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What’s Next? Thinking About Life After High School

MODULE TEXTS

Want to Get Into College? Learn to Fail, Angel B. Perez

1

Hidden Intellectualism, Gerald Graff

3

FAQ Guide for College, Work, or Military, Rick Hansen and Ginny Crisco

7

Web Site Resources, Rick Hansen and Ginny Crisco

11

5 High Schoolers and Their College Application Essays About Work,

Money, and Social Class [Excerpt], Ron Lieber

16

Sample Cover Letters, Joanne Tint

19

Want to Get Into College? Learn to Fail

Education Week, January 31, 2012

1 I ask every student I interview for admission to my institution, Pitzer College, the same question, “What do you look forward to the most in college?” I was stunned and delighted recently when a student sat across from me at a Starbucks in New York City and replied, “I look forward to the possibility of failure.” Of course, this is not how most students respond to the question when sitting before the person who can make decisions about their academic futures, but this young man took a risk. 2 “You see, my parents have never let me fail,” he said. “When I want to take a

chance at something, they remind me it’s not a safe route to take. Taking a more rigorous course or trying an activity I may not succeed in, they tell me, will ruin my chances at college admission. Even the sacrifice of staying up late to do something unrelated to school, they see as a risk to my academic work and college success.” 3 I wish I could tell you this is an uncommon story, but kids all over the world admit

they are under tremendous pressure to be perfect. When I was traveling in China last fall and asked a student what she did for fun, she replied: “I thought I wasn’t supposed to tell you that? I wouldn’t want you to think I am not serious about my work!”

4 Students are usually in shock when I chuckle and tell them I never expect

perfection. In fact, I prefer they not project it in their college applications. Of course, this goes against everything they’ve been told and makes young people

uncomfortable. How could a dean of admission at one of America’s most selective institutions not want the best and the brightest? The reality is, perfection doesn’t exist, and we don’t expect to see it in a college application. In fact, admission officers tend to be skeptical of students who present themselves as individuals without flaws.

5 These days, finding imperfections in a college application is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Students try their best to hide factors they perceive to be negative and only tell us things they believe we will find impressive. This is supported by a secondary school culture where teachers are under pressure to give students nothing less than an A, and counselors are told not to report disciplinary infractions to colleges. Education agents in other countries are known to falsify student

transcripts, assuming that an outstanding GPA is the ticket to admission.

7 I’ve spent enough time in high schools to know teenagers will never be perfect. They do silly things, mess up, fall down, and lack confidence. The ability to bounce back is a fundamental life skill students have to learn on their own. The lessons of failure can’t be taught in a classroom; they are experienced and reflected upon. During my weekend of interviews, another student told me, “I’m ashamed to admit I failed precalculus, but I decided to take it again and got a B-plus. I’m now taking calculus, and even though I don’t love it, I’m glad I pushed through!” I asked him what he learned from the experience. “I learned to let go of shame,” he said. “I realized that I can’t let a grade define my success. I also learned that if you want anything bad enough, you can achieve it.”

8 I smiled as I wrote his words down on the application-review form. This kid will thrive on my campus. Not only will the faculty love him, but he has the coping skills he needs to adjust to the rigors of life in a residential college setting. Failure is about growth, learning, overcoming, and moving on. Let’s allow young people to fail. Not only will they learn something, it might even get them into college.

Hidden Intellectualism

They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, 2014

1 Everyone knows some young person who is impressively “street smart” but does poorly in school. What a waste, we think, that one who is so intelligent about so many things in life seems unable to apply that intelligence to academic work. What doesn’t occur to us, though, is that schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work.

2 Nor do we consider one of the major reasons why schools and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street smarts: the fact that we associate those street smarts with anti-intellectual concerns. We associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly and exclusively with subjects and texts that we consider inherently weighty and academic. We assume that it’s possible to wax intellectual about Plato, Shakespeare, the French Revolution, and nuclear fission, but not about cars, dating, fashion, sports, TV, or video games.

3 The trouble with this assumption is that no necessary connection has ever been established between any text or subject and the educational depth and weight of the discussion it can generate. Real intellectuals turn any subject, however lightweight it may seem, into grist for their mill through the thoughtful questions they bring to it, whereas a dullard will find a way to drain the interest out of the richest subject. That’s why a George Orwell writing on the cultural meanings of penny postcards is infinitely more substantial than the cogitations of many professors on Shakespeare or globalization (104-16).

4 Students do need to read models of intellectually challenging writing—and Orwell is a great one—if they are to become intellectuals themselves. But they would be more prone to take on intellectual identities if we encouraged them to do so at first on subjects that interest them rather than ones that interest us.

