Alanna 11; Stress Class 101

The time of year when the stress piles up is coming upon us. Between getting your grades up for finals, AP tests, SATs (for some), prom, and our extracurriculars, it is the recipe for stress. I have the SATs Saturday, ACT in April, 3 AP tests in May along with prom, and any finals I have to take after that. It seems as though from now until the end of school, I don’t get a break. Personally, I think they pile way too much onto students at the end of the school year, but I understand it is inevitable. Although we cannot avoid it, it still sucks a whole bunch and I am here to help you.

Lately, I have been trying this new tip, that most likely should have been common sense, yet I still was amazed by it, to help with my stress. In psychology, we talked about anxious and healthy achievers and checked off some characteristics of each that fit us. Unsurprisingly, I got 1 of a healthy achiever and 4 of an anxious one. A girl in my class raised her hand and said, “ I talked to my psychologist about my stress over school and finished work, and she suggested that instead of working right when I get home from school, take 2 hours to relax”. TWO HOURS!? Yes, my thoughts exactly. My day is as follows: get home, do homework, do extracurriculars, go home, do homework, eat, sleep. Given the circumstances, I thought this was crazy to waste 2 hours of precious time. However, I put away my ignorance and tried it. The results were insane. Instead of studying for the 4 hours after school, I cut that in half, and I did better on my test! I found that I was less overwhelmed and mentally exhausted, so, therefore, I did better. Although to start I was more stressed over the fact I wasn't studying enough, that feeling faded after I started getting results I wanted. I also began to find it easier to finish things efficiently and in a timely manner because I was more focused on the task instead of dozing off.

 I highly recommend you try this if you, too, are one to overly stress over your amount of schoolwork along with other responsibilities.

Are you one to stress too much and overcompensate your ability to work?

Kadison 11 - Negativity

As I'm sure everyone knows, 2020 has been full of a lot of negativity so far. World War III was very possible, Australia was on fire, Kobe Bryant died, and now millions of people are, for lack of better words, freaking out over the coronavirus. In today’s world, it’s getting harder and harder to look at the bright side of things and stay positive, especially when there are a million different views being pushed upon everyone.

I generally consider myself a positive person. I like to look at the positives of situations because that’s how I personally motivate myself to get through tough times. I’m usually open to other people’s opinions and views and I understand that there will always be something out of my control. I also know that some people are always going to be pessimistic no matter the situation. If people want to look for a downside in a situation, chances are they’ll find one. Although I always prepare for the worst, I can’t help but hope for a better outcome. Constantly thinking about how awful people and the world can be stresses me out, and I’d honestly rather not think about it. I find that saying the worst can and will happen increases the chance that it actually will happen. 

However, I’ve started to realize that most people aren’t being negative simply to be negative. Just like how looking at the positives can help me, being ready for the negatives can help other people relieve stress. Preparing for the worst can help stop people from being disappointed or distressed. The issue that tends to arise is when negative thinkers start pushing this negativity onto other people. When people, including myself, are stressed, they can end up taking it out on the people around them. Trying to find a balance between relieving your own stress while not stressing out other people can be hard, if not downright impossible sometimes.

With sports, drama, field trips, and other enjoyable activities being canceled, it is becoming more and more difficult to not push one’s stress and negativity onto others. For us teenagers especially, the coronavirus issue could be one of our most worrisome experiences yet. But to my other positive thinkers out there, don’t worry; high school isn’t over yet. We still have plenty of time to make the most of our last year and a half, even if it means going to school online for a bit.

Do you tend to think positively or negatively, and why?

Connor 11: "Ok People, Pull Yourselves Together."

