To Sum It All Up!

                Life is pretty crazy, as you can tell. Its filled with ups and downs, and just pure randomness.  It can cause drama and it can be fun. You have to make the best of your life because you never know when it might end. That is so true now more than ever.  Recently a senior at my high school passed away. He was in a horrible wreck that took his life. I didn’t personally know him but I knew some of his family and friends. It was a terrible toll on their lives, and now I know not to take life for granted. You have to fill your life with the great moments, and learn from the bad ones. Family and Good friends help you get through it all. It is important to have people in your life that care about you, and wont stab you in the back.

Its great to be involved in activities, they can teach you some valuable life lessons. When your young, get involved! You might regret it when you get older. I wish I would have ran for Student Council in high school and I wish I would have played volleyball these last two years, instead of cheered. I love sports, and its a great feeling to see football players, or basketball players from our high school move on to become players in college. It shows that if you really try hard in life, you can really follow your dreams and go somewhere.

Ive learned that memories are very important. Especially when you are young. I look back now through pictures and thoughts, and i remember good memories that i have had. I remember when no one had cell phones, and we used to call our friends' house phones if we wanted to get a hold of them, or when computers were getting to be popular and everyone had MSN Messenger, thats how we would talk to each other. I remember when cell phones first came to be popular, and everyone just called everyone else. No one texted. When digital cameras came out everyone had to have one and everyone took pictures. It was great, now i look back at all of those old pictures and i laugh at my friends and I. Everything was so different back then and it was, in a way, better than it is today. Today we just text everyone, and i think poeple have lost their morals about having a good time in life. Trust me, I love my phone, and I keep it with me everywhere i go, but wasn't it so much fun when we would go over to each others houses and instead of playing on the computer, or playing video games, we would play like board games or go outside.

Life will always be crazy and random. Embrace it because well, life is great.

My Teachers:)

My teachers are the best! We disagree at times but I feel like they teach me a lot when it comes down to taking tests, and using the things we learn about in our everyday lives. My teachers this year don’t baby us like normal, which, at first was a big change, but now I can say that it has helped me look things up and be more independent.
My first hour teacher is Mr. Barnes. He teaches Algebra 2. He is really good at it too, he tells us to do the assignment with notes, and we have to figure out the rest. It really helps me with the problems, it helps a lot with learning them. For fun, in his class, we get to work on logic problems! They are so much fun I love them!
My second hour class is P.E. It can be fun sometimes because my teacher, Mrs. Terrell, lets us listen to music, while we run or stretch. She also has some pretty fun games we can play on game days.
My third hour teacher is Mrs. Kelsheimer. She teaches Spanish 2. We definately have our moments of arguing. But I think shes a really good teacher, and helps me understand espanol. :) She lets us watch some of our favorite movies in her class too. Theyre in spanish, though. I think that she is a really great person as well as a really good teacher.
My fourth hour teacher, and one of my favorites is Mr. Hibschman. He is hilarious! I think he is a really good teacher too. He gives us notes, to help us understand the material a lot better, and really helps us with questions. His tests are complicated but I do really good on them because of all the preparation we spend in class. He really prepares us for final exams, and a lot of the people in his class do really great on them. He gives out a lot of project assignments, but he explains them a lot in class, and gives us time in class to work on them, which makes our lives after school a lot easier.
My fifth hour teacher, is actually the person that inspired me to write about my teachers in the first place. Her name is Mrs. Phegely and she teaches all of the Art classes. She is really great. She gives us a lot of projects, and lets us pick the subject and the materials we want to use. She is really funny, and is a really fun person to be around. Ill be sad next semester, when I don’t have art anymore.
My sixth hour teacher is Mrs. Stallings and she teaches Science Exploration. This is the first year I’ve had her, and her second year at Paris High School. She is a tough teacher, but she is great. Its really easy to make her laugh. Especially, with the people in my class.
My seventh hour teacher is Mr. Ogle. He is another one of my favorite teachers, even though he can get pretty frustrated with our class. He is the Creative Writing teacher, and he expects a lot from all of us. I don’t blame him, we do get a little immature at times, and he teaches us that if you want to go far in life, you have to have discipline and self control when it comes to respect, and a lot of other things. He is a really funny teacher, he likes to tell jokes left and right. And all of us have a lot of fun in his class.
My last teacher of the day is my Parenting teacher, Mrs. Propst. She is another one of my favorites. She is like the mom you wish you had. Don’t get my wrong I love my mom to pieces, but Mrs. Propst is really understanding, and her profession makes her motherly instincts even better. She is the best teacher I’ve ever had when it comes to hands on learning. We get to watch videos in her class while filling out papers, and if we have a question, trust me she is right by your side helping you answer it! We get to take home babies in parenting class, and she is really understanding when it comes to sudden problems with the babies, she even gives us her cell number so that we can reach her in case of emergencies. She is a really great person. I love her! :)

Friends(:

            In my opinion, everyone must have friends to pretty much survive. They help you get through a good or bad day. They come and go as you grow up, and you learn from the friends that stay and the friends that drift away.

