Why Should I Hire You?

An interview process is never easy, and it will never get any easier. But I do know that one can only become better within an interview. 

In my experience of last week’s interview I thought I did terrible compared to other interviews I have been in. I think I did well in my presence to Tara, who interviewed me. My back was straight, I kept my hands in front of me, and I was commented on how well I kept my eye contact. Although my attitude was great, I know that the one question that I struggled completely on was “Why should I hire you?” I was repetitive on the idea of my leadership skills, since I did mention that proficiency early in the interview. When I have future interviews I will try to be consistent with my answers to the best of my ability. The key to a successful interview is to be capable in selling myself. I believe that this activity remarkable. 

It assisted me and my peers in being proficient with our interview skills. In order to acquire a career of our interest we must be able to do more than well in our interviews. Although the wait to be interviewed and the whole process were disorganized and confusing, the exercise was helpful in every way. Even though I felt that I have been in better mock interviews in the past; last week’s experience was still great and I learned more about myself.

Filly Brown

Filly Brown was such a powerful an amazing movie. I have never been to a film festival before, so I am honored to have attended this one with my fellow Price Scholars. The movie was great, even though it wasn't the best movie I have seen, it was still an outstanding movie.

What did stand out to me the most was actually seeing the actors/actresses and listening to the questions the audience gives, as well as the answers. One person from City College mentioned our school and asked for words of advice, or something motivational to keep the students in school and to follow their dreams.

I honestly forgot every detail and what the answers were, but all I know is; at that exact moment, I felt surprised and out of this world. I wish I had a good memory of what they said because I just felt absolutely amazed.

"IT"

Is that a girl or a boy? And you smile because today maybe you might just pass. But then you see their eyes register no facial hair, no knot in your throat, no bulge in your pants. They say it again, louder, tauntingly.
Is that a girl or a boy. This time they know the answer and they just want to see you squirm. And you do. And they snicker. 
“IT” performed by Kavindu “Kavi” Ade.
There are no words for the emotions that this video causes. 

That was the description I saw of this video when I was scrolling through my Tumblr dashboard. As the person who commented said, There are seriously no words to how I felt all throughout watching this video. It was such a powerful open word that I wanted to cry. I know there was no blog assignment for the week, but this was honestly too powerful to not share with everybody

How to evaluate success

Tell me about yourself.
I am Cassandra Francisco, a punctual, dependable, hardworking individual with great leadership skills and . I am currently receiving a Price Scholarship to attend San Diego City college.

Describe a difficult work situation/project and how you overcame it.
When I was in high school, I volunteered with my school's JROTC at Qualcomm Stadium to work as traffic directors for Charger games. As I was working, I had to direct incoming traffic to drive a certain way to park their cars. Unfortunately, there were angry drivers who always wanted their way and wanted to drive the opposite direction where we weren't allowed to have cars pass through. There was one driver who literally stepped outside of his car and ran up to me screaming at me. I told him I was sorry I could not let him pass through, then my adviser came and handled the rest of the situation.

How do you evaluate success?I believe success is the quality of work an individual has performed. It isn't about how fast or in what time frame an activity was taken. Success is how well the individual took the task and performed way above his or her expectations. Success is about how far the individual was willing to go in order to make the task almost perfect.

You Got Serviced Pt. 2

Quality customer service is difficult to find these days. I don't know if there was ever a time where I had perfect customer service.

Before I received my driver's license, I signed up for a driving school that was offered at my school for $189 for both the driving school, and the Behind the Wheel. At first, it was a great idea considering that BTW is pretty expensive and it offered both services.

When I passed my permit test I then called the driving school to schedule BTW dates; little did I know that they had horrible customer service. When my mom called the school,  they put her on hold for ONE HOUR. One hour! I eventually received a schedule for my BTW, but the customer service was horrible. They seriously did not know what they were doing, and their schedules were all over the place. When I had my actual BTW, I ended up having two sessions with my instructor; but the school filled me up for having all my driving hours, when in reality, I only have four hours. I hated my experience with this driving school, and never recommended it to anybody I knew.

We have a problem

Watching the video by Ryan Higa and The Miniature Earths video reminded me of this video I came across when I watch on the internet.

Many people struggle more than we do in our everyday lives. Many of us complain about our First World Problems that we forget about those who are less fortunate.

We have a problem. But it isn't FWP. It's our mentality that we think that we have our lives bad, but we don't. We should all be grateful that we eat everyday, we have a bed to sleep in, a house to call our own, and an education to strive for.

Kid President: You Need A Pep Talk

Soulpancakes work together to create another great video! Just awhile before I watched Kid President, I saw one of their other creative videos: Take A Seat? Make A Friend.

