Sunday, December 29, 2019

Personality Assessment paper - 2517 Words

Personality Assessment Paper Rochester College Erica Schwartz Everybody has his or her own type of personality. We all act in a certain way that makes us who we are. It is believed that our parents, peers and, the environment we grow up in, shape us. Personality is describes as a combination of emotions, attitude, and behavioral patterns of an individual. There is a reason that we are the way we are and there are many theories that go along with that. Different theorist present their own definitions of the word personality based on their own theoretical positions. Which brings us to discussing Carl Jung’s theory of analytical psychology and Harry†¦show more content†¦They do not have a so-called well-rounded family; everyone seems to have different views and outlooks on life. Stewie being the young and small child he is may be getting some of his inner thoughts from his family. Also, he is mostly suspicious of Lois. As stated before, he is concerned that she is out to get him just as much as he is out to get her. But, in su mmary, Jung explains that people are neither completely introverted nor completely extraverted either. Some people have a balance of intro and extraversion while others may have more introversion than extraversion or vise versa. I believe that Stewie Griffin has more introversion than extraversion. But, both introversion and extraversion can combine with any one or more of the four functions that Jung explains: thinking, feeling, sensing and intuiting. But we are going to look at all of the introversion views and relate them to Stewie. Thinking is defined as an intellectual activity that produces a chain of ideas. An introverted thinker like Stewie react to external stimuli, but their interpretation of an event is colored more by the internal meaning. These thinkers are also very creative and can have mystical thoughts so individualized that that they are useless to any other person. Relating this to Stewie, no one really knows why he wants to kill his mother. It is his internal tho ughts and perception of her that are unknown to the outsideShow MoreRelatedPersonality Assessment Paper2019 Words   |  9 PagesRunning head: Personality Assessment Instrument Paper Personality Assessment Instrument University of Phoenix April 23, 2012 Personality Instrument A very useful model to assess a person personality and behavior pattern is through the use of the big five test. This test allows an administrator to get an accurate and quick assessment of the patients personality. The big five model is a widely used, modern, validated and replicated methodology for evaluatingRead MoreMyers Briggs Personality Assessment Paper2490 Words   |  10 PagesRunning Head: Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment 1 Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment 10 Project 1 ? Sepich MBTI Analysis Rachelle Sepich Liberty University Abstract Although this was not the first personality assessment that I?ve completed, after reading this week?s study material, I can honestly say that I have gained a more expansive understanding and perspective on the subject. First, I had not considered the correlation between our covenant with God and the responsibilityRead MorePersonality Assessment907 Words   |  4 Pages450-word paper in which you compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of your selected personality assessment instruments.    ï‚ ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Examine the following items for each instrument:    o  Ã‚  Ã‚   Validity o  Ã‚  Ã‚   Comprehensiveness o  Ã‚  Ã‚   Applicability o  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cultural utility    ï‚ ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cite at least two references in your paper to support your assessment. Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine a synopsis of three different common personality assessment tests. The paper discussesRead MoreAssessment Tools Essay1622 Words   |  7 PagesRunning head: ASSESSMENT TOOLS 1 Assessment Tools Paper Liberty University EDUC 307 June 1, 2016 Abstract The beauty in teaching is watching the brains of your scholars grow with knowledge. As educators we frequently use various tools to assess the gains that our scholars make. In order to successfully instruct intentional lessons, it is important to collect data about scholar interests, ability/intellectualRead MorePsy 250 Complete Course (Psychology of Personality) - a+ Work1520 Words   |  7 Pages(Psychology of Personality) - A+ Work IF You Want To Purchase A+ Work Then Click The Link Below , Instant Download http://hwnerd.com/PSY-250-Psychology-of-Personality-Complete-Course-1138.htm?categoryId=-1 If You Face Any Problem E- Mail Us At Contact.Hwnerd@Gmail.Com Week 1 Individual Assignment Personality Reflection Write a 700- to 1,050-word reflective paper that addresses the following questions: o How would you define personality? o What are some key personality features thatRead MoreHistory of Psychological Assessment Paper1129 Words   |  5 PagesHISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT History of Psychological Assessment Paper Natalie Maxwell University of Phoenix Dr. Alex Nagurney October 25, 2010 History of Psychological Assessment What is psychological assessment? Psychological assessment is considered one of the most important functions in applied psychology. In psychological assessment, the practitioner uses observation, interviews, and psychological tests to gain information about the client’s personality characteristics, symptomsRead MoreDifferential Psychology : Cognitive Ability1723 Words   |  7 PagesThese domains include differences in behavior, personality, cognition, orientation and affect. Differential psychology focuses on these domains, by studying differences in our actions, emotions, intelligences, needs and activities. (Revelle, Wilt, Condon, 2011). This paper will review four domains of individual differences: cognitive ability, personality, orientation (values and interests) and affective disposition. It will also focus on personality, explaining major ideas, themes and theoristsRead MorePersonality Type Assessment1336 Words   |  6 PagesPersonality Type Assessment (Week-2 Individual Assignment) CMGT/530 - IT Organizational Behavior July 1, 2012 Personality Type Assessment The first section of this paper details the elements that a personality type assessment typically measures. The second section contains discussion on the personality type assessment of the author of this paper. In the third and last section, the author shares how his personal assessment outcomes could affect his workRead MoreLife663 Words   |  3 PagesYou Some people think that doing self assessment is difficult. Being able to analyzing one’s own actions or the will to acknowledge past failures can be a difficult task to acknowledge. According to Johari Window even when trying to be open and honest about self it is still a hard task to accomplish. Although the writer that took the assessments in both week one and two, the assessment confirmed things that was already known about the writer personality. While at the same time revealed someRead MoreDifferent Dimensions Of My Personality And Leadership Style887 Words   |  4 PagesThe Plan As a capstone piece to this work on exploring different dimensions of my personality and leadership style, it would appropriate to develop a plan that I can employ immediately to work on my strengths, overcome areas of weakness, and determine a practical application of the theories learned in this class that would be applicable in a leadership setting. This section of the paper will discuss the following three topics of personal growth: (1) Development of Strengths, (2) Improvement or

