By Dasie Gervacio

High School is the transition from teenager to young adult. These four years helps the students grow and mature over the years in order to have a good transition from teenager to adulthood. Animo Pat Brown is a great school making sure students apply to college and have a plan after high school. However, are we really prepared for adulthood? We are all in different positions in life but we lack the knowledge of how to be an actual adult.

Animo Pat Brown does teach its students lifelong lessons. In freshman year students learn to type without looking at the keys, they learn to use excel and other programs. The students also learned to stay organized by having daily check ups. In Sophomore year student learn how to understand a W-2 form which is the document you need in order to file taxes. The students learned to fill out a job application. In Junior year we focused on the SAT which helped us for college applications and we practiced being interviewed. Senior year we learned how to fill out financial aid and college application but that was just first semester. Second semester the students focus on a senior portfolio in order to reflect on out four years at APB in front of a green dot staff member and a few others.

However, the second semester of senior year should be put to good use instead of making the students focus on a few piece of work that will be used to brag about how good the school is in front of green dot representative. Most seniors believe it’s “Trash and a waste of time” like Octavio Gallardo had said. Many of the seniors believe it should be replaced or just taken off by complete but senior Priscilla Hernandez says that “ we don’t need to spend so much time reflecting”. Meaning that it can stay but it doesn’t need to take up the rest of the semester when it can be used to teaches how to “Apply for loans and credit cards, file taxes, get a job or buy a house”. She believes we should spend our time learning the basics to adult life in order to make our transition to the adult world much more smoother.

On the other hand, teachers like Ms. Yokota believes it is “helpful because it gives the students an opportunity to stop and reflect on their high school experience”. She believes that it makes the students look back at their work and the improvements. It would help them for the future because they will “practice public speaking skills”. She thinks it can be improved if there were “more structured activities” like they should be doing “more presenting practice and less writing”
We all can come to the conclusion that the senior portfolios will not be removed but it should be improved. The time spent on it should be more constructive and shorter. A reflection piece should not take up the rest of semester when seniors can clearly be learning about other stuff that will truly be helpful in our future adulthood.