Graduation Speech

School is not easy in any sense at all. It is academically challenging, it is mentally challenging, it is challenging from a time management perspective, and it is most certainly one of the most socially challenging situations that you will ever experience.

From the days leading up to kindergarten to right now, standing here at the end of our final year at District 67, my experience has been packed full of lasting memories. I remember my parents telling me before my first day at Hynes that in kindergarten, you had to raise your hand before you spoke. So naturally, I imagined having a conversation with a new friend but we had to put our hand in the air every time we wanted to speak. Hynes was a dream come to life, full of fun, friends, and learning and discovering something new every day.

In fifth grade, we had a change in scenery. Moving to Golf was a change that I, like kindergarten, approached with enthusiasm and I was anxious to finally begin middle school.

Sixth grade was the first time I got to spend all day every day with my twenty one best friends.

Seventh and eighth grade were when school became difficult and many times stressful. Suddenly, it took effort to make friends and the world seemed to be more judgmental.

But, I got through it. We all did. We were able to conquer middle school, and with it, the world. I don’t think that’s how that works, but that’s definitely what it felt like.

You think these twenty one people are my class, but they are much much more. I cannot possibly describe who they are using actual words. I feel like shouting random gibberish might get a little bit closer to emphasizing the impact we have had on each other, but that’s a little weird so I’ll try the word strategy.

We have been together ever since math switch in first grade and throughout the years, we faced the world together, always together.

We possess a bond unlike any other. We help each other through each and every day. We respect each other. We have intelligent conversations with each other. We make each other laugh. We are able to access each other’s emotions so well that we are able to support each other whenever someone needs help.

These twenty one people are geniuses. They are helpful. They are compassionate. (Hey Mrs. Joyner! Compassionate is a vocab word. It means “to show care and sympathy towards others”.) They are respectful. They are hilarious. They are responsible...ish. JK. Rowling! They are phenomenal. And most of all they are my friends.

Now for the mass of thank yous.

Thank you to Dr. Flores, Ms. Chvojka, and Mrs. Westley. My experience at District 67 would not have been the same without the extraordinary work you do.

Thank you to all of the teachers I have had up until eighth grade. You’ve left me with so many great memories. I remember how excited I was when Mrs. Brandess, formerly Ms. Roos, let me use scissors and glue. I loooooooooved scissors and glue.

I’ll never forget Mrs. Uribe’s songs. “Bumped my head on a piece of cornbread!”

I remember in third grade, Mrs. O’Shaughnessy told us to highlight the important parts of our article about Pluto. I wasn’t really sure how to highlight things yet, and I really liked using my brand new highlighters, so I ended up highlighting the entire page.

I loved using my Mac Bucks in 4th grade.

But most of all, I remember that you were always there for me and set me up for success.

During my time at District 67, there have been a few long term substitute teachers. Thank you to all of them, especially Ms. Tziolas. You had a great impact on us in your short time here. The students at East Prairie are lucky to have you.

To my family, thank you for helping me and supporting me in everything that I do. In fact, when I told my dad I was writing a graduation speech and I wouldn’t show it to him until I finished, he said, “That’s so cool! Well, if you want I’ll help you in any way I can.”

I have realized that the teachers I have had this year have taught me much more than the curriculum they were given, and I will recognize them for that now.

Mrs. Conejo, thank you for teaching us Spanish, and also teaching us that kindness is everything.

Mrs. Maldonado, thank you for teaching us science, and also giving us the opportunity to discover, explore, and learn how the world works and the role that science plays in it.

Mr. Carris, thank you for teaching us social studies, and also showing us how to find the fun side of everything.

Mr. Carro, thank you for teaching us math, and also for teaching us life lessons, making sure we understood everything we could possibly need to know, and finding the punny side of everything.

