Memories of Summit High
By: Dani

I think my favorite memories of Summit High would be how much fun the classes are. I like to come to school and have easy classes because that will help me graduate, but at the same time I like a challenge.

I think another thing that I like is that I have fun with the people that are fun. Not everyone has a good day, but when most people are it is way fun to just chill with friends and talk about crazy and stupid things. I will miss all the people who make me laugh.

Another thing is that I liked the fact we had prom. That was SO much fun, even though I almost didn’t go because I thought it was going to be lame.

I will never forget my time at Summit High because it helped me to catch up on my graduation. I can’t wait till next year I am graduating and it is going to be amazing.

I will also miss all the people that have helped me through all the hard times I have had at this school, even though I didn’t deserve their help. It shows a lot of courage that people are willing to be my friend even though I am a very hard person to get along with. So, thank you all the people that have helped me.

I am very sad to go, but next year I am going to a new school like normal, but this time it is my choice, so I am happy.

Heroes
by Dani

“When it is dark, you can see the sky.” This quote has a lot to do with the heroes that we know. Look at Superman and Spiderman for instance. We all love these fictional characters because they always conquer the bad guys.

We read a book called Persepolis, which was a graphic novel about a young girl named Marji, who over comes a lot of challenges that she has in her life. One of her heroes was her Uncle, who was sent to prison and then later killed because the government found out that he was a Russian Spy. Then she was sent to live with her family friends, who later on sent her to a boarding school. She went through many things here. She started doing drugs, got cheated on, and eventually ended up on the streets. When she went home the war was almost over and she was very happy. The governments made the females wear a veil, which made them hide their hair.

Later on we watched a movie called Swing Kids. It is about some boys who love to dance swing, but the government doesn’t allow swing music in their country anymore. For these boys it was a lot to go against the rules because you can get into a lot of trouble. One of the boys Thomas eventually ends up believing all of the things that the government is teaching them. He turns in his dad, goes against his best friend, and almost kills his best friend. I think the true hero in this film was the boy who stood up for everyone. He made sure that everyone was doing okay and he had fun while he was doing it. It took a lot of guts for him to see what was inside of the boxes. Inside the boxes were ashes of people who were killed.

On the last week of school, we watched a film called Hotel Rwanda. What I watched of this movie was really sad. People were getting killed because they were Tutsis or Hutus. This movie was about a man named Paul who was Hutu and his wife was Tutsi. He ended up saving all of these people who would have gotten killed. He gave everything he had to make sure his family was safe and it eventually paid off. He ended up saving about 800,000 people, with the help of his friends and the army. Now, in real life there is still the war going on only it is in Congo. I think it is very sad that nice people have to go through things. I think that the hero was Paul because he could have been killed, but he didn’t care because he wanted to save his family.

Persepolis
By: Dani

My thoughts on the book are that I think this book is way different than most books that I have read. I like how honest the book is.

It shows a little girl trying to live in freedom and be happy. I like how the main character Marjane is trying to change the way she lives from Australia and Iran. She went through some hard things and some examples are drugs, being homeless, and having no one.

This book can relate to me in so many ways. I had an overcoming experience with drugs and I was a very heavy smoker. I also have not had family in my life for a while. My family is dead to me and has been for a little over a year now.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a great book. It shows a lot of history in the book also.

In the end I have many thoughts how it is going to end, one of them being that Marjane will die or she could live a happy life.

So, we had a proverb on the board in class and it got me thinking about a lot of things. The proverb stated, “When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” This made me think about Thanksgiving. That was one of the coolest days that has every happened. I found a really cool star that eventually I want to buy from the star registry because it has a lot of meaning. The girl that I like showed me the star on Thanksgiving and it was really cute, so on some nights when I’m down I go and look at that star to make myself feel better and it does. I have a good cry and then I’m good again.

I gave her a plane that said Hawaii on it a few weeks ago and I did that because it is a promise that I made to her. I told her that I would take her to Hawaii and make her happy. It looked like she was happy when I gave it to her.

We haven’t talked since that day and that makes me sad. I can’t wait till we do though. I think about it all the time and I hope she does too.

She has my fox hat and I wish I could have it back. If she calls me anytime I am going to go get it because my fox hat is my baby.

