Personal essay English 9 period 8 Mr. Donohue by Michael Donohue

Real Knights Write

English 9 - Personal Essays 2017-18

Introduction - By: Mr. Donohue

Responsibility - By: George Abraham

Commitment And Basketball - By Alexander Acosta

Title: Being Clean and Responsible By: Joshua Bonilla

A Learned Method, Useful In Adulthood - By Jaden Brunson

Life Lessons - By: Joseph Isaakidis

My Building Experience - By: Justin Jackson

Natures Lesson By Alden Kolenovic

Do Good and You Will Be Rewarded - By : Joshua Legitime

Always Be Honest - By SioWa Luo

Why I Played Baseball - By Jayden Rodriguez

Things I Learned Without Knowing - By: Sebastian Santos

Life Lessons - By: Yianni Simeonidis

Help the customers - By: Randolph Sopp

How do you play basketball? - By: Brendan Stephenson

How I became a Lego Builder: because of my Dad

By:Erick Urgiles

A Growing Young’n - By: Rich Vega

How To Be A Middle Linebacker - By Kemari E. Ward

Do The Right Thing! - By: Elijah Cadet-Melhado

Everyday Before School - By: Justin Castellanos

NEVER BACK DOWN - By :Kayden Superville

Doing Laundry By: Gordon Zheng

The Room - By: Christopher Amos

Lesson - By: Luis Cruz

The Lesson That I’ll Never Forget - By: Jordan Molina

Introduction - By: Mr. Donohue One of the more powerful tools that Google 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 complete 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

Responsibility - By: George Abraham When my mom was a young child she had to take care of herself. She wanted to become her own women and start her own business.But she didn't, instead she moved to Florida got married and gave birth to me. When I was young my mom and I moved to Queens New York.When I was old enough to start taking care of myself my mom told me to make my bed, brush my teeth, take a shower and a bunch of things I don't remember. What I didn't know was that she was teaching me to be responsible. She always said do your homework, and clean my room which my mom was basically teaching me responsibility skills. Every day for as long as I can remember she said these things. I didn't know why she said those words every time but I did them anyways because it would make her happy. Years go by and I am old enough to walk to school by myself she said those words over and over even more. She did this because she was trying to get it in my head. When I would be in school I see kids who didn't do their homework and tell the teacher they forgot. If they had the responsibility they would have done their homework. I feel like now I understand what my mom was trying to do and it will help me as an adult when I have a job and a house.

Commitment And Basketball - By Alexander Acosta Growing up, I was never committed to any sport or hobby, the sport I played the longest was tennis. However, I despised it because it was forced on me. Both my parents played tennis and they wanted me to follow in their footsteps as any other parent would. When I turned ten years old things changed, I became even more lazy and I quit tennis. I didn't play sports but instead focused on video games. Constantly my mom would ask me to come run or play tennis with her and I would consistently

respond with no. “ Hey Alex you wanna play tennis today after school”. “ Sorry mom, I'm not feeling well”, that was a lie I said till the 8th grade. In the 8th grade I met my two best friends Bryan and Ronald. They introduced me to basketball and when I told my dad he was finally excited about something I was doing. My dad started taking me to the local parks and practicing with me. He stopped because of work and I don't know what to do. I realized that I need to practice on my own to become a better player, I worked hard in school to improve my grades and I asked my parents to buy me a basketball hoop. They gladly accepted because they were extremely happy to find out that I was committed to basketball. In the summer my parents often went away on many vacations. I used the time with my friends, we called our”the breakfast club”, to practice improve our skills in the sport. We worked everyday at the park or my house, for hours on end. All this practice helped me improve my skill and helped me lose weight. My father and mother kept trying encourage me to be committed to the sport of basketball. This lesson of learning to be committed to a hobby or a sport helped me realize my passion for the sport and culture.

Title: Being Clean and Responsible By: Joshua Bonilla Five years ago when I was nine, I tried to learn how to wash dishes by watching other people do it and wch youtube. Everytime, after dinner, my parents would go to wash the dishes and I tried to observe how they did it. I tried to observe if there was a certain technique to used the soap on the dishes, or if there was a certain soap that you needed to use. I learned that many other kids didn't know how to wash dishes because when they went home they would talk about how they would play video games and other games and didn't have to do any chores. I finally figured out why they would always ask for answers on homeworks, tests and quizzes that we had.

