece of paper. To think that when I walk across the stage at commencement, that may be the last time I see some of the people I have became friends with throughout the last 2 years. All I have to say, is Ohio Hi-Point was one of the best decisions that I could make for my future. The knowledge I have attained has pushed me to go further than I ever would have without it. My labmates are people I will never forget. When you are with someone for 2 years, everyday for hours on end, you learn a lot about those people. I could not have asked for more amazing classmates. There are such a wide variety of personalities, hobbies and jobs. We all fit together perfectly. Not saying we don’t have our moments… But we have grown to be a family.

There are some people that I owe a huge thank you to. Of course, my parents have been a huge contribution to my success. They have pushed me to achieve everything that I need to become who I am today. They have helped me through the good times and the bad and have always been the best support system I could ever ask for. I thank them for always having faith in me and for always being the strongest backbone I could have. My parents have never missed a single one of my events, performances or competitions. I respect them and I can only hope I will be as good of a parent when I grow up as they are now.

All of the staff at Benjamin Logan and Ohio Hi-Point have also supported me in my endeavor. Specifically, I would like to thank Kelsey Giesler. Ms. Giesler is the adviser for our bloggers. She is extremely patient and supportive. She is not just a good adviser, she is also easy to talk to. She is more like a guidance counselor, only not. She is fantastic and I can not thank her enough for the support and contribution that she has made towards my senior year. Thank you!!

Jamario, Drew, Alex and Tommie; I could not have asked for more of an amazing team to be a part of! You are all so fun and hilarious. The memories that we have encountered together is something I will never forget. Thank you all so much for all of the laughs, the pictures and the memories shared.

Last, but certainly not least, is Mr. Kouse. Mr. Kouse has been a terrific lab instructor, teaching me all there is to know about the world of electronics. With the addition of electronics, Mr. Kouse has taught me several life lessons as well. I highly respect him and would like to thank him for the lessons he has taught me over the last 2 years and the information he has graciously supplied me with. I appreciate him being involved with the last two years of my life and his dedication is very much appreciated.

Obviously, there are more people in my life that have influenced me in ways that are unspeakable. I appreciate all of the support, compliments and encouragement that everyone has given me up to this point. I am happy to say that I can look in the mirror and I am proud of the reflection I see. I don’t always agree with the actions that I seem to take, but if I had to do it all over again, Ohio Hi-Point would still have been my number one choice. Thank you is an understatement and words will never express the gratitude I feel towards all of these people. I challenge you to look around, whether you’re in school or out of school, to look back and reflect on all of the people who have been an influence on your life. Thank them. Because nobody can go through life alone. Everyone needs a friend. I thank all who are involved, were involved and look forward to all who will be involved with my success story.

Last Wednesday my lab (ITC2) and Electronics (ETC1) switched labs. We decided to do this because some of the ITC students wished to build a computer, myself included in this group. We started on Wednesday by going over the parts of the computer as kind of a refresher then drew up an outline of how to build the computer.

Thursday I went with Ms. Spain to Graham high school to talk to the sophomores there. It was quite the experience going to Graham because I was the only student that went. I got to expand my speaking skills by talking to around 150 students plus teachers. It was scary to be honest. I am not used to talking in front of large crowds by myself. By the end of my small speech I was shaking but I made it through without too much trouble. The students seemed interested and asked me questions, so I feel as though I accomplished my goal. (:

Friday we were back in Mr. Kouse’s room. We got our ESD (Electro Static Discharge) wrist straps and started to put together our computers. In me and my partners case, we had to take apart the computer before we could put it together. It took the whole lab to get it apart and then back together so it was running efficiently.

Saturday I had markets again and let me tell you IT WAS COLD! I got to Worthington around 7:45 and was able to set up and be ready by 8. Since it was so cold there weren’t many people out but those that did come seemed to be enjoying themselves. After the markets were over I went back to Bellefontaine and clocked out.

That evening I went with my family to watch Courageous. Let me tell you that was the best movie I’ve seen in a while. I highly recommend going to see it before its out of theaters.

And that’s all I did (:

Until next week!

Alex

Career-Technical Education has become more meaningful to me as I have been going through school here at Ohio Hi-Point Career Center.  What I mean by this is that when I first started going to school here I thought that this was just another way of saying free college credit.  However, it is much more than just free college credit.  One way it is more of a meaning to me is that it puts me in position in getting a better educational opportunity in what I want to learn.  What I mean by this is that there are just so many things that I have been able to accomplish while in a Career-Technical Education school.

One thing that I have been able to accomplish is having the ability to compete in competitions in Ohio to help better my knowledge in my career field.  Another meaning to me about Career-Technical Education is that I am able to earn college and high school credit at the same time.  This helps me to save money and also get the same if not better education that I would get at my home school.  However, while going through school here you must get your own understanding of what you want it to be.  Finding this out will better your education while having a fun and interesting understanding of what this will mean to you.

First of all I just want to mention what a great time I had at the Taste of the Future event on November 18. I got to talk to a lot of both the sophomores and their parents. I spoke to a majority of the college representatives and I asked them for their opinion of Ohio Hi-Point. They responded with only positive things about our school, its students and staff members. So good job to everyone who helped out Thursday and all of the potential students who made the Taste of the Future event possible.