The year 2020 has definitely been an experience. Despite the fact that it’s only early March, this year has been jam packed with multiple midlife crises. I have had a plethora of new experiences already, and I feel like I need a minute to reflect on that and move on. To put it into words by the wisest being I know, I need to “pull it together.” As a coping method, I have decided to try something new to see if it helps me through this insanity. I know that some people go through a breakup or large life-altering event and dye their hair, so I decided to try that out. My hair is purple now.
During the summer, I bleached my bangs and decided to dye them blue. After the dye washed out, I was left with light brown highlights to accent my dark dark hair. My plan was just to dye the highlights a vibrant dark purple, however it ended up only making my whole head appear one reddish brownish black color. Either way, it was a successful crisis hair dying, and that is all that matters.
Crisis averted. It’s time to go back to being mellow, passive aggressive, and calm. Maybe I should find a better way to deal with problems so I don’t end up with weird tattoos or something. Maybe I should take up meditation? All I have really gained is now my hair is a different color, but it has helped me feel a little more calm. We’ll see how long that lasts.
 

MeiLi 11- Struggles as a Teen

Many of the recent articles we have been focusing on in class deal with the struggles teens face in todays society like the pressure from school, the pressure from peers and family, and even the pressure placed on themselves by themselves. We've talked about grades and the stupidity of the American schooling system. We've also read articles on mental health disorders. 

Im bringing all of these things up because in my head they all very closely relate. I was thinking about the current friends I have that struggle with mental health issues and diagnosed mental disorders, as well as people I knew as far back as sixth grade who had a bad mental health. No one can give an answer as to why they feel the way they feel and how their struggles started, all we have are guesses. Studies have shown how an imbalance of chemicals produced by neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, in the brain play a very dramatic role in wether an individual has a mental disorder or not. But the question that always comes back to mind is "Why so much in our generation?"

When talking to my mom about it, she said it was not a main focus that most children and teenagers had to deal with in their day to day lives. Not as many people were diagnosed clinically depressed with anxiety and OCD disorders, and the number of cases of bipolar and schizophrenia were significantly lower. We threw out many theories and talked for a good two hours with my Aunt, and we came up with a few main possible reasons. First, parents today are too focused on protecting and coddling their children, valuing their happiness over the many times positive outcome of struggle and failure. Second, there is a genetic difference between the generations that causes our generation to be more susceptible to some type of mental illness. Third, the pressure teens feel on themselves grows too hefty a load to cary.  Forth, the increased cultural trends over the last 10-20 years such as drinking and smoking. And last but not lease (although the most common and annoying one) fifth, social media. Personally, I think each and every one of these options contributes to the larger reasoning behind the rapid increase in mental health issues, but it seems as though there is more to it. 

What do you think is the leading contribution as to why mental health has gotten so bad in adolescents within the recent past?

Adria 11: I won't home school my kids and here's why

Long story short, I don’t believe in homeschooling. With the exception of special cases, of course, I believe that it:

1. Does not prepare kids for real-world situations
2. Accustoms them to being alone

No matter how much we all complain about waking up early and spending 7 hours in a building, I think we could all agree that going to a physical school teaches us a number of life skills. We are faced with the challenge of making new friends, which is one that we must be familiar with in the workplace. We do a lot of group work, which builds communication skills also needed in the workplace. Even waking up as early as we do and having a set schedule benefits us in ways we cannot yet envision. Overall, my main concern with homeschooling is that it keeps kids sheltered. In fact, I have a friend who is cyber schooled and was homeschooled for most of her childhood. She is unfortunately extremely socially awkward, and it shows when she is faced with a situation that we may face on the daily. She only leaves her house twice a week, both times to go to church. Although she is not technically being limited, I find that she is only because of her obliviousness and lack of access to opportunity. 

Being isolated from society is, in my opinion, never the right answer simply because of these repercussions and loss of awareness. The act of going to school is not just an academic education, but a social one. It amazes me how much we have all grown from timid and shy preschoolers making our way through a lengthy three-hour school day to socially mature (for the most part) young adults. 

On that note, do you know anyone who is home or cyber schooled? If so, how do they react in certain social situations? Would you agree with me that they are limited, or do you believe they have the same if not more opportunities?

