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Pepsi Screening Project

Joanna Simon

College of Southern Nevada

Edu 220-1001: Principles of Education Psychology

Dr. Rochelle Hooks

February 22, 2023

Biography

David Pascua is an eighteen-year-old Filipino male born on January 7, 2005, at Monterey

Park Hospital located in California. He attended Mayflower elementary school in California

from Kindergarten to 1st grade. Later on, he moved to North Las Vegas, Nevada graduating from

Legacy High School in 2022 at seventeen years old. He is the youngest in his family, his brother

Andrew being the oldest and his other brother Mark being the middle child. His older brother

Andrew is twenty-six years old and is currently working as a school nurse but does have plans on

working in the hospital in the near future. Mark is the middle brother who is currently a truck

driver that is traveling around the country. His parents both immigrated to the United States from

the Philippines during the early 90s. His father works independently as a handyman in the Los

Angeles, California area. Since his family moved out here David’s father has been going back

and forth from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and visits once a month. His mother works the early

morning shifts working at Vons.

Growing up David experienced a rough childhood all the way into early adulthood. As

the youngest in his family, he always felt neglected with no one to keep him company. He grew

up in a big household but didn’t really get much attention as a kid. With his dad working in Los

Angeles and his mother working as well, his grandmother was the main one who raised him. His

older brothers were close in age so they were always together and David tended to be by himself.

Since he wasn’t receiving the attention he would always spend his time with his best friend and

their family. David always got satisfaction with taking care of and helping others. Once his

grandmother got older in age he would help out his family by taking care of her and that played a

big role in him wanting to pursue nursing in college. David had a rough time during the

pandemic. He lost both of his grandmothers and an uncle who played a big role in his childhood
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all in a span of a year. He learned how to manage his emotions by frequently going to therapy

and journaling. He hid what he talks about with his therapist from his family due to the fear of

them not being able to understand and being judged. David really expresses how much therapy

has changed him as a person in a good way. Now he is able to cope in a more positive way, be in

tune with his emotions, and be able to communicate his thoughts with the people he trusts.

Physical Development

Physical development affects every child through growth, brain, and the body through

daily activities. As an adolescent, David was always on the bigger side and often compared

himself to his peers. “During these growth spurts, bones and muscles get longer and stronger,

which allows adolescents to take on tasks they were likely not able to do as younger children,

such as lifting heavy objects and walking, running, or biking long distances ” (Office of

Population Affairs). Around the beginning of his senior year, he started to go to the gym with his

friends and learned workouts through social media. Before going to the gym he weighed about

197 lbs but as of now, he weighs around 180 lbs. He uses the gym as a way to cope with his

feelings and as a way to express himself. As he got older he wished his parents put him in sports

but the reason they didn’t was his older brother Andrew developed asthma as he played football.

Before working out David used to skateboard from middle school to parts of high school. Now

he uses weightlifting, hiking, and running as a way of physical activities.

David suffers from a well-known skin condition known as Eczema where he experiences

patchy skin, redness, and dryness in between his fingers. This affects him negatively when going

to the gym and using dumbbells and getting calluses on his hands making him want to itch and

peel them off. At times he starts itching his hands causing his Eczema to worsen over time with

the reasoning of being bored. He believes he suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
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known as ADHD as of now he has not been diagnosed, but he has shown symptoms to make him

believe he could have this disorder. A few of the symptoms are fidgeting, hyperactivity, and a

hard time paying attention. He noticed once he came back to school from the pandemic he wasn’t

able to stay still and pay attention in class. He also mentions when he is working out after every

set he has a hard time standing in one place while he rests. In order for David to stop fidgeting

during in-person lectures in college he uses a fidget toy to keep him paying attention and staying

focused.

