Running head: PEPSI ANALYSIS

Melissa Avila
PEPSI Analysis: Diego Avila
Dr. Rochelle Hooks

PEPSI ANALYSIS

Diego Avila is a twelve-year old boy. He has been raised in the United States throughout
his life, although he comes from parents who were born and raised in Mexico. Despite the fact
that he has grown in a society with many cultures, beliefs, and values, he has been introduced
since very little to the Mexican culture where the traditions, beliefs and actions are not taken for
granted. He has also been able to see how his father has been a working man and has sustained
his family all along through hard work and sacrifice. He also has been able to observe his mom
work at a distribution center where the environment is not very appropriate for women, due to all
the chemicals and materials used that could bring possible health consequences later in life.
Through these observations, Diego has been able to realize how lucky he is to have been given
the opportunity to study instead of going directly to work for the benefit of having shelter and
money in their pockets, like his parents when they first came to this country.
Coming from a working class family, Diego is a very helpful child. He is always offering
his help to his mother and father. He always has the will to help out in his household. He offers
his help to anyone he sees needs it. He shows his availability to helping his nine-year old sister
whenever possible. His father is a truck driver at a company and his mom works constructing
luxury spas that are distributed around the world. Before he began kindergarten a couple years
back, his parents were migrant workers who worked out in the California fields picking fruits
and vegetables.
His parents are very religious. Both of his parents have attended spiritual retreats from
their church. This in part distinguishes Diego from the rest of the kids his age. He and his family
attend church every Sunday. They also form part of a group at church that allows them to interact
with many families in town and participate in many events. Diego currently attends sixth grade
and seems to be a star student at his school.

PEPSI ANALYSIS

Diego is currently on the rise to growing and maturing both at the same time. His height
is five feet and four inches. Genetically hypothesizing, one can foresee that Diegos height will
continue to increase. His weight is 140 pounds. While it may seem that his weight is somewhat
increased, Diegos pediatrician maintains that he is in good standing and that both his weight and
height go hand in hand. Having the opportunity of conversing with his mom regarding his recent
doctors visit, she was able to inform me of several facts regarding Diegos health. The doctor
encourages Diego to get involved in some kind of sport and have a good nutrition. Not in an
attempt to lose weight, but to have a healthy condition.
Santrock (2012) maintains that, The average eleven year-old boy is four feet nine inches
tall (p. 175). Diego is right around that age and his height is off from that average. His late
childhood moments consisted of experiencing a rapid height increase. According to Santrock
(2012), during the middle and late childhood years, children gain about five to seven pounds a
year. The weight increase is due mainly to increases in the size of the skeletal and muscular
systems, as well as the size of some body organs (p. 175). Clearly, one can see the relationship
between increases in Diegos height and weight.
At 10 to 12 years of age, children begin to show manipulative skills similar to the
abilities of adults, according to Santrock (p. 176). In fact, Diego shows interest since early
childhood in playing the drums, like his father.
Diego is also showing the beginnings of his puberty stage in his early adolescence. His
voice has had minor changes over the last few months and has gotten slightly deeper. Also, his
changes in height and weight, compared to how he was seen in his elementary school years. As
Santrock explains, We know whether a young boy or girl is going through puberty, but
pinpointing pubertys beginning and end is difficult.

PEPSI ANALYSIS

Diegos personality and socialness is only shaping at this moment of this life. He just
experienced a huge transition of going from elementary school on to middle school. He
experienced having one teacher for a school year to acquiring about six different subjects and
teachers. All this happening while puberty is only beginning to develop within him. He is a very
nice gentleman who tries to help anyone, he has very sensible feelings, even now, he will find
anyone to talk to if he is having some kind of problem.
Erik Erikson maintains that humans go through eight specific stages in life. In which, we
are faced with certain situations and the environment around us plays an important part in
whether we overcome that step at a given age or we delay our process to overcome them later in
life. Stage three of his Psychosocial Development, consists of industry versus inferiority and
deals with the ages between six and twelve. Slavin (2009) states, Entry into school brings with
it a huge expansion in the childs social world. Teachers and peers take on increasing importance
for the child, while the influence of parents decreases (p. 50). In Diegos situation, this holds
much truth. Now that he has transitioned to middle school, I have observed how he just wants to
be seen as someone who has accomplished something in his short life. He also doesnt want to be
seen as a child anymore, he wants us to see that he can take care of himself on his own. He likes
to walk to the bus stop by himself, he tries to do his homework by himself before he asks for any
help. According to Slavin (2009), Success brings with it a sense of industry, a good feeling
about oneself and ones abilities (p. 50). Diego is constantly bringing home certificates of
acknowledgement, invitations to after school programs and congratulating notes from his
teachers. This helps build his self-esteem even better and allows him to feel great about himself;
one can tell by the smile on his face he comes home with.

