Tales of Tenth Grade

I wrote a long post partially because I couldn’t decide what to write about and because I did it and it's too late to go back so enjoy.  Another school year and already almost a month has passed and it simultaneously feels like it just started and has been going for years. Aah the inevitable monotony of the American education system.  To be honest, school doesn’t have to feel monotonous, but as of this week I have been particularly fixated on that feeling, as so much of my focus the last few days has been on writing an essay about a graphic novel where monotony is a major theme (predictably close to its deadline of course.)  In my endeavor to make essay writing less painful I chose to read the graphic novel Ghost World which follows two recently graduated high schoolers who are cynical to a fault, in their day to day endeavors as they try to figure out what to do with their lives. It left me with a lot to think about and a lot to think about that was completely...

Freshman year I played volleyball, basketball and softball. All three sports seasons were remotely different, including different people, different atmospheres, and different coaches. Prior to the summer before freshman year I had never played volleyball. My whole life I've played softball on travel and club teams year round. The only advantage of having played softball when it comes to volleyball is in serving because your arm tends to be stronger from throwing, other then that the sports are completely incomparable. Throughout the season our team had many ups and downs but my teammates and Tobin really made it enjoyable. I had never played a sport that doesn't have a time limit aspect in one way or another. In volleyball in order to win, you have to get a set amount of points. In this case its 3 sets of 25 points. Which to me is one of the most interesting things about it because you dont lose or win a set until that 25th point is scored. Plus even if you do lose the first ...

       Going into freshman year, I was expecting it to be a lot harder than it was. Siblings and friends had told me that it would be very difficult, but sophomore and junior year would be worse. However, I probably had more to do in 8th grade than 9th, and never struggled too much with anything except finals. I was expecting this year to have a little more work and some harder classes, but I couldn't have been more wrong. I was incredibly unprepared when school started, thinking we would get eased into the classes. Within the first 2 weeks of school starting, I had taken 4 tests and was rushing to make up summer work I didn't do. My grades dropped from what I had last year and I haven't done anything about it. A big issue I had last year was not ever sleeping enough. I would always be tired and always be sleeping in class. This year I was hoping to change that, but I still can't fall asleep before 11:30. Now that my brother drives me to school I can sleep in a litt...

I don’t always enjoyed school all the time. Having to wake up super early in the morning is one of the main reasons for that. Along with all the work and stress. The things that have really kept me going through this school year and last school year was the friends I’ve made at football and football itself. Football is by far the best sport(my opinion). I love how you need to be physically and mentally fit. It trains you mind to go for the win even though you are being beaten. That mindset helps me get through school and actually sometimes helps me have fun with learning I mean sometimes things in school can be really interesting. Football is something to look forward to every day. I get to wake up and go to school then go to football and have fun and hang out with the friends I’ve made on the football team. We are like a family. We all went through those sometimes brutal but necessary summer practices and that created brotherhood between all of us. I really helps...

     People always ask me whether I like being a triplet, to which I always respond, "I don't know, what's it like to not be a triplet?" And that's mostly how I feel- its hard for me to say how I feel about being a triplet because I'll never not be one. That said, there are a few things, good and bad, that I know are different about being a twin or triplet. One of the biggest things is that I can often rely on my siblings to remember things for me. I'm a very lazy person, so I have always taken advantage of this, especially when it comes to remembering homework or to study for a test. You would think this would cause some problems, but it really hasn't for me, at least, not until this year. This year I have a different history class than both of my siblings and it's already given me problems. Just in this first month I've forgotten what feels like ten homeworks, including one just yesterday, and I've studied for a non-existant test because ...

Here We Go Again (A Poem) - Mel Schweizer Here we go again, the the hours feel endless, and continue on somberly, but there is never enough time in one day. Where do the minutes go after they tick by? Lost to the void, unable to go back. Unable to change the past. Here comes Day One. The bell rings, and the past minute you have just lived, exists no longer but in memory. Now, marks the New Year. Page after page is written, event after event is learned, smile after smile is faked High School, a place of learning, a place of tear shed, a place of knives shoved so far in each of our backs, only bloody handles sticking out, placed there by our peers, and a place of monotony. We want nothing more than to live our lives, express ourselves truly, though rarely do we encourage others to do the same One mistake, one odd or quirky thing you do, the wolves start howling, starting a chain of noise, becoming louder and louder, stronger and wilder, until the ringing is all you hear, and you ...

