Drugs. Well I mean that would change anyone's life right? Don't worry though I'm not talking about me. Not that it makes this any less concerning. Growing up with a family member that does drugs is hard. A family member who battles with addiction so much that you become less of a person and more of a nuisance. When the need for a high is stronger than the love you have for your family. Growing up as someone on the outside of this only changes your entire life. You go from relying on the love from family to relying on self love and making friends that will love you for you. Because forever you feel like you're not enough for your family. Then at the same time you struggle to find friends because as people grow and experience high school they start playing around with drugs, but you already know the consequences. You've watched someone throw their life away for drugs and in return you fight for the chance to be different from them. You endure the hardest of classes and the long hours of works just in hopes to gain the smallest attention from your family but also so that you can have a future where you don't rely on anyone but yourself. The only positive attribute you gain from these experiences growing up is strength and hard work. Since I started middle school this idea of college is drilled into your brain. Good Grades=Cheaper college. and coming from someone who is in a low socio-economic class family, the only future you have relies on your grades and work from the start. I'm not going to say this idea of a family member having a drug addiction defines me. In reality I will never let drugs define me or who I am, but I will say it impacted who I am today. You grow up from a young age and gain an independence that some may never gain in their entire life. This would make me ideal for colleges. They would never have to worry about me dropping out because I would be relying on my college degree to get my life started. Long story short drugs change your life no matter if it's you being directly affected or If it's a family member. While In some cases like mine it can make you stronger but for the most part it causes negative affects for all parties.
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Assignment 20 Garrett Peavler
https://drive.google.com/file/d/10wwTawjJvAIJ968m_xbgO9UFi1Rem37W/view?usp=sharing
Sunday, March 28, 2021
Assignment 20 - Jimmy Chen
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jN8LBTfU7kzaAkIEePCUiGIPiDf7U_LN/view?usp=sharing
Assignment 22: Sanat Dharwad
Probably the only thing “unusual” about my life has been my love of music. Everything else has been pretty normal. I guess my race could be deemed unusual, but I feel like I haven’t really experienced enough resulting from it for it to be deemed so. I’ve been surrounded by music from a young age, as my mother teaches classical Indian dance. I heard songs everyday from my mother’s repertoire, be it her practicing, or teaching. One day my family was eating at a restaurant where a band was playing. After we finished eating I asked the guitarist if he gave lessons, and I eventually started learning from him. I’ve played since then. I’m not sure how this really affects my personality and character though. Maybe this has made me more introverted as a person? Sometimes I’ll spend obscene amounts of time playing and composing pieces. How this affects my college choices? I’m not sure there would be much of an effect, since I’m not a big fan of chill related music. Music is supposed to be fun, and for me, school strips that from it. Perhaps a club related to music could be fun.
Assignment 21: Sanat Dharwad
One dilemma I’ve had for a while is a classic question, The Ship of Theseus. It goes something like this “how many planks repairing a ship does it take for the ship to no longer be the same ship?.” I’ve recently been thinking about this question in the context of people as they change over time. I’ve been asking myself the completely irrelevant question “If I ever experience memory loss, am I really me?” Or have I died and been replaced by someone else? I’ve been mulling this over for a while, and I guess there isn’t really any objective truth. It's more of an opinion based question. Right now I’m of the opinion that any substantial memory loss might as well be death, since the person after memory loss is so different than the one before. So many planks have been replaced that the ship is no longer itself.