After this day I came home from school and decided after dinner I was going to try to wash the dishes and ask questions if i wasn’t sure of something I could ask for help if I needed it. When dinner arrived I was a little nervous to wash the dishes, however I was certain that I could do it. The time finally came and I was ready to try to wash the dishes. Before I even started I had already asked a question, whether to use hot or cold water. My parents told me to use hot water. As I was about half way through I ask if I had to keep adding soap to the sponge. I cleaned a few plates and cup then I finished clean the pan. After I put the sponge back, my mother tells me that is have to squeeze out the sponge before I put it away. This experience helps me today by teaching me how to be responsible and do things by myself. I can be responsible by doing all my homework by myself instead of asking my friends for help or the answers. If I known that I have an upcoming test I study for the test instead of trying to cheat or get the answers. This also helps me out of school. I can take care of myself as well as help others if they really need it.

A Learned Method, Useful In Adulthood - By Jaden Brunson Things I’ve learned at a young age are common. . Things like that include laundry. It wasn’t an easy task. The steps were complicated since it was different controls. I still have to do laundry to this day so that’s how it relates to my life now. I was taught to do things for myself because of the fact that nobody will do it for me in adulthood. So if I live alone I can clean my clothes. If I live alone in the future and I cannot wash clothes, I won’t have clean clothes to wear. It would be embarrassing to wear dirty clothes outside, that’s the reason why I was taught to wash clothes. The bottom line to learning how to do things for adulthood would be to get the best for the future. As long as I know how to do laundry, I got clean clothes. I understand why I learned this and I got no Regrets. This is because it helps my future life.

Life Lessons - By: Joseph Isaakidis My dad has always taught me to be polite in every way I can. Some of the ways he has taught me to be polite was by holding the door for people, not being afraid to speak up, and always being respectful. Many people won't say thank you when you hold the door for them but my dad has always said to still do it anyway. My dad has always told me to never be afraid to speak up and to always be respectful when talking to people. This way that if I am talking to someone in a respectful way they will think of me as a respectful person. All of these ways have reflected on how I live my life All of these ways have guided me to live the best life I can and to always be polite! I will never forget these because I have been taught these many lessons many times in my life. My dad has taught me these things so that in the future I can reflect them onto other people’s lives.

My Building Experience - By: Justin Jackson

When I was in elementary, I enjoyed playing with action figures and other toys. Whenever I saw one I would always ask my mother “ Mom can I please get this, please!” I would beg and beg but then I would get bored after I got it and would ask for a new one. Out of all the toys I had my favorite type were legos. I always was interested in building things on my own. The legos were the start. My mother was so impressed with my knowledge of combining each little piece to construct something huge. I moved on to not using the instructions each set of legos gave you and started building my own creations, or combining pieces together that you were not told to combine. This evolved into something else later on and it made me understand what I wanted my job to be and that was to be mechanical engineer.

During middle school, I started playing with different kinds of toys that were motorized. The first motorized toy I received was from my grandad. I was so excited because it would have been the first toy that I built that had a battery and screws. This helped increase the little bit of knowledge that I had on engineering. However, when I was finally done with it, it was a huge failure. I finally felt what it was like to mess up at constructing something. This didn’t discourage me but made me want to try harder. I started building furniture when I was a senior in middle school. The first piece of furniture that I ever made was a lamp. There were many pieces that were not together and many screws. At this point in my life, I saw no needs for instructions. I started imagining the structure as a whole in my mind. When I finished, it always came out as expected. Many people were impressed with what I was doing. Whenever they did not understand how to put something together, that person would always ask me first before asking anyone else because they knew I was skilled at this kind of thing. I knew then that I could learn new things to further enhance my engineering skills.

Nature’s Lesson By Alden Kolenovic My Dad had a passion for hiking. He, in fact, had many passions, just to name a few: Soccer, swimming, bike riding, chess and hiking it still is. Every little bit of free time He had, he would try to fit some hiking in His busy schedule. At about four years old, I started to go to these little local trips with my Dad, like New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, The Zoo, Central Park, Long Island’s beaches and State Parks. He loved nature. And so, we would take short walks over these little hills in the gardens, parks, forests, and beaches. But each time, as I grew older and bigger, we took longer and longer walks. My Father used to say, “it’s essential that we eat before we start these

