Once there was a competition in Miami that my home girls and I heard about, so we decide to participate because we wanted to get the 2000 dollars.

Once there was a competition in Miami that my home girls and I heard about, so we decide to participate because we wanted to get the 2000 dollars. So we decide we were going to do it, and we started to prepare. We called, and we told them that we wanted to be in it. We send a tape there of all of us dancing, and they accepted us.

We started to practice and practice day and night with out stopping. We would get home from school, change our clothes and go and rehearse until night. It was so tide because we shared ideas and steps and we had to cooperate with each other in a team work. We learned how to work in a team and how to tell straight someone what we didn’t like and what we did.

While we were doing it, many things got against us like the money, the ride to Miami even my mom didn’t want me to go and dance over there, but we handled it like a team and like really good homies that we are because we really wanted to dance and get the money.

I enjoyed it so bad because I was with my home girls doing one of the things I like the most that is dancing. Even though the practices were hard and I was tired many times that I almost couldn’t do it, it was so good and fun for me anyways no matter what because when you’re doing something that is hard no matter what, you like it, because you’re doing what you want to do, what you love to do.

I’ll never going to forget about it. First, we learned how to do team work. We learned how to convince people and how to fight for what we want against anything and anyone. The third and most important reason is that I did one of the things I like the most with the homies I like the most. That’s why liking what you do is so important.

By Y. G., a middle school student

Everyone has an activity that they enjoy doing. My favorite thing to do is play basketball.

Everyone has an activity that they enjoy doing. My favorite thing to do is play basketball. It keeps me in shape. It is also something to do. All my friends play with me as well.

My first reason why basketball is my favorite thing to do is because it keeps me in shape. The training and drills keeps my personal fitness up to date. Basketball keeps me moving, and builds plenty of muscles in my legs and arms.

My second reason why basketball is my favorite activity is because it keeps me busy. When I’m bored, sitting at home watching television, I just grab my basketball and go shoot some hoops. It’s just something to do, and something to pass the time.

My third reason and last reason is because all my friends play basketball with me. It’s fun when we get together, and have a 5 on 5 game going. We have fun, and stay in shape at the same time. There is only a few of my friends that don’t play basketball, and they don’t really fit in with the rest of us to tell you the truth. Most of my friends are ball players, and that helps keeping my head toward basketball.

In conclusion, my favorite sport/hobby/activity is basketball. All my friends are into it. It keeps me in shape. Also it keeps me busy, and its something to do.

By N. C., a middle school student

The most exhilarating thing for me to do would have to be skateboarding.

The most exhilarating thing for me to do would have to be skateboarding. It’s my favorite for quite a few reasons. Some of the reasons will just be how fun it is, how it keeps me in shape, and how it keeps me out of trouble. My purpose is going to be to explain to you in more detail about these specific reasons why I find skateboarding so important and choose it as my sport of choice.

To start off with I find skateboarding fun in various ways. Some of the things I find fun about it is the creativity of it and how you can push it as far as you can really think. Well, there’s also the safety, also I find it is so chilled out and calm about just riding and doing what you like to do how you like to do. Unlike many sports you’re not on a team and playing for anybody. That’s why I find it so free and different from many other things, it keeps me free and without having responsibility for any other things that I do when I do what I love.

Just another thing that skateboarding does for me would have to be how it keeps me in shape by working my body out. You use many muscles when you do this exciting sport. Your legs and waist and are muscles you use a lot and your arms for balance. If I didn’t skateboard, I would probably sit on my couch and eat chips and ice cream all day watching television and gain like a couple hundred pounds. So I am happy for being outside in the sun or where ever I skate and sweating and just staying in shape rather than watching television getting fat and being lazy.

One of the biggest reasons why I love and choose skateboarding as my favorite sport or activity is how it keeps me out of trouble. Some times when I get bored I go out and walk around and get my friends and find something to. Most of the time it ends up with cops showing up. So instead of doing that I can be at the park skating, likely to be hurting my self but at least without cops around.

Well, those might just be the reasons why I love and choose skateboarding as my main activity to do because of the following reasons, it is fun, keeps me in shape, and out of trouble. I surely do hope that you get a mind for skateboarding and find out yourself of what it is that makes you love it, if not it is okay because some people just don’t have the “rush” for the lovely activity.

By E. P., a middle school student

My favorite thing to do is play football. I like to play with my friends in the front yard, and I like to play in a league on a team.

My favorite thing to do is play football. I like to play with my friends in the front yard, and I like to play in a league on a team. I love everything about the game like watching the professionals play it on TV. But the main reasons why I like playing the game is I like to hit people really hard when I have all my equipment on when I play on a league, I like to score touchdowns, and I like to practice and make myself better at football.

The first reason why I like to play football is I like to go head up with people and really hit them hard. I like when you’re in a game or at practice and you hit the other person so hard that their helmet paint rubs off into yours. I love to hear the big bang when two people collide and try to kill each other. And I also like delivering the bang. That sound gives me goose bumps but sometimes that can be a good thing.

The next reason why I love football so much is I like to make touchdowns whether it’s throwing them, catching them, or running the ball in for a T.D. Whenever you score a touchdown, all eyes are on you and everybody’s cheering for you because you just made the team a point higher.

My final reason why I like to play football because I like to practice and make myself better because football is the only thing that’s probably going to get me anywhere. So the more I practice and get better at it, hopefully, the better future I’m going to have in playing football. Plus I love to play against my other teammates and stuff like that.

