A Week In My Life

A Week In My Life

It’s As Average As It Could Get

 

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The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. - Henry David Thoreau

 

If you ask any high schooler how their week went they'd probably say "It was okay." or "It was boring." and I in some ways are just like these students. I mean how exciting does going to school for nine hours a day to going home to do homework get? However, this week had little moments that turned it from being average and boring to more bearable and kind of enjoyable.

Mondays are always the worst day of the week for me. Getting up at 6 am before the sun has risen is and always will be a cold, dark and bitter moment. I mean, sure it doesn't sound that bad at first however with the sun not risen making it feel like midnight it takes a long while to get me out of bed leading me to lay there for 20 minutes pretending to myself that five have only gone by. However, after getting up and checking my snapchat and responding to all my camp friends and their texts about their antics, I'm usually in a good enough mood to get myself ready and out the door. This week, Monday was quite uneventful and freezing cold. My favorite class of the day would probably have to have been Fitz's English as he usually goes on a tangent about something and overall he's a pretty laid back and kind teacher. While writing has never been a strong suit of mine, he's taught me a lot in the few months I have been in his class and I feel overall, I have grown more as a writer in these few months compared to all my years of being in school. He also lets us decide on when we do our homework which is super helpful because, in the week, I always have tests to study for taking up most of my time. Even though English isn't like going to Disneyland, it is a nice class to have during the day after having Global Studies where all we do is talk about Islam in 600 CE. 

 

Tuesday was one of my favorite days of the week. This is because instead of being at School till 5 PM every single day, I get to leave school at 12:45 and go home and get done what I want. I enjoy the fact that with this I can have time to get my homework done and have a few hours to myself where I can facetime friends and watch TV. However, I had piles of homework on Tuesday to the point where my calendar was completely filled which lead me to spend most of my afternoon completing all of the homework that was assigned to me by my teachers.

 

Thursday was my favorite day of the week overall, we had this assembly with a hip hop crew from Boston which I enjoyed a lot since I took dance with Gemma this past spring. I thought it was cool how they got everyone excited about it as most people aren't excited when it comes to going to assemblies. I also thought it was cool how we got up and learned choreography to Chance The Rapper. Another great part to Thursday was finding out that there would be a break the dress code day on Friday! Break the Dress Code days are my favorite days of school due to the fact you can wear whatever and be comfier than ever. The usual khakis and collard shirt seriously gets old and is seriously uncomfortable to sit in all day. This means that most people can find me in the best mood ever on break the dress code day simply because I am able to be comfortable in classes.

 

Friday this week was a boring day because I knew I was leaving early. Since that was stuck in my head all day and I was sitting in school waiting to leave for the weekend, the day seemed to go by extremely slow. My favorite part of the day would have had to have been All School Meeting where the veterans came in and spoke to us. Getting to know someone more on a personal level and their experiences instead of just by their job title is really cool and it opens my eyes even more to the world beyond me.

 

This week was overall an okay one. The highs made it amazing however, it seemed to go by slowly making me want the three day weekend I am currently on even more. However, one thing that seems crazy to me while I'm writing this is the fact we are nearly in the middle of November. This school year is going by super fast and it makes me wonder what's going to happen in my life next.

 


The Odyssey Literary Analysis Paragraph

The Odyssey Literary Analysis

The Gods, Their Actions, and The Mortals

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There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.

 

Without the Gods, mortals would not have guidance. In the book, The Odyssey, by Homer, The gods direct the way for the wellbeing of the mortals. In the first six books of The Odyssey there are many events which the gods have influenced in both the positive and negative. There are many gods that have an influence on the events that occur in the book. Athena, disguised as Mentes, helps Telemachus along his journeys. Another example of a God having an influence on the events in a negative way was when Poseidon punished Odysseus by throwing a storm to make his travels hard. “And this enables Polyphemus to invoke the wrath of his father, the sea god Poseidon, and ensure that Odysseus will come home late and come a broken man —all shipmates lost, alone in a stranger’s ship, to find a world of pain at home.” [The Odyssey, Book II] In the book, Poseidon makes life hard for Odysseus by always being a road block in his journeys.  By Poseidon creating a storm to cause him to go off track of his journey, it lead Odysseus to end up on an island with Calypso, where he stays for a long time trapped on this island. Throughout the books that we’ve read so far, the Gods have greatly impacted the storyline. Telemachus is aided in his difficult journey to find his father, Odysseus. Meanwhile, Odysseus is being targeted by Poseidon, who does not want him to succeed. So far, The Odyssey has been like a play directed by the Gods, they are not the main actors, but the effect how it all plays out.