Emotional Development

Emotional development in teenagers is often seen as rebellious behavior when they are

experiencing emotional disorders, bullying, dropping out, drug and alcohol abuse, delinquency,

suicide, risk of pregnancy, risk of sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual identity. Robert

informs us, “They pay attention to how other people view them, search the past, experiment with

roles, act on feelings and beliefs, and gradually seek greater autonomy and intimacy in peer

relations”. (Pg 61). David has struggled with expressing and communicating his emotions

affecting his relationships with his friends and family. Growing up in a big household he was

always scared to show emotion and vulnerable due to him being afraid of his family being

judged. He believes growing up in a traditional Asian household, where nobody showed and

expressed their negative emotions, he had to always suppress and hold his emotions to himself.

He also believed people would see him in a more negative way if he were to express his feelings

just because of his gender. That changed during the time his grandmother and uncle passed away.

He sought out guidance to help cope with the passing of his family members but therapy also

opened to other aspects of his life that he didn’t realize. With the help of therapy, he has learned

it is okay and normal to express your feelings no matter how you identify yourself. Showing
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emotions from a male's point of view is often a sign of weakness or femininity. He has learned it

is okay to cry and express your negative emotions as a male. David also mentioned that it is okay

to find comfort in others when he needs it rather than dealing with it on his own. When he

doesn’t have anyone to talk to he tries to do journaling as well as a way to vent and let out his

thoughts. Another thing that he has learned is to not let his past decisions get the best of him and

to just learn from the past.

Philosophical Development

Philosophical development has to deal with the progression of someone's knowledge and

perspective. David grew up in a household where most of the grownups were considered

traditional. Growing up his family was very religious and his family pushed their beliefs onto

him. In his family the saying “respect your elders” stuck with him so he would often conform

himself to what his family believed in. His parents always told him to listen to his brothers as

well just because they’re older than him. Toward the end of high school, he started to come up

with his own opinion. However, he did have trouble expressing his opinion due to him not really

being able to.

David’s mindset and perspective on things changed towards the end of high school. He

started to engage more with his friends during his senior year and that helped him step out of his

comfort zone. After high school he enrolled in the College of Southern Nevdad and started

working in retail, this helped him grow more as a person. Going into college he had to learn

things on his own for the most part since he didn’t really have a strong relationship with his

brothers. He also mentioned the classes that he took in his first semester helped him change as

well. He mentioned that there were two classes that helped him mature and they were

psychology and cultural diversity. His reasoning for why those classes helped him so much was
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pretty interesting. He said in college his high school friends would compare him to his old high

school self. He also said hearing people’s perspectives from different backgrounds and ages

really opened his views on the topics they discussed. Him also working in retail really helped

him mature and change his mindset as well. He said just him talking to the customers and

actually having a genuine conversation would help him out a lot. His coworkers, also being

around the same age group, helped him as well. He said the diversity between school and work

really helped him because he always just interacted with people of his race and ethnicity. His

reasoning was he just felt more comfortable since they have similar backgrounds. However once

David realized that others can relate to him in a way, even though they are from different races, it

made him more open and let go of the idea he had.

Social Development

Social development for adolescence is always a question stage; they are often struggling

to define who they are and they start comparing with adults how they see themselves after high

school. Robert explains, “They pay attention to how other people view them, search the past,

experiment with roles, act on feelings and beliefs, and gradually seek greater autonomy and

intimacy in peer relations”. (Pg 65). For a while, David wished his parents allowed him to join

sports this way he had the opportunity to engage with kids his own age while improving his

social skills. Through high school the only club he did join as an extracurricular activity was Key

Club. Dealing with the loss of his grandma he became a lot more distant from his aunts, uncles,

and cousins without his grandma

Before he used to be more introverted, but now he enjoys talking to his peers

acknowledging their appearance by getting the chance to know them. As of now, he is an open

book and he will share his experiences and thoughts. Working in a social environment he has
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been able to come up with different open-ended questions when talking to tourists all around the

world. At work, he has come across different age groups and discovered why they decided to

move to Las Vegas. After the pandemic, he has learned to build a healthy relationship with his

family allowing them to understand his emotions without the fear of being judged. This has made

him feel valued as a person.

