United
Blast From The Past Every year my brother and I take pictures for the first day of school where we hold up which grade we are going into. The picture on the left is when I was going into 7th and he was going into 1st. The picture on the right is from this school year, where I went into 10th and he went into 4th grade.
We (Ceci & Ella) used to do dance together and in the picture on the left, we were getting ready to go to a recital. We now no longer do dance but we spend every minute we can with each other together. So, we recreated that picture to resemble that.
The first picture was from my family's first professional photoshoot when I was 5. My mom always posts that picture for my birthday and I wanted to recreate it because it is a sentimental photo to me and my family.
Together is better United… versus separated. Two sides of the same coin, two different realities. But throughout the difficult time of quarantining with COVID-19 raging all around the world, people found ways to come together yet being forced to stay apart. Individuals learned the true meaning of friendship and being there for one another. Human beings faced a complicated situation by banding together in spite of being physically separated, and showed love like never before. There are many different stories of friendship, but a unique story is told through the West High girls tennis team.
Coming into the spring tennis season, no one on the West High girls tennis team really knew what to expect. The team only had three returning players (one senior and two juniors). Five sophomores and two freshmen joined the team, all very familiar with tennis and being in a competitive atmosphere, but not as used to being a part of a bigger goal and playing for others. The five sophomores had their previous season canceled due to the threat of COVID19, so they were just as new to the high school tennis team as the freshmen.
Many challenges were presented to the ten members of the team right from the start. A tough coach with high expectations and strong teams destined to beat the #1 team in the state were only a few of the things they were tested with. Practices and meets were obviously physically demanding, but more so most everyone on the small team struggled with being mentally and/or emotionally drained at some point.
A combination of factors, from schoolwork, family, friends, jobs, and most definitely tennis, created a lot of stress and plenty of up-and-down emotions. Many tears were shed out of pure overwhelmedness. With so much going on, more support was needed than ever before for the teammates. Everyone on the team simply needed each other. Not too far into the season with their coach not able to organize any team bonding, the tennis team started to coordinate their own mini gatherings. After practices and matches, the team would spend even more time together and grew closer and closer with each day through merely going on drives together or getting ice cream. On weekends, the team would head to downtown Iowa City and walk around, getting bubble tea and dumplings, and then sitting on the Old Capitol steps to talk for hours on end. It was so easy to converse with each other. Opening up to each other came naturally and frustrations with how the season was going could be expressed without judgement. Being a member of the team myself, I can say from a first-person perspective that I don’t know what I would have done without my teammates. Over the course of only three months, my teammates honestly became my best friends. They were there for me through my highs and lows and my successes and failures. Being on a team and doing something you love, like tennis for me, with people you love is an experience that not many get, but West High offers a great community of people in all their sports and clubs. COVID-19 and all the trials and tribulations that accompanied the virus tried to tear people apart, but people can unite no matter what.
Restaurant Reviews Get Fresh Dragon bowl
Yotopia Frozen yogurt
Maggie's Farm Wood-Fired Pizza Margarita pizza
Teamo Tea Black iced tea with mango boba
The dragon bowl from Get Fresh really hits the spot. It is so sweet and summery. The bowl contains pitaya, strawberries, pineapple, coconut milk, and agave. Topped with cashew butter, mango, strawberries, and coconut and served on a bed of granola. This smoothie bowl really can't get any better. Rating: 10/10 Yotopia is by far my favorite local fro-yo place. They have an amazing variety of yogurt and toppings which is perfect for everyone. The yogurt on the right has a theme of strawberry cheesecake and it was so delicious. I would recommend this to anyone looking for something sweet and cold on a hot summery day. Rating: 9.5/10
The Margarita Pizza was phenomenal. It was a thin crust pizza so it was very light but tasted great! If you're looking for a pizza with a balance of every ingredient, I would recommend the Margarita Pizza. Rating: 9/10
Teamo Tea is such a wonderful place for boba tea. You can never get something bad. I am a huge fan of black tea and boba so this was perfect for me. The mango boba are extremely sweet though, so if you don't have a huge sweet tooth then I would go with something more nuteral. Overall I really liked this. Rating 8/10
Soseki Avocado and shiitake mushroom sushi
Molly's Cupcakes Cake-batter cupcake
Starbucks Mango dragonfruit refresher with lemonade
The avocado roll and shiitake mushroom sushi roll were outstanding. They are both very simple and yet complex due to the complicated flavors that are combined. The chefs do a wonderful job of making sure it always tastes great. On top of the amazing food, Soseki has some of the best customer services. They care about the experience of the customer so much, are incredibly hard-working, and always greet you with a smile. Rating: 10/10
Molly's cupcakes is another amazing local restaurant. They have the best cupcakes in Iowa and also amazing customer service. The cake-batter cupcake is terrific. It is a vanilla cupcake filled with cake batter and topped with a creamy buttercream frosting. This is perfect for anyone who likes cupcakes. :) Rating: 9/10
This Starbucks drink is very refreshing. It is an excellent cold drink. I especially like the mango dragonfruit refresher with lemonade double blended with 2 pumps of raspberry. It tastes like a sweet fruity slushie. Rating: 9/10
Summer Bucket List 1.
Have a picnic
4. Make ice cream cookies
2. Have a campfire and roast marshmallows
5. Go to Dane's Dairy
3. Go swimming
6. Go stand up paddleboarding
7. Go to a drive-in movie
8. Visit the farmer's market
9. Go hiking
10. Go to an amusement park
11. Pay for the order behind you in a drive-through
12. Go to the IC Jazz Fest