Assignment 21 - Jimmy Chen
Freshman year I applied to two music summer programs, one was with the Colburn Conservatory of Music and the other one was with the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. The application and audition process was very hard and had multiple rounds. They both started with weeder rounds of video auditions, which wasn’t too hard. Then they got to live auditions which were over skype and those were more stressful. But the Colburn Conservatory of Music had a third round of auditions with a panel of 3 judges, which was extremely stressful. I was extremely surprised that I had made it to the third round but sadly I was waitlisted at that point. The studio teacher that I had wanted did not want me. I tried to hopefully wait out the waitlist, but I had already been accepted into the summer program at Oberlin and I decided to go there instead. I ended up getting over the probable rejection and attended the summer program at Oberlin. I had a great experience there. We spent two great weeks there and I had a lot of fun. Then we took a bus to Chicago and spent a really great third week there. They gave us metro cards and we could roam the city freely as long as we got back before the 11pm curfew, of course. We performed with the chicago symphony orchestra and got lessons with the members. We also had the opportunity to perform with Rachel Barton Pine who has a 20 million dollar Guarneri Violin. Of course the Colburn Conservatory program did get to play in Walt Disney Hall, but you shouldn’t dwell on what could’ve been and instead be happy with what you have.
Assignment 22 - Jimmy Chen
I have a single sibling in my family, my older sister. Although that is very common, the thing that isn’t uncommon is just how much older she is than me. She is 29 years old, which means she is 12 years older than me. This age difference creates a very interesting dynamic between me and my older sister. Oftentimes I forget I have an older sister, my life basically functions as me being an only child. My sister is only present throughout short periods of time, usually Christmas or thanksgiving and the early part of my childhood, she left for college when I was 6. She graduated highschool in 2010! The presence of my sister hasn’t affected me too much except for when I was really little. She liked to pull little pranks on me, I ended up watching many many horror movies with her, namely the most vivid in my memory are It and The Ring. The ring really traumatized me, I was terrified of sewer drains, the TV’s, and the Telephone. I used to unplug the TV and the telephone every night before I went to bed so the scary girl with the black hair wouldn’t come eat me. This eventually blossomed into a love for horror movies and doing weird things like going to haunted mansions. I am thoroughly entertained by tours in large cities where they take you to all the places gruesome murders happened. It’s also the reason I like doing things like skiing. roller coasters, and high places. I think it has probably helped me make friends like with skiing, where like minded people enjoy the sensation of fear and thrill, a stomach dropping sensation of terror and free fall.
Ghazzal Hammad - Assignment 22
Growing up as a minority in a town that had a 97% white population, I experienced a variety of struggles and challenged that shaped who I am today. Being one of a limited number of Pakistanis in the area, I always felt like an outcast. All my friends were of European descent and shared the same culture, beliefs, religions, and values. They all had similar lifestyles and ideals. However, my family's culture was much different, and as a result, my upbringing was significantly different than theirs. I always felt isolated and I struggled to embrace my culture and family. I often felt embarrassed and even ashamed of my upbringing, and I would try to hide it from other people so I wouldn't get made fun of. Always trying to fit in and neglect my culture was exhausting, and once I got a little older, I learned the importance of accepting my culture and background. Being unique and different from others is a good thing -- it makes you interesting and sets you apart from the norm. I am now very proud of my culture and upbringing, and I think college will be beneficial because it will help me find other unique people of different backgrounds. Learning about other people's lifestyles and ethic upbringings is fascinating to me, and I eagerly await meeting new people in college and learning about their experiences growing up.
Assignment 22 Garrett Peavler
Assignment 22 - Grace Barnett
I have grown up with two amazing parents who have loved me unconditionally. Now I know that this is not unusual, but the way my parents raised me is what I think makes me unique. My parents are polar opposites. My father is a lawyer who favors punctuality and commitment, he has the same routine every day and loves to plan ahead. My mother, on the other hand, is an art teacher who loves adventure, goes wherever the wind takes her, loves to try new things, and is most likely going to be late for her own funeral (sorry mom.) But with such different parents, I have been able to see things through multiple perspectives and they push me to try new things and to be adventurous. They've taught me that hard work is crucial to succeeding in life but to enjoy things and find that balance between work and play. My parents are the main reason why I am so self-motivated because they inspire me to do great things and they recognize that I have it in me to be successful. I owe everything I am to my parents.
