Reflections

(Literacy Narrative)

To self reflect on the literacy narrative, I believe that it was an essay that really captivated who someone really is. To be able to write about a certain moment in your life that affected someone, or a turning point that gave someone a different perspective, really gives the reader a better understanding to the reader about the author. For me to talk about my experience with my high school team and how that journey had brought up my confidence and allowed me to become more socially active, allowed me to come almost full circle now that I am in college. Without joining a team in the first place and meeting new people and having to be vocal, I do not think that I would be the person that I am today. I owe a lot of who I am as a person to that sport of softball, it is not only the sport that I have grown up on (baseball), but I was also able to see my potential in the sport and hope to see where my skills and practices that I’ve done along the four years of high school will take me throughout college with a new team to make acquaintance with, or any other form of social interactions in the future.

(Exploratory Essay)

To self reflect on the exploratory essay, it was one that now incorporated the use of in text citations. To be able to find and research about a topic that one seems to be passionate about, to find those peer reviewed articles that were going to strengthen our article and our position/stance, it was a different approach from that of the literacy narrative. The literacy narrative was one that was on my life, no article or citations were needed because it was on my life. On the other hand, within this exploratory essay, talking about a topic can easily be done and can have a certain opinion about it, but having articles to back up someone’s claim was of the most importance. For me to talk about and explain the background and struggles to those to have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is one that is very broad, with many different aspects of the topic. But to come in with different articles on the topic that explain it can give the reader a better understanding on it. Especially since this essay was based on how assistive technology can help and/or helps those that do have this form of disability that is autism.

(Researched Critical Analysis)

To self reflect on the RCA, it was one that involved a bit work than in comparison to the exploratory essay. This essay was about taking a stance, supporting that stance and being able to back it up with evidence that was within articles that had to be researched upon. To take stance and prove your point, it should be one that is strong, strong enough for the reader to support your claim and understand why it could be that someone is taking that certain stance. However, with every claim that someone makes, there is always a counter claim that comes in. Including a counter claim within this essay felt to be of importance because the reader needs to hear the perspective of those who might disagree with your claim. Not everyone is going to be in agreement with your side, everyone has a voice and there will always be another side to someone’s claim. But including this other claim, it will give the reader a different outlook, but then it should be then countered back with a strong reason as to why that reason is wrong or how it be altered or challenged. This essay gave the chance to include of all this, and allowed me to build upon my in text citations also.

(About the class)

Now that the class has come to a finish, to reflect on the class in its entirety, this class has been one that has changed my writing style within essays. To go from an essay that was primarily based on facts that have happened within my life, to then diving into essays about certain topics and strengthening them with including articles, as been one that was a bit difficult. Talking about your life is not the hard part, because only yourself is the one to account to your life experiences and how they have affected you in any way. But to take a claim about any topic, connect to the bigger idea of assistive technology, and be able to support it with researched articles and peer reviewed articles, has been challenging. This is so because finding those articles can be difficult, especially if someone’s claim is hard to be supported, so looking for any article to back up a already hard claim can be difficult. But, it was achieved with the work of the exploratory essay and the researched critical analysis, and I can say that writing those essays has improved my in text citations. Also my ability in finding and gathering those articles to better enhance my claim, but also brighten up the knowledge on that topic and give new perspectives for the reader to capture.

Assistive Technology: Hearing Aids 1

Jylene Paredes Critical Analysis

Hearing Aids

Assistive Technology: Hearing Aids 2

Abstract

Within society today, there are a lot of technology that surrounds us. Whether that being from those that we witness being in the process of development, those that are far from reach from us or from those that we carry around all day and use every day. Any form of technology that gets made is used to aid our lives, which is better known as assistive technology. One of those forms of assistive tech is a hearing aid. Hearing aids are a form of hi tech assistive technology because of what is used and built in to make it function. As much as they are there to help those to better their hearing, there is more that needs to be taken into consideration, as their results from having one, but also take into account their drawbacks and how to work around them.