11 Julie - Lacrosse

     After some consideration, I decided to join the school’s lacrosse team.  This decision was kind of sporadic, but so far, I do not regret it. This year is the first year that I am playing lacrosse after playing field hockey for seven years. During field hockey, I play as a goalie, and I would never change that for the world. However, I decided to play in the field for lacrosse instead of as a goalie.

     With starting a new sport, many new things came to light. One thing is that I am totally in over my head with the number of rules that I have to learn. While the coaches try to explain the rules during practice, they continue to explain that everything is easier to learn while watching a game. Other players continue to say that each referee has their own interpretations of the rules which throws a whole new spin on trying to understand them. I don’t know if I will ever fully understand the rules, but this does not discourage me.

     Another thing that I noticed, was that with the different position I am playing there is a lot more running involved. This might seem stupid to write, but as a goalie for field hockey, I would stay on one side of the field right by the cage, and this did not involve a ton of running. Being a field player for lacrosse requires a lot more running then I have previously done. I knew that there was a lot of running going to be involved, but I never fully grasped this until our first week of practice. I don’t mind the running during our drills now that I have gotten used to the rhythm of practices.

     Although I am confused beyond belief, I really enjoy playing lacrosse. I love playing on a new team of girls who keep encouraging and helping me no matter how many times I mess up. I can’t wait to see how my first game of lacrosse will go.

What is something you didn’t know about a new activity you started?

Stephan 11: The Inability to Focus

Recently when I was trying to get some work done, I found it nearly impossible for me to focus on what I was doing. I tried to limit as many distractions as I possibly could, making sure that my phone and any possible thing that could draw me away was out of sight, however, I still had trouble focusing. Whenever I sat down to do my work, I just found myself drifting off, unable to concentrate on anything. It was infuriating that I wasn’t able to sit down and concentrate. It felt as if there was a mental block stopping me from concentrating.

Eventually, I just had to step away and just take my mind off of everything. After about a half-hour, I figured that it was time to at least attempt to do my work. Oddly enough I was able to sit down and get all of my work done. Now what puzzled me was could I not just start working the first time. Although I made sure that I got rid of all of my physical distractions, I did not reduce any of my mental distractions. This is what led to me not being able to focus. Now, this doesn’t often happen to me, but I wanted to figure out ways to prevent it before it became too common.

The two things that I came up with was to make a to-do list, so I could focus on what needed to be done and set up allotted times to do each task. I’m hoping that this will solve my focus issues and maybe even my procrastination. That being said, have you ever had a time in which you found it difficult to focus?

Sydney Week #11 Downhill

I know there will probably be quite a few posts similar to this for quite obvious reasons but boy are things going downhill. It seems like in all things both big and small, everyone’s life is just going downhill. Whether it’s worldwide incidents such as the Corona Virus or Australia burning, or the small instances like dropping a freaking block of ice on your phone (aka what inspired this blog post).

I’ve always lived with the assumption that things will always get better. We’ve all seen the inspirational posters that say “Hang in there!” with the poor cat dangling on a tree branch. We’ve been told as a society that things will get better; that life as we know it will get better, but at the rate we’re going I’m not sure if that’s true anymore.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not trying to be pessimistic here, but the world is literally falling apart. I mean, entire COUNTRIES are shutting down or preparing to shut down. This is a worldwide issue that could not have come at a worse time. Even though from a long term perspective things such as prom, graduation, concerts, plays, and sports aren’t that important, it’s still devastating to even think about these events getting cancelled.

Yes, I know that, “you’ll hardly remember graduation in 20 years” or “your best years are still to come”, but I can’t help but be sad that we’re missing so many key points in our childhood. These are supposed to be some of the most exciting and enjoyable years where we have fun with our friends and explore the world, but instead we can barely leave our town let alone our homes.

Even though it may not seem like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel yet, I’m still clinging onto the hope that things will get better. Even through the hardest times, the world has managed to pull itself back together and make things better. What’s been getting me through is just remembering the small things. Whether it's a sweet message, a beautiful starry sky, a smile from a loved one, or the satisfaction of finishing a project (or a blog post), there are countless small moments that make life great, so even when everything seems to be going downhill, there will still be many happy memories on the way down.