Friday, December 20, 2019

The Problem Of Invading Privacy - 1321 Words

On a small scale, the concept can be referred to as a focus group. The agency executives taking their seats behind the one-way blackboard, prepared to gain information as their puppets reward the participants with a few dollars or an appreciative sentiment. This situation is echoed within the makeup of our online society, as we are given small benefits and social reasons to allow access to our information, while the government takes in as much data as they can to monitor people and hold them down by their own vices. Through this, the government, commonly referred to as â€Å"Big Brother†, controls citizens and while many express that the Internet is a battleground for privacy, the war zone is actually a fabricated idea that the government makes people believe through the allocation of these societal prizes and the bailout excuse of defending them against terrorism. Big Brother claims to be helping people by protecting them, but that is only used as an excuse to keep an eye on everyone. It is clearly a problem of invading privacy, because as Neil M. Richards states, â€Å"Although we have laws that protect us against government surveillance, secret government programs cannot be challenged until they are discovered. And even when they are, our law of surveillance provides only minimal protections† ( 934). The FBI and the government continue to defend the watch of their people by claiming it is a defense against outside threats. At first glance this is a commendable objective, but it isShow MoreRelatedThe Privacy Of Online Consumers And Search Engines1676 Words   |  7 Pagesdata is actually being saved in hard drives on the Google Headquarters. The thesis statement is that search engines are invading the privacy of online consumers and search engines should not invade consumer privacy because these Search engine companies have no business in finding what the user is doing on the internet .Social media and Search engines are invading the privacy of internet users all around the world and keep track of all user info on the computers and this should not be allowed inRead MoreThe Importance of the Telephone for Communicating1668 Words   |  7 Pagesbecome a nuisance. Thats the big problem in having a telephone because sometimes they are invading our privacy especially those private telephones. This case study talks and explain the invading of some telephone company in the privacy of their client. IMPORTANCE OF TELEPHONE The use of the telephone is very important to all the people now a days, especially to the company. Telephones make the distance reduced the distance. Now a days distance is never a problem if you have a telephone at houseRead MoreHow the Mobile Paradigm May Affect the Nature and Limits of Privacy1471 Words   |  6 Pagesinformation, privacy issue [1] occur due to users unknowingly expose their privacy through mobile application, camera, network etc. and their use poses a serious threat to both personal and corporate security. It greatly extending the reach of technology and raising concerns that prevailing traditions of privacy may be challenged. In order to examine how the mobile paradigm may affect the nature and limits of privacy, those natures can be carried out though three views: Accessibility Privacy, DecisionalRead MoreThe Right Of Privacy : A Human Right And An Element Of Various Legal Traditions1324 Words   |  6 PagesThe Right to Privacy can be described as a human right and an element of various legal traditions which may restrain both government and private party action that threatens the privacy of individuals. On the topic of an individual s Right to Privacy, there comes controversy. Some would argue that it is a right and others would say it is a privilege. Those that say it is a privilege, would argue that the Right to Privacy can be taken from anyone at anytime without their consent. On the flip sideRead MoreEthical Issue In Information Systems Essay898 Words   |  4 PagesSo the question is the privacy of individuals trusted online? Can people snoop around and see personal information? Of course people can if guidelines are not set in place to protect them. Public and private information can be complex when some individual(s) do not expect their communication to be read outside of their online community. What will be discussed are some ethical responsibilities that need to take place in the United States. Respecting the individual privacy and honor confidentialityRead MoreMedical Records and Privacy of the Famous1140 Words   |  5 PagesMedical Records and Privacy of the Famous Privacy seems to be something that many people desire, but is becoming less and less available. With all the new technology, it is easier than ever to invade someone’s privacy. With cameras everywhere, from ATM’s to people’s cell phones, it is difficult for anyone to do anything that can be kept to one ’s self. While privacy is a right that the average person doesn’t normally struggle with, it is a problem that celebrities encounter everyday. PaparazziRead MoreAll People Do Eavesdropping It?1106 Words   |  5 Pagesthe government shouldn’t listen in on the citizens personal and private phone conversations. Society should also prohibit the government from listening in on its citizens’ telephone conversations because it is wrong that the government is invading citizens’ privacy. The government has the right to create rules for the citizen to follow. The citizen also have to follow the rule otherwise there will be no discipline in the society they live in. As long as everybody follow the rule, they will live inRead MorePersonal Space Essay592 Words   |  3 Pagesare that it is sometimes unwelcome by the society being studied, as they often feel disturbed and that the anthropologist is invading their privacy. It is also often difficult for the ethnographer to go native, and, even when he does; problems arise as he may begin to lose objectivity after becoming too much a part of that society. The problems that can arise due to Participant observation include:  · Gender - certain genders are more welcome than others into different Read MoreEssay on We Must Strive to Protect Privacy in Technology580 Words   |  3 PagesWe Must Strive to Protect Privacy in Technology Technology is getting more and more complex as the years come and go. The availability of personal information is easier to access and the risk of it being tampered with is also high. As the years pass, the threat of privacy invasion gets greater and greater and easier to happen. There are several ways that privacy is able to be invaded and there will only be more to come. Americans have had their personal information given away without evenRead MoreEssay on The Danger of Subliminal Advertising1438 Words   |  6 Pagesindividuals to subconsciously crave a product or service. It is integral that society understands the jeopardy of this malicious form of propaganda and begins to take a stand against it for the sake of citizens’ privacy. Advertisers have resulted to underhanded methods that invade privacy to obtain money from the public. Examples of these methods include types of â€Å"ad creep† such as place-based advertising, placed in public to force viewers to watch video ads, as well as product-placement, the inclusion

