This year has been quite a year for me. I have had some easy projects like the Chinese Comic Project. However, I have had my share of hard projects that have really pushed me to the edge. I have had many struggles and difficult tasks that I feel have really brought, developed, and strengthened certain qualities. Some of these newly developed qualities has stood out compared to others. This year, I have developed my leadership skills and my creative thinking.

​

The first project I would like to talk about is the Genocide Poster Project. I was quite proud of our final product, but what I had to do to make it all happen made me even prouder. In the early stage in the process, I was forced to take charge. When it came to coming up with ideas for our poster, my group was incompetent; it did not help that they were trying to reject my ideas too. I knew that I would have to be the one to come up with it. That was one of the hardest parts: trying to come up with an idea that was not cliché and original too. I looked to posters from past years for ideas, and I eventually came up with one that met the requirements. The next step was to start designing our final poster. To do that, we needed to make an image in gimp. I assigned that task to a group member who I knew specialized in working with computers; I thought he would have it taken care of. Clearly, I was mistaken. We tried to get our image approved with the teacher, but she had a problem with a spot that was too dark. The group member broke and refused to try to find a way to fix the problem. Therefore, I took charge and tried to find a way to fix it myself. Turns out that there was a simple solution nobody had thought, hence my creative thinking. The last big thing we needed to do was carve our image. I took charge of this as well, so as to set up my group for success. This part in the process was very tedious and I was going to need the help of my group in order to complete it. In the end, I lead my group to success. This project shows how I used and developed my new skills, because it shows how circumstances forced me to use and develop them in order to make my group succeed.

​

The second project I would like to talk about is the Chinese Rap Video Project. This one was especially hard because my partner (who also happened to be one of my two group members from the Genocide Poster Project) was absent a lot. Even when he was not absent, he was not very useful to me at all. I was struggling to keep him on task all the time; it was nerve racking. During the Chinese Rap Video Project, we had to make a rap with a soundtrack and record it. Thanks to the absence of my partner, I was forced to plan the whole thing myself. I made the entire script and when he came back, he would not contribute until I gave him a role. I gave him the role of making the soundtrack with a beat maker we found, hence my leadership skills. After he made the soundtrack, I planned memorizing and recording the video. I edited the video myself as well. We had problems with the music being too loud, so I again used my developing creative thinking to come up with a way to make the music quieter since it was too late to record it again. In the end, I had a product that I could say I was proud of, but probably not as much as the Genocide Poster Project.

​

This year I had to go through hell and back. The projects that I was going through pushed me beyond my limits, and forced me to learn skills that I never had to use before in my life. As much as I did not like the hell I was going through at the time, it really advanced me for the better and I am indented to these projects for it. This year I have developed my leadership and creative thinking skills.