2018 english 9 honors personal essays by Michael Donohue

Real Knights Write

English Honors. Volume 2, Issue 4 - 2018

Introduction - Mr. Donohue

Do Your Own Homework - By: Zaharias Avgoullas

School Work is the Most Important - By: Jaden Bagwell

Respect for A Lifetime - By: Joshua Bagwell

The Practicality of Perfection - By: Anthony Bandiero

You Can Only Get Out What You Put In -

By: Dominick Battisti

The time I didn’t Think For Myself - By: Jaden Bazile

Homework Comes First - By: Mason Bligen

Putting the Pieces Together - By: Matthew Buddenhagen

A Blessing in Disguise - By: Christopher Chan

Honesty is the Best Policy - By: Matthew Cutrona

Keep Your Head Up - By: Felix Delgado

Shoveling Snow - By: Brandon Diaz

Making My Bed - By: Tyler Kilpatrick

The Way I Learned How to Responsible - By: William Eckert

Honesty is my Best Policy - By: Kevin Goldfield

Vacuum the Stairs Tommy!! - By: Thomas Graham

Do “It” Yourself If You Want It Badly - By: Brendan Hagan

Clean your Room! - By: Samuel Lee

Keep Your Eye On The Ball - By: Nicholas Moniz

Start Off Small, End Up Big - By: Vincent Morinello

Pump Your Tires and Tie Your Shoes On Your Own Time - By: Luca Nitti

Cleaning My Room Taught me to be Responsible -By: Matthew Osorio

To Care for a Dog - By: Dimitrios Santiago

Do Your Work On Time! - By: Jaskaran Singh

Do Your Own Laundry - By: Kyle Tracy

Homework is More Important Than it May Seem - By: Nicolas Valle Gomez

Do It Yourself - By: Devlin Vuktilaj

The Boots - by Michael Kourmousis

The Laundry - By Leon Hohauser

Introduction - Mr. Donohue One of the more powerful tools that Google has in its arsenal is the capability to publish the work the students create. The Freshman students at Holy Cross write. They write often, and they learn to write well. By the midpoint of the year, they have had many different experiences in both reading and writing. They are proud of what they have accomplished as am I. With this in mind, the class worked on a longer lesson in how to write a personal, reflective essay. According to the textbook, a reflective essay is one where the writer explores the meaning of an experience. Together, we explored what kinds of experiences are meaningful. In class, the students read an essay titled “Carry Your Own Skis” by Lian Dolan. In this essay, she explores the importance of the lessons she learned as a child. Using this essay as a model, the students wrote about their own childhood experiences and how these have shaped who they are today. When the class completed their first draft, they edited. And edited, and edited until they created a version of their own story that they want to tell. They prepared their work for publication. What you see here is the result of all of their hard work and effort. Please read and enjoy. Mr. Michael Donohue

Do Your Own Homework - By: Zaharias Avgoullas

When I was little,my family and I lived in Greece . Each day when I came back from School I was expected to do my homework. I did not always have the answers, and many times I got frustrated because I could not find an answer. My family did help me under these circumstances, but I was always expected to start homework by myself and remember to do it. This taught me a big lesson in responsibility as in the future, I now have the responsibility to do it myself. Through the discipline of doing my own homework when I was little, I now do a lot of things by myself, and have a lot of responsibilities for myself. When I was only 4, from that point on I had to do my own homework. I was taught and told that I had to do homework and remember to do it. I did not enjoy it at the time, but I knew that if I didn’t do it I would not be allowed to play on the computer. This served as an incentive to me, and made me strive to finish my homework so I could play on my computer. As the years went by I became more independent with my homework, and became independent with a lot of other tasks as well. Doing this by myself meant no one was on top of me telling me what to do and my responsibilities from a young age. Do your own homework, no one else will do it for you. Few people I ever knew “Did their own homework.” At around the time of elementary and junior high school we moved to the USA. I started realizing that not many people did not have the same discipline instilled into them. They never “did their own homework.” Many kids would slack off and get bad grades, and the kids who did so were very obvious. The non-homework doers were the kids that could be seen as careless. They caused trouble, they did not do their work and they did poorly in school in general. I could tell from others however, who did their work, and who were disciplined, who had good behavior, that they did their homework by themselves. They never needed to be told to do it, while the troublemakers clearly needed constant reminders. This discipline greatly helps people in the future if it is instilled early. This lesson of responsibility greatly helps me in my everyday life. Every day, whether it is in the morning to get ready for school, or later on in the day to do chores or homework, I know that I have to “do my own homework,” because no one else will do it for me. The concept of having responsibility was always the same, it was the stuff I had to do that was different. I never imagined from a small age that a simple task such as doing my homework without being told to would involve in discipline

instilled in me to do tasks and be responsible for them. If I never learned to do my own homework, I would not be as responsible as I am today. I always used to complain when I was told to do my homework. I never thought it was useful or necessary, as I did know a lot of the work. However, the picture was bigger than that. Doing my own homework is applied to almost every aspect of my life. If I do not do it, I will not have time for other activities. If I have to be told to do stuff, I will never have the discipline or the freedom to do stuff myself. With all this being said, this skill will greatly help me in my future. I will always know to “do my own homework,” because of doing it at a young age. I will always try to be very responsible, because in the future I will need to be independent and no one will do my stuff for me. If this happens, then I will teach it to my kids and they will teach it to their kids. If people are taught this skill, then the future and the world would turn for the better.

School Work is the Most Important - By: Jaden Bagwell One thing I learned as a young child was to do all my homework on time and not to procrastinate which taught me responsibility. When my mom was at a young age she was a superb student. She was rarely ever late to school and her grades were top notch. Throughout her years of school she had excellent grades and ended up going to Wagner College in Staten Island New York. One reason why she was such a good student is her organization and her preparation. Also, most importantly is that she never procrastinated when it came to completing her school work. This is soon a lesson that I would come to realize later in my life when it mattered the most. When I was younger in the 5th grade I had come off a stellar football win on a sunday morning in about the month of October. It was one of the best games I have ever had, rushing for about 4 touchdowns. After the game, and all the hype about the game, I had realized it was already Sunday, the weekend had passed and I had yet to do my homework. I had already spent some time on my homework of course obeying my mothers word, but I would usually save some of it for later or wake up early in the morning before my scheduled wake up time to complete it. I had set an alarm for myself before I went to bed to make sure I woke up, but for some reason it

never went off. Now, in a state of worry, I had to complete part of my Ela Hw and a project I had for math with not too much time to spare despite my school being in Brooklyn. I had fully developed the habit of procrastination. Because of this level of laziness that I had developed, I was soon confronted by my 5th Grade Ela teacher, and got into serious trouble with my Math teacher. This would lead to a phone call home and serious trouble with my mom. Of course, my mom, who was a excellent student in school was very agitated and screamed her head off at me. Despite me being a star on the football field she reprimanded me stating that if I was to ever get in trouble or put off doing homework again to the point where it wouldn't be completed, I would not play on the football field again. This helped me to realize that my school work should be held most important, and that my grades can take me a long way. Now, as freshman at Holy Cross high school, I see that many of my peers have learned the same lesson as I have. Being in honors for most of my life, and especially in this school, I have come to notice that mostly everyone in my classes are very organized and get there work in on time. This level of commitment and organization comes to show when we receive our report cards at the end of each quarter. Also, sometimes we may get a lot of work to complete during a week span, and it is very crucial that we don't wait for the last minute to complete it, as it would be too much work to do in that short of a time. I have also noticed many who have not learned this lesson. Some of the people I know in and outside of this school tend to be lazy and wait until the last minute to complete their assignments. This has caused them put in a weak effort, not their best effort when tending to their school work which affects their grade. Due to these experiences it has helped me to realize that it is only best to get your work done at a reasonable time and not wait till the very last minute as it will show in the grades at the end of the year. This lesson applies to my life in several ways. One way this lesson applies to my life is in my academic success in Holy Cross. At certain points this year, there would be those times where we received tons of homework over the week. Because of this lesson I learned early in my life, I completed the work earlier than it was a due and the amount of relief I received afterwards was abundant. Without being responsible and being on time with my work I would be in much more trouble and I wouldn't be playing the sport I love to play today just as my mom threatened to me

back in the 5th grade. I hadn't realized it then, but now I realize that this lesson my mom had taught me has made a huge difference in my life. As much as this lesson affects my life today, it will prove to help my life even further in the future. For example, in order to get a job, companies want people who are neaty, on time, and who get the job done. Just as procrastination would affect me and my school work, it will affect me just as much in the future. Also, if I was to make the NFL which I aspire to do, teams what players who are not only physically talented, but those who are responsible and are focused on completing the task at hand. This lesson that I was very blind to in my youth, and which was instilled into me by my mother, has been shown to be very important in teaching me responsibility and having a great impact on my life for years to come.