Being a student-athlete is one of the best things in high school. You get to be a part of a team, make new friends, and have the opportunity to do something that you love. However, it is very difficult to maintain good grades while also competing in athletics at a high level. Student-athletes looking to maintain good grades and become a collegiate athlete have to deal with multiple hours a day of sports practice. Certain sports have practice for up to three hours a day! While it may seem like a lot, all of this practice is necessary just to keep up with the competition. This is compounded with multiple hours of weight lifting and stamina training expected to be done outside of designated practice times to maintain the athletic ability required for athletic activity. On top of all of this is school, homework, and studying. Student-athletes are expected to maintain good grades along with practicing for multiple hours a day. All of these put together leads to either a lack of focus in ei...

Here's a game to try. Add 8+5. Simple right? Most people can do this math almost instantly and get the correct answer of 13. Now try adding 8+5, but following these steps... Rewrite the numbers 5 and 8 Find two numbers that 5 can break into. Of the possible pairs, choose the one that can easily add with 8 to get a sum of 10. (In this case, it would be 2 and 3. You can add the 2 to 8 and get a sum of 10). Then add the remaining number that you broke from 5 to the 10 you got previously (In this case you would add 3 to 10 to get 13).  The second way is more confusing, isn't it? The second method was based on the Common Core. Today, children are learning to not only add, but multiply, divide, and much more using obscure methods like this one. Although it may seem easy enough for some people, it makes learning a great deal harder for others. For instance, one student may know how to add by counting off of their fingers or by visualizing the problem. With the Common Core, eve...

  All I can say right now is yikes. I was in for such a rude awakening this year. My cousins told me that sophomore year was, by far, the easiest year. So, I went into the school year with that mentality that sophomore year was going to be the best year because we already basically know our way around the school and we don’t have any big tests this year (like SAT). I remember counting down the days until school started, until after the first week of school when I regretted wishing for it. Now, all I want is to go back to the stress-free summer days where I either spend time with the campers at Solid Rock, or relax on the beach with family and friends; not sitting behind a desk and staring at the sluggish clock, wondering what I’m going to have for dinner. I don’t even want to bring up my sleep schedule, and it’s only September. Despite all the complaining, there are a few pros of sophomore year so far. Most of my closest friends aren’t in any of my core classes and while I wish th...

          It is not that I waited until the last minute to finish my blog post, it's just I'm indecisive and become bored all too easily. I digress. Though the first month of school has finally concluded, I find there are still numerous events to look forward to - namely the scheduled choir festivals, the concerts, and the spring musical. Although I am quite passionate about the academic classes I am currently in, I would much prefer to be up on a stage as opposed to writing an essay. (Sorry, Mrs. Kopp, I hope you can forgive me).            There are not enough words in the English language to describe just how must anything remotely related to music/theatre means to me. I feel I would not have been able to find my niche without these activities. Before joining arts extracurriculars, I was lost. I had just returned to a brick-and-mortar school without the friends I had lost touch with. However, joining the choir made my high schoo...

I'm not going to lie. Preparing for back to school? Probably one of my least favorite activities outside of going car shopping with my parents and going to the dentist. It just happens to be something that IAs we begin our descent into the madness that is school, I've began to wonder, have I always been so cynical about school? Did I used to be excited for school? Or have I always wanted to do anything else? So, being a middle child, I decided to talk to my siblings. My older brother, Ryan, is a senior at the high school, whereas my little brother, Drew, just started fifth grade. I figured that with the wide age demographic, I would be able to put together a picture of how the perception of school changes as we grow older. I also answered these questions, so I could compare their opinions to my own and see how they differentiate. What is your favorite subject? Ryan: "In general, English. It's just how my brain works. I don't like math so English is more up m...

