Graduation Speech

     I remember when we first walked into golf, and how amazed we were to be in a new school. And now we will feel the same way when we walk into our new high school. I have so many memories from fifth grade to eight grade but barely any before that. But it's hard to think that when I get to high school all those memories might be gone. And now with my favorite teacher Mrs. O'shaughnessy retiring this graduation will be sad. 

     But still I can't wait to move on to a new school and the next step in my life. A new school with more than triple the amount of people in the same building as me. With so many optional classes with triple amount of the pressure from middle school. All the people and teachers will hopefully stay in my mind for the rest of high school and the following years. I've learned many things at Golf and hopefully that will follow through to high school.

     I remember when I was in second grade and the fourth graders looked so scary and grown up. And once I got to fourth grade I didn't feel all that grown up or scary. When I got into fifth grade the same happened the eight graders looked so grown up and scary. And now I am in eight grade and all the other grades look so small and I can't believe that I was ever that small. The same thing will probably happen when I see the seniors in high school.

     So this is the end of my first 13 years of my life and it feels good and bad at the same time. So lets make the best out of our next four years just like we did in our last eight years. 

Parcc Testing

The parcc test sucks.This test was pretty easy to do but they put in a really bad written story that I cant focus of reading of a time draining question. Some of the stories like the passage about the poems were very bad and boring. It was like they were testing how much information can we get from a bad passage. The reading section was harder than the math section in my opinion. The question had multiple answers that made sense and you had to chose between them. The math test was pretty easy but nerve wracking especially near the end of the end of the test. And I knew my parent and everyone expects me to get a good score on the math test and that got me even more nervous. I even was biting my nails so hard that it started bleeding over the test booklet. The booklet not the answer sheet don't worry. It is just like the other standardized test, a test to waste the students and teachers time when they could be teaching something important. I bet I just offended a lot of standardized test writers.

Endings and Beginnings

Some goals for the end of the school year is to get straight a's and to get good grades on tests that affect high school. I also want to get the reading incentive this quarter because last quarter I didn't want to do the reading bingo. Some goals for the beginning of the summer is to improve at hockey when I spend the summer at a hockey camp. Also to  have fun in Philippines which is the best place to go for vacation. Another goal is to learn from the intro to debate class that I will be taking in summer school. Those are my goals for the end of the school year and the beginning of summer.

Holocaust Museum

Last Thursday, our went on a field trip to the Holocaust museum. I've been there before but it was only to listen to someone talk. When we went on the tour it was dark and depressing but it had to be depressing. The walls of the museum were very symbolic of how it was for the Jews. The museum included models of the freight trains used in the Holocaust and they were very similar to the one described in Daniels Story. We learned about a lot of information about the Holocaust including the altruistic people who saved the Jews. One thing I learned from the museum is that they kicked everyone out who was living where they wanted to build a ghetto for the Jews. I learned a lot from the museum and I think everyone did too.

Diary Entry Blog

Mar 7, 2016

Dear Diary,

         I finally arrived at the Arena after a long 40 minute drive. I could not wait to play the Fury which was the first place team in the division. I go straight to the locker room and started changing. Our whole team knew that if we lost this game we wouldn't go to the semi-finals. Our coach gave us a inspirational speech that I can't remember. This team is very aggressive and they get a lot of penalties but we out skated them for the win. After the game we were watching Rangers play the Chiefs and  if they lose we would probably not make it to the semi-finals. They are a better team than the chiefs so they were leading 2-1. The Chiefs scored and made it 2-2. At the very near end the Chiefs scored again and won the game. We were shocked that the Rangers lost because they were playing so good against the other teams. Later on we found out we didn't make it to the semi-finals and the team we beat did.

Daniel's Story Erika quote

This quote reminds me of my aunt which died from cancer not to long ago. My aunt was very young when she died from cancer and it was very sad. When she told us that she had cancer it was already stage four cancer because she was hiding it from us for a while. She was in chemotherapy for a very long time and we thought she was getting better. Later on she made a wish to take a trip to Europe with her sisters. They were worried about that because they would have to take her out of her chemotherapy. They still fulfilled her wish and they went to Europe with her. When she got back she was very joyful. But after a month or two she died from cancer right after my mom visited her. She died the same day my cousin's grandma also died from cancer. We were devastated but we were glad that she went to Europe before she died.

“We must live, and when this is all over, we must work to make the world a better place.  And if we die, we will die knowing that it was not our fault, that we did our best, and we can go to our deaths in dignity… I want you both to live…And to remember...You must choose love.  Always choose love.”  

(from Daniel’s Story by Carol Matas, page 70)

Leaps and Bounds

Something that I grew "leaps and bounds" is my ability to play the guitar. Before with my teacher I was only learning some easy songs with the same chords G major C major E minor and maybe F major which are the basic notes. The only difference between the songs was the order of those chords and the strumming pattern. But when I stopped learning guitar with the teacher and got a electric guitar I started learning way more using websites and my best friend YouTube. After two weeks I already learned more than I was learned in six months with a teacher. And I played the guitar a lot more because I actually liked what I was playing. I am still a long way from being good at the guitar but i am learning faster by my self. That is something that I grew "leaps and bounds."