5th Per. 2018-19 YGA Autobiographical Entries

“The Most Embarrassing Thing”

By: Trinity Bowie

            I have been in some pretty embarrassing moments before. I am no stranger to a tough time, but the one that took place in Savannah Georgia might just take the cake. I never expected something like that to happen on that trip. It was so embarrassing that I will probably never forget it. It all Started with the Annual State Beta Convention.

            I was in a room with four other people, Sacoya, Daylinn, Anita, and Jamerial. We all stayed together in the hotel room, on the trip and had a really good time, but no trip is complete without some mishaps. On the second to last day (Thursday), We woke up early to go to our competitions. They all took place at different times during the day. We ended up doing well on them. That should have been the first red flag. No day is complete without some bumps in the road. We went back to the hotel till around 5:00 after we had gone to the Convention center for Sacoya’s competition. Sacoya and Anita were at the gym while the rest of us were in the room. Then we realized that we had to go get something to eat before First General Session at 7:00 PM. We were running behind and we had to rush down to the gym to get Sacoya and Anita. They had no time to change.We had wanted to eat at Hueys. We rushed to Hueys and got seated. I knew that there was going to be something going on because the first minute in the restaurant, Sacoya knocked down a small curtin. That was almost like a sign from God. He was telling us to get out while we still could. We sat around the table, looking at our menus when Sacoya’s eyes got huge. Sacoya started freaking out. We all couldn’t help but start joking about sneaking out the back or walking away. I tried to think up a way where we could get one appetizer to share. Everyone started talking over each other, trying to figure out what to do so my ideas get overlooked and drowned out in the sound. The waitress came over and said, “Do yall need to leave?” as she took back out drinks.

            Before anyone could say anything, Sacoya goes, “YES!”

            I was so embarrassed, I sat there with my head in my hands. This sort of thing has only happened to me once and it was not this extra awkward. I stand and then I realize that my wallet was opened in my lap and change went  falling onto the floor. I was huddled over trying to keep the money from falling out when I gave up and got out as fast as possible. Sacoya was trailing behind me, picking up all my change.

            We went to a cheaper place after that. Where the sweet tea looked and tasted more like river water than sweet tea. Our meals took forever to come ,and we had all ordered the same thing, chicken tenders (the cheapest meal on the menu). I was so tired after that. I just kept thinking on how that waitress was looking at us. That event taught me that you should never bring only 50 dollars on a three day trip. Looking back on it, I'm glad it happened. It was a fun trip filled with memories made with new friends. That being said, it was still a stressful night and that event marked the beginning of a long, strenuous night.It was only just getting started.

“The Good, The Bad, The Fun”

By Harlie Corner

            Every year since I was about three years old, my brother and I would fly out to Nevada to visit my dad during winter or the summer. If we didn’t go to his house that year, he would come spend time with us in Atlanta or Savannah. Since my parents are divorced, my dad likes to see us as much as he can. When he does get the chance to see us, he always plans for something fun. Ironically, his ideas of fun usually leave me in some way or form in danger.

            About 12 years ago, my dad came to visit us. He decided to take us to Savannah and ride the ferry across the river. On River Street, the road is nothing but cobblestone, which is difficult to run on when you’re four years old. While our dad was walking up and down the street, my brother and I chased each other until we got tired.

            “Come on kiddo, catch up,” my dad said. I was falling behind because I was tired from running.

“Yeah Harlie, hurry up,” my brother taunted.

            “Daddy I’m tired. I can’t walk anymore,” I whined. I was hoping he would turn around and carry me, but he didn’t. I stopped walking, then sprinted to catch up with them. When I was running, I tripped over a cobblestone and fell to the ground. I started screaming; I had scraped my knees and elbows on the ground and they were bleeding. My dad turned around and started running towards me, and he was yelling. I couldn’t hear him because I was yelling too. As soon as he got to me, he snatched me off the ground and ran onto the sidewalk. He was still yelling.

            “Don’t you ever go out in the road like that again Harlie! That’s very dangerous! You could have been killed!” He stopped to catch his breath. Then he pulled me into a hug and said, “I’m just glad you’re safe.”

 After that we went back to the hotel and spent the rest of the day watching movies and ordering room service. A few movies in and I had momentarily forgotten about the whole ordeal.

A few years later, my dad flew us out to visit over winter break. We decided to go snowmobiling up the mountain range he lives on. The path we took was narrow, and if the vehicle slipped at all, there was a good chance that you would fall down the mountain. Since I was the youngest, we elected to have my brother drive his own snowmobile and my dad and I share one.

“Hey bud,” my dad said to Treg before we started up the mountain, “remember to go slow and watch out for rocks.”

“Okay,” my brother replied. He then proceeded to rev up the engine and speed away from us.

“Hang on kiddo,” dad instructed me. I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed as tight as I could, and we started our ascent. We plowed through the snow, following the trail Treg made with his snowmobile. My dad sped up and caught up to my brother, but couldn’t pass him on account of the slim path.

“Don’t be scared Harlie. I’ve done this a million times,’’ my dad told me. I had no idea what he was talking about. He gassed the engine one more time and turned towards the side of the mountain. I closed my eyes and started screaming. My dad was laughing.

“Hey! Open your eyes,” my dad yelled over the roar of the engine. I peeked over his shoulder and Treg was behind us.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” I didn’t answer. I was relieved, but still a little shaken. My dad turned around to look at me and smiled. I smiled back. He turned back around and jerked the handle to the left, making us nearly miss going off the side of the mountain. We were going too fast though. As my dad cut to the left, the left sled came loose and popped off, making us airborne. A couple seconds turned into an hour as I floated, weighless in the air. Then we crashed back to earth, and those seconds were over. I remember pulling my legs out from under the snowmobile and wondering how in the world they weren’t hurt. My dad had landed a few feet away from me, but was okay.

“Woah, are you okay? What happened?’’ my brother pulled up beside us.

“I’m okay,” was all that I said. I was in shock.

My dad got up and brushed the snow off of his shirt. He made sure that we were both okay, then took care of himself. With the combined efforts of my dad, Treg, and me, we were able to flip the snowmobile back over. After accomplishing that goal, my dad drove the remaining snowmobile down the mountain and came back with his truck and a ramp. Together, we pushed the snowmobile into the bed of the truck and drove back to the house.

Looking back on these moments with my dad and my brother, I remember all the fun things we did together as a family. But sometimes - or in my case most of the time - having fun comes with some danger, but that shouldn’t stop you from doing anything fun.

“Mission Trip”

By Reagan Wimberly

“Got all your things? It’s time to load up.” I had only ridden on a plane once in my life. It was a family vacation to Mexico. I was little, only around seven or eight, when I first rode. I have loved flying ever since. Now about to step onto the second plane I was brimming with joy not knowing  my week was to be filled with something more exciting than all the plane flights in the world...or it is to me at least.

