Pant-O-Mime

Every year Stevenson high school puts on a Pant-O-Mime show. A Pant-O-Mime is where people lip sync to songs and act out scenarios that are popular around the time. I was involved in the Pant-O-Mime show this year. It was my first year because I am a freshman. There were only two freshmen in the show, so it made me feel special.

Preparing for the Pant-O-Mime show takes a lot of time and effort. I was only in one act, so I didn’t have to put in as much time as the people in multiple acts had to. Before the show even started, students had to prepare their act before they could even consider being in the show. My act was called “Be a Man”. It was from the Disney movie Mulan. The group I was in practiced every day after school for an hour a week before try outs. We choreographed moves, and we made sure everyone had an equal opportunity to have a part.

The try outs for the Pant-O-Mime show lasted only about five minutes because you only had to show your act twice. When my group and I walked in to the auditorium, everyone could tell we were nervous. The room was dark and Mrs. Vanhorn told us to go on stage and show the audience what we had. We went on stage and went through the act a few times. Mrs. Vanhorn complimented us and let us continue on with the rest of the day. She let us know that our act number would be outside the auditorium if we made the show.

The next day I got a text message saying that we had made the show and we had to attend the practice. My group and I attended six hour practices required for the show for a week. The show was running smoothly by the end of the first day. The practices were demanding, but they were also fun. I had barely any time to do my homework, but I managed.

After a few weeks of practicing with the whole cast I felt comfortable in front of an audience. Our first performance was during school, and many of my class mates would be attending. As I went on stage I felt butterflies in my stomach, but I knew I was going to do fine. The music turned on the lights glared in my face, and our whole group started to perform. Soon enough the act was over and everyone was rushing out the door to go sit back on the floor to watch the rest of the show.

Over all the Pant-O-Mime show was a great experience even though it only lasted a few weeks. All the people were so enjoyable to be with. I wish the show would of lasted longer. I would defiantly consider being a part of the show next year.

Debate Expirence

During the debate the United Nations was trying to blame the United States for causing the genocide. We stated that when we tried to enter into Rwanda, but we couldn’t get enough support, like armed forces from the United States. The United Nations also needed supplies like tanks from the United States, but the United States refused to provide the materials. They didn’t want to participate in Rwanda because they were previously engaged in a conflict in Somalia. We argued that the United Nations was not reliable for stopping the whole entire genocide and we also needed help from nations that were included in the United Nations to help us out. Belgium was also a main player in the genocide because they were trying to create ethnic diversity, that wasn’t necessary. They had a comment that was really confusing, made no sense and was not relevant to the question, why did you create ethnic diversity? They said that they had to switch from being on the Hutus side to being on the Tutsi’s side.

Even though in the debate the United Nations blamed most of their flaws and mistakes on the United States, I felt the United Nations was responsible for letting the Rwandan Genocide happen, because they didn’t act and try to help prevent the killing in Rwanda. The United Nations just sat back and used excuses to give reasons why they didn’t help. It was hard to find information about the United Nations making smart decisions with good answers. I thought this activity was a good way to portray the decision making of all the countries involved. I liked how all the countries got to state what they thought about their countries decisions and why they aren’t responsible. I think this is a good way of learning about citations because you get to learn the others perspective and before the debate begins you have to do research about the Rwandan Genocide and you have to know all the facts about every side of the genocide. And you have to always be ready to react when someone tried to blame the country you are trying to defend. I liked how you could say what you wanted to say about other countries and try to defend your country in every way possible. Over all I thought the debating was a good experience and it was a better way to help children to learn about historical events.

American Society

Thesis: Emerson's argument in "The American Scholar" about the American society still holds true today.

People want the greatest outcome, while doing the least amount of work. When a student is asked to write a paper, they only meet the requirements. They don't go one step beyond, because when they do the bare minimum they still get the best grade possible. "The tradesman scarcely ever gives an ideal worth to his work, but is ridden by the routine of his craft, and the soul is subject to dollars." When a working person is asked to do a chore they don't usually perform at their best, as long as they get the job done and still get money.

