1.

Intro

The males name I am working with is Kekoa. He is one of my freshman youth in the

small group I lead at our church. He is 14 years old and goes to Shadow Ridge High School.

Kekoa has a very strong personality and carries an obvious presence when he goes to places. A

good nature and big heart but often distracted by other feelings of being a teenager. I have gotten

to know him over the past year by being his leader and talking often over text and hanging out

for meetings outside of small group time. His parents have been divorced for 6 years now and he

usually is living with his father. He goes to church and his mother works at the church although

his father is not a believer he supports what they do. At school volleyball is a big passion of his

and he strives to always be better and to continue improving in the sport. He has a strong

heritage in Chinese and Hawaiian background from his mother and father. His Grandmother was

very in touch with older traditions of Asian culture which I will touch on more later in the paper.

It has been exciting to do this and learn more about him that I would not have found out from

just hanging out and talking casually.

2. Physical

Kekoa in a physical aspect has grown and achieved very well in terms of growing. He made

very big progress for a baby in that he was able to walk around before he became one year old.

In an article discussing walking for babies it is stated “Most babies take their first steps sometime

between 9 and 12 months and are walking well by the time they’re 14 or 15 months old” (baby

milestone). With that information Kekoa is clearly in the range of normal development or

possibly a bit above average in walking. As a freshman in high school he is standing at 5’10 and

weighing in at 142lbs. Looking at some data and charts from the website halls.md, his height is

up into the higher percentile of being at that height while his weight is in the middle of the chart
meaning an average weight at that age. With his height and weight, he has a body of higher then

average build. The muscle to fat ratio I suspect would be at a higher then normal amount

compared to other students of a build such as him in the age group of 15 years old. When it

comes to fitness he shows an excellent amount of skill and endurance when put along side teen

males his own age. He is in volleyball and has impressed coaches with the power and precision

of being a server for the team. He has made junior varsity as a freshman which is a big

achievement for that grade in high school to show that much athletic ability and commitment. By

looks and image he has filled out more and gotten broader frame compared to most of the

students his age I have observed. Along with Kekoa my other freshman youth are much shorter

by an estimated 4 to 5 inches and also out weigh another estimated 25 to 30 lbs.

3. Emotional

The emotions of a teen as everyone knows can spiral up or down and be unpredictable

because of the changing in body and hormones surfacing. Kekoa is a gentle young man and has

quite the emotional being. He tries to hide the emotion and the vulnerability he allows to be open

within himself. His mother wrote, “Kekoa struggles at times with his anger, nothing alarming

just seems to get angry when he doesn’t get his way.” His competitive nature is obvious when

observing him and hearing about his time at school and participation in sports. His emotional

development is going along as it should from my observations. It is written that, “21.2 percent of

high school males reported feeling so sad and hopeless almost every day for two or more weeks

in a row that they stopped engaging in some usual activities.” (Snowman 105) Kekoa from my

observations, our talks, and what I have been told by his mom is that he has an optimistic and

cheery attitude majority of the time. His mother told me that he has gotten emotional over a girl

that he likes even though they have agreed to not date but build a friendship. She told him that
she was not wanting to date and that he ahs cried over her being brash on some of the things she

says to him. I learned that as a child growing up he was not very in touch or caring of emotion.

He was around his grandma much of the time and the Chinese culture. His mother believes that

he got a lot of not showing affection from this area since his grandmother and her culture was not

very affectionate and loving towards others of family. As a young teen that goes to church often

and believes in the Christian religion and of Jesus’ teachings he tries to be as humble and loving

towards everyone. Having this belief has changed him from being a les affectionate and

physically unloving child to a young man who enjoys hugs, showing affection, and is not afraid

to say I love your or I care about you. Having grown up a lot of his life with his parents’ divorce,

his mother told me that they have given him lots of space and an example of getting along even

when not agreeing on everything. Through observations I have noticed he builds strong

relationships with a few people and once that friendship builds it is strong, but he does not show

emotion to the open public. He has a lot of emotion and is very in tune with it, he has a lot of

beliefs along with his emotion.

4. Philosophy

The development of philosophy and the outlooks or ideas of life children get is primarily

from their parents or guardians. Koa had much of this from his grandma in his earlier childhood

as mentioned prior that he absorbed the culture ideals of older Chinesse generations. This was

the development on how he saw affection and personal feelings. That out look on life is very

different in comparisson to the one he shows now. After becoming a person of christian based

faith his outlooks have cahnged and become more open and affectionate. In relation to

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development Koa has a strong sense of what is going on around him

at his age level. As Kohlberg’s stage 3 (mutual expectations) shares, “I view our relationship-
based on mutual trust and loayalty-as imporant for its own sake. I feel morally obligated to live

up to the expecatations of those close to me and to fulfill my various roles.” (Moshman 47) Koa

works very hard to complete his goals accomplished. His respect for his parents is very well seen

as he does a lot and is vocal to his mother about how he feels and what is goin on in his life. This

is uncommon for most teens; as at this stage is when more often younger men and women will

start to rebel against authority and use their own ideals to do what they want and not share

thoughts. As his leader I see this a lot when he speaks because he will ask questions that I do nt

hear from his age group and he will tell me how he feels about certain things from building trust

as a leader to him. Koa has a good sense of what is right and wrong and the level of his

emotional thought on relationships is mature for the average male his age. Coming from a

divorced family can be hard often on children. Koa has been able to se though a healthy and

understanding relationship between his mother and father. This is shown by his sense of wanting

a relationship but having the understanding to build upon what is important such as a

foundationa and respect compared to the shallow level of feelings. Seeing and being around

people that have been able to show affection and understanding towards each other has helped

him shape a sense of relationship instead as in most cases of divorce a hard trial and feel of fault.

