English 9 Personal Essays 2020 by Michael Donohue

Real Knights Write - Volume 4, Issue 3Â

Introduction - By: Mr. Donohue

“The Real World” By: Marven Bourguillon

Personal Essay-Journal Style by Nashaida Jean Baptiste

Toxic People by Ashley Altoro

The Good Old Days By: Brenda Baksh

The Rights and the Wrongs By - Michael Carpinelli

Got Game? By Jonathan Carter

Make a Better Play by Sean Devlin

The Responsibility Of Life - By - Theodore Droggitis

Catching the touchdown By: Jayson Edmondson

Too much Will Only Bring You Down by Matthew Fernandez

The consequence of deception by Royston Fordyce

Being Sloppy By Elias Hernandez

What basketball taught me by - Nicholas Loukopoulos

Learning From my Mom by Nikolaos Mavrakis

Actions & Punishments by Brianna Mojica

Actions have Effects by Adryan Morocho

Sacrifices Within: Your Responsibilities By: Anna Oh

Why to Taste Your Own Medicine by: Stephen Ovanessian

Carry My Own Weight by Stella Panteliodis

Why responsibilities are good to learn by Adrianna Paterno

Always Help Those Who Are In need Of It by Kayla Riescher

Failure and Doubt Turned Around by Chad Seepersaud

Learning to Cook by Alexa Vasiliou

It Sticks With You Forever by Amanda Waldron

Everything happens for a reason by : Stephanie Zimmerman

Introduction - By: Mr. Donohue One of the more powerful tools that Google Classroom has added to its arsenal of lineup is the capability to publish the work you create instantly. 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. 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 Holy Cross High School English Department Chairperson

“The Real World” By: Marven Bourguillon There’s a long bridge between “popular” or being a “loser” in school that is impossible to cross. Once you are labeled a loser, such as myself. It was a definite struggle just to go one day without having to hear the insults or teases but I had to if I wanted to turn a new leaf in high school. When I look back I notice how soon I matured but also the sadness, anger, regret, & silence that still latches onto me today. Even with that backbone, I wouldn’t want it to make me act like a complete adult. I personally don’t think I would enjoy acting mature just because of my old school. For the longest time, I always tried to make at least one day good and make someone be friends but it took a lot of conversation when they’d be pulled away by someone. It was usually rare for me to be able to talk with someone and have them be friends with me, but it was after a few months of him there they’d start to join them in making fun of me, that center of attention was on me, but it was nowhere near the good type. It was bad enough but the moment one student joined our class, they’d instantly be pulled into making fun of me and avoiding me and it really made me feel like every odd was against me. But in afterschool I actually had a chance to make friends since some were older and others younger not knowing about me. Only then I was laughing, having a good time, and felt free for once. Although I would rather go home instantly, it was better for me to talk with people than just go home instantly and stick to my chair and play roblox or my Nintendo DS giving up on thinking it was worthwhile to do HW since i’d already been dropped so low in self morale. Every year at my old school was the same: Go to school, hear insults, let my feelings build up, breakdown after i reached my limit, start over. Always hearing

the same words from my dad “The kids at your school…” it just did nothing for me. i’d think things would change, but the chances of that were never, real, just a dream. Each day, the same things, a different ending, always giving a laugh, never going for help afraid of being made fun of, it takes a lot out of what you think you can do. It takes away tears you know should be coming out at that moment, but don’t. You feel, almost soulless, like a spirit that nobody notices. All of this became much harder when I entered 7th grade knowing that it would end up being the worst year of them all. Throughout most of it, ijust heard the same things over and over, like a broken record, but without anyone to tell them to leave me alone. Just this once, I lost all hope in anything I would ever do because of my ELA/homeroom teacher. For the most part he was like every other teacher, but he made 7th grade get even worse for me. He had us all listen to a little talk that I thought would be the type we all just shrug off, but at that point i already gave up on my self care, including baths, brushing my teeth, etc. So, when i hear him say “You guys are at that age now.” I just dropped dead, bothered, and unprepared for the insults I'd get soon after. You could hear everyone in the class saying my name “He’s talking about Marven...Obviously, he stinks!....No wonder he has no friends…..He’s gonna be a loner…..a smelly, lonely, unloved…” loner. At this point in school, i’d already given up worrying about my grades, “Oh..i’m failing...ok….nothing’s wrong….I just….I don't know...I just…” being asked impossible questions, having no way of answering the questions without being asked another. Everything in my life was always against me which always left me with one thing to keep my faith in. Not even God, but it was always my brother. It's usually seen as a thriller when you’d hear about someone's birthday coming up soon like “aw man, I can’t wait to surprise them with this game, toy, shirt,

etc. igot for them.” But you grow sick and tired of that quick when people don’t invite you to their parties because of what you’re seen as & don’t feel like you’re treated the same as the rest of your class. Nobody stands up for you, shrugging off help from teachers saying “i’m ok.” When it feels like you’re dying inside from all of the stress you’re going through with each day that passes. Birthday after another, no gifts, no break from all they would have to say. All of these fun experiences you could’ve gone through but denied all because of a rumor that began as children at one grade or the other. Wanting to join in on a game just to be told to be ignored, like you weren’t even a person. After leaving a school that you saw as a hell on earth keeps a lot of things attached to you. Depression, fear of going through it again, having issues with trust unless you feel trusted as much as you want to. Having all of this on me like a cape makes me try my best to be friendly with everyone, even if they really annoy me, or I just can’t stand. I still ask myself to this day “What makes you do this? Fear? Unstability? Or do you think it’s your job to keep everyone even if it hurts you in the long run?” I never know how to answer this question, but I don’t want the answer to be a simple obvious one. I want it to be something deep, and thoughtful so people who have gone through this or similar to it wouldn’t feel like their questions are simple. Each time I step from school to home, but now from home to Holy Cross it feels like at some point, my past is going to catch up and pull me away from this light i’m in with all the people i’ve met, even if I lost them from something I did but haven’t realized. Even now I had the short thought of ending it from a bad experience, but I had to tell myself “don’t do this, you have people waiting for you. Everything might feel like it did then, but it’ll change. Just give it time and you’ll see.” Even know typing this. it makes me feel lifeless, but somewhat at peace not keeping this inside only for me to know. All I could say that i’ve learned from this is to grow a thick skin for insults, being mentally prepared, and having an endurance for the pain that will come up at points in your, no, our lives. The life we live now will be a story to be remembered even if we don’t believe that’ll ever happen it would be better for us not to take what any of you get not to take it for granted, when you do it’ll hurt just as much as your horrible experience since all of it is new to you and really want to keep who and what you have through your misery and suffering.

