The vibrant green grass swayed ever so slightly in the gentle breeze. I ripped my tattered blue bonnet from my head and let my wavy, brown hair swirl in the joyful wind. My nearly nine-year-old sister looked at me with the uttermost disgust on her face. I mustered out the largest smirk possible and directed it at her sunburned face. As I turned to gaze at the completely clear blue sky, I heard her small feet pounding the soft wet earth as she presumably went to report my behavior to Ma and Pa. I rolled my eyes and ambled over to our modest wood house to wish my final farewells. That day, May 1, 1841, to be exact, was the beginning of the end. Pa was quickly loading the last of the silver pots and pans into the wagon. He had always looked mean to others. His tall stature and curly brown beard sent shivers down their backs. But, I knew my Pa. He is the nicest man there is. Ma is a bit more stern. Everything must be kept in order, then she’ll be content. Yet, she always is ready to help others at nearly five foot. Now we get to Kathleen. Saying we fight is an understatement. She is always clung to mom’s knee. Her hair is dirty blonde just like her mother’s. I wouldn’t want anyone else to be my sibling though. “Time to go!” Pa beckoned. I didn't even have to feel sadness because the excitement of “The Oregon Trail” was pulling so hard at my sleeve. I darted over to them as we began the walk. I looked for Carrie, our neighbors the Johnsons’ only daughter. Our whole town of
On February 11th, 2016 I attended the Houston Independent School District’s (HISD) school board meeting. I received a first-hand experience of how educational decisions are made and I also witnessed all the intricacies of the process. An article entitled Understanding Your School Board states that “school boards are entrusted by the public to translate the needs of students into policies, plans, and goals that will be supported by the community” (www.tasb.org). In other words, the board and its members are responsible for making and enforcing essential decisions for the school district. They are ultimately a strong determining factor for their students’ academic success.
“Just read the title: Indiana, 1952. Mary Talish, kidnapping, ritual torture, execution. She appears as a ghost on the 19th of every month and stops nearby cars with just the driver who won't survive this. Damn, somebody should just tell that girl to rest in peace.” -Dr. L██████
Having these conversations I clearly understand why our marriage did not work. You love calling me a lunatic, but we and everyone that is associated with you know who is and always have been unstable.
Thank you so much for the offer, but I had foreseen the results and accepted the outcome. The news definitely was still very disheartening, especially after all my time and dedication to Relay this past year.
That’s good. I know about the P.T. because when I was in Postal school they made us do P.T. with the AIT students, talk about getting smoked with the young kids. That’s good to hear that you have the highest average in your class, when I reclassed to 42A I made the list for Honor Grad right before the Unit deployed back in 2014. I wish you the best of luck on making Distinguish Honor Grad. I’ll keep you post on anything that’s going
Over 5000 days of wondering - wondering if we would ever make it to this day. Tonight marks the culmination of this long journey- we are the graduating class of 2014.
Good afternoon parents, teachers, and most importantly classmates. It has been one long ride and I’m proud to say that we finally made it. This night is about all those late nights we stayed up studying or finishing a speech the night before even if we had a whole month to do it to all the great times we had hanging out with our friends at lunch and outside of school. Sadly all good things have to come to an end. However, this day shouldn’t just be about reminiscing over what we are leaving behind but looking forward to what life has to give to us, many of you will go on to live prosperous lives and leave Yucaipa but unfortunately that isn't the case for all of us. I would however like to give a shout out to my family for always supporting me when I felt like giving up on school, everything I do is for them, and lastly I would like to give a thanks to my friends and girlfriend for all the crazy stories we have together. I would like to share a few of those stories if you guys don’t mind.
The first thing I would like to say is 'thank you.' Not only has Harvard given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I have endured at the thought of giving this commencement address have made me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep breaths, squint at the red banners and convince myself that I am at the world's largest Gryffindor reunion.
Pebbles fly as my Jeep takes a corner too fast, my body lurching to the left at the sudden force of the turn. I’m finally on Green, a quiet dirt road that stretches from Bennett Lake to Parshallville, a scenic detour I ride down that lets me clear my head. I’ve only lived in the area for two years, but those two years gave me something timeless--a home. My home isn’t some conventional house in the suburbs, although I did live in such a house, but it is the roads and the fields that webbed their way throughout and past my city, and the memories I make with others while on them. I glance at my sister Ken next to me; her right arm stretching lazily out of the window, the other scrolling the radio’s knob, attempting to find a worthy song to play. She’s only nineteen, with hair shorter and blonder than my own. Her presence soothes me, as if every pleasant memory we grew up making together was somehow brought back through each of her smiles. She is my closest friend; she not only provides the part of my home that allows me to be heard by someone who understands, but also the knowledge that we cherish the same home. I pull my attention away from her, watching the fields and houses quickly slip by. The few farmhouses we pass begin to fade until all that borders the road are giant trees, each tipping over us to create a canopy of leaves.
Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing this one, because it turns out that I can’t remember a single word she said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, the law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard.
Good evening everyone. My name is Quinn Stewart, and it is my honor to be speaking here as your President for the Scarborough High School Class of 2017.
Hi Mrs.Reid it’s honestly the biggest pleasure to be in your class, and it’s obvious that you’re a great teacher. You already told us so much about yourself and I think it’s awesome how open you are with us. So, I wanted to return the favor by telling you probably the greatest memory I have in my entire life. I mean not that I lived too long to have tons and tons of memories but still this memory to me will never be replaced or memories it’s kinda like over a span of days you know what I mean? Believe it or not this story begins at my first job technically last job McDonalds while I was working drive-thru.
Good [Morning/Afternoon] Senior Administration, parents, students, and of course my fellow 2017 graduates. We made it. We survived school. All seven hundred and ninety days of it. Every math test. Every QCS test. Every Assembly. We persevered, through the support of those around us. Whether we needed help on an assignment, or just somebody to talk to, we never needed to look further than the people in this room. To all of you, thank you.
When I last walked down the track, the fields, rivers, lakes, the path beneath me - even myself - were incomparable to their current ruins. I used to spring through the uninterrupted fields of prickly, yet soft heather, trudge along thick, gluey mud, and swim down the seemingly endless river towards the rapidly disappearing sun. But now, that was all gone.
"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."