Good Experience SIX

CELLO.

In third grade I remember one day when a group of high school students came to Salem Heights, my elementary school, and each of them gave a quick introduction and demo of the instrument that they played.  After hearing quite a few of the band instruments, I was not impressed.  None of the string instruments struck my fancy until I heard the cello.  Ahh.  The sound it produced filled the air with a soothing, warm, and rich tone.  I knew instantly that someday I wanted to play the cello as beautifully as I had just heard.  So, I went home and told my parents about my dream to learn to play the cello and they fully supported me.  Fourth grade is the age when you could begin orchestra at Salem Heights and so the next year is when my journey to become a cellist would officially begin.  Picking out my cello was a HUGE deal to me -- it had to be perfect.  The one I chose was golden auburn color, shiny and smooth, three-quarter size.  Proud is the best way to describe my feelings when I waltzed through the doors of Salem Heights carrying my prized possession.  Unfortunately, before me or anyone in my orchestra class could actually play our instruments, we had to learn to read music, music symbols, technique, and bow hold.  An assignment we were given was to make a protective case made out of cloth for our bows.  I remember feeling proud for winning the competition for the best case, but that didn't compare to the sense of accomplishment I felt when I got to be the first person in class to get to play with the bow on the string instead of just using pizzicato!  Obviously, it was a rough couple of years fine tuning (pun intended) my cello playing capabilities, but my skills grew exponentially through out the years and into middle school.  In 6th grade I was placed in intermediate orchestra which was typically reserved for 7th graders.  In 7th and 8th grade I was in advanced orchestra and participated in the All-City Competition.  As high school drew nearer, I began to contemplate whether or not I wanted to continue playing the cello.  The high school I was about to enter was known for its prestigious orchestra program, an idea that was alluring yet intimidating at the same time.  I reminisced about the day in 3rd grade when I dreamed of being a great cellist.  I made it my new goal that before I graduated Sprague High School, I would make it into Camerata, their most prestigious orchestra.  Up until that point, I had a new orchestra teacher every year which facilitated an unsteady learning system, and many of my friends quit because of it which was discouraging.  However, I had a dream, and I wasn't going to let uncontrollable circumstances dictate the future of that dream.  Sprague had three orchestras based on skill level: String, Symphony, and Camerata, lowest to highest respectively.  After being in Symphony sophomore year, I was determined to make it into Camerata for my final two years of high school.  After a lot of hard work and putting in extra hours of practice, I auditioned and made it.  I was one of 22 other fortunate students to be selected for Camerata and I couldn't have been happier.  The music we played in Camerata both my junior and senior years was like nothing I had ever even set my eyes on, it was difficult and new, but it was rewarding.  Each one of us had a passion for what we did which is why in those two years we managed to win numerous awards.  My junior year, we were the Overall Winner and Gold-1st rating at the Heritage Festival in New York City, were recognized by Sprague's Music Departments with a Grammy Signature School designation, took 1st at the Salem-Keizer School District invitational Competition and last but not least, were the OSAA State Champions.  During the 2009-10 school year, senior year, Camerata achieved another year of remarkable accomplishments that started with again receiving the Mark of Excellence as a national winner for high school string orchestras, continued with capturing first place at the district festival, and culminated by repeating as OSAA championship.  I remember the feeling of anticipation waiting for the judges to announce the first place winner at the state competitions -- we were all holding hands, squeezing tightly holding our breath.  When we were announced, we rushed up on stage cheering and yelling with excitement.  It was overwhelming, in a good way of course.  One of my favorite experiences was when myself and the 6 other graduating Camerata students played a cover of Coldplay's Viva la Vida at our own graduation ceremony.  Our classmates started singing along while throwing up inflatables into the air.  In my mind, I had done much more than accomplish my goal of being a great cellist; I had established a high work ethic, learned the importance and values of teamwork, and made life long friends who all shared the same dream as me: to create beautiful music.

