SNOOZE

5:35 AM and off goes my first alarm. *SNOOZE* 5:45 AM and there goes the second one. *SNOOZE* Every 10ish minutes for about 40 minutes a new alarm goes off with a different song, hoping that they will be the lucky alarm to motivate me to get out of bed. Sorry to break it too you but it’s going to take a little bit more than some tunes to get me out of bed.

My mom finally comes in around 6:10 6:15ish turns my light on and tells me that I need to get up or that I am going to be late for school. After lying in bed for a solid 10 more minutes I look at the clock and realize that I have a good 15min to straighten my hair, do my makeup, brush my teeth, get dressed and get out the door, and let me tell you that is not an easy task to succeed at.

I would have to say that waking up is the hardest part of the day, NO QUESTION. When my first alarm going off I dread hearing it and feel like I had only been sleeping for 30 minutes but I feel semi-relieved that I can still sleep for about 25 more minutes before I have to go into rush mode when I’m getting ready or just go to school looking bad. But I mean let’s be honest here who wants to get out of their nice, warm, cozy bed to get up into your freezing cold house and get ready for school? That’s right…..NO ONE!

I’m sure I know exactly what you’re thinking, “Go to bed earlier and you wouldn't have this problem.” Like no it’s not that easy because first off the moment you lay down in bed and hit the pillow everything that you could possibly think about comes to mind and you lay there coming up with all these unrealistic bizarre scenarios and the next thing you know is it 1 AM and another thing is no matter what time I go to bed I will ALWAYS want to keep sleeping in the morning because as a high school student you realize how important and precious sleep really is! And you regret not taking advantage of nap time back in kindergarten.

The comfyness and warmness of my bed in the morning is unbearable. The first think I think about when I wake up is how many hours I have until I get to come home from school and take a nap, but sadly that doesn't always happen. The amount of anger and disappointment that comes out of getting up in the morning is too much to handle that early and let me tell you, it is NOT fun!

A little good from a little bad

Teenagers; one of the most misunderstood species out there. It has appeared to me that adults think that because we are young we are always up to no good and are all extremely clueless people. To be honest there is nothing worse than constantly being judged everywhere you go, on everything you do. Yeah, I may be a teenager, but that doesn't mean that I'm some crazy hooligan.

 I think that almost every teen would agree that they are very rarely ever taken serious. For instance when you walk into the grocery story with a group of friends compared to if you walked in with your mom you get a totally different vibe. When with your friends most all the workers eye you down and think were messing around and up to no good to where as if we were with our parents, the workers would most likely come up to you and ask if you perhaps maybe needed some help finding something or just simply get a nice hello. But nope when it’s me and my friends all we get are glares and it seems that all eyes are on us waiting for us to do something horrible because if you didn't get the news flash: we're all trouble makers and can never do anything right. 

I mean, yeah some teens ARE bad kids but that doesn't give adults the right to categorize us as a big group of kids that are always up to no good. Think about it there are adults that go around killing people, so does that mean that I should go around and say that every adult is a murderer? No, it doesn't because I was taught that you shouldn't judge or label someone based on the way that they look or act. 

Last week at a high school basketball game there was an incident that appeared to me as kind of proving the whole idea and notion that teenagers are a big group of careless and rude people. 

At this game it was said by a mom at the game that these high school student were "bullying" and older disabled woman. This story was kind of a he-said-she-said kind of story, but the way the daughter of the elderly woman handled it was i would say, very childish and not appropriate....what so ever. This woman posted a huge paragraph about it on Facebook saying how rude these students were to this elderly woman. I mean yes i see both sides, but the students had politely asked the woman to move because they knew that they were going to be getting a bit rowdy, and didn't want to disturb her viewing of the game. With that being said the daughter found this as a very rude gesture, but the students were in there designated area that the school had given them, so technically they weren't doing anything wrong except for trying to help this elderly woman to enjoy the game instead of being disturbed by obnoxious teens trying to cheer there team to victory.

On the other hand i see where the idea of them coming off as rude is coming from, but i think the way this lady handled this situation by yelling at Washington High Schools principal, and the the way she treated the students was very uncalled for. As seen in the story above the student who had flicked off the camera said that if he had to go back and redo the whole situation, he would've handled it a different way, but in the heat of the moment he was frustrated and does regret and apologizes for his actions. 