Personal Essay-Journal Style by Nashaida Jean Baptiste September 2011I went to church with my mom. I was upset that I don't have a little sister and I had two older brothers and my mom and her boyfriend lived in a small house where we had to share rooms that day I went to church I asked God for a sister in fact I didn't even know how much work it would be to be a older sibling. I was in 2nd grade when this happened. October 2011 My mom told me she was pregnant we didn't know the gender yet but I was excited i was so happy I remember this day like it was yesterday my grandma in dominicn republic was so happy I started touching my mom stomach but nothing was there yet I was mad but excited.We had a party and my mom enjoyed herself for the first time in years she was a busy mom had to work 10 hours and I would barely see her . January, 2012 my mom's stomach was huge and that was the month I found out I having a little sister i was happy but upset because during breaks I would live with my grandma in Dominican republic with my grandma and wouldn't see my mom touched my mom's stomach and she would be in and out of the hospital because of pain. In July 2012, my mom popped out a baby and they named her Aliyah after the singer Aaliyah Dana Haughton who had died because they loved her music. I was so happy to have her in my life. I had been waiting for 9 whole months. When she finally came out all she did was cry. I was nice at first but then I would cry because she cried so much I remember my mom laughing so bad she started crying. I loved her so much. July 2015 she turned five and I was in 7th grade I remember walking home with her after school she was so annoying I wish she was somewhere else but near me but I also remembered I asked God for this little annoying creature and God gave it to me I was so mad because my mom would give her all the attention my brother was in college and I would complain to him all the time and he would teach me how to be a older sister my lesson was taught and from this day on i'm a better sister.

Toxic People by Ashley Altoro At a certain age you realize you don't need to have a big friend group. You should be surrounded by people you know you can trust. It’s not all the time about the amount of people you hang out with, but not having to question if that person is your friend or not, or if you can depend on them. Growing up for all my years even when I was younger, I was taught a lesson about trusting people and who really were my friends. To be completely honest I still have trust issues. I would never force anyone to be friends with me or if we were really close maybe I would confine in you but a lot can change and what I said could be used against me. One toxic trait of my own, I will always be there for a person and care for a person even if we never talked again or they managed to do me wrong in any way. I have had a couple toxic relationships with different people over the years one recently that really hurt to cut off. What they did that caused me to cut them off that's a completely different story, but if I could I would rant about that one person forever and still in the end say that they weren't that bad and I would support whatever they do and still care about them. Maybe I’m this type of mindset because I’m just growing up or maybe I’m just naive I don’t know. But what I do know is there's not a day that goes by that not just once I think about this person, and many people have told me to forget them and that they hurt me in a great way which I know. I continue to put myself in the pain to see them everyday, not change the path I take so I don’t have to see them, and when I do see them my stomach gets a feeling. If this were a different person like a friend group, referring to mine that was shifted for a while but it wasn't toxic it was just a separation and we each took a break from each other but then we saw the positive and looked over our differences and talked. Which is what any civilized person would do. In the case of the toxic person I still continue to see everyday, I wonder what would've happened if I didn’t jump to conclusions and understood how everything was before it got toxic. Then again there was no control, I had no way of telling this person was

the way they were because at first it was so nice to have someone who had almost the same personality as me. In the end this person never took responsibility for things they did, almost saying if something happened to them that they made happen. Another thing is being manipulative, they lack empathy, and a big one you're always arguing. Yes this does not apply to everyone but these are big signs that I continued to ignore because I let the way I felt and how open minded I was get in the way of my clear thinking which not going to lie happens more often than never. There's many ways of learning to deal with people like this and one way would be completely letting them go. Don’t do it fighting or arguing but letting them understand that you don’t wanna be in this situation anymore. And to be honest I should take my own advice but I didn't want to even get the support of my friends and have them help me get rid of this person, instead I hoped it would go away and I wouldn't have to deal with it again. Well I knew that wasn't the positive way of going about my situation but it seemed like the logical one. My friends seemed bothered by the fact I didn’t want them mentioning this person anymore and why I don’t associate with them but maybe if I spoke to them about why it bothered me they would stop hanging out with this person and stop calling them over when they walk by and other things. But I choose to keep my mouth shut and just keep to myself because this person is very generally known by a lot of people, mostly hated. But even my own friends still sit and talk with this person, so I’ve learned to distance myself away and keep that part of my life away and not think about it as much. The person still comes up in conversation to this moment but like I said I’m keeping to myself and have decided to not care anymore and not associate with the fact. When I actually sit and look back at how everyone I have stopped talking to has distanced themselves and doing their own thing, I went ahead and did the same. For myself and who I am it took a lot to just never speak to someone considering how much of a kind forgiving heart I have, but how open willing I am to just accept that people come and go.

The Good Old Days By: Brenda Baksh When I was younger my parents used to take me on all kinds of trips, we would go camping, resorts, etc. But as I got older it stopped happening as much because now I had school and I always needed to study or do homework. So, it was hard to find time to go places, along with the fact that I was now a teenager and no longer wanted to go to silly places like Chuck E Cheese, sea world, etc.. As I got older I sorta missed going on those “silly” trips because not only did I get to spend time with my parents but I also got to explore, see new places and I didn't have to worry about anything. I think with everyday that goes by I miss those days more and more. And one thing that I think that taught me is that you should never wish away your day’s. What I mean by that is that almost every kid when they younger wants to be a “big kid” and have responsibilities but then when they finally become that “ big kid” they miss the good old days when they didn't have responsibilities, didn't have to worry about school etc.. I think that almost every teenager knows the feeling when your parents start to bug you and tell you to “Get off your phone” or “ Go outside” and so forth, and I know that almost every child gets mad or aggravated. But I feel that our generation fails to realize is that soon those days won’t be so great soon most of us will have to start working, taking care of family and other responsibilities that we will have to inherit and when your parents are telling you to go outside and get off your phone they're helping you because soon you won’t have time to take a breath and go outside and relax because in your early stages of adulthood it is a hard transition almost like the transition from middle school to high school. With my Freshman year of high school coming to an end soon I started to realize how fast time really does fly and how in the blink of an eye things can change. I think that if I had the opportunity to go back in time I

would change the way I handled certain situations and I would have spent more time with my family because those are the people who will always be there for you. One thing that High school has taught me is to not take things for granted, in high school I met new people who put trust in me and told me about there past and how they have lost people in their life and I think that has to be one of my biggest fears to lose someone which I care so much about. I know that I struggle with trying to stay off my phone and interact with people but I know for a fact that it’s something that I want to work on a lot more.

The Rights and the Wrongs By - Michael Carpinelli My parents always taught me the difference between right and wrong. One major rule we had to follow was to never be a follower unless it was necessary. But one quote that really inspired me was, “ When you write the story of your life, don't let anyone else hold the pen”. A quote thats origin is unknown. I learned as a child that some people don't have the things that we have, that some people weren't born into middle class families but into lower classes, but it doesn't matter. Where all humans and should treat each other with the utter most respect. Many others have been taught the difference between right and wrong. But for the ones who have not learned the difference yet, they need to become capable of doing that. But either way, does knowing the difference between right or wrong make you a better person? No. its depends on the actions you take and what you do to be a better person. Everytime i think of knowing the difference between right and wrong it inspires me to do something nice for someone. It gives me just Enough energy to feel like doing a good deed. Sometimes it also depends on us middle class people to take care of some of the lower class people. A Lot of the lower class people can't find jobs or don't have enough money to buy things, so it depends on our middle class people to watch out

for our lower class people. And the rich people should really care for both classes but sometimes certain celebrities give away to charity because they've learned that not everyone has it the same way we do. That's why they are willing to give up a portion of their money, for example barack obama, george michael, and elton john. No matter what you do, put yourself in other's perspectives and try to make the similarities and differences between your life and there's. You would be surprised how different everybody's life is.

