Saturday, April 30, 2016

Graduation Speech


     Golf Middle School is special. I will be honest though, Niles North is huge and has a lot of really great programs and luxuries that we didn’t get here but it’s also kind of frightening and scary. I remember going into fifth grade and I felt all grown up going to middle school and thought it couldn’t get any bigger. The kids at this school always have looked bigger to me especially the eighth graders. Just a couple of days ago I was talking to some of my friends and someone said, “Were we always that short in fifth grade?” and that’s when I realized how much we have grown up. It dawned on me that we have finished half of our schooling already, and we just have high school and college left. I am excited and worried at the same time and let me tell you, those feelings do not go well. Are school is small, and even though I have always wondered what it would be like to go to a huge school, I like that I know everyone and am friends with a lot of people. I remember fly-up day when you go and check out the middle school and we thought it was huge and was the greatest thing ever, but now that I got older it seems really small. Those blue, red, yellow, and green lockers that once towered over me are now almost eye level and hardly fit all of my books. The tables and desks that used to be a little too tall are now a little too short and I always bump my knees. I also feel like middle school is less work, there’s not as much pressure on you. But in high school you have to have good grades because of college. Also I will have to learn all these new things which I am excited yet scared for. Like learning how to drive it will be really scary for me at first but I think after a while it will get better. Another thing is now I am the oldest in the school. It’s not fair that there have always been grades above us at the middle school and now that we finally got our chance to be the bosses it’s over really quick. Next year we will be the babies  of the school again, the incoming Freshman and we will probably get lost and babied because we're new. I loved middle school and elementary school. They were the best. We went on field trips and played outside and had fun everyday. But now it’s different, school is harder there’s more work and I can see a lot of changes. A lot of the teachers I loved either left or got married and go by a new name. We have all grown up and it’s kind of sad because I finally got the hang of middle school but now I have to start all over again. I know there’s also a lot of kids at the high school which is kind of frightening. I see the same people every day, and I feel like when I go to high school I won’t see them ever again. On to the positive things though, even though I would probably be crying halfway through this speech because I don’t want to leave there actually might be some good things to come out of this. First off, I made it out of middle school thankfully. Second I will get to meet new people at the high school, and have new experiences. The programs at the high school will also broaden my horizons to new things. I think for the most part I will love every part of the high school, it will just take some getting used to. I am worried and really, really scared but when I think of all the people who will have to go through it with me it makes me less nervous and more eager to go. We all grew up and I think even though we will leave a lot of memories behind  we will make a lot more too. It’s really hard for me to say goodbye, but I have too and I like to thank every teacher, student, parent, and family member who made this possible for me and for all of my classmates. One day later on I think that even though I am afraid to move on, I will be glad I did. I just want to say to the seventh graders though, this year wake up every day and don’t complain about all the homework, essays, and tests because at the end of it all you will realize it was worth it. I just hope now that i'm as thankful when I graduate high school.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Blog About Testing (dun dun duuuun)

