This year the core competencies I’ve worked the most have been communication and critical thinking. I worked on my critical thinking this year by playing chess in chess class and playing in our class tournaments. Chess requires me to always be critical thinking because you need to be able to make a good smart move in a quick amount of time. The tournaments we play really helped me get better at thinking quick because we play with timers so you only have a specific amount of time to make your moves so you don’t want to waste it. I’ve learned to plan ahead better through playing chess because it forces you to think ahead about your moves and plan them in advance so you have a good attack. One project i did that helped me critically think was in chess class when we needed to break down a famous game and explain it to the class in a presentation. I had to break down the openings, early, mid, and end game so i needed to critically think in order to break the game down and explain it well. This is the presentation chess presentation 

The thing that helped me with my commination skills this year was working a cyclone Taylor sports. While i worked there i was helping customers try on equipment, helping them choose the right gear, sharpen their skates, and helped check them out. While doing this you are constantly communicating with the customer to make sure you know what they want and what will be right for them. I was constantly having to help customers and co workers so having good communication skills really helped with that. I would also constantly be communicating with my co workers because we were short staffed and would often be busy so we would all be running around the store to make sure we had people where they needed to be and all the stores needs were met.