Kill Boring

8/8/2019 Kill Boring

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KILL B ORI NGHALL ENGLI SH 1A


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TAB LE OF CONTENTS

C o l l e g e : W h y B o t h e r ? Luis Aleman....................................................1C o r p o r a l E d u c a t i o n , Allysa Brickman.................................................4M o t i v a t i o n , Aja Brown..........................................................................6T h e B o r i n g T r u t h o n H o w I S u r v i v e d S c h o o l , Marvin Corro..........8T h e M a r k o f a Te a c h e r , Laura Dunn................................................10F i n d i n g t h e R i g h t P a t h , Brooke Girton............................................12S p h e r e s , Daniel Greene.......................................................................17J a n e L a t h r o p S t a n f o r d M i d d l e S c h o o l , Alex Gromov....................19T h a n k s f o r t h e G r e a t S t o r y , M r . R o s e n b u r g , Brittany Heintzen..22

M y O w n M o t iv a t io n , Ann Jarrar........................................................25T h e B o o k w o r m I N e v e r K n e w I W a s , Miyou Kanda......................27T h e B e g i n n i n g o f m y E d u c a t i o n a l J o u r n e y ,Kristina Kucinskaite..29

T h e B i g D a y , Deyssy Orozco................................................................31M y E a r l y E d u c a t i o n , Kin Leung........................................................34T h e r e W i l l A l w a y s B e S o m e t h i n g B e t t e r to D o , Debbie Luk.....37

M y R o a d t o S u c c e s s , Denise Martinez...............................................39

H o u s e o f P a p e r C a r d s , Ricardo Mata...............................................42N o H e l p , S o I T u r n e d Aw a y , Summer Morrow................................46W e l c om e , F r e a k y F r e s h y , Ariel Nazarian........................................49S c h o o l L i f e , Bryan Nocito...................................................................52E d u c a t i o n a l I n f l u e n c e , Danilo Noguera............................................54F i n a l D r a f t , Matthew Pray.................................................................58M y E x p e r i e n c e a t S c h o o l , Jennifer Samayoa..................................60

D e s e g r e g a t i o n , Gina Simas................................................................63M y A t t i t u d e To w a r d E d u c a t i o n , Ian Thomas.................................65

T h e D i f f ic u l t ie s o f C h a n g e , Paola Toulet........................................68W h y I B o t h L o v e a n d H a t e S c h o o l , Roxanne Tuttle......................71

W h a t S c h o o l M e a n t t o M e , William Viklund....................................74S m i l in g A m b i t i o n , Mellicia Villareal..................................................77M y E x p e r i e n c e s w i t h S c i e n c e F i e l d T r ip s , Helen Yang..............79U n t i t l e d , Zachary Strausbaugh............................................................82

U n t i t l e d , Nick Palaszewski..................................................................85


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College: Why B other?Luis Aleman

When my dad made the move from El Salvador to the States hebecame an electrician. I, accompanied with a couple of my older friends,

would work under my dads wing during summer. It was a way of earningmoney and at the same time to learn many useful skills in the electricaltrade. Most of them if not all enjoyed working in the trade and they themselves, some which are married now, became electricians. I on theother hand wasnt really fascinated by it. I didnt enjoy all the long laborioushours, all the saw dust, dirt, etc. I would be fatigued by the end of the day.I knew that the electrical trade wasnt exactly for me and I wantedsomething else. What career would I choose though? I was like many lostfreshman in high school undecided, and bewildered in life.

Ever since I was young I was unsure if I wanted to go to college.School never really attracted me so much but if I were to attend college I

would be the first in my family to attend a higher education than highschool. My parents never attended college and I am the oldest of threechildren therefore I would be the first attending.

It wasnt until my junior year in high school when college sparkedan interesting in me. I still remember being in Mr. Walters, 5th period,

World History class. I remember that he was telling us stories about hiscollege life and what all his favorite buddies did with their lives in college.

The one that really attracted my attention was one of his friends thatbecame an x-ray technician. I had never heard of it and it rose up a flag in

me, my gut feeling told me to research upon it. Mr. Walter had initially told us that his buddy took only two years in college to become an x-ray technician and his friend was making more money than he was as a teacher.

The idea of rather short schooling and relatively high salaries really caughtmy attention.

After this incident, I started to do a ton of research in the medicalfield. I would spend hours on the computer surfing the net trying to collectas much information as I could about careers in the medical field.

Radiologic Technology, aka x-ray tech, just kept grabbing my attention outof all of the different careers I discovered. Something happened though that


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somewhat discouraged me from pursuing it. My teacher, Mr. Walter, hadmentioned it was two years in college, but he hadnt mentioned it was two

years in college, plus the general education completion. This meant thatschooling would take a total of four years, something I wasnt fascinatedmuch about. I was unsure at this point if I really wanted to pursueRadiologic Technology.

During all this career researching and job hunting, this country wassuffering a recession at its worst. It was evident that just a plain highschool education wouldnt cut it in these severe economic days. In the back of my mind I knew I had to attend college to find a decent paying job. So Ididnt put college necessarily out of the picture. Last year, I really saw theeffects of the recession in my family. Work was very slow for my dad and

just in 2 years he had been laid off many, many times. We were practically living of his unemployment plus another income he was bringing in thehouse. It wasnt much. We were living as they say paycheck to paycheck,

which is not convenient at all. When we thought our situation couldnt getany worse, it took an abyss straight to Hell.

One ordinary morning in April of last year, while all the kids whereat school, my mom received a phone call. It was my dad and he had luckily found a side job that day so he was at work. He was by himself but he toldmy mom he was feeling ill, not capable to drive. A couple minutes beforehe had fainted and now was very dizzy. Even worse, he had noticed largequantities of blood in his stool when he used the restroom. Something wasseriously wrong. My mom quickly goes and picks him up and rushes him toRegional Medical Center in San Jose, Ca. Once at the hospital they findout the worst. The doctors realize my dad has a major hemorrhage in hissmall intestine and he is losing extreme amounts of blood. It takes themabout a total of 8 hours before they find the root of the bleeding and they patch it up. My dad nearly died during this incident. He was in anunconscious state for two weeks and in the intensive care for about 4 weeks.Every single one of those days the medical bill was just rising like askyscraper. We were extremely concerned about how we would all pay this. Luckily we applied for insurance which covered a lot of the costs.

What couldnt be covered by the insurance would have to come out of my Dads pocket, an amount that was a great deal of money in the thousands.

This experience had really affected my being, not just emotionally

but in many other aspects of my life. One of them being the views I hadabout education and school. It taught me that in case one ever goes


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through any type of emergency, money can many times, if not most of thetime be a great deal of help. The only way to have that money is if youhave a good job that you like and pays well. But in order for this to occur,education is the key.

Thankfully, my dad recuperated fully from a near death experience.He has given me the chance to pursue a higher education, an opportunity to go to college and discover a great career. An opportunity I just cant turndown.


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Corporal EducationAllysa Brickman

Whap! I can feel the wind behind the wooden stick they call apaddle. Principal Dottie wasnt only going to stop with one, but give methree more. He told me not to be late to class again or it will result to thishappening again. I replied with a yes sir and tears rolling down my cheek

just to show how distraught I was. Which really. I was. This was the firstof many things that led me to hating my school, education and everythingin between.

Here I was a California girl stuck in the sticky muggy south of Mississippi. I didnt think my life could possibly get worse from their, wait,it could. My family had a job transfer and not an easy one. Not only isfreshmen year ruff with a new routine, but starting over in a new stateturned me for a winding loop. I remember my first day clearly walking upto that big concrete slab they called a building. When walking down theGreen Mile of a hallway I had butterflies with sharpen hooks justshredding my insides. What made this place so unpleasant was the fact

that when school administrat ion talked to me it was almost foreign. Therelingo was with a yall, yes mam, No sir, was just over my head. I knew this was going to be a brutal four years.

I would pass students as they hurry with lockers clanking and shoesscuffling. I tried to be incognito and follow the heard as they go. I sat onthe cold desk in the back of the room of course, and was ready for whatevercame my way. Our teacher was eager to start with the Do this not thatin my classroom or result into consequences. Now I thought at this point

you would get a warning or stay behind in class. I was way off at that point. The result was Corporal Punishment which is infliction of pain to get apoint across in the hopes that you will change. I had my heart stop and my stomach fall into the floor. I couldnt believe what I just heard and how

wrong I felt it was to have that done to someone, let alone from teacher tostudent.

