Journal 18

     I am proud to be a Castle Park Trojan, and I love the school that I go to. It is very spirit-oriented and I like my fellow classmates. With that being said, if I could change two things about our school campus it would definitely have be the school lunch and our daily class schedule, particularly the SMI period.

            Nutrition and physical education are stressed in the education of our country’s youth, but the government-approved lunches that our schools, and many others provide does nothing for our health. We are served tremendously greasy pizza, “chicken” salads, and other alternatives stuffed with fillers and preservatives. As a side, we are given baked spicy corn chips, as if to console the tolerance we are forced to build up to what we are being fed.

            Although I have found that block schedule is an effective method of going about my classes, I do not like the SMI period. Someone like me, who can sometimes scarcely bare sitting in the same desk for two hours and forty-five minutes, thinks that SMI should be used as a study period for the students to have an opportunity to do homework, study, or make up a test. Having an extra hour of instructional time in one of my classes everyday takes a toll on me mentally. By the time the SMI period is over, I’m drained and more often than not still have to report to yet another almost two hour long class. I believe that if SMI were used as a designated study hour, the students would benefit.

            I feel that if these two changes were implemented on our campus, it would change it for the better. Having better school lunches and a daily study hour would help make Castle Park High School a better place.

Journal 19

    I believe that school attendance should be mandatory, however, I also believe that our education system in the United States should include more variety in the ways we educate our youth. Not everyone is made out to be successful in their education because of the way it is structured. There are many people who are still productive members of society who did not receive a high school diploma. I think that education should only be mandatory up to the eighth grade, because by then people know whether they are cut out for school or not. Requiring people to remain in high school against their will, for an education that they are interested in receiving produces more failure as a result. If it is completely mandatory for everyone, there should be multiple forms of education that are less mainstream and more vocational, to appeal to people who are interested in specific trade such as auto mechanics, computer repair, heating and air repair, and carpentry.

Journal 11

I wish a university asked me at what age it was that I decided that I wanted to go to college, and how that decision was influenced.

     I was in the eighth grade when I literally decided that I was going to college, no matter what it took. It was on my trip to New York City to see my cousin graduate from New York University. On my dad's side of the family, which is how I am related to her, not many of my family members have gotten a college education, so practically all of them flew from California to New York to watch her graduation ceremony. Seeing how proud they were of her, and just seeing everyone in awe of her achievements made me realize that I wanted to experience the same feeling.

     I also had a similar experience with a cousin on my mom's side of the family; we flew to Washington D.C. to watch her graduate from medical school at Georgetown University. She is the only doctor on both sides of my family, and she knew everyone was proud of what she had done.

     Seeing these successful family members made me want to be just like them, both of my cousins are my rolemodels, and I consider them the main reason why I want to go to college too.

Journal 20

If I were presented with the opportunity to communicate with any species of animal, I would choose to talk to a chimpanzee. Chimpanzees are intelligent animals that are very cooperative and strategic beings. The human race shares about ninety eight percent of its DNA in common with chimps. Therefore, we share numerous similarities, such as the gestation period of a pregnant female (approximately nine months) and body temperature (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit). I would want to know how they communicate with each other to form functioning societies and would also like to know their how they feel about the human race, in terms of our coexistence.
     According to research done by the American Psychological Association, chimpanzees share many of the same physical characteristics, instincts, and even physical expressions with humans. I would be curious to know how many more similarities they share that we cannot perceive by physical means. I would also want to know how chimpanzees communicate with each other non-verbally.
     Not only individual chimpanzees themselves, but also packs of them that live together, or communities, share social patterns that are very similar to the ones present in the society of human beings. I would also ask how their caste system works, or if there is a lack there of in chimpanzee culture.

Journal 1

     Red is the color of passion. Whether that passion is in the form of love, lust, anger, or rage, red is the fire that fuels us to act on impulse, to disregard our intuition, and devote ourselves whole-heartedly to something or someone. Articulating this type of passion to a blind man is tricky in the sense that you want him to know both the positive and negative forms of passion associated with the color red. I would use a red rose to convey each aspect of passion.

     I would first have him smell the rose, and describe to me it's scent, making sure to tell him that what he smells is what he would be looking at if he could see. After he describes to me the sweetness of a rose, I would have him feel its velvety petals, gently brushing them against his face to get the full effect. I would then have him hold the rose himself, intentionally having him be poked by a thorn. I would explain to him that every rose has its thorns, just as for every positive form of passion, there is a more negative manner. Red is a complex thing, like all colors in general, and I think those of us who can see take it for granted.