Assignment 22- Ben Belin
Something unusual that happens to me is that I am great at getting along with strangers. Now I know this might sound strange at first, but let me first give you an example. A few months ago my friends and I went to a pet shop to look at all the different animals there. When we got there we immediately went over to the birds (they are the most fun to pick up). However there was another person who I had never seen before picking up the birds. Needless to say I ended up talking to this stranger for an hour about birds and how he lived on a. farm. Talking to people who I've never meant about things I don't know much about has always been something I enjoy, and hopefully this will come in handy in college since I'm bound to meet tons of new interesting people there.
Assignment 22:David Butler
If i'm interested in a subject i'll do as much as i can to get as good as i can at it. That's the way I feel about film and deep down that's how I've always felt. I've been making short films(of varying quality)since 3rd or 4th grade and I've learned a lot about them. However, I am someone who is never too good, or special, or egotistical, that I believe that I can't always improve or learn from those around me. I want to go to film school, preferably in California due to their obvious high film standards, however, I have other priorities as well. I will be moving either in the same general area as my girlfriend(we will have been dating for about 4 years by the beginning of college), move in together or other options. You can get a good education almost anywhere you go if you just apply yourself and your own happiness matters as well so I am much less picky about where I go to college than I used to be. In addition, many of the film producers never even went to film school because there isn't anything there that you can't learn with experience and you will get noticed if you put out good content on your own. It's hard to tell what's to come
Assignment 21 Garrett Peavler
The problem that I would like to solve is the drug abuse problem that plagues many communities that society tends to forget about. And, while it may seem counter-intuitive, the best way to deal with this problem is to legalize the drugs that are commonly abused. Now, when someone says they support legalizing drugs, it tends to be the kind of statement that silences rooms, as all the "upstanding" and "good-natured" citizens look on and listen in quiet judgment. I ask you to bear with me and hear me out before you make that judgment.
When I say that I support the legalization of drugs, I don't mean it in the hippie sort of way that most people assume. I don't support it so that a bunch of rowdy teenagers can have irresponsible fun legally. I support it because of the lives that it could save. In fact, I don't even believe that drugs should be legalized for average people, only those who have developed a dependency; I want to solve the concrete problem of overdoses, not the moral dilemma of whether or not drugs should be normalized. Legalizing drugs would decrease overdoses, as the government would be able to control the outflow of these drugs, so someone who is addicted can get just the amount needed to keep them from withdrawal while they receive the help they need; help that would be easier to administer if those who are suffering from addiction come right to an organization that seeks to help them, instead of a street dealer seeking to make a profit.
Many people speak against this because they feel that the system would be abused by money-hungry people. My response to this? Of course, the system would be abused! But the point is that people with addiction would have a legal, organized place to get these drugs, which would keep them from overdosing, winding up in prison, or getting a disease from unclean needles. People who want drugs are going to get them. Legally or illegally. All we can do is make it safer and stop the needless waste of life that comes from an overdose.
I have been to the funeral of someone who died of an overdose, and it is the most heartbreaking thing you will ever see. Not only do people who overdose tend to have an early death, but the last image their family gets of them is a disturbing, discolored body. A ghost of the person they once loved. When it comes down to it, people who have an addiction are not hardened criminals; unworthy of salvation. They have families and children who love them, and they should not be brushed aside and left for dead because of the mistakes they have made. Mistakes that, if given the chance, they would take back in a heartbeat.
Rukavina- assignment 22
While I don’t think that having siblings a lot older than you is that uncommon, a lot of people are surprised between the age differences between my brother, sister, and I. My sister and I are 10 years apart and my brother and I are 8. I think having them besides me while I was growing up was a major impact on who I am today. First off, I was never babied or talked to in a soft voice the way some adults do to their kids. I was a very sarcastic 5 year old and my mother would yell at me all the time that I was too young to be talking like a teenager. I also just was always around kids who were a lot older than me all the time. However, I think that this predicament has helped me in a way because I watched my brother and sister stress through high school and college, so I sort’ve know what to expect a little.