5 I offer my own adolescent experience as a case in point. Until I entered college, I hated books and cared only for sports. The only reading I cared to do or could do was sports magazines, on which I became hooked; becoming a regular reader of Sport magazine in the late forties, Sports Illustrated when it began publishing in 1954, and the annual magazine guides to professional baseball, football, and basketball. I also loved the sports novels for boys of John R. Tunis and Clair Bee and autobiographies of sports stars like Joe DiMaggio’s Lucky to Be a Yankee and Bob Feller’s Strikeout Story. In short, I was your typical teenage anti-intellectual—or so I believed for a long time. I have recently come to think, however, that my

preference for sports over schoolwork was not anti-intellectualism so much as intellectualism by other means.

South and Appalachia. Negotiating this class boundary was a tricky matter. On the one hand, it was necessary to maintain the boundary between “clean cut” boys like me and working class ‘‘hoods,” as we called them, which meant that it was good to be openly smart in a bookish sort of way. On the other hand, I was desperate for the approval of the hoods, whom I encountered daily on the playing field and in the neighborhood, and for this purpose it was not at all good to be book smart. The hoods would turn on you if they sensed you were putting on airs over them: “Who you lookin’ at, smart ass?” as a leather jacketed youth once said to me as he relieved me of my pocket change along with my self-respect.

7 I grew up torn then, between the need to prove I was smart and the fear of a beating if I proved it too well; between the need not to jeopardize my respectable future and the need to impress the hoods. As I lived it, the conflict came down to a choice between being physically tough and being verbal. For a boy in my neighborhood and elementary school, only being “tough” earned you complete legitimacy. I still recall endless, complicated debates in this period with my closest pals over who was “the toughest guy in the school.” If you were less than negligible as a fighter, as I was, you settled for the next best thing, which was to be inarticulate, carefully hiding telltale marks of literacy like correct grammar and pronunciation.

8 In one way, then, it would be hard to imagine an adolescence more thoroughly anti- intellectual than mine. Yet in retrospect, I see that it’s more complicated, that I and the 1950s themselves were not simply hostile toward intellectualism, but divided and ambivalent. When Marilyn Monroe married the playwright Arthur Miller in 1956 after divorcing the retired baseball star Joe DiMaggio, the symbolic triumph of geek over jock suggested the way the wind was blowing. Even Elvis, according to his

biographer Peter Guralnick, turns out to have supported Adlai over Ike in the presidential election of 1956. “I don’t dig the intellectual bit,” he told reporters. “But I’m telling you, man, he knows the most” (327).

9 Though I too thought I did not “dig the intellectual bit,” I see now that I was

unwittingly in training for it. The germs had actually been planted in the seemingly philistine debates about which boys were the toughest. I see now that in the

interminable analysis of sports teams, movies, and toughness that my friends and I engaged in—a type of analysis, needless to say, that the real toughs would never have stooped to—I was already betraying an allegiance to the egghead world. I was practicing being an intellectual before I knew that was what I wanted to be.

10 It was in these discussions with friends about toughness and sports, I think, and in my reading of sports books and magazines, that I began to learn the rudiments of the intellectual life: how to make an argument, weigh different kinds of evidence, move between particulars and generalizations, summarize the views of others, and enter a conversation about ideas. It was in reading and arguing about sports and toughness that I experienced what it felt like to propose a generalization, restate and respond to a counterargument, and perform other intellectualizing operations,

11 Only much later did it dawn on me that the sports world was more compelling than school because it was more intellectual than school, not less. Sports after all was full of challenging arguments, debates, problems for analysis, and intricate statistics that you could care about, as school conspicuously was not. I believe that street smarts beat out book smarts in our culture not because street smarts are

nonintellectual, as we generally suppose, but because they satisfy an intellectual thirst more thoroughly than school culture, which seems pale and unreal.

12 They also satisfy the thirst for community. When you entered sports debates, you became part of a community that was not limited to your family and friends, but was national and public. Whereas schoolwork isolated you from others, the pennant race or Ted Williams’s .400 batting average was something you could talk about with people you had never met. Sports introduced you not only to a culture steeped in argument, but to a public argument culture that transcended the personal. I can’t blame my schools for failing to make intellectual culture resemble the Super Bowl, but I do fault them for failing to learn anything from the sports and entertainment worlds about how to organize and represent intellectual culture, how to exploit its game-like element and turn it into arresting public spectacle that might have competed more successfully for my youthful attention.