Got Game? By Jonathan Carter In life, I've learned quite a lot. I'm more of a sports guy. Yeah, i play video games, hang out with my friends, and even slack off once in a while. I take sports extremely seriously. I’ve learned that most people are born with natural talent when it comes to sports, while some have to work hard and to improve to reach the players with natural talent. I've been playing basketball since I was 5 years old. For the majority of my life, I've played in the Forest Hills basketball league and for my middle school basketball team for quite some time. In my early years of basketball, I was a really good player. But as I got older, I've had to face more skilled, and even threatening, skilled players. When I experienced the feeling that so many people were out of my league, it made me want to quit playing the sport I loved for several years. Instead of quitting, I just took a break from basketball in 6th grade and focused on my school work for one whole year. I played basketball once in a while and

played with some friends. But I haven't played on a team, or went to basketball practices because I felt like there was no point. Ever since I was a baby, my dream was to be in the NBA. I didn't want to grow up to have a job that I made lots of money from but yet it made me miserable. I wanted to make money while doing something I loved. My #1 inspiration is Lebron James. He’s not my inspiration not only because he is one of the best basketball players that ever lived, it’s the fact that when he was a child, he was broke and struggled financially. But with hard work and effort, he was able to get scholarships to highschools and get into the NBA and become of one of he best players that ever lived `1 During 8th grade, that's when my training begined. I started to go to the park or open gyms every single day, i wouldn't waste a single second of the day when it came up to this. I wanted to be the best I could be. One of my new inspirations for basketball in 8th grade was Mikey Williams. He was 14 year old just like me who was in 8th grade. He is in my opinion currently the best highschool player right now in 2020. I wanted to be just like him. Mikey was my new source of inspiration that made me want to train even harder than I was previously. After lots of training, I joined my middle school’s basketball team and we did pretty good. I averaged 12.5 points a game and I thought that was decent. But I saw Mikey Williams scoring 20 to 30 points almost every single game. That made me angry and made me want to train even harder than i was previously. After a brief period of time, my team made it to the semi finals. We lost the semi finals and that was the end of it for me in 8th grade. After playing with my middle school team for so long, I continued to practice with them and even

sometimes practiced by myself once in a while. All this time i thought i could have it easy, but when i got older i realized that i’d have to work even harder to surpass my limits to reach my dream. My first year of highschool came. I couldn’t wait to try out for the basketball team. When tryouts came, there were quite a lot of people. But the one thing I did that I regret dearly was not putting 100% effort into tryouts. I knew what i was capable of but i still didn’t go all out because i thought i would still make the team without putting in 100% effort. I didn't make the first cut, but i saw people who made the first cut and i was way better than them too. I was very disappointed in myself and I know I could have made the team if I just put effort into tryouts. But this won't stop me from trying out for the JV basketball team next year in 2021. I’ve learned my lesson this year and I won't make the same mistake next year. When basketball tryouts come, I'm putting 100% effort into it and I will do everything I can to make the team. Throughout my entire life, I thought I could just not put 100% effort into something and get accepted onto the team. The reason why i thought this was because i was able to make several teams in my past without putting 100% effort. But I've learned that highschool is more competitive and coaches are looking for players who love the sport, who are good at the sport, and people who are willing to put 100% effort when it comes to that sport. Currently, I am a freshman in Holy Cross class 2023.When I become a sophomore, I'm not gonna play around any more, i will give it everything I've got so I can make the basketball team. My number one dream is to become one of the best NBA players that ever lived, and i won’t stop chasing that dream.

Make a Better Play by Sean Devlin Once I started learning how to skate and play hockey, it became clear to me that it was not as simple as “move the puck forward and shoot”. When I was younger and just starting I got away with those sort of mistakes, passing the puck blindly, shooting from an impossible angle, but when my first year of travel hockey came, it became sharply aware to me that a sport could be so much more. My coach had always had us practice passes, back and forth, while skating up and down both ends of the ice, which I always thought was pointless, since the team

would only try to be going forward, right? Then I learned that you don’t always have to go forward, you can go back, and figure out what plan works best for you. After trying this method in a few games, it became clear to me that taking an extra few seconds to make a plan that works is much easier then immediately going forward and regretting your decision. That is my mindset now, “Don’t always go forward, take a step back sometimes.” I use it everywhere, not just when I am on the ice, in school, or trying to complete a task. Now, playing high school and travel hockey, whenever I get the puck, my first thought is, look around, look for a plan that works. So when I get the puck and I am being pressured with no where forward to go, I just skate back, into our zone, and reset and try something else. I also use this motto in school, for example when taking a test, if I am stuck on a question just move forward, and then go back to it and use sense to figure out, just like in hockey, if you can’t beat them by just going up and shooting, beat them with strategy. Same with tests or school work, if you do not know the answer to a question, then erase the options that are impossible, make it easier for you. Now it is simple to understand what my coach really meant, think before you do, which applies to not only hockey but all the things in my life. Though I may have a “don’t always go forward mindset”, it is pretty easy to point out those who don’t. My own team has those who rush everything, and try to force something, rather than set a better plan. These kinds of people are often those who never pass to the defencemen, or never cycle a play or break out, but rather just try to push their way up and force a shot that misses the net by around ten or fifteen feet. Not just when playing a sport, but these people are also the ones who guess on multiple questions on tests, or do not finish because they stayed stuck on page 2 out of a 5 page test. These are also the people that struggle with a lot of things, even small tasks, because they will try to complete everything at once, or go for the big picture rather than take small steps. Or even the people who try to multitask many things at a time, because they do not want to have to go back and do something again. Even now, when I have way more tasks than I did five years ago, I still go by that one mindset, and it seems to have helped me, even on tests when I did not fully study for, or when we verse a better team. The key to winning at something is not just planting it in your brain (though it may help), but rather to use your brain, and think before you do something you will regret. So far it has worked out, not rushing

things in sports and in high school, though I may want to finish work. Though school work got harder and high school is not the same as middle and even elementary school, I seem to be turning out ok just by doing the same thing. It is not just “following” the motto that makes it work, you have to actually use it. I tell my teammates all the time, “think before you do.” or “it’s ok to go back and reset.” and of course they all say yes, but a very select few actually do it. That is how you can see the differences in people that take their time or rush things, the ones who take their time actually understand what they are being told, whereas for the others, it goes in one ear and comes out of the other. Even as I grow older and go to college, then get a job, it will always be good to know it is ok to back track. That phrase will probably stick with me no matter how old I get, or what I do, don’t rush into things, go back, reset, and think of something better.

The Responsibility Of Life - By - Theodore Droggitis As I’ve grown up I’ve noticed how irresponsible people really are, you have the people that don’t know anything that's going on even though their life is falling apart and the people who know what's going on, but they are still too lazy to do anything about it. Well, I've been there also, I didn't know what to do, so I just stayed home and slept even though I should do my laundry or my homework that's due tomorrow morning. But I instead decided not to do anything and ended up getting a zero for not doing my homework. At the time I was in sixth grade and I didn’t do anything at all, all I would do after I came home from school was sleep, play games or watch YouTube. Besides all of that the main thing I wish I would’ve discovered earlier is personal responsibility.

