Inside Insight

INSIDE INSIGHT 2014-2015 THE FIRST ACADEMY - UPPER SCHOOL

GRACE PRINSELL 12TH GRADE

MISSION STATEMENT Inside Insight exists to provide an outlet to showcase the God-given talents of The First Academy’s authors, poets, essayists, photographers and artists.

INSIDE INSIGHT STAFF Claire Anderson Julia Crawford Carolina Watlington Caroline Wendzel Editors Mrs. Heather Patton Sponsor

1

TABLE OF CONTENTS Title

Author

Page

Collage

Grace Prinsell

Front Cover

“Constellation Station”

Bekka Herdy

3

Greed Poem

Gracie Taylor

4

Greed Poem

Kyle Devoogel

4

Greed Poem

Caroline McNeil

5

Greed Poem

Matthew Araujo

5

Greed Poem

Alex West

6

“Cranes”

Anonymous

7

“54015”

Natalie Geigel

8

“Tania Marcus - I was safe”

Lauren Connell

9

“Fred Bachner”

Eddie Cofrancesco

10

“Sevek Fishman”

Hamilton Murrah

11

“Haiku”

Angelica Streetman

12

“Sadako”

Bailey Higgins

12

“Solace”

Jessica Meena

13

“The Holocaust: Always Remember”

Natalie Geigel

13

Ceramic

Alie Hartnett

14

“Green Pastures”

Joy Abbad

15-16

“Softball”

Frances Ramirez

17

“Seagull Sunset”

Maitland Harvey

18

THE FIRST ACADEMY MISSION STATEMENT The First Academy is a Christ-centered, college-preparatory school whose mission is to prepare children for life as Christian leaders who choose character before career, wisdom beyond scholarship, service before self, and participation as a way of life.

2

GREED POEMS BEKKA HERDY 10TH GRADE

GREED POEMS

It possesses you without warning It consumes your thoughts and actions It destructs your relationships It turns selflessness to selfishness It gives birth to lust It allows temporary pleasure It rips away true joy.

Gracie Taylor 9th Grade

You look into a window and it catches your eye That cute little hat with a tiny bow tie You think about it day and night You have dreams about it and wake up in a fright Every day it rots you from the inside out, Til it consumes you and you scream out “I must go back and take that hat” You go back and steal the hat at the store Trading your soul for nothing more Than a cute little hat with a tiny bow tie.

Kyle Devoogel 9th Grade 4

GREED POEMS Greed Deceptive, self-centered Satisfying, needy, destructive.

All words to describe him.

Like the angel of death it deceives you Like Hitler, destructive Like Ebenezer Scrooge, selfish.

He is all the sinful actions combined into one.

He tells you, you don’t want it.

You need it.

People try to fight him, And just when you think you’ve won, He pulls you back into the sinful cycle.

Caroline McNeil 9th Grade

Like the calm before the storm Greed’s consequences only show when you are at your prime It befriends you and shows you the riches that you desire It corrupts you to the point where you are unrecognizable to yourself.

And when you fall it laughs at your failure Then it moves on to the next gullible simpleton who’s foolish Enough to indulge in pleasures of greed At least until the cycle resets.

Matthew Araujo 9th Grade

5

GREED POEMS

He lingers through the empty halls of hardened human hearts, But inside of the innocent, that place is where he starts.

He enters slowly, quiet, small, as if he were a mouse.

But soon the corridors are his; the heart is now his house.

And then Greed blinds his next victim, not letting the man see.

So his host still keeps Greed welcome; his welcome company.

Greed’s victim does not know his place, Greed is not diminished.

And by the time Greed’s done, His victim is finished.

Greed leaves the heart and moves along, the same Greed from the start and before someone can stop him, Greed is at a new heart.