trips and hikes, stretch our bodies a little, warm up, and yes, drink plenty of water.” We took homemade food with us, most of the time, we would find a nice place, a rock or a fallen tree by the creek or the river, sit down and eat sandwiches and talk excitedly about our upcoming trip and nature and life. My father taught me so much about nature. He taught me not to fear the nature, the mighty river, a big tree, a mountain, the skies. He taught me to embrace all nature, it’s life and surroundings as part of us, part of our life on this planet. I used to get tired on these trips, and I used to tell my Dad, “ Dad, please can we go back, I’m tired?”. Sometimes I even used to say: “ Can you please carry me?”. And Dad, always being witty and ready for humor, used to say: “ Oh come, young man, who is going to carry me when I get tired of carrying You? Be strong, and we’re almost there”. He always encouraged me but refused to help me or carry me when I was little unless I was exhausted. When I was about 11 years old, we took a weekend trip to the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. We went there very often. In particular, we loved the area along the Delaware River around the town of Milford in Pike County. Ready as usual, with light clothes, backpacks packed with water, some food, insect sprays, healthy snacks we arrived in Milford, a picturesque old town. As usual, my dad’s first stop in Milford was Turkey Hill, a gas station, where we would fill up gas. From Turkey Hill we headed for our favorite spot, the Raymond Kills falls, about 3 miles south of Milford and about a mile north of the Delaware River. Deep in between the two tall mountains runs Raymond skills creek, and about a mile from the river are these amazingly cascade beautiful falls, with the biggest one at the bottom. Now, this was not an ordinary easy trail. The trail runs from the small parking lot at the top of the road, steeply winding down to the top of the significant falls. Then, from there, it goes back up halfway, and then it turns right and continues down along the huge falls, even steeper to the bottom of the big falls. Here, there is a fantastic view of the falls, with plenty of tourist and hikers taking pictures and enjoying it. I had somewhat grown accustomed to this trail, but have never been all the way down and to the end of the path, which still continues further down to the bottom of the creek, and then you have a choice of coming back up the same way, or taking another route up the other side of the mountain and back to the parking lot. My dad said to me: “ Let’s do this son, you can do it!” I looked at him and with some

skepticism replied, “Well, I might, and I may not.” “ What if I can not walk back up? What if it gets dark and a black bear suddenly shows up from across the creek?” Dad replied: “ Do you remember the stories I used to tell you of bears, and how not to be scared and show your fear to the bear?” I said, Yes I do. As a child of my age, my Father encountered a bear one early morning on the way to school in Europe. He remembered the stories His father used to tell him about bears, so he reacted with almost total calm, and the bear walked away. So I said, “Well Dad, let’s do it, all the way!”. So we hiked down the trail for over an hour, took some pictures, really enjoyed the scenery. At the bottom, we sat down on some rocks by the creek to eat and chat, then as we were about to get up and leave, as it had started to get a little dark, my dad suddenly stopped talking, and said to me: “Stay calm, no fear, pretend it’s a dog, slowly get up and start walking back up that trail, do not turn back, I will walk slowly backwards after you. “ There, as I turned my head to the left, I saw it, right across the shallow creek from us, looking at us, the black bear. I did get scared at first, but immediately, my dad’s words echoed in my ears, and a survival mode kicked in. I took a deep breath, and said to myself “ It’s ok, it’s a friendly bear, we’ll be fine.” Dad slowly put down all our leftover food and some food from the book bag down on the ground, and as I heard his footsteps behind me, I also heard him talking calmly on the phone: “ Hello 911, I am at the bottom of the Raymondskills Falls trail, heading back up along the falls with my 11 year old son. There is a black bear about 60 feet from us across the creek….” He had left His phone on with 911 and kept ambling behind me up the trail. I worried about my Dad, as much as I worried about me, so I kept turning around and telling my Dad “ Its ok Dad, we’ll be fine, if that bear comes after us I will protect you” I saw a smile on my Dad’s face I’ve never seen before. The bear kept looking at us as we walked, moving around, moving its head up and down, and finally started to cross the creek. As it crossed, it went straight towards the food. And at that point, we heard a deafening noise in the air. It was a US Park Ranger

helicopter, and a moment later, Ranger vehicle’s tires screeched in the lot at the top of the trail. By the time the Rangers got to us, we were fairly away from the bear, but not too far. With their weapons drawn, two of them continued down the trail, while one of them walked behind us up the trail. Before continuing to walk up, I turned and said to the two rangers: “ Please don’t kill that bear, it meant no harm, it’s just a hungry bear” The rangers smiled and said: “ Don’t worry kid, we won’t kill him, if The bear had attacked you, then yes”. Up at the lot, He picked me up high and said: Son, I am proud of You, You are a Man, a fearless man, you will succeed in life. A bit later, I realized that I had learned a fundamental lesson from my Dad, that fear can slow you down in life, slow you down or prevent you from achieving your goals, slow you down in everything you do. Of course, we all have fear, and always will, but to learn to control it is the key. That is a vital lesson I have learned, along with the fact that we have to strive and work hard to succeed. I see other kids sometimes not willing or wanting to walk, their parents, pushing them, carrying them, carrying their belongings, whining, complaining. While sometimes I see kids just like me, always ready for a walk, looking fresh and happy, excited, and cheerful. I see kids afraid to get on a rollercoaster, while some kids can’t wait to get on them. This, and other lessons I have learned from my Dad and my Mother are helping me be strong, decisive, persistent, understanding and willing to do things; I otherwise may be hesitant to do.