Assistive Technology: Hearing Aids 3

When you look in today’s society and the environment where one is around or lives within, it is inevitable to not find a piece of technology that helps and satisfies someone’s day of life. As people who can’t seem to wait to get our hands on the newest, more advanced version of technology that we might already have in possession; knowing which electronics are best for us or others is something we can easily be familiar with. Although, when it comes to the hi tech that assists those with an unfortunate disadvantage in their lives, that may go unnoticed or not taken with as high regard to the newest phone or computer being released. To those who have that disadvantage within their lives, if not assisted with some sort of technology, it may be difficult for them to grow as one with some form of disability, meaning that they might not show any progress and be stuck if they do not conform to the hi tech that is there to aid them is needed. Hearing aids are just one of those hi tech devices that is utilized to accommodate those with a hearing impairment. Built into these hearing aids is a microphone that helps pick up sound, an amplifier used to increase the sound around someone and a receiver that sends the amplified sounds to someone’s ear. As much as new & improved versions of different technology are being created and brought to the public in today’s age, a form of assistive technology that cannot go unnoticed are hearing aids. Hearing aids are not only useful but beneficial to users because it helps gain back a strong communication that could have been lacking, and prevents hearing loss which also helps the prevention of other disabilities coming into someone’s life.

As severe as it is to have one of someone’s senses taken away or it slowly deteriorating, hearing loss comes in two categories. The first being conductive hearing loss (CHL) and the second type is called sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). “Conductive hearing loss is often one that is caused in external or middle ear problems; whereas in sensory hearing loss, it is due to a

Assistive Technology: Hearing Aids 4

disorder within the ear, specifically involving the cochlea” (Turkington, Finley, Waun, 2015). The cochlea provides nerve impulses that are in response to sound vibrations that are heard, which is why that being that sound is around us every day 100% of the time, hearing aids are used more by those with sensory hearing loss. For those that are not given the blessing to use the sense of hearing, it can be hard for that person to communicate or perhaps find it difficult to have a conversation with others. The “importance of social skills, self-awareness, persistence and the ability to accommodate oneself in an integrative environment” (Journal of Communication Disorders, 2018) is one of the most important aspects of life, that everyone should be able to have to experience and enjoy. Being that hearing aids not only can pick up sound, but can also amplify that sound, for those that find themselves losing their ability to hear, this can immensely change the attitude for someone to communicate. Just to give an example, if the sound that is being projected for many to hear is some type of music, then a person with a hearing aid will be able to connect with the music and communicate on how they are reacting to the many sounds and rhythms that are being presented before them. The “consistent use of hearing aids was the only variable that exhibited a strong relationship with hearing and language skills” (Novaes, Cavanaugh, Figueiredo, Mendes, 2012). In other words, with hearing aids being in usage, it brought up an impactful outcome within the capability of one’s hearing and language skills. Bringing to term that hearing aids bring out the result of a better communication pattern for those that might have found it difficult to go through.

Other than having a hearing aid to better enhance the volume of sound around a person, hearing aids can also be brought into someone’s life due to another setback that they are facing. These setbacks can be in a “delayed diagnosis of AD, dementia, depression, anxiety, and

Assistive Technology: Hearing Aids 5

injurious falls” (Mahmoudi, 2019). Dementia, a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities severely enough to interfere with one’s daily life, is one of the common disabilities that can come from a hearing loss. However, with the use of a hearing aid, it can bring back the aspect of memory due to its technology and being able to detect nearby sounds. It can help the memory of someone because with the person hearing what was said to them or something they heard, it can help them repeat back and strengthen their memory with what was heard. The social ability aspect of dementia can also be assisted by the use of hearing aids because using this piece of technology is proven to work on a social aspect; such as, communication. Not only that, but “hearing aid technologies have also improved the likelihood of the speech signal being optimally delivered to the impaired auditory system. Distortion is no longer a significant factor in hearing aid signal processing” (Bentler, 2013). Not having any more distortion in ones life can be freeing because it will not give that misleading or false hope of being able to hear anything at all. Being effective enough to help out the disappearance of disabilities such as dementia are quite outstanding, but it can also bring out optimism for not seeing any factors for “cardiovascular health, psychological and emotional health, cognitive and physical activity, smoking and diet” (Dawes, 2015). Seeing results within any health state is truly remarkable because it can change the outlook on life that that person may now have. Not being able to hear what others can, brings a negative look on life for some, but improving an emotional health can bring out the best in those in need.