Respect for A Lifetime - By: Joshua Bagwell

As a young child I learned to be respectful to others. Especially, because it was affecting my behavior towards everyone else. I would take control of those who were nice. Everyday my family would talk about manners and the way I should act. They preached that I should treat others the way I want to be treated. Sure enough, it was taught everywhere I traveled too. When I was in preschool people tended to make fun of people in ways that I wasn't aware of. I used to think it was cool and I followed it too. I carried these tendencies home, Making fun of my siblings, mostly my sister. I soon began to realize how she felt towards the comments. This behavior went on every other day until my mom saw how I was treating my sister. My mom then pulled me to the side and talked about how I would feel if someone was talking to me in a disrespectful manner. At the time I didn't know what my words meant to my sister. I learned how she felt the in the 3rd grade. Based off how I was treating others, some kids retorted back with nasty and rude comments. I realized what my parents talked to me about and I showed respect to everyone i encountered since (with some exceptions). My attitude changed drastically in the 4th grade because i found myself being helpful, friendly, and most importantly respectful. In today's society I see many kids and adults treat others with a lack of respect. Bullying is a real epidemic in our school system and internet. As a result, many kids are committing suicide at a very young age. Ages as young as 8 years old. Likewise, in school some students show each other

barely any respect. Not only do the students treat each other with disrespect but teachers as well . The teachers give their best effort to try and teach us material that we need going forward. However, many students forget that school is important and act accordingly. Furthermore, our society would be more civilized if more people showed respect. The lesson of ¨treat others the way you want to be treated¨ applies to many things that I encounter daily. When I meet new people and the people that I encounter, I show them the utmost respect. This is because if I don't they wouldn't treat me how I want to be treated. Furthermore, my actions and characteristic of reverence help me make new friends daily. It's not just for making friends but how I want to be seen as a person. In and out of school I give my respect to people that show me respect. In my household I am respectful to my family. They give me everything, anyone could ever ask for. As I get older I want to be a man of integrity. integrity is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. These characteristics will shape the man i will be in the feature. In the future respect will help me tremendously. it will build my character and help me develop attributes that could get me an occupation. Also, it would help with my social life as I meet people everyday. I could associate with people that have respect towards me the way I would show respect towards them.

The Practicality of Perfection - By: Anthony Bandiero As a child, I always partook in many activities, be it riding a bicycle, reading a book, or learning to read. Most of the time, I was accompanied in these activities either by my mother or my father, who instructed me in the how’s and the why’s. One memorable instance for me was when my father taught me to ride a bicycle without the training wheels. As is probably the case for many youths, it was mostly a process of trial and terror. However, no matter the falls, no matter how upset I may have become, my parents always encouraged to try again and get back on the bicycle at a later date and try again. It stands to reason that I was

annoyed at how little progress I made - I even had the intention to quit at various points; however, it was thanks these experiences that one day, lo and behold, I rode my bicycle for the first time. All the struggles I had put into achieving that task finally paid off, and I daresay it was worth the effort. It was here that I vaguely began to understand the lesson that was being indirectly taught: “Practice Makes Perfect” This knowledge became stored away in my mind during my childhood years, and little by little I began implementing this into my elementary school routine. If I read a book and I didn’t understand the point, I stuck with it and looked into it on my own time. If I were trying to learn a new language, I would keep on blundering my way through rather than give up on it. If I attempted to play a song on the piano and didn’t understand what some notes were, I would go back to the basics and work my way up from there until I finally got back to the song and managed to get it to a reasonable enough state. In modern society, this is sadly not so prevalent a trait. In schools, it is common to see students “drop out” because (although some have valid reasons) in some cases they just don’t put the effort into learning. People that don’t practice a healthy routine begin to complain about all their inabilities when it comes to their lifestyle, just because the effort is “too much”. If they just put in the effort, they would not only achieve their desired goal, but they would also learn a crucial life lesson. I can see this helping me out as I progress as a student and further on down the road of life. The concept “practice makes perfect” is something that can be implemented into everyday school routine as well as in everyday adult life: applying to jobs, perfecting your personality or perfecting your (attempted) comedic writing... the list goes on and on.

You Can Only Get Out What You Put In - By: Dominick Battisti When I was a young child my mother made sure I knew the lesson “you only get out what you put in.” It means that if you put in little work, your reward will be small, but, if you put in a lot of hard work, your reward will be great. The first time I heard this lesson was in the 4th grade. My mother told me that if I put in hard work, I will get a better grade and that if I put in little work, my grade will be poor. So I always gave things one-hundred percent in order to earn a 100%. Of course, success is not guaranteed, but this

lesson always helps me find a little motivation when I’m feeling lazy and procrastinating. All throughout school, there were always the people who wouldn’t hand in homework assignments, wouldn’t pay attention in class, would fall asleep in class, and would still expect the same grades as people who really tried. They would put in little to no effort but would still expect a large payout and, as I learned, that’s simply not how the world works. A person that has definitely learned this lesson is my brother. My brother recently started to work at Spectrum, and his performance has shown he has learned the lesson. Every month, his stats are the highest of his team, which allows him to get advantageous positions and opportunities to move up on the totem pole, chances that people who put in little work do not receive. Even in his job, there are those that have not learned to put in what they want out, they are looking for handouts so-to-speak. This lesson applies to me now in the same way it always has. I put in good work for my classes and get good grades as a result. It also applies to me by reminding me that if I don’t put in good work, my grades will drop. Whenever I don’t feel like working, I imagine my mother telling me her lesson, “you only get out what you put in,” and it motivates me to keep striving. As life goes on, the lesson will surely influence me in new ways. In the future, the lesson will be more important than it ever has been. In the rest of high school and college, the workload will be tough, but, if I remember my mother’s words, it will help me to find the motivation and to not become a slacker. In the future, other distractions will most likely arrive and it will be my job to make sure that they don’t become a serious roadblock. The lesson will also apply in my future job. If I want to do well and be given raises and promotions, I can’t become a slacker and I always need to put my best work out. This will ensure I get the best rewards in return. If my life goes as planned, as a future vet I will need to be able to manage many serious tasks at once without slacking. If I were to decide to put less into my work, it would result in one or more of my patients having an untimely death. It is important that no matter what, a person always gives their best, and, in return, they will receive the best results.

The time I didn’t Think For Myself - By: Jaden Bazile One experience that happened to me, that changed me to mature was when, last year around new years, my friends and I went to a mall in Brooklyn. My mother always told me, “Be truthful.” There were 5 of us walking, we decided to go to this store called Zumiez. We all had our bags with us when we entered the store, my friend Mike tells me to distract the workers so they can steal some jeans they were selling at the store. My friend ben and I went to the cashier place and started talking to them so Mike and Nate and Jay can go and take the jeans. They were successful in stealing the jeans, but that’s what we all thought. Later on that day I had a feeling that we should've left when we had the chance but my friends wanted to stay and see some girls there. We meet the girls and Mike tells them how they stole jeans from Zumiez. One of the workers at Zumiez were having their lunch two tables from us , we can see the worker get up and go to the security office, as we see this we bolt to the exit of the mall. The scariest time in my life is when the mall cop comes from behind us and grabs us by our hands and brings us to their office. As were there my friend Nate tells the cop that Mike and Ben and jay had stolen the jeans and me and him are innocent, but Nate, mike and jay were the ones that stole. The cops brought mike and ben and jay to the police station. The one thing that I learned from this event, that changed my whole perspective on friends and my choice of good judgment on bad things that are occurring. The reason I changed my way with friends is by me knowing my close friends and people that just wants company because they don't care if your in trouble and don't care if your hurt and will always tell on you when things get hard. This experience helps me now and for the future as I grow, you shouldn’t bring book bags or go to a store or mall with friends that don't have your back through thick and thin. This also shows me that this made me even more mature

because why would I listen to what my friends , my mother tells me if my friends told me to jump off a bridge would I do it. I don’t want my reputation and make people and parents scared to go anywhere with me because they might think I want to steal again and again just for my own humor. The thing that happened after the mall incident the girls never text us back and my friend ben brought all his cousins and beat up Nate for telling on him. Now you can see is it worth stealing. This experience was the turning point on my life because I was one step away from going behind bars for one night, and that night would of ruined my life forever.

