Summary of Personal Strengths Transferable Skills

Motivating
Planning and Coordinating
Hardworking
Perseverance

Senior Volleyball Season

I have been playing volleyball since seventh grade. It has been such a huge part of my life. Once in high school, I joined a club volleyball team that played from December to May. It was named Narrows Volleyball Club, and it was a huge commitment, but it was also when I decided I was going to do everything to get better at the sport. Each spring after this one, I played club volleyball. I also played for  Puget Sound Volleyball Academy and Club Wahine. The season that stuck out the most to me is my Senior season playing for my high school, Vashon High School. We had 14 girls on the roster. Only about half of the girls had played volleyball all year round. We had all played together since middle school, but no one was an all star. Beginning in August, we were all over the place. Serving balls into the net and out of bounds all the time, shanked balls flying everywhere and barely able to keep a play going. This was only the beginning. Once Varsity was set, we were able to get on track. WE knew we had potential, but we needed to prove it to ourselves. Our first match was going to be a huge test, playing a team we hadn't beaten in a few years. The day came, and the game was rough, but we pulled out our first win against Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma. We were crazy with emotion with this win, but we knew we had a long season. The second game rolled around, and we won again! Each game came and past, and each time we won! We even played our biggest rival whom our team had not beaten in ten years, and swept them in their own gym! With our undefeated season, for the first time ever in school history, we had an automatic seed to play in districts. We even got to host the first round, something that had not happened in years! Our first district match was against Lynden Christian Schoolon a Thursday evening in October, who was a power house. We took them to 4 sets, but we could not pull out a win. However, our season was not over then. The next Saturday, we NEEDED to beat Annie Wright School, Charles Wright Academy's sister school. If we won this match, we would go to the State tournament. After much waiting, that Saturday came. We had a great warm up, our nerves beating. Set one: we were not in the zone, we let them sweep us. Then came set two - we blew them out of the water, as we also did in set three. Not set four, we got a little too relaxed, and let them sneak up on us. This led to a fifth and final game to 15 points. Each point went back and forth with dig after set after spike. One point would go to Annie Wright, then one to Vashon. The score was 13-14, and the set went to 15, having to win by two, and we were down. We had the serve. The serve went over, and before I knew it the ball was set to Annie Wright's huge middle, and she smacked it down on our side. The game was over, and our hopes to go to State were crushed. This was one of the hardest moments I have had in my career of sports. Even with this, my team was the first team to go undefeated in schools history, and I am so proud to have been part of that.

My First Nanny Job, and Jobs leading up to It

Since I was in middle school, I have always had a job. My first job was working in my grandparent's yard. I think they just wanted to have something to do. Every few Saturday's I would go over to my grandparent's house. They had a big yard, full of blossoming roses, daffodils, and many other flowers. They had every type of tree imaginable, and they were all so beautiful. They had a hired yard keeper, so most of the work was done by him and his crew. I doubt my work really impacted the beauty of their yard, but a job was a job. I would rake leaves, pull the hydrangeas, pull weeds and many other small tasks. They would make me lunch and it was always a fun way to spend a Saturday. Beginning in High school, I started to work at my grandparents grocery store, called Vashon Thriftway. Almost all of my family works here today, and it is my second home. I started off as a boxer. This position bags all of the groceries once they have been rung up by the cashier. It was not painfully hard, but it surprised me how some of the other boxers struggled. Some would put bread and soft fruit on the bottom, and many making the bags too heavy. Organizing comes very easy to me, so bagging groceries was a simple task. This job also involved carrying customer's groceries out to their cars in the parking lot. Not many grocery stores do this, but it is a policy at Vashon Thriftway, and the customers really appreciate it. After being a boxer for three years, I showed interest in the Bakery department. The Management at Vashon Thriftway loved the idea and I got to work in the Bakery for a few months before I left for college! There I got to decorate cakes, bake bread, make croutons and fill and face shelves of delicious bakery items. I really enjoyed working in the Bakery Department. Customers were always so happy with their decorated cakes. Vashon Thriftway showed me that I want to work with people for a career. Now you might be thinking, "What does all this have to do with nannying?" Well the answer is that it doesn't! So when I decided I wanted to start nannying, I was a little shocked myself. I had little child care experience, since I was so busy with other things in high school. Moving out to college, I realized that I really wanted a job, since I had always had one in high school. When I heard nannying was a great job here in Kirkland, I figured I would start searching. I looked at many job postings, and sent out many emails, not know what to expect. I heard back from a few families, but one wanted me to come interview right away! I was very nervous, "What if they don't like me? What if I don't have enough experience? What if the baby cries when I hold her?" these were some of my thoughts before my interview. I prayed constantly right before I walked in for the interview, as there was little else I could do. When I met the family, they were very sweet and open to me. They asked questions and it was good because both parties were new to nannying, as it was their first child. The interview went smooth, but they mentioned that they had about six other girls they were interviewing as well. I figured I probably would not get it, since so many other girls probably have more experience than me. About five days later, I got a phone call from the family, they chose me! It was such a sigh of relief, and also one of great excitement! It was a totally new adventure for me! Ever since that interview, I have been a nanny for them. This job has also made it easier when applying for my other two nanny jobs, both of which I got chosen right from the interview! I am very proud of my journey to becoming a nanny.