Being that hearing aids have a beneficial result from being used, there can also be a setback with them. The biggest being the expense that they carry. There was a “recent consumer survey that found that consumers spend $1800 to $6800 for a pair of hearing aids, with batteries adding

Assistive Technology: Hearing Aids 6

additional costs” (Rhoades, 2015). This is an extreme setback to those who are in need of assistance with their hearing, and even more so to those who might not have the money at all. Not having the sufficient amount of money comes with its drawbacks, and not being able to buy something that can change the life of another or for themselves can truly be heartbreaking. But it does not mean that someone should stop looking because there are “more than one thousand different models of hearing aids available in the United States” (Turkington, 2015) that might satisfy a range of money that can be best suitable for its buyer and user.

As technology sees itself to be advancing and growing stronger with what it is capable of doing and helping those along the way, hearing aids is no exception. They are used to pick up sound and amplify it, to then be sent to its receiver to be able to hear that sound. This form of technology has been used and has greatly affected the lives of many who were going through hearing loss. Not only hearing loss, but other disabilities that could have also sprung due to their hearing loss; such as dementia. Hearing aids have shown to be costly and come at a high price, but for what it is worth, and for bringing a lack of communication back into a person’s life or helping their hearing loss and helping another disability, it makes hearing aids essential in today’s world and one of the forms of assistive technology today that is most useful.

Assistive Technology: Hearing Aids 7

Bibliography

Bentler, R., Walker, E., McCreery, R., Arenas, R., & Roush, P. (2013, November 27). Nonlinear Frequency Compression in Hearing Aids: Impact on Speech and Language Development. Retrieved from https://ovidsp-dc2-ovid-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/sp-4.03.0b/ovidweb.cgi?QS2=434f4e1a73d37e8c6114 a63cc85fea09a36a921291f22eade2fe51a6663486fb07961989a8acf429683ac8002f7acd0022d3b57be39e382317a1b5 ab792038ecd239d6f2e06fba1d93ea7c553a343c97bc0b66cfc7718ce759290003a26779a89abaddf21d8cdcf24451e45 e49d68c7d45ea90b096f9c192b3592c00ed304337b161d6de841bedf67b8b6dad12ae8b0a298305327ed27b11aba0743 844461b0980bc4200307941c0089262af8f1e925a1264852b0ab52e15d8731eeed309f6da9df0d83939a0f4f898b8c2bd b172c6cc873a2217dedc1a1630b6b97b1a52a5294c233731ba51cbc55d0442901d2676f202990a780e7f5570fee1e1ed 7941038d92dff408c780261b43caa2d7eb6eb65e

Dawes, P., Emsley, R., Cruickshanks, K., Moore, D., Fortnum, H., Edmondson-Jones, M., … Munro, K. (2011, March 11). Hearing Loss and Cognition: The Role of Hearing Aids, Social Isolation and Depression. Retrieved from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0119616

Mahmoudi, E., Basu, T., Langa, K., McKee, M., Zazove, P., Alexander, N., & Kamdar, N. (2019, September 4). CLINICAL INVESTIGATIONCan Hearing Aids Delay Time to Diagnosis of Dementia,Depression, or Falls in Older Adults? Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/doi/epdf/10.1111/jgs.16109

Novaes, B., Versolatto-Cavanaugh, M., Figueiredo, R., & Mendes, B. (2012, June 12). Determinants of communication skills development in children with hearing impairment. Retrieved from http://www.scielo.br/pdf/jsbf/v24n4/en_a08v24n4.pdf

Rhoades, J. (2015). Attitudes of Normal Hearing Listeners TowardsPersonal Sound Amplification Products: EtymoticBean. Retrieved from https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1654&context=gc_etds

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Spencer, L., Marschark, M., Machmer, E., Durkin, A., Borgna, G., Convertino, C., & Journal of Communication Disorders, . (2018). Communication skills of deaf and hard-of-hearing college students: Objective measures and self-assessment. Retrieved from https://www-clinicalkey-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/#!/content/playContent/1-s2.0-S0021992417301697?r eturnurl=null&referrer=null

Turkington, C, Finley, K., & Waun, J. (2015). Hearing Aids. Retrieved from

https://go-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/i.do?p=HWRC&u=cuny_ccny&id=GALE%7CCX36224003 34&v=2.1&it=r

Jylene Paredes

Exploratory Essay Draft

“Assistive technology for students with learning disabilities: A glimpse of the livescribe pen and its impact on homework completion” -Kelly A. Harper, Kristin Kurtzworth-Keen, Michele A. Marable

Within this article, it talks about a new form of assistive technology that is called a LiveScribe Pen, which includes a microphone for audio recordings, playback speaker and more. This pen was introduced in 2008, by Jim Marggraff that was intended to help disabled children with their homework.
With the LSP having a wide range of technological advances, it was sure to have a success on those who wanted to and were intrigued to the technology.