Throughout different situations, both gods and mortals show many different character traits. In the book, The Odyssey, By Homer, the characters are forced to show their true personalities as the story unfolds. All of the characters go through difficult situations throughout the book that make it hard for them to be their best selfs. That’s why through these situations we find out who they truly are. Many of the character traits shown include Telemachus showing determination. Even in the toughest of all times he keeps persevering to find his father, Odysseus. Athena disguises herself as Mentes, king of the Taphians throughout the first few books. She watches over Telemachus, guiding his way so he won’t fail. Athena shows her true personality as a caring god, although she is the god of war, she protects Telemachus and cares about his well being. “Telemachus strode in too, a bronze spear in his grip and not alone: two sleek hounds went trotting at his heels. And Athena lavished a marvelous splendor on the prince so the people all gazed in wonder as he came forward,”.  As we read more and more books in The Odyssey we build a bigger connection to the characters. We get to know each one better and we see who they really are based on the decisions they make as the story unfolds. Some gods help the mortals, such as Athena, and others do not help them, such as Poseidon. Every character we have met so far has an impact on the storyline of the book, and it depends on what their true personality is to determine wether the impact is positive or negative. With all things considered, the god’s actions, decisions and dealing of different situations were reveled throughout the story just like characters are in a movie. This not only progressed the story however, it also showed us who they truly are.


The Emotions Of Sport

Strength and Conditioning

Another Reason Why I Need a Reality Show

STRENGHT AND CONDITONING

"Just do it." - Nike

 

There are many reasons as to why I need a reality television show. I'm a good person at least most of the time, I'm a whole load of fun to be with and I’m the life of the party. However, one part of my life that people would see on the show that not many people know about me is sporting. While some yes, I don’t play ice hockey, and yes I don’t aim to be the number one rower at CRI in Brighton, Massachusetts. However, this summer at camp during session three of my friends and I woke up every morning and at 9 AM we would go to the camp fitness center and do all sorts of crazy things. Considering the fact it was what felt like the crack of dawn in July, it turned out to be a lot more fun than I thought it would. We went on the longest runs to our rundown sister camp Festival. We learned how to box and we got fit. 

 

Walking into the gym under the 1990 florescent lighting that blinds your eyes every morning felt amazing. To get on the machines while techno music was bumping and people were yelling was the best. While that might sound hell to most people, it felt as if I was at a rave instead of the gym. One amazing experience that I got out of it was learning the basic skills of how to box from a professional. My whole life seeing clips of it in Nike ads or just listening to people talk about it, boxing sounded as challenging as the Jafa Cake challenge. However, once I actually learned all the different hits and I got to try them on the heavy bag, it felt as amazing as blocking the haters on Instagram.

 

While strength and conditioning were amazing, one thing that sucked was the runs we went on. One of our trainers Georgia is a professional marathon runner. Because of this, she would make us go on long runs after breakfast. This was one of the last things that I wanted to do in the morning as it was still early and we had just had food, having my friends there with me as we were yelling lyric to songs made it a whole lot better. We could have been Telemachus not giving up to find Odysseus as Georgia was not giving up on us running.

 

Overall, Strength and Conditioning was an amazing experience. My whole life going to a fitness center felt more as a chore instead of something fun and this summer going and exercising was the highlight to my days during session three at camp. This taught me many things including the fact that anything and everything can be turned into something more enjoyable.


Guest Speaker Reflection

One Giant Community 

The world, traveling, communication and experiences.

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It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. - Henry David Thoreau 


Throughout the workshop with Adam Aronovitz, there were many things I learned about how we as humans need to do several things by ourselves and together to cooperate more and to come together. 

There were several things I could connect to with Mr. Aronovitz. One of the main takeaways included traveling internationally and seeing different cultures to him is the "norm" of his summers as every summer after I go to summer camp, I travel to the UK to visit family as he does with Greece. Another takeaway and one thing that interested me during the presentation was how he takes kids from the Boston area to go to these different cultures and communities to make them even better than they originally were. One way this connects to The Odyssey is when Telemachus invited Athena disguised as Mentes to introduce herself “But come, please, tell me about yourself now, point by point.” (164, The Odyssey)

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Upgrading 9th Grade

Changing Fenn

Out With The Old and In With The New

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Be the change you wish to see - Mahatma Gandhi


Every morning at six am, I regret leaving my bed to get up, get ready, get on the bus and then go to school. That’s why if I was to make 9th grade at Fenn better, I would try and make school an enjoyable experience for all. The list of changes could go on and on and on for miles and then there would still be things that people would want to change. That’s why by changing the most common complaints that my classmates make, school would hopefully be a little more tolerable. Changes I would make include, knocking down the school house, adding more snack to the school store, playing music in the morning and finally, giving the upper schoolers to have less homework.