 On one side of the plane sat both my brothers and my dad. Directly across sat me ,my mom, and a stranger. Sadly the stranger got the window seat, but since I asked politely, plus I was a little girl, he swapped with me. We talked some of the plane ride. He was originally from the Dominican Republic but moved here. He was going back to visit family for the summer. I explained to him how I was going for mission trip and expressed my excitement.  He showed me how to watch movies while in the air. I watched one or so, but the majority of my time I spent looking out the window high above the earth. It looked almost like a city for ants, tiny and fragile. It was a peaceful site, one that someone would long for.  “The plane will be landing in 30 minutes.” I was quite sad that the plane ride was almost over and the fact that I was never going to see my friend again. Although I was sad, I was quite happy that the mission trip was about to begin.

It was a lot easier getting into the Dominican, than it was to leave America. It did not take hardly no time at all. We left the airport and loaded onto the bus which was to drive us to the mountains. I sat in the back with Andrew and Bailey, and the bus driver told us all about the Dominicain. I could not believe the way they drove cars there. It was almost as if they had no traffic laws whats so ever. Shockingly, we made it to the mountains put our stuff in our rooms then headed down. I played with some kids from the Dominican while the adults went around talking to other adults about Jesus. We went to the store but that's about the only other place we go because sex trafficking is huge in the Dominican therefor we stayed in the camp most of the time. I, my mom, and my oldest brother all stayed in the mountains with the rest of the church, but my dad and other brother went on to the other location with my preacher and a few other men. Since the trip cost a little over a thousand dollars per person, the church paid for my dad and one other family member to go because my dad had a background in the construction of houses, and they needed him to help build a house for a family there.

            We stayed in the mountains for three days. On the third day we awoke, went to a place on the top of the mountain, had church, then left to go to Score International to complete the mission trip. It was a little over an hour drive, but I sat with Andrew and Bailey again, so I was occupied. We arrived at Score International, a lodging place for missionaries, and I saw Dad and Peyton again. We talked about the mountains and then Peyton introduced me to his new friends that worked at Score. They were full time missionaries which was so fascinating to me. We went and played with kids, had a vacation bible school, and shared God with the people while some of the men went and built the house. We went to this really neat place that helped rescue young girls off the street. They gave them work making jewelry and such things that the missionaries could buy while down there. My favorite part was going to the orphanage in any spare time that we had. It was amazing. The kids had nothing yet were so full of joy. One of their favorite things to do was to take a stick and an old tire and hit it around and race them. They were so grateful for anything and everything they had although they hardly had anything at all.

We went to the beach one morning and it was beautiful there were these big five star hotels and the water was like a wave of crystals crashing on the shore. Many people go there to vacation and all they see is this remarkably beautiful place of high-living. They do not know that just behind that big wooden wall, there are people starving, being sold like property, and living in a great amount poverty. I was in disbelief of how one side of the wall could be so beautiful and living in luxury, while the other side was barely making it through the day, not knowing where they would be sleeping that night, or where their next meal was coming from. Those people and that trip will be one I will never forget. Everyday I carry the lessons I learned on that mission trip with me. 

 “The day I became an aunt… Again”

By Hannah Hermann

Everyone has some sort of holiday tradition that they live for. For some it’s Christmas morning, Thanksgiving dinner, or Halloween night. My one holiday tradition is waking up early Easter morning, finding my basket, and then heading to Sunrise service and eating breakfast. Last year however, we traveled down to Florida to be with my pregnant sister-in-law while my brother was deployed. When we got there, we played Uno all night long because my family is very competitive. The next day we got up and went shopping at the mall in Panama City. We must have shopped until we dropped because we went home, and everyone was exhausted. The rest of the day we just laid around watching movie after movie. Everyone was going off to bed, and I turned to Kim, my sister-in-law, and said, “Tomorrow’s April Fools!”

She responded, “I totally forgot about that!”

I replied, “How many times will Easter and April Fool’s be on the same day?” So, we decided to put pranks up all over the house. We wrapped doors, put mayonnaise in Oreos, and switched the salt and sugar. It was around twelve o’clock when we parted paths and went to sleep. I remember hearing my mom shut a door and not coming back for a long time. I rolled over to my phone and it said it was six thirty. I left the warmth of my covers to go see what was going on. I went into my sister-in-law’s room, that’s where I had heard all the commotion, to find my mom laying with my niece Aria. That’s when it clicked that Kim and her mom were on their way to the hospital. I was so excited that I couldn’t go back to sleep. Not long after my mom gets a text and it’s a picture of Samuel in Kim’s arms. He was eleven days early and born on April Fool’s and Easter. My mom, overrun with joy, couldn’t wait to start telling everyone the good news. She called my brother and he was in happy shock. I couldn't wait for my niece to wake up so we could go and meet my nephew. I think it’s funny that time seems to drag on when you’re really excited about something. I remember the anticipation I felt on the thirty-minute car ride to the hospital. Once we parked, I could barely hold still, let alone wait for my mom to get my niece out of the car. We walked inside, got in the elevator, and went to the front desk. The lady looked at us and asked, “Are you looking for the baby suites?”

 My mom replied, “Is it that obvious?”

            The woman kindly responded, “The baby and mommy suites are on the first floor at the end of the hallway past the gift shop.” We got back in the elevator, my niece started crying, and followed the kind nurse’s directions. We got to these double doors with a button you had to push and talk into to gain access. The nurse let us in, and we got bright yellow visitor passes after we signed in. We went down the hall and knocked on the door.

Time is a fickle thing isn’t it? Sometimes it goes by in the blink of an eye, other times it’s as slow as molasses. As I walked into the room, time seemed to stand still. I saw my exhausted sister-in-law in the bed, her mother on the couch, and my sweet little nephew in the nurse’s cart. I looked at him and I was in awe. I didn’t get to go to the hospital when my niece was born, so this was a first-time experience for me. I was worried I would be a little rusty because it had been a while since I had held a baby. I waited in line for my turn for what seemed like ages, until finally she handed him to me. He might not have looked big but holding him felt like I was holding a sack of potatoes. I looked down at his little face and knew that one day he would be a little heartbreaker. He has his dad’s eyes that are such a dark brown they almost look black, and all his facial features, except he has a button nose like his mom. I touched his little fingers and he curled them around my pointer finger, just like my niece does. Looking down at him, I knew I would do anything for him and I would love him always. I think it took me longer to bond with my niece because I wasn’t as mature as I am now. Being an aunt is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I have learned many responsibilities and lessons from taking care of my niece and nephew, that I wish everyone could experience at least once. Trying to explain the love I have for them is impossible, the closest I could get wouldn’t be close enough. I enjoy Aria’s hugs, and Sam’s smile.  Maybe one day when they’re my age they’ll read this and know how much I love them.    