Good Experience FIVE

After moving up to Kirkland to attend Northwest University last fall, I immediately got involved at Timberlake Church in Redmond.  After a couple months of volunteering my team in the high school ministry by just helping out with miscellaneous duties on Sundays, I got the opportunity to become one of the high school group's "Roots" leaders.  Justine was the sophomore girls' leader and she was leaving the country to go to a DTS (Discipleship Training School) through YWAM.  Paul, the (now ex) high school pastor, asked me to take over the group.  It was a weird transition time because Paul was leaving Timberlake to plant a church in Seattle and the new pastor from California was literally just getting settled in.  I, being connected with Paul and his family, knew that I too would be leaving Timberlake to be a part of the Ballard Church launch team once school got out in May.  I wasn't sure how comfortable I felt with pouring my life into a group of girls when I know that it would be fleeting.  However, after a lot of prayer and consideration, I felt like it was the right thing to do; the girls needed a leader ASAP and I was a familar face, available to serve in that way.  I began my own Roots group with them (which is a fancy way of saying weekday small group) and it has been going really well.  Last weekend was the high school winter retreat called Snowdown over at Double-K Ranch in Eastern Washington.  It was an amazing opportunity to invest in the lives of others, especially my small group girls.  Five of them were able to make it: Alison, Ali, Kaylie, Jasmine, and Danny.  I was a little nervous going into the camp that they wouldn't be open during small group time since two of them were new and a little bit shy.  However, after the first session of worship and message, we broke up into our small groups and the girls really opened up which demonstrated that they trusted and respected me.  Not only was it an awesome opportunity to take responsibility of a group of girls for the weekend, but I got the chance to create and help lead the games for the whole camp of 80 students.  My favorite game that I came up with was one that I had lead for another group of students in the past, it's called Baby I Love You.  For the game we took 10 students (5 girls and 5 guys) and had them line up in two single file lines facing each other.  The first guy and girl walk up to each other, look into the others' eyes and the guy must say without laughing: "Baby I love you, would you please please smile?" and the girl must respond "Baby I love you, but I just can't smile." If either contestant smiles at any given point during the game, that player is out.  The students enjoyed it very much, it was a great success!  In hindsight, when all the glamour of camp is stripped away, all the games, music, snowball fights, what it really boils down is what kind of an impact was made for Christ.  I am so glad that I took on the role of being the girls' small group leader and that I get to invest into their lives and make a positive impact on them.  They say that when you serve and bless others it turns right back around as a blessing itself, and that is SO true.

Good Experience FOUR

On a mission trip in India, one day we were going into town to get some things needed for a festival.  However, we had a few difficulties executing that plan.  The first one was that it was a national holiday celebrating the Hindu festival of colors called होली (Sanskrit or Holi) which can last up to 16 days. Because of the festival, all the shops were closed so we couldn’t buy the things we needed.  Turns out it didn’t even matter because all of the gravel pits were closed too.  We decided we would have our driver take us to Senapati where we’d meet up with the medical team and figure out a new plan.  We began the 2 hour drive but every few miles we’d abruptly stop.  On either side of the highway were youth standing with small buckets.  Just before we’d pass them they’d walk out into the middle of the street or pull a rope so we’d slam on our breaks in order to not hit them.  The youth were brightly dressed and smeared with different colored paint.  They would ask us for money so they could have a party celebrating Holi.  Our driver would tell them we were part of the medical team and then they’d usually let us pass without any defiance.  One roadblock did throw stuff at our car as we were pulling away.  We didn’t ask our guide what the clearish liquid now covering our bodies was.  We thought it best not to know.  After several encounters I felt the Holy Spirit convicting me of all the opportunity to share Him we were missing out on.  I asked my team what they thought about going back and sharing with the girls we had just passed.  After some debate we told our translator, Thomas, and our driver, Rhaju, that we’d like to go back to the people we just passed.  We did a u-turn on the highway and were back in eye-sight of the girls.  We got out of the car and walked across the street near the market and began playing some music.  Instantly we drew a crowd.  The drama team performed creation and then Mike Scheel presented the Gospel.  Deep down I knew that God was going to do in this place just as he had planned before I was even born.  But I couldn’t help pray God please, PLEASE let at least one person come to know you so that my team doesn’t think I’m crazy.  They’ll never listen to me again if no one raises their hand! Mike then gave an invitation to accept Christ.  In a crowd of about 200, 152 came to Christ.  Praise the Lord! The day had started out discouraging and ended as one of the highlights of the whole trip.  I remembered that although I may not understand it most times, God had been in India well before me and laid the exact path that our team was supposed to walk.