What’s something that makes you smile even when you’re mad?

Also if you’re wondering, yes I did actually drop a block of ice on my phone and I’m hopefully getting it fixed soon.

Ryan 11: When failure became my motivation

I have played soccer since I was little and enjoyed it. A few years ago, I decided I wanted to play soccer at a higher level. I wanted to compete with kids at my level of skill and higher to improve my own game. I tried out for a soccer club team near where I lived, a lot of people I knew at the time were on it and I looked up to the team. I attended two days of tryouts and evaluations to see if I was good enough. Later that week, I got mail that said I did not make the cut. Immediately after, I doubted myself and I was hurt. I failed.

I experienced true failure, I went into something hoping and seeking success and fell short. Yes, I put my head down at first, but eventually realized that I was not going to let this loss make me give up. I was determined to play at a higher level to better myself. I had to overcome the self doubt to be satisfied. So I practiced and practiced, with the school team and more importantly on my own. I would always have the ball at my feet. I wanted to try again and possibly make the team this time. I learned that I shouldn’t just re-try I should shoot higher. After the confidence in my skill returned from practicing and training. I decided to try out for a different team yet this one was much higher ranked and one of the most well known soccer organizations in the area, lehigh valley united. So I tried out and I was very nervous, but played well since I had confidence from all the hard work I put in. I ended up making the team which was great. We then went on and  played the team I got cut from in a match. Then we beat them and on top of that I scored a goal which is a feeling I won’t forget.

In conclusion, I faced failure and overcame it. If I would have given up I wouldn’t have ever received that satisfaction of coming back. Now I have learned to see failure as success because it gives me a drive and want to be successful, which I didn’t have before. Failure is extremely hard to combat, but not impossible. It is only temporary while the time you have to work hard and practice is infinite. I learned that from this very experience and I will never forget it. Rejection is not the end, but only the beginning of your comeback story. What did you learn from failure in the past?

Owen: 11 Life is crazy right now!

I think everyone can agree on my title of the blog that life is crazy with the coronavirus pandemic panic. Schools are shutting down, professional sports are being suspended or postponed, air travel is being limited, yet Nazareth is still in school. Although the coronavirus seems to cause problems for the older generation, it is definitely a scary thing to still be operating school and other activities. However, that isn't to say I want the school to close.

The government just put a 30-day travel ban from flights to Europe or back to the US. That's crazy! And on top of that our president may or may have not come in to contact with a coronavirus victim. Following the effect of this virus on our government, it is also taking a toll on our economy. The stock market is at the lowest it has been since the latest crash in 1987! Thanks to COVID-19. The dow jones average is down almost 2,500 points! That's -9.99% passing the 1987 crash by .93%.

Not only is this virus taking our economy by storm it's also taking our professional sports away from us! The NBA, NHL, MLB, NFL, and MLS are all suspending their regular seasons as of today. That means there's nothing to watch. Yes, we have Netflix, but being a 16-year-old male I need sports. However, that's not the only live sporting event canceled within the last couple of days. College-level sports have all either been postponed or suspended for two weeks minimum. Including, if not the best college-level live sports phenomenon, March Madness. The tournament that every sports fanatic looks forward to every March has officially been canceled. 

This is where my worry starts to shape. For example, schools in our area are starting to close because of the virus. My worry is not that someone will get the virus, but more so that it will disrupt all of education and sports at our school. My varsity baseball season just started and feels like it might be ending or postponed very soon. 

Hopefully, everything will all calm down within the next month or so and business will go on as usual. 

How do you feel about the hype/ panic surrounding the coronavirus in your daily life?

Liam 11 - Coronavirus

Coronavirus

Yesterday, the Coronavirus was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Although the term may seem ominous, it only means that the virus is present all throughout the world. This doesn’t really change how we should be defending ourselves against it, but we can’t ignore the virus. It is here, and it will take drastic measures to contain it.