With the help of his high school AVID course, his teacher would make his students

participate in debates where he would be taken out of his comfort zone and be more

open-minded about the topics given. During those debates, he remembered the teacher would

choose each student’s position on the topic and the students would have to come up with their

argument. He has been able to take this skill to be more social and approach anyone expanding

his social circles and roles. This has helped him to meet interesting people to help him build new

connections and expand his views. The biggest achievement he has accomplished is being able to

speak out when something is bothering him for example being more comfortable being more

confrontational with his friends and family informing them about situations he does not agree

with without feeling peer pressure or having the need to please everyone. He has used his trauma

to be part of his personality as a way to be funny and relate to others who have dealt with the

same situation.

Intellectual Development

David always said he wasn't really the best when it comes to academics and knowledge.

“Intellectual development refers here to the changes that occur, as a result of growth and

experience, in a person’s capacities for thinking, reasoning, relating, judging, and

conceptualizing”. (Encyclopedia). His brothers told him not to try until he got into college and

that was what he believed in. He would always do the bare minimum in high school but that
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changed once he decided to go to college. Actually trying in school was a big adjustment for him

since he wasn’t used to it. He said in the beginning he didn’t really have a way to study and

would struggle with understanding the material. He asked his peers how they would study and he

just made up his routine to what helped him out. His routine now is for the day he has lectures he

would write and make flashcards of the PowerPoint they went over that day since the

information is still new and fresh to him. When it’s time to study he would first study the notes

and flashcards but after he would write everything that he knows on the topic to see if there’s

anything he’s having trouble with.

The college he attends has really pushed him to learn in a more effective way and to even

learn things outside of school. He mentioned he recently started reading little by little and grew a

liking to it. He started off reading books that would help his mental health or on different topics

that would help him as a person. Now he wants to explore different genres to read just as a hobby

and as a way to unwind at the end of the night.

Graph
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Recommendations

For David’s physical development, I would recommend schools of all grades create a

program in physical education and health class for students to reach a goal at the end of the

semester. This would allow David and his peer to create a healthier lifestyle balancing their diet

and being more physical on a daily. They will discover new physical hobbies, for example,

hiking, biking, kickboxing, or joining a marathon.

Emotional development starts at a young age for teenagers it is important for David’s

parents to acknowledge his accomplishments to make him feel like his hard work is paying off. I

suggest that his older brothers take a moment and build a relationship with each other for

instance his brother Andrew to help him out with his nursing degree and prepare him for exams.

Even though he is the youngest it is important his family would take the energy they give

Andrew to David to make him feel important.

David grew up thinking the traditional way through his parents being old school as a way

to keep him out of trouble. Before he speaks his mind it is important for him to know if the other

person is sensitive toward the topic they are discussing. I would suggest he learns about different

perspectives on political views and how they react in current situations.

Adolescents at the age of eighteen believe they know everything about the real world

and decided they want to be independent while trying to find out who they are. I suggest parents

create and build healthy relationships with their children, observe, and teach them how to deal

with peer pressure. From David’s perspective, this would help him as a toddler to grow up to be

more social which would have affected him in a positive way in early adulthood. As an adult, he

should find new hobbies to explore his interest and create more friendships.
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For David’s intellectual development I have noticed his study strategy helps him exceed

in exams I would suggest that he continues using this form of studying as a result of growth. He

grew up not believing in himself with the idea of his brother knowing what is best for him. He

should take on new challenges, and form new ideas for him to explore new options and continue

growing as an individual.
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References

Encyclopedia.com (n.d.). Intellectual Development.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/int

ellectual-development

Hhs.gov. (n.d). Physical Development.

https://opa.hhs.gov/adolescent-health/adolescent-development-explained/physical-develo

pment

Hhs.gov. (n.d). Social Development.

https://opa.hhs.gov/adolescent-health/adolescent-development-explained/social-developm

ent

Robert E. Salvin. (2021). Educational Psychology Theory and Practice. (13th ed.) Upper

Saddle River: Pearson, 2021