Thursday, December 12, 2019

Management System in Northumbria Country Foods

Question: Discuss about the Management System in Northumbria Country Foods. Answer: Introduction Northumbria Country Foods (NCF) is a company manufacturing chilled ready meals and supplying the product in super market. It was founded by Dr Beth Walker ten years ago. The company has a joint venture with a multinational company, which have invested 4.5 million in NCF for its expansion (Beesley, 2013). There are several issues with the ready meal producer regarding the use of additive content, fats in their products, which are unhealthy, but NCF have overcome the issues with producing healthy products headed by a nutritionist. The demand of the ready meal of the NCF is increasing and they need to upgrade their manual system to a new automatic information system. The report describes the benefits of adopting the information system in the current business process. Some suggestions are given with proper justification regarding the usage of the system and the steps that the company should take to implement the new information system in their business. The next part of the report gives some recommendation about the usage and the implementation of the information from where the company can gain advantage. Benefits of adopting the information system The implementation of the new information system in their business process would help the company to efficiently manage the business operation and gain competitive advantage in the market. The company can gain several benefits with the implementation of the new information system in respect to marketing, supply and handling the customers (Willcocks, 2013). The information system (IS) are designed to collect, process, filter and distribute the data to support the different operation of the organization like decision making, management, etc. The adaptation of the information system can solve different problems with assessment and evaluation of different solution. It reduces the response time and makes an effective and efficient coordination between the different departments of the organization. The information system can efficiently track the organizational activities across all the levels and manage the day to day activities of the organization (Galliers Leidner, 2014). The informati on system can reduce the indulgence of the human power and thus reducing the human errors occurring due to negligence or lack of professional skill. The benefits for the adaptation of the new information system for Northumbria Country Foods can be listed as follows: Retrieval of the information easily The activity of the organization can be analyzed from the information system and the results can be evaluated for the correct of the deviation The information system can create appropriate environment for taking effective decision using the information gathered from the different organizational activity in a less time (Feng, Siu Zhang, 2013). It can help to adopt future strategy analyzing the current market condition with the prospect of the organization and help the organization to take effective precaution to achieve the goals and finding the defects in the business process of the organization. The information system can generate reports for the aggregated information like profit, loss, expenditure calculated monthly, annually or quarterly (Katz, 2012). The historic information of the organization can be kept in record to calculate the growth rate of the organization and act accordingly for sustainable growth of the organization. The information system can also respond to the custom enquiries made by the manager to fetch information from the tables stored in the database of the information system (Letellier Eppich, 2015). The business information system can keep the records of the supplier and the customer in the database and manage the accounting system (Black Muddiman, 2016). The process can be automated and reduce the paper works of the organization and thus it would be easy for the managers to find the any organizational records. Suggestion for using the E-Business system To gain competitive advantage and survive in the market the business organization must implement an effective strategy for the countering of the five competitive forces. Suggestion is given to the organization that it can follow the E-business system following one of five basic competitive strategies, which are based on Porters three generic strategies of broad differentiation, focused strategy and broad cost leadership. The implementation of the E-Business in the current business process would help the organization to build a healthy customer relationship. The customer can access the portal of the organization from any remote location and purchase their ready-made meal they like. They can also post querry and feedback to the admin from the feedback or the support chat option present in the site. The support chat option would help the company to connect lively with the customer. The customer can talk directly with the customer care representatives and solve any problem they are facin g regarding the usage of the site. The porters five competitive strategies consist of: Cost leadership Differentiation Innovation Growth, and The business intelligence can be used for cost leadership and the social media can be involved for growth and capturing the market with advertisement (Jrvelinen, 2013). The alliance with a MNC helps the organization to gain brand value and attract more number of customer. Justification Cost Leadership: The information system can be used by the organization to essentially move the cost of working together or decrease the expenses of business procedures and reduce the overall expenses of providers or