Kid President: You Need A Pep Talk was an inspiring video to watch. I was in dire of a pep talk, and this video just did it! I love the enthusiasm and mindset of this kid right here. It is his thinking and judgment that makes me appreciative of the kind words. 

Kid President's style of pep talk was where I wanted to listen. Nowadays when I am upset or angry, I don't usually go talk to anyone about my situation. But watching this video cheered me up. It motivated me. When do you ever hear a kid talk just like an adult would? Not only to mention the humor and silliness of Kid President's!

Not everyday can an individual get a pep talk. But now when I feel down or undetermined, I can just go on youtube and search this video up.

Do it like you own it

Being able to be in front of an audience and giving a presentation is more than just confidence and knowing what you're talking about. It is being able to be clear of words, talking like you mean what you say, and connecting with your audience. 

In the two video clips,  "Top Ten Presentation Mistakes," and "Make a Presentation Like Steve Jobs," we are taught various ways to improve ourselves when presenting to an audience

A few of the things that caught my attention is how we prepare ourselves before a presentation. Is there too little or too much information? We want our audience to learn something. One thing the guy said was "what's in it for me?" The audience has to be involved and into the presentation. Presentations like Steve Jobs is how what we say to our audience and how enthusiastic we feel when presenting. I really liked the part when the guy explains how Steve Jobs puts less bullet points and more creativity into it by using pictures and video clips.

Overall I enjoyed the clips because it is all useful information we can incorporate into our presentations in a few weeks.

My career has always been an idea that was fascinating to me. I found myself constantly dreaming of what kind of work I would be doing for the rest of my life. In fact, Rosa Parks Elementary was not always my first choice, but I enjoy working with children. I want to be a Pediatrician when I grow up, and this service learning is a great site for someone to have experience when it comes to children. Sure, it may not be the clinic type or watching professionals deal with their patients, but Rosa Parks is the best I have so far and I enjoy doing what I do.

Change for the better

What am I willing to do in order to live a healthy life? I know that I eat a lot of junk food, and eat at various fast food restaurants, but that does not stop me from eating healthy. Whenever my mom and I grocery store, I always help her choose the right foods to eat. Even before our presentation on nutrition last week, we've been eating pretty healthy the last few months. Although we don't purchase organic fruits, we regularly consume fruits anyways. I can honestly say that I eat more healthier than I did a couple of months ago. Sure, I still eat a lot of junk food, but it's the cravings that make us attracted to them.

Another Year Of Excitement

One thing I have always loved about Morse JROTC is that they're always one step ahead of others.  They will always go out of their way to help out their community, and be involved. 

Ace Parking at Qualcomm Stadium is in charge of traffic within the parking lots. they ensure that every car/truck/RV that enters the stadium gets secure parking, and makes sure all cars are in their designated parking spot. This will be my second year working for Qualcomm, but this time, as a Morse Alumni.

I am this year's driver for the cadets, so we all gather at about 6:00AM, and get to Qualcomm at about 7AM, and we all wear the yellow Ace Parking shirts, which is actually new this year. After we put on our shirts, we are then assigned to our designated areas. Morse usually gets assigned the 'busiest' area, which is the entrance to the A/B for cars and RV's. This gets pretty tough because many drivers get cranky to find parking spots, and I usually get bribes from drivers "I'll give you $100 if you let me park here." But of course, I can't do that because that would go against my morals.

On most Ace Parking days we are all on our feet for about 8-10 hours almost every other week. Isn't that crazy? That's how dedicated we are to Ace Parking. Even our advisors Ed, Larry, etc say they love Morse the best because we are committed, motivated, hard workers, and we make sure that the driver's are happy.

On September 16, was the last Charger game against the Titans, and I had the honor to be assigned to the reserved parking, and I stood by myself for about 10 hours in the hot sun (I even got sunburnt because I forgot sunscreen), making sure that certain cars got to their spots. There were Charger fans that were nice enough to offer me a soda can, or even food so that I had enough energy. During my ten minute break times, I would take a visit the taco truck that gave away free tacos, and they are always delicious. That was basically our lunch; no we didn't have to buy our own food because we were able to get free tacos.

I am glad to say that I am a part of a Service Learning outside of Price, school, and other stuff, even if I don't get hours for working. I volunteer alongside Morse because it is fun to see what Charger fans do, how drunk they can get, and work hard in the hot sun for ten hours to help out my community. It's a really great feeling of achievement because I feel like I am benefiting myself as a person, and learning how to be patient with others. Working for Morse at Ace Parking is really great. I surely think it's better being out in the sun rather than working inside Qualcomm. I get to see the fans directly and see how they interact, other than working traffic. It's quite fun to feel a part of a group where ALL the advisers smile everytime we arrive at Qualcomm because they know we will do hard work and have fun at the same time. I loved every minute of working for Qualcomm last school year..