Homework Comes First - By: Mason Bligen There are many elements in my life that had taught me responsibility. But one aspect particularly stuck out to me was my mom always making me do my homework and having it done on time. Every night no matter what I done before I got home or what I had to do that night she always made sure I did my work, did it neatly, and to the best of my ability. Without that push from her to do my work every single night and to be persistent in my work, I would not be as diligent with my work as I am to this day. For, example, in the 7th grade, I was playing on two different basketball teams, one for school and one for an outside league. I had practice for my school team which ended at 5:30PM and my other teams practice started at 8:00PM. After getting home at about 6:00PM from my school practice, my mom specifically told me to get my homework done before I go to my second practice and I did have a lot of work that night I must say. But I listened to my mother and I didn't fool around, got my work done, with some time to spare. Because of her words always guiding me, telling me to get my work done without procrastinating, and as people say “ work now, play later” I would not be a studious as I am now, getting good grades, and having my work done in a timely fashion. Now that I am a freshman in highschool, on the basketball team, in an honors class that is harder than the honors classes I was in when I was in middle school, and life itself is much harder I now see that most others have learned the same lesson as I did. And while some still have not learned this sadly, a majority of people I see have. There are some children in school even mine specifically who have developed a habit of procrastination and do not get their work done on time like they're supposed to

which is unfortunate. Although, in my class and with most of my peers we all seem to have learned this lesson and get our work done no matter the circumstances. These important instructions that my mother told me, instilled in me from a young age, still applies to my life to this day. In high school a lot more work and hardships are put on to you than any other grade that you have been in, and it is very important that you are organized and get your work done on time. And while this is pressuring and can be a lot to handle for some, because of my mother always pushing me and despite her getting on my nerves most of the time in the end it all adds up. Her wisdom of telling me to always get my responsibilities taken care of has helped me throughout my whole life. In the future I can imagine these lessons she taught me can continue to assist me in the future in college, in the workplace, or anywhere else where even more work and pressure is dumped onto you to get your work done in even less time than I have not in High School. Without that strong foundation that she gave me to always be strong and push through in the time of adversity it would be literally impossible to survive in this harsh world.

Putting the Pieces Together - By: Matthew Buddenhagen My mother, being the youngest of six, has been doing things for herself and her family for her entire life. She had to learn to take care of her clothes, toys, school work and valuables. If they were lost or broke, that was the least of my grandmother’s worries. She learned this responsibility from a very young age. So it would stand to reason that she would teach her children this responsibility as well. From my mother’s strange techniques, I too learned this responsibility. When I was younger, my mom bought me several lego sets to put together. I loved these three-dimensional brick puzzles and, in my opinion, I was pretty good at finding the bricks and putting them together. Although this was my niche when I was a child, some pieces were very small and tough to detach from one another. One brick put in the wrong spot or one wrongly moved elbow could ruin my whole project. After at least a dozen mistakes and many lego sets, I learned to be more careful and take care of the tiny pieces so I did not lose them.

Because of this, I knew my mother would not spend more money to buy me another set just because I lost the pieces or messed up. From these demandingly simple puzzles, I learned the responsibility of caring for not only my belongings, but others as well. The lessons I learned as a child helped me to stay organized and complete various tasks. Although I am only a freshman in high school, I still have seen and met people who did not care if they lost a lego or did not finish the puzzle. These are the people who never did their homework, lost assignments, and were not dedicated to their work. In 7th grade, there was a boy in my class who always lost classwork, did not care, and took no responsibility for his hardships in school. His behavior was horrible and so he was constantly reprimanded for his actions. The boy was never taught the life lessons that I learned throughout my young life. Eventually, this led to his losing all his pieces and never getting another lego set again. Others, like this boy, who never learned self-responsibility and expect everything to be done for them, are going to live a difficult life when they grow older. Responsibility is key to a successful life in the real world and without it simple tasks will be difficult to complete. The lessons my mother taught me about caring for my belongings and the things I must do, has helped tremendously throughout my short life. I have learned not only to care for my legos, but have also transferred this responsibility to my everyday life. I keep all my schoolwork, clothes and personal items organized and in a safe place. My thoughts and actions as well, reflect the same philosophy of care and logic. I know and have learned that in the real world no one is going to complete the puzzle for me. I have learned this responsibility thanks to my mom. Consequently, the lessons I have learned about responsibility will help me in my future endeavors. As I get older and move on to college, these lessons will help me succeed when faced with other challenges. Having learned to organize and complete tasks, will assist me in any career I wish to pursue. The benefits of having these qualities are insurmountable. Therefore, being a responsible person now, will help in the future.

A Blessing in Disguise - By: Christopher Chan I’ve had a lot of people have an impact on my life, but no one has affected me more than my parents. They are very generous, very helping people who I’m thankful for. In addition to the fact that they have the tolerance to put up with my fights with my younger sister, they have both taught me countless important lessons throughout my life that guide me. I feel the most important lesson that they’ve taught me is that life can only go on through effort, which motivates me to go through every day.

My mother is a very hard-working woman who is not hesitant to accomplish tasks by herself. She isn’t too harsh or strict at times toward me, but there is an expectation of hers for me to wash the dishes, take out the trash, and especially do well in school. If I ever got a bad grade, like a broken record, she would constantly say, “The only thing I ask of you is to do well in school.” I thought this expectation was just because she could boast, which was quite selfish. I later came to a realization that she wanted me to do well more for my sake. She was teaching me that if I worked hard in school, I would be successful. My father, I feel, has had an impact on me throughout my life. While very hard-working himself, believes that if you want something, you should get it yourself. In life, no one is going to do my work for me. If I had feet, I could achieve my own tasks. He has taught me this lesson largely through one thing: having to massage him after. It’s a tradition in my family. I massage my father, he massaged my grandfather, he massaged his father, we all had to do such. If I ever wanted something like a video game or needed money, it took a back massage. I thought this too was a burden, but just as my mother expectations, it taught me the lesson that effort was rewarding. I had to work to massage him to earn something I desired. This lesson helped me in the future many times. It’s taught me that lying around doing nothing leads to nothing. I worked hard in school and it paid off with a scholarship to my high school. I was able to help me and my family, which is the best feeling one could ever feel about themselves. Some people haven’t been taught these lessons and these are the people that lack the ability to succeed. They are the ones that look to themselves in the mirror and feel sad about themselves, looking back on their lives and wonder when and where they had screwed up and caused their lived to go downhill. I’m thankful my parents made me work on my own and encouraged me along the way. This is what makes me different from those people. What I thought was a burden for a good amount of my life, turned out to be a blessing.

Honesty is the Best Policy - By: Matthew Cutrona

People say that the best way to admit to a problem or situation is by being honest. The phrase “honesty is the best policy” was a phrase that I grew up with. I was told by teachers, family, and especially my mother that being honest is the only way to be. However, I would sometimes forget to be truthful about actions I did. Lessons would be learned when you least expect it. One time when I was a young child, about 8 years old, I stole money from my mother's wallet. I was envious and I wanted money. I was a quick money spender (now I am not as much). But anyway, when my mother asked if I took any money, I lied to get out of trouble. So a couple of days later, my mother was putting away my clothes in my drawer, she found the money that was stolen. She called me and asked me again if I took any money and that it would be best not to lie. I was afraid to lie again so I told the truth while sobbing. She then explained that we don’t lie, steal, or cheat in the family. Being honest is the best policy. This other time, quite recent actually, and it’s another lesson that was not taught, but learned. It was the beginning of 2018, the middle of my 9th grade school year. I arrive at school, get ready, and head to the cafeteria where my friends were. We talk about the homework we had and our vacation in general. Then this student, lets call him, "John Davis" (Not real name), brings up the Math project we had. "John Davis" states that his project was “wrong” and that he wanted to see it so “he can get an idea what to write.” Now, I don’t fully trust this kid. He is annoying, manipulative, makes fun of my last name and more. However, when he needs homework, he begs, and begs, and plays nice. So when he asked to see what I did, I said fine. I briefly show him my project and he “gets an idea” and finished the project. Now, I didn’t think that he would be that ignorant to copy everything, especially when its a project grade. But, I didn’t realize that he copied my work. He must have a photographic memory because I didn’t have it out

that long. Then, later on, another kid, “Jack WoodChuck” (not real name), that I don’t like in general, and stay away from, asks us to see the Math Project. Now, I said no, because I don’t trust him. Now "John Davis", gives "Jack WoodChuck" his project (technically mine) and "Jack WoodChuck" takes a picture of the project. I was worried but not enough to recognize that they were copying me. Then I submit the project as normal. A couple days later, I am called to the Math classroom. So I approach her room, and I go to her desk. She then says that “I most likely know the answer, but I want to just make sure. Can you read this to yourself and see if there is something similar?” And there it was, my project, "John Davis’" project and "Jack WoodChuck"’s project. So, while panicking in my brain, I calmly read all the projects. Then I explain the whole story. She doesn’t look at me with a mean look, but rather, a disappointing and sadden look. She tells me, that she has to treat all her students equally, and that she has to give me, "John Davis" and "Jack WoodChuck", all a zero (and that hurt even more especially because I originally saw a 100 on the project). However, she goes on to say that, because I see that you put in all your hard work (because I typed my project) and that "John Davis" and “Jack WoodChuck" wrote their project in a sloppy fashion, "John Davis" and “Jack WoodChuck" will be receiving a detention and you won’t. Now, I don’t know about you, but I am happy with no detention. So I said that I am sorry again and that I agree. She said that she would be contacting my Mother about this and I understood. I left the room, feeling sad, not realizing I just learned a lesson about honesty. Now I could of straight up and lied that I didn’t show him my work and that it isn’t similar. However, I wouldn’t be telling the truth to the event and I would be in a lot more trouble if I was caught lying. I would then possibly continue to lie and never be honest. However, honesty is the best policy no matter what. I can see fellow peers not being honest. They do this to their coach, teacher, friends, families, and more. I can see it through the way they act. For example, when a brief, shoveling action occurs there are five sides to this story: (1) they tell their peers something to make them sound tough, (2) one students perspective, (3) another students perspective, (4) what they tell the teachers, and (5) the truth. When they tell the teacher, they say it was nothing, but really, they are not being honest to the actions they just did. But it can even be simple as telling the teacher that they didn’t cheat on the test, even though they did. They argue and argue until they finally admit it. Then they are in more trouble than they would of been.