I went home baffled and at a loss for words and my mother saw thelook in my eyes as and was very concerned. I explained to her and thought

she would be on the same page and would go to the school to discuss how completely wrong this was. To my surprise my mother agrees with the


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school with the attitude that if you want to be responsible, do so or you willpay the price for it. At that point I wouldve liked nothing more than dropall I had in my hands and give up. My ears, eyes, and mind were shut off completely from school at that point after hearing the disturbing news of If

you dont like what we do, will beat you till you do anthem. I read thatevery morning on the front of the building instead of Saltillo High Schooland was bitter every day walking in.

In my mind I processed the fact if they punish you by paddling you what are they trying to teach you in there classes. So I wasntinterested in what they had to say. The result of it turned into coming intoclass late and it was on the list of what not to do. I was called into theoffice for my first lecture on structure and respect for the school mumbo

jumbo. I had the F U attitude written on my forehead and could care lessat that point. I sat in the office with the blank stare you would get wheneven a parent lectured you. This was the first of many office visits to Mr.Dottie and each and every time I cared less and less. But the first onestuck out in my mind because it was the first corporal punishment Ireceived since I was five. How was I going to react to this? Was I going tolaugh and say, wow no big deal? or was I going to be mortified at the factthat I was getting hit. He told me to empty my pockets, hands on the walland lean foreword ever so slightly. At this point with my care lessattitude I was laughing at how stupid this all was. Until I felt theturbulence for the first swing and it knocked the wind out of me. The hit

was so hard it smacked the tears out of my face and I was at my lowest low.I thought i was done and had that smirk off my face from before andsomehow transferred to him. I went to get my things and he said Mrs.Brickman you still have to have two more before class. I clinched my eyesand pretended I didnt hear what he said. I tried everything to try andblock out the next two hits I would get.

But in retrospect I deserved it my attitude did not make things any easier; the fact that I closed everything off even my capacity for learning inmy classes. I still to this day dont agree with it, but I did learn somethingfrom it. Punctuation for classes, respect for others and for my education. Ibelieve it still shouldnt be in the school system and should result into otherpunishments. Because it scared me out of my desire to apply myself in my education and my attitude towards anything.


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MotivationAja Brown

Its happened too many times, to all of us. Walk into the classroom,sit down, and look at the teacher. See the bags under their eyes, the glazedover look, the venti coffee cup clutched in their hand. Its obvious that they dont want to be there any more than the students do. When a teacherdoesnt care, it makes it that much more difficult for the students to care. If the teacher doesnt put effort into their teaching, why should their studentsbother to reciprocate by putting effort into their work? I feel that for many students who dont do well, its not a lack of motivation but a lack of people

who actually want to see them succeed.

Over my years in the education system Ive only had a handful of teachers that actually seem to care. One in particular sticks out in my mind, after 12 years and multiple classes. My world history teachersophomore year in high school actually took the time to work with every student of his class individually to ensure their success. It was his first yearat Fremont High School, and he wanted to make an impression. He was

young, and his teaching methods may have been different that most, butbecause of this he was able to connect with students on a more personallevel. Unlike most teachers Ive had, he actually cared. His classroom wasalways open for students to get extra help, and we spent hours in classreviewing concepts and facts so that everyone in the class was able toprocure a passing grade on the tests. What impressed me the most was the

way he would pull students who were falling behind aside, not to talk downto them or attempt to use scare tactics to convince them to work harder,

but to see what was actually going on and to try to understand why they werent doing as well. He wanted every student to have the desire to passnot only his class, but to graduate from high school. He honestly dideverything he could to help his students, in and out of the classroom.Because of his efforts, nearly every student he taught passed world history.

On the other side of the spectrum, Ive had far too many teachers who just didnt care. They did their jobs day by day, doing what they hadto do to get through everything and be finished. I feel like they didntrespect students as individuals or actually have the desire to see themsucceed. They saw teaching as a profession, instead of a passion. My BritishLiterature teacher senior year fit this description too well. My senior year I


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had a major motivation problem. I just stopped caring. I stopped doing work, and I rarely went to class. After months of wasting my time notcaring about school, I changed my mind and began playing catch up, tryingsalvage what I could of my grades. To do this I needed a lot of cooperationand help from my teachers. I needed all the assignments Id missed andexplanations on how to do them. Most of my teachers were pleased I had

had a change of heart and went out of their ways to try to help me.However, my Brit. Lit. teacher refused for weeks to speak with me. Sheclaimed she was too busy, and didnt have time during, before, or afterschool to talk with me. When she finally did meet with me, she handed mea packet of papers and simply told me to do my best. The fact that she wasso unwilling to help showed how little she cared as a teacher. It didntmatter to her if I passed the class or not, I was just another ID numberinstead of an actual person.

It frustrates me to see so many people, teachers and students alike, who just dont care. It makes me lose faith in the education system to see somany adults working to teach students they could honestly care less about,and students only going to classes because the government forces them to.It hasnt made me hate school, but I do have a more pessimistic approachevery time I start new classes. I miss the feeling I had when I was a smallchild and I was excited for school and excited to learn new things. Every new class I have I wonder if the teacher will actually be good and make animpact my education, or if this is just another class Ill have to sufferthrough and do just enough work to get a passing grade. Like most students,I live up to the expectation that is set for me. If I can get away with doingthe bare minimum, I will. However, I want classes I enjoy. I want to bepushed to work hard, and I want to actually get something more out of my classes than just a letter grade. I just need teachers who actually care tohelp me achieve this.


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The B oring Tr uth on How I Sur vived SchoolMarvin Corro

Since I could remember I could always recall a time in my educational career when a student would make a mistake and the teacher

would tell the class in comforting words, Its okay we are all here to learn.I have always had an interesting relationship with education, it was neithergood nor bad but rather I struggled with the education system itself.Learning was never a priority for me at school, instead I did what many of my teacher referred to as doing school which was going along my classesand cramming all relevant information to ace my exam, then completely forgetting what I had learned later. My doing school habit gave me a badoutlook on the educational system, I figured why learn the material when I

just need the grades to get me into a 4-year college. This habit workedsuccessfully for my freshmen and sophomore year in High School, I hadgrown overly confident in this method and became heavily reliant on it. Asmy junior year started, my classes sharply increase in difficulty; it wasnthelpful either that I over worked myself with 8 classes. I found it hard tobreak out of a lifelong mentality of doing school, although it was harmingme academically, I still insisted on cramming rather then any real studying.At this point most students would look back and reflect what is causingtheir grades to fall, fix ones study methods and maybe even talk to theirteacher to see what they could do to improve as a student in their class.Unfortunately for me I was not most students, doing school had made melazy, seeing as little effort was put into any long term studying and ratherinto late night cram sessions before a major test. In my eyes one miserablesleepless night was well worth the pain, then multiple dull study sessions,because of my laziness and the failure of my doing school technique I soonadapted to one of my filthiest habits, cheating. I never imagined I wouldresort to cheating, but I felt my classes were too rigorous and stressful thatit seemed like the easy answer.

I recall my cheating first starting in my US History AP class. We would have timed writes each week, were in class we would have togenerate a thesis essay with a large amount of supporting dates andhistorical facts. I always seemed to finish first among my classmates, whenasked how I did so well, I just smiled and said good study methods inreality the night before I had read at least 3 A papers with the correct

arguments, and dates the teacher was looking for. As I became morecomfortable with the idea, my cheating expanded to my other classes. I

would ditch my Physics class on lab days, so I could later get the answers


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from a friend before I went to make up the lab, in my Chemistry Honorsclass I would always ask to be seated in a less crowed area in the class away from the visibility of the teacher, the instant she would turn her back Idreach for my phone and Google everything I needed to know about Hessslaw. For the majority of my classes I would take the notes, homework, andtest from students in pervious years, almost freeing me of doing any real

homework or studying. I never grasp the reality of how serious the situationever was. I had no life changing epiphany showing me how to correct my wrongs but instated a realization on how pathetic my cheating had become.It took some time for me to finally start cheating in my Spanish 2 honors,due to the fact that I was already fluent in language. It was not long afterthat I made the connection of how pitiful it was that I was cheating at asubject I already was knowledgeable in, it was distressing that I wascheating at all. I finally came to terms and understood that I looked at

education the wrong way. I was never learning anything nor advancing as astudent. I only cared about my letter grade causing me to sink to an all timenew low. Now late into the school year and too deep into a system that wasthe sole reason for keeping my grades stable, I had no other choice but tocontinued doing what was working for me.