Americans learn only the skills related to their workforce. Americans find that it would be a waste of money and time if they learned things that aren't necessary. Like how to speak a different language when they are planning on being a doctor. When learning how to speak a new language can help when they need to help someone who doesn't speak English. In the air force the men are not taught how to drive ships or submarines, but they are taught how to fly planes. But in war it could be beneficial to the pilot if they knew how to use a boat, because it could give the individual more options.

Halloween is Near

Halloween is just around the corner and everyone is getting excited about dressing up, trick or treating and hanging out with friends. My friends think its lame to go trick or treating because we are in high school now. HA yeah right trick or treating is the best part of the fall season. I am going to be the person who goes trick or treating until they are an adult, and then has kids so they can go trick or treating with them. I love dressing up. I am being a witch this year, which isn’t original at all. I have a black poncho type thing with silver spider webs on it and a big spider on the shoulder. I am going to wear fish net stockings and black shirt with black shoes. It has a silver hat to match, with black feathers and silver streamers. Every year I try to be something different. But this year I didn’t have enough time to plan out my costume.

The candy you get at Halloween is so good. It lasts me almost a whole year, so I have a supply of candy (that was free) for a whole year. I hate candy that has Carmel in it. Carmel is the worst type of sugar there is. Anything with Carmel in it I refuse to eat. My brother and I go trick or treating with different groups of people, but at the end of the night we dump out our bags of candy and then trade, so that we get only the candy we like. I love candy with peanut butter and chocolate. M&M’s with peanuts are the best.

The cutest part of Halloween is the tiny children dressed up because they always look so adorable. They always look so cozy if their big puffy outfits, and by time they grow up they will look back and think they looked like retards. When I am handing out candy I always give them extra pieces because they are super cute, even though they probably don’t need it.

My friend is having a party on Halloween for the people who aren’t trick or treating. My friend and I don’t want to miss out because you only get to trick or treat one time a year, so we are going to go trick or treating and then head over to her party. Everyone there is going to be dressed up, just like the Halloween parties we used to have in elementary school. I am excited to go trick or treating this year!

Sprit Week

Spirit week is one of my favorite times of the year. It gets everyone riled up and everyone shows so much school spirit. In middle school I participated in every single day of spirit week, and in high school i participated in almost every day.


The week before spirit week I was really excited and I was already planning my out fits. I didn't know how much everyone was going to be dressed up so I was leery about going all out. I picked out my clothes for country club Monday. I wore plaid Capri's and polo, because I thought it was very country clubbish. I walked in to school worried about who was going to be dressed up. As I entered the school at first I saw no one in anything that looked country clubbish. I was quite worried. My friend came up to me and asked, "Why are you dressed up?", "Because I have school spirit," I said. As I walked further into the school I was relived. There were many people dressed in plaid, and golf gear. I spent the rest of the day observing all the sweet outfits everyone puts together. They were all so creative.


Tuesday I really wanted to dress up because dressing up for country club Monday was such a blast. But I couldn't because I had picture retakes. I hate the perfect tie die shirt I was going to wear. It was black purple and green and I just made it. It was from a color guard sleep over. And the whole guard was planning on wearing these shirts. I was the only one that didn't wear them and I felt left out and I felt bad. I really wanted to participate in tie die Tuesday. Everyone was also dressed up for this day. I felt like I was back in the seventies. More people were dressed up for tie die Tuesday then they did for country club Monday.


Friday is Super Spirited Spartan day! I am planning on going all out for this day. I will be more dressed up then I have been for the rest of the week. Everything I will be wearing will be either blue or white, because I want to be quite spirited!


Next year I will defiantly try to participate in more spirit days because they are super fun. You get to be yourself and go crazy. Next year no matter what the theme is for the day I will go all out and be super spirited!