Alex West 9th Grade

6

WWII POEMS

WWII POEMS

The sophomore class wrote poems about those affected by WWII in the Holocaust following their reading of the book Night. Each of the following poems is about one of the victims or survivors listed on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

More information can be found at http://www.ushmm.org/remember/the-holocaust-survivors-and-victims-resource-center

54015 54015 Home invaded Ghettos formed, selections made Father taken 54015 Identity reduced to a number Fear penetrated the soul, if it still had one Horrifying brutality everywhere 54015 Continuously moving Freezing, starving, marching towards death Bodies dropping to the ground, not here March 10, 1945: Liberation 54015, no, Nesse Galperin Natalie Geigel 10th Grade

8

WWII POEMS Tania Marcus - “I was safe” Daddy was a rich man Grandfather was successful I was excited for grade 5 until, they invaded.

My teacher is talking in Russian, but I don’t understand why.

Slowly, Germans began to appear.

Mommy pulled me away, we were running, hiding.

I thought of my dollhouse and books stored in the wooden cabinet next to my bed.

Oh how I missed that bed.

I tapped my mom’s shoulder asking about my father and brother.

Where had they gone?

My father was shot by those dirty SS. Nathan was saved, but only for a short while.

On a death march we were, my mom, my older sister, and I, when it all went black.

Would I ever wake up?

My mother begged for my eyes to blink, just once.

“Please” I heard her say.

My eyelids began to separate, with tears in her eyes, my mom leaned over and whispered “We are safe” I was safe, the horrendous journey

was over.

I was safe.

Lauren Connell 10th Grade 9

WWII POEMS

Fred Bachner A thousand days pass, seems not one will remain From the time father left to sundown today Summer of ’38 my life began to sway Each proceeding hour bringing more pain I remember when my struggle was school Wanting to pass, succeed, that’d be cool But not too long after the Nazis took reign My father gone, now a wait unforeseen Yet still I was only a young fourteen After our reunion, the Jews were slain My family and I left for the hills Nazis found us their guns brought us chills I’d go to Auschwitz like others, on a train My job was to steal what was left of the Jews’ “bread” As they marched to the chamber and came out dead American soldiers came to liberate Spring of ’45 is the approximate date Though ten thousand days pass, now ten thousand remain Eddie Cofrancesco 10th Grade

10

WWII POEMS

Sevek Fishman I was not Jewish, but I respected my family's Jewish culture, I resembled the culture so well, that it fooled the Nazis, we were deported.

Warsaw was my new home, it was not all bad, I met the love of my life, we escaped, we were hidden.

With bloody, broken nails, we dug our new home, for 18 months we lay motionless, the exact opposite of fearlessness, until Russians found us, We were liberated.

Hamilton Murrah 10th Grade

11

WWII POEMS To end the WWII literature unit, the sophomores read a short story about a 12-year-old who died from leukemia caused by the radiation from the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. At the time of her death, she was attempting to fold 1,000 cranes, which would grant her a wish for health according to Japanese folk lore. The students wrote haiku poems in response and folded 1,006 cranes of their own.

Haiku Never seen or heard Expressed by action and word That's peace in the world

3-5-6 to go All she wanted was a wish One ungranted wish Angelica Streetman 10th Grade

Sadako Disease will linger Illness invades the healthy Gold crane, please save me Bailey Higgins 10th Grade

12

WWII POEMS SOLACE Someone must remember, someone must care; Only how many someone's? and to what extent?

Looking around, I cannot tell who dutifully helps carry the burden And who has left it for "whom it concerns", but it concerns us all!

Cruelty at the hands of darkened men, and now in the absence of comfort.

Externally the acknowledgement and sympathy may never be in full, but in this I find my solace: I remember, so that makes one.

Jessica Meena 10th Grade

The Holocaust: Always Remember Horror deep within Millions destroyed and scarred Always Remember Humans; animals Can you differentiate Always Remember Identities gone There are only ashes now Always Remember If we never want To make that mistake again Always Remember Natalie Geigel 10th Grade 13

POEMS AND ESSAYS ALIE HARTNETT 11TH GRADE

Green Pastures How many times have we “walked through the valley of the shadow of death”? Yet, little do we realize that the valley is the lowest point of our lives, or as I would call it, the pit! The pit of death, the pit of hopelessness, or the pit of sin!