“My Weekend With my Cousin”

By Raleigh Hagler

            I had already planned to go to my cousin Caleb’s house about two weeks ago, and I was pretty excited to go. He had his own house with his wife in Mcdonough, which is about two hours from my house. He was only 23, so we have been close while I have been growing up.

It was about two o’clock in the afternoon when we left Cochran going to Macon to meet my aunt. Then while I waited for Caleb I could watch my other cousin, Reese, wrestle in the state playoffs in Macon. We got to the Macon Center Plex around three forty-five. It was not until five o’clock when the duals were over and started to warm up. They started the next dual right away and finished in fifty minutes. When they got back to the stands Caleb called and said he was there and ready to go. We got my suitcase and two boxes with stuff for this weekend.

On the ride to McDonough we listen to the radio and talked about how we were going to stay up late and play Xbox. When we got off the interstate we got some dinner with Rebekah, Caleb’s wife. When we got to the house we started to set up my Xbox. Then we let the dogs in, they have two great danes, a boy and a girl.

We started to play some Fortnite then some Madden, but we played Madden more. We both are in a franchise together, and we played two games of that. I got mad at the game because the game was being dumb and not letting my guys catch a ball, so we went back to playing Fortnite till four o’clock in the morning, and by the way we had to be at the Harlem Globetrotters at one o’clock that day.

We woke up at eleven o’clock in the morning and got ready quickly, so we would not be late. It took a hour to get to State Farm Arena, and it was around twelve thirty. When we got to our seat, with some food, we saw Rebekah’s family and over to the right I saw my mom, who I knew was coming. It was a great experience, and I loved watching the game and all the little skits they did in between the timeouts. My favorite part of the whole thing was when they did the wave, because we did it regular, reverse, and then in slow motion.

When we left the game, Rebekah went with her family to eat, me and Caleb went to get some sushi grade salmon, I had a sushi maker that I brought with me. It took over two hours to get all of the item that we needed to make sushi. When we got to the house we started to cook the rice, that took thirty minutes to make. While I was on rice mixer duty, Rebekah and Caleb started to cut the avocado, cucumber, and the salmon. It was not that long before we started to put the sushi together. The sushi was delicious and we made four roles together. We both used soy sauce to eat it the sushi with. After we finished eating the sushi we got right back to playing Xbox again. That night we played mostly Fortnite and we did really good. It was not until later that night before we went back to playing Madden.

It was about three o’clock before we went to bed that night, and we woke up at nine to go to church,and we got there for late service. When we got back we started to play some more Fortnite and watch the Saints play the Rams. We played until the last couple of seconds of the game, but the Saints lost the game and I was sad about that, but after that I had to pack up my stuff  because, sadly, I had to go back home that day.

It was dark when we left the house heading to Macon. My parents would meet us there to pick me up, and go home. When we got there we sat for about ten minutes before they got there. We stood and talked about the race we are going to go to in February. When it was time to go I thought of all of the fun I had over the weekend, and I was ready to go again. I was still able to play with him on the Xbox, but he gets on late in the night so not every night I get to play with him. I still like the time we spend together when we do. Hopefully I can go back in March or for longer during the summer, but until then I will just have to wait.  

  The Story of Life

By Leslie Fernandez

It happened to be January 10th of 2004 when I was born. I soon began my adventure into life. I grew up pretty much as a happy child, always content with whatever I had or got my hands on. Always had been a curious child since growing up, no different than any other child. I grew up and went to school like every other kid did. As I was growing up I was known as the trouble-maker of the family, always getting in trouble and getting messy.

That's why my mother would always keep an eye on me. She knew that I could easily get hurt because of how I was. And that's how it happened, just one look away and it happened. It didn’t take much to realize what had happen. I had fallen. I was on the ground, crying because of the pain and aftershock. She stood me up, scared herself, and yellingly asked how in the world did this ever happen, well how was i supposed to know. All I knew is that I was running with my sister, and the next thing I know was that I was on the ground.

            My mother soon decide to check me. My knees were covered in bruises, and my hands were bleeding from all the little scratches that had now appeared. She had decide that taking a shower was the best option for me to do, and so I did. After the shower, my stomach soon started to hurt. I told my mother, but she insisted that it was because of the fall. And sure enough it was, I had this really bad bruise on the bottom left side of my stomach. A bruise of which it was called a blood bruise. As soon as she saw it she took me to the hospital. The doctors later did confirm that I had gotten a blood bruise. Not as bad as I had expected. Well it did kind of made sense, for the part that I had fallen on happened to have been concrete.

The doctors told my mother that it was best if I stayed home tomorrow from school. And that if I stay in bed with some sort of warm towel or cloth on the bruise, I would get better sooner. She later thanked the doctor, and we proceeded to go home. She happened to have stayed quiet to whole walk back to the truck. And this is when I knew that I was going to be getting a good scolding. As soon as we got in to the truck, the scoulding happened.

“Leslie,” she said sternly.

“Yes?”

“You do realize that you’re in a lot of trouble, don’t you?”

“Ummm, may I ask how though?”

“Oh so now you’re asking how? I’ve told you and your sister many time to not be playing over there but do you listen? Of course you don’t.”

“But how is any of that part dangerous?”

“Look Leslie, I’ve warned you many time about why you can’t be over there.”

“And why can I not just hear it once more?”

“Leslie, this is serious. It’s not a joke, can’t you understand?”

“Well yeah, but all that’s over there is some old oak tree. So how is that any danger?”

“Listen Leslie, I’m telling you for the last time. The reason you can’t be over there is because of that old oak tree. That tree’s roots made the concrete sidewalk break, causing you to fall because of the roots. And you also now that the tree is very old, and can fall any time soon.”

“But-”

“No buts. Why can’t you just listen for once Leslie? I know that you like to go on adventures, but be more careful. You were lucky enough to actually come out the hospital with just a bruise, something that’ll go away with a bit of time. Please just understand that you could get badly injured doing stuff like that.”

The rest of the way home was quiet, I just kept thinking about what she had told me. The whole conversation just kept playing in my head like an old record. Over, and over, and over. Thoughts just kept running wild in my mind like, “If I barely survived this accident with just a bruise, then how would next time be?” or “How come I’m the trouble-maker of the family?”

What else was I supposed to be thinking. It was all like a dream, but it soon came crashing down on me. That I wasn’t really a “trouble-maker”, but instead curious of the world. The only reason I had fallen was because I was trying to see the tree and how it was able to break the concrete. I was just curious. Curious about the world.

 “The Sunburn”  

By: Andrew Golden

       There is always this one time that I remember every time i go swimming at any place. I look back and laugh at how stupid this simple mistake was that caused all of this. This all started when my friend texted me “hey bro wanna come over? We got the pool open now and I got a new game on the Xbox.” I replied “heck yea man I gotta do some stuff today at the house but I can come over tomorrow.” So I did all of the stuff I had to do at my house, which mainly consisted of cleaning, then I headed over to his house in a nearby town. When I got there, it was pretty much dark outside so we decided to just eat then play some black ops 2 on the Xbox, then we went to bed. The next day, we got up and ate breakfast. After we did this, we went outside and I made the stupidest decision I would make all summer.