Good Experience THREE

LEADERSHIP.
Team work is something that I thrive on.  I have been on a soccer team for 15 years and previously a track team for 7 years.  Participating in team sports from such an early age has given me an excellent work ethic and leadership opportunities.  Soccer has given me the ability to work cooperatively with and influence others and track has developed an individual drive to excel within me.  My various coaches throughout the past fifteen years have taught me the importance of commitment, team work, and quality work ethic.  Every practice I’m pushed to my limits in order to improve myself as an athlete.  This philosophy has carried into my everyday life.  I set my agenda each day to accomplish my priorities first and I do not compromise.  Doing so, people have looked up to me as a role model or leader.  Freshman through senior year I was awarded by my soccer team most inspirational.  My senior year of high school I was the captain of the varsity soccer team.  As captain, I represented my team in games and it was my job to communicate on behalf of my team to the refs, keep my teammates from overreacting or getting kicked off the field.  There are many small jobs that come along with being captain that cannot be overlooked like making sure the team knows what jersey to wear on game day, what color practice shirt to wear, creating locker signs, writing encouragement notes on game day, and constantly being an example, on and off the field.  People looked up to me as captain and I was careful to never become power-hungry and look down on my teammates, instead I treated them as equals, and when any of them demonstrated leadership, I would follow.  I've been taught that to be a great leader you must first be a follower.  If there were ever problems on the team, they would be brought to my attention and we would try to figure out a fair solution.  Most of the time, if there was a conflict (for example, some people wanted to wear black jerseys while others wanted to wear white) we would take a vote and majority would rule.  Other times, if it got out of hand, I would make an executive decision and just let it be.  Overall, the best way to improve team effectiveness is to simply get along with each other.  In order to do that, we would have team bonding.  Once a week we would have a team dinner and on the weekends we would sometimes hang out or go to the movies which greatly increased our compatibility as a team.  I also learned that although it's easier to point the finger when there is disagreement, it's much more beneficial to focus on the matters that everyone does agree on in order to stay united.

Good Experience TWO

Personal accomplishment.

Back in August of 2010, I hiked with my Uncle Matt and two cousins Jessica and Brianna to Camp Muir on Mt. Rainier.  We started off at Paradise Camp and hiked a total of 4,700 feet to reach a final elevation of 10,188 feet. We left at 4:30 in the morning and returned at 7:00 that night.  It was the most strenuous physical experience of my life, and also the most rewarding.  The beginning of the hike was easy, simple, and unchallenging.  It was dry when we started off and the path was even paved.  We had just eaten a hearty breakfast on the drive to Paradise topped off with a steamy Starbucks espresso – I was comfortable, and ready to take on Mt. Rainier.  It didn’t take long before the weather began to change and the temperatures dropped.  Soon enough we reached the point where the path was not paved anymore and the only guidance we had was previous hiker’s left over footprints in the snow.  Having faith that those hikers knew where they were going, we followed them hopefully.  Looking down the mountain, I saw the fog rising up as if it was playing a game of tag with us.  We had hiked for only about one hour before we needed to pause from continuing our goal hiking up the mountain and eat some food.  As we carried on up to Camp Muir I began feeling the side effects of the daunting task.  My legs were heavy, the air was thin making it harder to breathe, and my stomach seemed to only get hungrier no matter what I ate.  As much as I simply wanted to keep trudging along up the mountain and ignore my stomach’s hunger pangs, I could not focus on my goal without attempting to satisfy the need my body was longing for.  Each time I took a break to consume some food and indulge in some ice-cold water I felt refreshed and rejuvenated.  I was experiencing first-hand a psychological discovery: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.  Tangent: I find it very interesting that no matter how much society tries to make you believe that tangible objects and things of this physical world are what you absolutely need, when everything is stripped away, really no one would even care about having the latest Apple product if they were starving or constantly dehydrated.  There were 5 main hills (and hills is an understatement) that we had to summit before reaching Camp Muir.  More than once Matt, Jessica, and Bri all would slow down or stop for an extra break, but I was determined to reach Camp Muir in a timely matter.  Don't get me wrong, there were several times I too wanted to take another break and even give up.  It was frustrating that for each step taken only half a step was gained due to the steepness of the mountain and the delicateness of snow.  Finally after making it over the 4th hill, I could see Camp Muir and all of it's glory.  That was motivation in itself.  I remember an amalgam of feelings of relief, excitement, accomplishment, and exhaustion as I reached the Camp.  It took a lot of hard work and effort, but that is a recipe for accomplishment.  Looking out across the sky over countless mountain peaks brought complete satisfaction.  I was standing above the clouds, in awe of the wonder that was before me.  All I could think about was what an amazing God we serve. 