13 For here is another thing that never dawned on me and is still kept hidden from students, with tragic results: that the real intellectual world, the one that existed in the big world beyond school, is organized very much like the world of team sports, with rival texts, rival interpretations and evaluations of texts, rival theories of why they should be read and taught, and elaborate team competitions in which “fans” of writers, intellectual systems, methodologies, and -isms contend against each other. 14 To be sure, school contained plenty of competition, which became more invidious as

one moved up the ladder (and has become even more so today with the advent of high stakes testing). In this competition, points were scored not by making

arguments, but by a show of information or vast reading, by grade grubbing, or other forms of one-upmanship. School competition, in short, reproduced the less attractive features of sports culture without those that create close bonds and community. 15 And in distancing themselves from anything as enjoyable and absorbing as sports,

my schools missed the opportunity to capitalize on an element of drama and conflict that the intellectual world shares with sports. Consequently, I failed to see the parallels between the sports and academic worlds that could have helped me cross more readily from one argument culture to the other.

college professor Ned Laff has put it, “is not simply to exploit students’ nonacademic interests, but to get them to see those interests through academic eyes.”

17 To say that students need to see their interests “through academic eyes” is to say that street smarts are not enough. Making students’ nonacademic interests an object of academic study is useful, then, for getting students’ attention and overcoming their boredom and alienation, but this tactic won’t in itself necessarily move them closer to an academically rigorous treatment of those interests. On the other hand, inviting students to write about cars, sports, or clothing fashions does not have to be a pedagogical cop-out as long as students are required to see these interests “through academic eyes,” that is, to think and write about cars, sports, and fashions in a reflective, analytical way, one that sees them as microcosms of what is going on in the wider culture.

18 If I am right, then schools and colleges are missing an opportunity when they do not encourage students to take their nonacademic interests as objects of academic study. It is selfdefeating to decline to introduce any text or subject that figures to engage students who will otherwise tune out academic work entirely. If a student cannot get interested in Mill’s On Liberty but will read Sports Illustrated or Vogue or the hip-hop magazine Source with absorption, this is a strong argument for

assigning the magazines over the classic. It’s a good bet that if students get hooked on reading and writing by doing term papers on Source, they will eventually get to On Liberty. But even if they don’t, the magazine reading will make them more literate and reflective than they would be otherwise. So it makes pedagogical sense to develop classroom units on sports, cars, fashions, rap music, and other such topics. Give me the student anytime who writes a sharply argued, sociologically acute analysis of an issue in Source over the student who writes a lifeless explication of Hamlet or Socrates’ Apology.

Gerald Graff, the coauthor of this book, is a professor emeritus of English and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is a past president of the Modern Language Association, the world’s largest professional association of university scholars and teachers. This essay is adapted from his 2003 book Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind.

Works Cited

Cramer, Richard Ben. Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life. Simon and Schuster, 2000. DiMaggio, Joe. Lucky to Be a Yankee. Bantam, 1949.

Feller, Bob. Strikeout Story. Bantam, 1948.

Guralnick, Peter. Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley. Little, Brown, 1994. Orwell, George. A Collection of Essays. Harcourt, 1953.

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FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Guide for College, Work, or Military

2018

Things to Do When Planning for College

1 This can be an overwhelming and complicated process. There is no best way to go about this other than to be as thorough as you can and to collect as much

information as possible. Consult “Web Site Resources” to help you identify sources for research.

2 Deciding where to begin your research depends on how well formed your plans are. 3 If you already know where you are going to college, then you might want to begin

the application process for that institution. If you are not sure where you want to go to college, you may want to start by asking yourself if you want to start at a

community college and then transfer to a four year institution, you might consider whether you want to stay in state or go out of state, and from there, you might look at college cultures, the kind of programs or majors they offer, and how easy it is to get in.

4 If you think you want to go to college, but are unsure of why or what you would do, you may want to start looking at the relation between your career plans and the programs colleges offer in your area of interest.

5 In short, there is no single best way to begin, but once you begin, make sure you keep careful records. It is important to keep a folder for each school you are considering.

6 Here is a brief list of what you should record:

• The address of Web sites you visit and information about what you found there

• Any information about deadlines, requirements, and passwords you need to create in order to continue to explore a particular college (the CSU system requires you to establish a username and password.)

• Any information about tests you need to take or records you need to have access to

• Information about financial aid, how to apply, who to contact

• Any contact information, web addresses and phone numbers

• A calendar that shows who you contacted and when

7 Things to Consider When Building Your FAQ

• The Application − Deadlines

− Admission requirements − Grades and tests

− Addresses − Contacts

− Majors and impacted majors

• Financial Aid

− Requirements for Cal Grant

− Requirements for Federal Grants (FAFSA) − Deadlines

− Filing options

− Recent announcements

• Your college major

− What can you do with the major? − Which colleges offer it?