clients, i.e., utilizing on the web business to purchaser, e-acquisition frameworks to lessen working expenses and business to plans of action (Alexander, 2013). Differentiation: The developed information system can be used by the organization to create different elements and help the organization to decrease its competitor in the market. From the different point of view, it can be noted that the online service can decrease the effort of the employees in the organization, provide better service to its customer, and efficiently manage the supply chain of the business (Goes, 2014). The implementation of the support chat option and a toll free number through which the customer can contact directly with the organization would help to differentiate the company from its competitors. The information system attracts more number of customers and the registration of the users increases the loyalty of the customer. Innovation: Northumbria Country Foods (NCF) can utilize data frameworks to recognize and make changes or add new features that can help the organization to distinguishable from its competitors. It has been noted that the innovation is the key of success for any company and it has the power to open new opportunity for the business (Fitzsimmons Fitzsimmons, 2013). The innovation can speed up the growth of the company with addition of new activities in the current business process. There development of the information system for an organization is costly and the scope of the improvement of the system always exists in the developed system. The information system can be combined with different organization activity to form a innovative system differing from the other companies (Williams, 2013). In the interim, everybody is associated by means of PCs, tablets, other cell phones connected with the internet and there is lots of scope for the organization to gain competitive advantage over i ts competitors and gain a leading position in the market. Growth: Northumbria Country Foods (NCF) can utilize data frameworks to extend local and universal operations for the differentiation and incorporation of different services and products. i.e. setting up worldwide intranet and global stage of operation. It helps in building Omni-channel technique to accelerated growth (Omni-channel system takes a gander at utilizing favorable circumstances of both the web and disconnected or non-computerized channels) (Ward Peppard, 2016). Alliance: The organization can utilize data frameworks for upgrading and making relations those accomplices with the means of applications, for example, inter-authoritative data frameworks and creating virtual associations. The alliance of the company with third party call centers would help the company to manage less number of employees and manage the customer with less effort given in the management process of the business. The organization can use the social media to promote their business, reach more number of peoples, and expand their business throughout the world. The creation of a fan page on a social media would help the organization to track the number of followers and the likes and dislikes would help to find the reaction of the people about the company. The judgment of the reaction would help the company to change its current business strategy and survive in the market. The Business Intelligence (BI) applied in the system help the organization to take better decision and implement better strategy for the growth of the business. The implementation of a good decision would help to align the information system with the business and helping the company to gain competitive advantage and gain a leading position in the market. Steps taken to undertake the new system For the implementation of the new information system in Northumbria Country Foods (NCF) the steps needed to be taken are as follows: Identification of the key stakeholders associated with the project and the business process. Identification of the list of the actors i.e. the roles of the stakeholders to interact with the system Identification of the use case list which includes description of the interaction made by the actor. Identification and listing the scenario that is describing the sequence that are needed for the completion of the use case (Schwalbe, 2015). Identification and listing the steps where a detailed description of the steps is developed and the scenario is described completely. Identification of the list objects or classes and description of the models and designing and implementation of the properties and methods needed to complete the steps (Katz, 2012). Managing the work and products where the artifacts are collected and delivered to the client for during the development of the project. Explanation Identification of the list of stakeholder: The list of all the peoples who are associated with the new information system of the organization directly or indirectly are required to be listed. The peoples who can influence the system with their position and power are the stakeholders and building the list of the stakeholders is the first objective for building an efficient information system (Reich Benbasat, 2013). Identification and listing the actors The actors are the abstraction that helps in grouping the stakeholders and it can be developed describing the expectation that is expected from the actors. The building o the set of actors helps to get an idea of the overall system and the functions that are needed to be developed (Laroche, Habibi Richard, 2013). The actors involved must be able to state their requirement to the development team such that a fully functional system is developed. Identification and listing the Use cases A detailed analysis is made on the requirement of the organization and the use case