Surprisingly, the most successful response to the virus I have read about is China’s. Since China is such a centralized, controlled state, they have an advantage in preventing the spread of Coronavirus; they can force citizens to remain in houses and have total control of everything that happens within their borders. Citizens are used to government intervention and censure of their lives. They immediately shut down almost everything for two weeks- the incubation period is 2-14 days. Seemingly healthy people can walk around for two weeks infecting others - that’s part of what makes Coronavirus so contagious. As America is a free state often shackled by bureaucracy, we can’t control the movement of the population or shut everything down as easily or quickly, meaning we are at risk to suffer the same fate as Italy. Our best hope is to shut down all but the most essential societal functions--utilities, food, law enforcement, fire stations, hospitals, etc. If people can limit their contact, it is possible to reduce the total number of people sick at the same time. At the current rate, the virus is spreading exponentially, this will lead to overwhelmed hospitals where doctors are forced to use triage to determine who receives limited resources. If we can encourage individuals to isolate themselves to keep healthy people separate, we can slow the spread to a more linear curve, reducing strain on limited medical resources. This is what China did and they have fewer new cases. Italy arguably didn’t act soon enough, their recent countrywide shut down will help. The U.S. is about ten days behind Italy.

Hopefully the virus magically disappears, but we have to prepare for the worst. As Douglas Adams so wisely put it, the first step in any situation is “don’t panic”.

How long do you think it will take for things to start shutting down, and what do you think will happen with the virus?

Mackenna 11: Personality Types

In Junior Seminar, we used this website to determine our four-letter personality type. Although I was

hesitant to take it, I decided to give it a shot anyway. Personally, I don’t think I know myself very well, which made this test a little bit harder for me. However, I would say my results came out to be surprisingly accurate.

There are sixteen personality types total, which I won’t go into because there are so many! I will, however, discuss the four categories that the personality types are divided into. These categories are the analysts, diplomats, sentinels, and explorers.

• Analysts are known to be very intellectual with a natural love for learning.
• Diplomats tend to be more passionate and empathetic. 
• Sentinels value organization and stability. 
• Explorers are known for their crazy energy and their spontaneity. 

Everybody’s personality can fall into one of these four categories.

After taking two personality tests, I got the same type both times: INFP, or the mediator. To be honest, I had no idea what this code even meant until I read the information provided about it. I found it really interesting that this website could determine my personality so accurately just by answering a few questions. According to 16personalities, I have introverted, intuitive, feeling, and prospecting personality traits, hence the code INFP. I thought this was a very common personality to have, but it turns out to be the opposite! INFP’s make up only 4% of the population, which unfortunately makes me more likely to be misunderstood. The website also says some characteristics I have, which are being affectionate, creative, altruistic, and idealistic. Once again, I feel like this was pretty accurate. Additionally, the website lists all your strengths and weaknesses, ideal career paths, friendships, romantic relationships, and so much more!

I also had the rest of my family take the personality test and their results were also really accurate. My sister actually ended up with one of the rarest personality types with only 0.8% of the population! My brother, on the other hand, had some trouble getting the personality that fits him best. He took the test the first time and got a personality that didn’t fit him at all, so he took it again and it was much more accurate the second time. Therefore, I think it’s important to take it twice if you feel as though your personality doesn’t quite match. On the plus side, I think it’s really cool to see how my personality fits with the personalities of my family and friends.

Overall, I think this was a really fun experience and I enjoyed learning about different personalities. Although it’s not always 100% accurate, I would highly recommend trying it out to anyone who hasn’t seen this or experimented with it before. I think it’s so cool to learn more about yourself and the people around you.

What’s your personality type? Do you think it describes you accurately?

Renee 11: Summer!

Because the current climate of our society seems to be overwhelming, I felt I should write about something I´m looking forward to in the future: summer! Obviously, most people are excited about the long-awaited, stress-free break of sleeping in and soaking up the sun, but for me, this summer will be even better because of the new freedom I unlocked this past summer. This year has not been the greatest so far, as most people in their junior year would probably agree. Getting my license, however, was most definitely the best thing that´s happened to me to date, and I cannot wait to take full advantage of it starting in June.