− What kind of knowledge is associated with your major? − What sort of things do majors read and study?

− What kind of groups or communities are formed around the major?

• The kind of college you want to attend

− What are the costs of attending, including tuition, housing, books, and materials?

− Who is accepted?

− What is the graduation rate?

− Who goes to the college?

− What kind of financial, social, and academic support is offered there?

− What is life around the college like?

Things to Do When Planning for a Career

9 Planning for a career or any job opportunity takes patience and a little imagination if you are going to explore possibilities and perhaps expand your sense of what is possible for you as a high school graduate hoping to enter the work force. One way to begin this process is by taking a look at John Holland’s “Theory of Career

Choice.” Reading this document will help you make some larger decisions about your areas of interest and how your interests may be matched with some types of jobs, sometimes called “job families.” You will find the web address for this

document in Appendix 2, in the section on career web sites.

10 Once you have considered areas of interest for yourself, it will be a good idea to start looking at specific kinds of work. Both the Oklahoma Career Planner and the Oklahoma Career Information System will provide you with access to links that provide a wealth of information about jobs.

11 The California Careers Web site will also provide you with information. If you work through its multiple web sites, you should be able to find an abundance of

information about jobs, job availability, job requirements, and life on the job you are interested in. Web addresses for these sites are also listed in “Web Site Resources.” 12 Here is a brief list of things you need for your search:

• A folder for keeping records:

− Taking in so much information calls for some organization on your part. You should have a folder to keep all information in, a place to take notes on what you discover, and a place to keep records of web addresses, resources, and other information that may help you plan for work.

• A plan

− Simply looking around isn’t going to be very helpful if you plan to make your research effective. Here are a few suggestions about things to look for when considering the kind of career you want.

What kind of activity does this job require? What are the common tasks?

What are the working conditions?

What skills or abilities do I need to have? What do I need to know in order to do this job?

What kind of preparation do I need for this line of work? How do people get hired?

What can I expect to get paid for this work? What are the chances for advancement?

What is the outlook for this kind of work in the future? What programs help prepare for this kind of work?

13 Keeping a record of what you learn about different jobs will help you make an informed decision about the line of work you want to pursue and, perhaps, will help you make a decision to continue your learning either in college or some other setting. Remember that you are doing this research not only to learn about potential careers, but also to prepare yourself for writing a letter of introduction to a future employer. What does this information help you understand about the way you need to represent yourself?

Things to Do When Planning to go into the Military

14 Joining the military is fairly easy, as long as you meet all of the requirements. With that said, if you are undecided about this path, you will want to look more deeply into the benefits and drawback. If you are sure you want to join, you still have several decisions to make. Here are some questions:

a. How long do I want to serve? Do I want to join the military National Guard or Reserves, do I want to serve for 4-5 years before going to college or choosing a (different) career, or do I want the military to be my career?

b. What service do I want to enlist in? What are the requirements for serving in that particular service? What lifestyle, education, or opportunities do they offer that are good for me?

c. What medical, education, retirement, and veteran benefits does the military offer? What kind of veteran status do I have to have to qualify for particular benefits? d. What risks might I face in the military? What is the likelihood that I will be

deployed to a dangerous area or have to go to war?

e. What personal motivations do I have for joining the military? What character qualities are necessary and ideal for military service?

f. What information do I need to sign up? Are there any tests (physical, academic, psychological) that I need to prepare for?

15 Be sure to take notes and write down important information, such as Web sites, passwords, people you spoke to, etc. to prepare to write you FAQ and letter of introduction to your CO.

Web Site Resources

By Rick Hansen and Ginny Crisco 2018

Link Suggestions for College Bound Students

General

• The college checklist for academic and financial preparation http://studentaid.ed.gov/prepare-for-college/checklists

• College Admissions Khan Academy: several short videos about how to prepare for college, apply for college, explore college options, pay for college, and have a life after college.

https://www.khanacademy.org/college-careers-more/college-admissions Financial Aid Information

• 12 College Financial Aid Terms Defined: US News and World Report> Scholarship America

http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/the-scholarship-coach/2012/07/19/12- college-financial-aid-terms-defined

• Federal Grants (FAFSA) http://www.fafsa.ed.gov

• Cal Grants

http://www.calgrants.org

• Washington’s ReadySetGrad Web site provides information on how to prepare for college, and different kinds of financial aid opportunities available.

https://readysetgrad.wa.gov/

Applying to California Colleges

• California Colleges.edu – Information on all California colleges http://californiacolleges.edu