Do Good and You Will Be Rewarded - By : Joshua Legitime When I was younger my parents told me one thing, “Do good and you will be rewarded”. Even know this is still instilled in me head. I had interpreted this as do your work and be kind and you will be blessed with something nice. At first, I found this as getting materialistic things. Then, I found a different meaning behind it. I found that the joy and satisfaction of good

is your reward. The real meaning is to show how you do good for the feeling and morales. Nowadays I see children running around helping out, but it seems as a gain. For me it was always something that had to be done and for the kindness of your heart. Even today I can see adults out and about yet don’t show any love to someone who is homeless and can’t even spare one dollar. Clearly, you can tell some of these people aren’t raised on these types of morals. Yes, that person may be begging for money, but you must not know what that person is going through. Simply as helping an old lady cross the street or help the elderly with groceries just doesn’t seem to happen anymore. This example that my parents have instilled in me can bring me to greater things in the future. In the future, when you have to work and go through everything you have to do good and your best to get the best in life. It is hard to do good in your life with all the evil. Just as my parents had said though “Do good and you will be rewarded.” Coming from me do good.

Always Be Honest - By SioWa Luo Everyone will makes mistakes when they’re young. Why will everyone make mistake ?when we are young? It is because during this age, we don’t know that what to do is true and what to do is wrong. Believe that or not, everyone did tell a lie in front of their parents, even a person that has been very honest in the future. The reason why we lie when we are young is either want to get better stuff or when you making a mistake and you don’t want your parent know. After one time I lied to my father, everytime I lied I thought about the result first. A few days after the final test before the summer vocation, on a is a Friday. after I got my report card, I saw the score I get for my math is 89, not even 90 yet. In my home country, there are not much tests or quizzes. The only thing we care is the final and mid term. I am doing well in the quizzes and the midterm, but for the final term grade - not good. The first thing that comes out on my head is lie to my parent about the score I get on final. The score of 89 in math is not enough to get in to the top 30 in the

grade. And my rank for this year drop from top 10 to 30+. After I told my Mom about my “grade”. She didn’t say anything about it. It looked normal, because I told her that i got a 96 average for this final. But the bad thing happened when I told my Dad about my grade. I have been always afraid of my Dad, because he is a chairman in a company where he leads few thousand people. But in that time he work in government, he dealt with liers all the time. It was easy for him to find out that I was lying to my grade. He didn’t say anything during this time. After a few hours, I told him myself that I was lied to him. He didn’t beat me or anything, but he told me a story that happening few days ago and in his office. The person that lied to him got fired, and because he was getting fired as a Government officials, he can’t get a job easily in his future. And that will make his life drop from heaven to the hell. After the story my father told me, every time I am trying to lie, I need to think of the worst result for what will cost by this lie, than I decide is it worth it to lie for this result? The answer will always be it is not worth it.

Why I Played Baseball - By Jayden Rodriguez When I was a kid my Dad taught me how to play baseball. When my Dad was growing up he played the sport and was really good and really enjoyed. My dad started to teach me to play when I was around 2 and a half years old. I started to actually understand the sport and not be scared of the ball when I was around 3, that's when I started to have the most fun with my dad and baseball. For a long time, when I was young, the one thing I played was baseball. My parents would almost have to drag me away from playing. I would always ask my dad for 5 more minutes and keep asking him every time that 5 minutes was up. Learning how to play baseball taught me to not give up on anything and not be scared of failing. My dad said to me that you're not just going to be able to pick up a bat and a glove know how to play the sport. He said it took practice. I listened to

him and practiced and practiced. My dad helped me with my technique and form and eventually I got good at the it. The lesson my dad taught me is really important in my life right now because there is lot of school related things that are tough, but if I don't give up and do the best I can, I will be able to get through them and success more than in the first place. I will use the lesson my dad taught me when I am older and I have my own Kids and I will teach them the same lesson.