I was the type that would think “oh it's okay I'll just do my homework when I wake up or when I am in class” but it was never like that, I would wake up late then I would be scrambling to get out of the house forgetting I have homework I still needed to do! It was a thing I would do every day, my teacher would give me homework and although I knew I still had time to do my homework I didn't do it. It was a very bad habit I had. But once I got older I became more responsible. There was one specific event in my life that really changed me. When I lost my brand-new gold chain I got for my birthday I was so furious at myself for losing the chain and being irresponsible. I was being a bit harsh on myself for losing the chain but it was still very important, and I was still very aggravated. It took about a week for me to forget about the chain and at the time I was pretty responsible, I would clean my room every once in awhile, I would do my laundry and help my parents when I could and I would also do my homework which was a great change. I became better but when I lost the only chain I had that I prized greatly I was still really stressed about it. After about three weeks I did my laundry and didn't expect much, and I still had the chain on my mind hoping maybe I'll find my chain soon. Maybe today was my lucky day? I came to the laundry machine and when I opened it… *rattle rattle* I heard something, maybe it's my chain? I dumped my clothes into the basket and at the bottom of the machine, I saw a sparkling gold chain! I was so glad that I finally found my chain. I couldn’t even hold my excitement! But something was wrong. My chain was broken. Although I had my chain it was still half a chain. Maybe I could wear it like a bracelet? I went from excited to disappointed immediately. I could repair my chain but I don't know what it's going to cost. This event showed me a lot. It showed me that responsibility plays a big role in life and that when I get older responsibilities are only going to get harder. So now while I'm young I should begin being more responsible so when i’m older I will know how to handle situations and teach others or my kids to be responsible as well.

This event also taught me to have hope even when I was the only one with hope. God works in many different ways but by the way you make decisions is the way you live. It’s very easy to lose something, but responsibility is something you shouldn’t lose and keep forever. Catching the Touchdown By: Jayson Edmondson As a young child, I learned early that soon I would have to start doing things on my own and I couldn’t ask older people for everything. I remember as a child almost everyone of my sentences started with “ Mom, can you…”, or “Dad, can you…”. Once I started grade school, most of that changed. I started doing everything by myself and I only needed my parents when it came to money and food. I started washing dishes, doing laundry, and cleaning the house on my own by the time I was 6 or 7. In my spare time, I was an athlete, if it was baseball, basketball, soccer, kick ball , or even simply running , I was counted on. I never really liked football until I got older because I thought it was more of a responsibility and it was scary. I then realized there is a great responsibility in every sport. I always looked at football to be a sport about throwing, catching, and tackling. When I was eleven, I got into the sport and I realized every part of the sport is just as important as another . When I started watching football every night I realized every step of the game is important and I didn’t care about being the guy that catches the ball, I just cared about being on a team. So, I did something about it. The summer I was entering highschool, I tried out for the football team and I made it. I experienced what made the professionals who they are to make it to the big leagues. I realized as soon as it started I was responsible for every success and mistake I was involved in. I realized being responsible for things at an early age was a good thing because it helped

with my young highschool athlete career. Even though doing house chores was hard work at 6 or 7, there’s a little bit of hard work in almost everything. It was hard trying out for football, but I made it. I made a lot of mistakes because I was new to football, but it felt so good succeeding. In practice, the quarterback threw me a 25 yard pass to close out the scrimmage and I caught it in the end zone and it was a touchdown. My coach yelled and said “EDMONDSON!” as if I did something wrong again. It turned out he was screaming at me because it was an amazing catch. This was a lesson learned for me because I was taught to be confident. I was taught that I have to be responsible for my mistakes as well as my successes. I am no longer scared to make decisions because I know it’s going to be my responsibility whether it goes right or wrong. Catching that touchdown made me realize it’s ok to be wrong because it is what humans are supposed to do. I did something wrong, learned from it, then I did something great. Being responsible for things as a young child helped me catch my touchdown.

Too much Will Only Bring You Down by Matthew Fernandez There is no such thing as the perfect person and every human has his/her struggles . When I was young I was bullied all the time and I never fit in . Everybody was always better than me in some way, shape or form . I was always the little guy and I hated it . I just wanted to be liked by everybody . I had a small group of friends and I was always acting like I was better than everybody else but in reality I was the small fry . People have always said I was a follower even though I was not . The truth is that I just got bored easily . I wasn't the underdog, or the annoying kid,or a fanboy . I just had nothing better to do . I thought that if I had more self-confidence it would eliminate the image people originally had of me . My school eventually closed after 7th grade and so I had a fresh start although as usual, I was

overly confident in myself, and that's a quality I now realize people hate in a person . Too much self confidence will bring you down . Next thing I knew, I got to high school, and I made friends fast, I just couldn't keep all of them . This was because I was saying things but I wasn't saying them the right way . I will never be perfect because everybody has their talents and faults, which is what they are good at and what they are not good at. I´ve learned a lot from this and one of things I learned is to put others up and not down, because even if somebody puts you down they'll feel bad afterwards . This is not always true but being nice to others might make others feel different about you like you can go from being a weird nerd to being the guy everybody loves . Life is a challenge because everything done has a cause or effect on what may happen next in life . Even in the dark times, know that if not now eventually you will be noticed . I will probably never stop screwing up nor will anybody and that is what makes us all human . We all learn from our mistakes and we are all unique in our own ways. One person may be good at one thing while another person could be good at doing another. In reality we are all the same in the eyes of God. The Consequence of Deception by Royston Fordyce I Used to believe that lying was a good way to get rid of my problems , but Isoon realised that lying would only give me a solution for my problems right then and there but not in the future. Ilearned this in 7th grade. In seventh grade we had to do these things called RNE’s (Readers notebook entry) and no one in my class was trying to do it so we just didn't. On parent teacher conference days I Would always tell my parents and teachers I Have them but I Just don't hand them in yet. This excuse only worked for a couple of months because soon we all had to log out (Write down) our pages and Ididnt have as much as Iclaimed Idid, and I Got in trouble for that. Fast forward 5 months

and I Had to go to summer school because I Didn't finish all my pages in the required time. So I Had to spend the first half of my summer doing these RNE's so that I Wouldn't get left back. Moving on to 8th grade I Decided that I Don't ever want to go back to summer school again so Idid all my pages the first 3 months of school. I also decided that there is no point to lying because people will eventually find out the truth anyways.

