Wrap Up On CLC

Today is going to be all about the CLC class that I have been in for the first term of school. We have done a bunch of work to prepare ourselves for the upcoming transition into post secondary school, so here is my reflection of how the course went and what I thought was really helpful for future. 

The main part of this course was our book studies and final presentation to other classes taking the same CLC course but before that we had a few short tasks which I want to mention. The first important task was to understand how to build and critique a resume. This was tougher than I thought it would be, because as I learned there is a lot of small details which add up to and ultimately may dictate whether you get hired or not. I thought it was really helpful to just refresh my current resume and build upon it using my new knowledge on small details, and I in the end I thought I was able to present a more effective resume which communicates my values and intentions more clearly.

On to the main part of the course which was the book study we did. It followed the guidelines of a normal book review, but of course there was twist ending, which was presenting our learning to our peers from other classes. To begin with we chose books which contained ideas about different things like self improvement, strengthening the mind, or financial stories. From these we were all supposed to find a key message which we could apply to our lives after high school. I chose the book Shoe Dog, which is a memoir by Phil Knight, the founder of Nike.

I won’t go through every detail about the book, but I do want to highlight a few points which I took away from. The first part is the small details which explain Phil Knights process in building up Nike from the ground. I feel like I have mentioned this quite a few times, but the small details about things you don’t often hear about in success stories is what made this book unique. Almost an entire chapter was dedicated just to telling the story of how Phil Knight had to argue with his banker because he did not understand equity, and kept on taking out and loaning large sums of money for his shoes. It’s the personal aspects of the book like this which I thought made his story more compelling, but also allows you to connect to Phil Knight in a down-to-earth sort of way which would not be possible otherwise. If he had written a book just on how he build his company and not included all the small details about those involved in his life, then it would have been just any other book. 

The second part which in which I really connected to the book happen by accident. During the time I was assigned to read the book, I sprained by ACL and MCL during training and an currently unable to train while I recover. This has lead me to start the slow recovery back into sports which has been extremely difficult physically and mentally. However one lesson which was key in the book was that every small step towards success is not going to be an easy one, and often times they don’t seem like any progress as all, but in the big scheme of things they matter more than anything else. I was able to relate directly to this, before hand I have had a few injuries which I thought I could rush through and be back to training. I learned that without taking the proper time these things get much much worse, and I think it was helpful to know that the small things I am doing now will set me up for success later on. 

To present what I had learned, my class set up a small exhibition which would be open to other peers and teachers. We all created individual pieces which represented the main themes in our books, and our job was to then explain to our audience how the piece reflected that idea in our books. Since the majority of Shoe Dog was about the tough journey to success, I wanted to highlight that process and how everyone will experience different versions of it along their way to individual success. I created a multiple staircases which all ultimately led to success, but along the way there were many parts which showed where people dropped out or quit because they did not want to continue. What is also important to understand is that not all the pathways to success look the same which is because everyone will have a different path, whether that be tougher or easier will be up factors like where you were born, family income, and many many more. When I look back on it that part seems to be mostly down to luck, which made me realize that my journey trying to succeed in life has probably already started off a lot easier than others just because of this luck factor. 

The final touch to the presentation was a laser cut wooden shoe key chain which I created using materials and help from my mom’s school’s mech lab. I thought this would not only make my presentation standout, but also it would allow my audience to remember the key ideas of my book. Overall I thought the mini exhibition went well, I got to talk to a lot of people and all of them seem genuinely interested in the book. 

Overall in this course I can confidently say I learned about how I can start preparing for my future after high school, and even after that as well. I would have liked to do a little more on university preparations earlier on in the course, by the time we got around to it I had already applied. 

That’s all for now 

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