Assignment 20 - Grace Barnett
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D2NWicFN9wt4znM0BjW3Qu9a1S14_L-7/view?usp=sharing
Assignment 21 Eleanor Badgett
One problem I'd like to solve or seen solved is how long it takes and how expensive it is to travel. There are really very few things I enjoy more than getting to go somewhere for the first time or getting to do something new. While I am lucky to get to go places and do things, I don't get to do so as much as I would like to. This is due to many things. The first is school, I really prefer not to miss too much school, and with only two days off at a time it is pretty hard to go places. Another reason it is tough to go places is how long it takes, sometimes it ends up taking longer to get somewhere than the actual thing you went for does. Also, if traveling did not take so long, it would be easier to go places on long weekends, or even just normal weekends. Finally, travel is expensive, meaning that when I get to do so, I want to make each trip the absolute best it can be. All of these issues could easily be solved by an inexpensive, high-speed, underground, train system spanning all over the globe. Not so easy. However, if anything to the effects of a system like this were to come to fruition I would love it. The system would revolutionize everything for everyone and solve many problems surrounding travel for many people.
Assignment 22 Eleanor Badgett
I know being a middle child is not unusual, but I would say being a middle child has had an unusually large impact on my life and who I am. My house is a family of three girls who are all very close to one another but, each bond is very unique from the others. My older sister and I are only 18 months apart meaning we have a lot naturally in common in our every day life, and have a more friend like bond. My little sister and I are four and a half years apart meaning we have, while still just as strong, a more sisterly like bond. It may sound like I am just saying this, but the most conflict in our house comes from my two sisters, due to what I think is there large age gap and challenges with seeing each others perspectives on things. Being in the middle of the two, I often find myself left to deescalate their conflicts and communicate between the two. This role has most definitely shaped my character and has made me aware when making decisions on how I say things or act. Having never been the center of attention, I have learned to make the best of the situations that I am in even if they are not what I would like to be doing or have chosen myself. Generally, I would say I am a very go with the flow, versatile person, a characteristic which I also believe spurs from being the middle child. I also see this versatility in my life through my differing bonds with my two sisters. I think this versatility and adaptability could be beneficial in a college situation because every thing in college will be new, and maybe not ideal. I think with these qualities, I will be able take the obstacles in stride and enjoy myself.
Assignment 21 - Grace Barnett
One problem that I have that I'd like to solve would be my insecurities. Especially my insecurities surrounding school. I often feel like I am not as smart as my peers or that I don't deserve to be in the academy. It's not because I don't meet the requirements or that I am behind in any classes but I feel like everyone around me is just so smart so I put a lot of pressure on myself. I guess I have an issue with perfectionism. If I get less than an A, then I will feel guilty and bad about myself. I think this is worse for academy kids because everyone tells you how smart you are and how you are going to go far in life which while appreciated, puts a lot of pressure on you to meet their expectations. I struggle immensely with feeling like I am not doing enough. You know I have never gone into a test or even a quiz thinking that I have done my best to prepare? I could have studied for weeks but my brain will always tell me that I could have done more and that I should have studied more. To be honest, I am unsure of the steps that I could take to solve this issue just because I have struggled with it for so long. If I could solve this problem I think not only would I be happier but more confident in my intelligence.
Assignment 22 - Palmer Lee
I've always wanted to be a veterinarian. That much isn't particularly groundbreaking, and I'm sure there are thousands of other people out there who would like to go down that career path. But, I think I can safely say I'm one of the only ones my age who's actually gotten to have some experience in the field. When I was twelve, my next-door neighbors owned a horse farm, which we visited every once in a while. One day when we visited, one of the horses happened to be heavily pregnant, and the veterinarian happened to come take a look at her and make sure she was healthy before going into labor. The information eventually came out that I wanted to be a vet, and he asked if I wanted to help him draw blood from the horse. I don't think he was expecting me to say yes, but he let me. He told me where to place the needle, and I did. That moment is what really solidified and validated what I wanted my future to look like. The horse ended up giving birth five days later - both the foal and the mother were healthy.
