My Sophomore Year..

My sophomore year of high school was one that made me laugh so hard that I had tears of joy and also is the year where I have met so many new people that I can't keep up with all of them. I have enjoyed this school year but I am ready to move on to my junior year. I have learned many things this year which include responsibility (autonomy), friendships, and a lot of academic things as well.

I am ready to move on to my junior year because of the responsibility I have learned to have and use. I really need to have a lot of self control and autonomy packed into my lifestyle, especially in high school. I need responsibility in my life because I am growing up and the "grown-up world" isn't going to treat me like a little kid for long, it will eat me up and spit me out. I need autonomy too; autonomy means to do what you're supposed to do all by yourself without being told to do it. This year as a sophomore I took a Spanish II class and that's how my teacher ran the class, through autonomy. So in order to pass the class you had to do the work either in class or at home and if you didn't then you would fail her class. This really helped me to realize that I am not going to have a teacher or my mom on my back all the time telling me to get things done. I will definitely use these lessons through my whole life and they will help me to succeed.

I have also learned about friendships. Some of the people in my life at school have either been there forever or I just met them but either way they will be there for me no matter what. I think I learned that friendships are important at school because they help you get through everything ranging from the cafeteria rumors to the teacher "hating me". Friends are good people to have around and sometimes things go wrong but there will always be a way to fix it, and you should. Some friendships surpass sophomore year too, and I know that all of mine will.

This year, as a sophomore, I had a very hard academic schedule to follow. My schedule looked like this, Hon. Algebra II/Trigonometry, Gifted Course, AP World History, 10 Hon. English, Spanish II, AP Chemistry, and last but not least an Athletics class. My schedule was one that consisted of five AP or honors courses out of seven! This really helped me to stay on the ball with all of my work to get all A's and that wasn't easy. I also had to keep with two sports while getting all A's. What I learned from all of these advanced and honors classes is that I can do it again for my junior and senior year and this will help me a lot when I am trying to get into college. When I make it all the way to the college level it's going to be a good feeling that I made it all the way from high school all while taking the harder classes. Maybe even in college I can take more AP and honors classes again because I will already be experienced on how to handle passing so many.

My sophomore year has been a pleasure full of it's up's and down's. I want to move on to my junior year though because I am ready to grow up and get out of high school, with a diploma of course! All I know is that I have a great understanding of responsibility for the life I have ahead of me. I know how to keep friends and to be loyal to them too, and I have a good academic background already behind me while I am still going to go for the above and beyond for my academic career that I still have yet to accomplish after high school.

My Anything Essay

For my anything essay I wanted to write about growing up. I think that it's about time that I grew up because I'm not going to be living with my parents forever. I am going to go through a lot of changes like being able to pay for all my bills, including filling up my car on gas. I'm going to have many, many more bills to pay and rules to follow. I'm going to have a house bill, a car bill, a heating/cooling bill, a grocery bill, gas bill, an electric bill, and everything else in between.

This summer my mom is going to make me get a summer job even if it conflicts with my summer sports schedule. She says that I'm supposed to have a job already. I need to send in my application's myself and I have lots of inside people at many places that I can work at. My mom also said that since I have a car I should be doing all of these things myself and stop depending on her to get my stuff done.

That's another thing, I have a car. I have one and when I first got it I didn't have to pay for anything, especially gas. I did take good care of it though, I did stuff like wash it by hand and not by machine. So, my 16th birthday just passed and I got a ton of money. Now apparently I am supposed to use all that money to pay for everything for my car, including all the gas that I use for it. I had a lot of money from my birthday party so all of it, and I mean all of it, is going to that car. I am going to pay for my gas as long as I have that money and I have to buy a new stereo and speakers. To me, and this is just personal, I think paying for your gas money in this economy is a very adult thing to do. Especially when you're only sixteen.

I also have to learn how to do everything this summer. I'm going to try and get a job, go to all my volleyball camps and basketball camps this summer. That is a lot to do and I don't even want to think about doing all of that. It sounds crazy to me at this point in my life, but I want a lot of extra spending money for me to have and not have to spend on the car. I also want to go to my volleyball camps to improve and plus one is out of state and I want to go to that one. I also want to go to my basketball camps to improve on my game and to go to the camps were having out of town too.

