Everyone in the class strives for an A. It's a great goal, and I work towards an A too, but sometimes it's forgotten that the purpose isn't always to get an A. It's to learn, grow, and understand. It's about how you get an A. Mark talked to us about our presentations and told us that he doesn't teach a class where grades will be curved or As will be given out freely. He brought us to the reality that perhaps high school is easy and the majority of us get straight As, but college is not the same. A lot of my friends and family in college have told me the same thing, so its a reality we'll all have to face.
After his speech, we were all given a quiz on the different hotel brands. One side of the quiz had 20 or so logos and we had to identify which hotel group they belonged in(Wyndham, Marriott, Choice). It may sound easy, but after taking this course, I learned that there's so many more hotel brands than the standard Marriott or Hilton. And within these companies, they have ten to twenty different brands. The other side named different hotel groups. We had to match these groups with different characteristics such as the type of company they are or what their company started as. We went over the quiz right after, so I was relieved to know that I didn't make any mistakes.
My favorite part of the day was playing CHESS. If I could, I would buy CHESS and play it at home. It sounds really weird, but the game is both fun and educational. I usually play after I finish my assignments or after office hours. I kept a log of different strategies and how well they performed in my notebook. It felt really soon, but it was time to play our official game of CHESS. I plugged in everything that worked, adjusted things that were weak, and ended up breaking the CHESS record with over $11,000. For people who are interested in this course or just anyone who wants to reach new heights, the most important thing I learned from CHESS was relying on work and experience. Not only do you have to know the business, but you have to pay attention to detail and experiment. Repeating your old habits and settings won't help you move forward.
Mark then taught us how to make a business letter template and part of a report template. Sine we already finished CHESS, we need to put this information into writing. More important than making a lot of money in CHESS, you have to be able to explain what you did and why. I'm starting to get use to the new tools that Mark has taught us. We finished and submitted our letter template during office hours. We were given our presentation scores back too. My team scored a 94 and Mark told us that a lot of other groups wrote that we stood out in their evaluations.
We were also required to reflect on our group norms and actions. Every group received a questionnaire about how the team was getting along and what there is to be improved. We all agreed that there should be a consequence for breaking norms and we set a goal to be more creative. We also have different strengths and accomplishments. Sometimes members excel tremendously, while others struggle a little. In order to be a team, we need to help each other with more than group projects.
Overall, today was a huge reminder. I'm thankful that I didn't wait until I got here to realize that the class isn't easy. Mark and Reneta can be tough with the assignments they give, but this is what college is like. You have to find self determination to succeed. So far, I've learned a lot, but I owe a lot of the skills I used to WCCUSD and the ILC. Without Speech and Debate and the ILC, my presentation may not have turned out so well. Without the AP and other classes that my school offers, I wouldn't have been so exposed to a class setting where your teacher will teach you, but you have to use all of your effort to absorb this knowledge. Mark had mentioned earlier that there were students complaining about their grades with the excuse that their teachers held their hand every step of the way. From the band program and team activities, I learned that you will only be as strong as your weakest link. These may be common sayings, but they're true. I hope to never forget these things and I'd like to thank everyone who's helped shape who I am.
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