I plan on working a lot more, which sounds boring, but with a means to get there by myself and obtain more hours, there will be more money to spend on other activities this summer. When I´m not working, I plan on going to the beach with my friends on day trips of a sort. This is something I have been anxious to do since I was little. 

Another reason I am looking forward to this is the fact that it is my last summer as a true teenager. This time next year I will be eighteen, committing to a college, and becoming an adult. With this in mind, I know to squeeze everything I can out of the two and a half months of no school and increased freedom. I want to live in the moment and enjoy being a kid while I can. Although I know there are still limitations to driving at age seventeen, this summer will undoubtedly be the best yet.

What are you looking forward to doing the summer before your senior year?

Me in three months!

Emma 11: Museum of Natural History

Last weekend I stayed in New York, and my family went to the Museum of Natural History on our last day there. In the past, I had visited it with my cousin and our moms. I thought it was really interesting when I was little, so I hoped it would be just as interesting the second time around 10 years later. Luckily, I ended up finding everything even more intriguing than I did last time.

First, we went into the dinosaur area, which didn’t entertain me for very long. This was probably my least favorite part of the day. Although dinosaurs are amusing, they can quickly get boring to look at when there are hundreds of models of them that are very similar to one another. However, my mom loves dinosaurs. This meant we had to stay in this area for as long as she wanted to keep her happy. None of us had eaten actual breakfast that morning because most hotels in the city don’t provide a complimentary breakfast like they usually do, so my sisters and I got hangry after being forced to stay in the dinosaur exhibit for almost an hour and half. Finally, my mom agreed to move on from the dinosaurs. We ended up getting lunch there, which I would not recommend because it wasn’t very good.

Although there were many other parts of the museum that I thought were interesting such as the African mammals and Asian culture areas, my favorite part of the museum was the Hall of Ocean Life. There was a huge replica of a blue whale hanging from the ceiling, which I was extremely afraid of when I first visited the Museum of Natural History. This time around I thought it was amazing to see just how large some of the world’s creatures are. The scenes of the ocean animals also looked very realistic. Having so many different types of information about the entire world in one place is a really unique feature that most museums don’t have. I would definitely recommend visiting the Museum of Natural History if you haven’t already. Have you ever been to a museum or art exhibit in New York?

Joe 11: The Dent

First off, I’m aware you all know about the dent in the bright orange Dodge Dart that I drive to school every day. I’m aware that my Smiles and Frowns/life story updates have been peppered with tales of the reasonably-small blemish above the left wheel well. I’m aware that I sound kind of like a clown for making it as big a deal as it is, for the damage isn’t really anything past a slight error in a parking job.

However, in a rather surprising turn of events, that dent has sent me spiraling into reconsideration about a lot of things.

The temporary solution to the issue

Maybe it was the icy sensation of my heart dropping into my feet when I heard the gut-wrenching screech of metal being shredded against a garage entrance. Perhaps it was the fact that looking at the crunched fender left me with the feeling one gets after stepping on their dog’s tail accidentally (except, y’know, 20x worse). You could even chalk it up to my dad, a certifiable man of composure and a “car guy,” taking one look at the damage and exclaiming “OH MY GOD, BRO!” in surprise. I honestly have no idea.

Whatever the cause, I felt awful. In fact, I’ve never been so ready to throw money at a problem until it goes away. That’s saying something coming from the dude who has now written three separate blog posts that allude to how broke I am constantly. It confused me as well. Why did such a minor incident have me reeling for a way to shoot a cannon full of bills at the nearest dent repairman?

I answered my question sort of by accident a few days later. I was talking about our cars with a close friend of mine, and the conversation shifted to why I love mine as much as I do. There were the basic answers, such as “it’s the coolest car ever,” or “because I’ve spent so much time working to keep it, I have a great pride in that 6-speed subcompact chariot of glory.” These are both very true, don’t get me wrong. But for some reason, a third response popped into my brain.