The Psalmist wrote about this pit, and let us know that he, also, was there once.

“Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

Psalm 103:2-5 “Who redeems your life from the pit”. Does not your soul long to be redeemed from the pit? Are you not weighed down by the constant darkness and heaviness that seem to surround you at times?

I know for a fact that I go through the valley of death. Sometimes I sink so deep that I cannot see the vast skies above! The world would seem to become more dim. I would see no light.

Dear friends, do we not fail to see the loving hand of our Father, as He comes to meet us in that pit?

Daniel and his friends were in the furnace of fire; however, they did not fail to realize that the Lord would come in among them! Their faith was rooted deep that they echoed the same words that Paul himself said, “If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die we die for the Lord.”

Romans 14:8 Let us not grow weary of looking up when we no longer see the bright light of Jesus.

We have gotten so accustomed to repeating Psalm 23, but listen to these words and let them sink in deep.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

Psalm 23:1-3

15

We shall not always be in green pastures, where the weather is mild and beautiful. The storms are bound to come!

When the storm hits, we hide away in an endless pit of hopelessness which only screams at us with its deceptive words. We make the pit our home.

When we become accustomed to the pit, that we no longer know the green pastures that David speaks of, then we must let our eyes look up again. May we then kneel in that valley and listen to the whisper a midst the storm.

We fail to see the Everlasting arms. Are His arms too weak to carry you through each passing moment? Even in the pit?

Are His arms too occupied with other cares that He fails to come to your rescue when you cry out, “My Jesus!! Save this soul which sinks in the pit of destruction!”?

“Underneath are the Everlasting Arms” Deuteronomy 33:27 Let not thy eyes become weak to see the Arms that hold thee when thou art in the valley of death.

They are strong to carry you, and lift you over the rocks, over the land, over the high trees and over the outstretched clouds, so that then, your youth and strength is renewed, and you soar on wings like eagles.

Then you shall rest in green pastures, once again, by the grace of our Lord and by His mighty and Everlasting Arms.

See not the high mountains of trouble while you are in the pit, for you shall sink in deeper! Look up to Him who is yet higher still. He shall lift you up, saying, “Not by power, nor by might shall you walk up, for you only see the size of this mountain from below. You shall walk this mountain by MY own strength, for I shall lift you up, beloved.”

“Not by power nor by might, but by My Spirit” Zechariah 4:6 Joy Abbad 12th Grade To Read More of Joy’s Blog, Click Here

16

Softball When all the fence gates close behind me, The sound of metal cleats pressed against Concrete meets my ears, The National Anthem Carries through the whole field, “Play ball” says The impatient umpires.

As I step into the batter’s box The sound of a glove colliding with the user’s leg Prepares me for what’s to come next.

The familiar feeling of the strong collision Of a bat and a ball run through my veins.

From seeing a ball traveling towards me To looking down at the soft, rough clay.

The taste of pickle flavored sunflower seeds Hits my tastebuds in a flash.

In this place, this home, I can be me and me alone.

Forever more, forever always.

Love in one home.

Frances Ramirez 10th Grade

17

MAITLAND HARVEY 12TH GRADE

GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION Admit - “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Pray: Lord, I admit that I am a sinner in need of a Savior.

Believe - “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Pray: Lord, I believe that Jesus died and she His blood for my sins. I believe this in my heart and not just my head.

Call - “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13) Pray: Lord, I call upon You to save me from my sins. I confess and repent of my sins. I know that Your Son, Jesus, paid the debt on the cross - a debt I could never pay despite all my good works, and I thankfully accept Your gift of eternal life in Heaven that His death makes possible (Acts 2:38-39).

18