Core competencies reflection

Personal Awareness & responsibility

Strengths:

1. I am personally responsible, self-motivated and can advocate for myself

In my family, I am the older siblings with two young siblings. As a result, I have to take care of
myself and most often, my siblings. With this situation, I became responsible at an early age as I
could manage my school time, such as homework and studying while taking care of my siblings,
cooking, cleaning, and helping them do certain things they cannot do. I can motivate myself into
doing good at school, although my parents do not pay close attention to my grades and how I am
doing them, whether good or bad.
2. I understand learning takes patience and time

As someone who has moved quite often, a new place means an unfamiliar environment, new
habits, and new learning. I have moved from Cambodia to Montreal where French is spoken.
Learning French took me quite some time, I was able to speak fluently after a few years and
bland into the Quebecers people. I had taken time to learn French either at school or outside of
school, I had invested many times watching videos of people teaching French. As recently I have
moved to Langley, which is also completely different from Montreal, I was able to improve my
English level by taking my time outside of school to look out for different resources which could
help me have a stronger English level. For the moment, I would not call myself a fluent English
speaker, but I understand that it is in question of time to improve myself, learn new things and
adapt myself to be able to bland with the people in Langley.

Weakness:

1. I can express my needs and seek help when needed

I expressed difficulty to seek help when needed as many factors contributed to that. I have social
anxiety, asking for help not done as often as I should due to the fear of asking the wrong
questions and embarrassing myself. Another factor is that most of the time, I am unable to tell
where I need help with, I am unable to express myself carefully when asking for help simply
because I am unable to choose the right words. As result, I often find myself searching for
solutions on the internet when it comes to subjects such as math, chemistry, physics, etc. In other
scenarios where I cannot find the answers by using the internet, I often guess the answer to it, as
result I often end up extremely far from the answers. Although sometimes I find the courage to
ask for help, I would ask for help at the very last minute, such as before exams or before a
homework deadline.
Social Responsibility

Strengths:

1. I can identify and appreciate different perspectives on issues and use and evaluate
strategies to resolve problems.

I understand that not everyone will have the same perspective as me due to different mindset,
culture, background, and values. I understand that it is normal to not always have the same
opinion as the people I communicate with and to approach that, I find different ways to cope
with disagreements. I try to approach the problem with different perspectives in order to solve
the issues and consider any factors that might come with it. I appreciate and evaluate other
people’s perspectives by asking them questions on the matters and find ways to match both
parties.
2. I have positive peer and intergenerational relationships

Although I am an introvert person who mostly avoids human interaction, I overall have a
positive relationship with them. I mostly put themselves first before taking myself into
consideration as they might need more help than me. With my positive interactions, I was able to
keep my friends as people who I can talk to when I need their advice, their help and vice-versa.
As for people that are from a different generation than mine, I interact with them with respect, I
understand that they have more authority than me and I understand that they might not have the
same mindset as me.

Weakness:

1. I am aware of my community and environment and work independently and

One of my weaknesses is that I am mostly unaware of my community. I do not know a lot of

Strengths:

1. I can analyze and critique my work and my learning

Throughout my teenage years, I became a perfectionist and tried my best to get a good result out
of my work. I began to analyze my mistakes and learn from them. During exams, I can skim
through my work and find out my mistakes. Sometimes when I cook, follow a recipe and do not
get the result I want, I can point out my mistakes and improve them the next time I cook. When
receiving back my corrected exams, I look out for my mistakes, ask questions when I am unsure
of the answers and analyze what I did wrong. When learning something new at school and I
understand the work I have to do to get the result, I am able to show what I did to get through
there. I find myself critiquing my work with ease as I tend to be harsher when it comes to my
own work.

2. I understand the purpose for my work and consider my audience

I have worked in fast food restaurants and have worked to clean litter left by pedestrians. I can
understand why I am doing the work and consider my audience. In restaurants, I have been a
cashier and a back cooker, I understand that my work can have an impact on the overall
reputation of the fast food as I have to prepare and serve the customers, provide good service,
and make them feel welcome. As for school context, I understand that the work given by my
teacher is to help me practice my knowledge, test my critical thinking and in some cases such as
for career classes, helps me for the future in my adult age. I understand that each work has a
purpose and I understand that I have to take consideration of my audience, who are my teachers.