design is prepared. The use case is the most important step and it presents a complete view of the system that shows the functionality of the system (Beesley, 2013). The use case can also be used for capturing future ideas that can help the system to deliver more functionality to the business process. Identification and listing the scenario The developed use case can be broken down into more number of steps that the actors execute. The actors can follow more number of pathways that are identified in the use case. The different paths are known as the scenario and all the scenario are not required to be defined only the normal scenario are required to be defined where the intended execution is shown (Willcocks, 2013). The scenarios are imagined as a flow chart and their pathways are described in the use case. Identification and listing the steps The progress of each of the scenario are required to be recorded and for the developed used case each of the steps are required to be defined clearly (Katz, 2012). The identification of the steps helps to track whether the step has completed successfully or not. Identification and listing the objects or the classes For the execution of the each of the steps in the use case the internal objects of the business organization are required (Galliers Leidner, 2014). The actual classes and the objects are defined during the design phase and the coding is done based on the developed design. Managing the working of the products During the development of the information system the progress of the work must be noted in the project workbook (Letellier Eppich, 2015). The work book also consists of the requirement, roles and responsibility and the development practice and the standards carried out by the development team and helps to manage the project efficiently. Advice given to NCF for future growth of the organization (Recommendation) The information system implemented in the current business process of the organization must be able to meet all the requirements. Some of the recommendations are given to the Northumbria Country Foods (NCF) for aligning the information system with the current business process of the organization. The developed information system should be capable to efficiently process the order and supply chain of the business ad produce automated report for the placed order. The developed system must be decentralized and should be capable to solve local problems and the system must be responsive to the operational requirements. The system must be user friendly and full of functionality and NCF should focus on implementing innovative strategies to gain competitive advantage over the market. The developed information system should have the scope of modification and new functional modules can be added to increase the efficiency or it can sustain the requirement change and serve the business for a long period of time. Conclusion Northumbria Country Foods (NCF) have gained the advantage of the recent market trend and issues with the other ready meal producer acting sustainably on their business. Thus they planned to implement a new information system in their current business process to efficiently manage the business operation. In the above report some advice regarding the implementation of the information system in the organization is given. The benefits that the organization gain implementing the information system is discussed in the report and some suggestion of using the Business intelligence system, E-business system and social media in the business are given. The steps necessary for the successful implementation of the system is also stated with some advise assisting the future growth of the organization. References Alexander, K. (2013).Facilities management: theory and practice. Routledge. Beesley, A. (2013). Time compression in the supply chain.Logistics Information Management. Black, A., Muddiman, D. (2016).The early information society: Information management in Britain before the computer. Routledge. Feng, D., Siu, W. C., Zhang, H. J. (Eds.). (2013).Multimedia information retrieval and management: Technological fundamentals and applications. Springer Science Business Media. Fitzsimmons, J., Fitzsimmons, M. (2013).Service management: Operations, strategy, information technology. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Galliers, R. D., Leidner, D. E. (2014).Strategic information management: challenges and strategies in managing information systems. Routledge. Goes, P. B. (2014). Editor's comments: design science research in top information systems journals.MIS quarterly,38(1), iii-viii. Jrvelinen, J. (2013). IT incidents and business impacts: Validating a framework for continuity management in information systems.International Journal of Information Management,33(3), 583-590. Katz, R. (2012).Information management for engineering design. Springer Science Business Media. Laroche, M., Habibi, M. R., Richard, M. O. (2013). To be or not to be in social media: How brand loyalty is affected by social media?.International Journal of Information Management,33(1), 76-82. Letellier, R., Eppich, R. (Eds.). (2015).Recording, documentation and information management for the conservation of heritage places. Routledge. Reich, B. H., Benbasat, I. (2013). 10 Measuring the Information SystemsBusiness Strategy Relationship.Strategic Information Management, 265. Schwalbe, K. (2015).Information technology project management. Cengage Learning. Ward, J., Peppard, J. (2016).The Strategic Management of Information Systems: Building a Digital Strategy. John Wiley Sons. Willcocks, L. (2013).Information management: the evaluation of information systems investments. Springer. Williams, C. (2013).Principles of management. South-Western/Cengage Learning.

