School Update

School is still going really well. I absolutely love my concurrent English class. We get a writing assignment every week which is really nice because since I am not the editor of the Beacon in the Sabbath Recorder anymore it gives me chance to keep writing essays. We're using a book called "30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary" and I'm loving that because I'm learning new words that will make my writing better. I even used one in a college application. "Altruist"- some one who puts the needs of others before their own. Like every other year we are learning grammar but we are learning more in depth which is a nice change because I've always done pretty well in grammar in the past and now I can challenge myself a little bit more.

I'm loving my psychology class and I feel like I'm really learning things and all I'm doing is reading the text and then doing worksheets. Last night I was working on it before I went to bed which wasn't a very good idea because it's a chapter on sleep, so reading it was making me very tired.

In a few weeks I will be starting to practice for the HVL (Hiawatha Valley League) Honor Choir. I was in the honor band last year because they knew I would be in the choir this year.

We have also started our fall play "Greater Tuna." I forget who wrote it, but it is about the town Tuna, Texas and it's wacky and hilarious. I play a very outspoken lady who is stern and sometimes very mean but has a sympathetic side to her. It's kind of a stretch as an actress for me because I have some lines that are half a page long and one scene that I speak for about a page and a half. But I'm up for the challenge. Bring it on!!

My LAST FIRST Day of School!! (as a high schooler anyway)

Today was the best first day of school in a really long time. Not just because I am a senior, but because I turned over a new leaf and became a slightly newer me! For the past three years I've been hanging out with the same three girls, talking to them, sitting at the same lunch table and at assemblies with them and all that kind of jazz. And for those same three years they have kind of treated me like dirt. Not really seeming to care about what was going on in my life, not being excited for the same things I was excited about and not really listening to me or understanding who I was and what I stood for. But all that changed today.

For the longest time I've been wanting to get myself out of this situation and be with people who seem to appreciate me a lot more. I finally sat at a new lunch table with friends that I've known for years and who I enjoy to be around a lot more. Last year I sat with them sometimes and really wanted to leave my three girlfriends and join with my group of about ten. There is one girl in particular who I really get along well with. Her name is Amanda. We are in a lot of the same classes and the same study hall. We both decided to be a teacher's assistant for our band teacher during one of our study halls we had together. It's going to be a lot of fun. She really listens to what I have to say and it's great!

We also have new up to date science rooms with some pretty cool technology! We have computers with wireless keyboards and mice at each lab station, and remote control devises that will allow us to take our own attendance, answer lecture questions (so that everyone can answer not just one or two people) and we can use them on tests! It's great!

I was also able to take one of the classes I wasn't able to take because it was offered during choir, so I'm able to take psychology as an independent study during my other study hall but also still be able to use that time for a study hall. I get all the assignments every Friday and then they aren't due until the next Friday! It's great! I still get the credit for doing it but also am allowed to have the freedom to use that time as a study hall for other classes. And if Mr. Gepson, who I'm a teacher's assistant for, doesn't have things for me to do some days, I can still do homework and get the credit!

Everything seems to going well for me! I'm taking two college level courses and calculus is meant to be a college preparatory course, so I will be able to learn how to pace myself and manage my time as if I was in college already and not get burnt out! It's really exciting! I enjoy all of my teachers and I'm sure I will have fun this year. I'm glad I get the chance to be the new me and really do something I love. Today was just a marvelous day!!