PEPSI ANALYSIS

Diego is possibly transitioning quickly from stage three to stage four of Erik Eriksons
Psychosocial Development Stages, which is identity versus role confusion and includes the ages
of twelve to eighteen years. According to Slavin (2009), The question Who am I? becomes
important during adolescence. To answer it, adolescents increasingly turn away from parents and
toward peer groups (p. 50). This is possibly the part where he begins to be closer to his friends
than to his parents, like any teenager his age. Although, a couple weeks before he began middle
school, his aunts and his parents had a conversations with him and we let him know that we were
here to help with anything he may need throughout his entire life. We also let him know that he is
welcomed to try any activity he likes, whether it is joining an after school club, or a sport, in an
attempt that he stays busy with activities that he doesnt have the time to be watching the
negative effects adolescence may have in children.
Diegos moral reasoning is only developing at this stage in his life. He begins to
differentiate between teenage activities and whether they are good or bad. A couple weeks into
the school year, he came home one day telling me about an unusual event that had happened on
the bus on his way home from school. He described that it seemed everyone was pretty calm and
silent coming from school. Suddenly, one of the girls that was sitting very close to his seat,
begins screaming out of the nowhere. Others kids were bothered and begin shouting to her
demanding she quiets down. The girl would not stop screaming and she got to the point where
she took her binder and threw it across the bus. When Diego was telling me about this event, his
voice was kind of shaking and he seemed to be confused and full of questions as to why this girl
was acting this way. I tried reassuring him that now that he was in middle school, he was going
to have the opportunity to meet way many more kids than in elementary school; that things like
this happen because who knows what is going on in that young persons lives, but that it was

PEPSI ANALYSIS

going to be his knowledge about how to handle situations like this that was going to solve these
type of events.
Kohlbergs Stages of Moral Reasoning is a study done by Kohlberg which studied how
children and adults reason about rules that govern their behavior in certain situations (Slavin
2009). He proposed that children pass through a series of six stages which include three main
levels which are, preconventional, conventional, and postconventional. Diego would fall under
the third stage of Kohlbergs findings. Slavin (2009) states stage three as being, Good boy- good
girl orientation. Good behavior is whatever pleases or helps others and is approved of by them.
One earns approval by being nice (p. 54). Diego is being an observer at the moment as to what
behavior is accepted from him. He may wonder if having good grades and behaving in class is
what the average middle school kid approves. Kohlberg suggests that in order for a person to
advance in his stages with good behavior, the person must be oriented by someone older than
them. Slavin suggests, Teachers can help students progress in moral reasoning by weaving
discussions of justice and moral issues into lessons, particularly in response to events that occur
in the classroom or in the broader society (p. 55).
Social development for Diego is going in a good direction as of right now. He is a young
gentlemen who since elementary school enjoys having friends. He enjoys going to his friends
house often or his friends coming over to his house. He has very good communication with a
friend from elementary school, who by school zoning, got to go to a different school than Diego.
He also has a good time when he and his cousins who live in town get together. He also has
many cousins both in Mexico and in California that whenever possible, they come and visit or
Diego and his family go visit.