As shown above by the students reaction and how we would handle it differently if he had to go back, it shows that maybe teens shouldn't always be punished for their actions. I mean yeah, they should be told and taught what is right from wrong, but they shouldn't be bashed for there mistakes. If anything they should be given a pat on the back for learning and getting something out of each bad situation they are in. 

Being a teenager isn't all about trying to be the best person you can and trying to please everyone. Its the time for you to make these mistakes and learn from them. So before you go onto judge someone, don't judge them based on their age or who they're hanging around with, look at them as an individual. Society needs to take a step back and have a reality check and realize that bashing people isn't always the right way to handle things, but maybe realizing there is some good coming out of these semi-bad situations.

Is SMART lunch really SMART?

SMART lunch is a new thing that was incorporated into the Kennedy High School schedule this year. This time is a section of the day that is specially cut out for students to do homework, get extra help from teachers, or go to different clubs and activities depending on the day. The lunch time is split up into two separate tutorials; an A and a B. With having it split into two separate times, it allows students to have time to meet with two different teachers, or meet with a teacher during one tutorial and eating lunch or working on other homework during the other. Along with that both juniors and seniors are allowed to leave campus during this whole 80 min time period.

In theory I feel that the idea of SMART lunch is a good one and has potential, but I feel like there are too many flaws in it still, into order to be put into action. Being a student that had a full schedule my junior year going to class from 7am till 2:45, along with juggling a job and being involved in extra curricular activities it became very hard to find time to go in and get help if I needed it or time to simply just do homework. Being that most of my teachers only had time before school but I was unable to go in because I had a zero hour class. So in that aspect, I feel that SMART lunch could become very helpful for many students but at this point still need a little bit of work.

But on the other side, as one of my teachers said, "the students who need the help, are the ones who aren't using the time wisely. If they're doing bad in the class or missing classes not wanting to be there in the first place, there's no way they're going to spend extra time in that classroom." Which personally I agree, there's obviously a reason that the student is not going to class, and I feel as though they aren't enforcing the rules as good as they should be. One thing they did do that I feel is maybe helping keep students aware of their grades and actually caring about school is giving out stickers on students ID's. In order to get a sticker you must have a grade no lower than a C in any of your classes, and if you do you aren't allowed to leave campus during the whole 80 minute lunch period. Along with that if you have a grade lower than a C on your transcript from the previous trimester you are also not allowed to leave campus.

Another flaw I see in the idea of SMART lunch is that both freshman and sophomores aren't allowed to leave, which i see why because most of them aren't able to drive, but what are they sopped to do if they have all there homework done and don't need any help? This trimester they changed the rules so that no one can be in the foyer during B tutorial. So what are these students supposed to do when there is nothing to do besides sit in the cafeteria or scramble to find some where to go because they aren't quite sure what they should be doing?

Like i said before i feel that the idea of SMART lunch is a fantastic one because of all of the positive things that could potentially come out of it, but as of now i think there are too many flaws and its not quite put together well enough to be put into action as of now.

Nothing but A Memory

Growing up is a pretty hard concept to wrap your mind around. All the things you’re used to; the things that make you happy, sad, excited, or mad, can change in an instant. You realize you aren’t a little kid anymore, and to me the worst part about it is that all the simpleness in life is gone. When you were 5, all that you had to worry about was how late your parents are going to let you stay up or How many times can you ride your bike around the neighborhood before dark even the simplest thing as to where the best hide n seek spots were in the neighborhood. But in the blink of an eye, worrying about balancing a job, sports, school work, a social life, and family, is all thrown at you before you know it.

While babysitting over the summer it really occurred to me that I was really starting to grow up and was no longer the little kid with no cares in the world. I would just sit back and watch them play tag for hours on end and watch their imaginations soar, just thinking about how much I would give to be that carefree again. I miss calling up friends on the home phone and asking to “play”, running up to random kids and being best friends in 2 minutes giving no cares about what they’re wearing, how weird they are or anything of that sort.

It’s pretty sad how at a young age, all you want to do is grow up and be old, then once you get there you spend the rest of your life wishing you could just be a kid again. I wish I could tell kids that they need to take advantage of their young age because it fly’s by so quickly and once it’s gone it’ll never come back, but I know when I was told that as a kid, I just shrugged it off and couldn’t wait till the day I became a teenager.