You have heard all the reason why football is my favorite thing to do. Because I like to hit people really hard and hear the big BANG, I love to score any type of touchdown and I love practicing and making myself better at football. This is why I love football,

By J. C., a middle school student

Friday, April 20, 2007 SUSPENDED MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT SUGGESTIONS FOR EARTH DAY

Friday, April 20, 2007
SUSPENDED MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT
SUGGESTIONS FOR EARTH DAY
1. I think we should use a new gas system by making fuel out of vegetable or corn oil.
2. Cancel NASCAR racing due to fuel gases that pollute the air.
3. Make recycling a saw.
4. Drive electric cars.
5. Use less shower water.
6. Do more work in your community.
7. Try different ways of transportation.

By J.D., a middle school student

1. Use wind and solar power.
2. Recycle.
3. Use less water, electricity, and gas.
4. Don’t use many plastic bags.
5. Ride bicycles instead of driving cars.
6. Pick up trash and don’t litter.
7. Take Navy showers.
8. Don’t drive cars or motorcycles for fun.
9. Turn off lights when you leave a room.
10. Take your own bags when grocery shopping.
11. Walk instead of riding the bus to school.
12. Watch less television.
13. Use paper bags instead of plastic bags.
14. Turn off the ceiling fan when you’re not in a room.
15. Take the CAT bus.
16. Minimize acceleration when driving.
17. Stay off the computer if you don’t need to use it.
18. Ration water according to the number of people in a family.
19. Each flush uses 7 gallons of water; minimize flushes.
20. Turn off the a/c and open the windows of the house.
21. Don’t use aerosol containers.
22. Don’t speed when driving.
23. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth.
24. Use electric lawn mowers.
By J.V., D.V., S.S., N.M., J.C., A.S., M.C., N.C., D.T., J.C., J.R., J.N., M.M., G.N., V.M., S.D., E.M., middle school students

I think there are many causes of violence such as girls, gangs, don’t get you own, and so on.

I think there are many causes of violence such as girls, gangs, don’t get you own, and so on. You don’t always have to use violence; you can reason it out and become more mature. In some cases police officers are the cause of violence. For example my auntie boyfriend was shot and killed for trying to put on his shoes. You can use violence when you need to, but violence is not a good thing.

There is point to fight over a girl when there are lots more of them in the world. You may think that you are in love with the person, but there is somebody out there for everybody. So do not do anything to jeopardize your life over a girl.

Gangs are one of the main reasons for violence. Innocent people get killed just for wearing a certain color. When they have their shootouts, little kids and people get killed. Some people get mad if they don’t get there own way and might do something they will will regret. So please be smart.

By D. V., a middle school student

Well, like everybody says, “Violence is something normal.”

Well, like everybody says, “Violence is something normal.” It has to happen someday once in a while, and we don’t know when or where it is going to happen. All we do is sit with out doing anything waiting for it to happen. How ignorant can we be about something so dangerous and important to everybody in the planet? So it’s time to step up and do your part.

So recently we heard and watched some messed up and destabilizing things in this world like the Virginia Tech massacre. When a person comes in and just starts shooting everybody on campus just because his ex-girlfriend broke up with him. How stupid and ignorant do you have to be to do such a thing?

So what I’m thinking about is the consequences of this stupid thing people do with out thinking about there family and the people’s family they are harming.

By J. M., a middle school student

Violence in America these days is overwhelming to society.

Violence in America these days is overwhelming to society. We can’t turn on the news without hearing of a killing. Yesterday a shooting on a college campus, then last year an Amish mass murder, and do you remember September 11th? One of the worst times that came crawling up on us. Now it is really hard to express via paper, but this is a topic that needs to be brought up. Firearms, drugs, security issues, and the laziness of people is all a major part of this and are inexcusable in a county like ours.

One of the topics that have come to be the worst yet is firearms. We need to be able to keep them from people who don’t need them. Anyone with money can get there hands on one now. Wal-mart sells them! I say we take out all of the firearms Wal-Mart and everywhere else including inspecting homes and put guns in a special place and only can someone get in if you are in the department of business where they are needed. I say we have photo identification cards and a code that the firearms department gives you, to be able to purchase a firearm. Of course this would mean boosting technology, but we can do that easily. We need to crack down on firearms and who has them.

Secondly, drugs. Drugs are another big reason why we have a lot of violence. Half of the people that do or participate in massacres or shootings are on drugs. Drugs put thoughts in people’s minds then people go off and do it. I say we eliminate drugs completely unless they are needed for medical reasons. So, we take all of them and keep it in a warehouse so only the government can access them, and they can ship them to the doctors who need them. We need to stop selling over the counter medicines so that we can put a stop to Generation RX. People must have doctors to access medicines of any sort.

Another thing is we need to crack down on security. We need to make it stronger and harder to get by. In other words; it needs to be improved. It needs to be where officers are stronger and better suited for the business. How do they let random people in a college campus? Or some guy got into an Amish school? This puzzles me. Did it ever occur that normal people are capable of committing crimes? Security needs to be able to crack down on suspicious people without being asked.

All in all, people now need to be more alert and be on look out at all times. If you see a suspicious person, confront the situation and take charge. You could change someone’s life just by reporting someone or something. Violence in America needs to stop, and we can change that very easily. It can be done.

By A. S., a middle school student

My opinion is I don’t think we need an escort when we go to the mall.

Should young people under 16 be required to have an escort 21 or older when they go to a shopping mall?

My opinion is I don’t think we need an escort when we go to the mall. I have three reasons: we are old enough, we don’t do anything bad, and not all of us are immature. I am going to explain each of these reasons.

First, teens are old enough to look out for themselves. We aren’t like seven year olds who need to be with our parents. Teens are old enough to get around on their own. They don’t need someone to escort them in the mall.

Second, teens don’t even do anything bad. You don’t see us vandalizing anything or even destroying anything. The only thing we do is hang out with friends and go and buy things. People think that we’re loud so they assume we are trouble makers.

