WELCOME

Hi and welcome to my paradise! My name is Anajessica Gaitan; I am currently a full-time freshman student at Rider University. I am a double major in Psychology and Spanish. I am involved in several organizations and clubs: Latin American Student Organization, Multicultural Student Leadership Institute, Black Student Union, Psychology Club, Gospel Choir, On Fire Poetry Club and R.O.C.A.S. I love to sing and help kids. During high school, I volunteered as a counselor at a vocational bible school a small group of fifteen four and five year olds; I also baby-sat for a family three kids, ages 7,9, and 10. I also was a member of the Metro Rhythm Chorus and the Plainfield Girlchoir. My overall life goals are to graduate from medical school with a degree in Psychology and specializing in children and work as a Child Psychiatrist for Children’s Hospital. Here is a copy of my resume, which will you a bit more information about my skills and experiences.

Objective

My objective with my virtual portfolio is to advertise my interpersonal skills, communication skills and my determination to potential employers. I hope to gain an internship in the field of Psychology or an internship working with children; where I can illustrate my ability in accomplishing tasks, working well with others and demonstrating my leadership skills.

Academic Life

I am currently taking a Speech and Communication course. Professor McManimon has taught me many techniques to presenting a good presentation. I have learned how cite correctly, how to control my body movements and nervous tendency. I’ve also learned how to prepare for a presentation and grasp my audience’s attention with an attention getter. One of the presentations I did was on the No Child Left Behind Act in favor of the Democratic party. The Democratic party’s idea was to alternate the act to make it more productive. You can see the presentation on this link: NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT

Volunteer

Every year of when I was a member of the Plainfield Girlchoir, we would prepare five songs for an elderly home in North Plainfield. Even though the only thing we did was sing, every year the room was filled. While we sang you could see the faces of the residents just light up, after we sang they always thank us for singing and told us how beautiful our voices sounded. To me that was the one performance I looked forward to because I enjoyed making their day just a little brighter. I also helped out in the local soup kitchen in the church we practiced in. During my junior year, I was lucky enough to work with children in a summer program. I was the assistant counselor of a group of four and five year olds. I helped with getting the kids ready for activities like arts and crafts, bible study and story-telling. I also aided in controlling the kids while we waited for their parents or got ready for an activity. I really enjoyed being around them and seeing their joy for life.

The Life of Anajessica

I was born on January 17, 1990, the same day as Benjamin Franklin, just a little F.Y.I. I am the oldest child of both my parents, my family or the people I live with consist of FIVE yes five girls and a dog; and with my father I have two younger brothers. My siblings are Jennifer age-17, Tony age-13, Patricia age-10, Gloria age-9, Steven age-8 and Vanessa age-7. I have always lived with my mother and my younger sisters, up until August 31, 2008, when I went to college. I am the first person in my family to go to college, but I will certainly not be the last. One of my main goals is to make sure that every last one of my siblings goes to college, even if I have to fill out the application for them. I grew up in Plainfield, NJ on West 6th Street; my mother has been a single parent for the last eighteen years. Growing up I had a lot of responsibilities as the oldest, the only person that brought any income was my mom. I love both my parents, but my mom had it the hardest with five girls. Thankfully I didn’t have to work or anything like that, but I did help clean, cook and care for my sisters. My mother is my inspiration because she really drilled into my head that college is the ONLY option. My mother has often stated jokingly, “If you want to jump off a bridge, you have to wait till I get your college diploma, then if you still want to jump I will give you a little push.” To me failing is not an option, I am not only striving for my mother and myself, but I am setting and leading the example for my younger siblings.

As for Rider, I heard about Rider my junior year of high school, by my guidance counselor, she had told me of their excellent Psychology program. I did my research and visited Rider; I immediately wanted to come here, so I did.

Singing!!

Singing became my passion. When I was in sixth grade, my mother told me that my sister and I were going to join the Plainfield Girlchoir. I pleaded with my mother not to let me join because I did not know how to sing, but she would not change her mind and made us go try out. My audition was horrendous I could not sing “Mary had a Little lamb” higher than a C, but due to the lack of members I got in. As my vocal cords enhanced I began loving the choir. I loved all the members because they were all older than me and was nice. As people began leaving, new members would pop up. I loved to perform with the choir and as a little reward every girl received a stipend; the more years of experience in the choir, the more money you received. Most of our performances were in other Christian Churches in the New Jersey area, but one year we were one out of three New Jersey choirs asked to perform at the Saint Bartholomew’s Choir Festival in New York. We performed with eight other choirs and it was beautiful. Soon, my sister and I were the oldest members in the choir, but before we left we had two other amazing concerts. Since my membership in the choir, our director, Mr. Smith, had wanted to take the choir to Germany and perform in one of the churches. For three years he worked on getting grants and funds for the whole choir, which consisted of twenty-two girls and the director. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to raise enough funding, however we did have enough to go to Canada and compete. We were in Canada for five days and it was amazing, the competition was held at a local amusement park in Canada. Of course, our choir won the Best Small Chorus and the Best All Girl Chorus. In my final year of the choir, we were asked to perform in Alice Tully Hall. We were the second youngest members performing and the smallest. After we sang, everyone told us how beautiful and clearly we sounded. These performances mean a lot to me and I will always cherish these moments I had with the choir.

This is a video of the Rider Gospel choir, which I am currently a memeber of; Gospel Choir at Rider

Letter to the Reader

Dear reader,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you. I would like to thank you for stopping by my page and learning a little about me. As a Rider student I hold high expectations for myself and will see them through. My life journey has just begun and I have my eyes set on the future; to better myself and achieve my goals.

Through my blogs you can see my determination and will to achieve greatness. I am a driven, hard-working person has set goals for herself and will execute them. I have great communication skills, interpersonal skills, team-player and leader and determined. These skills are needed in accomplishing and overcoming obstacles. I am bilingual in English and Spanish. I am a passionate person as you can see with my passion for music and children.

Thank you again for stopping by and visiting Anajessica’s Paradise of Life. I hope you were able to learn and get something out of my blog.

Sincerely,

Anajessica Gaitan