   When we got outside we were going to go and swim in his pool for about two and a half hours then we were going to head in and eat lunch. Before we got in, my friend put on some sunscreen. When he asked me if I needed some. Me being me I said “nah bro I’m fine, I never get sunburnt.” We listened to music and swam for about three and a half hours instead of two and a half. When we walked in the house, both my friend and his mom said I looked a little sun burnt. I said I will be ok because in the past I have never had a bad sunburn, and when I did it usually turned into a tan anyway so I wasn’t worried. We went back out and swam for the rest of the day. About half way through the day, I looked at my arm and it was dark red. Usually when you realize that you are sunburnt, you would go inside and do something. But, I just put a shirt on and didn’t think too much of it. We were having too much fun to go inside.

     After we were done swimming for the day, we went in and ate dinner, I remember we had papa Johns pizza. I went to sit down and when my back hit the back of the chair, I jumped up and screamed. I went and looked in the mirror and I literally looked like a lobster. I had to go home that night because I felt like junk and I could not lay down. I started feeling nauseous so I took some Pepto And hoped that it would go away. After about 30 minutes, I didn’t feel any better and I still couldn’t lay down. I ended up falling asleep sitting up on the sofa. When I woke up the next morning, I had a high fever and I still felt like absolute junk. My mama took me to our doctor at the time and they diagnosed me with first degree burns from the sunburn. They gave me some special cream that was supposed to ease the pain. It took about a week and a half to get the sunburn gone.

     There were many lessons that I learned from this day. I learned that I needed to be less stubborn when it comes to stuff like simply putting on some sunscreen or going inside if I do realize that I am sunburnt. I look back and think, wow how stupid was I back then to not put on sunscreen. But I bet that if this had never happened to me, I would still not wear it. The biggest thing that I learned that day is that sometimes, you have to bring the fun inside.

   

“Confirmation Day”

By Lucy Wiegert

            I had been waiting for this day for two whole years. After hours of memorizing, studying, and goofing around with my fellow confirmands, we were ready. When my family arrived at church that Sunday, everyone was there. My great aunt and uncle had driven down from north Georgia, my aunt (and godmother) flew down the day before from Illinois, my grandparents were there, and so many others had come to support me. Jasmine, Anthony, Jassiera, and I went to put our robes on, then took a picture with the elaborate cake, smiling proudly. It reminded me of when we tried our robes on for the first time.

We walked into the sanctuary, and I glanced at the banner I had made for this special occasion. It hung on the left wall, almost in the corner by the sound booth. It read, “Your word is a Lamp to my feet and a Light to my path. Psalm 119:105”. I chose this Bible Verse because it helped guide me through Confirmation. It also helped guide me in this moment as I made my way up to the altar.

            Finally, it was time to answer the questions. Although we practiced what seemed like a million times, I was very stressed. I had to keep reminding myself that I knew it all by heart. Pastor started with Jasmine, and stated the question, working his way down the line. There was tranquility in the congregation. Before I knew it, it was my turn. Pastor asked me what the Fourth Commandment is.

“Honor your father and mother.” I replied nervously, wiping my sweating palms on the robe.

“And what does this mean?” Pastor Lehenbauer asked calmly. I could almost see myself back in the tiny classroom, two years ago when we had first started Confirmation.  None of us knew the answers back then, but we did now.

“We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.” I took a deep breath.

“That is correct.” So it went, questions up and down the line of the four of us. I held my breath before answering each question given to me. We went through The Commandments, The Apostles’ Creed,  The Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, Confession, and finally The Sacrament of the Altar.

As soon as it had started, we were finished. We took our chairs back into the congregation and went to the railing. Our parents were asked to come forward and take our first communion with us. As I took Communion for the first time, my eyes opened to the authenticity of His words. Not only are we supposed to follow His Commandments, we are supposed to keep them perfectly. Since we are unable to keep these commandments, Jesus pays for our sins. Jesus did not die for the side of us that dresses up to go to church on Sundays or reads our Bible everyday. He died for the side of us that makes the wrong choices, commits unforgivable sins, the side of us that needs saving. I stood up as Pastor recited the invocation.

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.”

All that was left to do now was give hugs, take pictures, and eat celebratory cake. We took many pictures, with my “sponsors”, my parents, and my aunts and uncles. I thanked my friends and family for joining us as we celebrated my journey with Christ. My heart had opened to the experience, and I am now a full member of Christ Lutheran Church.

“My First Day Of High School”

By: Morgan Pritchett

 My first day of high school started off with the struggle of getting out of bed. I would have said waking up but I was so excited the night before I could not fall asleep, so I stayed up. I know it sounds bad that I did not fall asleep the night before my first day of highschool, but I literally could not. I tried and tried every thirty minutes until about four a.m. then I just gave up and watched tv. The good news is I had energy every class so I was not falling asleep. After I got out of bed I picked out my outfit. I then went into the bathroom to fix my hair; I can't think of a harder task in my everyday life. Finally it was time to leave for the high school.  I remember my dad trying to convince me to take a first day of school picture but I did not want to. I eventually gave in and the first thing he did was post it to Facebook.

            I arrived at the school around 7:35 because we live right down the road from the school. I started the school day out by waiting in the commons area along with the rest of the school because we are not allowed on the halls until around 7:45. When it was time to go to our classes someone came on the intercom and told all the students to go to advisory, which is like a homeroom that students go to once a semester. My advisor was very friendly to everyone which really calmed my nerves.

After advisory students were released to first period; for me first period is my least favorite because my first period is math. The teacher was nice. I guess that helps out a little. We did not do much in math the first day except get to know each other like we did in every class. In math I was in advanced so I was one of two freshman in a sophmore class. I only knew one or two people other than the second freshman.

Obviously after first period comes second period. Since it was the first semester I had civics. The teacher was very interesting. He called everyone by their last name and even gave some people nicknames. He was also very funny compared to some of my previous teachers I have had. I was glad I had a fun teacher for my favorite subject.

Third period was science. That teacher was one of my favorites because she had a very similar personality as I have. She is sarcastic but not in a mean way, but in a funny joking way. She made it very clear that if anyone did not like it that she would not be sarcastic.

After third period was lunch. Lunch was amazing, my two best friends both had it with me. One of them is the other freshman in my math class. The school food is much better than the food in middle school, which is amazing. I will say if you do not like chicken tenders you might want to bring your lunch because it is two out of the four choices of food everyday.

Fourth period was art. I signed up for art because it would help me with the job I want to get which is graphic design. The room was very cool because it was decorated with finished and ongoing artwork that the teacher had painted. I liked this because it shows that the teacher is actively does what she was teaching.