Third, not all teens are immature. We all know how to act responsibly when we need to. We are mature enough to watch out for ourselves. We are old enough to know how to control ourselves.

In conclusion, I have told you why we shouldn’t have escorts to the mall. Things I told your are we are not bad, we don’t do anything wrong, and we’re mature enough to take care of ourselves.

By D. L., a middle school student

Violence is everywhere; it has taken over the U. S. and other countries for example the shooting at Virginia Tech.

Violence is everywhere; it has taken over the U. S. and other countries for example the shooting at Virginia Tech.

Violence is everywhere: in our music, in our video games, and TV shows, but the worst is in our schools. Violence, to me, is at an all time high .I think one of the reasons of this is the media It is full of death and violence all the time. Rappers sing about guns and weapons all the time, take 50cent for example or Eminem. Our video games are just another outlet to violence, like Grand Theft Auto is an example of pure violence in our games.

Columbine is a perfect example of teen violence. Students open up with guns freely on there fellow classmates , thought bombs, and rounding and rounding people like cattle, and shouting at them .This has to stop and there needs to be some changes in our society when it comes to violence being portrayed on virtually all of our products teens buy.

The way you think should change society so how about a gun and violence awareness day for all schools. Also I think you have to have a background check in order to purchase a gun or deadly weapon. You can not have a criminal record, and you must also be at least 21 or older to purchase a gun. Some states should have weapons restricted and any weapon found with in a mile from a school should be collected. The only reason that people sell these weapons that promote violence is because the more they sell the more they make money wise. We need to stop it.

I hope you have listened to me and learned because you are the people that can stand to and fight it and stop violence all over the world. I know first hand about this because my friend was stabbed and dead on the spot as a result of teen violence. I want things to stop and change.

By B.G., a middle school student

Our reaction to the murders at Virginia Tech - What could we do to prevent violence?

What could we do to prevent violence? Eliminate all of the gangs, don’t sell guns to people with a criminal record, and have a curfew in the cities with loads of crime.

If we eliminate a lot of gangs some people would be in a better position to not get jumped, also not to worry about watching their back. Some people worry so much that they want to move away so they can get away from the violence.

Don’t sell guns to people that have a mile long criminal record. Minor offences, okay, but if you shot or stabbed someone, you can’t buy a gun until you are 26 years of age. It would cut criminals down a lot. Don’t let anyone buy a gun until you are 18 years of age.

In the big cities like New York or LA have a curfew starting at 10pm and after that you have to be with someone that is 18 or older of age. That would be better so younger kids won’t take a chance on doing anything stupid.

I think that these reasons would cut down on crime and criminal acts against justice.

By E. M., a middle school student

Our reaction to the murders at Virginia Tech - Violence is never the answer to anything. There are many different ways to prevent violence.

Violence is never the answer to anything. There are many different ways to prevent violence. First of all, stay out of fights, and then report any type of misbehavior, and care for yourself only think about it. Will it help?

Fights are the usual cause of violence. Well, if the person gets afraid, they might show up with any type of weapon just because they do not know what to expect. Fights are very hard to take care of because yes you want to defend yourself, but there will be problems after you face the fight, even if you didn’t start it. You still fought back so it makes you guilty as the other person.

Whenever you are in such trouble, report all the behavior that might occur in your daily life. If you’re threatened to get jumped, don’t decide to get a group to fight them. No you must stop that behavior once it starts or else it will continue. Yes, people might call you a chicken or something like that what do you say? “So what, I’m the better person here instead of any of you.”

The only person you need to worry about is yourself. No one else will tell you what to do except for your good self. There are two roads to life: you may be a follower or a leader. Unluckily, I’m in seventh grade this year. Though my two middle schools that I’ve been to I have never gotten in so much trouble that I am today. Yes I was a follower, and it felt horrible! I did not do exactly what my heart told me to do, but I followed my friends. Anyways, worry about what you do and only that. Seriously, you don’t even need to know why.

Middle is hard. Yes, I can’t tell you it is not. Your school work, friends, grades, etc. to worry about is all you ever need, not violence. Why don’t you try something else the next time you think about another fight? Take it from someone that has learned sadly.

By L.G., a middle school student

A challenge in my life is cleaning my room and keeping it clean.

A challenge in my life is cleaning my room and keeping it clean. The reason it is a challenge for me is because I can barely keep my Dachshund from bringing her toys in my room and leaving them there. Instead of putting her toys in my sister’s room, she puts them in my room. The second reason is because my dachshund dumps my trash can and shreds the cardboard boxes, and that is why it is a problem to keep my room clean.

By G. H., a middle school student

One day the kids at college went to school. At 7:15 is when it all began

One day the kids at college went to school. At 7:15 is when it all began. A kid from the school was having a bad day. He went into the dorms and killed two people. Then he left for two hours, and then went to a classroom building and killed more people.

I do not think it is good to take your anger out on people especially if they did not do anything to you. That is what I think about the whole situation.

One way to prevent this is to take the weapons away from people who are going to do this. But how would we do this? We could have traffic stops and search houses. Anybody that does not need a gun would not be able to get one. People who wanted a gun would have to go through training to get a gun.

By D. M., a middle school student

Volunteering is great work to some kids.

Volunteering is great work to some kids. I’m here to tell you why we all should volunteer in our public or even private schools. There are so many things volunteers can do to help out kids in their quest for knowledge. I have three reasons, and I’m going to tell you those reasons as you read this.

My first reason is for classes. Say we don’t understand something, and they would be there to help you out no matter what you didn’t understand. In science they could help you out with your experiments. In math they could be like a human calculator that helps you but doesn’t solve the problems for you.