             There are two types of friends, in my opinion. There are the friends that you love unconditionally and you would do anything for, and then there are the friends that you can’t and never will get fully close to. Those friends that you love, will come and go, but they will forever have a spot on your life, and they will affect it. You will hold them in your hearts for a long time, and you will look back and think about them as you flashback through your life. Friends that you can never get fully close to are friends that will have impacts on your life also. Their impacts will be vague, but they will teach you lessons that no one else will be able to. They will teach you that some people aren’t meant to be friends and that you can’t take it personally, you have to grow and make yourself a better person without those people bringing you down. You’ll have the enemies that once were your friends, but then again you’ll end up being better friends with them than with your current friends. It is something that no one can really predict understand.

            Some friends that are there for you no matter what are needed to get through days; they make things better when things are going wrong. A friend can be there for you in so many ways. They can cheer you up if something is going wrong, they can be there to keep you company, or they can be that shoulder you’ll need to cry on. You’ll even fight with your friends. They will make you mad, or vice versa, but either way you usually always make up within a couple of days, that’s just how it works. Friends can even turn into something more. You can be really good friends with a boy, and it can turn into something a little more. Relationships like that can either end really well, or it can turn things awkward. They usually turn out to be really good relationships. Your best friend would always be by your side, and if you would ever break up, you would still be good friends. There would be those other cases though. The ones where you could be best friends with someone and then when or if you tried to be something more. It would just change things and make the whole situation awkward, and if that relationship would end badly, things between those two would be even more awkward.

            There is so much more I could say about friends. Their importance is a big part in your life. Real friends will be there with you through thick and thin, and if they aren’t then well they really weren’t that great of friends to begin with.

Defeated.

Well its Friday! Its really weird though because there isn't a football game to go to. See, two weeks ago, it was our last game of the season, it was our Senior night, and it was the game to decide if we were going to the playoffs or not. We won that game, it was against Rantoul, so we got to advance to the first round of the playoffs. It was really exciting for everyone, especially for our Seniors because they make up most of the starters on the team. We traveled to St. Joe hoping to bring back a victory, and a ticket to this weeks game, but we were caught by surprise. St. Joe also wanted the same thing, and they succeeded. The bus ride up with my fellow cheerleaders to Ogden was so much fun, even though i didn't do much! I sat on the bus with my iPod blaring, and i fell asleep! :) when i woke up, i was told that we were in Ogden, ha thank goodness. I hate bus rides. It was so exciting to see pretty much EVERYONE there. It was so cool, you could tell it really made the boys happy too. We arrived with 40 minutes left before the game so we decided to warm up and mount. Did i mention that it was like 30 degrees outside. Not ideal weather for throwing girls up in the air. But we were all troopers and did it anyway. We took off our jackets and gloves so we dont drop anyone, and we stunted like any other game! We were all pumped up! With 30 minutes still left before the big game, the teams went into the locker room for their pre-game talk and we decided to mess around and have some fun! That meant taking lots and lots of pictures. You gotta have memories right?! :P So we left the track for the crowd to get as many memories as we could! Snap after snap of the cameras and flashes soon blinded my eyes! I couldnt do this anymore, i thought! 10 minutes left, and we all started to get ready to cheer. We put jackets on over sweatshirts, and we put gloves on top of gloves. It was just so cold outside! We got the banner that the boys run out of ready and we headed out onto the field. The boys headed out of the locker room and a roar came from the crowd. It was a great feeling even for me as a cheerleader and fan! We formed our famous tunnel and listened as the announcer came across the intercom! "And now for the Lineup for the visiting team the Paris Tigers!" Everyone was screaming now! "First up your Quarterback, a Senior, #7, CLAY BESS!!!" Clay gave a big wave with a huge smile on his face! "Next, at Center, a  Senior, #66, EVAN LEWSADER!!!" Another big wave came from Evan! More announcements went on and finally our last player was announced! "Last but certainly not least, at Full Back, A Sophomore, #31, STEWART ARP!!" The crowd gave Stewart a warm welcome as the boys got ready to run through the banner. 3-2-1 Then a big rip as the banner split in half, with all of the boys running through! Everyone was screaming so loud. We definitely wanted this so much more than anyone we knew! The game was underway, with us returning the ball first. We got some pretty good carrys and Clay threw really good. For some odd reason though no one could catch!!!!!! That was a huge problem! Our defense tried to block and well defend. But they were just wayyyyy bigger than us! It was crazy! Final game score= 32 St. Joe. 21 Paris. It was a goo try on our part though! :)

Playoffs!

