Senior Post 4

My favorite teacher is someone who left our school last year. This person also never taught me a specific subject but was a coach of sorts. He was not just my teacher, but my role model, my best friend, my ally, my coach and mainly, a second father to me. He knew how to calm me down by just saying, “Sleep” but also know how to rile me, and everyone else, up to perform the very best we can. He taught me valuable life lesson that I will never forget. You may e wondering who “he” is. He is Chuck Hawkins, one of the greatest men I have ever met in my life.
Chuck Hawkins was our marching band director the first three years of my High School career. He is my favorite teacher because he was so much more than just a teacher. He taught me how to be proud of myself even if we didn’t do as well as I had hoped. He taught me what a leader needs to do and how to lead. He taught me to make good life decisions and that if you don’t achieve something one year you might very well get it the next year. Chuck was the first adult that I had ever called by their first name. I believe that helped me become even closer to him. Last year was his final year working with our marching band and I have missed him this entire year. I still remember the last competition when I hugged him and couldn’t believe that it was the last one I would ever see him at. Chuck had seen me at my worst and my best. He gave me my nick name “pumpkin feet” my freshman year and started my tradition of wearing new, and crazier colored, Chuck Taylors every marching season. I can’t believe I made it through this year without him. He changed my life and I know I would not be the same without him. And finally, at the end of the day I ask myself “Am I better today than I was yesterday?” and if I am, it means that I am a success and I owe that success to Chuck.

Senior Post 3

My favorite high school memory was not when school was actually in session. It was last summer in Hampton Virginia. My favorite memories in High school are from Engineering Governor’s School. These four weeks were like one giant favorite memory because I had the best time of my life there. On the first day we moved into our dorms. We stayed in the dorms at Christopher Newport University and got to work at the NASA Langley Research Center. At this mentorship we basically got to live on our own, with four adult Resident Assistants. There were 18 of us, 12 for the Engineering Mentorship and 6 for the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Mentorship, 8 girls, 10 guys. We all became the best of friends. At this mentorship I got to meet the president of the National Institute of Aerospace, the Chief of Science at the NASA Langley Research Center, and the producers and hosts of the show NASA 360. We worked every weekday from 8 to 5 and would relax on weekends. Every weekend we had a group trip. We went to Busch Gardens, Water Country USA and the beach. At this summer program I made one of the best friends of my entire life. His name is Nick Tibbetts. Nick and I spent almost every minute together. We became very close and shared everything with one another. One of my favorite memories was four nights before we left when Nick I decided to stay up all night long and work on our research papers and my movie project. We were in our separate rooms but talked on the computer the entire night while staying up on energy drinks and sugar. The next day we both went to work and were completely exhausted, so exhausted that when we came back to the dorm we were sitting in my room and I lied down on my bed for a second and Nick was leaning against the wall at the end of my bed. We both ended up falling asleep and didn’t wake up till the next morning. It was so funny because no one made him move back to his room when it was curfew because everyone, even the R.A.’s knew how tired we were. There were many other great memories with some other very close friends of mine, Wesley, Jon, Greg, Jake, Sam, Keia, Lara, and Lauren. This experience gave me a taste of the independence and the fun that college will bring, and I can’t wait.

Senior Post 2

Tick, tock, tick, tock. The clock is counting down the seconds until I get to leave this jail of a building just to come back again tomorrow. Tick, tock, tick, tock. The teacher is up front giving a lecture about something that’s really of no interest to me. Tick, tock, tick, tock. “Katie do you have the answer?” Oh man. I should have been paying attention. Tick, tock, tick, tock. The teacher is waiting. I scramble and look at the board. Tick, tock, tick, tock. Thank God, I know the answer. I give the teacher my answer and she gives me a look. The, you better pay attention or there’s going to be a problem, look. And then I realized I really should be paying attention. Tick, tock, tick, tock. The bell rings, it’s time to go home. Education is a very important part in a teenager’s life, contrary to popular belief. Many kids think that school is worthless but in reality we all need our education. Our generation is supposed to fix the problems of the future and we need to be educated to be able to do that. We need history classes to learn the mistakes of the past so we do not repeat them again in the future. We need English to be able to read, speak and write correctly. We need the sciences to find out how everything works and reacts with each other. And finally we need math to teach us the fundamentals to life and how everything works. Teachers are the most fundamental part of the education process. Without them we would learn nothing. Sometimes we may hate them for the crazy amount of homework but we learn great life lesson about time management and how to work in groups. I have thought that after my career as an engineer I want to become a teacher. Being a teacher give you the opportunity to completely change a person’s life. I know that my teachers have changed my life for both better and worse. I hope that I can take what they have taught me and apply it to my own teaching methods later on in life. I would like to thank every teacher I have had for the past twelve years of my life because without them I would not be the person I am today.