Koa as a young man has accomplished one of two areas that Erikson ahs helped create. In

philosophy the term identity status is what many believe to be the building of ones self. As

written by Dacy, “Marica believes that two factors are essential in the attainment of a mature

identity. First, the person must undergo several cities in choosing among life’s alternatives, such

as the crisis of deciding whether to hold or to give up on one’s religious beliefs. Second, the

person must come to commitment, an investment of self, in his or her choices.” (281) Koa has

accepted and commited to his Christian beliefs and has a strong sense of self but will still need to
decide what he wants to do with life outside of the life that he has entered in with High School.

Koa’s perspective and philosophy in life is very well determined and developing it seems at

above average.

5. Social

Koa is quite social when he gets to know people but quite if not around people he has not met

before or feels that it is not his group of people. When he is around his friends the energy level is

very high and his times of being out-going is often. At times he can be very loud and seems to be

a leader more then a follower. At church he is always with his few friends that he shares the

same school and grade level with. An outsider would be able to tell that he has the more

prominent attitude. I have observed that he is not one of the youth to get into the big crowds of

people often but rather goes to groups of friends he is comfortable with and has a strong

connection with. Along with his group of friends from school he will be around the girl he likes

and they are usually sitting together away from others or standing away from others, but not

conversing when people are near. He has become a bit more social through the time I have

known him and been his leader. His mother is a leader now and from observing and asking about

the presence of his mother being there is odd for him or not he answers with no. Koa does not get

uncomforatble or annoyed with the fact that his mother can be around when he is hanging out at

church with friends and the girl of his eye. This is the opposite of most kids that I see through out

church going, vacation, or any public setting where they are with a larger amount of friends and

peers. His social personality has changed from when he was a toddler to teen. The visiting of his

Grandma and being around that culture up until 12yrs of age, Koa only had social interaction

with her and since she was not as affectionate or talkative this gave him little social experience.

His mother said he was well liked in school and never had trouble with being bullied and never
became a bully. As he got older and started going to church and being with his mom his social

presence became a more dominate function. His mother is outgoing and very talkative to people.

As written by Pressly, “people learn through vicarious experiences. That is, when they see others

experience rewards and punishments, they form experiences.” (123) Seeing such friendly

encounters and how welcoming it is to be affectionate in a social setting would give Koa the

motion that it is ok to be as such socialy as well as emotionally. He has a very motivated mind

set which can lead to social experiences. This motivation ahs led him to participate in sports in

school and become more social and give bigger interaction and social diversity through players

on the team. Koa’s social life is being fulfilled overall and has a strong group of friends. At the

moment the social need he is running into is it seems belonging and in that relationship. He is

caring of her and wanting to do things right but from observing and talking with him the idea of

a relationship is a strong desire for him.

6. Intellectual

Koa is a smart kid and shows it with good grades and making the right choices. While a child

he was able to walk before he was one year old, and was learning chinese as a young child until

he thought it sounded goofy from him and lost interest. When it came to building he was very

bright with putting together Lego sets without instructions as a step by step lead. Koa has a very

physical learning process with hands on. The building Legos is a good kinesthetic way to learn

as well as problem solving. He thinks things out and is motivated to get better at sports and to

workout often. James writes, “In his theory of Multiple Intelligences, Howard Gardner proposed

that, instead of being one concept, intelligence is composed of several different approaches to the

world. He described different intellegeinces or ways that we can learn.” (226) The different

intelleigences are logical which revolves around mathmatical methods of learning, visual which
builds upon patterns and pictures, musical has rhythm, kinesthetic focuses on hand on work,

naturalistic is someone that knows nature well such as gardening, interpersonal is team focused

but has leadership qualities, and intrapersonal which is independent learning and motivated. Koa

has a strong presence in logical and kinesthetic learning and intelligence from Garnder’s

intelliegences. His mother told me that unles he was interested in what he was learning or doing

that it would mnot matter to him and he would lose interest. This is a problem at times for

learners that are very kinesthetic because they need to be able to stay move and not have to stay

still for long periods of time. Sports are very good for people as such because it will help

motivate them to do stay with good grades for the ability to excell in what they love intellectualy.

The intelct he has is still developing because of the time he has of still maturing and growing

experiences.

Koa is a very bright kid and has a lot going for him. Through the still developoing years

of his life I see a lot of higher then average areas for him. Physicaly he has a upper hadn against

fellow classmates in school because of his height and weight, which will contineu to increase

over his high school years. I would recommend though to get a healthy diet planned and continue

to workout as he does to keep his joints and body portioned well and avoid injury. Emotionally

Koa has a big heart and is well aware of his emotions. Being able to express them is very

important and the ability to talk to him mom is a good source to be able to do that.

Philosophicaly he is developing well and is more above average then not because of his belief

and understanding of bibical terms as well as understanding much of his own emotions and

ideals. Koa would do great to continue to learn about himself and dwell even deeper in how one

define themselves to imrpove in other areas. Socially he does normal for his age and grade level.

Staying close to friends he has a strong connection and foundation with; Getting out of his shell
more would benefit him to see other people and grow more conections to people’s personalities

he may work with in the future. Intellectually he strives with kinesthetic and logical styles of

learning. Finding ways to balance those will be a huge help for him. Getting into sports and

working out is a start to help keep him motivated and get a good source of energy and movement

for each day. He is over all well developed at this point of his life and will continue to excel in

what he wants to do.

 Refrences

“Baby Milestones.” Baby Milestones, Babycenter, www.babycenter.com/0_milestones-7-to-12-

months_1496587.bc. Accessed 24Apr2018