It's a really great experience, and I'm excited to work for the rest of the Charger games (:

Service Learning VS. Community Service

One of the slides I did for my Service Learning Project Powerpoint for my JROTC class.

What is community service? What is Service learning? How many people actually know the difference between the two? 

In my JROTC class in high school, we learned about the actual differences between the two. I didn't know about the possibilities, or that there were properties of the two. I just thought that community service was the same thing as service learning. Well, I didn't know there was such a thing as service learning.

But in ro, we also had to perform a Service Learning Project; where I tutored various grade levels at a near-by school: Fulton Elementary. My peers and I attended one class each week at the school and from there we wrote a reflection of what we did in the classes, and what we gained from our experiences from tutoring the younger ones.

From my service learning site, we learned that there are differences from Service Learning and Community Service.

What is Community Service? 

• It is a mandatory act of giving back to one's own community. In order to graduate from high school, each senior at my school was required to complete a certain amount of hours. So at most times, community service is expected to do so because someone, or an authority figure told one to do so.
• It is an act which ONLY benefits one's own community. There is no self benefit, may be minimal, but rare. 
• It is usually Quantity over Quality. Just like in high school in order to graduate, most students wanted to get their hours done right away, rather than taking in what they are doing to help their community and having fun with it. 

What is Service Learning?

• It is a voluntary act of giving back to one's own community. It is not because they are required to do so by their school, or by an authority figure, but because they want to help his/her community.
• It benefits both one's community, and the person. Unlike community service, service learning is where one actually reflects upon his/her actions, and what they are doing for his/her community, and why he/she is helping out. Just like when I tutored at Fulton Elementary; it was because I wanted to be there for the students, and help them raise their test scores higher. 
• It is always Quality over Quantity. I would rather volunteer for the experience, and not for the hours. At Fulton, I didn't even ask for volunteer hours just because I had fun being a role model to the students, that I didn't need it (also because I volunteered somewhere else). 

Those are the differences of Community Service, and Service Learning that I perceived in my eyes. I can honestly say that when I help out my community, I do it because I want to. I treat it as a lifestyle, because I like to reflect upon what I do for my community, and why I do it.

This subject also ties in with the question we had for Personal Growth about my community: What is one way in which you expect the community you are serving to nourish, nurture, or satisfy you? What are two ways you will take responsibility for that community? I don't expect anything from my community because I believe that I have the responsibility to serve for my own community. I think the only thing I will actually gain is the experience of giving back to my community, and having fun with it. Especially when I get to work with young children again by being at Rosa Parks; I will be able to serve as that role model I'd like to be to them. Just like how I said about how Service Learning is supposed to be about, is how I will take that responsibility: to know that working at Rosa Parks should be about Quality over Quantity. If working there for me will be all about getting my hours just so I could get a check, then I shouldn't even be there. I want to work because I want to gain from the experience, learn something for myself, and give back to my community. 

Motivated & Determined

Considering that Rosa Parks Elementary approved my interview last minute, I didn't think that I would get the opportunity to work there. Once I found out, I was ecstatic.

I like working with children. To see the look on the little kid's faces when you help them when they're struggling. When they ask you for constant help just because they want your attention. When they ask you annoying questions over, and over, and over again, yet you find it cute. I love that feeling. Just as I said in my interview, I wanted to be a role model to the children and show them that anyone can succeed. If they have any trouble whatsoever, I'll help them academically. I don't want to only be a teacher's assistant, but someone they look up to.

In my past experiences as a tutor, I learned to be patient, and to be gentle with the kids. As a tutor, I loved being the older figure that the students looked up to, especially as an inspiration. I loved reaching out to the students and revealing that school is not that hard if you put your utmost effort in it. I enjoyed listening to the conversations they had with me in order to get to know them better. I loved how interested the students were in life, and how curious they are. It gave me the sense of being one of them again, and how they feel like. The students gave me the chance to love teaching, and to love helping others who are in need of help.
 Helping teachers teach the children and be there for them was a great experience, and I am excited to work with students again. Seeing the students work hard motivate me to be as eager as they are to learn. I am determined to make this year with a new group of students memorable as I hope to inspire them as I have in the past.

What did I buy? #3

Saturday August 25, 2012. 

• Shoes- $40; I bought myself new shoes at Vans for a cheap price, plus my mom paid the tax, so it wasn't bad at all.
• Designed shirt fr. Macy's (left)- $20; This was a cute top, so I wanted it. Plus I have giftcards from Macy's which all add up to about $110. So I technically didn't use my own money for this top
• Pink/Blue blouse fr. Macy's (right)- $17; Again, a blouse from macy's that I didn't pay for, but used my giftcard.  

