How have you grown as a student?

There are many ways that I have grown as a student. One of the obvious ones is the growth of a student that comes by nature of growing up. But the more important ones are deeper ways and tie closely to my experiences in school. The other major category of growth comes through those that I’m a fellow student of and those that have taught me. My time at Crosswinds was definitely a time of sure growth as a student. This is due to the very cores of what Crosswinds is. I’ll start with CARES, this is the basic set of values for the school, and by nature of it existing we all grew by its model. C stands for Cooperation, A for Assertiveness, R for Respect/Responsibility, E for Empathy, and S for Self-control. But their focus on the arts and sciences also helped me grow as a student/learner in those areas. Through the requirements of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program, we all grew as students who are active in our communities. These are just a few of what Crosswinds has done to let me grow as a student. Avalon has helped in its own ways to let my grow as a student. Most of the skills needed due to the independent nature of Avalon were already under my belt, but lots of the true and tangible benefits of a school that functions as project-based were not. The past 1.25 years of me being at Avalon has seen me growing as a student who has many skills needed in the workplace that traditional high schools, and even colleges, simply don’t give you. Organizational skills and the task of setting up meetings are two of the biggest of these. But not only have the places allowed me to grow, but so have the people. In both schools the teachers/advisors really care about their students and help them along when needed. Likewise every student at Avalon, and nearly every student at Crosswinds, really strives to learn. The combination of the two make for a solid and nourishing learning community that truly fosters not just learning, but also growth of the learner as a student. These are just the bare icing of the deep structure of ways that I have grown as a student.The list is as endless as the single topics that I’ve learned about. The final important thing to state is that this is an unending growth cycle. Even after college I’ll be continually growing as a learner (same as student in this case) and at the same time continue to be one from which others of all ages grow and learn.