This year has been totally different than any other year in my life. I’ve had brand new experiences, tried new things and done so many different things then I’ve done in years past.

     This year I came into the fall not really excited for anything except for soccer and that’s how it went for the rest of the term. I didn’t really do well in any of my classes except for English and Latin. No one really likes doing work or homework in general but if you approach it with a negative attitude then your just not gonna be able to get it done. This is what happened to me with my math homework, I would just sit there for twenty minutes not doing anything complaining about how I couldn’t do any of the work because it was to hard then I would ask my mom for help. In the fall term we read Tom Sawyer which I really liked because it was finally a break from the daily do something in class and then do it for homework. Next year when I get to this time of the year or really any time of the year I need to spend more time on my homework and study for tests had quizzes better. 

     I came into the winter term hoping to do better than I did in the fall term but that didn’t end up happening. I again was only excited for squad basketball with all my friends but this time I was even more excited for the weekend because I knew I would be going skiing. This term was really hard for me because I was out for a whole week with pneumonia and I had to catch up on a weeks worth of work, quizzes and tests. This term I did probably an even worse of a job on my homework and tests. Once again I really only did good in English and Latin. Next year I really have to work harder in the winter because every year it has been my worst term out of the three terms. 

     I came into the spring term excited for track with my friends but it didn’t end up really living up to the excitement. Me and my friends were doing an indoor soccer team in the beginning of the spring and it was really fun but then I basically broke my ankle and wasn’t able to do anything active and that’s when my grades finally started to rise up when I started spending more time on my homework’s and studying because there was nothing else I could do. This term I did a much better job on my homework's especially my math homework. This term I did really good in all of my classes but I wish I could’ve done a bit better in science. 

     The final exams are gonna be hard for me, but I know I need to spend a lot of time studying, but I need to study and I need to pend my time wisely and not start studying the day before my exam.

Determination is what drives you

“Motivation gets you going determination keeps you going.”

     Determination is what drives people to try something or do something different, in the book “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing this proves to be true. As a young kid you always look up to the older kids and always want to do what their doing. Jerry so desperately wanted to swim through a system of boy all while under water so he could do what everyone else was doing. He was determined to practice holding his breath everyday so he could finally hold his breath for just about two minutes while under water. “In another four days, his mother said casually one morning, they must go home. On the day before they left, he would do it. He would do it if it killed him.” 

     “Through The Tunnel” tells the story of a young boy named Jerry who is on a trip over the summer with his mom. Everyday they went to the same part of the beach and did the same thing, one day Jerry wanted to swim out to some rocks and he did and that’s where he found a few older boys jumping off a rock and into the water and he did the same, eventually one of the boys jumped and didn’t come out, Jerry started worrying what had happened to him then almost two minutes later up popped the boy next to a rock, “At fifty, he was terrified. They must all be drowning beneath him, in the watery caves of the rock!” He later found out that he had swam through a series of pipes underwater. Jerry really wanted to do this just like the rest of the boys but he was to scared to. Eventually he gained up enough power and really practiced holding his breath for longer “That night, his nose bled badly. For hours he had been under water, learning to hold his breath, and now he felt weak and dizzy.” Eventually he was able to swim through the pipes successfully. 

“That day and the next, Jerry exercised his lungs as if everything, the whole of his life, all that he         could become, depended upon it. Again his nose bled at night, and his mother insisted on his coming with her the next day. It was a torment to him to waste a day of his careful training, but he stayed with her on that other beach.”

Through The Tunnel

     He was determined to swim through the tunnel; he was determined to keep practicing; he was determined to reach his goal and he did. “A hundred, a hundred and one… The water paled. Victory filled him. His lungs were beginning to hurt. A few more strokes and he would be out.” Determination is so important in this book and in real life because it’s what drives you to try new things even if you may not get them perfectly the first you’ll be determined to try again like Jerry kept trying and trying to be able to hold his breath for long enough and he eventually was able to. 

     Determination is what drives you to try new things.

Changing my world

”Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.”

     A good teacher can change your world. In fifth grade I had Mr. Bryd as my advisor, science teacher and English teacher and that really changed my life as a student. Every class I had with him I came in excited hoping that we would get to free write in English or go to the woods in science. Although, I knew every class we wouldn’t always get to do these thing, but I knew it would still be a fun class. What really changed me as a student was our English class. Back our English class was our whole advisor and our advisor was crazy, but Mr. Byrd found a way to calm us down and get us to do work. He figured out that all he had to do was let us write. And that’s were I learned that I like to free write and make up stories on any topic. Near the end of the school year was when our whole class really got into free writing, but not just any writing, everyone loved to write scary stories. Right when English started everyone would go into their separate groups and make up stories with their friends. Sam, Liam and I would go into the corner and write on a document we had created earlier in the year of about 10 pages of what we though were amazing and well written stories. These English classes really changed the way I went into all of my classes. These English classes changed the way I wrote and told stories. These English classes changed me as a student. A teacher is someone who can truly change your world. 

Dealing with an injury

“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”

-Napoleon Hill

     Getting injured is a terrible thing. Getting injured doing what you love is even worse. To those that have never seriously injured themself it may not seem that bad, but trust me it is. Depending on your injury, whether it’s a broken arm and you can only use one arm for weeks or it’s a broken ankle or leg and you have to use crutches for weeks then walk in a boot for a few more weeks. When I injured my ankle the worst part was the doctors didn’t know whether it was a break or a really bad sprain, so I had to wait a week hoping that I hadn’t broken my ankle and just sprained it. The official diagnosis was I had badly sprained my ankle and bruised my tibia. Since I sprained my ankle I’ve had to use crutches for three weeks, a boot for two weeks, a brace for about a week and weeks of physical therapy. All of this has kept me from going outside and doing sports but I have still found ways whether it’s playing lacrosse when I was in a boot or running around playing soccer when I was told not to do any running at all. Ty thing that has disappointed me the most about this injury is that I’ve missed well over half my lacrosse season, missed my soccer tryouts and missed over half my track season at school. Although I’m still not officially cleared by the doctor there has been emails back and forth and I’m hoping to start sports back up this week. Although these past couple of weeks have been hard and annoying I’m really excited to get back to sports.