When fifth period came around was when I got really excited because that meant the day was almost over. My fifth period is literature. The teacher is my favorite because whenever he grades your work he tells you good things you did along with what you could improve on. All of the previous years I have had to write I did not enjoy it, but the literature teacher made it enjoyable.

The final class of the day was food, nutrition, and wellness. The first day we did not really do much. We just go to know other people in the class, since it was not just one grade, there was seniors, juniors, sophomores, and freshman. It was probably my favorite non core class.

After school let out I rode home to my house. As soon as I got home I finally went to sleep. That was my first day of highschool.

“My First Panic Attack and Airplane Ride”

By Amaya Smith

      I have always dread riding an airplane. I have all these places around the world that I want to travel to, but riding on an airplane always made me not want to go to them. I guess you could say it was one of my biggest fear, second to sharks, probably from all the movies and books about airplane crashes. Then Christmas came along and for Christmas my sister and I got tickets to go to New York on January 18th! Of course I was excited, but everyday till then all I could think about is that means I have to ride a plane twice!

     The day had finally came, it was January 18th. We left school early, and drove to Savannah to catch our flight at 5:00. I slept the whole time there, so when I woke up and saw we were at the airport I started panicking a little. We went through security, and we went to find our seats. We were actually 2 hours early, so I was not too stressed out yet. That is till they called for us to board the plane. Inside I was freaking out, but I was trying not to show it. We finally found our seat, and waited patiently for the airplane to take off. As soon as the airplane started moving, I could not breath. I was so scared I started to cry, and I had to close my window. I basically had a panic attack. After the plane finally got above the clouds, I could let go of the arms of the chair and look out the window. It had been a while, and the flight attendant came and gave us snacks and a drink. I got peanuts and a coke, and he gave us a note thanking us for letting them be our first flight. When we reached New York it was night time, so we could see all the lights below us. It was absolutely beautiful!

     It was now Monday, and it was time to ride an airplane, again. This time everything was a lot more hectic. We were running a little behind, from all the NYC traffic, and we got there with only 30 minutes to spare. We also had to get lunch somewhere fast, so as you could imagine I was stressed. We went to get food, and it took forever! I only had 10 minutes to eat it, so I had to shovel it down. They called us to board the airplane, and this time I was not as scared. I was actually kind of excited to see the clouds, because the first time it was dark and I could not see them. I did not cry or have a panic attack, and I left my window open the whole time.  When we took off I was a little scared, but not nearly as much. I loved looking out the window and seeing the clouds. I was so relaxed I even went to sleep, until they brought the snacks. My flight was fine, and I actually had fun eating my peanuts and looking out at the clouds.

   I decided that I actually like flying now. I had my first panic attack for no reason. Although it seemed scary at first, it was actually really fun. I learned to not let things that scare me keep me from doing things I love. I am a big scaredy pants, and I have decided to try to be brave from my first airplane ride experience. I will not let things scare me enough from letting me live my life to the fullest anymore.

 “Scout Camp”

By: Jasper Clay Thompson

The Boy Scouts of America is an organization that was founded in 1912 to help boys learn “Life Skills” as my Scoutmaster called it. It was a thing that my parents wanted me to join a Scout Troop since I was about eight or nine so that I would not be some ignorant kid that didn’t know anything about how to go about life in a sensible manner. The main goal of scouting is to teach the boys how to do basic skills like knots, cooking, navigation, wilderness survival, etc. Personally I liked the stuff we did with our Scoutmaster that had to do with the curriculum, but the best thing I ever participated in that was scout-related was Scout Camp.

     Scout Camp is a week-long, overnight, camp-out that is held either in the frigid winter month of December, or in the sweltering summer month of July that only twelve year-olds and up can participate in. The two opposite extremes of the seasons gave an enlightening experience at either camp, choose either the frosty-cold below freezing temperatures, or take the sun-blazingly hot haze at the other end of the spectrum, either way it was always an uncomfortable experience to even the toughest of scouts. I know somebody is probably thinking, “Well at least those poor boys are in heated, or air-conditioned cabins!,” well you would be wrong. The ever-so-faithful scouts sleep through the night in tents provided by their troop. That is the, by far, the worst decision the human race has ever made; who would let a whole camp-full of boys all sleep in below-freezing temperatures for a week just for them to learn a couple of valuable skills and eat some cut-rate production food? Nevertheless, I always went, and had a reasonably okay time there. To me, the most memorable of the two camps took place at “Winter Camp,” which was the camp that was held in the nose-biting cold of the month of December, and oh, how cold it was!

     When my troop arrived on the first day the thermostat in the car read twenty-eight degrees. It seemed like a race of life or death to set up our sorry excuse of  protection from the cold, we raced to pluck out the poles, and pulled each one through as fast as we could, getting colder by the second, and when we were done we were more thankful for our tent than we previously thought we would be. I was one of the lucky scouts who wielded the mighty asset of an army-grade below-zero sleeping bag. The cover of the sleeping bag was water-proof, which would unknowingly come in handy in the near future of the miserable week of camp. I was in a tent with five of my closest friends in the troop, and when we weren’t going to workshops, classes, or eating, we all piled in our four-man tent that fit six twelve to thirteen year-old boys, and hung out for hours on end. We would either talk, play games outside for as long as we could stand the cold, go on pit-stops to the Trading-Post, which is where they sell drinks, snacks or small games, or go on long, fun-filled hikes around the camp-grounds so packed down with cold-weather gear and junk-food that we probably looked like a laughing, migrating group of Eskimos drinking Mountain Dew and eating Doritos.

     We would all walk about a half a mile from our individual troop’s campsite (which was called blackfoot) and meet the other troops at reverie for flags and announcements, in which we had to sing a special song before we could start. It went something like this:

Announcements, announcements, announcements!

A terrible way to die, a terrible way to die,

a terrible way to talk-to-death a terrible way to die!

Announcements, announcements, announcements!

Yessss?

     The Campmaster would release each scout by rank to go to breakfast, eagle scout (which is the highest rank) all the way to just the mere scout rank (the lowest rank). My friends and I were always first in line because we were all eagle scouts even only being fourteen years-old, which was always a benefit because the staff who made and served breakfast always slacked off close to the end of the line and gave those last low-ranking scouts less food, that was also cold, and served sloppier. My troop was one of the biggest in the camp and were also the most high-ranking, skillful, and experienced troop there. We were also the most energetic, talkative, and laid-back scouts, always making getting to class a little late, like a senior does in high-school, because we knew the instructors personally and they liked our troop.

     The end of camp slowly trudged along, past a rainstorm that froze into sleet and made the tops of our tents look like powdered donuts, and through a week of boring, but informing, classes, but finally arrived at the final day of camp, at which we were all sad to see come, even though we may have not liked the weather, or any of the food, I was still bummed to see the fun come to an end. The fun I had, the knowledge I gained, and the friends I made were all things I will never forget, not as long as I live.