One of the disabilities, Dyslexia ( the process of difficulty in the deciding of words ) in one of the disadvantages that would work well for the LSP.

• Use the audio to playback a sentence or two that the child might not be able to read
• Save images of work to perhaps be ‘decoded’ later Citations ( evidence from a fourth grader who used LSP)

• “The mother and her fourth-grade child were also main participants in the study. The child was eager to utilize the pen….”
• “She was also able to record (rather than write) her responses to writing prompts that followed each passage. As the team found success, the pen’s use was expanded….”

Jylene Paredes

Exploratory Essay

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is one of the three forms of ‘autism’ that we have today; the others including Asperger’s Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Having or knowing someone who has this disorder, then it is sure that it is a complex disorder that involves different impairments. Children with ASD “characteristics are limited in their opportunity to take advantage of formal education as they exhibit a range of specificities in terms of their cognitive and communicative skills that need to be appropriately addressed”(Santos, M.I., Breda, A. & Almeida, A.M. J Autism Dev Disord , 2015). It is a disorder that will bring everyone around that person closer to them, in order to help and fulfill the holes that an autistic child carries withthem for their whole life. But another way that is proven to help those with ASD is through technology. As the years go by with the widespread of technology developments and new forms of specialized devices being made, it has become a part of the disability life and helped those in need. Assistive technology has not just been made for the common people to speed up their day and make it more efficient, but has also come in handy to those with a disorder like ASD.

Since the use of assistive technology was introduced to the those categorized with having a disorder like ASD, many forms of tech such as the LiveScribe Pen (LSP) was created. Being launched in 2008 by Jim Marggraff, this pen has a built in microphone for audio recordings, a playback speakerand more. Having a child with the disadvantage of not being able to communicate properly can implode to the child not being capable of reading in their future. Using the LiveScribe Pen, the child or parent guiding them can “use the audio to playback a sentence or two that the child might not be able to read”(Harper, Kurtzworth-Keen, Marable, 2017). This is the advantage in this form of assistive technology in having a playback speaker, because as stated, the child may not read and can find it useful that this pen can visually read the sentence that they cannot. As ASD can affect each child differently, a negative to having this disability can come from the environment around them. Although ASD puts a dent in a child’s way of communicating or acting to others, it can also cause a disadvantage to them when in public. It was revealed “that 58–79% of the children had abnormal auditory filtering, difficulty attending to auditory stimuli, were distractible or could not function in noisy environments” (Journal of Communication Disorders, 2016). This explaining the affect that ASD can not only bring a difficulty to verbal situations, but cause a heavy impact to them once on the outside. But another form of assistive technology was introduced as the remote microphone or RM. The RM was used and “included speech recognition in noise, auditory comprehension, and acceptable noise levels”, and “improved speech recognition for most children with ASD relative to no RM system” (Journal of Communication Disorders, 2016). The use of this assistive technology was shown to be very helpful because even in hectic surroundings, the remote microphone can be utilized to guide the autistic child through the identification of voices, which can very much ease the child to be able to understand what is being spoken either to them or what they are hearing around them.

