14-Nigel R: The Importance of Family

     

        Family is one of the most important things in life. They are your support system and they are always there for you. No matter how mad you may make each other, you still love each other.  

When you are  born, you don’t choose who’s in your family, however they stick with you for a lifetime. As your life goes on you begin to realize that family is not always blood. Friends you meet along the way become members of your family. 

One of my favorite things about family is that you can always go to them about anything. When it seems like no one is on your side, you always have family. They will give you the best advice they can and they want the best for you. Another one of my favorite things is that wherever your family is, is your home. Your family is where you feel safe and supported.

Your family is also honest with you even when the truth hurts. They can give you constructive criticism which can help you improve on things that you otherwise would not. They know you better than anyone so your family would be best to give this constructive criticism. 

Family also is full of mentors. Your family teaches you to walk and talk. They also teach you how to tie your shoes and other important things in life. All of these things you learn from your family shape you to be the person you are today. 

Word Count: 246

14-Preston K: what a concussion is nlike

  What a concussion is like

When I was younger, I used to love going out and riding bikes, scooters, and messing around with friends all the time. When going out and messing around with friends we would get the bright ideas such as who can jump the highest or who can clear a fat gap in the creek. Well, if there was anything i leaned from dumb ideas, it would be what experiencing a concussion is like.  

We were all racing down cemetery hill on our bikes with our eyes closed. Yea, Yea not a smart idea who cares right back to the story. I don't know if I was in the lead or not because my eyes were closed. I felt my front tire get unstable, so I opened my eyes super-fast to fix myself, but it was too late. My front wheel turned and flipped me over the bars making me rag doll into the straight hitting my head multiple times. Later to find out after I got home and told my mom I got inspected and it turns out closing your eyes going down a hill on your bike equals a concussion.

Having a concussion light makes you very irritated. Not like a pain but it's aggravating unlike usual. Along with light being aggravating you feel sleepy and dumb. Normal functions like doing homework or even playing video games become slower in a sense. It's like you are constantly fatigued but not sleepy. The worst part is sleep I would like to believe though. You fall asleep but wake up sweating a lot like you have just run a marathon. 

Unfortunately, I closed my eyes on a hill the last time I had gotten a concussion. The second time I was playing football and got Rocked from the side. When I returned home the symptoms were worse than the first one. I was constantly hungry and oddly sleepy unlike the first one. Due to me feeling sleepy my mom said I couldn't go to sleep in case it was something bad. So, I had to take a week off and wear glasses when it was sunny out so my head wouldn't be killing me. 

Words 363

14-Khaleah A: Who Inspires me...

 

I am inspired by Ketanji Brown Jackson. Ketanji is an attorney and jurist who served as a United States Circuit Judge, She was a former Vice-Chair on the United States Sentencing Commission. 

She's an inspiration to me because she's become the first Black woman on the US Supreme Court. She also is a contribution to the 4.7% of black lawyers.  African Americans come from such a rough history and background with a lot of odds against them.

 An African American representative on the Supreme Court is a representation of how far as a community we have come. During her Senate confirmation hearing. While questioning she was asked snide questions that weren't relevant to her position, in an attempt of getting a negative reaction out of her. However, through the criticism and frustration, she didn’t show her anger and handled it like a professional.

 As a young girl that plans on being a professional, I know I'm going to have occasions where I'm going to have disagreements and challenges when it comes to working with other people. She has taught me that taking the high road and being able to control your emotions in a professional manner will have a successful effect.  

During Ketaji’s High School years, she was often put down by her school counselors saying that attending Harvard was unrealistic for her. She decided to use these words as encouragement and motivation. With a successful outcome. A lesson I got from her hearing is that you will not be judged based on your potential but on your accomplishments. You must always put in full effort and that nothing is ever given but is earned.

14-ethan r-whos your family

 Family comes in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. You are given one at birth and that is your given family, or you can make your own. Developing bonds and ties with others can create such a bond and they become your chosen family. 

Your chosen family is unique to who you are at that specific time. It changes as we change, when you develop new passions. When I was big in sports I had a friend group I relied on and did everything with. But then as time ran its course I turned to leadership as a passion and my family changed. There was no falling out or fight but it just ended and we have to be prepared for that to happen.

Life changes rapidly and so do the people who fly through your life. There just becomes disconnects and separation breaks people apart, but your given family you can't get rid of. You have your siblings and parents who you have developed your core memories with, gone on vacations with and had experience togethers. And you may have fights and you may disconnect completely but they'll always be tied to you. You'll always have a brother or sister and eventually you may come back together. 

Life is full of experiences and you'll alway choose the people you can call your family whether you choose them or life chose them for you. You'll always be surrounded by the people that will benefit you and push you to greatness. And with those people you call family you may find a special person in that and start your own family and create one that you can raise your own.

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14- Yara A: Class Size Matters

 Blog #14- Class Size Matters. 