One of the most depressing stages of growing up I’d have to say is college. Not necessarily for those going into it, but also for the people who have a lot of close friends leaving for college. Sure it’s probably really exciting to start a new chapter in your life, but it sucks for those left behind. My sister went off to college 2 years ago and it really didn’t hit me that she was gone until about 2 weeks after we dropped her off and in a way I felt lost. For the first couple days it seemed unreal and I just thought that she was off at a friend’s house and would come home the next day because I mean c’mon I lived with her for 17 years of my life and now she’s just gone.

I miss all of the things we used to do together growing up, and knowing now that all of it is just pictures and memories is nothing but depressing. Sure I’m excited to go off on my own in a couple years, but what’s next after that? The future is one of my biggest fears. You never know what’s coming but you just have to face it head on. As much as I hate the fact that all my favorite memories are just a part of the past now, there’s really nothing to do but look forward to the future and remember all the good times you had.

Some people hate when others act immature, but in my opinion, be a kid as long as you can. Do stupid, immature, silly things just because you can; just because 20 years from now it’ll all be memories, and heck why not make those memories worth remembering. Take advantage of the fact that you can still go play at a park, ride your bike around, play board games, watch old Disney shows, or even do cartwheels ’til you’re dizzy. Make mistakes while you’re young because let me tell yah, no one ever learned from sitting on the couch watching their life pass before them. All I have to say is live it up because before you know it, it will all be gone.

What's the point?

Schools push this evil thought into all of our minds; this thought that we’re not good enough; this thought that we should never be wrong. I personally hate how we’re tested unfairly, how our creativity is robbed from us, and overall how we’re being educated.

We’re constantly given tests on things that we all know we will NEVER use in our lives outside of school. These tests are basically seeing who can cram the best, and who can retain the most things at once. Why are we being tested over this? 

We all learn so differently and retain the knowledge in such different ways. Honestly, for a test we all cram the knowledge into our brains, and the second we’re done taking it, we forget every single thing the test was even over. Why aren’t we educated on how to pay bills, how to get a job, how to purchase a car, or even the dos and don’ts of college? These things would be so useful in life. Instead we learn how to find the angle of depression when standing on a water tower looking at a cow in the field that weighs X number of pounds over the ratio of y+n divided by E=mc squared. WHEN WILL I USE ANY OF THIS IN REAL LIFE. The administration knows it, the teachers know it, the students know it, hell even Obama knows it. 

When we do bad on one of these tests we get down ok ourselves. We are raised through school with the mindset of if you get bad grades you won’t go anywhere. If you get bad grades you won’t get into college. If you get bad grades it’s not ok. This makes kids not actually care about what they're learning, but they are more concerned about there grade in the class. Students these days look for the downright easiest way they can get an A, by doing as little as possible, which is quite sad. 

I believe so many students are genius’s in their own way, schools just don’t test over it. Why, if you’re great at math you’re considered smart? Why not if you know every note and scale on a guitar? Everyone is smart in their own way but schools make you believe that if you’re not a genius in the subjects they offer, then hell you’re not smart at all. I believe that is education could use a few changes for the better, I order to teach you more about things that will ACTUALLY be useful in the real world, because believe it or not, is less time then you think, you're gunna be out there on your own and have no idea what to do because you were never taught how to.

Don't Shoot, Surrender

As if the NFL didn't have enough attention and bad weight on their shoulders after multiple accusations of players being domestically violent, there's more things that keeps attracting more and more attention to them.

As almost everyone knows,(because lets face it how could you miss it), Ferguson, Missouri is not one of the places to be right now because of the recent shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, who was killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, back on August 9th. There has been nothing but chaos down there since the shooting but while awaiting the grand jury's decision on whether to arrest Darren Wilson for murder things had been mostly quiet. But things would take a turn for the worse as the grand jury announced that they were not going to charge Officer Darren Wilson with the murder of Michael Brown.

On Sunday, five St. Louis Rams players including Jared Cook, Kenny Britt, Stedman Bailey, Chris Givens, and Tavon Austin entered the field from the tunnel after being announce with their hands raised in the "don't shoot, surrendering" pose to show their sympathy and salute for the protesters in Ferguson.

