As my chapter with GCY comes to an end, I’ve had the opportunity to finally reflect about my growth from beginning to end. For my capstone project I shared a presentation at my old high school. I stood in the same spot of my english class where I had given my end of the year “senior speech”. I remembered how nervous I was to be speaking in front go a crowd and how sweaty my palms were. Fast forward to April of 2019 and all though my palms were still a little clay as I was introducing myself I noticed have way through that I was able to control my nerves and had connected with the crowd in a matter that I don’t think I ever have before. Having this confidence in my public speaking ability and overall confidence of myself was just one small nugget I gained from my gap year. It’s easy to say that in a year I have changed and grown as a person but to finally have a space to compare who I was then to who I am now was more encouraging than I thought. Through the struggles that I faced during my year I have only become more myself. I now have and idea as to what I want to do and I know who I want to be as a person. My personal goals I have set for myself prior to going to Brazil and while in country have slightly changed but the results are something I can be proud of.