As crafty and cunning a student could be on cheating, its hard toget away with it multiple times let alone once, my luck finally began to runout and I soon learned the hard way, cheaters never win. My teacherscaught on to what I was doing, although they never had any solid evidenceto my cheating, I never got in serious trouble. My teachers had becomeharsher on grading my assignment, labs, test, and were very strict aboutdue date. The only classes where the teacher remained clueless wasUSHAP, by unfortunate luck I lost my backpack 2 days prior to the finalalong side all my homework inside causing a significant drop in my gradeform a solid A to a C.

By the end of the year I walked away from school having taken in alot less then most other students. I left with mediocre grades, not havinglearned anything and an overall a sleepless stressful school year. Theseseries of events change my outlook on my personal education and theeducation system as a whole. I fell into the stress of school due to doingschool which effectively overall lead me to an utter downfall, imbedding anegative outlook on school. Ironically my failure gave me new foundappreciation for leaning in class. My decisions were poor but the lesion was

valuable, and because of that I dont regret the things I did to get past thathorrid school year.


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The Mark of a TeacherLaura Dunn

When I was in high school my best friend was practically my twin.Not only did we look alike but we also loved the same movies, music, color,and stores. We even liked the same teachers and found science to be ourfavorite subject. This was until our second year when we had completely different teachers. While I had an interesting teacher who was willing toexplain difficult concepts, she had a teacher who spoke in a monotone andoften talked his class to sleep. I absolutely loved chemistry not only was Ifairly good at it, but because my teacher made it interesting enough that I

wanted to go to class each day. It didnt feel like I was wasting my timedoing pointless assignments just to take up time. My friend not only had adifficult time staying awake but she hated everything about the subject.She was constantly saying that if she had a better teacher then maybe shemight like chemistry.

It was around this time when it dawned on me that maybe theteacher can make a huge impact about how you feel about a subject orclass. My thoughts started to solidify during my junior year in my physics

class. My teacher, Mr. Goodman, was very knowledgeable about physics,but, he had a difficult time teaching the curriculum in a manner the classcould comprehend. Everyday he sat in the front of the classroom and woulddrone on and on and on about momentum, Newtons Laws, and variousother topics. It was only the first week of class and I felt that instead of staying afloat, I was drowning in confusion. I would go to him after classhoping that he could shed some light on the topic at hand. But more often

than not I was left more confused than before. My class continued in thispattern until one day we walked into the classroom and something wasdifferent. We had a visitor. But she was nothing like all of the other visitorsthat had previously been in our classes. Instead of wearing a suit, she was

wearing a pair of jeans and sweatshirt. After taking attendance Mr.Goodman made an announcement that I believed may have changed my attitude reflecting the class. He had been diagnosed with cancer and in amonth he would be on medical leave. He introduced Ms. Nichols who wasthere to train under him. Starting off she only observed Mr. Goodman tounderstand his teaching style and how he ran his class. When the timefinally came around for her to teach the class we were all a bit wary. Mr.Goodman never made the class interesting so why would she? She


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immediately proved all of us wrong on the first day with a creativedemonstration on static electricity. Not only was the lesson interactive,

which kept us all awake, but the notes were organized and taught in such a way that I completely understood. She continued the semester with ademonstration each week which helped to keep class interesting and fresh.Although Ms. Nichols was a great teacher there were points when we still

didnt understand what was going on and would need some additional help.I once heard that the mark of an exceptional teacher is one that can explainthe exact same concept two or three different ways. If I ever failed tocomprehend the topic we were studying in class, I would go in on

Wednesdays during lunch where she found new ways to explain thematerial. When explaining a concept to the student athletes she wouldoften use sport examples to get them through the problems.

My idea, that teachers make a huge difference in your education,

was confirmed my senior year by Mr. Goldman-Hall, my English teacher. Irealized that a teachers enthusiasm for the class they teach can betransferred to their students. They can spark or renew an interest in asubject you once thought was boring and dry.English wasnt a subject that I struggled with in high school but it was oneI often found boring. My teachers never really seemed to care about whatthey were teaching and you could always tell by the amount of effort they put into class. They would often assign essays, worksheets, or creative

writing and then never actually read what we would write. More often thannot the teachers assistant was reading and grading our papers. Mr.Goldman-Hall was a first year teacher when I walked into his class my senior year. He had never had a class that wasnt overseen by anotherinstructor, yet he was my favorite teacher by far. Many people would say that their experience with Shakespeare is not one they would care toremember. Not only is it difficult to read and understand but a lot of theEnglish humor doesnt make sense. Most of the time I could agree with

them whole heartedly, but, Mr. Goldman-Hall helped many of us in classto see Shakespeare in a different light. For once we understood exactly what we were reading and I was actually enjoying the complex language andstrange humor.

I couldnt say that I either love or hate school. I realize that, at leastfor me, my feelings toward education rest quite strongly on the teacher thatis instructing the subject. Many of my teachers lead to either badexperiences or ones I can hardly recall because there was nothing that made

them worth remembering. While a good or great teacher led to a positiveexperience.


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Finding the Right P athBrooke Girton

Senior year of high school can be a confusing time not only are youtrying to fit in with the in crowd but youre trying to figure out what you

want to do with the rest of your life. Most people dont want to flip burgersfor ever so most of the time that means a higher education. When thinkingof a higher education a four year university comes to mind for most people.

This is a great path but there are also other paths that you can follow ingetting a higher education that can be just as beneficial. Trade school is agood alternative to a more traditional schooling. The definition of tradeschool in Merriam Webster is a secondary school teaching the skilledtrades. Some of these trades include Culinary Arts, automotive, Fashionand Graphic Design, Electrician, Plumbing, Cosmetology, Welding,Heating, Air Conditioning, and many more.

When I was young and naive what would come to mind whenthinking of trade school was training for a job that was better than flippingburgers but wasnt as good as a job you could get if you went to a traditionalcollege. When I would picture the types of jobs that you could get out of trade school I only thought of ones that where male dominated. A job sitethat was full of men in hard hats, boots, jeans, and t- shirts that wouldcurse, spit, blow snot rockets, and a whole lot of other disgusting things.Also thought about having to use a Porte potty, those portable bathroomsthat once you walk in your sorry that you did. Where the smell from thefecal matter sitting basically in a big bucket would make even someone withthe strongest stomach want to run for one of those bags they have on airplanes to vomit in. Where you were afraid that if a strong gust of wind cameup the whole thing would tip over from the instability of the narrowing four

walled pathetic excuse of a bathroom.My thoughts about trade school started to change in 2007 the

summer before my senior year. I began to realize that not all trades are forconstruction that there are trade schools for things like Cosmetology,Culinary Arts, Fashion and Graphic Design, and others. My high schoolhad a program called Central County Occupational Center where youcould sign up for a trade and go to another school for half the day andpractice that trade. Right before the school year is over my school wouldgive everyone a form to fill out that would determine what classes they

would be taking the following year then mail it back to the school. Once I


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had received my form I took it home to go thought what my options wereand what I needed and wanted to take.

Hey mom want to sit down with me and go over classes for next year?

Sure go get everything you need and Ill sit down with you in thedining room and we will go over it

I already have everything its all right here. Ive heard of some kidsat my school who have done the CCOC program and they really like it. Ithink we should look into it more because they have a culinary artsprogram. I really want to be a pastry chef and this could give me an idea if Ireally like it or not.

It looks like you will still have to take classes at Oak Grove too.Yea but I dont have to take as many and with how Ive been doing

in school so far I could technically only have to take two classes at Oak

Grove and still meet all the credit requirements to graduate but there is athree class minimum so I have to take three not two.Ok well what classes do you want to take at Oak Grove? What do

you need to graduate?Well I need an English class, U.S History, and Econ but the

history and econ are only a semester so I still need another class.Ok what do you want to take an art class or an elective?I was thinking more like a math class I can take algebra two this

year and it will be better when I start college so we dont have to pay for alower math class when I can take it now.Ok sounds good Ill send this into the school tomorrow.