The St.Louis Rams players showing sympathy and support for the protesters in Ferguson after the shooting of Michael Brown.

This incident has sparked controversy between many, but mainly the St. Louis Police Department and the St.Louis Rams Football Team. The police expresses their frustration because they feel that they are "ignoring the mountains of evidence released from the St. Louis County Grand Jury" There were many articles and opinions as to whether these were  acceptable behaviors by these 5 players and whether or not they should be punished for these actions. According to an article written by ESPN, rams coach stated, "As far as the choice that the payers made, no they, were exercising their right to free speech, They will not be disciplined by the club nor will they be disciplined by the National Football League as it was released today."

Looking at this situation, I feel that the St. Louis Rams and the National Football League did the correct thing in not punishing them for their actions because it IS their right to freedom of speech and to express their sympathy and support for this incident. Obviously everyone isn't going to agree with their decision and the way that they decided on handling this situation but I feel it is the only way to be fair and treat both parties equal. Everyone is going to have their own views and feelings, but we need to remember the idea of treating everyone equal under the law.

Its all just some Yik Yak

In many cases we see, the advancement in technology is a good thing and very helpful to many. In even some cases, it can potentially help save many live and keep many out of harm’s way.

A few weeks ago almost all schools and daycares' in the Altoona and Des Moines area were shut down and school was cancelled because of a threat made over a new app known as Yik Yak. 

Yik Yak is a new emerging app that acts as a type of bulletin board for the area and people around you, within about a two mile radius. This app allows anyone to post anonymously about whatever they one, and anyone can view it.

With many reviews being made on this new app, many view it as a bullying site because of the things that are being said about others in a bad way and the act that these bullies can say whatever they want without getting caught because no one knows who’s saying it.

Alongside the bullying and negative slams towards people, a few weeks ago, there was a threat made on Yik Yak from 3 students threatening a shooting at the high school in Pleasant Hill that Saturday, the following Monday the school had mass security and all schools practiced what to do in case something were to happen and they were forced to lock down. A parent of a child at one of the elementary schools stated that her child came home and told her that they “got to play hide and seek and had to be super quiet” it was then that the mom became very scarred because she realized that they weren't playing hide and go seek, but they were practicing for a lock down.

After security was amplified on Monday, there were additional threats made about bombings at both the middle and high schools Tuesday forcing the schools to shut down because the concern of the safety of their staff and students.

With these two incidents, the bullying and threats, it raises the question whether or not this app should be censored or if posts should be approved before they are allowed to post. Personally, I would say that clearly, something good has come out of this, in the idea that they potentially saved many lives. But I would definitely say that more bad than good is coming out of this app. Bullying is a something that has been a problem in many places, especially recently that we have been trying to bring to an end, but apps like Yik Yak make it very hard to put an end to it.I feel as though there should be a censor preventing cruel and rude posts about others from being posted and seen by the surrounding community.

All just a big miscommunication

Imagine, one of the biggest nights of your senior year, Prom. Picking out your dream dress, spending the whole day getting ready, walking down grand march being announced, and going all night long. For many this night is always one to remember, but for one of Georgia Central High School’s students, it didn't go exactly how she had planned.

Senior Amanda Attison's brother, Robert, was home on a two week stay from Afghanistan returning from serving as a U.S. Marine. While home, Amanda had decided that she wanted her older brother to escort her down grand march while she was announced. Officials at the high school told Robert that he couldnt be her date because all dates had to be under 21, he explained the them saying, "I would not be going inside the prom, I was just going to be escorting my little sister on her senior walk." After explaining officials still didnt allow him to walk her down during grand march because he wasn't a senior. To me the explanation as to why he wasn't able to escort her because he wasn't a senior made no sense to me at all, lets say perhaps a senior was taking an under class man to prom or a friend who had graduated but was still under 21, would they not be able to walk them down grand march because they 'weren't seniors'. WAGA talked to the school officials after this incident and they told the reporter that "the whole thing just came down to a big miscommunication, and if they had known the circumstances, the school would have allowed Robert to escort his sister during her senior walk."
Looking back weather a miscommunication occurred or not, I see no harm that could have been caused in allowing him to walk her down, he wasn't going to be attending the dance just simply walking her down when she was announced while he was home for this short period of time. 

Article