I told her that car gave me the freedom I’d been craving for almost every second of my 16.5 years of my life. I am free to foster a social life, make money, and just go somewhere because the mood strikes. That car gave me that gift, and I love it for that reason.

It harkens back to why I was so horrified by that dent. I’d hurt one of my closest companions. The means by which I live my life to the fullest. And sure I could’ve wrapped it around a tree going 80 on a highway or drove it face-first into a ditch. But walking outside and seeing the fender looking good-as-new was relief beyond compare.

I am happy to report the car is on-track to getting 100% fixed this weekend by the power of my elbow grease, my dad’s knowledge of what do even do, and a sprinkling of jank. The Road Cone will be back to looking as good as the day it rolled off the assembly line. Only lasting downside? I have yet to park in my garage without having to stop, confront my inner demons, pray, and meditate before even considering a parking attempt. Hopefully that goes away soon.

Liz 11: Birthdays

My birthday was this week on Wednesday, and my little sister turned 5 last week. Seeing how we celebrated her birthday versus how my birthday was celebrated really made me think about how birthdays change as a person gets older. I mean the way we celebrate my sister’s 5th and my 17th birthday is obviously gonna be different, but it was an interesting realization

My sister talked about her birthday for weeks before it actually happened. She was beyond excited about it. The night before my sister’s birthday, my mom went out to the store and bought her a balloon and tied it around a bunch of my sister’s favorite cookies. I wasn’t home for most of the day (between school and work), but I know she got a bunch more balloons as well as a cake. My parents also made her favorite food and watched Frozen 2 with her. They didn’t do anything super big, but she had a great time and was telling me all about it the next day.

I didn’t really think about my birthday until about a week before it. I woke up on my birthday with a call from my mom; she had already left for the day and called to wish me a happy birthday and let me know there was a surprise on the kitchen table for me. I went downstairs to find she went to Dunkin’ sometime before she left at 6 am to get me coffee. It was a really sweet gesture I wasn’t expecting because my parents don’t often go out of their way like that for me. After school, I went out for frozen yogurt with my mom and sister’s, while my dad and brother left for Philly. They had tickets for a sixer’s game, which my brother got for Christmas. They asked me if I cared that it was on my birthday before they bought the tickets, but it still kinda sucked that they weren’t there. Anyway, my mom dropped me off at my friend’s house, and we hung out until my boyfriend got off of work. The three of us went out to dinner and had a fun night. Honestly, it didn’t feel different from some weekends I have with my friends.

Why do we make such a big deal out of a person’s birthday when they’re young, but as they get older it’s just another day? Some adults don’t even mention their birthday anymore. I feel if we’re gonna make a big deal out of it for kids, why can’t people of all ages experience the joy I saw in my sister? Because, to be honest, I feel like a lot of us could use some of that innocent excitement right now.

Ryan 10: FBLA

With FBLA right around the corner on April 2, I'm excited to go on the fun trip and compete with other qualifiers. FBLA stands for future business leaders of America because the organization is involved with various business topics. My group qualified last year, we didn't place in states, but that is okay because we qualified this year too.

To qualify for states you have to place top five out of other groups and schools. Each group or individual has to choose a business topic and then choose to do a presentation or a test on it. My friends and I decided to do a group test because it would be easiest. We were right, and we qualified for states, but there is a catch. We placed sixth last year which doesn't qualify, but another group above us dropped out so we were invited to go. The funny part is that the same exact scenario happened again this year. We placed sixth again this year and another group dropped out. The two topics we chose were marketing last year and global business this year.

The competition is in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Most schools dorm in the Hershey lodge which is nice. Unfortunately we didn't get into the Hershey lodge last year so i'm hoping we get in this year because many events are held there. Even if you don't find success in states and qualify for regionals it's still a good experience and fun time with friends. Hopefully we do better this year, so that we can be recognized. What clubs do you do? Does FBLA sound like something you would want to be apart of?