FINAL SCORE: 44/50 C.

Kelly 1
Cassidy Kelly
ERWC/ Period 3
September 15, 2016
Unit One Final Portfolio
I. Letter of Introduction
Cassidy Kelly
12006 Nelson Road
Moorpark, CA 93021
September 12, 2016
To whom it may concern,
I am writing this letter to introduce myself to you. I am an experienced dancer as I have been
dancing for about 10 years. I can do basically any style of dance, making me pretty versatile. I
am knowledgeable about choreography and how performances work because I have been in
many shows. I enjoy being a leader, but I am also collaborative so I work well with other people
on any project.
For my senior project I co-directed one of the Santa Susana High School dance performances
with the director of the dance program. As co-director I assisted the teachers with the audition
process, helped create a show order, and put programs and different odds and ends of the show
together. I chose to do this for my project because I wanted to get more involved with the dance
program. Dance is such an amazing activity and I wanted to get to experience every part of it.
The feeling I get while dancing in the studio and performing is so moving and it is a beautiful
way to release your emotions. I was eager to do more than just perform for the audience, but to
also help put all the unseen aspects of the performance together to give the audience something
spectacular. It was perfect for me to explore another perspective of the dance world. Through this
experience I learned how to work well with others even when things get rough. One main issue
with the dance show was putting together a show order. It was so difficult to make sure there was
a good variation of styles throughout the show and that no dancers were in two pieces that were
back-to-back. FIxing these problems many times greatly improved my patience and problem
solving skills.
Co-directing a dance performance was a great way to test out the waters in a new role. I would
love to be able to make a career out of my dancing one day, but I know that with all the
competition in the performing arts industry, it can be extremely hard to make a living that way. It
would be amazing to find a way that I can have a job that I can enjoy and still be a part of dance
in some way, such as directing dance shows. No matter what career I go into this project was
beneficial because I learned more about collaboration, as this was a co-directing process instead
of just being a single director. Learning to work well with other people will be helpful for
anything in the real world. Doing this senior project was a great experience because I was
exposed to new things and I got to explore a possible career path for myself.
II. FAQ Page

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1. Is it important to determine your major during your first year in college?
- It is important to come out of high school knowing your major because in college
you may want to start the prerequisites for your major right away and some colleges may
admit you or not based on what your major is. However, it is equally as okay to not know
what you want to major in when you start college. You may need time to choose
something that you really enjoy, and you can start by getting your general ed out of the
way. About one in four students change their major during their freshman year in college
anyways.
- http://www.greatvaluecolleges.net/faq/how-important-is-it-to-declare-a-major-inthe-first-year-of-college/
2. Who is eligible for FAFSA?
- To receive federal student aid you have to be a citizen/ eligible non citizen of the
U.S, have a valid social security number, have a high school diploma, be enrolled in an
eligible program, maintain good academics, not owe refund on federal student grant,
register with the Selective Service System, and not have a conviction for the possession
or sale of illegal drugs.
- https://fafsa.ed.gov/help/fftoc03a.htm
3. What companies assist with their employees college tuition/debt?
- Many companies will help pay off your time at college while you work for them.
Some of these companies include Ann Taylor, Apple, AT&T, Bank or America, Barnes
and Noble, Best Buy, Capitol One, CarMax, Disney, Ford, Gap, Google, Home Depot,
Nike, Staples, Starbucks, Target, UPS, and Walmart.
- https://collegeplus.org/blog/33-companies-that-can-save-you-from-college-debt
4. Is there a certain number of colleges I should apply to?
- The reccomended number of colleges you should apply to is 5 to 8.
- https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/applying-101/applying-to-college-faq
5. When does application start for UC schools?
- The application opened for applicants to UC schools for the fall of 2017 on
August 1, 2016.
- http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/datesdeadlines/index.html
6. When does application start for CSU schools?
- The initial application for CSU schools for the fall of 2017 school year starts on
October 1st, 2016.
- http://www.csumentor.edu/
7. What are the pros of starting at a community college?
- Pros of going to a community college after high school are that you will save
money, become more personally prepared to transfer to a university or start your career,
try out college life, and work with a very flexible schedule.
- https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/find-colleges/how-to-find-your-collegefit/community-college-faqs
8. What score looks good on an SAT when applying for college?
- There is a new SAT that is out of 1600 and the average score for that is 1000. For
the older SAT out of 2400, the average score is 1500. About half score lower than the
average and half score above the average so scores above the average are best for college
applications.

