The Little Engine That Could

My transition into high school was as easy as taking a breath. I had always found school quiet easy and I never had to put much effort into getting promising grades. Before high school I had my whole life figured out, or at least I thought I did. I had planned that I would attend a law school or major in English. After a while of being in high school I started to realize many things. My parents did not have the financial stability to send me to a law school, I was not as smart as all the other kids, little by little I began struggling with a negative mentality about myself and my future. I slowly let go of my dream of becoming a lawyer and decided to join the Health Careers Academy. Soon enough, I began to have a deep interest in the medical field but then again I continued to have the same question; how can I afford going to a medical school? I did not know much about college or what it took to get into college. I assumed I just had to have a pretty transcript and that was all it took. My self confidence began to lower as I saw how other students cruised through their high school years so effortlessly. I never wanted to ask for help because I did not want to seem “dumb”. I would bite my tongue and hold in all the unanswered questions I had. My junior year, I was having a very difficult time. I had a tight schedule which consisted of almost all AP or honors courses. I slowly began to give up because I did not believe that I could do it. I let my grades slip failing almost

Everyone has those objects that mean a lot to them such as a special toy, jewelry, and even a cherished memory. For me that special object would be a book, The little engine that could. This book was very special to me because it was one of the first books that I loved reading repeatedly. It gave me a feeling of motivation that anything we strive for is possible and helped start my love for reading.

For a long time, I've been struggling with my grades and keeping up with my school work. In middle school, I had a lot of low grades and did not truly seem to care. My mom decided to assign me to a tutor every week to help bring my grades up, until halfway through my freshman year when I stopped due to the fact I didn't need the tutoring anymore. I was told that I was doing well enough that I could handle it on my own, which motivated me to start working diligently on my own. I was an average student at that point, I had mostly A's and B's with a C or two, but I hoped to prove that I could do more. I had to find a new way of dealing with my study and learning habits in order to efficiently work hard and achieve the grades I desired. My goal

Major changes in my life have affected my high school career, but a large impact came from the death of my father in eighth grade. Before his passing, I was an average A/B student in middle school and even elementary school, which quickly changed in 8th grade when my classes became too hard for me to handle. I decided the best thing for my mental health was to drop out of my higher level classes. This lead to being in standard classes throughout my first year of high school with minimal effort from my part. After constantly missing school, I failed my second quarter. Instead of bouncing back from this, it pushed me down, making me believe I would never be able to recover. Without any motivation, I ended my ninth grade year with a grade point average of 1.4.

In this paper, I will be explaining most, if not all, of the differences between 1967-1972 Chevrolet pickup trucks. What I mean when I say that is these trucks all have the same body style, but a lot of little differences that I think make them better or worse. For example, the 1967 Chevy truck has no marker lights on both the front and rear quarter panels, which is one of the more noticeable changes from the 1967 to 1968 models. There is a pattern in the styles they use like the 1967 and 1968 have the same grills and hoods. Then in 1969, the grill and hood change a little bit but it is practically the same thing. The grill got a little bit of a change in 1970 but it is very minor and hardly noticeable and 1971 and 1972 the grills

In 7th grade I was unfocused, unprepared, and childish. I didn’t know my grades would have an impact on my high school career. I thought everything that happened in middle school stayed in middle school so I focused on useless drama. I used to blame my C’s on bad teaching but now I realize I have no one else to blame but myself. I was the one coming to school unprepared to work not my teachers. Now I know all of my grades count. I have blossomed into a person I am proud of. This year I’ve made it my mission to actually pass not just get by. I now sit promptly in the front of the class and take notes. I focus on test scores and grades not drama that’s not even going to matter next week. I now know what’s important and what I should just leave

How many times in life do we become overwhelmed by difficult tasks and are we bullied by difficult tasks? How many times in life do we face obstacles that are disheartening and rigorous to accomplish? What if I told you that there was a secret that every human beholds and can use to accomplish difficult tasks?