Things I Learned Without Knowing - By: Sebastian Santos My parents have taught me alot without my even noticing that they are

teaching me a lesson. I remember one time my parents taught me a lesson; they sent me to go get milk for them from the store and this taught me to be careful. They told me about things that happened in the world and have told me to watch my surroundings. This helped me in so many ways in my life. I didn’t even notice that they were helping me through my life when they told me this. My parents have told me this alot without even noticing it helped me in the future and in the present. The lesson my parents taught me when I was little help me now in a big way. I always check my surroundings wherever I am. Because of this lesson they taught me when I was small I am confident. This lesson also helps me now because I can notice when I am in a bad situation, or a good situation. This lesson has also helped me now because I use to think everything was good and since my parents told me to watch my

surroundings. That lesson taught me everything is not always good and I have to watch myself. This lesson my parents will also help me through the rest of my life because people always have to watch their surroundings. I also think my parents lesson will help keep me safe in the future like it has my whole life. My parents have taught me so many lessons, but this lesson stood out to me because i always use this lesson. I use this lesson on a daily basis to help me stay safe.

Life Lessons - By: Yianni Simeonidis One thing that I learned as a young child was to study and prepare for my exams. In seventh grade I went to a new school and thought it would be as easy as the school I previously went to. The school I went to never really required a lot of studying. I thought this school would be the same way. I found out I was wrong. I took my first math test on order of operations and I failed. I failed wit a 47. I felt embarrassed and ashamed because I wanted to get a get good grade on my first exam at my new school. This lesson taught me to be responsible an and prepare for future exams. After my first exam “flop” my mom and dad hired a tutor. He helped me learn how to properly study for exams. He taught me to make flashcards. I went out to buy hundreds of flashcards with colored pencils just so i can pass my exams. He also told me to make practice questions, rewriting my notes and simply being on task with my work. After this I used these studying methods with all my subjects and found myself passing. And with these good grads that i was able to maintain I got accepted into Holy Cross high school. This lesson will help me in my future very much. I will know to prepare for exams for high school and college. When i become an adult I will know that i have important responsibilities. I will make sure I am prepared for a big day's work or presentation. That feeling of failing is a feeling I do not want to feel ever again. So I will make sure to always be responsible for big exams and big days in my life.

Help the customers - By: Randolph Sopp When I was 7 and my Father owned a UPS store he thought it would be a good learning experience so from ages 7 - 14 every, weekend, or day I had off from school my father would bring me to his UPS store to teach me to me work. When I was younger I taped up boxes and restocked the little shelves we had. I would be apprehensive about coming because I would rather be staying at home playing video games, but later in life I came to the realization that if I did not go I would be lazy. When I was there as a young child I helped my father open up the store and cleaned up the back so it would be easy working. While I was there I would sometimes try to sit down and take a break but since my father was trying to help me learn maturity and independence, he would let me sit until I realised that i'm being lazy and I would start helping. As I got older I started to help with unloading boxes and packaging them to be shipped out. I would load up trucks with boxes and I started to help customers with their questions if my father was busy in the back. Recently, when my father sold the store he told me what he wanted me to learn and right then I knew how much this job helped me. I might not have gotten paid but I came away with the experience, this job taught me how to be independent. Whether it be not having enough workers to help ship out boxes or having to be the man at the counter because my father was sick and the other workers were boxing up I learned to be independent. In school I see that other students were not taught that lesson. These students needed to copy homework or couldn't do the work because they didn't listen. I see how this helped me now because I don't need help when presented with a task that might not be that easy and I don't copy homework or need help because I listen to the teacher. During my time working I had to listen because if I didn't get an order right a lot of things would get messed up. Now that I have this skill I know that it will help me in my future years of high school and college, In real life it will help the most when I get an actual job. I will be able to work, I will be able to be a good person, I will be the best worker, I will be a good listener, and I will be a good helper.

How do you play basketball? - By: Brendan Stephenson When I was 10 years old, I got curious about the rules and how to play basketball the exact right way. When my dad was younger, his dad taught him how to play basketball by bringing him to the park and watching it on tv with him. From there, he learned how to play the game of basketball the correct way. Basketball has been an important and big game for many years now. So, one day, I asked my dad to teach me. He took me to parks near my house and showed me how to shoot and dribble the basketball. I caught on pretty quick and eventually took it to the next steps. Defence is a big part in playing basketball. He told me to bend my knees, keep my back straight, and follow the ball. These are the main steps of basketball that I learned from my dad. Besides defence and offence, there are other rules you have to know about basketball. I asked my dad “Are the rules of basketball hard to remember?” He said “You will catch on quickly and I will teach you.” Another day he called me over to the living room to watch a basketball game. He showed me the rules of basketball and all of the violations that can be called by the refs. It took me a few games and some time to think and remember these rules. Eventually, I learned all the rules and now, I will never forget them. This applies to my life now because I learned when I was young and now I had a lot of practice and became better. This is a big part of my life now, and if I didn’t learn back then, I wouldn’t be as good now. This lesson will definitely help me in the future. I can teach my own kids the same exact lesson my dad taught me. It was very important and something I will always remember from my dad. Hopefully this lesson will pass on from many generations and be taught the same exact way. Basketball was one of the main things that my dad taught me. He taught me the perfect way and I learned very good. This is one of my childhood stories where I learned a lesson.