• University of California

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions

• California State University http://www2.calstate.edu/apply

http://www.csustudentsuccess.org

Applying to Washington Colleges • University of Washington

http://admit.washington.edu/apply/ • Washington State University

https://admission.wsu.edu/ • Western Washington University

https://admissions.wwu.edu/apply • Eastern Washington University

https://www.ewu.edu/apply/ • Central Washington University

https://www.cwu.edu/admissions/your-future-waiting-apply-now • Evergreen State College

http://www.evergreen.edu/admissions

• List of Community Colleges in Washington State. US News and World Report. Click on the college you are interested in. Go to “college Web site” then search for the application link, which is usually under “students” or “enroll” or “apply”

https://www.usnews.com/education/community-colleges/washington Choosing a College and Information about College Life

• The Choice, New York Times, Education – Student and professional blogs http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com

• US News and World Report – Advice of all kinds (must pay to access all of it)

https://www.usnews.com/usnews/store/college_compass.htm?src=web%3Acol_com pass%3Ana%3Aalertbar%3A20180131

• College Insight – Good site for thinking about costs http://college-insight.org/

• College Board – Facts about schools and standardized tests in preparation for college

http://www.collegeboard.org/

• Unigo – Information from students about college life http://www.unigo.com/

Advice about Choosing a Major

• College Majors 101

Link Suggestions for Career Bound Students

The Career Key – Holland’s Theory of Career Choice and You

• Good source for linking your interests to particular fields of work

http://www.careerkey.org/asp/your_personality/hollands_theory_of_career_choice.html Occupational Outlook Handbook by the Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Comprehensive information about a variety of different careers, what they do, education requirements, pay, projected need for workers, and so on

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/construction-and-extraction/boilermakers.htm Oklahoma Career Planner

• Does not provide local information, but a very good resource for looking at careers by industry, occupation, or military.

• Best link indexes occupations and provides information about work conditions, physical demands, wages, opportunities and much more.

http://www.okcareerplanner.com/index.php?id=3 Careers and Occupations List

• This is a good site to learn about the educational requirements, job culture, median starting salary, and future outlook (ie: number of jobs available) for many different careers.

https://study.com/article_directory/Careers_and_Occupations_List.html California Careers Info

• This is the “quick starts” page that provides special tools for learning about careers, planning for particular careers, finding the right job, and succeeding at work.

http://www.californiacareers.info/#?Quick%20Starts California CareerZone

• This site provides information on a wide range of job families (types) and specific careers within different job families. A great place to start thinking about the relation between your interests and job possibilities.

http://www.cacareerzone.org/

1. Go to the site and register, it’s free. Remember to write down your user name and password.

2. Once inside, click on any of the links to a. Assess yourself

3. Inside “Assess yourself” you will find all kinds of information about jobs. a. Click on your areas of interest

b. Click on “View Results”

c. On the next page you can reset any dollar amounts, or industry sectors you are interested in, then select “filter.”

d. Then open the list under “title.”

e. There you will find information about the job, names for the job, what they do, things you need to know to do the job, wages, work prospects in California and much more.

f. Explore as many areas of interest as you can and take notes on information you may use in your cover letter (Portfolio, remember?)

Explore Industry Sectors

• This is the second link on the California CareerZone home page. http://www.cacareerzone.org/clusters

• This page allows you to explore job families or what they call “occupational clusters.” Job families are clusters or groups of jobs that seem to relate to common interests or shared work. Best here to

1. Select a “family” (e.g.: Health Science and Medical Technology)

2. Skim through the jobs and examine their qualities (anesthesiologists, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, and so on.)

3. Once inside a job, take notes on its requirements and opportunities. Do your best to see if the job description matches your own sense of what you want to do with your life after high school.

Make Money Choices

• This link allows you to figure out how much money you will need to live the way you may be imagining yourself to live in the near—or distant—future.

https://www.cacareerzone.org/budget/

• Start from either “Choose Your Lifestyle” or “Choose Your Salary.” It will then ask you to pick where you want to live in California. While this is specific to California, there is no other calculator like it and it can provide some good information for students across the nation.

• Don’t forget, once you have filled out all the information about how you want to live, check out the kind of occupations that seem to match your lifestyle choices.

Washington Jobs and Career Information

• What is most useful about this site is a “Demand-Decline” list of occupations where you can see what jobs are in demand, which ones are stable, and which ones are declining in opportunities.

• Another useful aspect of this site is its pages on Military and Veteran Resources, pointing readers to military resource pages, academy Web sites, and careers for Veterans.