Assignment 22 Jake Walters
It changed me forever. We were on vacation to a small like for 4th of July. It was my family and the family of one of my brothers friend. We all wanted to go on a pontoon boat late at night and enjoy a peaceful dinner. It started off as so until we saw a speedboat in the distance. We didn't think anything of it, its a lake on the fourth of July weekend, there's going to be other boats on the water even at night. Its when we noticed it was coming straight for us we started to worry. We had out boat lights on and we were holding up flashlight waving it down at them. There was no way they didn't see us. They didn't slow down. The realization hit all of us at seemingly the same time we were going to need to abandon ship. Everybody took off to separate parts of the boat or either jumped into the water. The boats then collided. The horrible sound of metal being ripped out of its place and the unknown of what was to come was one of the worse feelings I've ever felt. These moments forever scared me. It was later found out the driver of the speedboat was drunk and yet still operating. This horrific event forever changed me and how i viewed alcohol and other substances. I feel like a lot of kids when they were younger said they would never drink, but later break that. Me, I meant it. After seeing it first hand I would never want to get to anything close of causing an event like that to anybody. During those tragic moments too, I tried to remains calm as the other family had kids younger than me. Seeing them cry and lose it hurt me and i just felt like I couldn't do that. I had to comfort them and make jokes to them to try and lift them up. This is when I realized i wanted to be there for anybody. This is what eventually sent me down the path of wanting to become a psychiatrist and to help anyone in distress whenever I could.
Assignment 23: The Perfect Playlist - My favorite prompt!!
Saturday, March 27, 2021
Zent-Assignment 22
I have been very fortunate to grow up with a stable household with two parents who both work at home. For most of the year both of them are home and able to help out with anything my siblings and I need. However, for my parents to be able to live this unique lifestyle of being able to work from home, they do have to go to in person meetings and trainings for a couple of weeks at a time. For example, my dad works for a company that produces and sells coffee and for most of January and February he has lived in Costa Rica helping his company prepare for the coffee season. Likewise, my mom spends most of January on in person business trips and meetings like the LA Auto Show. With all of that being said, ever since I was little during this time I have taken on the responsibility of taking care of my siblings and I while my parents are gone. This has taught me a great deal of responsibility in anything from making sure we all get to school to having food in the house to eat. This trait impacts my aspirations because it makes me think of how and what I can do to help other people. This makes a college with a real community feel a good fit for me because I will be able to help and contribute to the community.
Friday, March 26, 2021
Assignment 21: David Butler
The great feeling of being injured and sidelined in your sport. It's a feeling known to almost every athlete whether they are a linebacker, runner or swimmer. I run cross country and Track and for the last 3 years i've been in and out of injury almost constantly. Whether that is shin splints, stress fractures, tendonitis, knee problems, or my current injury(bad hip flexors), its been problematic. In summation, I will have arthritis at about 25. Anyways, not until my current injury did I ever take them seriously, I simply tried to push through them so I did not look weak but in the long run it only furthered my injuries. Due to this long process I have finally figured out how to take care of my injuries and for the first time in 3 years they have gotten better. I thought that if i took time off from running then I would get behind but I have found ways around that by swimming in the mornings, doing a mile at track(less than the rest of the team, only the warm up), then going to the trainer to work on mobility and hip flexor strength, and then biking in the afternoons. Plus what was truly getting me behind was not being able to run from destroying my body and putting myself out of commission for longer periods of time. This has taught me to be patient in my progress and to be smart about what I throw myself into, physically and intellectually.
Rukavina- Assignment 21
An obstacle I have faced is my inability to not laugh in serious situations. This may sound like a joke, but you try laughing when your mom is yelling at you. It’s not very fun. This also applies to any sad situation or anytime laughing probably isn’t the best reaction. I think I developed this habit when I was little and my older sister would start crying and yelling, and being the good sister I was, I found it hysterical. I mean watching my 15 year old sister throw a fit over where she could drive to was like SNL to my 5 year old self. Anyway, I believe that through her excess amount of teenage drama I conditioned myself to laugh when people get mad. I was able to overcome this challenge by practicing composing myself in serious situations. So I now, after 17 years, am able to maintain a mature stance, so the annoyed person does not turn to me when I start laughing at them.
