Personal Statement by Sam Bartos

My name is Sam Bartos, and welcome to the personal statement section of my personal portfolio. This is the part of my portfolio where I really get to reflect on my time at Napa New Technology High, and how I have grown during this time. As I am here writing this now, I am finishing up my high school, and looking towards the future. I was born here in Napa, CA and raised in a nondescript suburban home. I attended Alta Heights Elementary school, where I began to develop social skills. In the sixth grade, I switched over to River Middle School. I learned a lot about myself at River School; it was a very good experience for me. When I was 13, I had my Bar Mitzvah. That was the last real homage to my Jewish heritage I have done to date. When the time for high school came around, I decided to opt for New Tech, because its environment appealed to me. In retrospect, I feel pretty good about this decision.

During the time I have spent at NNTHS, the thing I feel I have developed the most is my writing. I love to write, especially articles and short essays. The group-oriented environment at NNTHS gives me a good chance to take roles in a group that I thrive in, and so I feel this has given me opportunities to develop the skills I want to develop. If I had not taken digital media at NNTHS, I would have never been able to make this website, or even do basic things on Photoshop. I feel more prepared for the technological era because I have grown up next to technology, and I have gone to high school with technology. I have learned to cooperate with people I love and people I absolutely despise within a group. That to me, is one of the most important things that I will take into the real world (whenever “the real world” begins to occur). NNTHS has really helped me think about the direction I want to go in the future. Really, any direction I choose to go at this point, I will have a bit of a competitive edge, because of my experience in technology. My time at New Tech has not only been good experience, but on a resume, it looks better than your Joe Shmo high school.

I feel not only that I have grown in an educational way, but I’ve also matured. I mean, yeah, when I came in as freshmen I was probably 5 feet tall, and now I stand at about 6’3. But the maturity I refer to is not that pertaining to physical appearance; it’s more of one pertaining to how I act. When I came into my first day at new tech four years ago, I was a much less developed person, I was much less mature, and I didn’t have good sense. Through a series of mishaps and miscellaneous occurrences, I have really grown up through my time at NNTHS. I have grown up in a way that prepares me for the real world, by developing a maturity, a sense of self reliance, and skills I can take into the real world with me.

Looking back on the last four years of my life, I’ve done some stupid things that I regret, as well as some things I’m very proud of. Both of those memories I hold as little gems in my mind, to guide me into the kind of person that I want to be when I go away to college, and for the rest of my life. Slowly but surely, my idea of what I want that person to look like has been developing and growing in my mind, and I think I’m finally ready to take him out into the field. I’m glad for everything that has happened to me throughout high school, and look back with the upmost sincerity. I will greatly miss NNTHS, but am always looking forward.