Griffen Vojvoda

       Coming to Aclc for my freshman year split my life into two portions: before and after. Previously I had gone to Nea, a school admittedly similar to Aclc but different in more than a few important ways. First and more importantly, Nea had no sense of community, sure you had your friends and your associates, but the majority of people at the school feel more like strangers than classmates. Aclc on the other hand, has a strong community, within a month of starting at Aclc, I knew the names of 90% of my entire school. Secondly, Nea was lacking in more than a few ways academically, and I found Aclc to challenge me in much more vivid ways.

       Thanks to ACLC I became the person that I am today. The community of this school allowed me to be express myself free of judgement, even through my awkward long hair phase. I’ve gone through phases of my life that I look back on and regret, but I have never looked back and not seen friends and community stand by me. Nowadays, I’m confident with who I am, and I believe the ACLC community is a big part of the reason why. Academically it's the same, I doubt that if I had gone to any other school I would have the work ethic that I have, nor would I have taken any college classes. I went  from someone who had little to no drive to do homework, to someone who had their academic and time management skills challenged. I learned quickly that while I could sometimes finish my work on Sunday at 12am, that it wasn’t pleasant for me, and didn’t allow me to put my best work forward. Work is best done when you have the ability to take your time with it, when you can stumble and fall but learn from your mistakes and become a better student because of it. In other words, 12am on Sunday works if you’re lazy, but not if you want take pride in what you accomplish. I get the majority of my work done the day it’s assigned, for assignments I try to aim for at least 4 days before the due date.  I am very thankful for these opportunities and am glad to have gone to Aclc because of it.

        The “new basics” that I’ve learned while at ACLC are the ability to apply what I learn from class into everyday aspects of my life. Sure, not a lot of everyday problems can be solved with derivatives and cell division rarely comes up in conversation, but being able to communicate and work with others in an academic fashion is an invaluable tool to have. Even just being able to apply the scientific method to everyday situations has helped me better understand the world around. The work that we’ve done in history and government classes has taught me how political systems work, and how I as an individual have the power to influence our government. I truly believe that Aclc has transformed me into the academic I am today.

       Critical thinking and reasoning are two of the most important things to possess when learning. Aclc projects involve a high amount of both of these traits, with them often requiring both thinking outside the box, as well as planning and time management skills. The ways I learn differs between classes, for english I have to take a more active role while in class, and while in mathematics, I do my best learning alone at my own time. Knowing how one learns is an important trait to have when facing higher education, and I am glad that I figured it out with my time at Aclc.

       Working hard by yourself is one thing, but working with others is a whole nother story. ACLC as a school is built around project based learning, and a lot of the projects involve multiple people. Working in groups requires both cooperation and communication. If a group member is less knowledgeable or doesn’t understand their part of the project it falls on the rest of the group to help catch them up to speed. This is because it is important for ACLC members to help each other out when they’re struggling. The most important skill to garner from working as a group however isn’t educating others, it’s leading others. Being able to take charge of a group and motivate them to work is both daunting and tiresome, but I’d like to think ACLC gave me the skills to accomplish this. However, you don’t always need to lead, sometimes you need to follow. Being able to hang up your pride and work for the best of the group can be hard sometimes, but “working together” doesn’t mean “make other people work for you.”

       An easy way to manage groups of people in this modern age is through technology. ACLC is unique in its technological-based learning aspect, assignments and research are done on laptops both at school and not. Because of this I am more than comfortable to troubleshoot technological issues, when a computer in the center is broken I’m one of the first people to step up and fix it. When it comes to studying, I often make a study guide on an online website such as quizlet, and share it with the class. When it comes to writing essays or making presentations, I’m not scared to handle these assignments electronically. I believe that without ACLC I would not have these abilities.

       ACLC has made me into the person that I am today. It taught me to both learn and teach others, as well as work in a group. Without ACLC I truly believe that my academic and social life would not be half as good as they are now.