When the first day of school came around I was very excitedbecause this was a new experience for me, I had never done anything likethis, I had always stayed on the traditional schooling path. It was nice tothink that I would have a break from that for a while. In the morning I

went to my three classes at Oak Grove and in my home room class got

everything I needed to go to CCOC that afternoon where I would be taughtCulinary Arts.Since I had my own car at the time I drove over to the CCOC

campus and found my classroom. The teacher introduced herself asChristine Fahey and told us about her background as a chef and that this

was her first year teaching. She then told us about the dress code and that we would have to wear chef coats and hats. We then took a tour of thekitchen to get familiar with where things where and what we would be

using. The first month or so of the class was all about safety and how to besanitary. I had quite a bit of knowledge about the kitchen before I hadbegun this program but I learned some interesting facts in this time. We


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then moved on to learning about the different spices and being able toname them with just looking, feeling, and tasting them. After that wefinally started cooking in the kitchen.

Every day when we would walk into class she would have a recipe written on the board for us to copy down on a flash card. First would be allthe ingredients we needed then it would tell us all the directions on how to

cook it. An example of this is one of my favorites which is for chocolate stoutcake and it would read as follows:Chocolate Stout Cake2 cups stout e.g. Guinness, 2 cups unsalted butter (4 sticks), cupsunsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process), teaspoon salt, 4 large eggs,1 1/3 cups sour cream, 4 cups AP (all purpose) flower, 4 cups sugar, 1table spoon baking sodaPre heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and line an 8 inch round cake pan.

Simmer butter over medium heat, add cocoa powder and whisk untilsmooth and let cool slightly. Whisk flower, sugar, baking soda, and teaspoon salt in mixer. Beat eggs and sour cream together then add thestout and butter chocolate mix to the egg and sour cream mix. Beat untilcombined and add flour mix and beat briefly on slow and fold untilcombined. Pour into buttered and lined pan and bake about 35 minutes.Cool for 10 minutes then turn out on a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Once we had written this down we would get into partners usually

it was just two people to each group and go into the kitchen and start doing whatever the recipe told us to do. I loved this class, everything we made, we made from scratch we would even make our own mayonnaise, if we weremaking gravy we would first make our own chicken, beef or vegetable broth.Every day we got to make something entirely new and the best part aboutit was that when we were done we always got to eat what we had madethat day. Taking this class had me convinced that I wanted to go toculinary school and become a chef. I loved cooking and I was really good at

it too. There was maybe two or three days out of the entire year that what Ihad made didnt turn out right. Towards the end of the year I sat down with my teacher on one of our breaks to talk to her about school for thefuture.

I really want to be a pastry chef and I love cooking could you tellme about what you think would be the best way for me to become a pastry chef? What do you think about going to culinary school?

Sure Ill tell you everything I know about it. First of all when it

comes to the culinary field you really dont have to do more school, thepiece of paper doesnt mean as much in this field. Yea it can get you ahigher starting position but someone without the paper who is a hard

worker and has a good attitude will go higher faster than someone with the


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paper who doesnt have the drive. Your one of those people who wouldntneed the school its really expensive and doesnt get you very far.

If I was to go to a culinary school what one do you think would bethe best?

The one I went to was in New York and it has the best ratings andis the most accredited.

I was one hundred percent sure that I wanted to go to culinary school and be a pastry chef. So I went home to tell my mom.Hey mom can we talk?Yea sure what is it?Ive decided that I want to go to culinary school. I want to be a

pastry chef.Well they dont pay well and you will have to work holidays and

weekends and never have time for a family.

But mom a pastry chef is different and if youre really good you canmake a lot of money and you wont have to work nights so I could still havetime for a family. This is what I really want to do.

I dont have that kind of money for culinary school so you cant go if you want to go to school you can go to a community college then transfer toa 4 year university like your sister.

But thats not what I want to do I want to cook.If you get your degree in business first then Ill send you to culinary

school.Fine but its not what I really want to do but I guess I dont haveany other choice.

That fall I started school at Evergreen community college with my major in business. I was unmotivated and hated taking general educationclasses when I knew it wasnt going towards something I really wanted todo. I was keeping up my grades but I still hated doing it so when I got theopportunity to go move in with my boyfriend and not have to go to school

anymore I took it.I stayed with him for a year until he decided that the relationship wasnt working out for him anymore. So I came back home to my parents. They offered for me to go back to school but not have to keep my major asbusiness. I thought about all the different things I could do and decidedculinary arts wasnt for me anymore. With the amount of hours you wouldhave to put into the job you would get paid very little. I also knew that I

wouldnt be able to support myself on a paycheck like that.

I then decided that I wanted to become a dietitian. I liked the looksof this career because it still was dealing with food, had good hours, goodpay, and there are a couple different jobs that you could do with getting

your degree and being a dietitian. I could work in a hospital or schools


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making healthy well balanced meal plans. I could also work in an office where patients would come see me and I could help them with their dietand let them know what foods are good for them and which ones they should stay away from. I also like the thought of this job because I would behelping people and making their lives better and healthier.

I still think that trade school is a good thing and it works for many

people but it just didnt happen for me. It wasnt the right path for me tofollow and Im very happy with where my life is going and what I will bedoing in the future. In a way I feel like this job will allow me to help andtouch many lives and make things better for people. I also really like thefact that I can be involved in the lives of the youth because if youre going tochange something that needs correcting, like the way most Americans eat,

you need to start with the youth. As for cooking I still love it but I just do itin my free time now, who knows maybe Ill have a little side business and

bake for all of my close friends and family.


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SpheresDaniel Greene

Id always gone through school struggling to find relevancy. To finda reason why I should give a crap about learning these trivial subjects, andcement them in my brain. There were the obvious reasons, of course -passing these classes led to college, which led to money which led to notbeing homeless. But I never could figure out why I would ever need to know these things in the long run, when I would ever use them and what they meant.That all changed when Mr. Magee came along.

A strong example of British fitness, Mr. Magee was a confidentteacher whos physical appearance and mental defied his age. He taughthis classes with an abrupt bluntness which I found hugely appealing. If you

were annoying, hed make fun of you. If he thought something was crap,hed tell you it was crap. I remember thinking, wow, finally a person whoskips the sugar-coated bullshit and looks at things for what they really are.

That was something even I couldnt do, and I loved that. I latched ontothat. And though he never really knew it, I was his best friend. I lookedforward to his class each time I had it, especially the lectures. He was abrilliant story-teller, and his unique perspectives on various aspects of life

were eye-opening. I never got to know him very personally. When we didtalk, he never said much, but from his tone and facial expressions I got theimpression he liked me a lot.

Some of the most entertaining moments in class were hisinteractions with a student named Rutvig. Rutvig was a horriblecombination of extrovert and socially awkward. He was the most annoying,arrogant know-it-all youll ever find, and seemed like he was trying to makeup for his lack of popularity with a superior intellect. Hed shout out themost random responses to everything Mr. Magee said, questioning every fact he spoke with something that wasnt even relevant. At first it wasannoying, and eventually it became a joke. Mr. Magee was the first toadmit it - hed laugh at Vig, entertain his ridiculous theories just to knock them down. Yet, as funny as this was to watch, it was an interesting

window into his personality. He always wanted you to understand. Even with Vig. He would always make sure to set the record straight, and explainconcepts in plain english. I can honestly say there wasnt a subject in that


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class I didnt get. This dedication to clarity was a constant trait, andeventually I found out why.

Mr. Magee was a nutrition freak. As a result, after our AP tests were done he began his own nutrition unit. Not because he had to, butbecause he wanted to. I probably learned more in those two weeks than Ihad learned the entire year. Everything you didnt want to know about

what you were putting in your mouth came out in all its ugly truth. Oneday, after watching one of the various films on the food industry, a studentin the back of the class asked a question. How can I, one person, hope tochange the eating habits of the whole world? The ensuing response wasone Id hold on to forever.