“The Baseball Game”

By: Carter Brannon

            It was a bright and hot day at the ballfield. Me and my friends are on a baseball team called the Crawford County Cats. We were playing against our rivals the Bonare Bombs. They have beat us for seven straight years. Our team is better this year than any other previous teams.

 Tom was up to bat and he could hit it far. He was the second hitter, the first was Matt he hit the ball to the right field corner and got a triple. Tom was hitting with a brand new Demarini bat. The pitcher Dustin had wound up and released the ball. It was belt high on Tom and he hit it all the way to the church across the road. The score was now two to five in the eighth inning, we were losing. Ethan has up now, he got hit by the ball and he took first, but went to second while the pitcher was not paying attention. Will was was up, he can hit farther than tom, he has an four hundred batting average. As the ball comes home it zips past him and into the catcher's glove. Second pitch comes and the ball is knocked hard back at the pitcher. The pitcher in down in pain. He took the ball directly in the left knee cap. As the coaches rush towards him he is still. Everybody is still while Will walks to third and stops. As the coaches walk off we can see that his leg was swollen bad. The score was now three to five. Tim was at the plate, he goes up ready to hit a homer, but no he strikes out, one out. Junior is up, he hits a long fly ball deep into right field. It is caught, oh no, it is dropped. He makes it to second. The umpires discuss the dropped ball. They say he is out. As the pitcher winds up, the next pitch goes to the plate as the ball is driven to to the ground, the catcher was able to make the out.

Our pitcher Jonathan was an excellent pitcher, he could throw the ball seventy five miles per hour. It was now the top of the ninth inning, the other team did not stand a chance. The first hitter got on second. The second struck out on a nasty curveball. The third was an all round player, he could do anything. He hit a bomb onto the road behind the field. Now it is five to ten we were losing.

Next two people got out. We had to score six to win. We got two hits and two outs. Second and third with two outs. Our next person was named Conner. He batting average is .000 and he is zero for seven. He struck out on a fastball right down the middle.

We lost the game and our coach lectured us after the game in left field. While the other team celebrated and left to go home. Our team ran from the left field foul pole to the right field foul pole along the fence five times because we lost by five.

When I got home I went to my bed room and play video game the rest of the night. I was playing Fortnite with Conner and he told me that I played a good game and that he could have played better, I agreed. Our team got first place and then he told me that he could have hit that last pitch, but he was tired and wanted to go home. I agreed, I was tired too, right field can get really boring.

The next day went by with nothing amazing happening. But the next day our team had practice and Conner told the coach in the dug-out that he missed the pitch on purpose because he wanted to go home. The coach told him to run from pole to pole until practice was over. Practice lasted from five o’clock to seven o’clock. Conner sat down on the bench and when he tried to get up he could not because his legs hurt from running. I had to help him to his car and left for home.  

When the next game came around Conner did not get to play. Conner not playing continued for many weeks and finally Conner quit baseball and I never saw him again. He must have ran 30 miles during the three weeks of practice. I could not blame him, if I did not get to play and had to run for two hours every practice I might have quit to. Coach did not really care that he quit, he liked when people finished what they needed to and not quit like Conner did. Coach was much more nicer after Conner quit. I do not think that Coach liked Conner’s dad because he yelled a lot at the umpires.

Over the next five years the team got worse and lost every game. A couple weeks after that the team fell apart and the team was no longer a team. I would see some of my teammates at school and we would make jokes about the team. They were funny jokes, but not offensive. The next few years we became seniors and began to take different classes and did not see each other any more.

“From An Only Child to The Second Oldest”

By: Brianna Crockett

            My parents divorced when I was very young, maybe four years old. They both thought it would be best if they divorced and went their separate ways. Since the divorce my mother found Daniel, my stepdad, and my father found Nicole, my stepmom. Both Mom and Dad are happier and better people because of that, but I’m not too sure of the benefit I got.

            I live with my mom and Daniel, our two dogs, and our cat. I grew up as an only child and around my more introverted mother and ambivert stepfather. Because of this, I grew up as a very secluded, quiet, and shut off person; I only ever open up to my mom and stepdad because I trust them with my whole heart. They know about dark times that I faced and my first relationship, they are always very supportive and understanding. They do not judge me for who I truly am, they have seen me at my worst and at my best, I can tell or ask them anything, but my father is a bit different.

            Normally I would go to my dad and stepmom’s house every other weekend, but I have grown further and further apart from them. Now, before Dad and Nicole were married, Nicole had two children, My step siblings Breyanna and Byron. My dad, after the divorce, started dating other women. Supposedly, one of those women got pregnant with his baby and gave birth to it, but decided not to tell him until about two years after the baby was born, about a year and a few months after my dad got remarried, and that baby is my half sister Meia Bella. My dad and Nicole got married and I suddenly had two new siblings, then Dad found out about Meia Bella and took her in as well. About two years later Nicole’s brother and his wife had a fallout and wanted Nicole to take their son in. She did and now my cousin Blake lives with them too. I now have four siblings that I have to fight with to gain my father’s attention. I never really talk about personal things that happen outside of what happens at his house, and even then it is usually only good things. I truly love my father and my half-sister but I’m not able to withstand the stress and pain I go through to never actually spend quality time with either of them.

            In October, 2018 I had just gotten into my first real relationship. I went to the High School Homecoming dance after he asked me with this cute sign he made. I showed my mom the sign and she was nearing tears, “My baby got asked to the dance I’m so excited!” Then a few weeks later we went shopping for a dress. We found some really cute ones, and I asked Mom what she thought.

            “Well I think the Black lace top with the floral print black bottom will look better than the black topped, pink bottomed one.”

            “Yeah, I think your right. The pink one is too long for me anyway, it’ll drag on the floor when I walk.”

            So we bought the dress, two weekends after that I was scheduled to go to my dad’s house. I still had not told him I was in a relationship, but my mom had. She called Dad two days before I was to go to their house and told him, then she came to me and said “Bri I think you should tell you dad.”

            “But Mom! I don’t want Nicole to know.”

            “Sweetheart, then tell your dad not tell her.”

            “Momma, you know he will anyway!”

            “Well I don’t care if she knows or not, but your father deserves to know about your personal life.”

            “They don’t deserve to know!” I looked at Mom and she looked at me, “Fine.” That weekend I was in the car with my dad and I was texting my boyfriend, and dad asked who it was and I said that it was just a friend. That night we got home and I went to my room, not wanting to be teased or picked on by my stepmom or older sister, knowing that Nicole probably told her too, and changed. Later Dad and Nicole came into my sister’s room to tell them goodnight. My room is located above their room with the staircase leading right into their room.  There is a vent that leads through my floor into their roof, and I could hear Dad and Nicole enter the room, and I assume they were about to leave because Meia said, “What about sissy?”