Senior Post 1

I’m walking down the entrance tunnel and I can feel the base of the music banging in my chest. I hear the sound effects as the timer starts and stops the game, and the cheers from the crowd are deafening. I step out into the dome and I see it all. Five fields, all 27 feet by 54 feet. 5 giant projector screens and people running by with tools, parts and robots. As we continue to push the robot I look around the Georgia Dome. It is one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen there are thousands upon thousands of people in the stands watching these games. I hear the roar of the crowds at the end of the game and I see that it’s time for our game. We bring our robot up to the field and place it on the carpet and then get off the field. I stand on the side with the rest of the photographers as our drive team goes behind the Plexiglas wall. The M.C. goes to the middle of the field and announces our team number; I can hear the roar behind me from the other sixty members of my team that are up in the stands watching the game. I tension is high as the rest of the teams are announced and softer cheers ring in the huge stadium. The M.C. counts down and the game begins. Our robot races to the other side of the field and then makes a sharp turn passing the other teams’ robots in the process, all controlled by the automatic programming in the robot. The autonomous period ends and then the drive team steps up to the operator interface. The match continues on and our team grabs the 40 inch diameter balls and slingshots them over the ten foot high obstacle, over and over again. The other alliance is doing the same and the scores are so close. The timer keeps counting down and soon it’s only 15 seconds left. The adrenaline is rushing through my body and I almost can’t stand it. The score is 75-65 not in our favor and then the balls are placed on the top. We get the two blue ones up there and the other alliance only gets one. The buzzer sounds and it’s the end of the game. We clear off the robots and stand off to the side and wait for them to show the score. We wait, and wait, and wait and then it comes up 85-95. We won! Everyone is cheering and jumping up and down. We made it to semi finals and this feeling is the best I have ever felt.

CE #3

Gay Marriage On or Off?

I believe that Proposition 8 is completely ridiculous. I do not understand how the California Government can give homosexuals the right to get married and then just take it all away from them in one day. I think that gay people have the same rights as anyone else and aren't we all equal under the law? There is always going to be a minority that does not get the same rights that everyone else has. First it was the native americans and blacks, then the women, and now the homosexuals. If we are supposed to be the land of the free we should give every person, man, woman, black, white, gay, straight, tall, short, the same rights as everyone else. I hope that the rest of the United States can come to realize that the people we deny those rights to aren't any different than you and me.

CE #2

Diversity in the Supreme Court

Everyone talks about diversifying the Supreme Court and now the time has come. Souter is leaving soon and then that will leave the court with five Catholics and two Jews. This will be a seriously bias Supreme Court and hopefully Obama will do something about it. There are other ways for President Obama to make the current court, one of the most homogenous in history in terms of education and experience, look more like America. All of the Supreme Court Justices went to private colleges. Obama could nominate someone that graduated from a public school because 75% of citizens in the United States graduate from public institutions. I think that we need more diversity in the court. Possibly another black? Or maybe even a Hispanic? Knowing Obama he will try his hardest to diversify the Supreme Court but still pick a worthy candidate.

CE #1

Twitter the Game Show?

I don't understand why Social Networking sites such as facebook, myspace, or twitter seem to be the end all be all of every teenager in the United States. Now they want to create a show that creates competitions to see who can use the computer better. Soon we won't even have any outdoor activities if this is what "reality" game shows are coming to. This basically shows how lazy America is getting. We have to find entertainment in watching people surf the internet and see who can do it the best. I really don't understand how this can be entertaining at all. Hopefully the producer of this show will realize that this show has no point and it doesn't actually take up a time slot on TV.

Editorial #5

"The Obama administration has warned both companies that it may let them sink into bankruptcy. In the meantime, though, more money is probably on the way -- along with some cosmetic management changes. Rick Wagoner, GM's chief executive of blessed memory, has already been pushed out, and the company's directors are heading in the same direction. Still, somebody -- God only knows who -- is supposed to come up with yet another plan to save GM and do it in 60 days. Maybe they'll outsource it." From my editorial, Broke Means Broke.