• A final page on this Web site supports people with disabilities looking for careers. http://www.careerbridge.wa.gov/Home_ExploreCareers.aspx

Link Suggestions for Military Bound Students

• Joining the Military After High School – Benefits and Risks https://www.moneycrashers.com/joining-military-benefits-risks/

• Should I Join the Military? Quiz and Self-Assessment Test

https://study.com/articles/should_i_join_the_military_-_quiz_self- assessment_test.html

• Top 10 Things You Should Know Before You Join the Military

https://www.military.com/join-armed-forces/top-10-things-you-should-know- before-you-join-the-military.html

• Joining Overview – This Web site has a list of FAQs and videos about how to join, which service to choose, how to prepare for the process of enlisting, meeting with a recruiter and so on.

https://www.todaysmilitary.com/joining

• Join the Military – This Web site, created by the US government, has all of the basic information about how to apply, requirements, different options and opportunities, etc.

https://www.usa.gov/join-military

• Deciding Which Military Service to Join

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-the-recruiter-never-told-you- 3332707

• Career Fields and Profiles – On this Web page you can browse different career opportunities that you can have if you decided to stay with the military for your career.

5 High Schoolers and Their College Application Essays About Work, Money

and Social Class

[Excerpt]

By Ron Lieber

New York Times, May 11, 2018

1 Each year, we post a casting call for writers and their college application essays that have something to do with money. Nearly 300 people responded this year. Below, you’ll find five that stood out for their sensitivity, depth of insight and sheer

geekiness. Who would have imagined, for instance, that there was a high school student out there helping people with their tax returns—or that she could learn so much about the world by doing so?

…

Bronxville, New York, Caroline S. Beit

2 “Nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

3 Not only do Benjamin Franklin’s words still resonate today, but, if you are like most, filing income taxes is simply unpleasant. For me, however, preparing taxes has been a telescopic lens with which to observe the disparate economic realities present in our society. In looking through this lens, I have seen firsthand how low wages and, at times, regressive public policy can adversely impact the financially fragile, and how I can make a difference.

4 This coming year will be my third volunteering every Saturday during tax season with AARP’s Tax-Aide Program. In the basement of the Morningside Heights Library in Manhattan, we help the elderly and low-income individuals file their taxes. During my first season, I handled organizational tasks and assisted intake counselors with the initial interview process.

5 When I told the AARP manager that I wanted to return the following season and do actual tax preparation, she was skeptical, especially since the next youngest tax preparer at my location was 37. That, however, did not deter me: Though I would be just 16 before the start of the season, I diligently studied the material and passed the advanced I.R.S. qualification test.

6 As a volunteer, my goal is to help my clients obtain every credit they are entitled to and place vitally needed money in their pockets. To do this, I need much more than just technical knowledge. It is also essential to connect on a human level. I make it a point to put each person at ease by actively listening to his or her story.

7 For example, the young woman, who is a recently minted United States citizen and barely speaks English, mentions that her disabled grandmother lives with her. Her story allows me to determine she can claim a dependent care credit for her

8 I am saddened at times by the palpable stress of those living on the edge of

economic subsistence. Basic necessities such as sneakers and dental care, which I had never thought twice about, are out of reach for many. I vividly remember the single mom from Queens who works at Target and spent $400 (a week’s paycheck) at H&R Block last year. By not having to pay for tax preparation this year and the credits she can claim, she confided she will be able to buy her son, who is my age, new shoes for track and hopefully see a dentist for a tooth that has been throbbing for months.

9 As a volunteer, I have learned the importance of empathizing, listening and communicating complex and technical matters simply. Making my clients feel at ease allows them to understand my explanation of how their money is being taxed. I have also gained insight into how tax policy affects the financial and physical health of the working poor and elderly. While I have not changed the tax system (though someday I plan to), I have changed how my clients interact with it.

10 Beyond Benjamin Franklin’s two certainties in life of death and taxes, I would add a third: the enduring power of the human spirit. I remember an octogenarian man with a cane who waited two hours in line on a bone-chillingly rainy Saturday in February. He is somehow able to survive in Manhattan on $15,000 of Social Security earnings a year. Even though his income is below the filing requirement, together we claim $77 of school tax and rent credits, which translates into two weeks of groceries. 11 When we finish, he says to me, “See you next year.” It is at that moment I know I

have made a tangible difference. Elsa, Texas, Kataryna Linn Piña

12 The way the light shined on her skin as she sewed the quilt emphasized the details of every wrinkle, burn and cut. While she completed the overcast stitch, the thimble on her index finger protected her from the needle pokes. She wore rings on every finger of her right hand, but on her left she only wore her wedding ring. The rings drew the attention away from her age and scars to her cherished possessions. 13 My grandmother’s rings had not only been stolen by her son, my father, but she was

constantly in the state of fear that he would steal from her once again. When my father was incarcerated, she wore her rings every day of the week; however, when he was home, her hands were bare. As it became increasingly common over time, she learned to hide her treasures in a jewelry box under her bed.