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The Power of Hard Times

Getting out of Hard Times

A Time To Throw Myself A Party

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Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose - Lyndon B. Johnson

Hard times feel like a never ending dark tunnel. Rather than throwing a pity party, I do all the things I know make me happy. There are many things enjoy doing and these include going on FaceTime for hours with my camp friends while sitting on the couch and eating ice cream. This is because I know my camp friends are my best friends and they always bring the best out of me. One example of this was the night before the first day of school. The last thing that I wanted was for summer to end and for school to start so I decided to call some of my closest camp friends. We were on a FaceTime call for what seemed like minuets but really it was hours talking all things from how much we dont want to go back to school to camp next year and the pranks we are going to pull. The FaceTime call got so wild to the point we were having a glow stick rave as if we would at camp. This was all amazing because not only did it seriously boost my self confidence but it brought back so many good memories. It also allowed me to appreciate the fact I have some of the most amazing friends out there. The fact that they know how to make me in such a good mood to the fact I’m a soda ready to explode from my bottle shows that they really know me and that they are always going to be there for me. Instead of letting myself be stuck in the hard times it’s important to have positive vibes and staying true to who you really are in the good times.

 

 


The Power of Place

My Happy Place

Friends, Prank Wars and Neverending Fun

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Summertime is always the best of what might be. - Charles Bowden

Summer Camp is a getaway and dream in the distance unlike any other. With all the amazing tight friendships and endless memories it truly is the highlight of my year. These memories and friendships carry on way past summer for many years.

It feels as if you have known your friends for five years instead of five weeks! Every year at the beginning of June, I pack my bags and head off to summer camp for the best few weeks of my life. I arrive to find returning counselors who I’ve known for years, the new counselors who are fresh out of high school and of course, my camp friends who I’ve been talking to every living and breathing moment for the past few days about coming back to camp.

It’s so amazing to return to my camp celebrity status. While there are endless moments of fun the best part of camp are the pranks. Being British at camp has its perks as most of the staff are British. So on the fourth of July walking out the bunk to see the camp decorated with UK flags in the office and the American flag replaced with the British flag was truly amazing.

All the Americans have their jaws dropped so low that you could fit a size 10 Nike shoe in there.


Belknap Essay

 

The Journey Begins...

Images-1Bonding and Leadership at Camp Belknap

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.
- Henry David Thoreau

 

“Make sure your lights are out by 10 PM.” Our counselor Brian reminded us before leaving the cabin. It was around 9 PM and already dark outside at Camp Belknap located right on Lake Winepusake in New Hampshire. This was the first time I got to lay in the small bunk in the old dusty cabin rewind and just reflect on the day. I learned what type of leader I am and I discovered the importance of being present in the moment.

In life, we are always thinking about what comes next and the next big thing.  Since coming back to school I have already started thinking about the next school year and of course, going back to camp this upcoming summer. However, at Camp Belknap without having my phone on me constantly I haven’t had the whole world contacting me I have been able to really be able to be present at the moment. Because I was able to be present, I was able to make little moments become big moments. One example of this was the first night in the cabin. The 10 PM lights out seemed ridiculous to everyone and with our concealer out of the cabin, we all laid in our sleeping bags and just talked about whatever random thought came into our head. This was amazing because it really allowed me to get to know my other classmates and it truly was an amazing bonding experience. We all had such an overall good time to the point that a camp counselor Brian had to come into our cabin and tell us we were being a way to wild. Overall, I realized in the future I should take a step away from life to be more present at the moment.

It’s hard to know what leadership is and what kind of leader you are. This is why On the final day at Camp Belknap, the leadership workshop taught me a lot about myself as a person and how that ties into what kind of leader I am. We were all standing in the hot sun regretting wearing sweatpants based on the early morning cold. We gathered in groups based upon stereotypes of personalities. In this, I learned that I am a motivator leader. This means that I like to have some control and power. In addition to that, I like to motivate the group. As well as that, I learned being as being a motivator leader I can become emotionally attached to an idea that I strongly support. It definitely tied into a lot of things that I do, including my radio show and dj’ing as I am definitely passionate and emotionally attached to both of them. At the same time I tie into the motivation part by having my radio show listeners get involved in contests and and I definitely hype up my crowd to the point of mosh pits, everyone jumping and screaming, and hair-flipping with huge music hits. In conclusion, without this experience, I never would have been able to learn about the different types of leadership and how it ties into my life.

My experience at Camp Belknap has shown me that even though I am a motivation leader, its good to take time to step back and reflect and perhaps I should do it more often.