Another reason is they could help with speech problems. They could help out with kids who don’t speak English and could be interpreters. The volunteers could also help out with kids who don’t talk but use sign language. They are great for speech skills.

My final reason is for kids who have self-esteem issues. They could have group sessions and yet speak with other kids who have the same problems. Volunteers could also have talks with other kids that don’t want other kids to know what their problem is. So they could help kids gain self-confidence.

Those are my reasons why I think we should have more volunteers at our school. For those of you guys who think you could do better, well then let’s see you try.

By J. S., a middle school student

People many times think they can’t do things that they haven’t even tried. I am kind of like that, and I am learning to face it.

People many times think they can’t do things that they haven’t even tried. I am kind of like that, and I am learning to face it. I knew I was a great speller but not the best in the school. Maybe I wasn’t sure but my language arts teacher was up for giving me a try. She said “You might win, there’s nothing to lose. Just try.” So I did. I went just because I wanted to see what it felt like to be standing up there in front of my whole grade level. And also because it took me out of two periods of class.

So I went to the spelling bee, and I sat there with my friend until it started. I thought this is no big thing. I am probably not going to win, and I may not even get to the second round. But I really didn’t care what happened. So it was my turn, and I stood up there. My first word was, APPREHENSIVE. A-P-P-R-E-N-S-I-V-E. I said it correctly. Everyone clapped, and I actually felt proud. But I knew it was far from over. Kids lost and came down, and I was still up there.

Then it was the second round. In the second round ten spellers had already been eliminated, and the words were getting tougher and tougher. We were in the 7th grade so the words weren’t as easy for me back then as they are now. But I kept on going, and I wasn’t spelling them incorrectly. I was surprised because I thought I would choke in front of all my classmates. People lost and came down, I was still up there. I could not wipe the smile from my face because I was actually winning. It was my turn again, and they gave me a word I had only heard and never had to spell in my life. Personification. I was about ready to give up. I was in the 7th grade, and I knew noting of what I know now. But as I looked over my shoulder to the judges’ table and saw that trophy, it came to my head how it would be like to win this spelling bee. I would be very proud, my father, my mother, and my classmates. I also looked at the face of my language arts teacher. She was crossing her fingers hoping for me to spell this word right. So I sounded it out in my head. Personification. It has person in it. So I spelled person, “P-E-R-S-O-N”. Then I thought about the last part of the word. Ification. So I tried I-F-I….C-A-T-I-O-N. As the judge said “That’s correct.” My heart jumped out of my chest and started dancing on the floor. I was so proud. Then at that moment there were only 3 spellers left.

Well, then it was the last round, and everyone spelled three words each. One speller got a word wrong and was thrown out the stage. I saw a tear in his eye as he walked out, and I said to my self that I didn’t want to feel that way. My last word was up. It was perpendicular. I had happy because math being my favorite subject, I had heard that word millions of times. I said it proudly “P-E-R-P-E-N-D-I-C-U-L-A-R”. The judge said, that’s correct. It was the next spellers turn. And do you know what happened. She got it wrong. When she spelled it wrong, I jumped from my seat, and I did everything I could to express my happiness. To my surprise, I had won the spelling bee and was going to the nationals.

So to sum it all up, I did something I thought was impossible for me to do. And what you need is some motivation to get you going and to help you be confident in yourself. I will never forget that spelling bee.

By I. S., a middle school student

Okay, when I was in the 5th grade, I skipped school.

Okay, when I was in the 5th grade, I skipped school. I didn’t expect for this to happen, but it did. I was going to go pick up my friend for school, l and she went to go pick up another friend. We were on my home girl’s bed, and we were waiting to leave when one of us came out with a topic why don’t we skip school. I said, well, I don’t know should we? I was waiting for an answer, but I decide it was going to be cool so I said yea why don’t we? We did.

We ended up skipping. So we went to Burger King, to K-Mart, and then we went on a shopping spree. We bought a whole bunch of stuff like earrings and other stuff back to my friend’s house, and we watched movies all day it was about 10:00 or 10:30 I don’t remember. We ate chips and played video games and we had a whole bunch of fun. Then we went into her pool and were swimming then it was about 11:00 and we watched a movie and then it was 12:00. I took a shower, and when we all were done, it was 1:30. Then we listened to music and dancing.

But then we heard knocking on the door. Every one got scared, and we panicked and turned off the TV and ran to the back yard. It was our principal. We didn’t do anything. We hid, and they searched the house. We had left. We jumped the fence and ran as fast as we could. Then I got a phone call it said (house calling). I was so scared, and I was wondering what was going to happen to me when I got home. I felt bad because I knew I was going to be in huge trouble.

Then my principal was driving around, and she had seen us yelled at us. We got in her jeep, and my friend started crying. When we got to school, I saw our parents. I was so ashamed I wished I could have not made that choice I wished I wasn’t there. Then the deputy called me in and said I have half a mind of even not letting you graduate. I was so sad. I wanted to graduate. I spent a whole time studying for D.A.R.E. I felt bad.

Finally, when I walked in class, I saw everyone was looking at me. My teacher was so mad and he looked at me very angrily I was so sad I felt like crying. I started feeling bad. I tried my best to be good, but, finally, at the end of the year I was so happy I graduated, and I made it through the rest of the year without getting into trouble. I didn’t look for trouble. I knew already I shouldn’t be at the wrong place at the wrong time and I knew how to make better choices.

By I. T., a middle school student

Everyone has a dream career mine is to be a pediatrician.

Everyone has a dream career mine is to be a pediatrician. I want to work with kids I want to find out what they need more of. I want to be able to cure babies when they are sick. I want to work in a nursery with kids

To find out what kids need more of is real hard. Kids like to stuff themselves with cake, cookies, ice cream, and all sorts of junk food, but they don’t know what they need. I want to be able so show kids that being healthy is a good thing. I would try to get them to like grain, fruit, vegetables, and protein.