Honesty is the way to go. It can be a useful tool or it can be your worst nightmare. Within the school, many people choose to follow leaders they trust, because they have a sense of basic trust. It's a basic honesty. Without honesty, a leader cannot lead with integrity. An honest leader is regarded as a very important person, because the leaders of dishonesty can lead to other negative actions. Especially at my school, our goal is to become leaders and not followers. In the future, plagiarizing, cheating, deception and complicity are all ways that high school students are being dishonest. When I am a senior in high school, I would not cheat on any exams, state level or classroom level. I wouldn’t plagiarize on an essay, for colleges or for any subjects. I wouldn’t want to try and get a good grade, and risk getting a caught, rather then trying my best, and getting an okay grade. Stealing someone’s information on purpose and trying to hide it and lie about it, will ultimately not get you far in life both and a personal and professional level. Being honest is something crucial in living you life. It’s a lesson not taught, but rather learned. Michelle Obama once stated “We learned about honesty and integrity - that the truth matters... that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.”

Keep Your Head Up - By: Felix Delgado People always say that discipline should be possessed by everyone. As I grew up I began to notice why this was true in many cases. Looking around me there are many people who can be considered uncontrollable or wild, and very few who are disciplined. In the world that we live in today having discipline is an important feature of someone’s personality. My parents taught me this lesson through many different trials. When, I was able to walk my dad taught me how to do push-ups. I always thought that he did it as a punishment or to try and teach my sister and I a lesson. This however was not the case at all. He would always tell me to “Keep your head up” because I was almost done with my set for the day. As, I got older I began to go

from doing 10-20 push-ups to being able to do 50-60 push-ups in a row easily. He would push us past our limits each and every time we were told to do push-ups. Then my father stopped counting for us and began to make do it ourselves. He had built the foundation for us and he wanted us to continue building on it. As we did it more and more by ourselves we noticed larger changes in the amount, and in other aspects of our lives. We also began to see the people who weren’t able to “Keep their heads up”. Many of the things my father made us do when we were younger caused us to be the responsible, and independent people we are. As I got older I began to see the people that weren’t “keeping their head up” hadn’t changed. I began to realize that without thinking about it I was considered mature and responsible. Many adults had told me that my parents had raised me well, and that my sister and I were very respectful children. In my eighth grade class my best friend “Tyler” was the most reckless child, and all of the teachers disliked him. He was and still is an undisciplined child my best friend, but he was irresponsible and undisciplined. The teachers had always compared him to me, and although we were very close to each other I began to think. This is when I realized that one of my closest friends was so different from me I understood what all those long hours of discipline, dedication, repetition taught me. I finally understood why my father had told me to “Keep my head up”. My father always told that everything happens for a reason, and as I look back at all of the push-ups he made me do I’m thankful. The push-ups will always help me in a figurative way and physical way. In the future I will keep my discipline and maturity, but I will change by becoming wiser. I will continue to “keep my head up” because with this phrase a lesson is taught of discipline and determination. Although, I will have more push-ups to do (more responsibility to take care of). What the future has in store for me in ten years I will be prepared for because I was told to “keep my head up” because if you look down you have given up.

Shoveling Snow - By: Brandon Diaz When I was old and strong enough to shovel snow my mother and father would tell me to help my grandfather clear out his snow in his house. When my parents told me this at first I did not like the idea because all I wanted to do was go in my house and sit in front of the radiator and warm up. I was cold after shoveling my house, and the last thing I wanted to do was to shovel another house, but I always listened to my parents. I would always go over and help my grandfather shovel. As I grew older I started to help without being asked. I would start to feel guilty if I did not help, because I feel like I did not do my job. One day, when I was young, I was curious about why my parents wanted me to help my grandfather, so I asked them why. My mother told me, “I tell you to go across and help your grandpa because you have to learn to help your family and your elders.” When my mom told me it made sense why she told me to go across. After she told me this, I didn’t think of it as a punishment to help my grandfather. The words my mother told me stuck to me like tape sticks to paper, and I do my best to live out the words. I always help out my family with their struggles, and always help and respect my elders. If I am going into a store and I open the door for myself and see an older person walking behind me, I will wait for them and hold the door open for them. This lesson my mother taught me taught me responsibility. I learned that I have to help out my family, the elderly, and people that cannot help themselves. I learned that I have to help everyone even if they don’t need a lot of help. In life there's always people who agree and disagree with the ideas you follow. You can learn if they follow similar ideas as yourself without even asking them. If you watch people and their actions, you can see what set of ideals they follow. For example, as I stated before, I would always hold doors for elderly people, and go out of my way to help them, which when I watch a see a lot of other people doing the same thing. I see small children, teenagers, and adults picking something up for elders, holding doors for them, and carrying heavy bags for them. When I see this I feel good because I know their are other people in the world that care about people and sought out to do the right thing.

If there's good there's always bad, and unfortunately some people don’t follow the ideas to help elderly and always try and do the right thing. I have seen these actions in my life, and even with my friends. When I was in junior high school I had this group of friends I used to hang out with. I did not like these friends very much, but at the time they were the only group of friends I had. When I would hang out with them I was disappointed by their actions. When we would go to our local deli or store and they opened the door and say an elderly lady/man walk behind them they would not hold the door open. I remember these actions and remember they did this almost every time we would hang out. When I say this I would go over to the door and hold it open for them. These ‘friends’ of mine would also make a mess in stores, and I would always try to fix their mess. I became tired of always fixing their messes so I stopped being their friends and now, I no longer have any connections with them. This is an example of people that have not learned this lesson yet, and they need to take a visit to their grandparents house and shovel their snow. Learning the lesson will teach them to have some responsibility. They need to learn to be responsible and help out people, instead of being lazy and inconsiderate people who don’t open the door for older people. I can see myself in many years to still follow these rules. For my years at Holy Cross High school, I need multiple hours of service in order to graduate. I can see myself volunteering at a nursing home and helping people who can not help themselves. I know I won’t mind volunteering because I am helping people and I am also learning responsibility, and also I am gaining hours I need to graduate. I use this lesson in my life now, and I know I will still follow in years to come. My mother and father taught me a very important lesson through the actions of shoveling snow. Helping my grandpa shovel taught me to always help family and the elderly. I use this lesson throughout my life and will use it throughout my life. I will be influenced by this lesson with the volunteer work I need to do for high school, but I will carry on this lesson for the rest of my life. I will never forget the lesson I was taught as a young child and hopefully people will see my example and follow the lesson I learned.

Making My Bed - By: Tyler Kilpatrick When I was younger, every morning my mother would tell me to make my bed. I didn’t understand what she was trying to teach me so I just did what she told me to do. She would have me make my bed every single day. She would even make me make my bed even when I was sick. During this time, I thought she made me do this so my room wouldn’t look messy. She wouldn’t explain why I had to make my bed so I had always thought this. As I started to get older (when I was around 6 or 7), I started to question why I had to do this task. “Why do I have to make my bed if I’m just going to mess it up again at night?” She would always tell me to do it anyways. I would always get frustrated but still do it. I really didn’t want to make it because I thought it was pointless and boring to fix a bed that was just going to become messy again. If I ever questioned my mother more than once in a day about fixing my bed, she would become angry at me. When I was around 10, I didn’t mind making my bed anymore. My mom would always ask me every morning if I had made my bed. A few years later when I began to notice things about the world better, I realized what she was trying to teach me by having me make my bed. She wanted to teach me responsibility. Making my bed on my own would teach me to be independent and be able to know how to do certain things. Making my bed had made me have all of these characteristics as I became older. By the time I was in middle school, I began to notice who didn’t make their beds. Those were the kids that would always ask people to explain every math equation to them instead of trying it on their own. They were the same kids that would ask for a pencil during class instead of bringing in their own. My mother would always ask me if there were kids like that in school. She would explain to me that those children would be like that for a lot of their lives. She also would say that the kids that do their own work and do things independently will be successful in life. This lesson applies to my life now. The lesson my mom taught me has helped

me to figure things out on my own and to not rely on others for many things. In the future, this lesson will definitely be useful for me. This will help me to get certain jobs on my own and not think that I will have everything given to me. This will definitely help me to be a better person ,independent person in the future.