Being Sloppy By Elias Hernandez All the time my mother will always nag my brother and I about being neat and keeping things in order so we can keep track of our things. My brother and I tried to be neat but did not really push ourselves to become neat like my mother. Our room used to be so hard to keep track of things like clothes,controllers, headphones and other things like that. Unlike my mother's room where you can find the smallest thing in second. Being neat did not really phase me and brother because we wouldn't mind looking around for things we needed at that moment even if it took us a few minutes to find it. Sometimes the item we just found will probably get lost again the next day and sometimes the next few hours. Being sloppy and losing track of things started to turn around to punch me and brother in the face. This is because my brother just got into high school and I just got into middle school. I would get in trouble for losing important papers for school because I didn't have a folder. While my brother will get in more trouble because he is in highschool and he won't have pens for class and will lose his notebook for the class and find it the next day when he does not need the notebook. Both of our grades will get lower and lower and lower because teachers will take off points every time I wouldnt have a pen or the worksheet we got the past day. My brother got some detentions for coming unprepared for class. My brother and I took a step back because we both noticed that our grades hase be going down and had a good amount of detentions and wondered what was happening because this never happened to us before. My brother thought it was because he wasn't used to

highschool and it was too hard for him and that I was just slacking off because I became older, but that wasn't the problem me and my brother found out. Then the first quarter finished for me and my brother. We were both very nervous because we knew that we were going to get in big trouble with our mother after the parent teacher conference. Of course my mother booked an early appointment to meet my teachers and talk about my grades because I am the youngest and my middle school was closer than my brother highschool.I was shaking when I was next to my mother and my teacher was on the other side with her grade book. I was already thinking what my mother was going to do when we were going to get back home. Then my teacher and my mother started to talk about me and my grades and how I am in class. I remember my mother being very happy when she heard that I was a very good student and how I was very respectful. But then when my teacher talked about my grades my mother's whole face changed. My teacher said how I was very smart and one of the brightest in the class but because of the unpreparedness I was in almost every class brought my grade down and because of that I was on the borderline of failing. When we got out I was happy that we were done but I could tell my mother was very disappointed. The same exact thing happened with my brother and his teachers. He would get good grades but because he was unprepared and would lose everything that would bring his grade down. When we got in to the car coming from my brother's high school my mother was very disappointed in both of us. She told us that she was very proud how the teacher spoke so highly about you guys and how we were very smart, but she was mad about how we will lose everything for class and that she will always tell us to keep things inside a folder and she will get us a pencil case. My brother and I actually took this into consideration and became neat.Our grades reflected on it and the room actually became clean. I thank my mother for teaching me to be neat because of her I got into the high school I always wanted to go to and my brother has got accepted to his dream college. If my mother never told us to be neat I would never be in this highschool and my brother will still be looking for colleges to accept him.

What basketball taught me by - Nicholas Loukopoulos When I was younger my brother used to play high school basketball, at holy cross high school he was one of the best players I knew and he trained everyday and practiced his shot and skill everyday. We used to have a basketball hoop in the backyard and he used to shoot around by himself, but one day I decided to go outside and watch him. And after a couple shots the ball rolled to me and I looked at it and picked the ball up and I didnt know whether to shoot it or just give it to him. I decided to shoot the ball and it went in, and I felt really good about myself. That's when I realized that I wanna keep playing basketball and make it something serious in my future A couple months into 8th grade, I knew that the year would be my year and that it would be a good one, and that it would be easy and fun because its my last year and a lot of teachers in the school that I had were very close with me and my classmates so they usually let us do whatever we wanted to do, and towards this time of the year I would start playing spring/summer basketball and around this time is when it gets very serious. More people start to look at you and the sport starts to become a lot harder and it takes a lot of practice and dedication, but I didn't think that at all, I assumed that it would be easy because, when I first started playing basketball I learned most of the stuff I knew on my own and by watching others do it. So I thought okay I'll just keep doing the same thing along the way. I started playing games, and I was doing great but then the team and I started to get into more serious games and we got put against older and bigger kids, so I told myself okay this is just gonna be another easy game and we can beat these kids. But we lost, and every game after that we started to lose a lot more especially to the older kids and I just said it was because they are older so they have an advantage. Once the season ended I didn't train as much or practice because I thought that I'll just wait till next year when the season starts again I will just start training again… next season came around and I realized that all of my teammates have gotten better and stronger and I'm still the same, the I realized that they started to get ahead of me and make the other teammates happy and show them who is the best, and I didnt like that because I wanted to be the one who hyped up the crowd and was noticed, but in the most humble way possible.

Now I'm in 9th grade and I learned that it only gets harder and that in order to be like the best you have to act and think and train like the best. So now I'm working twice as hard and I'm focusing more on the sport and how to become better at it and be seen by colleges and other coaches.

Learning From Mom by Nikolaos Mavrakis When I was 10 years old my mom started teaching me how to be responsible like cleaning my room, doing the laundry, and cooking. At the time I understood that Ihave to take care of myself but I never realized till now how much my mom actually helped me. If my mom never told me that I had to seperate the colors my drawers would be filled with clown looking clothes. Also I realized a lot of people don't know how to take care of themselves, you can tell when people don't clean their own clothes by the way they dress and the way they act around their house. Once at a friend's house and he was making a mess in his room and did not care because he is not the one who has to clean it up, but when i'm at my house with my friends I stay out of my room because I know that if they make a mess I give to clean it up, same with my friends on xbox. if i'm playing 2k20 with my friends half of us stop playing for like 30 minutes to do chores while the other half don't have to do 66anything so they play all day. Also when I was younger I never realized how important it was to organize. When I was first learning how to be organized I never realized why I would need to know where everything is, but now that i'm older I realize how hard everyday would be if I were not organized especially in school. If I were not organized Iwould still be sitting here and still be looking for my chromebook. I don't know how many times I sat there looking for my books in school, but after I organized myself everything became a lot easier. Organization is one of those things everybody needs in their life no matter how big or how small.

Many people today that are older than me dont know how to take care of themselves because their parents never taught them how, so I just want to say thankyou to my mom, my dad, and my sister for teaching me how to take care of myself Actions & Punishments by Brianna Mojica Many people don't know what is right or wrong. That is why there are consequences for your actions,and punishments given to bad people. Many young children don't grow up with a role model ,someone to look up to, or become such as. This of course leads to bad decision making when it comes to the real world. A role model is there to teach you what is wrong and right. What's good in the world and what isn't. It's there to show you what's something to move forward too and something to push away from. Unfortunately even with some role models present people still decide to do the wrong thing. You could get into big trouble for doing the wrong thing. When I was younger I never really understood what could happen when getting in trouble. I never thought things would happen if you did something you weren't supposed to do. I would think everything was good that life was amazing. I never knew what the real world was like. That you get consequences for doing wrong. When I was little I remember taking a tiny plastic toy horn from Party city that was out of packaging on the floor. My mom hadn't noticed since I didn't make it very obvious. At this time I didn’t know what stealing was. I thought it would have been ok since it was already opened and on the floor covered in dust. After leaving the store my mom realized I had a tiny trumpet in my hand. She didn’t yell but instead explained to me that what I did was wrong that I basically stole from a store. I threw the trumpet out after that. She has helped me to realize to not take what’s not mine.

One can see something as simple as a little talk can change someone. It can help them to learn new things and always choose good over bad.