I want to work with kids, babies especially, they have the cutest look in there eyes. They smile and look so adorable, but the bad thing is they cry a lot. Babies are hard to take care of because they need the most attention. It’s like you’re in military school, but the baby is the one in charge. Babies really do need a lot of attention, and this is why I want to take care of kids

I want to cure babies and help then get batter if they are sick because it’s sad to see a baby suffer with the flu or any other king of sickness. Parents should know how to take care of a baby because anything they see they put in their mouth. This is a good thing because I plan to own a day care center, and I want every kid to feel welcome.

In conclusion I want to be a pediatrician when I grow up because I want to be able to work with kids when there are sick want to be able to find out what they need, and I want to run my own day care center.

By I.T., a middle school student

I think I’ll make such a big difference for students because students would appreciate school more.

I think I’ll make such a big difference for students because students would appreciate school more. You will see the percentage of students getting help with their problem or their situation. I know this because I’ve been through this problem.

I had a teacher last year, she was my math teacher, and she was young. So she still had thoughts like we did. So she would see things from our point of view, and we loved that of her because she helped us and understood us.

Like last year I had a friendship problem. My friends were mad at me because I made some new friends and I was sitting with them. So my old friends got upset, and I didn’t know what to do. So I went to go talk to my math teacher, and she helped me out pretty fast. And if I hadn’t listed to what the teacher told me, I would have gotten in trouble because I would have gotten into trouble because my friend asked me to get in trouble so I could go to lunch detention with her.

So I think it would be so much better if they tried to make a difference in that situation. I think it would make a difference in every school. So please listen to my reason and understand me so you could please help it come true.

By A. A., a middle school student

When I grow up I always wanted to be an actress or a singer.

When I grow up I always wanted to be an actress or a singer. I think that’s my dream because I grow up in a family that is full of singers and actors. My brother is a singer, my sister loves to sing, dance and act. She is trying to become a dancer. My aunt is a singer, and I have a cousin that acts. So I think that’s why I love singing and acting so much.

Right when I finish school I want to go to college and, like I said, I want to become a singer/actress. That’s how I want the rest of my life to be like after I finish high school.

I’ve always thought that singing and acting has something beautiful about it. I also understand that it is really hard work. I understand that you give it all in your career because my brother always explains that to me. But I love it, and I think it’s something I love to do, and I know that I am good at it.

I like this career also because ever since I’ve been born, I’ve seen my mom have so many problems, and she even left our country to help my brothers and me. And for once I want to make her proud. Because right now I really don’t think I am. She is very disappointed in me, and that really makes me cry. So I’m going to finish school with good behavior and good grades just for her.

With this career I could have a job when I grow up because if you work in a place and you don’t like being there, you shouldn’t even be working there at all. So with this job I’m going to love every second of it because it is what I want to do.

By A. A., a middle school student

Education is very important in a person’s life.

Education is very important in a person’s life. It could define your future, your knowledge, your behavior, and your attitude towards life. And so since school is very important, you have to make the best of it while you are there. You also have to be grateful because not everyone gets to go to school for free and get educated for free. Some kids don’t get educated at all. One way that I think could probably help the school system is by changing the punishments. Boy, we kids do love school these days huh?

One way that the school system would improve is by changing the punishments, or consequences. For example, if one skips class that means that they are keeping themselves from learning right? And if they get caught, the consequences could be Out Of School suspension, In School Suspension, or Enhanced Assist. My way of looking at it is they are keeping people out of class, because they kept themselves from class. They are making them miss more school, and are not getting the education they should be because they are not present. They are wasting valuable time in school, and really aren’t helping anyone.

I think Saturday school, after school programs, after school detentions, and before school detentions all make perfect sense. Because the punishment of sending you to 10 days of EA is really not going to help you improve. Suspending you and sending you to a different school and keeping you away from such things just because you got into a little misunderstanding. I know that some kids do it on purpose, and those should be the ones punished, but still not in that kind of way. Kids get punished at home as well. Some more than others. Now days you even get suspended for wearing the wrong color of clothes! I receive punishments like this, and I don’t think it is helping me at all. So I don’t think it would help anybody else.

It also does not help your record at all. I know kids may be bad sometimes, but we were all kids and adults should know what it feels like to want to have fun sometimes. But for everything you do you shouldn’t get thrown out of school like a criminal because it does follow you all your life. Deans and principals and teachers don’t really focus on that now. They just want you out because you talked during lunch.

So in conclusion, I don’t believe that the school system has the best punishments. They should have many ways to help kids improve instead of just kicking them out. If I were in charge of all this, it would be handled so much better.

By I. S., a middle school student

When I go fishing, I will take two or three people out on the boat.

When I go fishing, I will take two or three people out on the boat. We go out to the Cuban boat which is located outside of Gordon Pass. Many people go out there to catch fish because the fishing is so good by the Cuban boat people always catch fish. You never go home without fish. When we took my uncle out to go catch some kingfish, the were so many kingfish out there that every cast you threw, you caught a fish.

The day that my uncle and I went out started like this. At five o’clock in the morning my uncle started to make our food to take out on the boat, and then we were ready to go get the fish. I said to my uncle do not forget any thing because we can not come back for any thing. He said ok. So when we got to the dock, we got into the boat. We were all set, and I started it. We were ready, and we were going to catch some fish. When we got out to the Cuban boat, we started trolling for king fish two minutes later my uncle hocked onto a king. It was big, but we could not see it very well. So when my uncle got the king to the boat, I got the gaffe and gaffed the fish. It was a keeper. It was 46 inches long and the first fish of the day. Then we stopped the boat, and we tried to catch a jewfish. We used a piece from the kingfish. As soon as I dropped it into the water, a big 200 pound jewfish took the piece of the king, and the grouper was on. I was fighting the beast for over 45 minutes. It was so hard. Finally, I got him up. I let him loose. I had so much fun with my uncle.