15 With my father incarcerated, the women in my family went to work. At the age of 11, I started working for the very first time as a cleaning lady with my grandparents. Even though I wanted to help my family, I was ashamed to be a cleaning lady. I argued with my mother against living a life like that, a life in which I gave up my childhood for my family’s stability. After being called “malagradecida”—ungrateful— several times, my grandmother reacquainted me with the idea that “todas las cosas buenas vienen a los que esperan”—all good things come to those who wait. Sewing was no longer a hobby, but a necessity, when it came to making my own apron, seaming together rags and pushing for a better future for my family. My

grandmother, too, had to put down her quilt and go to work, but she never complained.

16 In recent years, my grandmother has become increasingly ill, so I took her unfinished quilt to my home, planning to complete it. My grandmother did not choose to leave this project unfinished; her age and constant contribution to her family through work did not allow her to. Often, obstacles have not only redesigned my course, but have changed my perspective and allowed for me to see greater and better things present within my life. The progression of each patch depicts the instability present within my family. However, when you put all these patches together as one, you have a quilt with several seams and reinforcements keeping it together to depict the obstacles we have faced and have overcome to show

resilience.

Sample Cover Letters

Youth Central, 2018

Joanne Tint Email: [email protected] Mobile: XXX XXXX XXXX Mr. Allan Moyle

John Smith and Associates Phone: XX XXXX XXXX

Email: [email protected]

23 April 2015 RE: Application for Trainee Administration Assistant position

Dear Mr. Moyle,

As a young and motivated individual I am extremely interested in submitting an

application for the advertised Trainee Administrative Assistant position with John Smith and Associates.

In November 2013 I completed my VCE studies and also obtained a Certificate II in Business Administration. This has given me a range of practical capabilities that will meet the needs of this role.

While completing my VCE studies I worked part-time as a Customer Service Assistant for KSmart. My responsibilities in this role included providing face-to-face customer service and assisting on the floor with stock movements and visual merchandising. This position has given me key employability skills while also allowing me to experience working in a professional and fast-paced work environment.

With regard to my ability to meet the specific requirements of this job:

• Customer Service: Worked for four years in a face-to-face customer service environment providing customer service at registers, lay-by counter and on the retail floor.

• Reception Duties: Responsibilities at KSmart included answering incoming phone calls and assisting customers with phone-based enquiries.

• General Administration: Certificate II in Business Administration has provided training in the use of skills including filing, data processing, records management and writing communication.

I understand that you will receive a large number of applications for this role. I do, however, believe that my motivation, commitment and pre-existing skills will allow me to fit into your work environment and immediately start supporting the needs of your organisation.

I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you to discuss my application at an interview. I have enclosed a copy of my resume for your consideration. I can be contacted at all times on the details provided above.

Joanne Tint Email: [email protected] Mobile: XXX XXXX XXXX Mr. Allan Moyle

Moyle Retail Solutions Phone: XX XXXX XXXX

Email: [email protected]

RE: Application for Casual Retail Sales Assistant position Dear Mr. Moyle,

As a highly motivated and dedicated student with strong communication and

interpersonal skills, I would like to apply for the position of Casual Retail Sales Assistant. As a student I have been extensively involved in my school community, which has allowed me to develop strong interpersonal skills. My involvement in various events, including drama eisteddfods and sports carnivals, has allowed me to work closely with my peers while supporting the school community as a whole.

These experiences have allowed me to develop strong time management and

organisational skills, which I see as being very important when seeking to work in casual employment while continuing to study.

Personal attributes that I believe make me suitable for this position include: • Motivation: Volunteer participation and school results demonstrate high

motivation.

• Customer Service: Assisting with the sale of products at community events has allowed the development of customer service skills.

• Communication: Acting in drama performances and working as an MC for school events has allowed the development of communication skills.

My teachers and educators have commended me for my willingness to participate and my dedication to helping out where possible. I enjoy working with others and believe that my strong communication skills will ensure that I can meet the expectations of this role. I am aware that you will receive a large number of applications for this job, but I would very much appreciate the opportunity to demonstrate my capabilities to you in person. I believe that I have a lot to offer your organisation. I am keen to develop my

professional skills and look forward to discussing my application with you at an interview. I have enclosed a copy of my resume for your consideration. I can be contacted at all times on the details provided above.