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Monday, March 22, 2021
Assignment 22- Katie Taylor
Well, this is an awful hard question to ask someone like me. I grew up (and still am growing up) in a two-parent, stable, happy household. I am incredibly grateful for how conventionally "normal" my life is. And for that reason, I don't have a particular circumstance of mine that separates me from the rest, besides trivial things like lactose intolerance.
I guess my unusual circumstance is that my dad has an awesome taste in music. (Yeah, I know, my dad is kinda cool. Who would've thought?) Thanks to him, I've gotten into artists like Courtney Barnett, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, the Smashing Pumpkins, Gillian Welch, Joni Mitchell, Amy Winehouse, Radiohead, and Frank Ocean, as well as the entire jazz genre.
When I was younger and my family was on a long car trip (this happened frequently, with yearly visits to the beach, Minnesota, and Washington, DC.) my dad would get to turn off the Top 40 playlist that my sister and I requested once the day turned to night. He would put in his own CD of his music, including artists like those listed above. I would fall asleep to these musicians playing. I know that sounds like I was bored by them, since I would go to sleep once they came on, but no. Their voices would always be a comfort to me. Hearing Amy Winehouse sing about a failed relationship or Gillian Welch singing a folk tune would assure me that my parents were there, and I was safe.
Now that I'm older, I listen and enjoy these artists on my own accord, and silently thank my father for introducing me to them when he did. Thanks to him, I have a greater appreciation and love for music that goes deeper than whether a song sounds good or not. Music provides me comfort, thanks to him.
Sunday, March 21, 2021
Duncan Wingfield Week 21
A problem I struggle with a lot and need to work on is my bizarre obsession with the idea of normalcy. At some point I got this idea in my head about what a normal person is like, and since I didn't match that I let it completely destroy my self esteem. Despite me knowing that this image of a normal person was completely arbitrary and even not wanting to fit my own standards of normal it still greatly effected my self esteem poorly for whatever reason. I eventually developed this mindset that I've dubbed the "lame matrix phenomenon" where I felt so alienated from everyone else that it almost felt like I was trapped in some sort of simulated reality where I was the only real person and everyone else was a construct created by whoever had imprisoned me, but my captors were not very good at creating these constructs so I could tell something was wrong because of how different I felt from them (please note I didn't actually beleive that it's just the analogy I used and I think it's funny). I eventually was able to recognize a cycle of how my fears and stuff about my social shortcomings were also the cause of said shortcomings and I have begun to break myself out of that loop. I still have a way to go but I am much happier with myself as a person.
Assignment 21-Aiden Beach
Sunday, March 14, 2021
Assignment 21 Jake Walters
A problem I need to solve in my poor time management skills. It seems like I always have so much planned for the day but hardly get anything done that I wanted to get done or spend too much time on one project and none on another. Another issue I have with my management of time is that I'm late to literally everywhere. I always plan to be at the location I'm supposed to be at on time and having it all planned out but one way or another I always end up at least five minutes late to my destination. Whether it be a practice, picking someone up, or going anywhere at a specific time. I am always late. This is a large problem with me that I need to fix especially with school going back in person tomorrow. I wont have the luxury of getting to school late because I need to be able to get a parking spot so I don't have to walk to school. In order to find a solution, I need to start mentally telling myself I need to be there at a specific time earlier than what was planned so that if I'm late to my imaginary time, I'm on time for the real time, if that makes sense.
Ghazzal Hammad - Assignment 21
One big obstacle I have had to face - especially in high school - is juggling activities and managing my time well. Over the past few years, I have taken on a lot of various activities, including tennis, clubs, debate, and my schoolwork. Having to balance all of these and get everything done on a timely manner has definitely been very challenging for me. It has negatively impacted my mentality and has made me feel overwhelmed, stress, and exhausted (mentally and physically). Through these challenges, though, I have learned that the older I get, the more things I will have to juggle. That being said, it is important to use my time well, give myself chances to relax (but not procrastinate) throughout the day, and divide up my workload to prevent myself from being overworked. I also learned to appreciate other hardworking people, especially my parents. Between taking care of my siblings and I and working a job, neither of them have much time to relax; however, they do everything in a timely manner, they don't overwork themselves (usually), and they work hard to make sure everything gets done correctly.