P. L. A. Y. O. F. F. S.

                Its that time again. The time after football season dedicated to playoffs. Teams from all around the state hope the whole season that they will qualify. Playoffs are divided into classes. 1A, 2A, 3A, etc. You have to win a total of 5 games or more. If you only win 5, you get to go by the amount of points you have. Teams miss the deadline by only a few and are so upset. The teams that do get to go are so excited. Most teams love to go just for the experience, and some come back very lucky to be moving on in the bracket. Anticipating the pairings show is the best part. That’s the show on tv that tells you who you play, or if you even go. It’s such a great feeling to see your teams name on the show. This year, the Paris Tigers are going, its going to be great. Im a cheerleader, so it makes it ever more fun to know that in a way I am apart of the team. Im ready to have some fun screaming for the boys to get a touchdown. Im so excited to be going and to cheer tonight. Our team is made up of mostly seniors, and our last home game was senior night and the game to decide if we were going to the playoffs. The boys really wanted it bad, and they definitely deserved the win. The deserve tonight’s win too. They all are so pumped to play; not one person isn’t going to be at that game tonight. We had a pep assembly at school today, to send the boys off, and let them know that we will all be there cheering for them at this really important game. Pep assemblies are awesome, everyone is laughing and having a good time, and you can tell the boys are in the zone. The cheerleaders and band perform the fight song, and the cheerleaders do some cheers to get everyone else in the zone. The ride up there will be the best part. Its awesome to know that the boys are going to be getting pumped up, and getting ready to win this game.  When we get there the boys will warm up and the cheerleaders will too, while the crowd gets out the blankets and air horns. I cant wait for tonight, I just hope and pray that we will play good and win!

Senior Night(:

This Friday, is the biggest football game of the year. Its senior night, and it’s the last game of the season. We have to win this game because if we win, we can go to playoffs. We went to playoffs in 2008, but I wasn’t at the high school yet so it wasn’t really that important to me. Now that im a sophomore, and a high school cheerleader, its really important that we go. I love football and I know that everyone that plays, or goes to the games, loves football too. We really want to see our boys go to the playoffs this year. If we go, we get to take turner buses and head up to an awesome school to play. This week, the team we are playing, has lost too many games, and they have lost their chances to go to the playoffs. This could either be good or bad. They could go easy on us and let us win, or they could go really hard, and make us lose. The boys have been practicing really hard this past week, and they are all really confident that we will win, or play good at least. They have been playing really good lately, and that has boosted their confidence a ton. I really hope we play good enough to beat Rantoul and go on to the playoffs.

                Not only is this game our last chance to go to the playoffs, it is our last home game, which means that it is Senior Night! Senior night is so much fun and it is really emotional. Its so much fun because, we all are pumped up to win the game and the cheerleaders and band mess around and try to get the crowd pumped up. The football boys are really rowdy, and they know they have to win this one last home game. They get so fired up and its really cool to see how much the football boys actually love football and we get to see how much they actually care that this is their last home game they will play while in high school. Every year, the cheerleaders put up our senior mounts. A senior mount is when we stunt, and the seniors are the flyers. This year, we are building a pyramid. Its going to be so cool! Everyone will love it. The band has learned how to play some new songs, and that will get the pack cheering and dancing. It will be awesome. Senior Night is also really emotional for everyone, not just the seniors. They announce the seniors at the football game, and people start to cry. We have all grown up with the seniors and this is the last time they will cheer at a football game, or play football. It’s really emotional. Everyone gets each other presents, and some teams even have senior moments. That is a time where the seniors can sit down with everyone else and tell stories about the good times they have had in high school. The tears really come flowing for that one.

1st Quarter is almost over!

So the end of the first quarter is seriously one day away. This year has gone by way too fast already! Since the quarter is almost over, everyone is worried sick about their grades. I sure am! That’s the problem with me and other students too! We mess around early in the year because well we just still want it to be summer. Since we mess around and don’t do any homework in classes, our grades start to slip. We all have a chance to get onto mms and I used to every night but ive been slacking this year. Getting back to my point, students don’t realize how bad their grades are until the week or two before. Everyone freaks those last few days before its over trying to put grades in and everything else. A lot of students get into trouble if they have bad grades with their parents. Some students just don’t even tell their parents because well honestly, neither of them care that much. This year my mom has a new rule that if I get a c or anything lower ill be grounded. I hope my grades will add up to give me at least a b. You really see a big change in everyone’s effort level right before grades are due. Everyone has to get their bad grades up. My teacher, Mr. Ogle, has been talking lately about how grades won’t matter in the future. I agree, sure they matter for college but a letter grade wont help you get a job or get you out of trouble. He also brought up the fact that people just go to school and do the work without trying very hard. They just do the bare minimum of what is needed to succeed. When they do that, are they really learning anything? Probably not to be honest.

            Another big thing with the quarter ending means that people start to switch out of and into classes. If you’re in Driver’s Ed like me you switch into P.E. Some people go from P.E. to Driver’s Ed. and some just switch to different teachers. I don’t like switching into new classes because it feels like you just start over again, its really boring. You have more class rule sheets that you have to have your parent sign. Its just a lot of work. The teachers are also a lot different. They all have different rules and expectations. You have to get more supplies needed for different classes and stuff like that.  There is an advantage to switching classes though. You get to learn more things and get the required amount of credits to move onto the next year. They all add up at the end of your high school career and you have to have a certain amount of those credits to graduate. Some colleges even look to see the classes you take when your in high school. That could help with being accepted into some of the schools you want to attend.