Mrs. Joyner, thank you for teaching us reading and writing, and also laughing at our jokes, introducing me to Dear Evan Hansen, giving me a gazillion points for all of the vocabulary words I find in my books, recognizing that I frequently use hyperboles, and teaching us a very important lesson that we needed to learn: That it’s okay to be different. Sure, we all focus on not bullying people who have a disability or are of a different race than our own, but nobody has told this to a class of nerdy kids until now. Mrs. Joyner, you made us comfortable in our own skin and made sure to teach us that our awkwardness should be embraced, not hidden.   

You all pushed me to do better and better, and then when I was about to fall from all the pushing, you ran around on the other side and caught me. For that I thank you very much.

Toward the end of this year, I have been asked a few times what advice I would give to younger students, or my past self. I have avoided the question because I needed more time to think, but I came up with the following.

Always do your best. You will be surprised at what you can accomplish. And, for those of you who are like me, remember that you cannot do better than your best. Your best is the best you can do. That’s why it’s called your best. Always persevere and keep trying, even if you don’t succeed the first time.

I would like to close with a few lines from one of my fourteen favorite songs from the musical, “Dear Evan Hansen”, “To Break in A Glove.” It is about how to break in a baseball glove, but I have found that the baseball glove is a metaphor for life.

Even when everyone around you thinks you're crazy

Even when everyone around you lets things go

And whether you're prepping for some test

Or you're miles from some goal

Or you're just trying to do what's best

For a kid who's lost control

You do the hard thing

'Cause that's the right thing

Yeah, that's the right thing

Thank you.

Prioritizing Commands

How is it possible that everybody tells you how to do something, and then you do it and you're wrong?

They say, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." ("Who is they?" You'll all bug me about it, but by they, I mean them. People. I don't really know how else to say it. I will be addressing society in this post as, they, them, people, and you.)  Anyway, they say that if you don't eat a good breakfast it will be nearly impossible to function and that it is extremely important.

You know who they tell this to? Teenagers. I wonder why they tell that to teenagers? (I'm not actually wondering. I know why. I just put that there to keep the writing going.) They say that to teenagers because teenagers generally don't eat good breakfasts. It's usually just a piece of toast or a few bites of cereal. It makes sense. They focus their advice on those who need the advice. But nobody ever thought of one very important detail. There must be a reason that this problem occurs consistently among the same age group. That reason is the following.

They also tell us to get more sleep. If we are trying to get as much sleep in as possible before school, how on earth will we have time to make a healthful and filling breakfast? They tell us to get eight or even nine to ten hours of sleep per night. If we get that much sleep, it does not leave nearly enough time to make a decent breakfast. These commands contradict each other. Notice that. When you're done noticing, continue to read because I am about to blow your mind.

Now, there are three different counter arguments to the problems explained in the past two paragraphs.
1) Wake up earlier to make breakfast.
2) Make the food the night before.
3) Go to bed earlier.

And now I will tell you all why these arguments are completely wrong and do not work or make any sense whatsoever.

1) Wake up earlier.
If you don't see why this is wrong, you obviously did not read paragraph four of this post. We can't wake up earlier to make the food you told us to eat because we are busy sleeping because you told us to.

2) Make the food the night before.
We can't do this either. You know why? It's the same reason we don't have the time to sleep that much. It's also the same reason as:

3) Go to bed earlier.
We get to much homework. Teenagers get too much homework to do anything else at all with their lives. But, we do anyway. We still take extra curricular activities like crazy. Why? Because you tell us too. Any teacher who reads this will think, "I don't give them much homework at all. It should only take them ten minutes tops."

 I have two responses to that.

1. It always takes longer than you think it does.
2. It isn't just you. I think people forget that their class is not the only one. Sure, we don't get that much from each one, but when you put it together, it gets a little bit insane. Especially at this time of the year. Everybody panics and stresses and tries desperately to do all of their homework on time, but sometimes it's just too much.

So, we don't sleep a lot. We don't eat very good breakfasts. But that's life and society will just have to deal with it.