Assignment 22: Your life isn't boring. (College app)
Saturday, March 13, 2021
Assignment 21 - Palmer Lee
One obstacle I've faced - and continue to face - is procrastination. I've always been bad about waiting until the last minute to get something done. I would always find something that I thought was more fun to do and do whatever task it was that I actually needed to get done at the last second - in 8th grade, I would often do my math homework (6th period) when I had some free time in 5th period. I always got it done on time, but it was a strain on my mental health. It had gotten worse when covid first hit. I had much more time to do things, but I still would wait until right before it was due to get something done. Eventually, I started setting goals and rewards for myself to help with the problem: Do your math homework that's due Monday morning by Saturday night so you can play more Animal Crossing on Sunday. Do your AP Lang assignment due next Wednesday over the weekend and then watch a movie. It's helped me to get things done earlier, and my overall mental health has improved to at least some degree since I've stopped procrastinating as much. Working on breaking the habit of procrastinating has helped me to learn not to pile things up and do them all at once so I don't get overwhelmed.
Friday, March 12, 2021
Zent-Assignment 21
There are tons of problems in the world so it's hard to choose one. But, if I had to choose one to solve it would be one that directly affects me and the people around me. I think a problem that we could definitely solve and that is close to home is not being able to recycle paper in Lexington. We do have recycling and we recycle many things, but being able to recycle paper would help our community out so much. Before this past year, I had so many different hand outs and worksheets form school that I wasn't able to recycle. I know that with everything being online and digital for the past year I and many other people in my community don't have as much to recycle, but every bit helps. I think that this could be solved just by simply allowing people to recycle paper again.
Thursday, March 11, 2021
Assignment 21- Sara Anderlich
For this problem, there is only one solution. Revenge.
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
Assignment 21- Katie Taylor
I suppose one problem I've always wanted to solve is flour. Yes, the ingredient. I'm sure this sounds dumb, but I have a personal vendetta against flour. I can't stand its texture, especially when being rubbed on a rolling pin. Even typing this out gave me the chills. If flour were to be abolished, I would not shed a single tear. I hope that eventually we can eliminate flour from our diets.
I've done research, and unfortunately we have not yet developed the technology to replace flour. I've searched flour substitutes, but they were all just various versions of flour (eg bread flour, quinoa flour).
This is obviously not my hill to die on, but I wanted to talk about something light. It gets sad talking about serious issues all the time (of course I believe serious issues must be talked about, but sometimes it gets depressing). Okay, the end.
Monday, March 8, 2021
Assignment 21- Church
When Covid hit I lacked a lot of motivation to do anything. This was not uncommon for people my age as we were being kept from our friends and we had to start learning how to do school online, but at first I didn't realize that I was lacking motivation because I saw it as a fun vacation and school was so much easier. After a few weeks of being quarantined I was able to see two of my friends again, as well school was pretty much over at this point. Then I spent the summer hanging out with my two friends but that was it. I never really saw anyone else besides them. Then I got a job and became super close with my friends there. I mean I saw the people I worked with for 8 hours a day 5 days a week. I mean its hard not to be close with them. However I started to lose friends at school. I just never stayed in touch which is really my own fault looking back at it now. Now that school has started again this year and it was online, my motivation has gone down even farther, it's hard to understand and have motivation to ask questions and learn when school is online, and besides that I see all these people who are successful without college and it just makes me wonder, but also I know I need to go to college. Now finally next week, we are going back to school in person, this is really overwhelming as I am a person who likes routine and have been so use to my routine with online school. On top of the physical change, I'm going to see people I haven't seen in over a year and haven't said a single word too. I almost feel like a kid moving schools even though we all know each other. In a way I think quarantine has changed us all for better or worse. In the end to solve this problem I have downloaded an app to start getting myself on a new schedule and have been trying to focus it like it would be if I was at school. As well I have been reaching out to people just to see how they have been. I am hoping that this will make going back to school easier, but I guess I could update this blogpost next week when we go back.