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- http://blog.prepscholar.com/what-is-a-good-sat-score-a-bad-sat-score-anexcellent-sat-score
9. Will colleges be accepting scores from the old SAT for the class of 2017?
- The new SAT was introduced in March of 2016. The class of 2017 will be able to
take this new SAT, but may also have scores from the old one that they want to admit to
colleges. Colleges will be accepting scores of both the old and new SAT for the class of
2017.
- https://admission.princeton.edu/applyingforadmission/standardizedtesting/redesigned-sat-faq
10. How can you avoid gaining the freshman fifteen?
- Some good ways to work toward avoiding gaining the freshman fifteen are not
eating when stressed, studying, or watching TV, eating slowly, eating at regular
mealtimes, not skipping meals, eat healthy foods, workout, and try not to snack too much
between meals or late at night.
- http://kidshealth.org/en/teens/freshman-15.html
III. Quickwrites and Brainstorms
Quickwrite #1:
1. I made the decision to go to college because Im not sure what career I want to
pursue yet and I dont feel ready to make a set decision on that. I want to have time to try
things out and have college behind me to make me more hireable. I dont know where I
want to go yet. Some schools I have looked at are Cal Lutheran, UC Berkely, and UC
Santa Barbara.
2. I want to gain more independence and maturity from college. I also want to try
out some ideas I have and see what career I really want to aim for.
- What pathway am I considering for a major in college?
- How far or close do I want to be from home?
- How will I make the money to help pay for college?
- What other schools could I consider that might be better for me?

Quickwrite #2: One time at a dance recital I messed up the choreography very badly. In the
middle of a group dance, I started doing a completely different dance and I was in the middle in
the very front. Someone else in the dance also messed up at the same time as me. When we got
offstage she cried. I just laughed it off because it wasnt the end of the world and I had a lot of
dances to remember. I think this shows that i wasnt too hard on myself and I can accept that I

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make mistakes and look at it positively and move on. Im good at making jokes out of my
mistakes. It shows that I dont let failure take me down.
To fail means to not complete something the way it was desired to be done. When you
fail, you have to accept that it is okay and move on and let it motivate you to work one hundred
times harder next time. When you do fail, you should assess why you failed and try to fix the
issues that caused you to fail. I believe all failures are good in a way because you can learn a
lesson and grow from it.

Quickwrite #3: I do not feel very ready for my next stage of life after high school. I would like to
go to college, preferably a university, but I dont think I am ready to live away from home yet.
Academically, I feel like I could get into a four year university and do okay in school. The stress
of higher level schoolwork could become too much though. I do not cope with stress very well. I
strive so hard to do everything perfectly and to the very best of my ability. When I finish a
project I never really feel like I should be done because I dont think a task is ever complete. I
want to show that I work hard and that I am knowledgeable but because of that I let the stress of
my work take control of my life sometimes. I need to become more relaxed before I go off to
college, which is probably the opposite of what most people feel they need to do, but even my
parents agree with me. Another key reason that I do not feel ready to go off and live at school is
because of some health issues that I have had for awhile now. I have been having problems with
my health that remain undiagnosed. I have seen many doctors and specialists who cannot yet find
a physical cause of all of my symptoms. One specialist believes that everything that has been
happening to me is completely stress induced. I still have more tests to run and things to handle
because this has all been such a guessing game that we have just decided to keep testing for
issues and ruling things out. When I feel sick sometimes it really scares me. One main issue I

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deal with is being extremely nauseous, and getting sick terrifies me. I get very nauseous at least
once a day and I dont handle it very maturely. Off at college, sharing a room with someone who
will eat different foods will most likely make me sick very easily because I cant handle a lot of
scents. So when I feel sick and start panicking I cant drive a couple hours home for someone to
help me feel better. It will become something I have to deal with all on my own and sadly I am
just not matured enough for that yet. I hope that by the end of this year I learn to manage my
stress to make schoolwork more pleasant as well as hopefully working towards the improvement
of my health. Once I get that figured out and start feeling less sick all the time, I think Ill be so
much more ready to get away and face some changes. Im excited for that day to come but for
now, Im just not ready for the next stage of my life.