All The Other Stuff

Everybody, at some point in their lives is asked the following question. It is a question that is so difficult to answer that it feels like you have just been stepped on by a very large iguana with mountain feet. (Why an iguana? I don't know!)

This terrifying question is, 

"How was school?" (It can also be phrased as, "Do you like school?")

Although it may seem impossible, I have done it. I have achieved the nearly impossible. 

I have thought of an answer to this question. 

Sorry I keep doing one line paragraphs. It contributes to the dramatic and suspenseful effect. :)

The answer is, "I like the learning, but not the stuff that comes with it."

Now, let me explain how I came up with this answer.

I love learning. If that makes me a nerd, I don't care. Learning about how thing work in science class, or stories of the past in social studies, or reading books in English class, or even the thrill of finally solving a really hard quadratic equation! I love it! It builds up my knowledge and gives me a better understanding of the world as a whole. However, I don't like the stuff that comes with it. Some examples of this are the following.

- Other people constantly judging you

- Name calling to your face

- Name calling behind your back

- Stereotypes

- More stereotypes

- The knowledge that, to most people around you, many of your defining characteristics are "bad"

- Not tests themselves, but the constant anxiety and panic that NEVER EVER EVER stops leading up to them

- Not the homework itself, but the knowledge that you go to school every single day and look forward to going home to relax and shake off all the stress, but NO! You just come home to hours and hours of more work to do and you want to watch your favorite TV show, or even read a book that you have to read already in order to go to Mariano's for the reading incentive that you can't miss because you know that all of your friends are going and you can't stand the thought of being all alone in the disgusting lunch room with nobody, not a single person, to talk to and actually feel wanted, but no. You have to go to bed because it is really late and you just finished your homework.

- That one stupid question on that one worksheet that doesn't make any sense to you but for some reason everybody else gets it, and you don't know why, but it ends up bringing down your grade.

- Knowing that most of your grade hates you except for your class, who doesn't hate you, but half of them talk to you in that voice you use when you don't want to talk to somebody.

- Knowing that in many friend groups, whenever your name is mentioned (They may have a code name for you so that they don't get in trouble.), they laugh and make fun of you behind your back.

- Knowing that some of these don't even happen, but you believe them anyway because you have anxiety and trouble in social situations. Oh yeah, and guess where that came from? School!

My friends are pretty cool, but next year, they are gone. Even the ones who are not moving away will still be gone. We don't want to accept it, but it will happen. Nobody keeps the same friends in middle school and in high school. 

This blog post is supposed to be about endings. This whole school, and the learning, and the other stuff will be gone forever. Next year is a clean slate. My goal, and what I recommend your goal be too, is to try to be able to love the learning, and the other stuff. If the other stuff turns out to be bad, don't let it bring you down. So, maybe the answer to the impossible question next year can just simply be, 

"School is good."

(I realize I should probably add a picture in this, so here.)

It's Complicated...

Before I start, I want to share with you all the first thing I thought of when I found out the topic of our blog posts would be, "It's Complicated". 

I had no idea what to write for this blog post. I was actually getting kind of frustrated because I usually think of these kinds of things  right away. So, I started thinking,

"Ugh, I can't think of anything! I would write about (insert  idea here) but I wouldn't want to post that. I also have to think of the response that could result from the topic, and how it would affect the rest of my posts. The topic has to meet or exceed expectations and fit with the overall theme of my blog as a whole. It's so hard to write a blog post. There's so much to think about!"

That's it. Writing a blog is complicated.

Here is what I think about before I write a blog post.

1. Does it match the topic/criteria given with the assignment of this post?
The reason I ask myself this is pretty obvious. I don't want to get a bad grade on the post, so I always follow the directions given to me.

2. Does it display the message intended for it to display?
This is definitely one of the most important parts of writing a blog post. If I want to teach the readers some sort of lesson, or tell them something, I want them to understand that. If the readers don't take something out of my post, then what is the point of even writing it? There is no sense in trying to write anything if it doesn't have a purpose. For example, the purpose of this post is for readers to know how I write my blog posts and possibly even give them ideas for writing their blogs.