I only worry about what I can fix. If a thousand people in Africadie, yes, thats tragic, but I dont give a crap about them because I cant fixthat, and I dont know them. Its a simple truth of the human condition

that we only truly care for those we know personally. But we all havespheres - spheres of influence. If you can take the knowledge youve learnedhere, and spread it throughout your sphere, youve made a difference. Andif they spread that same knowledge to their spheres, then the message getsspread everywhere. You cant take care of the world. But you can take careof those around you - and if everyone did that, the world would be fine.

That was the perspective I needed. Mr. Magee had managed tomix cynical thinking with mushy, world peace idealism, something that

seemed impossible to me. Thats why this quote hit me in such a unique way. Ive always had an inner struggle between realism and optimism. Icould never seem to find a way to reconcile them, until this. I found thatfascinating. Along with that, it also answered my question. The whole time,I had found knowledge pointless because there was no way that knowingrandom facts could change the world. This, however, broke it down into amuch more manageable chunk. If something I know could help a friendsomeday, be it something simple or complex, the ripples from that could do

something amazing. And even if they didnt, the satisfaction from knowing Ihelped would be more than enough. So now I try my hardest to take care of those around me, by being as informed as possible. I struggle to focus inclass and absorb every detail I can. Maybe some topics will never amount toanything, but if they do Ill always have Mr. Magees words ringing in my head.


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Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle SchoolAlex Gromov

Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School, or JLS, is a fine academicinstitution located in Palo Alto, California. The students are mostly from

wealthy white families and the teachers come with the highestrecommendations. Teachers and students are connected together with athirst for education and a love for learning, but in reality this adorable littlemiddle school in a wealthy neighborhood is no more than the devils dark,fiery hole where he makes a living torturing the damned that have sinned

without knowing the consequences. The students that are sadly stuck inthis prison just wonder and pray what they have done to deserve such aterrible path to what is called a must have education. On a brighter note,not all the teachers are bad, but most of them are. They set requirementsthat they dont agree to and over their last 10 years of teaching they havelost the spark that ignited them to want to make a difference in studentslives. Now all they do is take out their anger on these students that in no

way have harmed them. The atmosphere in this suburban middle school isa tornado of anger and frustration that has somehow not yet destroyed thebuilding in which the students spend every day learning the state assignedcurriculum.

To focus more on the teachers, most of them have just lost all faithin their jobs and their facial expressions show the sadness and anger thatthey have at the state, the federal government and the students. It isunderstandable why they are angry at the state and government becausetheir wages are very low and the work they put in is only criticized by theparents that have all the wealth and extremely high expectations. But why do they have anger towards the students? This question drives the young,molded minds into insanity. They try and try in school so that their gradescan improve, but it only seems that with every passing year the teachers inthe next grade just want them to do more and more, the feeling of desperation and fatigue is all that these students deal with.

The science department tries to inspire the students with creativeproject, which the students question and ask to why they are needed whenall the hypotheticals that they are asking will never happen, and even if they do no one is going to ask a mere student from a suburban middleschool to figure out what kind of creature could survive on the planetNeptune and what qualities it would need to evolve so that it could deal


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with the extreme environment that is there. The questioning of theassignment angers the teachers and thus results in the teachers new curriculum which only focuses on multiple choice test and short responsequestions about things that the teachers just tells the rascals to read fromthere extremely large text books. What the teachers truly hate about thestudents is there voice, because there voice is honest. Kids dont sugar coat

anything, they say it like it is and the teachers are in no mood to hear thetruth. Truth for these teachers is the most painful thing and the only way to deal with the truth is to be completely ignorant about it and to punishany student that dares to speak up.

The 7 th grade English and Video Production teacher should be theChancellor of this hell-like establishment. Her 300 pound exterior and herempty heart drives her to punish the students for no particular reason. Theguilt that she should feel for beating on these kids is washed down by

countless cans and barrels of Diet Pepsi that she makes the students bringto her when she feels it necessary. Her lack of interest in the students wellbeing and their emotional state doesnt bother her, she enjoys the fear thatthe students have toward her. With that fear she convinces the studentsfrom her English class to take her Video Production class and the studentshate and fear her but do it anyway because if youre in her Video class she isnicer to you, by nicer it means that she just doesnt talk to you and picks onthe other students. When you take her Video class essentially what you are

doing is throwing someone under the bus, but in this school no one judges you for this because its all about survival and you have to save your skinbefore you save someone elses. The truth is thats its all fake that shesnicer. This demon could not like, care, or respect anything in the world.

The fear that she instills into the students kills any motive for being alive,let alone educated. Maybe not all of the teachers are bad but one like this isenough to make you hate anyone that likes and cares for education.

The students start to branch off into different groups and the

groups start fighting with each other because they dont know how to let off their anger and frustration. All they ever hear from their parents is keep working and good things are going to happen, and my favorite, you dont want to get bad grades and ruin your life. Its extremely sad to think thatthese students dont make any decisions for themselves. They are nothingmore than cattle being pushed through a system that doesnt care for theircreativity and their natural, youthful essence that has so much to give to a

world that seemingly doesnt have a soul. Their development is stunted and

they cannot think of what its like to enjoy school, this idea has never beenpresent to them except when they were in elementary school andexpectations and good grades were words that werent even pronouncedby their caring teachers.


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The groups that are formed seem to be very different and have aunique style and view of themselves, others and the world around them,but in reality all the groups are based off the same thing and no one is really different, everyone is just angry at the school and at the work they have todo which in no way inspires them to want to get an education.

Of course, there are those that do a great job in school and are so

blinded by others forcing them to work that they convince themselves thatthis is life and that school is reality. Why not work hard? If I spend hourson this essay and this project its not like its going to ruin my future? Inthis middle school students that think like that are looked up to by theteachers, but the students that are fed up of being pushed around by thiscruel establishment get mad at these nerds and dorks when really thesestudents that work the hardest are the ones that hate school the most.

I was a student that wanted to get good grades and I believed that

if I did well in school I could do well in life. I wasnt a dork or a nerd but Idid care. Only years after did I realize that these assholes in this shitty,fucked up suburban school manipulated me to think that I was not special,that I wanted to spend long, tedious, hours doing projects, that I caredabout grades. No one cared about me in this school. They said things like I

want to see you succeed and I care about you so you should try hardbecause it will help you. It puts a tear to my eye to think that studentsright now are listening to this bullshit and believing it because they have

been told over and over again that teachers are your friends and they arethere to better your education and help you see the world. When people ask me what is my biggest academic achievement, I

tell them that I survived. I may be wounded but I lived. My view of the world is my view. It may be wrong from whatever is the truth but its my view. I fought against this establishment and I won, or I just didnt lose by ablowout. Every academic moment is one that changes you but for me thethree years that I spent at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School were the

years where I battled, scratched, and punched my way to be able to see the world with my own two eyes.


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Thanks for t he Gr eat Story, Mr. R osenburg-You're Finally Good for SomethingBrittany Heintzen

An English lover all of my life, Id always been blessed by the

classroom-assigning Gods with great English teachers all throughout HighSchool. Lo and behold, senior year finally cemented my beliefs in theBuddhist concept of karma. Thinking I had the mind, and academic recordto prove myself in English AP as a senior, I decided to enroll. Imagining AP

would offer more enthralling literary choices and hopefully a higher caliberpeer. Upon my first day of class I found myself staring into the eyes of sheep, and bowing at the mere mention of Mr. Galen Rosenburg-ourteacher, shepherd, and messiah. Expecting a group of diverse, enlightened

thinkers, I came to find I had just joined a cult. The students not only respected and adored their prophet, but relished in every word, breath, andgrain of spit expelled from his mouth. At that point, I looked around forcameras, because this site was beyond believable. Was I really here? Whathad I gotten myself into? I felt a shock close to that of a plane crashsurvivor, disoriented and traumatized, seeking answers by aimlessly oglingaround the room in which I found myself a prisoner.