New Winner Should be Announced for the Nobel Peace Prize

On Friday October ninth President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for his efforts to strengthen international relations. I think that there are better options for this award then President Obama. Although, Obama has made large efforts to change international relations, he has not made a significant enough change in the world yet. Obama has only been in office for a year, which is barely enough time to plan out what he is going to do in the future. But improving international relations is in his job description. If he didn't try to improve international relations then most countries would end up hating our country, putting us in danger. If Obama didn't try to stop the building of nuclear weapons in Iran, then he would also put the whole nation in danger. In an official statement, Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said, “The real question Americans are asking is, ‘What has President Obama actually accomplished?" (New York Times) Really what has he done? While he has been in office he has been mostly committed to turning our economy around and writing a new Health Care Bill. But nearly none of his focus was on international relations and the nuclear weapons. But, he was only concerned with these issues so he could keep our country safe.

I think that Obama should decline the Nobel Peace Prize so he can give another person, just as eligible as him, a chance. Unless he can actually stop the building of nuclear weapons, or improve international relations by one hundred percent.

Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize puts more pressure on not only Obama but also our nation. The other nations around the world will be expecting Obama to stop the building of nuclear weapons in Iran. If he is not able to stop this then it will cause controversy with other nations. And Obama needs to improve our relations with other nations so that we can try to rebuild our economy.

Obama hasn't really done anything. He has just said in the future he will accomplish tasks. Whether he will or not is undetermined. But, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee thinks that he still deserves it. So in my eyes this means in order to win a Nobel Peace Prize you don't have to do anything, you just have to think you are going to do something to change the world.

Pretty Big Mistake

The large Stevenson marching band marched through the gates of the Franklin High School football field. The band continued marching to the other side of the field, and the color guard remained by the gates. "Now entering the field," the announcer said, "from the other side of I-96, Livonia Stevenson." I, along with the rest of the color guard, grabbed our flags and set them on the side lines. We were all in a rush, so we could get on the field on time.
The conductor counted off and the show started. I lifted my flag and proceeded to go through all the moves. Counting in my head and trying to stay in step with everyone. The first part was over and I was already out of breath. I stood still for until the conductor counted off again, signaling for part two to start. I took a deep breath and moved my flag in front of my face, and yet again went through the movements.
I went to the sideline to switch my flag. I carefully placed the large purple flag on the ground and picked up another flag that was lying in front of me. I moved back from the sideline and look up at my flag. Something's different, I thought to myself. I looked around at everyone else's flags. Theirs were all purple, where as mine was bright green.
I began to freak out, like any person would. I didn't know what to do. I was already too far away from the sideline to change my flag to the purple one. Just keep going, I thought to myself, everything will be alright. I continued to march back still shaking because of my mistake. I had to still march the whole show. Part two ended and everyone stood still. I was breathing exceptionally hard because I was so nervous.
I marched to the sideline again, but this time I didn't have to swicth the flag because I already had the green one. Everyone lifted up a green flag, and I also had a green flag. I felt relieved that the show was going back to normal. The show came to a close, and I just began to laugh because of the stupid mistake I made.
As we were marching off everyone felt the need to tell me that I had the wrong flag the whole second part (not like I didn't already know). I felt really embarrassed, but soon got over it because there was nothing I could do about it.

Being a High Schooler

That sound is the most annoying sound I have ever heard in my life, I thought to myself, somehow it needs to be turned off. Then I rolled over with a groan and realized the sound was coming from my room. The sound of my alarm clock quickly filled the whole house. I moved slowly to turn on my light so that I could start getting ready. A bright light to start the morning is not always the best, my eyes burned for a little while and began to adjust. I walked over to my closet, what should I wear I thought to myself, I have to have a good first impression. I rummaged through all my new clothes to find just the right outfit, I scampered to finish getting ready, because I was already running late. "Come on," my brother said, because he was in a hurry. We reached for our backpacks and rushed out of the door to begin our journey to school.

As I walked out the door I felt little water droplets dripping onto my skin. I looked up to the sky and realized that it was raining. "We need our umbrellas," my brother said, "I really don't want to be wet on the first day of school." "It's barley raining," I argued back, "We don't need our umbrellas." "Ok," my brother agreed because the rain continued to slow down. Butterflies filled my stomach, and I didn't know what to expect in high school. I hope everyone's nice, I thought.