Saying goodbye to summer is always hard to do- no more hot days by the pool, beach days with my friends, or seeing two of my sisters everyday because they left for college. To make the end of summer less painful, I try my best to look forward to things when school starts. The first day of school is always exciting because you get to meet new people and teachers. There are some classes that I don't know many people in, but those are the classes I look forward to the most because it means meeting new people making new friends. I got very lucky last year because I really liked all of my teachers and based on the first few weeks of this year, I think I got super lucky again. Other than classes, I can't wait for the others things in the fall. I'm on the high school soccer team and we have games and practices after school. This gives me something to do after school and have fun with before I have to come home and do homework. I also really enjoy the football games because chee...

It feels as if it were only last week that I was in school taking my finals at the end of my freshman year. Now, here it is four weeks into my sophomore year and I still don’t feel fully acclimated, whether it be procrastinating work or almost forgetting about homework that is due. It is only recently that I have been getting into after school activities, including lifting and captain’s practices for wrestling. Simultaneously, the quantity of work I have been receiving is starting to spike, giving me less time to procrastinate. Because of this decrease in free time, I am forced to budget my time better, usually getting my homework or studying done as soon as I get home. Consequently, during the wrestling season, when the amount of free time I have is at its lowest, my grades have had a trend of being highest. Wrestling, being a very physically and mentally draining sport, makes me appreciate and crave sleep much more than I do during the summer. On the days of some away matches, I ...

A lot of students listen to music while they are studying, but what music is proven to be the best for this task? Will you get a higher score on your history test if you listen to Beethoven instead of Louis Armstrong while reviewing for it? Well, according to Marsha Godkin, a professor at Northcentral University,  classical or meditation music is the best option, or basically any genre of music without lyrics. Songs that have a fast tempo can also be distracting, the optimal beats per minute are from 60 to 70. Music that is too slow can also relax you to a point where it’s hard to keep working. Making personal study playlists can also help more than pre-curated playlists or stations on apps like Spotify since you don’t have to feel the need to skip unwanted songs and it also can help you time how long you want to study. When the music is over, take a break or take a final glance over your material. Other options for studying music are nature sounds, spa music, lo-fi music, or anyth...

After a long summer break, almost no one is ready for school to start up again and they are mentally unprepared, but it is exciting to be able to meet their new teachers. Although it is only the start of sophomore year and there are two years left of high school, it is smart for students to start to look at what colleges they would like to go to and learn how hard they must work in order to get in. For example, I want to go to Penn State and I checked what the average student's GPA is in order to get in and the average is a 3.8 GPA through all of high school, which is pretty difficult, especially if you are not mentally prepared for all tests and quizzes. According to edsource.org, a survey states that 45% of all high school students feel positive about where they want to go to college and what career they want to pursue. This same survey also states that 87% of high school students eventually want to earn a college degree and land a career. Of the 45% of unsure students, I'...

Freshman year went well...looking back. I am a sophomore now, and the stress just doubled. In the moment I thought that Freshman year was tough, but so many things made this year worse. For one, I moved around in so many classes: moving up to honors in some, and changing to totally different electives. This carries me to my next point: where I stand socially. Because of my new classes, I don't have a terrible amount of friends in them. I also walk in new hallways in comparison to last year. I feel like a Freshman again...but I'm not. In addition to the last point, this year is definitely much harder academically. College is inching toward me like the iceberg to the Titanic in 1912. The pressure's on to perform well so colleges notice me, and I can be more successful when I get older. Referencing the graph below, Junior year is supposedly the hardest year in high school...great! I am not even appreciating and enjoying my "easiest" of the four years in school, in...

Soccer isn't just a sport to me. I have unbelievably been playing for almost 12 years, which still fathoms me. Some of my biggest accomplishments have derived from soccer itself such as making a competitive club team and helping that team get to championships last year in Seattle Washington.  Having soccer every day after school is a handful but is so much fun. Being able to play with my best friends at school every day is what I love about high school soccer. High school definitely allows me to be more confident, without all the eyes of college coaches watching. I love the experience of playing for my town and with my school best friends. I am lucky enough to be able to pay club soccer during the spring months when high school soccer isn't in session. Club soccer provides a base for me to play more competitively and exposes me to a high level of play that just isn't possible in high school. My club team allows playing in front of colleges where I hope to continue my soc...