Alex Candelario

Demonstrates strong analytical, communication, and teamwork skills, with proven ability to quickly adapt to new environments. Eager to contribute to team success and further develop professional skills. Brings positive attitude and commitment to continuous learning and growth.

I played for the Palmetto Ridge High School Tennis Team so I know how to work well in a team and how to work effectively in high pressure situations.

• GPA (Specify weighted/unweighted): Unweighted: 3.56, Weighted: 4.41
• Test Scores (SAT/ACT/AP/IB): SAT: 1260, AP Pre Calc: 4
• Courses Taken With Teacher: US History
• Colleges You’re Applying To: University of Florida

• Activity Title: Varsity Tennis team, Grades Participated: 11th, 12th Position/Role: Varsity Player, Description: Got the most improved award after the season, made the quarter finals in districts tournament in both years.
• Activity Title: Co-founded the Lunch Volleyball club, Grades Participated: 12th, Position/Role: Co-leader, Description: Worked with two of my friends to make the first volleyball club that lets boys play in the school. I help make sure everything runs smoothly at meetings.
• Activity Title: Worked with my dad over the summer, Grades Participated: 11th, Position/Role: Rooms To Go Delivery Man, Description: For the summer I worked with my dad delivering peoples’ furniture as it was my first job I gained a lot of experience.

• What are three adjectives you would use to describe yourself and why? The first adjective would be hard-working as I always try to complete my work as fast as possible and I like to stay on task until my work is done. The second adjective would be collaborative as I enjoy working with my classmates and I am usually willing to work together with my classmates. The third adjective would be determined as if I don’t understand something I will rather ask the teacher for a further explanation or look further into it when I can.
• What is your intended college major? What are your career goals? Cyber Security. I want to find a career in cybersecurity rather a security analyst or security consultant.
• Why have you chosen this teacher to write a letter of recommendation for you? I believe they know me better than most other teachers. I also believe I’ve established a better relationship with this teacher than most.
• What is a lesson or unit in the class you enjoyed? Why? A lesson I enjoyed was the Bay of Pigs lesson as I learned about the old interactions between the US and parents’ home country of Cuba.
• Describe a time in the class when you felt most proud. A time I felt most proud is when I helped a fellow classmate study for an upcoming test when their previous test grade was a 65% and after I helped them study their next test grade went up to an 85%. Not only did it increase their test grade but my test grade went up after studying with my classmate.
• What is something your teacher likely doesn’t know about you? Often times whenever I get home I watch after my two sisters while my parents are at work.
• Describe your most significant extracurricular involvements. I believe working with my friends to create the first ever club that allows boys to play volleyball in our school is the most meaningful thing I've done in high school but outside the classroom. As we were inviting people to join our club I saw over 80 boys and girls that had signed up for the club, because they really liked playing volleyball but never got the chance to really play it because whenever they played volleyball in PE it was never as serious as they wanted it to be. This really showed me how many students had wanted to play an actual game of volleyball that was different from PE volleyball but had thought that they couldn't because there was no boys volleyball team or club at our school. It also showed me that a lot of kids probably just thought they would never be able to play a real game of volleyball at school because no one had ever made a volleyball club, so they just assumed that any attempts of making a volleyball club would be shot down.
• What makes you stand out from other students? What makes you unique? What are your greatest strengths? I believe that my determination to learn the topics that are taught in class makes me unique compared to the other students as I always want to ensure that I understand the first topic before moving on to the next.
• What is the overarching theme of your application? Do you have a spike? If so, what is it? The overarching theme of my application is that I am very determined to get into the colleges I want. A spike I believe I have is that I co-founded a popular club at my school.
• Describe any major obstacles you have faced and how you overcame them. Throughout 10th grade I struggled with overthinking issues and it really tore down my mental health and made me really like I was a nuisance to everyone around me. But after talking about it to my friends and really thinking about it I was able to stop overthinking and fix my mental health.
• Do you believe your transcript truly reflects your academic abilities or potential? I believe my transcript reflects my abilities but not my potential as I sometimes find myself procrastinating and not studying when I should be and this causes my test grades to be lower than it should be.
• Please list any additional information that you would like your recommender to know. I am taking a computer software class at FSW and will be taking a computer hardware and cybersecurity class next semester at FSW.