The streets were extremely spooky and wet, I could barely see three feet in front of me, every street was dead silent, and the only sound that filled the streets were chirping of crickets. It felt almost like I was in a haunted house. It was a long trip in the dark heading toward the school.

Soon the school began to appear in front of me and so did many other people. It made me relieved that my journey to school was almost over and all I had to do was walk through the two large doors that were in front of me. As I opened the doors I was nervous about what laid ahead and I realized that this was the first day of my high school career.

The hallways were already crowded but it was a relief that I saw many faces I already knew. It was like a family reunion for a family that hasn't seen each other for a while, we were all reunited after what seemed like a few years, but was only the summer. I walked through the hallways mingling through all the people, checking my schedule to make sure I was heading to the right class.

The bell rang and everyone started rushing to get to their classes. I sat down in the German classroom filled with students. The teacher introduced herself and my school day officially began. Now I can consider myself as a high school student.

Alphabet Soup

A is for apple. I always have an apple everyday at lunch. My favorite kind is Fuji apples because they are juicy and sweet.
B is for bowling. I love bowling with my family. I am so bad at it because I can never focus on just the game. I never bowl over a 100.
C is for Christmas. Every Christmas I always decorate the house, because I love decorating. No one else in the house is allowed to help. Almost everything in the house gets decorated. I spend about a week decorating.
D is for dance. I have been dancing for six years including ballet, jazz and hip hop. Dancing is one of my main hobbies.
E is for enthusiastic. Everything is always more enthusiastic when I talk about it.
F is for friendly, because I am friendly it easy for me to make friends.
G is for German. German is a language I speak. I am not very good at speaking it yet. I have been learning it for two years.
H is for hockey. It’s one of my favorite sports. I watch it regularly every season.
I is for Irish. It is one of my main heritages.
J is for jog. I go for a jog every day.
K is for kite. When I was little my dad took me to fly kites during spring break.
L is for language. Last year I began learning a new language, German.
M is for music. I am always listening to music.
N is for nice. I try to be the nicest I can be.
O is for outgoing. I am not always outgoing but when I have the opportunity to be I am.
P is for positive. I always try to stay positive, even in bad circumstances.
Q is for quilting. Every year my Grandma quilts me a new blanket for Christmas.
R is for
S is for smart. I try to pick up concepts fast, and try to do my best at learning new things.
T is for trustworthy. If someone tells me something they can trust that I won't tell anyone.
U is for United States of America. The country I live in.
V is for vacation. I go on vacation every year, Up North.
W is for William. I love my twin brother Will.
X is for xylophone. In 5th grade I played the xylophone.
Y is for yelling. To get out my anger I always yell.
Z is for zipper. I always play with my zippers on my sweatshirts.

A Great Start

I was scared of what was to come in high school, but all the classes went so much better than I expected. I thought I was going to be the little freshman that everyone pushed around. But I wasn’t, no one bothered me in the hallways or even payed attention to me. They all minded their own business and kept a mind set of getting to their classes on time.

The first few weeks of school have been quite busy. So much homework on the first day of school, I thought it was ridiculous! I was use to middle school, where all the teachers were really lenient the first few weeks of school and there was barley any homework until the month of September was over.

Having to go to practice after school has been a pain., and scrambling to get to practice then having to work so hard. After I am always so tired because of the intensity of the work, after trying to have the strength and time to work on my homework was just as hard. Sometimes I would have to stay up late just to finish it all, which always made it hard to wake up in the morning. Sometimes I would miss my alarm clock because I was so tired. My brother had to always wake me up because I would always sleep in, causing a delay in the whole morning routine, but somehow managing to get to school on time.

I hate having my locker all the way in the back of the school; it feels like I am a mile away from everything else. I always have to speed walk to all my classes because I don’t want to be late. I have to spring into the classroom knowing there are only a few seconds until the last bell rings, and sitting down in my seat as soon as the bell rang. Thinking to myself Thank God I made it.