Actions have Effects by Adryan Morocho When I was younger I didn’t think of the consequences or effects my actions would have on others. Not even how my actions would affect myself. I was in first grade. It was summer break and I thought that meant complete freedom to relax and do whatever but no. Not even by work I was held back by since I was young and teachers wanted to not burden us with too much work, of course not work. The one thing that held me back or I guess the one person that held me back, the main person to hold me back from freedom to do whatever was my mother. My mom would watch me most of the summer. My dad would stay with me in the morning and leave for work once my mom came back from her job which she used vacation hours to get home early from. She’d then watch me and my brother for the rest of the day. He is three years younger then me and back then he was around three when the incident happened. The point is we were always watched, and with what seems like little freedom. I get why though kids let loose to do whatever could go wrong and they do not know the effects of their actions. This same format of my dad staying home from work and then my mom coming home wouldn’t apply on weekends since my mom had off from work even on Saturday unlike my dad who only took Sundays off. One of those days I was reminded of the fact I had to go back to school after summer break, after hearing that I thought my freedom would’ve been taken away, my right to even smile, but I was wrong about that wasn’t I. The school year began and I still had relative freedom when I came home from school, to go run around the house and mainly I did have freedom on the weekends. They were just the best able to sleep in and then the rest of the day full of energy, or waking up early which kinda annoyed me, even then but had the potential for more time to play. The fateful day of the incident, came on one of these weekend days. It was the afternoon and instead of running around I was just watching what I considered premium entertainment. It was right after we ate lunch my mom had her eye off me and I had freedom since she had to wash the dishes in a room over. She thought I was peacefully just watching

TV, when it happened. I vividly remember the old set up of my living room, we had two couches, one in the front of the room, and one right next to it but on the other wall, but with a glass coffee table right smack in the middle of the room. I would say I was an energetic kid, always jumping around and playing, which helped even more since no one was watching me when it happened. The T.V. was on, one of my favorite shows at that time Thomas the Tank Engine was on. I heard the theme song play and I jumped up on the first couch in all happiness. The theme song started playing and my young self went to jump from the first couch to the second one. I’ve done that several times by then so I thought I could do it again. I really thought I could and I did perfectly at least so I thought. I did it a few more times to the theme song and it was almost over when I jumped to the second couch and tried to perfectly jump to the ground for the final part of the theme song. I jumped off the second couch too early, it felt like I slipped midway in the air. I feel if it isn’t already apparent enough. It wasn’t the worst of it though, there was still a coffee table in the middle of the room, well I thought it was, it was positioned that day perfectly aligned between the two couches. I fell on the table of course, I just had to. Again this wasn’t the worst part though I slid to the end of the table where my ear, my left ear to be exact was caught on the table and what felt like cleanly sliced open. All I could remember next was a scream from my mom and the next second I opened my eyes to see a speeding car heading to a place I didn’t know. I didn’t recognize it at that moment but my ear had a huge sore and my brother looked a little alarmed, along with my mom very frantic. I was brought to the emergency room, a decent chunk of my ear just sliced open for every doctor to see and question how. I was rushed to a room and I don’t remember much more but a very grateful and happy but angry mom talking to a doctor. My ear would be completely fine as long as the stitches worked and I didn’t mess with them. It was a great gift to come from work to see his son's ear having stitches. My dad was confused and several times questioned how in the world I would ever cut my ear open. For the next few months which felt like eternity I had to be very careful with my ear. I luckily made a full recovery and most people don’t know such an accident ever happened to me, as it isn’t visible. It was one of my first lessons on how my actions have effects. I wouldn’t want to go to school even more and I’d usually have my ear covered with my hand since I didn’t want anyone to see what I did to myself. I notice much later and now see the

true effects of my actions. Me stupidly jumping around never once thought on how my mom and brother would have to run out of the house, with my mom especially looking like she had a heart attack. I didn’t think of how it would affect me either, and I definitely wasn’t careful. I was young though and it is now just known as that one stupuid thing I did when I was younger. My mom was definitely a little more protective after it happened. I learned the lesson much later but I still now use that story as a part of the lesson actions have consequences.

Sacrifices Within: Your Responsibilities By: Anna Oh Whenever it came down to me and my sisters we would always fight and bicker about whose things were whose and who's turn it was to clean or do the dishes. My sisters, who are fairly older than me by 4-8 years would usually get in trouble for a mess that I would make or something that I did. I would always think that they would always get in trouble for my messes except when it came up to the point where I got older and needed to know my responsibilities. I learned from my mother that sometimes when it comes to responsibilities you need to let go of some things you are holding on to. I never really had my own room as a child so whenever I would make a mess it would always be everyone's fault since we all shared the same room. But soon enough I got my own room and usually kept it nice and tidy. When I started going to middle school I would see my sisters less because they were either in school late doing sports or in class for college. When it came to cleaning I never was really good at it and I never understood that I needed to let go of some things when it came to cleaning up my room. I would either shove everything under my bed or in the closet. My first real clean was when I was moving to my own room. I had to move all my things but my mother told me that I needed to throw away or give away the things that I know I won't be using or needing. I never really thought about the things that I never really used and had a hard time because I never had asked myself if I really needed it. It took me a while to really know if I needed something, but my sister came in and told me that something old needs to be thrown away even though you really cherish it. I asked her simply, “How do you really know if you aren't going to need something?” My sister told me that, “When it needs to go when it has been either worn out or you haven’t touched it in ‘forever’.” I remember having this stuffed toy that was my favorite when I was very little. It was easy for me to say that I

needed to throw it away because I was getting older and it was worn out, but it was harder for me to actually throw it out. I realised at that time that having a responsibility as easy as just cleaning out your things can be hard because all the things that bring you memories or things that you cherish, need to be let go sometimes. This will help me in the future because it can help me to understand my responsibilities are there so that I can learn more as a student and that the responsibilities can come with sacrifices in your daily life.

Taste Your Own Medicine by: Stephen Ovanessian

My whole life my mother has taught me to treat others the way I would want to be treated. I think this is a very common yet lost lesson in today's society. It is the most fair and puts you in the other person's shoes. This rule kept me from getting into trouble in school and to not be mean to anyone not deserving. People are rude and mean to other people they have never seen outside of school or even had a conversation with. It is usually about popularity because people think that has power. What they don’t realize is that they could have been friends and never know. People shouldn’t let people treat them any other way than this rule and should stand up for themselves. If someone said something or did something you knew was wrong you should retaliate. If you don’t neither one of you will learn a lesson. The antagonist should learn what they did wasn’t cool and shouldn’t get away to do it to someone else and you should learn to be stronger. Don’t think all adults are wise and wonderful. This is a golden rule that even adults can’t comprehend sometimes and I’ll tell you why. If you have ever been yelled at for a simple mistake whether it was in school or not and couldn’t seem why. Well adults want to ensure their dominance. They want you to learn from what you did by yelling or raising their voice to make you listen. This isn’t effective in certain situations but they don’t learn from this. As a young student this comes off as foolish because instead of simply telling you what you have done they come off as offended making me believe they have taken what has happened too serious or just being rude. This isn’t all adults and especially teachers

faults entirely because kids sometimes are not honest. You should make sure kids understand that they shouldn’t get themselves in trouble if they didn’t want to pay the consequences. So adults bring their prior experiences with those kids to mind in most situations. This problem is almost too strong to stop because they may not understand the other side when wrong. Like I said about popularity containing false power so does age when it all gets to your head. The problem stems from stereotyping groups of people based on age, race, gender, or even just placement in life. Stereotypes could definitely be true but we must respect human identity and learn that you could be in their shoes. Everyone shares similarities and differences but we are all different and if you don’t treat others the way you would want to be treated it’s unfair and not giving another person a chance that you would want to have.