Fiction Writing
The Final Test 

       "Arabella!" said the lady with the long auburn hair from the office, "You're up." I hated being called by my first name and preferred Ara instead yet didn't dare say anything as I walked up to the frosted glass door, the bare white walls feeling as if they were closing around me. My hands were drenched in sweat as I put my hand on the knob, this was the final test to be selected. Everyone else wanted the opportunity I had and even though it sounds selfish, I didn't want it. They want certain characteristics for you to be entered in ICAP, the International Children's Assassin Program. They only take seven girls and seven boys to be entered in this program to become the worlds best assassins. They work for the government and protect their country, but there are also many trials to get there. I was born here at the ICAP headquarters, my parents worked here. They were assassins also, picked at age sixteen. I grew up in these walls and hardly go to the outside world. I was raised different than any one else I know because my parents died when I was three so I was raised by Darius and his wife Elora, my mother and fathers best friends. Instead of learning how to ride a bike, I learned how to hold an assault rifle, instead of playing at the park I played on the rooftops of buildings, learning how to keep my balance as to not fall,  instead of practicing the guitar, I practiced the twenty seven different ways to hack into the government's files on basically everything. I watched everyone else's life go by from the tall floor to ceiling window that took up one wall of my room. People got married, had children, and did incredible things over the years, but I was confined in these walls meant to keep the world out, but by doing that it locked us in. This job allowed you to see the outside world but not the way I wanted too. I never dared tell anyone what I really wanted to do with myself because they were so set on me getting this career. They moved me up from my age group when I was younger because I did  really well in everything. So now they expect a lot from me considering I might be the best student this program has ever seen. If you pass the tests, you go on to become an assassin but you work for the government, therefor you go on a mission and then come right back to headquarters to receive another one. Basically, the government owns you. You are never allowed to see your family again or make any new friends or get married and have kids because they will make you weak, there will be something that makes you vulnerable. Most of these kids were orphans though so to them it doesn't really matter. For me though it might be harder because of Elora and Darius and my best friend (who's and orphan) Vienna. That's why I am hoping to say no when they offer me a position. I already  know my other too tests had phenomenal results thanks to the surprised looks on the judges faces but this last one was the hardest. I passed all the tests for intelligence, fighting tactics/ weapon training, courage, selflessness, and now the ability  stay focused on tasks. This one is the hardest. The lady led me into the room and closed the door leaving me stuck with a weird looking man in his 40's wearing a lab coat. He asked me too stand on a platform and then he strapped me to all these weird looking tubes my nervousness fading into curiosity. He turned on the machine and suddenly I was in London in front of Big Ben instructions coming through my mouth piece. I had to find a man by the name of Charlie Price who was said to have stolen government files from the embassy. I found him at his home in Essex and I opened the door. What I saw was horrific. Everyone I ever cared about my parents, Elora and Darius, Vienna, and even Arsen who I haven't told anyone about in fear I will be killed were all there hanging from the ceiling dead. My knees were weak and tears sprang to my eyes. I felt broken like when you chase your siblings around the dining room table and her favorite vase falls. I felt like closing my eyes and drifting away right this very moment because what was the point when everyone I have ever loved is dead? No I told myself I have to keep going. It felt like ages but I finally got to my feet and stumbled passed the maze of bodies holding my breath. After what seemed like forever I found a small wooden door leading to the basement. I tiptoed down the stairs so he wouldn't hear me and swung up to one of the rafters. I pulled my light machine gun from my back and took a deep breath. I shot. I got an immaculate head shot and killed him in one go. I grabbed the files from the desk and ran. "Congratulations" said a voice I thought was in my head but was coming from my mouthpiece. "You passed".

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Beginning Blog



         This weeks blog was supposed to be about beginnings and endings. Personally I hate endings because that usually means that something I really enjoy, is going away. It's like when I was in fourth grade I was excited yet super scared to go to the middle school because of all the work I would have to do and all the things that might happen. Yet now right when I got to become one of the oldest kids in the middle school, right when I started to feel comfortable and at ease with my workload of homework and my classes and started to feel like I was really getting the hang of it, they are going to end it by sending me to the high school where I will be one of the youngest kids in the school and I will have so much work and I will be so confused.               This is why beginnings are better, because it is the start of a new adventure and you don't have to think about it ending, because it is a long way from now. I like beginnings seeing that they are happy because you have finally gotten over the fact that you ended something to get there. Even though I don't want to leave Golf, where their were only 72 kids in my grade and I knew everyone at my school, I still am kind of excited for my beginning at Niles North.Though my Freshman year might be kind of tough, when I am a Senior and I look back at all the mistakes I made and all the homework and grades that's how I will know I have improved. I guess you can't have a beginning without an ending but maybe beginnings are there to make endings seem not-so-sad, and to cushion the blow. Maybe even though I feel this is sad now everything will be okay in the end. And if it's not, it's not the end. -unknown