By K. M., a middle school student

All of us face challenges in life. I know I do.

All of us face challenges in life. I know I do. I’m going to tell you three important challenges I faced in my lifetime. One of them was making friends at a new school. The second one was winning the spelling bees. The last one was being on TV and the newspaper.

When my fourth grade year was over, my mom and my brothers and sisters moved to Immokalee with my mom’s new husband. He was extremely nice. The school year was about to begin so, I had to find a new elementary school to attend for fifth grade. I decided to go to a school named V.O.E which stands for Village Oaks Elementary. I made friends the second I walked into my fifth grade class. I got along with almost everybody. I even made a best friend named Daisy. Later on, I got tired of living over there and wanted all my old friends back so, I moved back to Naples.

When I got back to Naples, I returned to my old elementary school, Lake Park Elementary. Towards, the end of my fifth school year, the school was having a spelling bee, and everyone had to participate. I didn’t think I would win until I realized a smart challenge student and I were the only ones left. He misspelled a word, and I was afraid that I was going to misspell the word, and I was going to be embarrassed. I spelled the word correctly and I won a trophy. The following year, I entered the spelling bee and, sadly, I lost, but the year after that I won by spelling an extremely difficult word - miscellaneous!

I was a smart kid, and I knew big and extremely hard words, I was in this program for smart and intelligent kids. I was the youngest one. They taught us college words. I wanted to quit the program when they told us that we were going to be on TV. I was scared. We were also going to be performing in front of the school board. I thought they would yell at me if I did something wrong, but actually they were pretty nice. I made the front page of the newspaper when I said all the 52 hard words correctly, while the rest of older kids got stuck on like the fourth word. I felt really confident while the audience were greeting me and complimenting me on what a good job I did.

Now you know the challenges I faced. Let me summarize for you. The first one was when I moved to Immokalee and had to make new friends. The second one was winning the spelling bees. The last one was being on TV and the newspaper. What challenges did you face?

By L. J., a middle school student

Well, what if we consider something like having fun, educational fun videos to watch like for math or science and or geography.

Gosh man I’m bored of school.
Now days students don’t concentrate as much as they used to. Now kids are skipping classes to have fun. Well, what if we consider something like having fun, educational fun videos to watch like for math or science and or geography. Another thing is to have 5 minutes in-between. And last is to have a break every once in a while you know for soda or a snack like chips or something just to wake us up a little bit.

One of my reasons is to show educational fun videos in class. Okay, let’s be realistic. Teens these days like videos, and if we could watch videos in class, that would be a better thing, you know, to pay more attention. And besides when you watch videos, you get entertained, and you can learn like math, geography, and science.

My next reason is to give us five minutes in between classes. Okay people, kids are slow. We take our time to get to class. Out of the thousands of students you teachers expect us to get there in 2 minutes. That is hard. Please, when you went to school, you took some time, so why can’t we? Also when students are late sometimes then we don’t pay attention because we are looking for notes to copy down and when we do, class is over.

My final reason is to have better food. Okay, people, kids want good food to eat and not nasty things like raw chicken nuggets. We want real food please, and when we try to change, you all tell us write a letter to school board.


In conclusion I want to improve my school by showing fun videos in class and give us 5 minutes to get to class, and give us better food for lunch

By I.T., a middle school student

My first idea would be to hire kind teachers.

Say the local school community is looking for ideas to improve my school, and they said they want my ideas. Well, I would give them these ways to make my school a better place and a home students would really enjoy. My first idea would be to hire kind teachers. A second idea is to have better school lunches. My last idea is to have less home work.

To begin I will tell you my first way to improve my school. First, I would hire kinder teachers. Why? Teacher’s knowledge is getting very strict which causes students to be DISRESPECTFUL and makes them talk back. Students would achieve more, and this one reason would make my school a better place.

Secondly, we need way better school lunches. For three days I have a heard many students complaining about how they get sick from eating school lunches. If the county would get us some REAL food for the students, they wouldn’t get sick. This also would improve my school.

Finally the last thing would have is less homework. Every night I go to bed at 12:00 or 1:00 because I’m doing my homework. Students would enjoy school more with less homework, and school would be a better place.

Now you know what I would do to make my school a better place. First, I would hire kinder teachers. Secondly, we would have to have better school lunches. Lastly, we would have to have less homework. All of my ideas would make students like school more and would also improve school.

By L. J., a middle school student

This is my new old school fairy tale, a short story not Cinderella.

Ok, since my story yesterday wasn’t the best, this is my new old school fairy tale. It is the same prospect as Cinderella, except no-one likes that so this is my version.

People say they know more about space than Earth, and they’re right. In the little village in the vast jungle there is the castle. They are so far away (or so they say) that time has not affected them. No-one dare come or go for fear of the boogie-man. Now of course the boogie-man (we think) isn’t real. But the real boogie-man is much worse.

Now this so called boogie-man lives in a cave in the valley that separates the village from the modern world. But the truth behind the village is a frightening one. These people have not only been around for hundreds of years they have been alive! Back in the day there was a mad scientist, now I know what your are thinking, a Frankenstein making freak. No, the real mad scientist was a pure genius. He created a way to stay alive longer than ever before. He realized that in order to keep the body going you had to have fresh parts. But that’s where it goes wrong.