With the attempt to better enhance their lifestyles with ASD or to see and understand the state of their diagnosis, there are many that take assessments; and in result of those assessments, those under “autism is 14.8%” (Barnard-Brak ; Thompson; Wei and Richman, 2014). This assessment was then given out and it was proven to show increases in many areas including “receptive communication for students with communication deficits…also to post-secondary opportunities” (Barnard-Brak ; Thompson; Wei and Richman, 2014). Although it is essentially an exam to better understand the mind of one that has ASD, these assessments came back with results that are in great advantage for someone with ASD. To come back with results that show an increase in communication for those with a deficit in that level, it helps someone with ASD tremendously. Having ASD can easily carry a delay in speech or a social anxiety that may cause someone not to speak to people or at all, so being that about 15% of those who took the assessment are autistic, there is a high chance that they are now having the courage to be verbal, or if it wasn’t for the courage, then they found their voice within them tocreate and experience a new sense. But, taking an assessment is not the only way in which children or adults with ASD can find some sort of advantage for their life. Not only would they might need assessments, but “children with disabilities need special instructional interventions that will eventually result in their improved understanding, learning function, and self confidence” (Cobb, 2011). Interventions that can take place can happen within a facility or in one’s home with a therapist who is willing to better enhance the life on someone’s child. Being that it would not only be beneficial, but it “can increase student’s enthusiasm to learn” (Cobb, 2011). If there is an increase for a student with ASD to learn, it will give a sense of a drive for the child to want to learn and educate themselves on certain things that can take a while for them to understand and apply to their lives. In the long haul however, whichever way that someone finds to familiarize themselves to help someone with ASD, the child with ASD will surely have greater chance in strengthening their disability and learning to overcome it.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a disorder that many are challenged with because it is within them. It is not something that is 100 percent curable, but it is in fact something that can be tended to accordingly to help assure the person with ASD is not in a bad place. One of the most important things that has been added to tend to someone with ASD is through the use of assistive technology. Assistive technology has been around for many uses and causes, but has been there for been with disabilities, and someone with the disorder of autism surely benefits from it, having them want to learn more, or even raising their self confidence level to overcome or try to not give into the disability that they were born with.

Bibliography

Cobb, Aries. “Assistive Technology: Enhancing the Life Skills of Students WithLearning Disabilities.” Distance Learning, 2011, pp. 47–57.

Harper, K., Kurtzworth-Keen, A., & Marable, K. (2017). Assistive technology for students with learning disabilities: A glimpse of the livescribe pen and its impact on homework completion. Education and Information Technologies, 22(5), 2471-2483.

Barnard-Brak, L., Thompson, S., Wei, T., & Richman, D. (2014). Assistive Technology as a Predictor of General or Alternate Assessment Among Elementary-aged Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Assistive Technology, 26(2), 81-87.

Schafer, E., Wright, Anderson, Jones, Pitts, Bryant, . . . Reed. (2016). Assistive technology evaluations: Remote-microphone technology for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Communication Disorders, 64, 1-17.

Santos, M., Breda, A., & Almeida, A. (2015). Brief Report: Preliminary Proposal of a Conceptual Model of a Digital Environment for Developing Mathematical Reasoning in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(8), 2633-2640.

Jylene Paredes
Literacy Narrative Draft

Surrounded by my teammates, other friends and coaches, hearing my name being called as the MVP (most valuable player) for my team for this season at the annual sports dinner was something out of a movie. MVP is something that I would have never thought of, yet my coach gave me that opportunity to live out. The excited uproar that sprung out of my team and friends nearby was a feeling that gave me goosebumps, not the nervous kind but one that was engulfed of emotion and my body just naturally reacted that way. Senior year of high school was THAT year, that year that brought me closer to so many more people, that year that took me out of my comfort zone, but it was that year that set my softball team to an all time high and we set out to breaks all the barriers in our way. Senior year was the end of the beginning for me, but like every other student, freshman year was a time that occurred and that year changed everything for me.

I always knew that I wanted to be apart of a team, being that I have impressed many people before then on my athleticism and what I was capable of and yet, I’ve never had any sport background. Never played on a team against other teams or schools, and the sport I wanted to play is softball. If you are not aware of what softball is , it’s baseballs sister. The are some differences though, including the ball being used is bigger, the innings are shorter , the way the pitcher pitches the ball , and most importantly, it’s played by girls. This sport requires a lot of skill, whether someone is playing offense or defense. Offensively, a player wants to make sure that they’re able to connect the ball with the bat and hit it as far as they can. But the job isn’t done there, one has to know knowledge in running the bases, knowing when is the right time to steal a base , sliding into a base and trying not to get hurt while doing it. Defensively, a player takes a certain position and plays accordingly but if and when that ball is hit by the opposing team, the defense have to retrieve the ball as fast as they can to try and get the ‘runner’ out, and here I was, a lower class man with no background in this sport. However, I knew my may around the sport and how to play because of a little help from my dad and family.