Dani

So, the first quote means to me that even if life is hard, then you need to just keep going and hopefully things will get better. The second quote means that a thief doesn’t get stolen from because he doesn’t care and the people who he steals from gets hurt because they are scared of what could happen next. The last quote means that you get stronger as you overcome the challenges that you have, if you can get over them and learn from them. They relate to overcoming adversity because you always want to try again even if the challenge is hard and you don’t think you can get through what you are overcoming. The quotes relate to Swing Kids because they are trying to live their lives, but the Nazi’s don’t approve of them swinging. The Nazis want to brainwash you and make you turn against the people that you love the most, but you can’t see it because sometimes once you begin, you can never go back unless you are told that something is wrong with you.

They relate to my life because it’s really hard for me to get over my challenges because I hold grudges, so it makes it hard to want to work it out with other people who are near me. How I overcome challenges is eventually I will go to the person and talk it out with them, even if I don’t want to really do that.

Dani

I would want to be super smart. If I was smart then I could graduate from high school. I am going to be my real mom’s only kid to graduate. My brother Zach never graduated. If I was smart then I would help global warming. I think everyone should help out in some way. Just being you can actually help someone. I think I want to be a super hero, I think that would be way fun. I should be a “Scientist Super Hero.” Helping people is something that makes me happy. I think I should have Alex R help me save the world as Scientist Super Heroes. I think that we should have a super hero no matter what they do. I also think that everyone is a super hero. In a way everyone can help if they just put their minds to it.

Dani

Love is a great thing that everyone has. I recently memorized a poem by Langston Hughes. The poem is “Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird, that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams, for when dreams go, life is a barren field, frozen with snow.” I decided to put this into my journal because everyone dreams of love. If you let it go then you won’t have dreams and if you don’t have dreams then you won’t have something to look forward to in the future. In the future, I have lots of dreams. I want to become a caseworker, and I also want to find the girl of my dreams and marry her. I won’t get married till I’m at least 21 though. So, don’t let your dreams go ever because when you do and the thing you wanted comes, you might never get it. I have been dreaming that I will find the girl I am in love with and date her and hopefully my dream will come true soon. It’s looking like it is going to happen, so I am way excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dani

Narrative Rough Draft

“Whoosh” was the sound as the wind blew towards us. We were slowly going down the mountain until one of us fell. For the four whole weeks we were up there it got harder and harder. They pushed us as far as we could go. The pain was like a deer getting hit by a truck. I am still sore from all of the work that I put into the four weeks. The instructor was getting angry. We all were frustrated, for it was difficult. At the end it was easier, but we still were in pain. My last fall was the worst.

When I found out that I could go with my program, I was excited. I had everything planned out. We had to start the new group which I thought would be easy. I was very wrong. I started to snowboard on March 4, 2009. I only had to pay $150.00 for four times plus all of my gear. I kept falling, but I kept on getting up because I didn’t want to quit. I thought to myself, “Well if Aireal can do it, then so can I.” That day the goal for all of us kids we had to focus on patience. I thought I was doing well, until I fell and hurt my knee. I ended up at the end of the day going on the lift for my first time! I was so happy about that. I also ended up learning my J turns which was fun.

The second time that we went up there we immediately got on the lift and went straight up. This time we ended up going down the whole mountain which was way cool. The second lesson for our group was persistence. The meaning to me is when you don’t succeed try, try again. Those words to me say a lot. I thought that it got a lot harder the second week because we had to strap both feet in and actually work on out toe and heel turns. I thought I was going to break my leg or something as bad as that.

The last couple times that we went were easy, then hard. The third time I went down the hill three times and I ended up getting hit by Rachel’s brother Jeffery. That hurt really bad. He didn’t just hit me once, but he hit me twice. It was funny after though. The lesson for the third one was responsibility. The fourth lesson was pride. The last day was actually the worst because I went on two runs I have never been on and I crashed and burned really hard.

So, in conclusion snowboarding was way fun, but it was also hard. I learned a lot, but I also got hurt. I had a lot of fun. Too bad I can’t go next year. I think when I have a chance to go again. The only thing I will tell people is to wear a helmet because I think if I didn’t have one I could have been really hurt or even dead.



Dani

Narrative Introduction

Learning a new skill

“Whoosh” was the sound as the wind blew towards us. We were slowly going down the mountain until one of us fell. For the four whole weeks we were up there it got harder and harder. They pushed us as far as we could go. The pain was like a deer getting hit by a truck. I am still sore from all of the work that I put into the four weeks. The instructor was getting angry. We all were frustrated, for it was difficult. At the end it was easier, but we still were in pain. My last fall was the worst.


Dani