Carry My Own Weight by Stella Panteliodi From a young age I was taught to carry my own weight. This was mainly taught to me by my parents. I appreciate them for teaching me this because it made me mature as well as responsible. I've noticed that compared to my friends and peers I'm very mature for my age. In my friend group I'm like “mom”. Therefore, I definitely am really mature for my age. I mainly noticed this when my parents allowed me to go to Greece by myself with my grandparents. I know that I was with people but I was the one leading my grandparents through the airport and everything because they didn't really know alot about it. First, when I got to the airport I was sad to leave my parents because I had never left them for that long before. Once I got to my gate I calmed down alot and I started to feel excited because I was going

to Greece. We finally got to Greece and I had a major weight off my shoulders because my grandparents are from there they knew what to do. Therefore, the most stressful part was the airport. My feelings during this whole trip was mainly a rollercoaster but because my parents taught me how to carry my own weight I handled it well for only being 13 years old. My feelings are a major part in this adventure because it takes a very mature person to have to handle their feelings in a positive way. Being able to carry my own weight helped because I was the one who took care of myself when I missed my mom. I knew that I still had people by my side but they weren’t going to be there to hold my hand. Therefore, you can't mainly depend on other people to help you with life because you have to be mature enough to handle it on your own. Being able to carry your own weight in life is definitely a major part. It's not a bad thing to be mature from a young age and it will definitely help in the future. In my case it helped me be able to fly to Greece for a vacation and be able to help people. I'm sure it will also help me get through high school and the real world. Therefore, being able to carry your own weight is a positive trait to have. Why

responsibilities are good to learn by Adrianna Paterno

I started playing hockey five years ago and ever since then I loved it. I had games twice a week and practice once a week. But when I was younger and first started playing hockey, my mom used to do everything for me. She would get my water ready and wash all my hockey equipment and jerseys and get my hockey bag and sticks ready. All I did was play the game and didnt have to worry about anything. Until I got older and I moved up in my hockey league and I was playing with older kids. My mom wasn't going to do my laundry anymore or fill my water bottle. I had to do it all now. When I moved up in my hockey league I was captain and other years I was assistant captains and my coaches gave me a lot of responsibilities. My coaches weren't going to do everything for the team so they gave me important responsibilities for the team because they believe in me and think I'm responsible enough. During practices I had to help the coaches think of drills to do and sometimes demonstrate

the drills to my teammates. When i went to practice or games i couldnt be lazy and just not do what i was told I had to do it to show a good example for my teammates. Other responsibilities I had to do at practice was make sure I gave my coach all the pucks he threw on the rink and make sure none of them were missing. At the rink I have more responsibilities than my other assistant captain or teammates because my coach has more confidence in me that I will get it done. When i'm playing a game and my coach gives me a play to do I have to do it, it's my responsibility. My coach asks me to do this play and not my other teammates because he knows I will do it and not let the other team score. If my coach puts me on defense my responsibility is to defend the goal and make sure the other team doesn't get the puck so they can score. That's my responsibility when I would have to play defense. When I have to play offense my responsibility is to make sure the puck is on the opposite side of the zone so I can score. Learning how to be responsible and having responsibilities helps me in the future because it shows that I don't need to depend on someone. I will be able to do things on my own without assistance. When I get a job I would have all these responsibilities and I would do them all on my own with no help because when I was younger and had responsibilities I didn't get help so when I'm older I still dont need help. Learning responsibility and being responsible for something also means owning up to your mistakes and not blaming someone else. If I do something wrong I need to own up for my mistake and not put my mistake on someone else because that's childish and it shows that I'm not responsible. Being responsible for something also means keeping a promise or not telling someone else what my friend said. My responsibility is to hold on to that secret or promise and make sure I don't tell anyone. If I were to tell someone not only did I break my friends promise my friend also thinks that I'm not responsible enough for them to tell me anything.

Always Help Those Who Are In need Of It by Kayla Riescher When I was younger me and my mother were driving home from one of my brothers' football games. When we saw a guy on the side of the road because his car broke down. When we got to where he was pulled over my mom stopped the

car to ask him if he was alright. My mother asked this guy what happened and he told her his car broke down with his baby daughter in the back of the car. The moment he told my mom that she told him that she would give him and his baby a ride home safely. When she dropped him off home as we were driving home my mother turned to me and said “if you ever see someone that looks lost or hurt always offer to help them”. When I started the 5th grade I was one day walking in the hallway one day when I saw a younger kid walking around looking lost. So I went up to this little boy and asked him if he needed help. When he told me he was lost I offered to take him back to his class. After I took this kid back to his class I remembered what my mom did that time when she helped that man and his baby get home safe after his car broke down. At that moment I realized that that lesson my mom taught me and showed me was going to be very important. When I started high school I was one day hanging out with my friends in the city. An older lady came up to me and my friends and asked us if we knew which way it was to get to the train station in Madison Square Garden. Since we knew she was lost and knew how to get there we gave her the directions hoping she would get there safely. As she started walking the way we told her, I knew that the lesson my mom taught me when i was younger “always help those in need” is really going to be a life lesson that is the most important.

Failure and Doubt Turned Around by Chad Seepersaud Growing up I had started to love the sport of basketball. Since the age of 7, I have played a lot and my love grew for the game every time I played. While growing up from the age of 10 I had a goal and still do today which is to be a professional athlete. Another goal I had was to get a scholarship , and always get grades 90 or above. The type of scholarship that I am seeking is a Division 1 (D1) scholarship for college. I had worked with school and

basketball to the best of my ability. I had balanced both in the best way I could, chasing after my dreams day by day to make it . The biggest problem I had with myself was that I did not have any type of confidence in myself and the things I do . When going into highschool one of my biggest desires was to make the freshman basketball team and always get honors. In November it was the week of my first high school report card and freshman basketball tryouts. When going for the report card , I had thought to myself that I wouldn't get any type of honors and would do terribly for the 1st Quarter . When I received my report card I had finished the first trimester with a 96 average and with Principals list. After report cards that Friday were the weekend of tryouts. My friends and I who were trying out were talking about making the team. All my friends had said they are going to make the team and do well and I was the only one who kept on thinking I would not make it. While going to tryouts and had no confidence in myself and had not done good . Not having confidence in myself had led me to play the way I did and lead me getting cut in the first cut. All my friends who had claimed they were going to make it , are on the basketball team as of today. The big difference was they had the abilities of confidence I had not obtained. After this failure I had many mixed emotions of anger and sadness. After hearing the news I had told my personal coach , Coach Jon. I met Coach Jon at a basketball camp when I was in elementary school . Me and him built an unbreakable bond and every weekend I go to his AAU program called “Our House Sports” Legends. He had a talk with me and encouraged me to always have confidence. Coach Jon had a long talk with me and talked to me about how having confidence made him mess up while playing the game of basketball. He had given me examples and real life situations of the ways not having confidence worked and how having confidence worked. As not skilled as I was he encouraged me to keep going and knew I would do well. He had also had to related to different topics other than basketball and

how their confidence levels had affected them. After this conversation I always remember how I failed to make sure I would never fail again. From that day to the present day today, I always have confidence in everything I do, giving it the best shot I can in order to fulfill my goals . Since having confidence in myself I do better in school and playing basketball. My level of confidence had helped me become smarter in school and I had increased my basketball skills since then. The trait of having confidence has changed me to also become a better person and have better days as well. If Coach Jon had not talked to me and been there for me I am uncertain of how my mindset will be right now. Without the confidence I have today I would not be doing as well in school as I am, and I will not be working hard for basketball as I am today. He had encouraged me and always believed that everyone can pass the obstacles of failure and discouragement. He believed if anyone can overcome them, I can too. Being only a 14 year old 9th grader in highschool , the trait of more confidence is helping me today and will help me in my future life. While not having any knowledge of what the future brings or holds for me, the trait of confidence is helping me to develop into a better person everyone. Confidence had helped my self doubt and today it is now self encouragement to do things good and better every single day. The multiple talks we had about this had stuck into my head and I have been doing better since. It brought me a positive mindset to keep working and believe that I am able to make sacrifices to benefit myself. This will help me in the future because I would have more of a positive mindset to do great things and become a better individual. Even if basketball does not work out , I could stay positive and always believe there are good things awaiting for me , which will come soon. Without Coach Jon`s inspirations for me , I would not feel the same right now. He motivates me to do better and it is a real blessing to have him as my coach.

