Journal Entry #4: Patriots

Date:11/19/2021

    The Patriots had a primetime game yesterday on Thursday Night Football. They were facing a not so good Atlanta Falcons team that was  entering the game 4-5. The Patriots faced the Falcons in the 2017 Super Bowl and won. Since then the Falcons have not been so good while the Patriots have won another Super Bowl. This game was important for the Patriots to win because it would keep them in the race for the division. The game started off with New England getting the ball but they quickly turned it over to Atlanta. Atlanta was stopped immediately after by the Patriots defense and punted it back. The Patriots managed to get a field goal but there was no other action in the first quarter. The second quarter was all New England with a touchdown pass from the QB Mac Jones to WR Nelson Agholor and a field goal from Nick Folk leading up to halftime. The third quarter went by fast with not much action from either team, but that set up an amazing fourth quarter. The fourth quarter was all New England defense starting with a diving interception from Devin McCourty, then a long 53-Yard field goal. J.C. Jackson made an amazing toe-tap interception for his 6th of the season with this also leading to another field goal. With less than 2 minutes left in the game and the Patriots winning 19-0 Kyle Van Noy makes a Pick-Six and brings the lead to 26. The game is almost sealed but the Falcons have the ball and throw the fourth pick of the quarter to seal the shutout for New England. The defense played amazing with Kyle Van Noy carrying the defense with 8 tackles and a Pick-Six and M. Judon played great on the defensive line applying pressure on Atlanta’s offense. New England had an amazing defensive game and got the job done.

Journal Entry #6: Biking

Date:11/20/2021

I went for a bike ride today from Concord to Lexington. When I was younger I used to hate bike rides and do whatever I could to avoid them, but that was until I found mountain biking. I really got into mountain biking this fall in September when I got a new mountain bike. I didn’t really know much about biking or like it that much but all my friends were begging me to get a mountain bike and go riding with them. So when I got the bike it took a few weeks to get used to it by riding local trails and around my neighborhood. Eventually I found I really liked mountain biking and also liked biking in general. As October came I felt comfortable riding my bike and me and the other kids in the neighborhood wanted to build some jumps. Everyday after I got homework done I would go outside and work on the jumps. After working on the jumps for tens of hours we completed a small course that had big jumps and sharp turns. Building the course made me want to bike more so since then I go out often and bike the course. If I didn’t find mountain biking then I’d still not like biking.

The Power of Community 

The Importance of a Supportive Community

Community is about doing something together that makes belonging matter 

~Brian Solis

    A community relies on itself to support their people through challenges. Fenn has been a supportive community to me since the first day I’ve been at Fenn. When I face challenges and I need help, my community is there to help me overcome those challenges. They provide me with the support I need by motivating me and encouraging me to move forward. They help me reach my personal goals while also helping me reach community goals with others.

   When I need that extra support and help my community is there for me and helps me through all the hard times I face. When I see them around they will always say hi because the community relies on each other to be supportive. They need to be positive to help each other accomplish their own goals while at the same time working together for the goals of the community. When a community works together for a common goal and completes it everyone can feel accomplished with helping reach their goals.

    When I went to the Eaglebrook Junior Soccer Tournament I was nervous and a little scared but when we got to school I was surprised when I saw my friends from school last year show up wearing a suit and ready to support us. They traveled the full two hours and supported us for the whole tournament. They cheered loudly for us and gave us advice on our game and other teams. They didn’t  physically help us with our game but they were there for us being supportive and positive.

     I realized that it didn’t matter what place we came in because we obviously wanted to win, but I realized what mattered was having fun with my teammates and playing our hardest for the community, so that’s what we did and even though we didn’t win we had a lot of fun with support from the community. We didn’t get the result we wanted but we know our community and supporters had our backs.

    I now realize how important it is to have a supportive community no matter what place you finish in

Poverty and Friendship on the reservation 

Poverty is the worst form of violence
~Mahatma Gandhi

I was driving with my mom on the way to get a bagel sandwich and a Jamba Juice smoothie when I entered the store with the $20 my mom gave me. The sign on the store said exact change only and my mom just told me to let them keep the rest of the money as a tip because there were only two of them working to keep the very busy store running. At this moment I realized how fortunate I am to have constant food on the table and know where my next meal was coming from. I realized that the people on the Indian reservation didn’t have that. I realized how bad the poverty was for them but the people on the reservation  can still have good friendships.

Dear … Amir

How’s life Shalabs? I’ve been really busy lately. I have a lot going on in all areas of my life. School has been so chaotic for me. There’s so much work to do and so many different things to learn. My grades are doing well but I need some improvement in spanish. I’m on varsity soccer and I’m kinda sweating at it. I’ve had so much work for school applications and I have the SSAT coming up but enough about me what life for you like? I know you're doing the application process just like me. Is it easy or hard for you? Do you have a top school?

We’re reading this book in school called The Absolutely True Diary of A Part Time Indian By: Sherman Alexis. It’s this really cool story about a kid who’s 14 and his life on and off his Indian reservation. He lives on the reservation but goes to school at white school called Reardan high. His best friend for years used to be a kid named Rowdy but since he left the school they haven’t been friends. The main character‘s name is Junior and Arnold at school. He likes this girl named Penelope who goes to her school. That is pretty much what has happened in the book so far.

I have liked the book so far. It is a mostly easy book to read. I like the parts of the book where he talks about the school Junior is at. I think it is pretty interesting how the author uses techniques to write interactions. I think it’s a fun book that I like to read. I can’t wait to figure out what happens next.

One theme of this book is racism. The racism theme is seen throughout the whole book on multiple occasions such as this example about their dentist “our white dentist believed that Indians only felt half as much pain as white people did, so he only gave us half the Novocain.” (Chapter:Black eye of the month club) Another example of racism is when Arnold is in his science class and he corrects the teacher then the teacher said “Okay, Arnold,” Dodge said. “Where did you learn this fact? On the reservation? Yes, we all know there’s so much amazing science on the reservation.”(Chapter:slouching towards thanksgiving) this talks about how the teacher was saying he didn’t learn right because he was on the reservation. My last example of this theme is when he arrived at school for the first time and how the kids viewed him “Those white kids couldn’t believe their eyes. They stared at me like I was Bigfoot or a UFO. What was I doing at Reardan, whose mascot was an Indian” (Chapter:How to fight monsters) this talks about how they viewed him as not a real person.

Amir I hope you understand what has happened in the book and the theme of the book and hopefully you will read it too. I’m interested in what you're up to and we’ll see each other soon.

Sincerely,

Parker Daniel

My Big Impact

Turning Injury into skill

Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation

~Michael Jordan

        I was four years old and it was only a couple of hours before I turned five. It was Saturday, April 6th, My Birthday! It was 9am and I was in my mom’s blue Toyota suv with my family driving to my birthday party. I was so excited because it was at this really cool bouncy house place. We arrived and put the cake in their fridge for later. I thought my party was going to be fun and then I’d get cake and open presents, but it actually was a party filled with intense pain that helped me learn a new skill.

Overcoming Fear, Taking Risks, and Having Fun

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.

~Helen Keller.

Our grade trip to Camp Caribou started out the year with a bang. After only two days of school, we were on a bus mid-morning and headed towards Winslow, Maine. We were all excited for the trip and talking about what we would do when we got there. As the bus got closer to Winslow, people started to put their devices away and started talking. We thought it was going to be an easy and fun trip and it was very fun, but little did I know I would soon have to overcome my fear of  jumping at high heights. This would end up being a trip filled with fear, taking risks, and having fun.