With many families having their own traditions and cultures that they follow, my family follows the sport of baseball. Now, I know that they’re a lot of families out there that are probably the same way, but the way my family follows baseball is why I fell in love with it. Growing up, I couldn’t escape the sight of baseball, whether it was on the television or we going to see it live. It also helped that my dad and sister had a background in baseball/softball. Going to my dads games and seeing the passion he endured as he played was what I strived for, and wanted to know how it felt to catch a game winning ball or doing an amazing play on the field. Hearing the stories my sister had when she played gave my imagination a new purpose, always envisioning myself playing and the cheering the went on behind me on the plate while I stood up to bat. I guess you can say it ran in my family, and I wanted to continue that legacy, if you wish to call it that. Did I mention that I am Dominican? We as Dominicans eat, breath and sleep baseball. Well, it might not be that excessive but we love our baseball. The stereotype is that Dominicans are baseball, that it is our sport and it’s the only sport we seem to be the best at, and this hackneyed idea couldn’t be more right. You don’t really see a Dominican playing soccer or tennis because we don’t excel in those areas , or that I’ve seen , nowadays people surprise you. Without the love and support that my family gave to the sport, on top of giving me the knowledge on how to play it, I would have not been as “confident” as I thought I was going into the tryouts.

As a timid freshman who had only made friends during her regular high school day, I did not know how I was going to be around intimidating upper class men with a lot more experience than me. Spoiler alert, I made it work. I had spoken to my teammates, surprisingly more to those who were older than me, and I didn’t feel anything wrong with that. No one should feel wrong for wanting to talk to those out of their grade, but it just felt normal and made me feel comfortable. But, like every other senior, they graduated and left whoever was left on the team the best of luck for the next season. As another year came by, it felt like a weight was let go off my shoulders being that I surpassed my first year of high school and tried out for a varsity sport and managed to make the team! Weirdly enough, my communication skills also seemed to grow intensely between the summer that divided freshman year and sophomore year. I say weirdly enough because I would have never pictured my shy self having made more friends that I could have imagined. Going into the new season of softball, I had grown more individually as a player in the game but also grew more friendships that I was sure going to keep moving forward. Fast forward to junior year, and it was almost like I was reborn into this social butterfly that quite didn’t know when to not stop meeting new people. I was taken aback by how social I was becoming; being the first person to initiate a conversation, not being nervous to approach students I’ve never met. This translated into softball; where being that I was more social, I was encouraging players and helping them out of their comfort zone like senior year stepped me out of mine. I could not tell you how many friends I made during my senior year of high school. This is not me bragging on how many friends I have, because someone doesn’t need to have so many friends to be happy, it just so happened that making more friends drove me to happiness. It also brought some of my teammates and I closer, and saying goodbye to them to carry on a new journey into college was difficult. But those friendships are the ones that will last, and I will for sure be back to my team to continue the laughs that were left on pause.

Communication is a very essential life skill that everyone should acquire, because softball brought out the talkative, friendly person in me. But it was also my family who first gave me the insight of what baseball was, and how its sister, softball, was a sport that I could play one day. I wouldn’t be the person that I am today without the love of sports and joining that softball team, opened a new door for me, and had me let go of certain walls and just talk to people.

Jylene Paredes
Literacy Narrative

Surrounded by my teammates, other friends and coaches, hearing my name being called as the MVP (most valuable player) for my team for this season at the annual sports dinner was something out of a movie. MVP is something that I would have never thought of, yet my coach gave me that opportunity to live out. The excited uproar that sprung out of my team and friends nearby was a feeling that gave me goosebumps, not the nervous kind but one that was engulfed of emotion and my body just naturally reacted that way. Senior year of high school was THAT year, that year that brought me closer to so many more people, that year that took me out of my comfort zone, but it was that year that set my softball team to an all time high and we set out to breaks all the barriers in our way. Senior year was the end of the beginning for me, but like every other student, freshman year was a time that occurred and that year changed everything for me.