Career-technical student organizations

Ok, now to answer some of the topics for my blog. I saw this first topic to write about and I was like what in the world is that :/ After really looking at it and trying to understand it I realized it was talking about all the organizations that OHP is a part of. I honestly don’t know of all the ones that OHP associates with. I do know that Electronics Engineering is in cooperation with Skills USA. Each individual lab is either associated with a different organization or the same as another lab. All organizations are the same however when it comes to the students. The purpose of these organizations is to help along with the career center to further develop the skills needed after school. For awhile when I first learned about my labs connection with skills I thought cool, something to get me out of school. I realized quickly that was the wrong idea. I have come to develop a deep love for both my school and Skills USA. The purpose of these organizations is none other than help the students succeed in life.

Professional development experiences

Ohio Hi-Point is all about allowing these opportunities to arise, professional means being suited for the task, showing and demonstrating the skills needed for that event. Blogging itself has been an opportunity in itself to learn these skills. As a blogger you must show that you are not afraid to talk to people and write about what you feel. The field trips we go on teach us how to behave and represent. When we attend a field trip, those people see us as representatives of OHP whether we are or not. The way I see it we as the students have the choice to make a good name or a bad name for our school. This prepares us for the real world when it comes to our jobs, as employee’s or employer’s we need to make a good representation.

My future without OHP

Something I have realized is that there is always a possibility that I may not end up working in electronics. Life is full of surprises that even the most successful people don’t expect. The only difference is that they are ready to adapt to that event. When it comes to imagining my future with out OHP my first thought was so what, if I don’t end up working in electronics then I don’t work in electronics. I then however realized that OHP isn’t just here to teach me about one certain profession. I have learned what it means to be able to talk to people, understand the many different types of teaching there are. The skills I learned from OHP are irreplaceable, my future still lies ahead in school but I know that without the skills OHP has given me the opportunity to learn, my future would definitely be heading in a different and probably worse direction.

What I have learned at OHP that has changed me

There are so many things that I have learned up here at OHP.  For instance I have learned how programing actually works.  I used to think that we could only use 1’s and 0’s for all programs but that is actually not the case.  I have also learned that with the computers we do not use them for just our lab.  We also use the laptops for all of our academics because most of our text books and most homework assignment are all on the computer and it helps all of us become more organized because all of our work is on the computer.

Comparing OHP to my home school

There are many differences in the environment between my home school and OHP.  One difference is that up at OHP it feels like more of a professional environment and I think this is because of the school uniforms.  With these school uniforms there are certain days that we can dress up in a shirt and tie and I believe that this helps us out because with these standards they actually make things less stressful in the mornings when we are picking out what to wear for school.  Also at OHP we are able to use our laptops during class for working on projects and most of the time in our labs.  While up here I believe it is more relaxing because everyone is up here for school and we are people that wanna learn and no one is telling you what you should and should not do because up here everyone is able to do what they want and this is helping us all.

Things I hope to accomplish by graduation

Many things go through the minds of other people when they enter the halls of OHP. However, for myself I plan to accomplish things as I have went through these halls.  The first thing that I would like to accomplish is to earn every college and high school credit that I can while attending school here.  This is very important to me because without these high school credits I would not be able to graduate and without my college credits I would not be able to save the money that I wanna save when I get to college.  Another thing that I would like to accomplish while is that while I am here  at OHP I am also a student athlete at my home school and I plan to receive my 4th year varsity letter for wrestling and also be able to go to the district wrestling tournament.  The last thing that I would like to accomplish before I graduate  place in the “Pick And Place” competition at the national robotics competition and Skills USA.  I would also like to complete the technology for my lab and graduate from my high school.

My senior project is based off one of my friends’ from last year. You may all know him as he was very much involved here at Ohio Hi- Point. Taylor Allen was a blogger as well and a lead ambassador. He won student of the month and was very dedicated to lab. Well, for his senior project he devised a motion sensor. His was kind of bulky and harder to conceal. It worked very well, but the size was an issue for a device to be used in the security field. So that’s what I plan to do for my senior project. I want to devise and construct a smaller version of a motion sensor using infrared technology. So thats is what my senior project is about.

Now onto the issue of our new dress code.  I feel that our lab uniforms are a great advantage for preparing us for the world of work. Now I am saying this honestly, I know we are not supposed to say anything bad about Hi-Point, but I can definitely say that I enjoy the uniforms. I feel that they help us prepare for organized dress regulations later on. For example, we are in a tech prep school, and I am a student in Electronics Engineering. Now Electronics Engineering deals with SkillsUSA and there is a certain dress code. The motto for SkillsUSA is “ Preparing for leadership in the world of work”.  Now we all know that a first impression is important and a very big part of first impressions is our appearance. So by having uniforms it prepares us for the proper dress type in school.

My plans after high-school aren’t very well decided yet. I know I want to get a well paying job so I can start saving up, then I want to do some traveling. I am not sure about further schooling.