Introduction to Commanding Officer Sample

Wordpress.com, May 27, 2013

1st _Company

U.S. Naval Academy Annapolis, MD 21412 15 March 2003 Commander James Smith, USN

Commanding Officer

USS ROOSEVELT (DDG 80) FPO AA 34092-1297

Dear Commander Smith,

I recently chose USS ROOSEVELT (DDG 80) during service selection. I am looking forward to serving on what I feel is the best ship in the Navy.

Upon graduation on 25 May 2003, I will be assigned to the Naval Academy complex for TAD until my reporting date of August 2003. While at the Academy, I have been active in Varsity Track, Mids-n-Kids, Conditioning Squad, CPR training, and Officers’ Christian Fellowship. I had summer training on USS BARRY (DDG 52) and USS VICKSBURG (CG 69). I was also on plebe detail for two years.

On 26 May 2003, I will be getting married to 2nd _{Lieutenant Bill Jones, USMC. He}

is planning to go to TBS in Quantico in August 2003. We enjoy hiking, camping, biking, and many other activities.

I understand that the billet I will hold on the ship is based on availability and need. However, if given the choice, I would prefer to work with some are[a] of combat systems.

I received you letters, the photos, and information concerning ROOSEVELT. I thank you for so quickly extending a welcome to me. I am already excited about joining the crew.

I would like to take up your offer to visit ROOSEVELT. I will try to schedule a weekend this semester to come to Mayport. I will call ahead of time to work out the details.

I am looking forward to future communications with you and to working with the wardroom and crew.

Very Respectfully Jane Taylor

PowerPoint Introduction to Commanding Officer

CDRSalamander.blogspot.com, February 5, 2012

Slide 1: Image of person wearing a suit

Slide 2: Table of Content

• Background

• Commissioning

• Academic Background

• Navy Career

• Last FITREP

• Last Award

• Strengths

• Goals

• Hobby

• Life Quota and Memo

Slide 3: Who Am I

• Background Image of a butterfly

• “Southern Gal”

• “Louisiana”

Slide 4: Background

• Lieutenant [redacted] was born and raised in Southern New Orleans, LA to Mrs. [redacted] and Mr. [redacted]. She was named after a great woman of all time, her grandmother, Mrs. [redacted] on her father side. Being their only child, her parents made sure that she would always carry the family name by making the family name [redacted] on of her middle name. On the day her grandmother passed away, the family stop calling her [redacted] and started calling her [redacted]; so, this is why she goes by the name [redacted] and not [redacted].

• Lieutenant [redacted] is single with no children but plans to have a family of her own someday.

Slide 5: Commissioning

• Image of several people in a formal ceremony with military symbols surrounding the images

Slide 6: Academic Background

• 1997-2002 = Graduated from [redacted] University and A & M Collage located in [redacted], with a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Mechanical Engineering (ME), earning a GPA of 3.30

• Commissioned through the NROTC program as an Ensign on 10 May 2002

• 2007-2009 = Graduated from Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) located in Monterey CA, with a Master of Science (MS) degree in Astronautical Naval Mechanical

Engineering (ANME), earning a GPA of 3.51

• Thesis: [Title redacted]

Slide 7:

Slide 8: Navy Career

• ATGPAC in San Diego, CA

- Billets: Training Officer – Assitance Department Head - Date: Dec 2010-Oct 2011

• USS [redacted] forward-deployed in San Diego, CA - Billets: Weapon Officers (WEP) – Department Head - Date: May 2010-Dec 2010

• USS [redacted] forward-deployed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii - Billets: Damage Control Assistant (DCA) – Division Officer - Date: June 2005-Dec 2006

• USS [redacted]

- Billets: Engineering Repair (ER) – Division Officer - Date: Mar 2003-Mar 2005

Slide 10: Last Award [Image of Certificate]

• Department of the Navy

• Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal

Slide 11: Strength

• Loyal & Committee

• Ambitious & Serious

• People person & Friendly

• Encouraging & Determined

• Hardworking & Productive

• Smart, Neat & Organized

• High fashion

• Complete what I stated

• Not afraid to be heard

Slide 12: Goals

• Short Term Goals

- Becoming an [redacted] sister - Buy a car

- Read the bible in it entity

- Lateral transfer into the EDO community

- Successfully completing Department Head pipeline

• Long Term Goals

- Attaining my Doctor degree - Have a family

- Retire from military

- Travel to all of the U.S. states Slide 13: Hobby

• Spending time with family and friend

• Shopping

• Running

• Outdoor activity

• Cooking

• Photography

• Being alone (ME time)

Slide 14:

Slide 15