In school, I am in a program known as Big Picture. I am a Senior this year but have been in Big Picture since my Sophmore year, but Freshman year was in the main high school. Going into my Freshman year, I had a very negative attitude towards school. I wouldn't do homework, didn't pay attention, and just didn't try at all. I had no motivation to do well or try at all. Joining Big Picture made me do a complete 180.

 
Freshman year was one of the roughest years of school for me. I went into it, telling myself I was going to hate it, and so I did. I absolutely hated school and almost everything about it. The only thing that kept me coming back every day, was friends. Being with friends was the only part of school I liked at all, and since I had quite a few from places where it wouldn't be easy to go visit whenever, I would force myself to school to see them. They also helped me discover Big Picture, and re-discover my excitement for school. Being a student who hated school, I tried to get out of work whenever possible. In the beginning of February, there was a sign-up sheet for a shadow day for a program called Big Picture. At first, I was not interested until I saw that you got to miss blocks 1 + 2. I immediately signed up. When I went into the shadow day, I had no intention of actually joining the program, but once they started talking about it, I was instantly intrigued. It was, for me, the type of program I had always wanted, but never thought to actually look for, and it had been right under my nose. After my shadow day, I was eager to go back. I applied as soon as I could and then waited eagerly to find out if I made it in.

Going into my Sophmore year was much better. I went into it eager to work, and excited to meet others who were also very passionate about specific topics. My main focus when I first joined Big  Picture was music production and computer hardware. Once I began working on a project, I quickly realized that I much preferred technology over music production. This was big for me. This helped me realize what I wanted to do with life. But it was not all good. I still had many leftover problems with completing work on time, because it had just become a habit for me. This continued until my adviser decided that I had put off too much, and was placed on academic concern. What I had to do when this happened was write a plan about how I was going to change, so that I could do well. This was the motivation I needed, as it was a warning that the way I was had to change, or I couldn't stay. After that, I stayed on top of my work, to the best of my ability.

Big Picture helped change me for the best in a number of ways. It got me excited about school, better at completing work, and to decide the career I ultimately want to pursue in life. Realizing what I want to do was huge for me, as my whole life I had always been into computers, I just never knew what in it I wanted to do. After dabbling in networking, and beginning work on my CISCO Certification in Home and Small Business, I decided to combine my two passions (networking and hardware) and look into it, which is how I decided that I want to become a Network Architect. Deciding this early on was the ideal way to decide, as it will guide me throughout college, and I have a very solidified idea of what I want to do in life, while a lot of peers do not. While I do not have an internship at this point, I have had a number of obstacles that took priority over an internship, and in the Spring will be pursuing one more heavily, so that I am able to get experience in the field. Big Picture did more in one day than any traditional school ever had, and has changed me for the best.