Jessi’s AP Blog

When asked to name a person who has influenced my life, its hard to pick just one. Through out my life and up until this point, many people have had an influence on me one way or another. Whether it is friends, family, teachers or coachers they have all impact my life greatly. Though, my older sister Alicia, stands out above the rest and she is someone who I can truly say has influenced my life in a way that no else has.

Alicia and I are 3 years apart in grades and age. Right now, she is a senior at the University of Washington and living in Seattle. To my mom and I she seems so far away, but in all actuality she is only about 30 minutes away. But, when we do see her we make it a special occasion, because it is rare since she is working and going to school full time. It amazes me that she can keep her head above water while maintaining a major in economics and a minor in math. How does she do it?

 This is a question I ask myself everyday, still with no answer. But, she possesses such strong qualities that not only feed off in her life, but want to make me strive for those qualities too. When someone asks me to describe my sister I think of three words; brave, intelligent and determined. She influences me to use these same strong qualities not hinder me, but use them in my power. My sister is someone special; she is a sister who goes above and beyond. I can say I am lucky, but that is an understatement because she is so much more than that.

Critical thinking is going beyond just basically thinking. It is the ability to go further in-depth in your own thinking. When you are critical thinking you can’t just look at the surface, but all the components within that thought. We are all critical thinkers, sometimes we don’t even realize it. We simply use it everyday in all situations. Critical thinking reminds me of a pomegranate. A pomegranate is an interesting fruit; on the outside its just plain and ordinary, but on the inside is really extraordinary. When you look at the outside, it just reddish in color and has an odd shape. But, on the inside their is so much more! You would never know until you opened it up and took out the seeds, because that is the edible part, not the outside. The seeds are so yummy and delicious and that is what makes up the fruit! When you are a critical thinking you have to go beyond just outside and explore the possibilities inside. You need to take part of the experience and explore before jumping to conclusions.