The Way I Learned How to Responsible - By: William Eckert

When I was younger, I learned to carry my Own weight due to my father and my siblings. I learned to be self sufficient, responsible, and to help others. When I was little I learned to “carry my own weight” around. This is how it all began. I was watching my dad do work on our house upstate new york, and I was just sitting there doing nothing. Yet he was working and working. I felt bad, and in the way, so I realized what I needed to do. About a month later, my dad showed me how to work on this house were building. I pick up a glove and hammer and my father starts teaching me how to insulate the bottom of this shed at our summer house. This led from being in the way, to making a beneficial impact, I was working hard, and enjoying myself. Then I later on realized, that in the end my father was teaching me ethics, and responsibility. This was mind boggling to me, and then I realized, all this time I was useless in a sense, then I become useful. When I was working, not only was responsibility a factor, but also a life lesson, which was to balance work, and fun. Later on, when I began high school, I noticed that people were not responsible nor were they dirven to work, but to only have fun, or work too hard. Then I realized what my dad had taught me, to be responsible, and to balance life. I then reflected. I then realized what this small lesson had taught me in the end. It turned out later on, my father helped me become a better, harder working, driven human being. I was ready for the world, and i was also ready for high school. At this point in time, the life lesson my father taught me, benefits me in various aspects. An example of this is, two weeks ago, I had a biology test on a friday, and my friends invited me to hang out. I was stuck between work and fun. I then remembered what my father had taught me about responsibility, and balance of work, and fun. I

then realized what i needed to do. The next day I took the test, I studied the night before, and got a 97 and that helped me in the end. I then realized that, if I went with my friends, I might have failed that test and would have been stuck. Before I learned this lesson I probably would have failed that test because i would have gone with my friends, but with the lesson i was taught, it applied to my life and benefited me. This will help me in the future when I’m a senior. Theortically, when I'm a senior, this life lesson of responsibility will be useful when work, and fun intercept each other, and you need to choose what is more important. This is how this life lesson benefited me in most aspects of my life, and how this made me a better, harder working, and more responsible person.

Honesty is my Best Policy - By: Kevin Goldfield

Honesty is definitely the best policy. Ever since I was three years old and could learn to talk, I’ve tried ways to deceive my parents and use my innocence against them. Nobody wants to take the blame for what they did, whether it be breaking a vase or writing with markers on the wall. I had a bad case of this; as mentioned before, I never wanted to take the blame and would try my best to deceive my parents. Everytime I lied, I would get caught and get in a lot of trouble. To combat my problem with dishonesty, my parents tried many things to get me to stop. Most of their attempts failed, however one thing my parents always did got to me. Everytime I did something bad and fessed up, my parents wouldn’t yell at me. However if I continued to lie and wasn’t honest, I would get in a lot of trouble. If I were honest, I would be rewarded; I would get a pass on the yelling and reprimanding that would occur because of my naughty actions. I began to grow warmer to the feeling of confessing after that point. It was simple, if you did something bad all you would have to do is apologize. Who wouldn’t want to take the easy way out? I knew I did. So after my parents began to do this, I would constantly confess to my mistakes. I would confess because it allowed me to get out of being in trouble. I didn’t realize the value of their actions. They were teaching me about responsibility and owning up to your mistakes. Without knowing it, my parent’s actions continue to help me in my daily life. When I was in grade school, this lesson was vital. One story in particular sticks out. I had about twenty five classmates and only one teacher, her name was Mrs. A. Twenty-five third graders and one teacher created a concoction for confusion. We had a quiz that was graded out of one hundred. When we received the test, mine was graded one hundred. To my immediate

displeasure, I found out that I got four questions wrong; which meant that I got a much lower grade. I wanted to simply just play it off and keep that stellar grade. My conscience kicked in, and I felt guilty. What should I do? I would possibly be rewarded for being honest, but it could also work against me. Maybe Mrs.A would think that I cheated and changed my low grade to a one hundred? Then she would never trust me. What should I do? I remembered how my parents dealt with lying and dishonesty, they rewarded honesty and shamed lying. What should I do? After a lot of thought, I decided to tell my teacher. She recognized this as her mistake, and decided to keep my one hundred. Mrs. A was admired by my honesty. Ironically, this happened to a few other students and they didn’t fess up. Mrs. A was a strict teacher, and lying was one of her pet peeves. The students who weren’t honest got their grades lowered to their actual scores. It felt good to get something like that off my chest, I could go home and tell my parents the story of my valor. Needless to say, my parents were very proud of me. My parent’s lessons not only saved my grade, but it also bettered my insight on the rest of the world. With my parents lesson of honesty, it allowed me to see that other people were not totally honest. When I was younger and my parents used to make me confess, I never realized that other kids who got away scott-free without being honest. As I got older and more experienced, I saw that people lied about things so minimal and unimportant. For example, one time a classmate wasn’t honest with my teacher because she took a pen off of the teachers desk without permission. It could have been solved with a simple apology and “I won’t do it again.”. Instead it escalated into an entire class-wide investigation. It isn't all bad, as I see people often who actually live up to their mistakes and learn from them. For example, my friend from grade school lived up to his mistakes and always apologized. This gained him a lot of respect from both our classmates and teachers. I followed in his example, and in turn, I was rewarded with honor among my peers. In a sense, my parent’s lesson of honesty continues to extend to almost every aspect of my life. Now that I’m in highschool, this lesson becomes even more prevalent. I use honesty everyday. I never cheat on tests or homework. I don’t lie to my peers or teachers. In my daily life, I use this lesson to achieve respect from my parents and relatives. My parents trust me with many responsibilities, including taking care of my younger cousins or going to the store to get groceries. Some of my relatives even trust me more than their spouses! Honesty has made me feel like a better person. I no longer feel guilty about things that could be solved with a simple “I’m sorry”. I fully realize why the famous saying, “honesty is the best policy” is correct.

Overall, I believe that honesty allows me to further myself into adulthood. Honesty is a special aspect that I believe everyone would benefit from. I know that wherever my life takes me, I will be honest through it all. Being honest will allow me to gain respect from my future co-workers and boss, my future family, and friends that I make along the way. Being trustworthy and honest could gain me prestige in every aspect of my future life. Even though I’m still young, I think that everybody, no matter age, race, or gender, would benefit from being honest with each other. In a world where lies and deceptions make headlines, I believe that honesty would make the world a better place. Wouldn’t it be good to hear a story of a criminal apologizing for his crime? I think it would. And so, as the old saying goes, “honesty is the best policy”.

Vacuum the Stairs Tommy!! - By: Thomas Graham Ever since I was a little kid, I have had chores. Whether it be drying the dishes after dinner, vacuuming and dusting the house, or taking out the trash, I always have something to do around the house. My chores started when I was about 4 years old. My mom then taught me some basic chores to do around the house such as dusting and vacuuming the house, drying the dishes after my dad washed them, and taking out the garbage with my dad. These chores carry on even now that I’m in High School and will continue until I move out. One story that sticks with me that is attributed to my chores is the story of how I got my IPad Mini. It was hot summer day. I had just finished doing my chores and was eating my lunch when I saw a commercial for the IPad Mini on T.V.. The minute I saw it, I knew that that was what I wanted for Christmas. I went and found my mom and told her my discovery. She then told me “You can get the IPad but you are going to have to pay for it. My mom and I then worked out a deal because I had no money. My mom would pay me five dollars for every week that I completed my chores. If my mom didn’t see they were done, she wouldn’t pay me. Did I complain sometimes about doing my chores? Of course! Did I stop doing my

chores because I didn’t see instantaneous results? No way! Did I decide to stop doing my chores because it would take to long to get what I wanted? Absolutely not! These chores took my time away from things I wanted to do, like play video games and go out with my friends but little did I know these miniscule chores would help me develop into the man I am now. When I grew older, I noticed something in school. Kids were forgetting their assignments, weren’t responsible for their actions after they were bad, and even cheated openly on tests. I soon found out that these kids didn’t have any chores at home. After that, I realized that my mom just wasn’t teaching me how to do my chores but how to be responsible and not give up. The story about the IPad was the first of many that show how a strong work ethic and responsibility can accomplish many things. Now I am in High School and my chore load has just gotten heavier. My mom believes that I’m older so I should have more chores. Having more chores is helping me to develop my work ethic and sense of responsibility even more and I am definitely thankful for my mom teaching me to do chores. I have recently started playing football and my work ethic and sense of responsibility that I developed through my chores was what carried me through the season. In college I hope that my work ethic and sense of responsibility can help me to excel in the study of what I want to do in life. If I want to study something very difficult in college or want to change my major I need my work hard to get my degree. I also have to have a sense of responsibility to my teachers, roommates, and friends so that we can all benefit from the college experience. In the end, chores aren’t a punishment from your parents but a life lesson in disguise.

Do “It” Yourself If You Want It Badly - By: Brendan Hagan “Do it yourself if you want it badly” is something my mom always told me. I valued that lesson throughout my childhood. When I was young, both my parents were very busy. However, my mom taught me this important lesson. In the 6th grade, I was struggling in math. I felt the teacher wasn’t good at her job. With my parents and

siblings being busy, I never had any help. I started to get poor grades, so I had to teach myself. Did I want to learn math math? No. Did I want to get good grades? Yes. I brought my textbook home and I taught myself what we are learning the next day. I did this everyday and started to excel in math. With me being persistent in studying for math, I am now in a math honors class. I did it myself because I wanted it desperately. Also, I really wanted to play sports as I got older. However, no one was available, so I had to teach myself. After school everyday I would rush home and watch baseball and basketball to learn the rules and how to play. I begged my siblings to bring me to the park so I could practice. I worked hard every day. Even though I wasn’t very good at it, however I learned a valuable lesson. I did it myself because I greatly wanted it. Now in high school I see people who never learned this lesson. These people always beg me to “help” them with homework, but what they really want is the answers. Unless I could trust the person to actually learn for what I teached them, I don’t do it. The people that don’t do it themselves are the same people that stress out the day of a test because they don’t understand something. I know this lesson would help me in the future. In college the things I will learn will be very difficult. But, the lesson I learned in the past will help me do good in this class and understand it. Also, I would have trouble adapting to being independent. I would have to do my own laundry that I don’t know how to do. This valuable lesson would help me through life.