How I became a Lego Builder: because of my Dad By:Erick Urgiles When I was little I collected lego and always had my dad build out the sets for me. That all ended when I was five years old. I had just received a new lego set. The pieces were fresh out of the box and I was barely into the tenth step then I gave up because it was getting too difficult. I asked my dad to finish building it for me. That’s when he shocked me at that moment when he said “No”. I admit at that moment I was mad and frustrated at him and kept bothering him to finish building the set. I didn’t realize until recently was that my father was trying to teach me a lesson by letting me learn how to do things for myself. He wanted me to build this set on my own because he knew I could do it and that I should be doing some tasks for myself on my own. He was right I was able to build the set on my own, eventually. This applies to my life because my dad was teaching me to do things for myself. Since then, when I get any lego sets I build them on my own. This lesson didn’t just apply to when I build lego sets. This lesson I learned from my father can be used on many of the things I do in my life. I am able to do a lot of things by myself like my homework, cleaning my room, help my brother and sister, join different clubs that interest me and figure out how to get to different places so I can participate in other activities. This lesson my dad taught me will help me in my future because now I am able to do the things that I need to do on my own. I now know there are things I should be doing on my own and my dad has shown me that whatever those things are I will be able to do them and if I can’t I can always ask for help. My dad is still trying to teach me other lessons. Sometimes I listen to them and sometimes I don’t. That doesn’t stop him from trying to teach me. I guess I have more to learn from him.

A Growing Young’n - By: Rich Vega People learn many things as children. Most kids already have big dreams from a young age, maybe younger than the years of seven. As you get older and wiser, you tend to absorb a lot of common sense. As that falls into place, you develop responsibility. One thing I’ve learned was to play basketball. That taught me to be responsible and to notice that it can be a job one day. My brother used his basketball strategy as a child. As my brother got older he passed the strategy along to me. He’d take me outside, and to basketball camps to see what I could on the court. He taught me the rules and regulations of the game of basketball and what and what not to do. We often trained three days of the week for about two and half hours straight. Others may not have or wanted to learn how to play because of the hard work needed. Most people that want to do the same are mainly younger children and siblings. My little brother is inspired by me. He always follows me and my brother out the door when we leave to go train. I started applying this work ethic to my daily life because all the years that I’ve trained, I am now confident in myself that I can be efficient on the basketball court. I play everyday and usually have games almost every week. After I come home, we go straight to the gym. Sometimes we go to the weight room because if you ever watched the NBA (National Basketball Association) the players are very strong. This lesson is going to support me in life as I grow into a young man. In the long run, this is a lesson because if you noticed that you can be something, fulfil it!

How To Be A Middle Linebacker - By Kemari E. Ward I have played football since I was 4 years old my dad was the one who inspired me to play it and plus it runs in the family. Growing up, I was always overweight compared to the average kids. for most of my football years I played football I played defensive line. And on my way back from practice my dad would always tell me how he played middle linebacker and how good he was. A middle linebacker is the

defensive captain. He is the center of the defense who lines up behind the defensive lineman. One day I remember asking, “Dad, do you ever think I can play middle linebacker.” he looked at me and said “well you know your a little too big for that, so I don't think so.” So, tried to lose weight . I told my dad what I wanted to do and he helped me with working out , the exercises that we did were running , jumping ability and reaction. The diet I was on, and the dedication to the work I did helped me lose 15 pounds. During the offseason I started working out with the linebackers and that’s who my dad coached . I remember the first thing my father said to all of us “ read and react !” he had us do a drill where we watch to see if the coach (my dad) hands off the ball or drops back everyone messed up including me because we always anticipated his “pattern”. After about a week I perfected the drill and I just figured out there was no pattern and it was just reading and reacting. My dad told me that playing middle linebacker will teach me great lessons for life and i didnt then but I do now realize that all the techniques we use is similar to the situations. For example a middle linebacker is the captain he has to be a able to orchestrate the difference I may need to be a boss or a manager one day and i need to take control of the people who work for me and give them orders . In all honesty becoming a middle linebacker has taught me many important lessons that I must carry on in life one how to never give up on something I believe in, is to how to conduct a team , always keep your head up and observe everything. I may sometimes use these skills but they will help me when I begin to mature more and get older.

