State+of+Student+Essay

It seems only yesterday that summer vacation dishearteningly came to an end, and I, hardly even a freshman, nervously navigated that first day of school. Even now, there are times when I awaken drowsily in the morning, feeling that I still ought to be going to middle school. And yet, much time has passed and countless things have been accomplished since then. I've both maintained friendships and made new ones, and I've managed to stay in contact with friends who went to different high schools. Thankfully, I've also maintained A's and B's in all of my classes so far, and all of my classes are going well.

Although my life outside of school hasn't changed all that much, it has changed. During the first semester of my freshman year, much has happened regarding academics, and much has changed. Homework levels are much higher, and my classes have often been harder than ever before in my school career. On the other hand, some things have remained roughly the same. For example, my grade point average is still rather high, and I have, for the most part, maintained A's and B's in all of my classes.

In my first period class, EDA, or Education in the Digital Age, I have familiarized myself with several computer programs which I have rarely or never used before. These include digital editing software such as Fireworks, as well as spreadsheet software such as MS Excel.

In PE, I have made several accomplishments as well. These include being among the first three or four to finish the park trail run, passing the practice fitness test, and overall getting into better shape. I believe that, if I continue to do as well as I have, then I will be able to pass the fitness final fairly easily.

In Biology, my third period class, I have done very well as well. In my opinion, Biology is one of the easiest classes that I have. However, this is balanced by the fact that I receive more homework from Biology than from any other class. Throughout the first semester, I have done many and varying labs, and so far I have almost completed the second quarter Biology workbook. It seems that the Biology final will be the longest of them all, and I therefore intend to study for it more than any other.

In my fourth period class, English, I have read several books, written some essays, and I have even composed a speech or two. The books that we have read include 1984 by George Orwell, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. The book that we are currently reading is entitled To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The English final consists of this essay, which I hope will turn out well.

My fifth period class is Honors Geometry. In this class, I have learned many new skills regarding geometry, as well as reviewed some Algebra 1. Honors Geometry is probably the hardest class that I currently take, especially considering that I'm not very strong in geometry compared to, for instance, algebra. Thankfully, it seems that in the next few chapters we will be covering many algebra related subjects. I hope to have nearly mastered as much as I possibly can by the time the Geometry final arrives.

In my sixth period class, Health, we have covered many aspects of healthy living, including nutrition and diet, exercise, and the many types of fitness. In the first quarter of the year, my sixth period class was Geography. In Geography class, we covered the five themes of geography: location, place, human and environment interaction, migration, and region. We also studied the proper way to interpret maps, as well as issues regarding the human population.

Finally, my seventh period class is Intro Art. In this class, I have finished many projects, including drawing a self portrait, an eyeball, and a creative color wheel. I am currently working on the art final, which is a detailed and realistic self portrait and which must be a 2 to 1 scale of the photograph that we have been provided with. I intend to add and perfect the details as soon as possible in order to finish it before it is due.

One of my biggest academic accomplishments of this semester, and perhaps of all time, was successfully finishing and delivering the 9th Grade Project. The final product of the 9th Grade project was a 10 minute speech given in front of three judges, usually a teacher and two experts. The speech had to include, among other things, an environmental problem, endangered species, and possible solutions pertaining to your assigned biome. While the delivery of the speech itself may seem to have been stressful enough, there was a significant amount of work involved before hand as well. For around two months, and on top of our standard homework, we were required to do a lot of studying and researching in order to gather enough information to compile the ten minute speech. We also were required to make a background collage in EDA, which contained pictures related to your biome and environmental problem and which was displayed behind us during our speeches.

I was assigned the freshwater biome with the environmental issue of pollution. I chose to narrow my research particularly to the Great Lakes area, and I selected the Atlantic Salmon as my endangered species. The weeks that preceded the speech were very stressful for countless reasons. In addition to the fact the ten minute speech loomed ever closer, the amount of homework given daily seemed to almost double, and I was up late many of those nights in an attempt to finish researching. Finally, after all that work and practice, after countless recitations, the day of the speech arrived. However, this itself didn't even end our nearly intolerable anxiousness, for the hour of the speech still temporarily eluded us. I did my best to practice as much as I could in each class, despite the fact that I already had it as memorized as I likely ever would. At long, long last the hour of the speech arrived. I entered Mr. Weldele's classroom, undergoing whatever mental preparation I could come up with. After just one other presentation, my name was called, and I knew that that moment was the one that I had been preparing for for nearly two months. Bearing this in mind, I gathered up all of the calmness that I could muster, and, following the imaginary template that my practice had laid out, delivered what I hoped to be a terrific speech. As my presentation came to an end, I took a seat, relieved that it was over and that it could've gone much worse. As I discovered a few day later, I received quite a good score and response from all of my judges.

Throughout this first semester, I've met many new people and made several new friends. However, many of my old friends also attend Foothill, and I've maintained friendships with most of them as well. Finally and thankfully, I've stayed in contact with several good friends of mine who currently attend different high schools.

Friends which I've met at this school have assisted me in several ways. For example, friends that I've made here at Foothill have helped me to further develop a sense of "fitting in". Perhaps this is because it has helped me to see on a larger scale how many people not very different from myself all were new and unfamiliar to Foothill, or even high school in general. These new friends have also made my experience here at Foothill much more enjoyable. I believe that this is partially because having more friends and people that you know well in your classes can improve the overall quality of the class, even if it would otherwise be your least favorite class. In addition to this, however, they are also contributing to memories that I'm sure I will one day look back on and miss.

In addition to new friends, many friends of mine from middle school also attend Foothill High School. These people include Jason Borrajo, Stefan Bogunovic, David Gonzalez, Nicholas O'Conner, Kristofer Hendrickson, and, of course, my twin brother Tyler, among many others. I have other friends who attend different high schools and who, unfortunately, I am not able to see every day, although I do my best to stay in contact with them. These people include Ulises Guzman, Ema Garcia, Alec Gasca, and several others. I have shared many good times with all of these people since long before this first semester ever began, and I hope to continue to share these good times throughout the rest of this year.

Of all the things in this world, one which I value most is my family. My immediate family consists of six people, including myself. Obviously, I have two parents, whose names are Tami and Mike. In addition to them, however, I have three brothers, one of which is my identical twin brother. His name is Tyler, while the other two's names are Erik and Conner. My family has been very helpful and supportive in ensuring that I do well in school. Outside of school, I enjoy spending time with them. Over Christmas vacation, for instance, a great many of my family members gathered for the first time in a long time, and we all had a great time. Unfortunately, school work and research often interferes with the amount of time I am able to spend with them. However, now that the new season of American Idol has begun, I think that'll be taken care of.

As always, the first half of this school year has taken a long time from a day-to-day perspective. However, looking back, it's astonishing just how many things I've accomplished in this short time span, both academically and outside of my school life. It is true that there have been quite a few stressful times and quite a lot of work. All in all, though, I've retained good grades, befriended new people, and shared good times with friends and family alike. If the rest of my high school career continues with this pattern, then I think I'll do alright.