At the beginning of the year as a highschool student you are put into 6 classes that you typically have the option of deciding upon. In the first couple of weeks after my junior year started we were given the option to decide if we wanted to be moved into a smaller AP Lang class as there were too many students in the original class. I didn't have much of a choice as my schedule couldn’t be moved around due to the fact I was taking other AP classes. If I could've, I would've.

     From my own personal experience, although I do love my class and the people who are in it, being in a smaller class is more beneficial for the student as it provides that one on one opportunity with the teacher more frequently and enhances the learning of the student as there isn't as many distractions as there would be in a bigger class. 

When you are in a smaller class students tend to be more recognized and not get left behind. The teacher is able to focus more on what each student needs individually. While teachers should be able to do this in a normal size classroom, it can become overly difficult to provide each student with the same amount of attention that would be given to students in a smaller class.

     Having an excessively big class only leads to frustration from both the student and the teacher, a disruptive environment and less active student involvement. Therefore I believe that class size does matter. It can ultimately determine the learning path a student is set on. Being in a bigger class leads to students not feeling like they can express their concerns, feeling ignored and much more. While in a smaller classroom the teacher is able to focus more on what each student needs individually with them being able to freely express anything they don’t understand. 

Word Count: 319

14-Raymond L: Inspiration

 Alex Smith, a quarterback that was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers and was soon sent to the

Kansas City chiefs, and all the way to Washington. Alex Smith played 16 seasons in the NFL, and in

November of the 2018 season he suffered a compound fracture to his right tibia and fibula. Smith had

to go through 17 surgeries and he had to sit out his whole 2019 season. The fracture wasn't even the

worst part about the injury to Smith.

During the healing process a life-threatening flesh-eating bacteria that potentially could've eaten

through his leg and he would never return to the NFL. After his 17 surgeries and almost 2 years of total

rehab, Alex Smith returned to the NFL for the 2020 season and was named Comeback player of the

Year. Alex Smith retired in 2021, he inspired many people around the world, one of them being me.

Smith is a big influence and inspiration on me to become a better player and made me realize that

anything is possible no matter how hard you try you can overcome any difficulty that comes your way.

I had gone through 3 broken ankles during my younger years of playing fortball and every time one of

them happened I just thought about quitting football which I did for about 2 years. I soon realized that

my life wasn't the same without football. My freshman year of high school I decided to play football

again and I didn't break anything, I got better, Sophomore year I didn't break anything just knee pains,

Junior year I finally did it and made All League for Offensive Tackle but I'm not finished yet and will

continue to my senior year and make All League again to become better at what I do.

Word count:299

14: Jenna K- Kayla and I Almost Died Yesterday

Recently, I reconnected with my childhood best friend, Kayla, after I wrote one of my blogs about my last trip to Disneyland with her. Once she read it, we decided to meet up for lunch to catch up on the three years of each other’s lives we missed. We quickly became best friends again and we even have a trip to Disneyland planned for next month. Well all of that almost changed in an instant when we both almost died yesterday. Kayla and I decided to go to downtown Davis yesterday because we were tired of hanging out around Vacaville. She drove, and I happily sat in the passenger seat because I’m scared of driving on the freeway. We were having a great time, and after stopping in Dixon to get Dutch Bros, we continued our drive to Davis. All was going well until someone in the lane next to us decided she wanted to merge into our lane. She was looking behind her to see if any cars were coming, but she failed to see that we were right next to her. She proceeded to drift into our lane and come inches away from hitting us, so Kayla, obviously not wanting to get hit, swerved out of the way. Since she turned so abruptly at such high speeds, the car lost control and we started swerving back and forth in between lanes, and we even ended up driving on the shoulder a few times. The tires were screeching, I was yelling Kayla’s name repeatedly (like that was going to solve our problem), and she was bringing out her inner Vin Diesel trying to get control of her car while yelling “OH MY GOD I’M SO SORRY JENNA.” Luckily, she managed to regain control before we ended up upside down in a ditch (she was swerving so sharply that we thought the car would flip) or crashing into someone else. I told her to take a random exit and pull over somewhere so we could calm down. And after a few minutes we were laughing extremely hard at the experience we went through. It was the most terrifying moment i’ve ever experienced, but within five minutes we were sitting in the middle of nowhere laughing to the point of tears. That’s always been a constant in our friendship over the years. In the hardest or scariest moments, Kayla and I have never failed to make each other feel better (and laugh at the most inappropriate moments, such as our near death experience). The one thing I remember her saying during our fit of laughter was, “WE JUST GOT EACH OTHER BACK AS BEST FRIENDS AND WE ALMOST JUST DIED TOGETHER!” When we were sitting at the dead end in the middle of nowhere, we vowed never to tell anyone this story, but then we decided to write this week’s blog about it. I have more memories with Kayla than I have with anyone else, and this will definitely be a core memory to add to the list.