I cannot believe that these automobile companies that were just given billions of dollars to save their companies are asking for even more money less than six months later. The fact is that these companies are wasting the money on giving people raises and frivolously spending it on unneeded items or activities. The Obama administration needs to sit down with these companies and create budgets that they will directly follow so their company does not go bankrupt

Editorial #4

The Israeli parliament will probably approve a new government that, from Washington's point of view, looks problematic. Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu had a rocky relationship with the Clinton administration when he last held the post in the late 1990s. His new coalition is dominated by nationalists and religious fundamentalists; his choice for foreign minister has proposed stripping Arabs of citizenship unless they pledge their loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state. Arab leaders are sounding the alarm about a coalition that, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat charged on the opposite page Saturday, exemplifies "some of the worst traditions in Israeli politics."

This is a problem that the new administration needs to work on. The problem with this new government is that it could start another war just like the one we have on Afghanistan and Iraq at the moment. I worry that the United states is too concerned with other countries, while we are in trillions of dollars in debt and are struggling to keep our own economy floating. I think the United states needs to back off from trying to save other nations while we struggle to save our own.

Editorial #3

The article I read was called, What Left Turn? and It was all about what obama has been doing right and how he has been working on keeping his promises. The author talks about many subjects. On the war in Iraq,ahe says that Obama has, stepped back from his brigade-a-month withdrawal plan and stretched his 16-month departure timetable to 19 months. She continues to defend obama the entire article and say how amazing he is for doing what he is doing. I don't believe this is exactly the correct approach to take because yes Obama has made mistakes, its okay to admit that. He's only human. We can't ask too much of him. She continues to talk about social issues and how Obama has proceeded largely as promised during the campaign. She then talks about his education speech that he made and not only defended him but also criticized other for their opinions. She ends the article by saying " But these are different questions from those about Obama's supposed radicalism. He's doing, or trying to do, what he promised, smoothed out by the real-world demands of governing. How shocking is that?" Basically her overall point is that everyone needs to calm down, Obama will fulfill his promises eventually. Just with the economy today, it takes time.

Editorial #2

While skimming the Washington Post I came across an editorial called The Balancing Act. This caught my attention so I decided to read on.

I found that this article was all about the economy and how things have changed very much since the Bush Administration was around. Leaders of the Group of 20 nations met in Washington on Nov. 15 and since then President Obama has replaced George W. Bush. A new economic team is in the United States. And the financial crisis that Obama inherited has, intensified. The G-20 finance ministers will be meeting in England this weekend. And they will definitely have their hands full with what is going on today.

It continues to list the problems the group will be facing and how all the different countries should work together to help the economy reach normalcy again. It was a very informal read and I really want to hear what happens at this meeting and what agreements they make.

Editorial #1

So i found an editorial all about how few pardons George W. Bush gave at the end of his term. Bush actually gave very few and the editorial criticized him for this. The author continued to talk about how there is no point in having the power to pardon if you dont use it to it's full extent. Also it speculated that the reason for so few pardons was because of all of the drama after Clinton's term. Personally I think Bush didn't want to create anymore drama than he already had with the war and the economy. Hopefully Obama can use this power to the full extent to show how it is truly supposed to be used.

Final Post for Second Quarter

This quarter many things have happened in the United States. Obama appointed his Cabinet members, Gaza was attacked, our economy sunk even lower than before and more and more jobs were lost everyday. Yet, here in Northern Virginia, we have felt nothing from this. I talk to my aunts and uncles in other places around the country and they are getting laid off, put on paid leave and things of that sort. But here, no one that i know of has really felt the effects of the crisis. At the same time i dont know if we really have a right to call it a crisis. More than half the people around the world live on less than three dollars a day, and a third of those people live on less than a dollar. Yet, when our economy drops, and maybe we lose a bit of our wealth, everyone goes into a panic. I wish people could understand this is not the end of the world. It just means we have to limit our spending until we get back on the right track. Okay I will get off of my soapbox now. Hope you enjoyed!

Post 4

I saw this political cartoon and found some very serious humor in it. Everyone thinks it is okay to make fun of bush and blame him for all of our problems. In reality it is more of Congress's fault for passing most of the laws that put us where we are today. I am glad that a whole new Congress is starting up and hopefully Obama can reach the change he is looking for. I'm am very worried for our country Over the next few months and hope that things finally take a turn for the better. I'm sure Obama's administration will do a great job, they just might take some time to get there.

Political Cartoon Number 3

I found a pretty funny political cartoon that has Obama watching CNN and deciding that he wants his reporter in his cabinet. In a way I agree with this political cartoon because some of the choices he has made for his cabinet I really don't agree with and I feel like he is making the decisions just to make certain people happy or to close political deals that he may have made. I hope that he is making the right decisions and that his cabinet will be helpful. I am still very skeptical about Hilary Clinton and I do not think that she will be able to live up to our most recent Secretary of State. The first 100 days of his presidency should be interesting.