Clean your Room! - By: Samuel Lee When I was younger, my mother would teach me how to clean my room. She taught me to fix my bed when I woke up in the morning. I would have to fold my blanket into a neat rectangular shape and then put in on one side of my bed. She would also tell me to put the books back on the shelf after reading it. I was always responsible for keeping my possessions clean.

My mother values responsibility over most things. Back when she was a kid in Korea, she had to take care of three dogs with her siblings. She would take turns feeding the dog, washing the dog, and cleaning the dog’s waste. She would tell me the importance of being responsible on a daily basis. After I mastered the skill of cleaning my room, my mom gave me more work to do. Next thing I knew, I was vacuuming the house and watering the plants. Was doing all of this work fun? Did I not want to do it sometimes? Of course, every time I felt lazy or didn’t want to do these tasks, I would try to resist. But then, I would get in trouble and I would have no choice. When I was little, my mother would compliment me everytime I completed my task and I would be happy. So, I would always try to do my best on my next assignment. This mindset had stayed with me from then. When I went to school, I would see that some of my friends were completing their job as a student. They were able to complete their homework on time without delay. These friends showed no laziness and finished their work with hard work. Looking at these friends, I knew they had to make their own beds and clean their own rooms because they did the same thing in school. They were able to achieve their responsibilities as a student. I always thought that everyone cleaned their own rooms, but some kids in school seem to be lazy and slack off. They wouldn’t do their homework and tell the teacher, “I left it at home” or an “I forgot about it”. A student’s responsibility is to study and finish the work given by the school. These students aren’t responsible because they seem to put games or television before what is important. This is an indication of a student that doesn’t put the book back when asked to or when finished. I try to complete everything with precision when given a task. This is because it shows responsibility and hard work. I have learned in prior years, if a person is considered responsible, then there is a possibility that people might like he/she for their responsibility. When applying for a job or a college, this is very crucial. If I am responsible then I can get good grades and complete the criteria needed for that university or career.

Cleaning my room and completing house chores made me learn the importance of responsibility. Now I know why my mother values responsibility over most things.

Keep Your Eye On The Ball - By: Nicholas Moniz When I was old enough to start understanding the rules of baseball my dad wanted to teach me to catch a baseball. As I watched many games, I had an idea of how to catch a baseball. The players made it look easy and I thought it would be easy to catch a baseball too. However, this was not true and I had a very difficult time catching the ball.I learned to keep my eye on the ball and to not give up because I would definitely not be able to catch the ball if I did not try. On one summer day, my dad and I were playing catch and I was unable to catch the ball after many attempts. I would see the ball fly through the air and I would hold out my glove over my face, hoping it would fall in. I told my dad, “I don’t want to play anymore because I can’t catch the ball.” My dad replied with, “Let’s do a couple of more throws and if you really try, you will catch the ball. Remember to keep your eye on the ball.” My dad then threw the baseball at me and I was able to catch it. After that, every time we played catch, I was able to catch more balls every time, until I never dropped any. This allowed us to grow our game of catch, as we could make the distance greater or throw the ball higher and faster. During the same time, I was also learning how to do other things like tying my own shoes. This was something I found to be very difficult. I would tie my shoe only to see the laces fall back on the shoe all tangled up. I remembered my dad telling me, “keep your eye on the ball.” I concentrated really hard and it took my less time to learn to tie my shoes than it did to catch a baseball. I kept trying to successfully tie my shoe and did not give up because I knew that at any attempt, I would have tied my shoe. As I entered middle school and later high school, I was able to tell who did not “keep their eye on the ball.” There were actually many kids that I saw that were very similar. These were the kids that got bad grades on homeworks and tests. When they did not know how to do the work, they gave up easily and did not take the time to

learn it themselves. They also did not concentrate and focus in class. These were the same kids that never understood how other classmates got high grades because they were ignorant of the idea of taking time to learn how to do something. Sometimes, I would get asked, “How did you get a 98 on that test? I didn’t understand any of it.” I would respond with, “I studied what I didn’t know.” To me, it felt normal to keep reviewing notes or problems until I understood them. Later on in my life, “keeping my eye on the ball” will make my life a lot better. When I continue through high school, I will continue to study the hard work that I am doing to make sure I understand it. Once I get to college and do much harder work, I can use what I learned to not give up and to do the work in order to open up my life to many more possibilities that would not have been there if I did not do well in school. Being able to do this was possible because I learned how to catch a baseball. Start Off Small, End Up Big - B y: Vincent Morinello

When my dad was just around my age, he played sports very often. Any kind of sport, even one that him and his friends had just made up. He always told me about the different types of stories and memories he had from playing sports with his friends. These memories lasted in his heart for his entire life, which are ones that I wanted also. So as a result, he always told me; play a sport. It didn’t matter what sport, whether he liked it or not, as long as I played a sport. He wanted me to do as he did in his childhood, and it helped me learn many parts of life that you can’t learn from reading a book. This aspect of his life carried into mine, and left a lasting impact on it; more than I expected, however. By listening to his advice and taking up a sport, I learned many important skills such as leadership, teamwork, and work ethic. I learned how to work hard to achieve my goals through this experience. I learned what it meant to be dedicated, to be independent.

My dad offered this lesson to me in a way that I could only see in hindsight. As a younger child he always encouraged me to play a sport, so I did. Now at first as with all other things I was not very good at any sport, so I had to learn. With this learning process came a lot of hard work and dedication to what I was striving for. With my dedication also came his dedication, by taking me to different clinics and events to learn more about the sport I had chosen to take up, which was baseball. After learning the sport and becoming better, I began to play competitively and eventually practice almost every single day. From this entire experience, I learned many lessons that can be applied to different areas of life. I learned how to be a team player, how to be competitive in all that I do, how to set goals and strive to reach them, how to be a leader, and especially how to work hard. When I wanted to reach a goal to better myself in baseball, I knew that I had to work hard to succeed When I was in elementary and middle school, people who lacked these traits stuck out to me. Whether it was during a group project, or just a game of kickball in recess, it was obvious to me who lacked these traits. During most group projects, I ended up doing a majority of the work and being the leader of the group when the project had to be presented. How could my classmates not be able to cooperate with each other? Group projects were what every student wanted the teacher to assign, because they were fun, but they still couldn’t find a way to work together. Looking back in hindsight, I realized where I acquired this leadership skill from, as being on a baseball team required this trait. The people who lacked these traits often annoyed me, as they didn’t know how to work with other teammates or group members. I viewed it as common sense, but my classmates understand how to act properly. Working together is a major part of school and outside life, but the amount of people who didn’t know how to baffled me. Some of my classmates in high school also lack the work ethic to succeed in high school. They often ask me for my homework or classwork because they are either too lazy to do it or do not how to. This frustrates me because my hard work and paying attention in class should not be benefiting them as well. These qualities apply to my present life as a high school student, as I must work hard to achieve a high average or make the baseball team. This work ethic that I learned through training to become the best player that I could translated to my life now. I must work hard to obtain the grades that I want, as my teachers treat me like a young adult. The difference now is that things are not handed to you anymore, so other students cannot barely pass by anymore through getting help

from their parents or slacking off in class. It is a much different environment in which key skills are required to succeed that are obtained from outside of school and translate into school. The experiences that I had in my earlier life can also be a key part of my life in the future. When I am in college or later in my high school life, work ethic and leadership will be very important to leading a successful life. It becomes even more independent where you control your own destiny. The teachers or professors do not care if you do the bare minimum, so you must control how much you want to do. It may be through completing an extra assignment or taking an extra class to obtain college credits and save my parents some money. However, despite looking so far into the future, it all started with playing a sport from when I was young. Who would’ve thought that something so minor, something unrelated to school, could have such an impact on the life and career of a person? It just goes to show that life is not all about school, or any area, it is about having a balance of traits so that you can succeed in all areas of life.

