Reflections

Overall, this year’s English class was the best out of all four years, in my opinion. I loved that it was sort of laid back and we weren’t on a specific schedule like the other years because we had no final exam to prepare for. The best part about it was that we could have little discussions here and there, which made it sometimes feel like a study hall – in a good way. On the other hand, I wish we’d read some more books instead of doing so many projects; Although, I don’t think I would’ve minded so much if they weren’t all video projects. Personally, I would maybe try some different formats in the future just to shake things up a little bit. My favorite things we did in class this year were reading The Great Gatsby and Tuesdays with Morrie. Those are easily two of my favorite books that I’ve ever read. I didn’t really care for the survival unit because I didn’t like The Old Man and the Sea or Into the Wild , and the essays we had to write for Survivorman felt like I was writing th...

The survival unit consisted first of reading one of three novels: Into the Wild, Unbroken, or Lord of the Flies . I was assigned to read the book Into the Wild about a man named Chris McCandless who set out on a mission to survive in the harsh conditions of the Alaskan woods. Personally, I didn’t really like the book. I disliked the format in which the book was written; The narrator sometimes inserted himself into the novel, and it seemed more like a really long newspaper article than a book. We then watched three episodes of Survivorman that related to each of the assigned books to learn various methods and tactics of how to survive in strenuous events such as being lost at sea or stranded on a deserted island. Then, we were to create a video of something we can do well that teaches others how to perform the task. The biggest point of the unit was for each of us to identify trait that we thought was most important in surviving any situation. I found that the most important was kno...

My Speak Truth to Power defender was named Marina Pisklakova. She fought for the rights of victims of domestic abuse in Russia. I was drawn to this defender because I know someone who was personally involved in a domestic abuse case and the subject doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves. Marina Pisklakova was a researcher who was doing a survey and discovered that more people than she thought were affected by domestic violence. She soon found out that someone she knew was also being abused by her husband but refused to report it. This topic then became a huge issue for her. She began reaching out to victims through a hotline, inquiring about their abusive relationship, counseling them through it. She even convinced some of the victims to leave their abusive partner. It was not as easy as it seemed. She came to find that some victims didn’t report their abuser for a variety of reasons: they can’t financially afford to leave them, they didn’t want to make things difficult for thei...

The Veteran’s History Project involved the class, in our groups, getting to know some local U.S. military veterans and learning about their experiences and stories to get a feel for what they may have had to endure. Then, they would be sent to the Library of Congress for future generations to study as well. The Veteran that my group worked with was named George Hillman. He was a medic and personnel clerk, driving ambulances in the U.S. Army during the Korean war. He was attending college at St. Bonaventure when he joined the Army. He didn’t talk much about the fighting aspect of it, as he was never involved in any hand-to-hand combat, but he talked briefly about how it negatively affected some of his friends. George talked about his family, how they lived on a farm growing up, and how it prepared him for the physical regimen of basic training. He mentioned how some of the other soldiers found it more difficult than he did and how overall, the hardest adjustment was the mental aspect. ...

At the beginning of the year, we wrote about our goals in a letter to ourselves. In my letter, my goals included maintaining a high GPA and class rank, getting a job, spending time with my friends, and working out more. Most of these goals I was able to reach. I worked hard in school (for the most part) and even managed to improve my class rank by two spots. My friends and I were always together going on road trips, having movie nights, and doing crazy things. We tried to be together as much as possible before we all had to go our separate ways in college. I got a job working at Ripa’s, an Italian restaurant, bussing tables. I absolutely hate it, but I’ll stick through it until I can find a better job. Finally, the only goal I didn’t quite reach was my personal goal of getting in shape for Army ROTC. Since the beginning of the year, I did get a gym membership, and while I do go on occasion, it’s definitely not as much as I should; I probably go once a week. I’m a little disappointed i...

In the beginning, high school was pretty much a breeze. When I was a freshman, I was afraid of the seniors because they were huge and they all looked so much older, which is sort of odd now because I don’t think our class looks as old as I thought their class did. In the first few years, I didn’t really do much outside of school aside from religion classes at St. John’s, so I mostly focused on school and keeping my grades up. Even at that time, the most important thing to me was getting into a good college so I could have a successful future. Looking back, I wish I’d put myself out there more and got more involved in clubs and sports. My freshman year I wanted to try out for the Rifle Team, and I almost did, but when I went to the meeting, I saw how many people were trying out and I didn’t even show up to the tryouts because I didn’t think I would make it. I regretted that for a long time. Then in 10 th grade, knowing how bad it felt after I chickened out, I decided to go for it and ...

I was a horrible student in middle school. My homework was never done on time and I hated everything about school, so I stopped trying. Even though my homework was never done, though, I still managed to pull off pretty high grades on my tests and my report cards. I was on the Honor Roll most times, and when I wasn’t I was definitely on the Merit Roll. I didn’t do any sports and I never participated in any school functions or spirit days because I was convinced it was uncool. For the most part, I was kind of isolated from everyone. However, my friends forced me to go to a few Fun Nights and I had a blast every time. My favorite class was French because we always had so much fun together, but I also loved Technology because I got to make things and work with things hands-on. Although, it was fairly obvious that my teachers didn’t like me due to my lack of homework and participation in class. I almost failed Social Studies in 7 th grade because I didn’t do any of the final project. Simi...

I don’t remember much from my first six years of schooling, but I know that I really enjoyed my experience. I was social and energetic, and I was always active. I can also admit that I was a little bit of a trouble maker. I remember in kindergarten I had Mrs. Scimia as a teacher, but she went on maternity leave for a large portion of the school year, so I was left with Mrs. Koebl as a substitute and I didn’t like her at all. My favorite part of the day was free time because I loved to play with the little animal toys. Most of my friends from school were boys and I remember my dad always teasing me about my “boyfriends”. In first grade I was an active member on the Red Dragons soccer team. My most vivid memory of soccer was when we faced the light blue team featuring my good friend, Jenna Rutowski, who, at kickoff, kicked the ball straight in my face. I quit the team after the season was over, although I wish now that my parents made me stick with it. From kindergarten to 5 th grade, ...