Thursday, December 5, 2019

I Love the Smell of Chlorine In the Morning; It Smells Like Victory free essay sample

I stretched my arm out in front of me, reaching for the concrete wall ahead. â€Å"One stroke, two strokes, three, four, okay now one more, you’re almost there.† I popped my head to the surface and stood clinging to the side for a minute, sucking in every bit of oxygen available to regain my composure. My chest was heaving as if I might puke any second and my cheeks were surely the vibrant red color of ripened strawberries. I settled down enough to notice the head swim coach walking in my direction. As I was gasping for breathe after the 100 yard timed swim that had concluded our practice, he put his arm around me and said very simply, â€Å"Congratulations Renee, you made it through your first swim practice. It will be difficult, but we need people like you on the team who are willing to put in effort. It encourages the other girls. We will write a custom essay sample on I Love the Smell of Chlorine In the Morning; It Smells Like Victory or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page † After that day I kept coming back. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. Chlorine became my signature scent when the team started practicing eight times a week. All of a sudden, my days started at 5:45 a.m. for before-school swims and ended at 6 p.m. after our afternoon work-outs. Not to mention 9 a.m. Saturday practices and the endless swim meets, team outings, sleepovers, car washes and countless other â€Å"bonding† activities. When forty girls spend almost every day together pointless drama and irritating arguments are inevitable. Nearly two years later my ears are still ringing with Becky’s yells of, ‘Don’t anyone even think of taking my shower!’ or ‘If you freshmen don’t hurry up and go put the lane lines in, we’re eating all your bagels!’ Despite the petty disagreements, I have yet to come in contact with a team that was more supportive or encouraging. All forty of those girls showed me what it means to be dedicated, accountable, and driven to succeed. If someone didn’t come to pr actice or refused to wear the team t-shirt they would have to withstand everyone else berating and badgering them to show that we are all in this together, and sometimes the only thing that would keep us going is seeing another struggling face in the lane next to us. I learned the value of sticking to commitments and being there to cheer on my teammates to reach their personal best. Those few words that my coach had said in February, after the first practice, seemed to have been spoken a lifetime ago but, they remained in the back of my mind to remind me of why I was still here and proceeded to stick with me as I pushed my way through the next three months on the Girls Varsity Swim Team. I got through one day at a time and just kept putting my entire being into getting from one end of the pool to the other. My teammates were persistent in their encouragement and stood at the edge of pool cheering and waving like lunatics at me during races. If it hadn’t been for their screams of enthusiasm and their belief that I really could do it, I probably would have passed out in the middle of the second lap. If I could make it through one really difficult moment that seemed to last an eternity then there was no reason why I couldn’t survive the moment that followed. Except for splashing around the neighborhood pool I had never swam competitively or seriously. I had spent the majority of my childhood being the overweight, non-athletic, self-conscious girl who hardly had the self confidence to show her face in public. I had never challenged myself to work as hard I could which is why the intensity of swimming caught me off guard and had opened my eyes to a brand new experience. Every aspect of how I viewed myself changed I discovered an unleashed determination and drive that had been hiding deep within the depths of my mind and had finished out the remainder of the season as well as my sophomore year with a completely different self-image and newfound self-respect.