Pump Your Tires and Tie Your Shoes On Your Own Time - By: Luca Nitti Throughout my life I have learned that personal responsibility is key to managing your own life and becoming successful. I learned this through personal experiences and reinforcements by my parents. My parents teach me everyday that learning to be responsible is hard but is what will separate the unsuccessful people from successful people. To this day my family teaches me to be responsible, and I started to notice how important personal responsibility is when I began high school. These experiences include minor and major events. These incidents include learning to tie my shoes, pumping air into my tires and fixing my bike, studying and doing homework on my own as well as being responsible for my items. These lessons made me a better person and had deeper meaning. Most of my personal experiences were forced upon me in a situation where it was do it yourself or it will not be done at all. I learned to tie my own shoes when I was in 1st grade before my baseball game in which I was late. My dad was loading the

car up and we were very late. It was up to me to tie my shoes on my own. The knots I made were not the neatest but as I did this more often it became more natural. I ended up playing well and finishing the game. Afterwards my dad was proud of me as well as surprised and I was too. Learning to tie my shoes made me feel grown up because I was the first to learn out of all my friends. I used this ability when my parents were not available such as in school or during sports. This also got me off of velcro shoes. Another personal experience forced upon me was learning to pump air into my tires and learning to ride a bicycle. I learned to do both of these things when I was in 4th grade. My dad left me home alone and I wanted to ride my bike so badly, but my tires were out of air. I tried many things to get air into them. I even tried blowing air into them. Then I realized that I had a bike pump next to me and somehow I figured out how to use it efficiently. Before that event I learned to ride my bike when my father removed my training wheels without any question and forced me to ride. I fell many times but in the end I learned to ride and pump air into my tires all by myself and I am proud. I observed going into middle school that many of my peers have not established the same amount of responsibility as I have. Why can't they do these things? Or Why are they so incompetent? I hated these types of people. I hated people who had no ability to care for themselves. I hated people who acted stupid. Most of all I absolutely hated people who always needed help and couldn’t fend for themselves. I see these types of people throughout everyday. I hate it when people go around asking me for help whether it's in school or on the street. Depending on what it is I help as much as I can but some things people need to know how to do by now such as tying your shoes or doing your own homework. I am willing to help people and teach them, but I will not do what other people do for them; That is the reason they are this way. This applies to my life now especially during high school. I am more responsible about my school work and my own belongings. My grades are definitely higher than they would be if I was not as responsible as I am now. I thank my parents every day for being a little hard on me about these small things. They taught me everything. They showed me what was right and what was wrong. They taught me that the world only makes it sense if you force it too. They are the reason I am doing as well as I am right now.

These small things affect the big picture of who I will be in the future. These lessons will make me a better person for myself and to other people. I will become more reliable to other people. My parents and my peers allowed me to become the best person I can be. They did this by doing everything they could and gave me everything they had and what I needed to get me where I am today; that’s why I will be successful in the future. The smallest things teach the biggest lessons. Cleaning My Room Taught me to be Responsible -By:

Matthew Osorio As a young child, I was always taught to keep my room clean. My parents would always make me clean my own room after school. If I didn’t, I would not be allowed to watch television or play video games. This made me take responsibility for my own room. Learning this at a young age taught me to keep my possessions organized and neat. At the time, I did not think that cleaning my room would teach me a lesson that I will never forget. Being the second child of the family, my parents knew what they needed to do to make me a well behaved kid. In addition to my behavior, they also cared about me and how I was going to take care of my responsibilities. With this in their mind, they gave me the responsibility of cleaning my room everyday. At the time, I was very young so I did not realize that this was actually helping me. Instead, I thought they were punishing me if I did not do what they wanted me to do. Most kids that age would think the same thing. When I learned this lesson later on in my life I understood that they were only helping me, not harming me. I realized this once I saw other kids the same age acting less mature and not caring about their possessions. Other kids in school would always lose their textbooks, pens, and other school items. I thought this was weird because I always knew where my school supplies were. This happened to me around fifth or sixth grade. I was more prepared for middle school than the other kids. This helped me get my grades up from the previous year. My parents knew that what they had

taught me as I was growing up, would help my time management and responsibility for school. Now, in highschool, I am especially thankful that I learned this lesson. The responsibility and time management skills I learned helped me get into a good high school with a partial scholarship. With all of the homework and tests I get I can still hang out with friends and spend time with my family. Cleaning my room has taught me that if I do the right thing in the moment, I will be receiving what I put back into my work. Back then, me being able to play games was my reward. Now, I always strive to be the best at what I need or want to do in life. In high school, time management and responsibility are the most important things. These skills will help someone in high school get past the four years with ease. High school will become difficult when you don’t manage your time. With these skills I learned at a young age, I will be able to go through high school and hopefully get into a good college with a scholarship. This could all happened just because I learned about responsibility at a young age.

To Care for a Dog - By: Dimitrios Santiago When I was a kid and was old enough to have a pet, I had a dog named Dory. I got him in third grade and had to take care of him everyday. My mom always made me take him on walks and put food and water in his bowls. I thought it was because she did not want to do it herself, but that was not the reason. In elementary and middle school, I would have to walk my dog once I got home and it was tiring to walk around the block after walking all the way home with a heavy bookbag on. Sometimes, I didn’t know what to do if my dog peed on the carpet after he would stay home alone all day. We would lay out a mat for him but he would rather pee on the carpet floor. I didn’t know how to take the dried pee out of the carpet. But my mom told me to use a mixture of vinegar and water, and then use baking soda after it dries. Although it was disgusting to clean off the floor, I still did had to do it so

my mom wouldn’t yell at me. My dad bought me a dog pooper scooper for when I walked my dog so that I wouldn’t have to bend over and get really close to the poop my dog leaves on the grass. My dad also taught me which bones to give to my dog. He said that dogs love steak bones, but never give them a chicken bone, or else they might choke. I can tell when some people take good care of their pets, and who are the people that don’t take the dog out for a walk. This can be seen through how people treat others. If someone treats others with kindness, they might have pets at home that they take care of. The people that don’t show care for others are the people that don’t take the dog out. Plus, some people that seem happier throughout the day probably have a friend at home that they can pet and play with. Responsible people can also be seen as people with pets. This is because they know how to maintain something important. Irresponsible people would not be able to take care of a pet for longer than a week, those are the people that don’t remember when to take the dog out for a walk. In my life now, taking care of a pet has helped me keep my room clean, keep my grades up and be responsible for things I own. I am more responsible with my room and keep the electronics off the floor like my controllers and remotes. I keep clothes in the drawers and closet and I make sure that I take water bottles down stairs. I keep my grades up because I’ve became responsible with homework and studying. The lesson I learned about responsibility and empathy will help me in my future years of school and high school friendships. In my next years of high school, I hope to show empathy to classmates, teachers, and other kids in the school. I hope to be a responsible student when I apply for colleges and take important tests. Also, I hope to be an empathetic and responsible friend for my friends in school. I hope to care for them and be responsible when they need me. I hope the lessons I learned when I was younger about taking care of a dog will help me be a better person in the future.

Do Your Work On Time! - By: Jaskaran Singh When I was a young boy, I always struggled to finish my schoolwork on time, even when my mother and my father pushed me to complete my assignments. I was very immature and irresponsible. My mother always told me when I was a young boy that if I were ever late with something I wouldn't be successful in life. My parents would talk to me during nights when I was doing my work late and give me restrictions such as no video games, and no staying after school to play with my friends. Eventually, I learned to do everything on time and be more responsible. I got my first detention in second grade for not doing homework, and this changed my mindset forever. One night, I had three homework assignments for my second grade Writing teacher. I forgot my Reading textbook at school, and I couldn’t complete two of my assignments. When I arrived at school the next day, she greeted me with a detention because I had missed too many assignments. I was grounded with no video games, and I was very disappointed in myself. The night I brought the detention slip home, my parents sat me down to teach me a way to finish my work on time. I was taught to copy down my homework assignment in class on a notepad, bring home my books, and do my homework right when I got home. After this, I decided to start working hard and doing everything on time. When people in my school ask their peers to copy their homework in the morning the assignment is due, I can tell that they have not learned responsibility as I did. If you are late with something, you won’t be successful in life. People like this are not responsible because they don’t do their work on time. I can tell people learned the same lesson as me when they aren’t screaming on the bus, doing work, and not talking baldly. I still have homework, but now I am never late. However, this experience has taught me far more than doing my homework on time. I am a very responsible person. I can reflect on this experience to be responsible with money, for example. I don’t spend all of my money when I go out to eat or go to the mall. I can also go

places on my own now, as I am responsible crossing streets and respectful on the bus. I take care of my little brother not too. I can get food for him and ready the bath for him. I learned that you can always do something if you work hard and believe in yourself. For the future, I can look back on this experience to help me with my education. This will help me get into a good college and job. With college applications, I will be early, and this, in turn, will help me in the far future. If you are late with something, you won’t be successful in life. If I want to eat healthy, I can use this as motivation. In fact, I will utilize this to be on time for jobs and school when I have a car.