            I choose not to go to my father's house as often because of these incidents. I love my family and I’m happy that Mom and Dad are now happier than they ever were together, but I wish I had a voice, I want to be involved in family discussions and not cast out like I do not belong, because I know I do. I may be the product of two people who ended their relationship because they were unhappy, but I am a smart, stable, and capable young woman, and neither the divorce of my family or the emotions I keep inside, will ever slow me down on my path to success.

“Don’t Quit”

By: Lydia Belflower

Learning new things are tough, especially if you’re teaching the new concept to yourself. The Christmas of 2016 is where it all began for me. Christmas morning, 2016, our family was exchanging gifts, and little did I realize one gift I was about to open was about to change my life.

My oldest brother handed me my gift, without hesitation,  I began ripping off the festive wrapping paper to see a cardboard box with the words, KALA, printed on the box. I began to open it to find a bag, but with something in it. I opened up the bag to find there was a ukulele in there. I remember exactly how I felt at that moment, I was so excited and grinning ear to ear thanking him many, many times. My dream of being a ukulele player had came true, but one thing was in the way, I had to learn how to play it.

After a big lunch, everyone went into the living room to take naps except for me. I grabbed my new ukulele and chord book, and ran upstairs. I thought I was going to get the hang of it right then, but nobody can do something perfectly on the first try. I remember sitting on my bed in frustration because I couldn’t strum, remember the chords, or know when to change chords. Then from downstairs I hear, “If you’re going to play, go outside or wait until everyone is done napping.” Whoops, I guess I forgot about my family trying to sleep. Well, I went outside and tried some more. I wanted to give up so bad, I was thinking, “How do people do this, it’s so hard! I’ll never get it! My fingers hurt!” Luckily, I had a good mindset and pushed those thoughts away. Every single day after Christmas I taught myself and played constantly. Slowly but surely, I began progressing and memorizing the chords and strum patterns to where I could finally work a song out of those four nylon strings.

Eventually, I had learned all of the chords, roughened up my fingers, and could get most any song out. I would play for my friends and family as they cheered me on. One day, I hit this point where I realized playing ukulele was getting mundane and it wasn’t quite challenging as I once thought it was. I didn’t think I was to “good” or “skilled” for it, I was just ok doing the basics. Even the best ukulele player isn’t good, you can only get better at what you do.  I was thinking one day that I was only limited to four strings, when I realized I could have six. If I could teach myself ukulele then I could definitely teach myself guitar.

My brother that had given me the ukulele has a guitar and he had already learned how to play. So, when he came home from college over the summer, he let me borrow it every now and then. I found a poster with all the guitar chords on it and began studying and learning the chords. It was a much harder process than teaching myself ukulele. The strings are thicker (and steel), you have two more strings, and a much bigger instrument. I didn’t play enough for it to stick with me, unfortunately I had forgotten most of what I had learned when he went back to college.

I had reflected over the fact of learning to play and thought to myself, “If I had my own guitar, then I could have more time to practice.” Every day I was without the guitar, I longed to play again. If there was anything guitar related, I would always gravitate towards it.

Exactly a year after I had received my ukulele, I got my own guitar for Christmas. When I saw the box, I instantly knew what was inside. I opened it up, got it tuned, and got going. I was so fascinated by my new guitar, that I completely forgot about the other presents sitting over there waiting to be opened.

The cycle began all over again. I was asked to go outside or shut my door while learning to play, but I wasn’t going to give up. I knew that this guitar was a good one and I didn’t want to disappoint my parents by letting the guitar become a dust collector. My fingers began hurting constantly from the nonstop playing, but I didn’t let that get in the way.

I feel that being your own teacher makes you better in life. You’re putting in all the time and effort in for yourself, so you don’t want to quit. Eventually, you love what you do when you get the hang of it, such as guitar and ukulele. The mindset of not giving up can be later applied to your life in many positive ways. I am always striving to teach myself new things and not giving up. I know I’m not the best at music and I never will be, but I still want to see how much I can grow and progress from teaching myself. I’ve gotten to where I’m starting out on piano and even seeing how it ties in with guitar, which is pretty cool. My advice is to you is to go out and try new things, you won’t regret it.

“The Day My Earth Stood Still”

By: Dustin Yearty

            The date was October 27, 2018. The car pulled up to the convention center. My two friends and I looked at each other with giddy, childlike smiles. Though this was my first Sneakercon, I had the basic gist of the event. I knew of the crowd that we were about to be introduced to, swarming us and wanting us to either buy their shoes or want to buy our streetwear. After parking, we unloaded what we were ready to sell. I  was just starting in the whole resell game, so I did not have much to my name. I fact, if I remember correctly, I only had a Supreme shirt, some stickers worth a pretty penny, and some pretty nice accessories in my possession. Hopefully, I thought to myself, this career of reselling expensive clothes was going to be worth my time. And my money. However, after seeing what my friends had, I knew I had a long way to go. From my position, it looked like a mountain of bags of high-end streetwear, mostly known as “skatewear. And to top those mountains were avalanches of shoe boxes. High-end, expertly crafted casual and basketball shoes. People stayed way past their usual bedtimes to buy these shoes. Refreshing the website page, waiting for the opportunity to be the first to purchase them. The key thing to remember was that once the shoes sold out, their retail price was out the window, out of consideration. What really mattered was that they resold for way more. After unloading everything, we walked to the convention center. We opened the door, rode up the escalator, and entered the double doors. We saw the line was pretty short, so we found our spot. However, after 30 minutes, the line started to really elongate. I could not help but remember my state fair’s lines. How we would wait in lines for up to an hour to enjoy a 30-second adrenaline rush. However, I wasn't here for rides. I was here to make money. I vaguely remember a man coming up to my friend and asking him for one of his products.

“Hey, man,” the gentleman started, “how much for that right there?”

My friend then stated a price that was inaudible. The man’s face then went sad, in which he responded, “Alright, I will get back with you, fam.”  He then walked away. We never saw this man again. And to this day, I wonder if we will ever see him again. After another 14 minutes, the doors opened. I could not help but feel like Heaven’s gate has opened. We walked in, and glory beyond belief shone unto me like a flashlight on a midnight robber.  As I walked in, yards upon yards of clothing racks containing the most sought after tees known to all who were interested. And with the shoe vendors, it was magnificent. It looked like a farmers market. However, these were treasures that were inedible. Towards the back of the empty storage room was the trading pit. A marvelous place where you could sell and trade your items directly to the buyer, instead of selling online. You could also get your shoes legit checked. With great money to be made, some people want it the dishonest way. There was also a basketball half-court, for those who broke their workout schedule to come here. And finally, sprinkled throughout the venue, were companies trying to sell their products. Some professional shoe cleaner, others sold special bags specifically for sneakers, and everything in between. I knew I was going to enjoy it here. And indeed I did.   




       

“Baseball”

By: Caleb Hill

Baseball has always been a big part of my life from the time I was old enough to hold a bat to now. I have played every rec. season all the way to high school baseball. I played three years of tee ball, then moved up to coach pitch, after that pitching machine, and finally kid pitch.   

