First-Last

First Post of the Year--Who am I? A question many people ask themselves. Is there a definite answer? Is it a one word definition, or a 500+ page novel filled with experiences and adventures? I am ME. I'm not one word, but I do have adventures and journeys that fill my life. I don't think anyone truly knows who they are until they go through a life changing experience. I haven't figured out my place yet, but I have a lot of things in my life that are very important to me. My family and friends mean the world to me. I stick up for what I believe in and wont back down. I speak my mind even if no one else agrees with me. I am independent, but also need my friends as strong support to help me achieve my goals. My skating team means the world to me. We travel around to other countries representing America as TEAM USA#1. It is the best feeling when our flag is raised and the USA National Anthem is played. My biggest influences in life are Olympic Athletes that train and compete for our country. Hard working athletes keep me motivated. My goal in life is to make a difference. If it is to one person or a community or the world, it doesn't matter to me. As long as I make an impact on someones life I will be happy. In my free time I enjoy doing charity work. I hope to do Habitat for Humanity before I leave for college.

Last Post of the Year--I am still me. I don't think i have changed to people, but to myself i have, My whole world now is based on my future. Senior year is already half way done. It is bittersweet, but i am very excited for the new year and all the exciting things it has to bring. This will be a lot of "lasts" as high school students, but also a lot of "firsts" as college students in this coming August. As Sal told me one day, "it doesn't matter where you go to college, you will still have a future no matter where you end up". That is one tip of advice i have used over and over again when deciding on my college choice. It is a good piece of advice because if you think about it, its true. If you don't get into your "dream school" there will still be other schools that you will get into and attend and make it yours. This semester coming to an end has made me really think and go back and wonder if I made a difference. If someone out in the world remembers any piece of advice i gave to them, or thought of a way i helped out my community. I hope i made a difference because to me, a difference was made to me.

CRASH

People are stereotyped all the time. In the movie Crash, many different nationalities were being judged based on true stereotypes. I thought the hardest scene to watch was when the Hispanic father almost got shot with his daughter in his arms. Also, just earlier on in the movie when the same Hispanic father was fixing the locks, the family that was having the locks changed didn't trust him because he was "Mexican" and he would the the keys to his "amigos". I have seen this movie before, but when i watched it this time in sociology i had a different way of watching it. The whole movie comes full circle, and the actions will continue to be repeated. I try in my own life not to judge people before i get to know them, but first impressions say a lot about a persons character. Giving each person the benefit of the doubt and not judging them right away and getting to know them better is a much better way to live life.

Race

After watching the video clip of the little girls and boys pick which doll they thought was the "nice" doll and which was the "bad" doll was very sad. As such a young age, race is stressed amoung our society. People are learing at such a young age the difference of skin color and expressing that through being a good or bad person. This only carries on through life and people become racist in other ways. From a young age we need to teach the new generations that skin color means nothing. Out society as a whole will be a lot stronger if we focus on other things then race.

Visitor

Two days ago we had a visitor come in to our class. He was telling us about his school compared to mine and I really realized how much I take for as advantage by going to such a good high school like Stevenson. It was so interesting to put the different stats together of high schools that are pretty close to each other. Going to a school like Stevenson, you don't think about really getting a job right after high school-college come first. In the school in Rockford they usually just get a job out of high school and very few go on to college. I also thought the ACT scores were very different. At Stevenson the average students wants a 25-29 or above on their ACT. Many will get tutored, and take the test 3 to 5 times before they get a score they approve. At the other high school a student got a 14 and was hoping to go up so he could get into a community college. We truly are very fortunate to go to such a well educated high school. I think college next year will be a different change for most of us. The demographics will be different and all different types of people of different race, religion and social class will be spread out among the campus.

thanksgiving

Thanksgiving to me this year felt different to me then the past- My family use to hold big thanksgiving dinner with my grandparents and Uncle and family but both my grandparents passed away that use to come and my uncle lives in Boston so this year he stayed back with other family there-therefore our family thanksgiving dinner was only us 4(mom, dad, sister and I). My sister and i have gotten very close since she went away to college(IU!). were four years apart so we use to fight a lot but now were best friends-i didn't realize how lucky i was to have her home and spend time with my family. We have yearly traditions we do on thanksgiving and i feel like this year everything felt very special to be able to be together. =)

Social Class and how we are viewed

People around America are viewed by their social class. We are judged by first glance. One of the biggest determining factors is where a person lives. The size of our house and area which you live separates people into groups. By going to a school like Stevenson, people would think differently of a student compared to a student that goes to a private school on the upper east side of Manhattan or a student who went to school in the south side of Chicago. Television portrays social class and how people are viewed. A good example of this is the TV show Gossip Girl. The characters categorize themselves with others who have equal wealth. Money displays a lot of the time if people are worth being around. The more money you have the more respect you deserve. I don't agree with this, but i cannot say that i don't judge people at all either. When meeting new people I usually ask where they live to get a better idea of the type of social class they belong to. As bad as that sounds i feel as if that is what our society has come to these days. 

Stevenson

StEvEnSon-
high school
groups
Saints
roughnecks
"good girls are bad girls that just get caught"
cheating-getting away with it
skipping school-excuses
LOP-4 weeks-parents call, 2 weeks
Having drugs on campus-expelled... lawyers call-5 day in school suspension
Is there any way at Stevenson that you cant get out of type of crime?