PEPSI ANALYSIS

Slavin (2009) mentions, Many characteristics seem to be related to peer acceptance,

including physical attractiveness and cognitive abilities. Well-accepted and popular children tend
to be cooperative, helpful and caring and are rarely disruptive or aggressive (p. 59). Diego is
very fit into these descriptions. He tries to help out whenever he sees assistance is needed and he
cares for his family. Whenever he knows his grandma is sick, he will make sure he gives her a
call. According to Slavin (2009), They want their parents to treat them differently, even though
many parents are unwilling to see them in new ways (p. 60). As already mentioned before,
Diego does not want to be seen as a kid anymore. He tries to show as much independency as
possible. He likes to walk to the bus stop by himself every morning and he translates the English
language to his mom whenever possible. Preadolescents also tend to think that though they
believe that their parents love them, they do not think their parents understand them (Slavin
2009). Diego has recently turned to me, his aunt to tell me the events he goes through everyday
instead of directing himself to his parents. Surely, he also converses about his life with his
friends and cousins when possible.
Starting kindergarten with not one single word of English known, Diego appears to have
gained fast knowledge of this language. Since he first began to speak, no one in the household
spoke English to him. His parents were guided by a family friend in that it was a good idea to not
speak any English to the child until he started school. That since he was so young and his brain
was still developing, once in school and with the English language all around him while in
school, he was going to be able to catch it quickly; that is exactly how it happened, Diego began
to learn English in the first few months of school. Today, now that he is in middle school, he has
no problem with English, he is able to communicate effectively with his teachers and peers and is
also able to complete his class assignments with no problem.

PEPSI ANALYSIS

Diego was also acknowledged many times during elementary school years because of the
good grades he received on tests. He mentioned the CRTs (Criteria Referenced Test) as being
difficult but that he managed to get an outstanding grade on them. He practices many test-taking
strategies. He goes to bed earlier than usual when he knows he will have a test the next day. He
will also look over his textbook or any notes he may have in an attempt in studying. One can say
he is quite smart for a sixth grader and his teachers acknowledge that. Slavin (2009) suggests,
Intelligence, whether general or specific, is only one of many factors that influence the amount
children are likely to learn in a given lesson or course (p. 93). Clearly, his teachers have spent
enough time on lessons taught for him to be doing very good in tests.
He very well fits into Gardners multiple intelligences. He has proved to be very good in
math, he is given enough homework in his math class and makes sure he solves all the problem
sets given, even if it takes him minutes to solve. Therefore, he falls into Gardners logical,
mathematical, which is able to manipulate numbers and symbols (Slavin 2009). He also has
acquired the linguistic intelligence which according to Slavin (2009), Able to speak and write
well (p. 92). Diegos English is very fluent and his print is also very neat. He also spends a lot
of his free time reading passages in Spanish and will now and then write short paragraphs in
Spanish as well.

PEPSI ANALYSIS
PEPSI Chart

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One thing I sure would recommend teachers do with Diego relating his physical
appearance, is to seat him towards the back of the room since he is pretty tall for a sixth grader.
In any case Diego should feel uncomfortable in the back or for any given reason, I would suggest
the teacher seats him towards the wall, somewhere his upper body does not get in the way of his
classmates view. Also, his physical education teacher should also make sure Diego is
participating in all the activities, for his own good.
Diego is emotionally stable, of course, he is in that adolescence years where we just want
to explore and discover. My recommendation for teachers is that if they see any unusual behavior
going on with Diego, that they let his parents know as soon as possible. If not, let a school
counselor know and he/ she handles the situation.
He pretty much knows what it expected of him when he is in school. He begins to
understand and act more consciously now that he is in middle school. The teacher should always
expect good behavior coming from Diego. Teachers should never find themselves struggling
whether they should let bad behavior slip, this makes no sense, since Diegos parents have
serious talks with him about misbehaving or disobeying his elders.
Starting out the school year with the fear of having to meet now friends and teachers, he
has managed to make quite a few new friends since school started. Teachers should allow group
work so that Diego keeps meeting more people outside of his circle of friends. Teachers should
also call on Diego to speak and answer questions so that both he stays on task and is socially
involved.
Diego has proved to be an outstanding student. He brings home good grades along with
recognitions from teachers. He has always had very good communication with his teachers. I
would recommend his teachers keep doing this. Also, his teachers should also keep encouraging

PEPSI ANALYSIS

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him to achieve good grades and to accomplish his goals, for Diego seems to be having very good
inspirations from people around him.

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References

Santrock, J. W. (2012). Essentials of Life-Span Development (Second ed.). New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill.
Slavin, Robert E. (2009). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. Boston, MA: Pearson
Education, Inc.