Sunday August 26, 2012 

• Box from mail store place- $2.65; I wanted this box because I will be sending a package to my boyfriend, who is currently in Florida.
• Rainbow Folder- $1; I got this at Target with my giftcard.
• Tape- $3.55; This I also got at Target for that box right there.
• Gray pair of jeans- $15.99; I got this pair at Papaya for a really good price since I have been meaning to buy pants for awhile.
• Blue pair of jeans- $10.99; I also got this pair at Papaya, which was also on sale.

I wanted to post what I bought on both weekends, because I did got a lot this weekend.

What did I buy? #2

Friday, August 24, 2012.

• Korean Barbecue @ Jeong Won -$60; I paid for my siblings and I when I went to eat out with my second 'family,' the Ricache's for my friend: Allan Balcita, and my sister: Caitlyn Francisco's birthdays. 
• Nail Polish- $3; It was one dollar each at a nearby Korean makeup shop. My sister and I couldn't resist.
• Face Mask- $2; It was also one dollar each at the same nearby makeup shop.

What did I buy? #1

Thursday, August 23rd 2012. I just ended up writing this blog post today, it was only one item, but at least I remember what it was.

• Starbucks- $4. I got a White Chocolate Mocha Frap, which is rounded up to 4 dollars.

Well, that is everything I bought that day! 

How does technology affect human relationships?

Think about it for a second. How many times has friendships died over facebook posts about each other, blog posts talking smack about the other, or text messages?

As human beings, we currently live in a state where much of our dependency is on technology, or social network sites. Relationships between many people has broken apart due to many problems over the internet, or the phone. Think back to the last time you had an argument with your friend, or boyfriend/girlfriend? Did you fight in person? Or did the argument settle through facebook?

There are many people who DO fight over facebook, tumblr, or even twitter. Those social network users just don't realize how it affects many relationships. Technology and social network sites has made human relationships impersonal.

This video was a documentary my peers and I created as our project senior year. We asked some of our friends and classmates what THEY though about topic, and this is what we put together. I hope you enjoy, and ask yourself this question:

How do YOU think tecyhnology/social network sites has affected human relationships?

Lesson Learned #3

Have low expectations for people

Do not have much dependency on many people. Not everyone that we think we could "trust" will always be there. Every single person on this entire planet has their own life to take care of. People have their own problems, their own life, their own troubles. I hate to add more onto people's shoulder's with my problems. Even if it is the person I thought I could depend my whole life on, everyone doesn't have the time to 'always' be there. No one. will be able to do that. If it is a lesson learned, I know that it's better to rely more on myself than anyone else. There may be a selected few, but you never know who to trust and rely on these days.

Lesson Learned #2

 Follow your heart. Do whatever makes you happy.

Would you rather walk the path of a nurse or a doctor, just how your parents want you to do? Or would you rather do what makes you happy?

Your voice matters the most when it comes to your own life. Try not to do whatever everyone else tells you to do, because in the ed, you have to do things the way you want it. It's not always about others, but yourself . It's your life.


"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." - Steve Jobs

It is acceptable and considerate to take the opinions of others, but what you think is the most important of all. It wasn't that long ago where I was dependent of other people. Whenever I had a problem or had something to do, I would ask my friends, "What do I do?" "What do I say?" "Should I do this, or do that?" I never trusted my own instincts no matter what. I always believed that whatever I would think, was wrong. Just like Steve Jobs said, don't let what others say bring your 'voice' down. Everyone has the ability to go for what they want, and what they are capable of. 

It wasn't until I realized that I am my own person. No one controls my life or know me better than myself. I have the capability to follow my heart and what I do. 

Lesson Learned #1

Think, before you act.

Nothing is worse than making the wrong decisions. Although some people learn from their mistakes, they tend to make those decisions spontaneously, or under pressure. You have to think. Just think; who will it affect? What will happen next? What is the probability of things going right, or even wrong? Sure, there is the fun of doing things out of the blue, but sometimes, just sometimes you have to think carefully on certain decisions. 

I remember all these countless of times I would ditch classes in high school. I would miss a couple of classes because I felt lazy, or because my friends and I wanted to go somewhere. Skipping out on class seemed like a lot of fun before, until you end up falling behind on class. Even though I ended up passing that class with a C, I know I could have done so much better, or even receive an A. It'll all better now, I just learn from my mistakes.


Decisions for far beyond that missing a class. People tend to do stupid things in their life without making the smallest effort in thinking about what they're doing. Whether it's from buying something with money they don't even have, to drunk driving. It is inevitable for people to sometimes not think about what they do. Just remember that you have the ability to control your thoughts and actions. Go ahead and make some stupid choices sometimes, but know your limits. When you think before you act, you get a feel of who you are, and what you reveal about yourself to others. Make choices that benefit you and bring you up. You are who you make of yourself.