Do The Right Thing! - By: Elijah Cadet-Melhado As a young child, my mom always made me take care of my chores and work before I had fun. When I was ten, my main chores on Saturday were to wake up, walk the dog, finish up any remaining homework, & then clean the bathroom. My mom made it clear that I was not able to watch television, or play on my game system until I took care of my chores. Every single Saturday as a child, I would dreadfully

wake up at the thought of “doing chores”. I thought my mother was being cruel, or mean for giving this much work for a young child. Little did i know, she was teaching me a life lesson. I didn't realize until a couple of years later, but my mom was teaching me to take care of my responsibilities before I even thought of having fun. My mom would often yell at me or punish me if I didn't take care of my chores. This taught me to always take care of my responsibilities. Fast forward a couple of years: I realized that my mom’s rule made a tremendous impact on my life. I would always take care of my homework and chores before I went out to have fun, opposed to my friends who would wait last-minute to get their work done. This improved my school work and grades. On the other hand, my friends habits of having fun before taking care of their caused them to get bad grades. I would always hand in assignments on time, and if I needed help with anything, I had plenty of time to ask. I realized that all my peers didn't learn the same lesson as my mom taught me. And this called them to often fail assignments because they chose to have fun instead of taking care of their responsibilities first. I know that my moms lesson will positively affect me in the future as it has in the past & current day. Even now, i realize that out of my peers, the ones who take care of their responsibilities end up having better grades & more opportunity, meanwhile my peers who don't take care of their responsibility tend to have less opportunity and failing grades. I know my mom’s rule will affect me in the future because I already see how it is positively affecting me now.

Everyday Before School - By: Justin Castellanos One thing that I learned as a child that taught me responsibility is to Clean the bedroom everyday before school or on the weekend. My parents taught me this when my mom would always clean my messy bedroom and she finally showed me how to keep it clean. She showed me how to fold the blankets, Clean the dresser, and Sweep the room. The other kids haven't learned this because their room is always

dirty whenever I go to their house Such as clothes being on the floor and everything is very dusty and the sheets are messy. They also don't show any responsibility for anything they do. Such as asking their parents for everything still. This will help me in the future because I can take responsibility for my own actions. Actions such as me not having to ask my friends for money or to borrow anything or school loans. I can also take care of myself and own my own house or apartment. Then there's other people that will rely on their parents for everything which won't allow them to actually experience the world. That's why having responsibilities is a very great and hard task. Even though I never liked cleaning it because I wanted to be playing video games this still made me responsible.

NEVER BACK DOWN - By :Kayden Superville

One thing that I learned that my mom taught me was to never give up. Never giving up no matter what the task is. When I was young in kindergarten I started to learn. I would try and try my hardest and she wouldn't let me give up. She taught me and gave me examples. Weeks later and I finally got it. I listen to my and we were both happy at the end. I see it in others all the time. Nobody should ever give up on anything. Giving up is just basically telling yourself that your not capable of doing the task at hand. On day, I was watching YouTube and saw my favorite basketball team play. It was the championship game. They were down by ten but they didn't give up yet. ‘They turned up the heat”, meaning they started to go even harder than before. At the end they ended up winning by 10. Another time I was watching my favorite player, Reggie Miller. He played for the Pacers . They were playing against the Knicks and they were down. He shot the 3

pointer. Leading towards that after, he stole the ball and hit another three. They ended up winning the game because Reggie Miller gave up. In my life ,now, this has helped me alot. It has helped me work for an scholarship to go to an great school. I would always follow and remember what my mother has taught and told me. It will help me in the future by helping me get through tough times that i will go through. In life I would have bumps in the road but, I have to get through them and try my hardest no matter what is going on.

Doing Laundry By: Gordon Zheng When I was little my parents always taught me how to be responsible. Like looking at both sides before crossing or doing your own laundry. They always taught me to look after myself. My parents told me to bring my laundry basket to the basement every friday or saturday to wash and dry. In the same day or the day after I had to fold and hang my clothes. One day both my mom and my dad decided it was time to do my own laundry. I got my own laundry basket. They taught me how to put laundry detergent in the washer and how to use the dryer. They also taught me how to fold and hang my clothes. This not only taught me how to to laundry, but it also taught me to be responsible. In middle school some students forget their lunch or an assignment that was due that day. They probably weren’t taught to do their laundry. Because of my parents I learned to look after myself and bring my assignments, learned how to pack my own bags and much more. By learning to do laundry in the future I can be more organized and be a more reliable person. When I’m in senior year or maybe in college I can bring my assignments and other essentials. The Room - By: Christopher Amos When I was younger, by maybe a few years, my mother always told me to “keep your things organized”, and I did. It helped a lot since she started to tell me this. Mostly in school and at home, which is the only place I can keep my things organized. Organized means to have everything nice, clean, and in order. It is something really simple, but some people just don’t take advantage of that simplicity.

