Journal #3

Currently, the schools that are required to wear uniforms are mainly private schools. Public school students don't have to. This is simply because in public school, you aren't paying to go to school there so they can't MAKE you wear uniforms. First of all uniforms are expensive. It's not like the school is just giving them to us for free. The parents have to pay for them from their own pocket. Right now, in this time period, we are in a recession; a lot of people are unemployed or have low paying jobs and low income. For Orlando in March of 2012 the area's jobless rate was 8.6%. Uniforms can be very expensive. Lake Mary Preps uniform tops are about $30 and the shorts are about $20. Do the math and that comes out to $50. For some people that is a lot of money. 

In my opinion uniforms are uncomfortable. I, personally learn better when I am comfortable and relaxed. Collared shirts make me feel enclosed and like I can't move my neck. Also collared shirts are hotter then most regular clothes; they are made of thick material. How can you focus in class when you are worried about cooling off? Now the shorts aren't as bad, but if one day I just feel like bumming it and want to wear sweatpants, I can't because I have to wear the shorts. Sweatpants over kaki or black shorts...I'd take the sweatpants!

Lastly, uniforms mean that everyone is going to be wearing the same thing everyday. After a while that gets really boring. When everyone is wearing the same clothes, it makes it harder to know someones style. I mean think about it, nowadays they have so many different types of clothes that you can tell what a person is like by the way they dress. For example, if you see someone wearing camo, you know that they are into country stuff. Or if someone wears a lot of black make up and dark clothes, you would think they were goth. The way people dress is a representation of them, that's just the bottom line.  

Journal #2

Whenever I am sad or mad or down the song I listen to is "Everything Is Gonna Be Alright." I can not tell you the amount of times I have listened to it. This song is by Bob Marley who I love very much. His style of music is reggae and reggae soothes me. You could say it calms me down because the tune is just so relaxing and it makes you feel like you are on an island having a good time! There will be many times when I would fall asleep to it. This particular song is my favorite because it is a song that just makes you want to be happy. Clearly the title, "Everything Is Gonna Be Alright" tells you a little bit about the song; it is self explanatory. In the lyrics Marley says "don't worry about a thing 'cause every little thing is gonna be alright." When I am sad or mad I immediately tell myself that and it helps me move on. But honestly, in my opinion, that would work on anybody. I also think that this song could teach a person a lesson. In the beginning of the song Bob says that when you wake up in the morning and see the sun and hear the birds chirping and singing they are trying to send a message to you. I think that when they do this they are trying to tell you that it is a beautiful day and you should just be happy to be living.

Reaction Paper

Imagery is the use of concrete details that appeal to the five senses. In Earth without People by Alan Weisman there are many examples of imagery. It’s basically about what would happen to the environment if people just completely disappeared. Throughout the story Weisman uses lots of sight imagery. He will describe something with so much detail that it will force you to make a mental picture in your head. In my opinion using sight imagery in a story helps readers understand and comprehend it more, especially if some people are visual readers. It is good information to add to stories.

            The first example Weisman uses in his story is “…for 5,000 years, the area was populated by rice farmers who carved the land into paddies.” I think this is an example of sight imagery because immediately after I read that sentence I pictured a farm sectioned off with paddies. At first I did not know what paddies were, so I looked it up. After I saw pictures of it I had an even better mental picture in my head. Also Weisman continues to talk about the paddies which help you have a better understanding of what they are. He says, “Today those paddies have become barely discernible, transformed into pockets of marsh, and the new occupants of these lands arrive as dazzling white squadrons of red-crowned cranes that glide over the bulrushes in perfect formation.” How much better could a description get?

            Another example of sight imagery that Weisman uses is actually a quote by a guy named Edward O. Wilson who is a biologist from Harvard University. The story was talking about how North Korea was building an industrial mega peace park and Wilson described it as “a Korean Gettysburg and Yosemite rolled together.” By him saying that makes people think of Gettysburg and Yosemite in their head. Also the first three words in that sentence are “Imagine it as…” Weisman is telling you to picture it in your head. This quote by Wilson gives you a good idea of what the industrial mega peace park is going to look like.

            Lastly, in Earth without People marine paleoecologist Jeremy Jackson of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama states “At least a dozen species in the ocean Columbus sailed were bigger than his biggest ship.” The first thing that came to my mind was a giant school of fish. The specific details that he gives like “a dozen species” and “bigger than his biggest ship” are examples of imagery. Also another thing that helps with making a mental picture in your head is context clues. The sentences following the sentence will more than likely have more examples of sight imagery.