Good Experience ONE

VALEDICTORIAN.

Growing up I, like many others, was taught to "never give anything less than your best." Many people are given this advice and each person follows it to his or her own degree.  Ever since I was a little girl, I have taken this advice to heart.  As I grew up, that advice stuck with me, but in a more meaningful sense than doing it merely because someone told me to or doing it for myself.  As my relationship with Christ matured, I found I myself applying this advice not for myself, but as a means to glorify the Lord.  The verse Colossians 3:23 is one of the verses I try my best to live by, it says, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." I take this verse very literally and believe that if God has given you the ability to perform a task, you should do it exceedingly well, as gratitude to Him.  As much as I secretly wish it weren't, school work is no exception.  From 6th to 8th grade, I was a straight A student.  Upon entering into high school, I didn't have any expectation to keep the streak going. However, after getting straight A's my first semester of high school, I had set a standard for myself.  I "worked with all my heart" and doing that earned straight As, so I knew what I was capable of.  AKA, if I didn't get straight A's, I must not be working with all my heart.  Freshman through senior year I kept a high work ethic and it paid off.  It was not easy, to say the least, juggling school, soccer, track, youth group, bible study, national honor society, work, and camerata & symphony orchestras, let alone trying to find time to socialize.  Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.  I like having a busy schedule because I work well under pressure and it enabled me to have excellent time management and multitasking skills.  Even doing so, I was often up until the wee hours of the morning completing projects, writing essays, or studying for exams.  Anytime I was given an opportunity to receive extra credit, I would pounce on it. I did anything and everything in my power to give it my 110% all the time.  Being able to keep my grades essentially what you could call perfect through all the ups and downs of life for 4 years (7 if you count middle school) showed me that I can excel at multiple things without sacrificing quality.  Not only that, but it earned me credibility and respect from my teachers and peers.  It was a proud moment on graduation day, June 11, 2010 when "Emma Neustel" was announced as one of six valedictorians among all of Sprague High School's 2,000 students.  In recognition a shiny, heavy medal was placed around my neck that I will treasure forever; it is a tangible reminder that when you work with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for men, you can achieve great things.




        Sprague High School 2009-2010 Valedictorians

Nonverbal Communication Worksheet

1. Based on information in the introduction to chapter five, explain why nonverbal communication is a significant form of human communication. 

 Nonverbal communication is a powerful tool that can help one more clearly communicate his or her ideas.  Just like there is verbal feedback when communicating, there is also nonverbal feedback.  Facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, touch, posture, and the tone of voice are all aspects of nonverbal communication that facilitate what one really means when speaking.  Not only that, but nonverbal communication plays a significant role in understanding and developing relationships with other people.

8. Explain one of the aspects of physical appearance as it related to nonverbal communication.  

The first one is Physical Attractiveness: The Beauty Bias. People have the notion that more attractive people are also happier, outgoing, successful and kinder among other positive traits.  This can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even if a physically attractive person does not possess such positive traits, the absence of such traits may be overlooked because people who are communicating with the alleged attractive person would likely want the whole package, therefore remembering the positive and ignoring the negative.  Nonverbal communication can come across as more powerful from a physically attractive person.

9. What is one way that the eyes are used for nonverbal communication? 

The book says that the eyes are "your personal windows."  This suggests that you are able to tell what a person really means through their eyes, regardless of what they might actually be saying. Eye-contact is imperative for communicating -- it can reveal a person's interest and attention while communicating. The less eye-contact, the more distracted the person is and vice versa.  Gazing into someone's eyes deeply is a nonverbal sign of attraction.  This is not a proven fact, but it's a fun myth: if you gaze into a person's eyes for four minutes, your chances of marrying that person significantly increase.

11. What is one way that touch is used for nonverbal communication according to the text?  

When you touch someone, you are moving into their personal proximity, or in other words breaking into their personal bubble.  According to the book, touch is not to be given to strangers out of the context of shaking hands when being introduced.  There are many ways touch is used for nonverbal communication.  Hugging and high fives convey friendships, pats on the pack show encouragement.  According to the book, the love and intimacy touch is reserved only for a very few, special individuals and the sexual touch is the most intimate.  The meaning conveyed from touch is highly dependent upon the context of the situation, the relationship between communicators, and the manner of touch.