Accomplishing all of this is going to be crazy though because the economy is really bad and I can barely afford anything. My family has a very tight budget right now and that's why my parents are making me pay for my gas and anything else I want to get for my car. I think I am growing up and I also think I'm ready for it because I have had many things happen to me in just this past year alone that haven't happened to most people in their whole lifetime. I am ready to grow up!

My Wisdom Quotation

"My life has been well spent, it was as normal as it can get, it was perfectly imperfect and I would do it all again if given the chance." (Gutierrez, Jocelyn)

I wrote this statement because I truly believe that nothing is perfect. I know that my life is one that is normal. I am a human being and that means that I make mistakes on a daily basis. I have learned to accept this fact and I have come to terms with it. I am living my life to the fullest and have no regrets. In my quote I said that I would do it all again if I was given the chance to do so, this means that I don't regret, I just forgive and forget. I have learned through my rather short lifetime that you just have to let some things go and move on, you can't live in the past forever because you will probably just go crazy.

If today was the last day of my life journey I would write or say this quote. I would say it because I strongly believe that it sums up my life simply and yet it is in full detail, I'm only human. I know that if my family was asked the same question but about my life they would probably say the same thing too. I think that this could sum up many lives, but I am the one who came up with it and the one who thinks it sums up their life perfectly. My life is so imperfect that this quote is perfect. I love how this is so easy for me to think of because I found out a lot of things when I was writing this quote, that I'm not perfect I do make mistakes and I am going to mess up sometimes but it's always going to be ok in the end.

If these were the last words that I would ever speak I would say them for this reason, and this reason only, they are true. That's it, they are perfect. I am not perfect I am normal and make mistakes and this life is going good so far despite some mistakes I have made in the past I would do it all again if I was  given the chance to. My quote is just one of the ways to describe many lives, so many perfectly imperfect lives. In my lifetime I have made some mistakes. This makes me human because that's what we do, we make mistakes. I think that many people have these same thoughts and would use this quote too.

My life is well lived and I am going to keep continuing doing what I'm doing because I think that I am on the right path and will stay on this path all through my life.  I hope that my quote inspires some kids in the future because it has inspired me, I have never written a quote before this and I really like it because it came from the heart and I thought of it right off the bat. My life is easily summed up by this small and straight to the point quote. My life is really good and I think that it is most definitely perfectly imperfect to the fullest. I wouldn't have it any other way and I would do it all again the exact same way with all the exact same mistakes.

Hmmm, If I Were Will Smith

If I could be anyone else for a day I would want to be Will Smith. There are a lot of reasons for wanting to do this. I will name just a few of them in this essay. The first main and obvious reason is that he is a male. I mean who wouldn't want to change your gender, especially if it was just for a day? The second reason is because I think, from my perspective, that he is a good guy. He has been my role model for quite some time. The third reason is that he an African-American. I've always wondered what it would be like to be of a different race.

The first reason is my main reason because ever since I was little I have just pondered that question as to what it would be like to be the opposite sex for the day. What makes me even more open to the subject of changing places for a day is that reason right there, it's just like that for a day. If I could be Will Smith that would be even better because outside closed doors he seems like a really nice guy. He has been faithful to his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith for all these years and he has his kids. I think that shows that he has family values.

The second reason is that in my eyes he seems like a role model. He loves his wife and children very much. Of course, has a steady job and most importantly he has never been in the news or media for negative attention. That really shows me something. I remember he once released an album that had absolutley had no profanity on it which was a really incredible thing because that's like the "in" thing. This role model thing he has going on makes me confident about being in his shoes for the day because I know that I won't be viewed negatively by anyone at all.

My third reason for wanting to be Will Smith for a day would be this; he is of a different race than me. He is African-American and I am Hispanic. I would definitely want to be of a different race for one day if I was given the opportunity to. I have always wondered what it would be like to see the world from a different colored skin. I know that it is different now though, a lot different. I mean, there's no slavery for one part and African-Americans are a very popular race in the rap and hip-hop music industry.

I think Will Smith is an overall amazing person. He is a husband, father, musician/artist, an actor, etc. He has my respect and for this I wouldn't mind taking his place just for a day because he is a respectable man and person. If I was him for a day I wouldn't have any drama in my life that was caused by me. Maybe I would have drama in my life but it would be caused by other people like the paparazzi for example. I think my decision for which person I would be for a day is a wise one and not just chosen out of entertainment.