            Sight imagery helps me follow the story better. The concrete details are probably the most interesting parts of the story in my opinion. There are so many ways you can go with sight imagery. I think it is very popular and used in lots and lots of stories. So yes Alan Weisman’s Earth without People uses sight imagery throughout the story. 

            

College Essay

Beginning at the age of 2, I pursued my desire to be a gymnast. I began in a mommy and me class with my mom. As I got older I improved and moved quickly up in the levels. By the time I was five, I was competing competitively. I did very well on all four of the gymnastics events, even becoming a state champion several times. However, vault was my strongest event. My coaches said, “I was very fast coming down the vault runway.” More and more people saw my speed and suggested to my mother that I should run track. So I began running at the age of 7. Based on my performance from the very beginning I was being noticed by everyone. People were asking where did that little girl come from! The moment I stepped on that track I knew it was going to be my passion and ten years later it still is. Ultimately, I came to realize that gymnastics and track were not two sports you could do at the same time, so I had to choose. After many hours of thinking I realized I really wanted to stick to track. To this day I’m glad I chose what I chose. We all know that runners need endurance, so to help me with my running I decided to take up swimming. It was the best thing that ever happened to me because I was running my best in track as a result of my swimming during that time. Thankfully, I was able to balance my schedule and continue doing both sports. Swimming kept me in great shape and I really enjoyed doing it.

You ever wake up one day and just have the urge to do something? Well I did, and my urge was to play basketball. Something I realized, after watching the NBA and WNBA games with my dad. To me, basketball looked like it would be a lot of fun so I told my mom to sign me up. She told me that it was not possible to do swimming, track and basketball, so I had to drop at least one sport. I knew I did not want to stop track so I gave up swimming. Once again I had to choose. Eventually I moved up to the next level and found a travel basketball team to play on. Again this was another sport I was excelling in. My coach told me I was a natural so I continued to play throughout high school. I love basketball just as much as I love track, but track is more my thing. I believe once an athlete, always an athlete in any sport, which is what brought me back to swimming again on my school’s swim team. So as you can see I was born an athlete and always will be. I’m so blessed to be gifted with these talents and I use them to my advantage. Having a passion for all these activities helped me realize that I am very knowledgeable with sports. I believe that in the future I do have the ability to be an athletic director or something along that line. I know in my heart that I would really enjoy making that my career. With all my years and experiences with sports, that’s how I came to my decision to major in Sports Management/Administration.

Journal #1

Last week I had the time of my life on one of my college official visits. I went to Dallas, Texas for three days and spent all my time on Southern Methodist University's campus. That weekend flew by so fast it was like the speed of light. It started off with a long plane ride that stopped in Houston, Texas and continued on to Dallas. Simply because I was so excited for my visit I knew the plane ride wouldn't go by fast. So I thought the only solution to that is, sleeping! When we finally landed I immediately texted my host for the weekend. Her name was Craishia and she was on the track team. I said, "Hey girl, I just landed so I should be on campus in about an hour!" Craishia texted me back saying how excited she was and that she couldn't wait to start having fun.
By the time I got on campus it was already almost game time. SMU's football team was playing their rival school, Texas Christian University. I heard so many people talk about how good of a game it was going to be. After Craishia and I finished getting ready, we walk outside and to Craishia's surprise it was raining! She said it hasn't rained in months and for a little while she thought Texas was in a drought. She started to tease me and say that I had brought the Florida rain with me to Texas. Turns out that it ended up raining ALL day Saturday and throughout the whole football game. Luckily they didn't cancel it, but it still ruined the spirit. I mean who wants to sit outside in fifty degree weather while it's pouring down raining. But that didn't stop Craishia and I. We got out hoodies and our ponchos and were ready to go! Unfortunately SMU lost by 12 points, but it was still a great game and I still had so much fun.
Come Monday morning it was almost time to go. I found myself very sad that I had to leave because I just had the time of my life while I was there and I didn't want it to end. The track team had practice so I got to sit through that and watch which was inspiring for me. It really made me excited about college track. As the time passed by I had to face reality and go back home. I went to go say goodbye to all the girls and of course my host, Craishia. As I was hugging her I started to feel tears run down my arm. I looked up at her and I noticed she was crying. I immediately started to cry because I didn't want to leave her. I felt like we had been friends for so long already. The last thing Craishia said to me was "Abby I don't want you to leave, I have separation anxiety!" I told her I did too and we said our last goodbyes. That is in person at least! On the plane ride home all I was thinking about was "I hope Craishia and I stay friends forever!"