He rose from his desk and floated over to the board as a preacher

would to his congregation. He stood a tall six feet four inches, wearing aknit maroon turtle neck which supported his small bulbous head. His beard was fighting for territory of his face, but still kept short and neat, probably to deter attentions from the budding bald spot on the northern latitude of his skull. He had the intellectual-scruffy exterior of an IV League professorand a tone as arrogant as one. While lecturing he actually gazed at least afoot over our heads, as if he was talking to a grand stadium instead of oursmall class of 23. The first month or so of class carried on similarly, mostly

lecture, and not one question posed to the class without being told what he wanted us to say. One fine morning, he actually addressed the class with anopened-ended question about Dickens style of writing. My opportunity hadfinally presented itself- his error, my chance. The moment had finally come,I had been watching my adversarys movements for almost thirty morningsnow, I had him read, it was time to activate and reveal myself as the sleepercell of classroom 401.

My hand shot up, seizing the opportunity, looking at me like a new

fresh sacrifice he eagerly called on me, Dickens style is colorless, he stringsfifty five too many adjectives together all in the purpose of I losttrackHe actually makes me forget about what Im reading about all


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togetherWith my answer came the loudest silence I had experienced todate, his mouth agape and eyes glassy, he collected himself, and then actedif I hadnt spoken a word and continued on with his lecture. I suppose by not acknowledging my answer he could pretend I wasnt there, at least forthe time being, until he could figure out what to do with me. The yearunfolded into something that can be summed up into the events of that day

although sometimes hed grace with me with the invitation of a duel that would carry on for a few moments.It forged on similarly until the month of April arrived, the month of

writers week and parent teacher conferences, where he thoughtfully divulged his insightful prophecies of my life with my mother. Basically summing up to her that my ideas are outlandish, and unless I learned totake direction I wouldnt be successful at anything I tried to accomplish.His tactics were working, and I was actually starting to believe it might

have just been me. Why am I the only that has problems with Mr.Rosenburg? I started questioning my very experience, and had the thoughtof my wrong-doing at least once or twice. I had the argument with myself atleast a dozen times, until that fateful Monday we started Writers Week. A

week where the English Department hosts journalists, writers, and anyone who makes a living off of their writing to come and speak to the students.

Our first guest was a local news reporter, who had workednumerous years as a premier journalist in Washington along with others,

but had settled down and was working out of the bay area. By the time shehad finished summarizing her experience and showing some samples of her work with our class, Mr. Rosenburg had organized his mumblings into somecomment he decided to share with us. Wouldnt you say that newspapersand even some journals are more relevant and factual about current eventsthan an over-sensationalized news bit on our local news station? I knew hehad an inflated sense of self enough to talk to his lowly subjects that way,but an outsider? WOW. For the first time all year I felt a member of my

class, sitting in astonishment, frozen in time, you could have cut the tension with a knife. Well she collected herself, Ill agree with you Mr.Rosenburg, that there are bad reporters but Ill have to go on to say thereare at least an equal amount of bad teachers. Following more screamingsilence, she stormed out of the room. I had spent the remainder of theschool day in a daze, not really sure what I had witnessed that morning.How could someone just put someone else to the guillotine that way? Hereally had no sense of humility or guilt. This man was actually instructing

students on creative writing, but he didnt have one ounce of emotion in hisbody, he was a cold robot made of the harshest of metals. The air of the classroom hadnt changed much since the day before,

you could feel the weight at the doorway, but still I journeyed on to my


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desk only to find a curious scrap of scratch paper. After little explanation,all I could retain was that it was a ballot, a ballot? Mr. Rosenburg waspolling his disciples, polling the class about who was right from the day before. The results of such poll were undoubtedly in his favor with theexception of one or two, which went unaddressed.

Needless to say, any internal debate I had been having in regards to

him was put to rest with these series of events. He was exactly what Ioriginally thought he was, but I had to remind myself of something my dadhad always said about putt ing up with teachers you dont like, to make theones you love all that more special. My high school career summed itself upcome June; and I couldnt have missed a man less in my life. As I look back to this day memories of that class still make me shake with anger, but thenI started taking English classes again. With the teacher-assigning gods onmy side once more, I finally was able to hit the refresh button on creative

writing. Hilariously enough, I see my path at this point in becoming a highschool history teacher-and I can only hope I can make up for some of thedamage done.


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My Own MotivationAnn Jarrar

Until I got into college, I absolutely hated school. It was a waste of time and a bore to me. High school felt like an utter joke. Each year they talked about preparing you for the next and how youre going to need this,this and that to be in middle school and high school and college- a bunch of crap! I never used half the stuff they said we would need. I felt as thoughthey were just pushing up along. Like Gerald Graff said in HiddenIntellectualism it seems like we were never learning anything that wecould apply to our everyday life. Or even recent issues that we could debateon. We never learned just common sense things. I found a quote thatsparked a lot of this essay. The funny thing about common sense is, it isntso common.

One thing that still angers me is that when I was in elementary school they made us learn cursive and told us that we would never make itif we didnt, as a 5th grader, thats very stressful to hear. So I would stay uplate and practice cursive and make sure I had it down perfectly, Ive haventused cursive since 5th grade and Im a junior in college now. This is just oneexample of the many things they did to almost stall us. I feel like a lot of thethings we studied and learned in middle school and high school were justspace fillers. Most of it was just busy work that they never even graded!

College has been great; I choose my classes, the times and even theteachers, granted there is enough space. I feel like I can learn what I wantto when I want to and Im not just being shoved along in the system. Imlearning so much more about myself and my way of learning. The things Imlearning in my classes are also way more beneficial than what I was learningin high school. I feel much more educated on relatable topics. Being able tochoose what classes to take and what times to take them makes it so mucheasier to continue doing the other things life demands. Since high schoolIve always had a job, not because I needed to have one, I just felt like Ishould have one. So with all that, I now have 3 jobs so finding the righttimes for school and study time gets tricky but Im able to maneuver my schedule around and do whats best for me!

I didnt try as hard in middle school and high school, because I justdidnt care. Io felt like they didnt care to see us actually succeed so I didntsee a point. It was its own little bubble and I hated it. Most people werethere because they had to be there, I was. In college its very different


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because the people here want to be here, they even pay to be here! Peoplesattitudes have a big impact on what the outcome will be, so being in collegenow and having a better perspective on school, Ive been doing much betterin all my classes. I apply myself more and want to do the assignmentsbecause I know they will better me in many ways.

I never really found motivation in myself before college, I alwaysused outside recourses to get myself going to do school work which rarely ever worked. Now, being the one that gets me to do things on time and theright way is so much easier than what I was doing before. Its so much morepowerful being in control of what youre doing. So in the end, there was nospecific experience that changed my attitude, it was just the academicsystem as a whole that changed the way I look at things. Grade school was

just another way to push people along instead of educate them. Throughout

being in college Ive learned more in these 2 years than I really have in the12 years I was in school. If school was more relatable and comparable Ithink a lot more people would be inclined to go and want to succeed.


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The B ookworm I Never K new I WasMiyou Kanda

I have always been a hands-on student, and until about third grade,this was not so apparent. If you think about it, it makes sense that no onecaught on to this little fact until third grade. I mean in preschool, you play a lot, and learn a letter a day. Kindergarten is four hours of Sesame Street-learning as you play. First grade is a transition into grade school. By secondgrade, you start to get a hang of school. And by third grade, you should beready for some loads of work- you learn cursive, how to read time, how tospell five-letter words, and math. So really, school does not start until thirdgrade.

I guess both my first and second grade teachers just thought I wasenergetic and figured it just takes me a while to get used to school. I wassomewhat annoying, but it was not super disrupting compared to somepretty A.D.D.-bouncing-off-the-wall classmates I had. But once I got tothird grade, it was clear that I had not gotten the hang of school.

Your parents drop you off at school. You run to class and chatter with your friends while waiting for the teacher to open the door. The bellrings, and the whole class walks in together. All around you, classmateschatter with excitement for school. The whole class waddles to theircubbies like birds in a flock, and returns to the desks. The teacher calls roll.I am a good student until maybe thirty minuets after the national anthem issung and we recite the pledge of allegiance with the lady over the intercom.I start to fidget and look around like a dog brought into a new environment.I yearn to go outside, but recess is not for another 40 minutes. I decide toturn to my neighbor and chat about anything to take my eyes off of theclock (which now looks as if it is ticking backwards). Turns out my neighboris equally bored of just sitting as I am, so we chat for a while.