Intermission…

Ok… Intermission Over

Once the doctor realized he could live forever. So he tried it on a few patients. The patients became disoriented and henceforth creating the village. After he would administer the poison to them, he would let them go. But once he started getting smarter, he realized that they weren’t living longer, but the aging process was slowed. As a result, so was the learning process.

Full grown adults had no more intelligence than a new born. The only thing they knew of was their village and the bogie-man. It would take them years to understand what was going on and to comprehend anything other than the village. Seven years since his first patient and the doctor was still wondering what went wrong. He tried making them smarter, but they became delirious. He thought it would work perfectly until a plane flew over. It created an uproar, riots like animals, screaming, fighting, all of their commotion sparked a brain. She was one of the first patients; the commotion literally knocked the sense into her when she fell into the fire. She couldn’t understand what was going on. She tried talking to others but couldn’t understand them. Panicking, she raced through the woods, not knowing where she is going or where she is. She was almost through when she tripped on a branch and fell; she rolled all the way down the valley straight to the cave.

She awoke to a cold hard table beneath her. As she looked around, she realized it was a lab. The front of the cave was a screen with eyes looking out to frighten people. The doctor was on the other side of her taking blood samples and trying to figure out what happened. As he studied her, she looked around. It was like the harsh smell of the road-kill everywhere except hundreds of times worse.

She noticed limbs and parts of bodies in jars and on shelves. Hanging from the ceiling was a dead cat, still dripping blood like it was just killed. Its white fur made with thick blood dripping like it was just killed. Its white fur matted with thick blood dripping off its black nose. A loud noise startled her, she whipped around to see the doctor with a table saw. Removing the already cut up body, he positioned it on the side of her. Once he started it, she panicked and tried to move, but the straps kept her still. It was inches away! She made one final attempt and pulled and jerked, causing the saw to move cutting the strap. She pulled off the other one and ran into the deeper, darker cave.

She ran until the lights she could no longer see. Completely immersed in darkness, she still ran. Stopping to take a break, the smell of flesh was overwhelming. She had to lie down for fear of falling. Family, pets, traffic, she remembered more now. She had to see them again. She slowly started toward the back of the cave, slowly feeling the ground as she went. Then feeling the floor give away, she slipped into a hole. Hitting padding saved her from dieing. Whistling came into hearing and a light with it. She froze, for the first time realizing she was on dead, decaying bodies. Desperately trying to climb out but the walls were too steep. She looked up and saw the doctor with a light in one hand, a jar in the other. Showing her the jar he dropped it, breaking it on a broken skull. A swarm of some kind of flys swept over the bodies. She was engulfed instantly, trying to free herself, she looked over to see the flies eating a half decayed body, cleaning the flesh right off. The pain was too much; she closed her eyes to never open them again.


(Not the best story, really had nothing to do with Cinderella, but still pretty cool)

By B. M., a high school student

What I would like to be when I grow up is a veterinarian.

What I would like to be when I grow up is a veterinarian. I would like to be a vet because I love animals. Also it is saving lives everyday, and it helps a families that love pets. These are all good things why I want to be a vet.

The first reason I said I would like to be a vet is because I love animals. It is good to love animals if you are a vet because you will like your job better. You will wake up happy in the morning to go to your job and be excited to see the animals.

The second reason I said I would like to be a vet is because it is a way of saving lives. It’s good to save an animal’s life because you then feel good about yourself. Also, if you do one thing well, god will give you three good things back. You also need to save lives because those are people’s pets, and they love them.

The third reason I said I would like to be a vet is because it helps families that love their pet. If someone has a pet that might die, but they love it to death, I will save that animal and that family would be happy. Also little boys and girls would loose half of their pets if there were no vets.

In conclusion, this is why I would like to be a vet. I love animals. It helps save lives, and, last but not least, it helps families with pets they love to death. This is why I would like to be a vet.

By N. H., a middle school student

Let’s go M. we’re going to Immokalee so get your bags ready for the full week and weekend.

Let’s go M. we’re going to Immokalee so get your bags ready for the full week and weekend. Ok, I spent a cool and fun week with my cousins P. and H. When I got to Immokalee, I went to my room and plugged in my charger, and I plugged my phone and got my towel and my clothes ready took a quick shower and left to have some fun. First, I went to go see spooky a.k.a my cousin and we waited for him to take a quick shower, and when he did, we went cruising in Immokalee. First, we went to eat at Taco Bell, and then we went to the park. When we got to the park, I sat down on the bench and talked to my cousin. Then we called up some of our friends and just hung out at the park. Later that day we went to the movies to see the scariest movie Dead Silence. Every one was hiding their face in their hands and yelling and jumping out of their seats. I was so scared; I covered my ears and closed my eyes. Well, I was about to keep on covering my ears and closing my eyes, but it was so hard because I wanted to keep watching. The movie was so interesting.

Then when the movie was over, we went to the dance and partied. It was fun. We were all jumping up and down, and then it was time to go home. I was sad, but then my cousin reminded me about spring break. I was happy all over again, then I went to my room with my cousin, and we fell asleep.

When I woke up on Saturday, I was all happy. My aunt took us to the beach in Naples. We had a cook out and had the best time. It was funny when my aunt started singing, and she didn’t even know the words to the song. I laughed so hard and she started making fun of me, but that’s how we mess around with each other. On Sunday we went to the mall and bought a lot of things. We bought clothes and shoes and mp3 players, I-pods, I-pod pillow radio for me and the movie Scar Face. It was fun when we walked out we had a lot of bags my whole two arms were covered in bags I was exhausted.

By I. T., a middle school student

As a kid you have to have fun. And what better times to do that than spring break?