Weakness:

1. I can assess my own progress

I find myself unable to track down how well or how bad I am doing whether it is in life or at
school. I tend to always look down on myself and have low expectations although it might be
completely wrong. It is also challenging to focus on areas I might need more help than others as I
have issues assessing my own work, evaluating myself and improving myself in other areas.
With this struggle, it is hard for me to point out my achievements and lower my self-confidence
as I negatively think and assess my own progress. I am working on this weakness and try to be
less hard on myself.
Creative Thinking

Strengths:

1. I can persevere, and understand that failure can be productive

Failing is not something I come across often, I do my best to avoid it but sometimes, it is
unavoidable, and I understand that it is normal. As I understand that failure can be disappointing,
failure can also teach me a lesson. For instance, it helps me learn and grow from my mistakes. It
can also help me be productive as I will be more likely to put all my efforts into something to
avoid it. Failure is not falling back and stop but, failing back and continue to persevere until you
achieve your goal.

2. I can create new and unique ideas that may provide new perspectives that influence how
people think about topics

When I come to creative thinking, I believe I excel at it. I have noticed that most of the time, I
come up with very odd ideas that people around me find fascinating. For instance, one day, a
work was given to the class where in teams, we had to come up with a creative object that could
benefit the community. After thinking for a while, I suggested something, some other people as
well and, after some discussion, they either agreed with me or came up with new suggestions that
are quite similar to mine. It is a strength of mine, and although some of my unique ideas are not
always appreciated by my teammates, I can bring new perspectives to influence other people’s
thoughts.

Weakness:

1. I can take my ideas, evaluate, develop, and refine them and make something productive
out of them.

Although it is easy to come up with creative ideas, taking my ideas to the next level such as
executing them and making something productive out of them remains a challenge to me. When
coming up with new ideas, I often find myself unable to achieve them due to procrastination or
simply due to the fact that some of my ideas cannot be executed as I have not thought about
these factors. It is a weakness that I am looking forward to work and improve on as it is a
competency I need to master in the future to not only benefit myself, but other people as well.
Communication

Strength:

1. I can listen, learn to contribute meaningfully to discussion and debate, consider different
perspectives, and build consensus.

One of my strengths is that I am an active listener, and it has helped me to communicate with
ease when working in peers. As result, it has helped me participate in meaningful conversations
and debates that are relevant. I always try to consider all the different perspectives and build a
consensus with my teammates as some of our opinions are different. A habit of mine is that I
always ask questions taking consideration of all the different perspectives as I find it important to
know other people’s opinions on that matter, as result they sometimes find themselves being
hesitant with the answer.

Weaknesses:

1. I can work with other students to plan, inquire, and solve problems

I find myself not enjoying working with a group, especially when they are people who I am not
close to. I find myself unable to communicate with ease and most of the time, some disputes and
misunderstandings occur. As result, I tend to avoid working in peer due to my poor
communication skills and to avoid people misunderstanding me. This weakness is something I
mostly need to work on as throughout my life, working in peer is unavoidable not only at work
but in my social life and at home as well. Communication is key and without it, people would not
be able to work together with ease.

2. I can engage in deep and meaningful inquiry for a variety of purposes and audiences.

I find it hard to engage myself in deep and meaningful inquiry. Although I can ask some
questions when I do not understand, fully understanding the deep topic is a bit hard for me.
Profoundly engaging in deep and meaningful inquiry remains a challenge that I will need to
improve on as I do not explore a variety of things related to the topic. It also stops me from
connecting and helping other communities as some might need help. It is a weakness I need to
improve on by asking myself all kinds of questions of questions to not only know whether I have
fully understood the topics but also approach it with a new perspective.
Personal & Cultural Identity

Strengths:

1. I understand that culture is a broad concept that includes things like my geographic
region, nationality, sex/gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality, language, and religion.

I understand the sexuality, sex, gender is an overly broad concept. I do not understand how it
works, but I respect the people who might be dealing with discrimination due to their sexuality. I
understand that they have the right to define themselves as who they want, it is their body and
choice. I know someone who is dealing with these issues, and it is very upsetting as sometimes,
people disrespect them. As for culture such as language and religion, language, I understand that
they are different from person to person, and we must respect other’s culture as it is their history
from thousands of years ago.

2. I understand how what I value has and will shape my choices

I am a person who values honesty and family. When I come face to a problem, behind every of
my thoughts hides my values. With these thoughts in mind, I find myself unable to lie to people
whether it is for a good reason or a bad one. As result, I find myself communicating with people
positively and it has shaped me into becoming a good person. I understand that what I value will
have an impact on how I interact with people daily and how I make my choices as behind every
decision, are my values.

Weakness:

1. I know my strengths and what makes me unique

I have difficulties identifying my traits such as my strengths and weaknesses. Whenever people
ask me about my traits and personality, I find myself thinking a lot before answering and giving
them a vague answer. I have low self-awareness and I do not want to sound too confidents when
talking about my strengths and what makes me unique as I might be wrong. I believe I do not
know myself enough to talk about what makes me unique. I have not explored everything yet
about myself such as trying new hobbies, new experiences, and new challenges.