It is all good until the teacher asks me what she had just said. Ismile nervously, hoping my dimples would get me out of this one- it doesnot. I apologize and promise to zip my lips, fold my hands on my lap like abronze statue, and listen carefully. Only, I was a pretty curious child. Iquickly forgot what I had promised to do minuets ago as my mind wondersaround; I am back to where I was five minuets ago. I was not opposed tolearning (in fact I liked to learn); it was just that I could not sit and listen

without getting bored.A week into school and I get smarter. I did not like detention

during recess, so I played pretend. I pretended to listen and I act quiet. Butmy mind is set on overdrive; thinking about the wonderful world of whatifs and make believe. Meanwhile, my hands are busy drawing. Now, how does a girl like me with habits like mine learn? Well I do, barely but I do. I


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listen to see what the teacher is teaching to the class. Once I got what she was teaching, I move on to doodling and day dreaming to kill the void.Likewise, I finish enough work so that I get the concept of the subject andstop. I figure why waste my time doing the same math problems if I already understand the concept the first time around? Yup- I was a hellish student

who did not do things if it made no sense to do them to begin with.

As ten years pass, I learn to be a better student- I do my homework and assignments on time (even though I thought it was dumb). I still talkedin class while doodling. I still looked at the clock every now in then. And Ialso could not help but get bored in a classroom. Then, high school was overall of a sudden; I had to pick a major. Any major would have done. I justneeded an easy degree. Math was boring. Grammar was more confusingthan a going through a labyrinth. I disliked science because it involvesmath. I did enjoy art, but art school seemed too intense. I came to the

realization that all I can do was theater. In high school, all I did was stagemanage the shows my school did, so naturally a theater major would be agreat fit for me (plus it was an easy major as well). But a theater majorrequired no thinking. I learned nothing new. I went to UCSC for a year

where the classes there helped me sit and learn. However, I dropped outbecause I was not sure what I was doing there; for a year I work whilecontemplating what to major in.

While I was contemplating what to major in, I decided to read to

keep my brain alive. The literature I picked out consisted of writers likeVonnegut, Camus, and Murakamai. Not only did I love to read, I loved toanalyze the books I read. In high school, I was a natural at writinganalytical papers. I reached the conclusion that maybe I could do well as aliterature major. Out of all the things I could have been, a bookworm wasthe last thing I thought I would become.

I never wanted to go to college because my major was something Idid not take seriously. I was never content with paying thirty grand a year

so I can get a degree in theater. I only considered college because without adegree nowadays, you can not get anywhere in life. So here I was thinkingcollege was mindless, just like high school. Here I was thinking I was notgood at school. I may have been somewhat artistic, but the artsy people are

way more skilled than I. So I settled or a theater major. But I realized goingthrough college and paying lots of money for a schooling that I can gothrough with half a mind filled me with discontent. Now that I realizedthat a literature major may be the major for me, it changes the way I saw

college. It made me think that spending a significant amount of money onmy schooling was not such a dumb idea. I might learn a thing or two. And who knows, maybe I might enjoy sitting in a two hour class and not evenlook at the clock once!


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The B eginning of my E ducational JourneyKristina Kucinskaite

My journey toward education began a long time ago. I believe itstarted in my parents minds before I even came into this world. I used to

wonder: can importance of education be inborn? Can it be transmitted with other genes that you get from your parents? Now, I strongly believethat my parents experience and hard work toward education goals in theirlives brought me a strong and powerful opinion about education and itsimportance in peoples lives. Now I see education as a key that widely opens the door to better, wiser, and more successful tomorrow. Moreover,I am very thankful to my Mom and Dad for opening me those powerfuldoors of education, for letting me start my big and endless journey towardeducation, and for walking me through the first heavy steps of educationalroad. What can I tell now? I love my journey!

The first and the most influential part of my educational journey took place at my home in Lithuania.

I was seven and a half year old girl. I still believed in Santa Clauseand his promises to come every single Christmas with a bag full of gifts tothose kids who were good all year long. I was still wondering why SantaClause always brought what I wanted. Did he know me so well? Did hereally fit through the litt le window in my room? I kept asking my parentsfor the answers to all those questions I had in my little silly head.Unfortunately, I didnt hear what I expected and wanted to hear at thattime. My Mom kept telling me that I have to be older in order tounderstand about Santa Clause. If anybody only knew how bad I wanted tobe older and smarter, how bad I wanted to learn more about Santa Clause!At that time my little brain, of course influenced by parents, understoodone thing: I have to go to school to learn about Santa Clause.

Winter, seven in the morning, dark, my Mom slowly opened my room door, and I heard that lovely morning message: Kristina, time to getup, get ready for school. What do you want for breakfast? I hardly movedmy head, looked at Mom with one eye open and told her my favoritemorning words: Five more minutes, Mom, please. She closed the door,

went to the kitchen, and made my favorite scramble egg breakfast. I heardher slow steps coming toward my room again. She opened the door asecond time: Kristina, breakfast is ready, get up, you will be late. It took another five minutes for me to get up. I kept telling myself: get up, get up,get up! I finally got bored of those words and got up. Breakfast smelled sogood! It was my favorite part of the morning. I looked through the kitchen

window. White, cold but cozy, monotonous but fascinating. It was


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snowing! I was so excited! My Mom interrupted my thoughts with her warm smile and curious look at me: Do you see the man cleaning snow from the street? I looked through the window again and saw that mantrying so hard to clean the snow from the street over and over. It seemedendless. He looked tired. His clothes were covered with snow and he madethe same bored movement over and over again. The man looked unhappy

and exhausted of his white enemy the snow. My Mom interrupted thatsad picture: Do you see how hard that man is working? Can you imaginegetting up at three in the morning every day and working outside when itsfreezing, cold, windy, and snow is dripping on you all over? I woke upcompletely. My eyes probably had never been so widely open. I feltscarred. My Mom kept looking through the window and suddenly shelooked at me: Kristina, you have to study hard and learn a lot of things atschool. Otherwise, you will end up like this man cleaning streets from the

snow all day long. It sounded so scary and sad. I had never felt so good andhappy about school then that morning. I took my books, looked at themirror and told myself: no, I dont want that kind of life, I better go toschool and do my homework than get up every morning to clean streetsfrom the snow.

Next morning my Mom opened the door with the same morningmessage, however, this time it affected me differently: Kristina, time toget up. Breakfast is ready. I jumped from the bed, and I didnt even think

about five more minutes in my warm and cozy bed. That morning I felteven happier and more motivated about going to school then day before, when I saw the man cleaning snow from the streets.

Today I am 27 years old, and I reached my educational goal. Igraduated from University of Medicine and obtained my dentistqualification in Lithuania. Now I am continuing my educational journey atFoothill College in order to reach a new goal to become a dentist in theU.S. What can I tell now? I still love my journey!


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The Big DayDeyssy Orozco

It all started in San Jose CA, back in August of 2002 when Ithought school was one of the greatest place for me. Its important for us toeducate our selfs, its a place where we will meet new people as well as

wonderful teachers and counselors that will always have the time tomotivate you. High school for me was one of the hardest levels of educationIve experienced. It wasnt only bad experiences, but great ones I enjoyed.My four years of high school were always motivated by all the caring peoplethat helped me, first of all the amazing parents I have, then the teachersand counselors. They always made me think education was the greateststep in I should take and was never going to regret it and take goodadvantage of it.

In high school there are certain requirements in order for thestudents to graduate. In all high schools credits were require, as well asother expectations. Even though I had plenty of motivation from everyone I

was scared not to make it to the Big Day, which was graduation. Ithought of it that way, because some classes were really tough. In someclasses there were teachers that would not motivate the student to stay focus in class and think and make it a place where the students will learnand enjoy. Though we knew it was our responsibility to stay focus and try our best on getting a decent grade it was complicated without any motivation or help from our teachers. Thank to god that I always try to stay on track and asked questions on anything I did not understood.

High school was not only the place to learn and prepare our selfs toa higher education and to reach our goals, but it was an environment toenjoy the years with classmates and friends before the big day came and

we would all take our life somewhere else. When that time came we wouldfeel proud of our selfs and ready to take the next step. When the first day came as freshmen I felt supper excited and at the same t ime thinking of theday I would walk on stage from Del Mar High School. I could not imaginehow many years I had to wait to have the honor to complete my high school

years. Freshmen, sophomore, and junior and senior year were coming outgreat. I was not a straight As student, but always try to stay focus in classand have good grades, passing all my classes and making myself proud andthe people that supported me.