I started to be an “organized person” when I was about 10. Now I do many other things around the house like, dusting, laundry, dishes, etc. There was one thing that was not apart of my “to do” list, and that was cleaning my own room. So one day my mother purposely disorganized my room. She then said “Try to clean and organize your room”. I thought to myself “Okay, how hard could this be, you do everything else by yourself, so why not this?” I planned this out carefully. First organize the clothes in the closet, then make your bed, then clean up the toys and games, and finally vacuum the floor. I didn’t really need to ask how to do this because like I said before, doing something like this is really simple. This was the time that my mother started to tell me “keep your things organized”. Today this method of organization helps me to find things more easily, especially in school. Unlike me, I don’t notice this kind of organization in my peers. They always have messy lockers with paper and books everywhere. In the future, this could potentially help with college and job applications and any other thing that I need to be organized for.

Lesson - By: Luis Cruz One thing that I learned as a kid was to take responsibility of things that I do. No matter if it was something wrong, or right my parents always told me this every time I did something wrong . The way that I was thought this was when I used to get into trouble with my parents. Always they knew that I did “it”, so they would know if I was lying. So they would say that it is better to take responsibility instead of lying.

I've seen other people learn this lesson later on and when I see people lying. It would probably have been better if they would of told the truth but they lied so it didn't turn out too good for them. This applies to my life now because I realized if I tell the truth people would trust me more instead of people finding out that i lied they probability of them trusting me is very low.

The Lesson That I’ll Never Forget - By: Jordan Molina When I was in the sixth grade, I would always leave the front door unlocked. I would go outside to play basketball with my brother and friends. My dad would always remind us to lock the front door before we left to go play ball. Some days it would be annoying because he kept repeating himself multiple times. For years my dad would be a constant pain in my neck because every afternoon and weekend when I went outside to play he would always say the same thing. One afternoon, I was rushing outside to play basketball on a Friday afternoon. My friends were waiting for me and I was running behind, and I did not want to run back upstairs to my room to get my house keys. All I wanted to do was to go play basketball because it was the first week of summer vacation. I left the house around 11:00 A.M with my brother and my friends. I headed to Juniper Valley Park in Middle Village. I spent the entire day playing basketball, riding bikes and hanging out with my friends. I knew I always had to be home by dinner time so I left the park around 6:00 P.M with my brother. When we got home everything seemed normal. My dad’s car was in the driveway and my mom was in the kitchen cooking dinner. I went up to my room and took a shower and washed up for dinner. As always we ate dinner as normal. After dinner I went up to my room to play video games. When I went into my room I sat down in front of my TV and went to grab my playstation 3 controllers but they were missing. I figure that my brother took them and was using them. So I didn’t think twice about it. I then went to grab my laptop to play World of Warcraft, then noticed that I could not find my laptop. It was also missing. I was getting mad because I could not find it. I went downstairs and asked my mom if she had seen my computer and she said no, go ask your father. I went into the living room where my dad was watching

TV and asked him if he had seen my laptop. At the same time my brother was looking for his beats headphones and could not find them. I asked my dad again if he had seen my laptop and he responded with “ did you lock the front door?” I got even angrier because he did not answer my question and all he was concerned about again was locking the front door. My dad repeated again did you lock the front door so I answered him knowing that I would get in trouble and said no. My dad said “I came home early today because I got a call from the police department. Someone broke into our house and took many electronics from the bedrooms and basement. I was shocked and scared and more importantly upset that all of my belongings were stolen. For days I was upset that I didn’t take that extra time to run up stairs and get my keys before I went to play basketball at the park. As the summer went on I was mad almost everyday because I was no longer able to play video games with my friends. I knew my parents could not afford to buy a new playstation and a new laptop so I had to deal with the consequences of no locking the front door. As the summer ended, my dad came into my room one evening and asked me if I know understood why I always reminded you to lock the front door, and I said yes. From that day on I locked the door every time I left the house. That night my dad bought me back my laptop and play station that i thought was stolen. I was really happy that I had my electronics back. I understood the importance of locking the front door so nobody would walk into the house and steal our property. From that day on even at school I always make sure my lockers are locked and I always remind my friends to lock their lockers.