Do Your Own Laundry - By: Kyle Tracy In your life you will learn lessons through experience. You learn a lot as a young innocent child living just about a carefree life. Still not really knowing your right from wrong is where you learn some of your most valuable life lessons that stick with you through the entirety of your life. As a 12 year old I was taught to do my own laundry. As I do my laundry, it has taught me a lesson of to get done what I need to get done. As a kid I used to be cranky. I would never have the clothes I wanted to wear outside or to school. Sometimes all my clothes would be in the wash and I would be struggling to find clothes that I could actually wear. It had finally gotten so bad that I needed to start doing my own laundry instead of waiting for it to get done for me. Now I do my laundry about two times a week. I have clean clothes and I always have something to wear. Through my personal experience, it’s clear to say that not many have learned the same lesson as me. Many don't always get done what they need to at the time they feel they should and procrastinate until they are pressed for time. Many of my friends rely on their parents to do things for them that they could easily do themselves. An example of this is their laundry. Many kids still rely on their parents for them to have clean clothes for school. Most kids don’t take responsibility and in the long run it will hurt them. This lesson that I have learned has helped me alot in recent times. This lesson comes into play in multiple areas of my life. My schoolwork is an example of where this lessons helps me. For most of my life it was saving all my projects, essays and

homework till the very last minute. I know that I do not work work the fastest and that I can easily get distracted from the task at hand, so from this lesson I have been able to start my school work at reasonable times and be able to finish it all before I would have started, prior to learning this lesson. In the future, this lesson will stay valuable to me. When it comes time for college and finding a job, no one will be doing anything for me. I will have to find a job and only I can do that for myself. With this lesson, I know that it is up to me to succeed in life and that I will either set myself up for success or failure. Most kids that have not learned this lesson will not be able to get to do what they want in life as they dont have the same drive and motivation that I have aquired. I thank myself for learning to do laundry as only good things come from doing so.

Homework is More Important Than it May Seem - By: Nicolas Valle Gomez As a young child, a week day consisted of school, homework, and the typical fun a child has. However, the significance of each and every day as a child is the actual way I treated the simple school work I was given. I would do my homework as early as I could, which showed me one’s work, whatever it may be, in life should be done early. Doing homework early was something normal to me and made sense, I now realized I was taught this and it became an important lesson in my life. I learned to do one’s work in life early, even if I was not exactly aware of me learning this important quality. This quality eventually taught me responsibility and stayed with me for the rest of my life. I understood homework should be done early on one unique day in the First Grade. The First Grade was quite an experience, it was the first time I was given real work besides colors and shapes. Early in the school year, I came home one day and was about to continue my normal routine as a 6 year old when my brother asked, “ Did you do your homework?”. I realized from that point on that homework was a very important part of school. I asked myself, “What if I started

doing homework early?” Eventually I realized I could not fully enjoy myself with homework hanging over my head, the benefits of doing work early was clear. The next day I did my homework early and I truly felt that I accomplished something. My brother asked me once again if I finished my homework since I was playing. I proudly answered yes. Then both my mom and brother explained how it was better to get homework over with as soon as possible. I was not aware I was being taught one of the most important lessons in my life that would greatly apply to my life, especially my work ethic. To this day, as a high school freshman, I strive to get homework over with as soon as I am able to. Homework has also ever since become something over my head at all times, which keeps me from forgetting my tasks. This positive quality that has stayed with me has supported me throughout my life, not just specifically in schoolwork. I learned that one will always get through difficult work if one truly desires to do it, shown through preserving from the start. My brother planned to teach me this lesson by slowly pushing me to finish my homework early. Throughout the many classmates I have had over the years, I have noticed most have not been taught the same lesson. Often I hear of students doing their homework “the morning before it is due”. It is interesting to see many have been raised differently and have unique sets of principles. However I have seen that there are students who have been taught the same lesson which is also a special sight, knowing that people have similar views in life as I do. This lesson, when learned, can stay with one for the rest of his/her life. It is amazing to think that a simple lesson I learned as a young child has affected my life greatly. It will continue to be a part of my education and work in the real world. In the future, I will continue to remember the moment I was taught to finish homework early and apply it to problems of all aspects in my life. The lesson that was meant to be something minor ended up being a large part of my education and will continue to influence of my life.

Do It Yourself - By: Devlin Vuktilaj When I was little, my mom would wake me up, find my clothes for me, and take me to school every morning. When I got home, I would find my bed perfectly fixed. But as I got older, my mom gradually stopped fixing my bed, finding my clothes, and stopped waking me up in the morning for school. By the time I got to around fifth grade, I was putting an alarm for the morning, walking to and from school, finding my clothes before going to bed, and fixing my bed before leaving for school. But this didn’t happen overnight. I remember one day in fourth grade I woke up at 7:30 A.M. When I woke up, I ran to the kitchen where my mom was making breakfast. I said, “Mom, you didn’t wake me up and now I’m late for school”. Her response was, “You’re old enough to set an alarm, wake up, and get ready for school.” I remember thinking to myself that, although it may seem like something easy to do, it’s going to take some learning. Gradually, I began to notice my bed was not fixed as usual and that I started walking to and from school myself. This change made me realize how different, and not so different my life was compared to other kids in my school. When walking to school in sixth, I noticed how kids either walked, took the public or school bus, or had their parents drove them to school. Did these kids learn the same responsibilities I did? Were they taught this but didn’t understand what it really meant? To me, walking to school, finding my own clothes, and fixing my bed every morning prepared me for the future and the responsibilities I needed to learn. When my friends mentioned that they did the same thing, it helped me understand that although these actions may seem like such a little thing to do in life, it gives us a sense of responsibility and ownership in what we can accomplish. However, the kids who still had their parents drive them to school shows that they still haven’t learned to do things on their own. These kids lack that sense of responsibility that I was taught when I was younger. This applies to my life now because it has prepared me for highschool. The way this lesson has prepared me for high school is that it allowed me to recognize the amount of responsibility there has to be. Every morning I get up for school at always

6:40 A.M., have my clothes folded next to my bed that I prepared the night before, and walk to school. I learned that if you are not responsible for things in life, you will not be prepared for them. Having this responsibility taught me how to prepare in advance like for tests, hand things on time and do it to my full extent, and finally doing the right thing at the right time. The smallest thing I learned allowed me to understand the true responsibility in life. In the future, these teachings will prepare me for college and for any future challenges that come my way. The way it would help me would be learning how to take care of myself and always do the right thing. Being able to learn how to do things on my own, will help me differentiate between the pros and cons of things. In college, it will teach me how to take notes, how to get to class, and how to take care of myself without needing to heavily depend on others to help. Having this, can get me through the good times and the tough times in my life. By learning how to be responsible for myself, I am able to understand that by being prepared for now and the future, I can get somewhere far in life. Anyone can walk to school or work and get ready in the morning by themselves, but if they were taught how to do it right, they would be able to understand the difference between right and wrong. The little things in life will help us persevere and get through the the challenges we face now and in the future.

The Boots - by Michael Kourmousis When I was six I lived in Canada with my family. Before this I never had to worry about getting on boots or snow pants. My mother grew up in Canada so she was accustomed to it. Although she knew how to help me she never did.I never understood why she wouldn't help me. After losing hope on my mother helping me I figured out how to do it myself. It would take me a while at first, always being the last one out. Eventually I was able to get my boots on faster. I was still uncertain why my mother wouldn't

help me. Looking back on it she was trying to teach me independence. She didn't want me to have to rely on others. This lesson Is important in the real world. Independence is useful when you look for a job or when you go to buy a house. My mother always tries to make me understand how the real word works. She always says do it yourself because when your in the real word nobody will help you. These things that my mom teaches me I already see helpful in life. If i'm not with my parents im able to be on my own without help. She taught me that not everyone is nice. People won't help you if it doesn't work for them. She always say that she doesnt the real world to sneak up for behind and slap you in your face. Independence gives you the right to be who you want. When you're independent you move to the beat to the rhythm of your own drum.Independence causes you to be self reliant. Independence is essential to being successful in this world. People who are independent come and go a they please.An independent person gets their own schedule. Being an Independent person is useful when you live on your own or your away at school.People need to be independent so they are able to live away from home and do laundry and to cook themselves, to be able to manage money, to get a job, to manage money. These are all reasons why being an independent person is useful in life. From a young child my parents always taught me that being independent is the best skill in life.The world is a harsh place and you need to fend for yourself in order to succeed.

The Laundry - By Leon Hohauser When I was eight years old in the 3rd grade my mother taught me how to do laundry. At first I didn’t want to learn but my mother insisted. I was young and did not care much for it because I didn’t see the point for doing laundry at such a young age. I was also not sure why my mom wanted me to do this. Was it because she didn’t want to do it anymore or just felt like bothering me? At first it was difficult because I had never done laundry and it was hard since I was so short. My mom got me a big step bucket so I was able to reach the washing

machine. Then she taught me things like how you have colored clothes together and white clothes together. As I did my laundry from that moment on I began to notice that my friends didn’t do the same. Their moms would baby them and do everything for them. This still wasn’t really clear to me since I had been young. Currently I am in the 9th grade and have been doing laundry for six years. I have done my own mostly but have done others such as my dad, mother, uncle, etc. I still notice how alot of my friends don’t do their own laundry, let alone other members of their families laundry. I see how they are spoiled and treated like babies by their parents. The moral of this story of my life is that I not only learned how to do laundry, but my mom taught me how to be self sufficient. She taught me to be a young man.