As a kid you have to have fun. And what better times to do that than spring break? The possibilities are way too many to count on what activities we kids could do now for a day on spring break. The things my friends and I did were very adventurous. I went to Miami with my best friend, and then we stayed for four days at my cousins’ house. We went to the pool, skateboarded, played tennis, went to the movies, and many more things. This was the funniest spring break that I could remember!
My best friend is originally from Miami. So when I invited her she was totally up for it. When we got there, she had never met my cousins before so they were strangers to her, but as the days went by, she got closer and more comfortable with them. We stayed at my cousins’ house and when we got there, he was skateboarding. And he had 4 skateboards because he is never satisfied with having one of anything except for an older sister. He offered us to skateboard, my friend, my cousin, and me and we said okay, as you can imagine. No. he said come on and we said we can’t do it, we don’t know, we might fall. And then he said, “Girls, they are always complaining”. After he finished that sentence my cousin, my friend, and I hopped on that skateboard faster than he could blink. We would not tolerate him making up things about girls. So, anyways as you could very well imagine, I fell. No one else did but I did. And right on my face. When I got up, I went inside, and I never got back on that skateboard for the rest of the time I was there.
That same day, we four went to the pool. My friend, my cousin, and I were all staring at the cute shirtless guys at the pool. We all said it was fun grossing out our cousin. We all knew he was pretty sick of doing things we wanted and being around so many girls all the time, so we told him to go bring one of his friends over from they’re building. He turned out to be a really, really cute skater. And us girls started again with the staring and things so my boy cousin got sick of it and just took his friend away and just left. Man we girls were really disappointed.
My friend and I left my cousins’ house and went to her older sister’s house for the rest of spring break. My friend’s sister lives where my friend’s old house is. All of her friends were there when she used to live here. We hung out with them, but they were much different from my cousins so we had a way much better time with them because they were more adventurous and more exciting. And also there was more people and more things to do. When we were there, we went to the movies with them, and we played basketball and soccer and went on the computer and just messed around a bit. It was actually better than staying at my cousins’ house. And the best part about that part of the trip was, there was no curfew. But of course we couldn’t come home at 2:00 in the morning. But we could stay out very late!
So to sum it all up, I had a pretty fun time on my spring break. No parents to boss you around and all you had to do was hang out with your friends and your cousins and anyone else that was willing to have a fun time. Yea, this spring break was the best. But next year, when we are in high school, it’ll be so much better!

By I. S., a middle school student

Every year when spring break would come, I would sit down, do nothing, and watch what other people were doing on their spring break on TV.

Every year when spring break would come, I would sit down, do nothing, and watch what other people were doing on their spring break on TV. This year was way different. I did a lot of stuff and went to a whole bunch of places. I didn’t think I was doing anything until my friends came over. First, I went to the beach. Secondly, my cousins came and picked me up, and we went to Busch Gardens. Lastly, I slept over at my best friends’ house in Miami and had a lot of fun.

It was Saturday when my friends came over and asked me if I wanted to go to the beach. I was “sure, but I don’t have a bathing suit.” They told me to go to the mall with them to go buy me one. I bought four! I wore a pink and white two piece bathing suit with shorts. It was so fun because there was a festival going on. I met a lot of people and made a lot of friends. I even entered a contest, but I didn’t win, but I got $50 dollars.

On Sunday, my cousins from Orlando came and picked me up and we went to Busch Gardens. It was so much fun! We went on a lot of rides. We took a lot of pictures with a lot of animals. We made a lot friends. Later on, we drove to Orlando and I spent the night at their house. The next day we went to Universal Studios and had a lot of fun there.

On Tuesday, I returned back home.
Unfinished.

By L. J., a middle school student

I would like to be a lawyer.

When I finished school, college, and finish the my development to maturity, I would like to be a lawyer. The job would help me in life financially. I’ll support my family with the money I receive. I should be lawyer because I am extremely good at arguing .I’ll go to law school to put more knowledge in my head. Then when get out, I’ll be lawyer even before the Supreme Court.

The result of being lawyer is making a lot of money. Then I can buy a house of my own. I could pay my bills while supporting my family. I’ll will help others with the money I get. The money I get from being a lawyer will help me and everybody else.
Therefore I’m extremely an expert at arguing. In a case I will find the truth and tell the honest thing that I found and tell the jury and judge. When I argue a case, I will have the maximum evidence so I can convince the jury and judge to acquit my defendant. I believe that I am going to be a lawyer.

By H. C., a middle school student

In the future I would like to be a pro bmxer.

In the future I would like to be a pro bmxer. I think that is a great idea because it is something that I like now, and it would be cool to keep on doing it when I’m older. It is a sport, a hobby, and a career.

I have already won several state tournaments usually in 2nd or 3rd place. I am trying to work my way up to the point that I can compete for a 2year scholarship to Woodwards College where I can become a professional bmxer. Woodwards, in my opinion, is the best place to become a pro bmxer, skate or rollerblader. It is my dream to get into Woodwards. To give you an idea of how expensive it is to get in to Woodwards, one session which equals 3 weeks cost is $800.

After I go pro, I will try to make it in to the xgames which is a huge event which all the pros compete in. People from around the country come to watch the pros break records and break bones. The x games can bring lots of things like respect from other pros and a lot of money, for example last x games Matt Hoffman won $700,000 just with a silver metal plus he won a solid gold bike that has a price of $45,000.

I also hope that with all the money I make I can go to college and take business courses so that I can make more money and people will have more respect for me because I will look more official. So then when I retire from B.M.X I will still make money from my business. And plus I think it will be easier to get through college since I will be wiser and more experienced.

After going to college and being a pro bmxer, I will open up a store to sell all kinds of extreme sports equipment like bmx, skates, rollerblades, snowboards, dirt bikes, surfboards, and kiteboards. I think that I will make good money from the store because I will be well known so people will come and all kinds of people will know me.

By J. C., a middle school student