Sunday, March 7, 2021
Assignment 21- Ben Belin
I think one of the biggest setbacks I've ever had was not getting into the academy on my first try. When I was in middle school I already knew that I wanted to go to Henry Clay and wanted to be in the Academy because my sister was in it and I had heard such great things about it from her. When I first took the test though early in my 8th grade year I didn't make the cutoff which was devastating to me. I then found out that I would have another shot at making it in 6 months later in June so I decided to do as much as I could to ensure that this time I would make the cutoff. Luckily it paid off and I made it in on my second try, but it was a really eye opening experience for me and taught me about not giving up.
High School- drivers license, go skiing, get a fish
College- study abroad, meet a famous person, learn to spell
Life- go skydiving, get ok a chess, be on a game show
I am terrible at spelling, and it is a problem that I've had my entire life. In 6th grade my teacher took off points on our test for every word that we spelt wrong on our test, and in order to get the point back we had to write the word correctly 5 times. This caused me to have to write almost a thousand words after each test. Of course since school is now online my spelling isn't as much a problem but I still want to fix it. Imagine how impressed everyone would be if I could spell words that were 10 letters long! The problem is that learning to spell is no easy thing, and that's why I plan to wait until college to fix it. Also it will probably be more important in college so I'll have more of a reason to fix it. My mom was an English teacher, so maybe if I learn to spell I could even become the favorite child.
Assignment 17- Ben Belin
The director I picked was Steven Spielberg and the two movies I decided to compare were Back to the Future and The Goonies. Both are incredible movies that are still rated years after they came out. The movies themselves are similar in the sense that they are about young people or a young person going on an adventure. In Back to the Future Marty McFly has to go to the past to save his parents marriage while in the Goonies a group of friends goes on an adventure to find hidden treasure. One of the biggest differences between the movies are the main characters Marty is a cooler kid white the kids from The Goonies are considered losers by their siblings. Both movies also have an incredibly satisfying ending. For back to the future Marty's parents have their lives turned around and their marriage saved, and in The Goonies right before losing their house they find gold in one of the kids' jackets and save it.
Assignment 19- Ben Belin
The best piece of advice I have ever received is to stay positive. A lot of the times when things don't go our way we just give up but if you are able to stay positive in situations like that then you can turn it to your advantage. I remember when I was in 7th grade my friend and I were driving with his dad to his house and the car ran out of gas and we ended up being stuck on the side of the road for 3 hours. Usually I would have been frustrated but instead I stayed positive and invented a new game I called (drumroll please) KICK THE ROCK! In this game you find a rock and kick it up a road for as long as you can, and we ended up having a lot of fun. This might be an extreme example but it still shows how being positive can make everything much more exciting.
Saturday, March 6, 2021
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
Assignment 21- Koen
One challenged that I faced during this year was NTI learning during the early weeks of online school. I was disappointed that we couldn't come back during the beginning of the year, but it was expected as the COVID situation wasn't getting better. I knew that I learned better in person because I valued in person experience. I valued in person learning because it didn't feel disconnected with the classroom and it wasn't just typing answers on a worksheet. In the beginning of the school year, I mentally prepared myself to be able to sit in front of the computer for long periods of time just to type worksheets for different classes. One of my classes was especially difficult because it taught a whole new subject where getting the fundamental basics was key to be successfully in that class. My confusion with the subject and how it was taught through zoom instead of in a classroom led to me being frustrated with the teacher. Though this challenging experience was frustrating, I believed it was necessary for the next step for my education. Through this experience, I was able to reach out to teachers more frequently so that I was able to get clarity and succeed in my class. With this lesson, I will always find ways to persevere in unfamiliar and unfavorable situations.