3. Does it fit the overall theme of my blog?
This may seem like a weird one, but most people follow this rule without even thinking about it. I want my blog to stay consistent. I'm not going to write one post in old English and the rest in regular English. (Unless, of course, if it has something to do with the topic.) Or for example, I'm not going to change the font for two posts and not the rest.

4. Will it attract the correct response?
I'm not going to explain this one too much, but basically, I want my blogs to generate the kind of response intended for them, without sacrificing the style or content of the writing.

I decided to end this post with links to some other blogs that I found and liked. I just went through the list on Mrs. Joyner's blog and looked at random ones, so don't think I was stalking you or anything. :)

http://kyliesworld16.blogspot.com/
http://theblogofacolor.blogspot.com/
http://itisallaconspiracyfolks.blogspot.com/

The Best Quotes In The Entire World (AGAIN!)

The very first post that ever went up on this blog was full of amazing quotes that I really like. I decided to do another one of those posts with Dear Evan Hansen quotes that I like. I provided the song that they came from so that you can listen to the lines if you are interested. :)

There is a reason I did not provide explanations for these quotes. That reason is following. Each person interprets a quote differently. I want each reader to understand the quote in a way that applies to them. These quotes don't do anything if I tell you how to feel about them.

Enjoy!

"Cause when the villains fall, the kingdoms never weep. No one lights a candle to remember."
-Requiem, Dear Evan Hansen

"Even if you've always been that barely in the background kind of guy, you still matter."
-Disappear, Dear Evan Hansen

"So, where's the map? I need a clue, cause the scary truth is I'm flying blind and I'm making this up as I go."
-Anybody Have A Map, Dear Evan Hansen

"When you're falling in a forest, and there's nobody around, do you ever really crash or even make a sound?"
-Waving Through A Window, Dear Evan Hansen.

"It just takes a little patience, it takes a little time. A little perseverance, and a little uphill climb...the hard way,
but it's the right way..."
-To Break In A Glove, Dear Evan Hansen

"But what do you do when there's this great divide?...And what do you do when the distance is too wide?"
-If I Could Tell Her, Dear Evan Hansen

There are more, but unfortunately I don't have time to type every word of the soundtrack into one post. :)

Why Dear Evan Hansen Is Not A Funeral Show

Today I almost exploded (figuratively).

I was in graduation chorus and we were picking out which song to sing. Two of the songs on the list were from Dear Evan Hansen. When one person listened to them she said,

"This is so sad. It's like a funeral song."

Well let me tell you now, LIFE IS SAD! Life is full of disappointment and sorrow and worry and anxiety and war and conflict and hardship.

That is why people love Dear Evan Hansen so much. They love it because it's real. The actors display real problems faced and conquered by real people in the world.

Would you like to know how I escape these feelings? Through this song! Through this musical! These songs get me up in the morning! Literally! I finally get out of bed the second I hear these songs!

You Will Be Found is a song about how even people who aren't able to pick themselves back up when they are pushed down by society will be lifted up by their peers. If that sounds like a funeral, then there is probably something wrong with one's ears. (Unintentional rhyme!)

Dear Evan Hansen gives me hope. When I am faced with nerves and anxiety, Evan Hansen inspires me to keep going. Even the actor is inspiring. Ben Platt went to the same summer camp that I do. He gives me the hope that one day, I can succeed and get to do what I love as long as I work as hard as I can, and persevere.

So, why don't you listen to the songs again? This time, really listen and maybe you won't think of funerals whenever you hear a song that appeals to your emotions.

Adorable Accuracy!

After a study in Japan, it is now proven that looking at pictures of baby animals helps people focus. More focused work can lead to more accuracy as well.

Here are some articles about it!
Article 1
Article 2

Here are some adorable animal pictures to help you stay focused today.