Learning to Cook by Alexa Vasiliou As I was getting older, I saw that my two best friends had been able to cook themselves simple, small meals on their own. They would no longer have to constantly pester their mothers or fathers when they felt the slightest bit of hunger. Sometimes they would even cook for others. At lunch when we would discuss what we did the previous day after getting home from

school, one of my friends would mention that she made herself food. Then later on in the conversation when we would ask “hey, what are you doing later?”, one of my friends would sometimes reply with “doing homework, then cooking. My parents said I needed to cook dinner tonight for my little siblings while they are at work”. Yes, being the youngest sibling meant that I did not have anyone younger to cook for, but I would often feel out of place during these conversations. I would think “ she’s cooking for others, I don’t even know how to cook for myself”. That is when I decided that I was going to learn how to cook...I was going to do things on my own...I was going to be independent and responsible. One day after getting home from school, I was hungry. So, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to begin to learn how to cook. It was the simplest thing a person could make themselves to eat and how I managed to mess it up is beyond me. A cup of noodle soup. The only two steps to making this is putting water in it, and putting it in the microwave. Unfortunately for me, I forgot to add the water. The cup was styrofoam. In under two minutes my kitchen had this strong burning smell and there was smoke coming out of the microwave. That's a story I decided to keep to myself the next day at lunch when I was asked what I did after school. After the little incident I had with my tiny cup of noodles, I stuck to making what I made best for a couple of weeks. Salad. I didn’t want to go to my mother and ask her for help. The whole point of learning how to cook was to become independent and stop asking her for help..so why would I need to ask her anything. Thankfully, almost setting my lovely microwave on fire was a one time thing. From this point on if I wanted something to eat after school I relied on making salad, or the noodles. I had been somewhat proud of myself. I was eating food that I did not need to ask anyone for. I thought I was doing exactly what my friends would do. You could only imagine my disappointment when I found out that they actually would use the stove to cook. At this point I knew I would not be able to figure this whole ‘cooking’ thing out on my own. Feeling defeated, I finally decided to ask my mother for help. Instead of laughing at me for not being able to use the stove like my two best friends could, she agreed and taught me. I no longer had to rely on making salads and cup noodles everyday after

school. Months passed, and my mom letting me ( finally ) use the stove and oven on my own eventually led to her letting me do other things on my own. This is where I began to be more independent and responsible. I began to dislike asking others to do things for me. I didn’t like having to rely on others to get things done or to get what I wanted. Especially when I knew it was something I was capable of doing on my own. I also began to ask for help more often. How am I going to know how to get something done myself, if I never asked for help and got guidance? Sometimes I’ll be able to recognize which of my friends cook for themselves, and which of my friends rely on others to make them food. If one of my friends did not understand something we had been doing in class, the friends who learned how to cook would ask for help. After the teacher explained it to them, they would continue and finish the entire worksheet on their own. The friends who didn’t know how to cook however, did not ask for help. Instead, they didn’t do the work, or they would take another person's sheet to copy off of. Being taught how to cook not only made me able to feed myself. It helped me to become more independent and responsible. When I would cook for myself without help, I would feel much more content afterwards knowing “I did this, not my mom, not my brother, but me. I did”. It is also something that will continue to help me in the future. Yes, it’ll definitely come in handy when I'm living on my own and need to eat, but it will also help me when I need to learn how to do something. Learning how to cook showed me that sometimes you need to ask for help from others before you become the independent person you want to be. Asking for help has nothing to do with being irresponsible. It has something to do with being new at what you’re doing.

It Sticks With You Forever by Amanda Waldron Before I picked up a stick and started playing lacrosse 24/7 I was the type of person who gave up more easily than anyone would expect. I got furious easily and it led me to fill myself with doubt, with doubtful thoughts that I couldn't do something or “I wasn't good enough”. I didn't think it was a big problem until summer of 6th grade when I met Coach Nicole. Coach Nicole was quite the opposite than I was, she worked hard, worked around the clock, never gave up, and most of all she had faith in herself and others around her. We had contrasting

mindsets but she was committed to putting me on the right path. After joining this team Coach found one of my soft spots, dodging. She persistently told me to work on it but after that hour and a half once a week I wouldn't pick up my stick to practice. This is where we differ. It took a lot of begging for me to get off the couch at home on my days off and go play in the backyard but I finally realized it was my only option. Three years ago I was at a tournament against some of the best ranked teams in the state, it was in the middle of August so all I wanted was to be at the beach or hanging out with friends not under the sweltering sun. After our 7th game of the day, Coach tugged me aside from the team, “Do you even want to play? It doesn't seem to me that you're giving it your all! If you can't show me the best you have I will find someone who does!”. It was the next five minutes that changed it all, I knew I had to work harder and smarter to be the best I can be. My mentality changed from that day forward and it even helps me in the classroom today. I no longer give up on my first try, I don’t fill my mind with doubt and most importantly I work to the best of my ability. I can see the difference in people who try and people who don’t, usually the determined ones get things done. This striving for greatness mentality will stick with me forever, it made me not only a better player on the field but it has helped me with my everyday tasks. I expect nothing less for myself and it's safe to say my coach doesn't either.

Everything happens for a reason by : Stephanie Zimmerman People in life come and go. Sometimes it’s hard to accept that someone is really gone, even if they weren’t that big of a person in your life. Even if you didn’t know them for long or you knew them your whole life. When you care and love someone you can’t just erase all the time you spent together, the jokes you had, their laugh, and every single memory. But sometimes it’s for the better and you need to move on. You need to learn that everything happens for a reason.

When I was younger, my friends came and went as we grew apart and got older. We were all still just learning about ourselves. I had this one friend that I knew since nursery when we were about 3 or 4. She and I went to school together our whole lives. We were super close at that age but then as we got older, we drifted. Then in 8th grade we were put in the same class and we became best friends again. I didn’t know what I’d do without her. We made so many memories during the school year and over summer. When we started picking out high schools and applying, she wanted to go to prep and I was stuck between cross and prep. I was supper close to picking prep but my other friend convinced me to go to cross. In july, we got into a dumb argument and it cost’s us our whole friendship. I won’t go into detail about who did what but we could’ve probably gotten past it. I should probably take my own advice when I say move on because honestly I'm not the best at that but it’s a good piece of advice that I learned over the years. Moving on and forgiving people are all hard things to do and it takes time but it's usually for the better