The World Outreach Club

         During my sophomore year in high school, I got an amazing opportunity that has changed my life since. However, I did not think something that I would become so passionate about would come from my least favorite class: environmental biology. During this class, each student had to do a project. We had a few options, such as book reports and other monotonous academic busy work. However, there was one project we could do if we signed up for it. It was learning about the ecology of Ghana, a country in West Africa. Sounds boring right? Not at all! Learning about the ecology of Ghana was only a small part of our mission.

          With this, we got paired with a school down there and stayed in contact with them for the length of the semester. We sent them books and pictures of our lives. And we heard back from them! All the kids just wanted to hear from us and wanted to feel loved, and it was awesome to offer that.  After our trimester in biology class had ended, all the students involved with this project, including myself, decided we wanted to make this endeavor in to a club at our high school. It came to be what was known as "The World Outreach Club of Vashon High" Upon formation, I was voted in as President. We continued to write letters to the kids down in Ghana and send pictures too.  We even decided that we were going to raise funds to hopefully go visit them! We did bake sales and money collections jars.  These were nice, but we wanted to do something big, something that would get our whole community involved. In response, we started planning an auction dinner.  This took a lot of planning! We found a woman to speak at our event that had lived in Ghana for many years working with people down there. We also made the upwards or ten baskets and items to auction off to raise money. Some of these baskets were gardening items and cooking items. We also prepared an entire Ghanian Dinner. It was awesome to see how many people from the community showed up and supported us! People from our high school, churches and familiar faces came to support us in our efforts to reach out to the world community.

          Even though we did not make the trip down to Ghana, we used all the money we had raised to buy items that the kids needed, everything from soccer balls to pens and markers to health items. It was because of this project that I have a huge heart for Ghana. I now sponsor a six year old boy named Prince who lives down there, through Compassion International. I will visit him while I am sponsoring him, and hopefully I can more than once! Doing the Ghana project changed my life in a way I never thought it would. I would love to reconnect with the kids that we had contact with years ago. God works through anything, so my hope is that I can be a light to anyone down there in any way.

My Business

          Growing up in a family owned business, I have always been around that mindset. Interested in business, I decided to start my own. The first step I took was deciding on what it was. This step was quite simple because I already had made this product for myself: Hair bows and headbands. I had always make bows out of ribbon for myself for volleyball, so I figured, why not? The next step was making the bows. I bought many colors of ribbon and in all sizes, thick and thin.  My favorites are the ones with polka dots. I decided to target them for younger girls, so I made them their size and age appropriate.

          Packaging was also a whole other process. Each bow had to be placed on an exact proportioned piece of card stock, then placed in a cellophane bag. Then I made the head cards, which are my favorite part. Each is cut to an exact size and stamped and signed by myself, reading "Designed by Christina". It is a very personal touch. That tag is then stapled to the bag that the bow is packaged in then hole punched at the top. This is so it can hang on a clip strip. A clip strip is what holds the bows. These bows I sold at my grandpa's grocery store, and the sell like crazy! It is such a great feeling knowing something that I create by hand is so popular! Doing this, I also got credit through my high school. I was very proud that I made my dream come true. It is something that I do because I truly enjoy it, not for the money.

          My family has been very supportive of me through the entire thing! It has also led me to also start a line of wine charms. To make those, first I have to shape wire into a circle, all exactly the same size. Then I pick glass beads that match, as I sell them in sets of four. I package those then in the same way as I do the bows. I sell my wine charms also at the grocery store! I love making those because I get to target a different crowd. They are in high demand, especially because of the tourists; they like Vashon made items.

          I do not plan to make a career out of this, but it is something I am proud of building and creating on my own. It has pushed me in shaping me in my future, knowing I like to craft and design. I truly believe this will help me in my pursuit in a career in wedding planning. It has been like to gain a better understanding of running a small business, which is crucial in going in to wedding planning. It makes me very happy when I hear and see customers complimenting my products; it is very gratifying. Hopefully, I will start selling some of my sewing projects, because crafting and creating is what I love to do, so why not share my passion. If I keep with this, I hopefully would like to start donating my profits to charity.

What does it mean that nonverbal communication is ambiguous? Explain with an example form the text.

When something is ambiguous, it means it can have multiple meanings. When there is an ambiguous triangle, there is more than one possible solution to its sides and angles. Like language, nonverbal communication is very ambiguous. Nonverbal communication is very much different across cultures. A hand gesture in The United States of America could mean something much different in a place like Europe or Asia, even though it is the same gesture. In some cultures, it is rude to not look in to people’s eyes when you are speaking to them, where as in other cultures, it is expected that you do not look at them directly in the eyes. Non-verbal cues can even be features or appearances of people. An example of this was in the 1960’s, when long hair length was a symbol of rebellion, non-conformity and antiwar sentiments.  Frank Zappa, a famous rock legend appeared on a television show hosted by Joe Pine, who had a wooden leg. Pine said to Zappa, “I guess your long hair makes you a girl”. In response, Zappa shot back, “I guess your wooden leg makes you a table”. This shows how non verbal’s have more than a single meaning. For him to react to his hair in such a way, it is on the same level as him responding back that his leg makes him a chair. As the book says, “Hair length has no meaning apart from those who observe it anymore than a wooden leg has an inherent meaning”.