     The vehicle code handbook states that any modification done to a vehicle to alter it from its original state violates the law. That single sentence has created more problems for custom vehicle owners than can be imagined. Yet, at the same time, it has generated massive amounts of money for the state of California. Modifying one’s vehicle sets it apart from others and makes a statement about the owner’s individuality. Over the past decade, hacking up a vehicle, putting a trick paint job on it, and developing an “out-of-control” sound system has evolved into a sport, not just a hobby. As with everything, though, there is always someone or something to try and put a stop

Are computers going to replace the human thought? How many times do you see yourself going to www.google.com or some other search engine to find even the simplest information? In the educational system more and more courses use and require some form of computer activity. One of the main concerns is that education used to be about research, problem solving, critical thinking, and human analysis. Now with the implication of computers, education is not about the research, it focus is how fast can you find the answer. The lazy point and click approach may have the answers, but has no real meaning to it. Computers are taking away not only basic skills, but the need to develop them at all.

"In the never-ending search for energy sources, the invention of the steam engine changed the face of the earth." (Siegel, Preface) The steam engine was the principal power source during the British Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. The steam engine opened a whole new world to everyone. The steam engine maximized production, efficiency, reliability, minimized time, the amount of labor, and the usage of animals. The steam engine in all revolutionized the Eastern Hemisphere, mainly European society. What does revolutionize actually mean? It means that something such as the steam engine brought about a radical change in something, and this something is the European Society. The steam engine specifically brought about a

I enrolled at Shoreline Community College with no idea of what I wanted to do, causing a lack of motivation. It’s easy for me to be below average if I don’t know why I’m doing it. On top of that, I made the mistake of taking 20 credits instead of 15 since I thought everyone took

"The wonderful progress of the present century is, in a very great degree, due to the invention and improvement of the steam engine, and to the ingenious application of its power to kinds of work that formerly taxed the physical energies of the human race."~Robert H. Thurston

Since the development of the steam engine people had been interested in creating self-powered vehicles, this manifested during the industrial revolution as the train. However, as time went on people became interested in creating a vehicle that wasn’t confined to tracks. The earliest attempts were moderately successful but served little practical purpose. Automobiles first began to truly spread with the invention of the electric motor which created cheaper, more powerful, and safer automobiles. Still the automobile still had numerous problems and were mainly in the hands of the rich. It was the development of the internal combustion engine and the assembly line that was truly able to create a practical vehicle that could be used by all and

In the beginning, man’s only form of transportation was his own feet. Later, to comfort his journey on foot, was the invention of footwear. Through envy of the speed of other animals he would learn to tame these animals. People who live in the desert ride atop camels. The people who live in the frigid climates travel by dogs. Some people from places like India ride elephants. But the must widely used form of transportation by animal power was by horse. Man would soon develop boats and ships to travel long distances over water and time would flow like the rivers and hundreds of years later, in the late 1700s steam power became the new craze. Steam power got the wheels turning amongst many inventors who

I can remember missing 8:05 classes because I stayed out too late the night before. In high school the teacher would constantly remind the students when certain assignments were due, but this was not the case in college. I learned that the hard way my first semester. Sometimes I forgot to turn in an assignment because I didn’t properly read my syllabus and my professor never mentioned it. These were all new problems that could have easily let escalate without taking the proper actions. For the most part I was doing fairly well but a few of my grades began to plummet. I was losing the confidence in myself and started to wonder if going to college had been the best decision. The time had come for me to grow up and become an adult even I didn’t feel the time was right. I immediately began attending tutoring sessions, working with peers and also keeping a daily to-do list. These factors were the eventually led to drastic improvement and success. After my first semester I learned how better manage my time, take advantage of campus resources and also how to organize myself better. These struggles also taught me that sometimes I try and rush through things instead of taking my time. I realized that one of my strong points is being able to really do well when my back is against the wall. Although I was unhappy while facing obstacles I am happy I experienced them. I believe this experience was the reason for my