Lucia's blog

Throughout my life, I have been apprehensive about asking for help. It’s not really from embarrassment or shame, but more just the approach of a stranger that unnerves me. In any case it is inevitable that we all ask for help at some point in our lives. I didn’t really use any staff or faculty when doing the community service project, but those who gave me advice without my asking did help me and my group members to better follow guidelines. I have sought assistance in other aspects of my student life, however. I have gone to Mr. Medina for advice in time management and he has been very supportive. I have joined USG and their marketing committee. Originally I had done so because I wanted to just do their fliers, but they are very inviting and I have become friends with a few of the members. They are all upperclassmen so they know which teachers are good and also can give me advice on how to manage my time. They also know a lot about whats going on in the school.
It is always a good thing to have people to talk to, especially with all the pressures or various things that we all have going on simultaneously in our lives. It allows us to relieve some stress and by talking to each other we can sort out some of the confusion that jumbles around in our minds. I think that is the thing I value most about going for help or using resources.
Our discussion in class about the last journal entry allowed me to understand different view points on community service. I do not doubt that what we are doing is beneficial to the community, and I am glad that we are going to be providing at least a small improvement to New York. I value most anything that is positive, as one should, and I think this experience will just allow me to be a little happier, and be able to work with other people and get to know them better through creating this project together.

Serving my community means to make it a better place. I think it means to bring new ideas and to act upon something that feels right. For instance, I don’t feel as though I am “serving my community” if I am just visiting a forum in which people talk about what needs to be done, but don’t actually go out and do it, or implement ways to accomplish their goals. I think giving back to the community is doing something selfless and is hopefully done as an instinct. And if not an instinct, done often enough that it becomes one.
Helping someone carry something heavy down or up the stairs, returning something lost, or just making a friend feel happier or more welcome are all things that I view as most important to brightening up the world. Even just creating something beautiful in my mind improves the world.
I know people may look at me as an idealist in that sense, but I don’t really care. I don’t believe that I as an individual can do that much, but if anything, at least I am helping a few individuals feel as though someone cares about them or cares about things outside of my own self. Doing a good deed not for an outright benefit, and not because you are forced to is really the only way that I think you can serve your community. It could be related to the services in the honors program in that the honors program tries to brighten up students’ lives by giving them the opportunity to explore themselves and possible futures without as much of an emphasis on finances, which can sometimes get in the way of focusing.

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My name is Lucia Gioiello, I went to Laguardia High School of Performing and Visual Arts. Experiences that have shaped how I am would probably be my living with my dad and twin brother all my life, and also when I went to Japan in sophomore year. The first has affected me because I learned how to do many household chores at an early age. I think that makes me more responsible in general. Having a twin brother made me a lot less selfish because we had to share everything, but also always gave me someone to relate to, but who was also very different and experienced different things than me. My father is also a former hippie, so I grew up participating in various “spiritual meetings,” I’ve been to mormon church, I’ve practiced Korean Taoism and meditation. This has made me very open to different cultures and in my opinion, pretty nonjudgemental.

When I went to Japan for 6 weeks I was completely cut off from my family. It was a strange feeling to be away from my brother whom I had never been apart from longer than a week. It was also obviously foreign and I knew no one. However I learned so much from that experience because I realized past all boundaries it is easy to communicate and relate to anyone. Once you open up and surrender judgements and walls, people usually follow your lead and you can have the greatest relationships.
I expect college to be a growing experience. I don’t think I will be able to do everything I hope for, but I’m going to strive to do as much as I can. I want to use college as a way to get to my higher goals. I hope I can manage my time correctly this semester, and the thing I would be worried about most is getting lost and not understanding assignments, not clicking with classmates, and getting lazy.