When sophomore year began everyone started to talk aboutCAHSEE which was the California High School Exit Exam. Which most


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of you may know what this exam meant or means to all high schoolstudents. The first class to take this exam was class of 2006. So everyonecounted on us to do a great job on it and be able to graduate, and give theexample to all the following classes. Well when the time came to take theexam I was really nervous about it my legs were shivering and feltsomething cold going through my body with the beats of my heart I could

not handle, but always believed in myself that even with the feeling I hadand feeling nervous I knew I would be able to pass the exam. I thought it was going to be an awful exam and complicated one, but after thinkingabout how this would make a difference I started to relax and concentrate.Some students took it as a joke others didnt it was up to the student if we

wanted to put effort in it or not. Months later each student received aletter saying if we passed or if we didnt pass the exam. When I received theletter in the mail my legs started to shake and I started to feel something

weird in my body my heart beat so fast it seem it was going to walk out my body, it felt horrible started to feel even worse than the day I had to sit inthe school cafeteria and take the exam. I took a deep breath and opened theletter. When I opened it and read I have passed the English part, butfailed the Math part I did not feel great, but didnt give up and thought atthe second time I would pass it that it was not the last chance I had. I haduntil senior year to pass the exam. I had a lot of motivation from my family,teachers and counselors. I believed in myself and knew I would pass it and

would walk on stage the day of graduation with my class. The time came toretake the exam feeling nervous and thinking this would be my opportunity to pass I took the exam had faith in me believed I would pass and walk

with the class on the big day. After taking it a second and a third time Ipassed the exam not with the most fabulous score, but with a decent oneand making myself proud of all the effort I had put in to the exam, going toafter school tutoring and getting extra help from people I had pass the examI relived. Also, I felt supper proud of myself and was just waiting for the

big day to come. Time was getting closer until the end of the year and I was already feeling that emotion of happiness and would imagine myself wearing theblack gown and cap and walking with the class hearing the audiencecongratulating us and being proud of class of 2006. After this we wouldtake our life to a new goal in our life going to college or working we all knew

what we wanted to do after graduation. I was getting ready for prom, grandnight, and of course the big day. A couple of days before graduation I was

having some pain in my stomach some really bad stomach ache and did notknow what It was causing it. I try not to care much about it and justthought of something nice well the horrible pain would not go away. I toldmy mom about and we decided to see a doctor for it. We went into the


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doctors office and he took a look at me did an ultrasound and found I hadsome stones in my gall bladder and that it had to be remove I said it wasfine if the pain was going to go away he said okay, but this was anemergency and needed to have the surgery right away, I was shocked I criedand refuse myself could not believe this was happening to me. I askedmyself why if I was always a healthy girl nothing had ever hurt as much to

have a surgery I asked are you sure about it? The doctor said, yes darling. Istill refuse and cried until the doctor and my family made me understandthat my health was important that even if I wanted to be at graduation this

was more important that they were still proud of me because I was going tograduate just not be at the ceremony. That this was not my last chance to

walk in stage and be with the people I loved that I had many goals I wouldcomplete in my life that college was my next goal. My parents and schoolstaff made me feel better. June 15, 2006 was a day I would never forget,

but thanks to all my friends that people that made it special. This was when I felt school was important, but that there were other things that hadmost importance for me to meet my goals having my surgery on the day of graduation made me stronger and confident of myself. That the big day

was also great being in a hospital, but supper proud of me as the others felt waking on stage of Del Mar High School. This impacted my education,because things can happen and we would not be able to make it to thatspecial moment, but those things wont make you stop to reach your goals.


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My E arly EducationKin Leung

I was tearing an admission letter apart and throwing the debris outof window from the eighteenth floor where my home was located. Anexcellent all girls Catholic school didnt accept me as their new junior highstudent. I was upset and frustrated. Then my elder sister stepped in andsaid that she could handle it. I trusted her because she was an alumni. ButI didnt hear back from her since then. She might be too busy at work asshes a successful businesswoman (shes 14 years older than me) or sheforgot, or she kept the bad news away from me. She always wears black togo to work. The suits make her smileless face looks more serious. I onceasked her about her career choice and she replied as long as her boss earnsmoney, shes satisfied. Therefore, I learned that theres no short cut in life.

So I started my junior high at another all girls Catholic school for 3 years. Finally, I received a high school admission from that excellent allgirls Catholic school. I not only studied hard for 3 years in junior high inorder to get into that high school I always wanted, I also prayed. I prayed alot. I prayed before I went to sleep. I prayed about the test I was going totake the next day. I prayed to get into the high school that I always wantedto go to. And it worked. it really did work. At least I thought so.

My father insisted in providing good quality education to my sistersand me. He was a salesperson and worked very hard to become a partner of the firm that he worked for, for many years. He always reminded us aboutthe positive relationship between success and learning. He hired an after-school instructor to overlook our homework and to prepare us for tests. Hepurchased the best stationeries that were made in Japan for us. He requiredus to practice Chinese calligraphy 4 pages a day during summer holidays.He wanted us to go to an all girls school to concentrate on studying to avoidthe distraction from boys. He tried to shape a path for us to succeed.

One day, I was reading an authority regional newspaper, Ming PaoNews in the dining room. My father was drinking his favorite Woo Long

Tea and said to me I want you to become a Margaret Thatcher. Hepointed his finger at an article about the transfer of the sovereignty of HongKong to China from United Kingdom. Everyday my father picked up hissubscription and started reading it in the dining room and I later joinedhim. I enjoyed reading the daily columns, editorials, and world news. I wasamazed by some cultures and the differences we had. I liked to cut outsome interesting articles and put them in a box. But I just wanted to be a


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journalist at that time, I guess. I like the idea how knowledge can changeones fate and this is a popular Chinese idiom.

In fifth grade, I stopped seeing my after-school instructor when Ifound myself managing my studies pretty well. I thanked my mother fortrusting in me. My grades were even better without an after-schoolinstructors companionship. My mother was a homemaker. She woke up

early to cook breakfast for our family every morning. When I locked upmyself in a room to study, she prepared snacks for me in case I was hungry. When dinner was ready, she knocked on my door. I knew I was a baby girlin her eyes forever. I always told her my dreams, my future plans and sheonly showed support, no objections. I was a self-motivated person who

wanted to finish things but I still needed her spiritual support. Especially when you are young, study is probably the most common thing for people to judge you by.

I was glad and excited when I was selected and elected by highschool classmates to participate in the debate team. People always say thatschool is a miniature society. If you look good and act smart, youll definitely become popular. I loved school life and this didnt mean that I was a kind of student to stand out. Quite contrary, I was usually an observer, quieter inhigh school. Occasionally I gave a surprise answer because I thoughtdifferently than the majority. Life couldnt be any better than having achance to speak to the public, to express yourself loudly, to influence

someones thinking and sharpen your original thought.At my first debate, I was nervous on the stage and spoke too fast.Sometimes they couldnt understand what I was saying. It was bad but Ididnt think it was a failure. I should have improvements. However, wecouldnt have an opportunity to continue our debate activity. It was oursenior year and we had to take the review courses in order to pass theuniversity entrance exam. The principal, a nun, prohibited all the senior

years extra curricular activities, including athletics. One of our classmates,

an Olympic candidate had no choice but to transfer to another high schoolto continue her athletic career and to keep up her schoolwork at the sametime. Education should adapt to individuals, not be confinement.

The first time I cheated on a geography test was in junior high. I was a good girl until our teacher assigned me to sit beside a bad girl. It was supposed to help produce some positive effects on the bad girls study. The bad girl and I became friends. I followed her to go to the printing storeto copy the past paper questions and answers in a minimize size in order to

read them during the test. It was fun at the beginning until the teachercaught a student cheating. Luckily, the teacher did not notice us. I knew immediately that it would be my last time cheating. Its simply not worththe risk. I still had to spend the same amount of time to study the test


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content for the final exam. So I learned how to make less wrong decisions infuture.

I visited the bad girls home and met her elder sister who was adrop out. She was only 2 years older than us and had a daughter in a baby

walker. I was stunned and pitied her situation because I already knew thepower of education. Before you are scheduled for an interview, the potential

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