I always knew that I wanted to be apart of a team, being that I have impressed many people before then on my athleticism and what I was capable of and yet, I’ve never had any sport background. Never played on a team against other teams or schools, and the sport I wanted to play is softball. If you are not aware of what softball is , it’s baseballs sister. The are some differences though, including the ball being used is bigger, the innings are shorter , the way the pitcher pitches the ball , and most importantly, it’s played by girls. This sport requires a lot of skill, whether someone is playing offense or defense. Offensively, a player wants to make sure that they’re able to connect the ball with the bat and hit it as far as they can. But the job isn’t done there, one has to know knowledge in running the bases, knowing when is the right time to steal a base , sliding into a base and trying not to get hurt while doing it. Defensively, a player takes a certain position and plays accordingly but if and when that ball is hit by the opposing team, the defense have to retrieve the ball as fast as they can to try and get the ‘runner’ out, and here I was, a lower class man with no background in this sport. However, I knew my may around the sport and how to play because of a little help from my dad and family.

With many families having their own traditions and cultures that they follow, my family follows the sport of baseball. Now, I know that they’re a lot of families out there that are probably the same way, but the way my family follows baseball is why I fell in love with it. Growing up, I couldn’t escape the sight of baseball, whether it was on the television or we going to see it live. It also helped that my dad and sister had a background in baseball/softball. Going to my dads games and seeing the passion he endured as he played was what I strived for, and wanted to know how it felt to catch a game winning ball or doing an amazing play on the field. Hearing the stories my sister had when she played gave my imagination a new purpose, always envisioning myself playing and the cheering the went on behind me on the plate while I stood up to bat. I guess you can say it ran in my family, and I wanted to continue that legacy, if you wish to call it that. Did I mention that I am Dominican? We as Dominicans eat, breath and sleep baseball. Well, it might not be that excessive but we love our baseball. The stereotype is that Dominicans are baseball, that it is our sport and it’s the only sport we seem to be the best at, and this hackneyed idea couldn’t be more right. You don’t really see a Dominican playing soccer or tennis because we don’t excel in those areas , or that I’ve seen , nowadays people surprise you. Without the love and support that my family gave to the sport, on top of giving me the knowledge on how to play it, I would have not been as “confident” as I thought I was going into the tryouts. Tryouts was something that I had seemed to have such anxiety for, and who wouldn’t be anxious or nervous to try out for a team at a new school. I had known that I was capable of handling what drills or exercises the coach would have us do, but as being one of the lowest part of the lower classmen of a high school, my nervousness was through the roof and had to find a way past that.

As a timid freshman who had only made friends during her regular high school day, I did not know how I was going to be around intimidating upper class men with a lot more experience than me. Spoiler alert, I made it work. I had spoken to my teammates, surprisingly more to those who were older than me, and I didn’t feel anything wrong with that. No one should feel wrong for wanting to talk to those out of their grade, but it just felt normal and made me feel comfortable. But, like every other senior, they graduated and left whoever was left on the team the best of luck for the next season. As another year came by, it felt like a weight was let go off my shoulders being that I surpassed my first year of high school and tried out for a varsity sport and managed to make the team! Weirdly enough, my communication skills also seemed to grow intensely between the summer that divided freshman year and sophomore year. I say weirdly enough because I would have never pictured my shy self having made more friends that I could have imagined. Going into the new season of softball, I had grown more individually as a player in the game but also grew more friendships that I was sure going to keep moving forward. Fast forward to junior year, and it was almost like I was reborn into this social butterfly that quite didn’t know when to not stop meeting new people. I was taken aback by how social I was becoming; being the first person to initiate a conversation, not being nervous to approach students I’ve never met. This translated into softball; where being that I was more social, I was encouraging players and helping them out of their comfort zone like senior year stepped me out of mine. Senior year was the year that brought a lot of people into my life, new team mates and new friends that I would cherish for a very long time. I could not tell you how many friends I made during my senior year of high school. This is not me bragging on how many friends I have, because someone doesn’t need to have so many friends to be happy, it just so happened that making more friends drove me to happiness. It also brought some of my teammates and I closer, and saying goodbye to them to carry on a new journey into college was difficult. But those friendships are the ones that will last, I will for sure be back to my team to continue the laughs that were left on pause, and all that and more is what’s in store if we keep in touch to continue what was left when I graduated.

Communication is a very essential life skill that everyone should acquire, because softball brought out the talkative, friendly person in me. But it was also my family who first gave me the insight of what baseball was, and how its sister, softball, was a sport that I could play one day. I wouldn’t be the person that I am today without the love of sports and joining that softball team, opened a new door for me, and had me let go of certain walls and just talk to people.

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