Baseball has taught me many lessons and how to act around other and older people. One lesson it has taught me is that you never give up cause if you get down on yourself then it screws up your whole game play. When you lose keep your head up and keep pushing forward this applies to life too. If you get down on a mistake you made you just keep messing up. Just forget about the last play, last bat, and last game that is something a coach told me and I still use it to this day. I feel like baseball has helped me mature more than other kids my age. The reason for this is I have always been with the older kids and seen how they act and I always treated my coaches with respect.

            There has only been one season that I did not play baseball. This was my sixth grade season it was not that I did not make the middle school team or that I missed tryouts. It was simply that I was scared. I was scared that I was not good enough and would get cut. That has always been one of my biggest fears not being good enough and getting told no, so that year I tried out for tennis because I knew I would make it. That was a mistake on my part because all the players told me I was good enough to make it, so the very next year I tried out and of course I made it. But it was not easy i had prepared myself for the tryouts I ran every day, I hit in the cages some, and fielded ground balls. When coach called me in that day my heart was pounding i was so scared. I sat down in the chair and waited for coach to say something he started off by saying my hitting looked great, and then he said that my fielding needed much improvement but congratulations you made the team. When I walked out of that room that was one of the biggest reliefs of my life.

One of the most impactible moments of my career was when I made the high school team. This took months of preparation we called it conditioning we ran, we pitched we hit and we strengthened our arms. I ran so much and so hard that some days I would start throwing up and I would throw till I go horrible pains in my arm. It was all worth it when tryouts came around I was in shape and feeling good about tryouts. There were three days of tryouts and every one of those days i worked my butt off. After we were done I would get home and could barely move I was so tired but all the work lead up to something great I made the high school baseball team and I was so proud of myself. This has truly been one of the greatest times of my life i love going to practice every day and love trying to get better.

Baseball has always been a big part of my life and I hope I can pass down the love i have for it to my children. It has taught me many valuable things that i am thankful for. I hope to play a lot more ball in my life.

¨52.¨

By Demetrius Pope Jr.

As a kid I always had the desire to perform, to entertain. I took every opportunity to showcase whatever talent or skill I had acquired. If there was no opportunity, I’d make one. If I had taken an interest in something I was always able to teach myself how to do it, and get pretty good at it. Like most young kids I was a sponge. I’d be fascinated by a lot of the things I saw, and quickly develop an ambition to learn about it. At the age of eleven I had really taken an interest in magic. At the time magic wasn’t very common. It wasn't very often you’d see a street magician, or hear about magic on TV. None of my friends could do magic, and none of the people I was around had even considered learning about it. I knew that It wasn’t something that a lot of people could do. That made me want to learn how to do it even more, so naturally I endeavored to become a magician.

When I first started magic, I would mostly use objects that were used in school, I did this because as an eleven year old child the majority of your time is spent at school. I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to go perform on the streets just yet, so school was also where most of my audience was gonna be, my friends. I learned pretty fast. I was eager to do magic for people other than my family members at home, and one day in the fifth grade I had finally gotten my chance. I was sitting in class at my table, along with the three other kids who sat at that table, one of which was my friend Jake. I asked Jake to borrow his quarter, he gave it to me. I’d been practicing this trick for some days, so I knew I was going to ace this performance. As I was telling Jake that I was about to show him a magic trick, the rest of the kids at the table tuned in, which was expected, because what fifth grader doesn’t want to see a magic trick? I took Jake’s quarter and put it in my hand, I told him to put his hand over mine, and squeeze it as hard as he could to make absolutely sure that his coin wasn’t going anywhere. Little did he know I’d already had him, and everybody else at the table beat. Jake removed his hand, and I opened mine very slowly, to reveal that there was no coin. At this point they were all freaking out, but the best part of the trick hadn’t even happened yet. As Jake was looking at me confused as to where his coin went, I told him to look on his shoulder. Everyone at the table looked at Jake’s shoulder to find that his coin was in fact there. As expected I got very good reactions. At that moment, I felt  like the most powerful man in the world. Although I had gotten pretty doing magic with items I had at school, It felt so amateur. I was serious about getting good at magic, so I took my education of the art to the next level.

I really started exploring the world of magic, learning about the culture, the craft. I would quickly learn the big names in the magic community, and watch them. It didn’t take me long to find out that a huge part of the magic culture was playing cards. I would always see magicians do crazy stuff with a deck of cards and be mind blown at it. I knew that if I could get good with cards like that, It’d take my magic to the next level. I spent a big part of my childhood learning about card magic, and getting better at it. I’d learn more advanced sleight of hand techniques, which would allow me to perform more powerful effects.

“Sports”

By: Matthew Bland

            Sports have always been a big part of my life. Ever since I was young I have been playing some type of sport.

            I started out playing tee ball at the Recreation Department. I also played flag football and soccer when those sports were available to play. As I grew older I started playing coach pitch baseball and tackle football. When I was in elementary school I started to run cross-country at a camp that the coach for the middle school did every year. As I got older I started to dislike football more than the other sports that I played.

 One day my mom told me that I would eventually have to decide on which sport I was going to play. I was just about to start middle school and cross-country and football were at the same time. Since I had started to dislike football I decided to run cross-country all three years of middle school. After cross-country was over I had to decide between baseball and soccer. I did not really know which one to play so I was so glad when the middle school made the decision to move soccer before baseball. This made it possible for me to play both sports. I spent the rest of my middle school going from cross-country to soccer and then to baseball. Every year in middle school I played these sports and was still able to keep all A’s in my classes.

My favorite thing 6th grade soccer was that I started on the varsity team I thought it was a really cool opportunity to play with people much bigger than me. I unfortunately did not get to play varsity baseball during my 6th grade year of baseball, but I did learn a lot from the older guys on my team. I got to play varsity again my 7th grade year of soccer. I could tell there was improvement in my skill from the year before. When baseball season came around I was not expecting to be playing varsity, but it turned out that I had improved enough from the year before to play varsity.  I enjoyed my last middle school season of soccer and baseball more than any year. I had already learned most of what I was supposed to do in the sports from the previous two years that I had played. My knowledge of both games was really good, so all I had to do was perform well. I did really well in both sports in my opinion. I scored 9 goals in soccer, which was my record for a single season. My batting average in my 8th grade year of baseball was 530 and I did not make a single fielding error the whole season. I was really sad once both seasons were over, but I was really looking forward to highschool. I knew that with my knowledge and skill that I had obtained from middle school was going to treat me well in high school.

The only bad part about starting high school is that I knew I would have to choose between soccer and baseball. This was a really tough decision for me to make since I really liked both sports. I ended up choosing baseball over soccer, because I personally just wanted to play baseball in high school more than soccer.

My life has always been filled with sports. They are a big part of my life now and I am really glad that I started at such a young age. Sports have taught me a lot about sportsmanship and life in general.