The On The Blank White Wall Lies

Rebekah Wicke uses the word busy to describe her high school experience. She recounts herself as a “...bit of an overachiever”. Taking part in rigorous courses such as AP Chemistry and English, to being the captain of the tennis team and a member of student council, she did it all and then some. Rebekah says that overall her high school experience was a good one, however she wishes she would have focused on the things she “...actually cared about.” “It flew by quickly,” she says.

Julie’s study habits were also influenced by college counselors, who told her that she would not get into an ivy league based on her SAT scores. “I’ve put so much time into these stupid tests; this is how sick I am. Think of all that I could have been doing instead. Everytime I look at that book, a little bit of me dies.” (Page 54.) This quote is showing that the emphasis put on the SATs can affect students happiness and well being, as well as take away from time spent with friends, family, and participating in other activities. The stress that Julie was experiencing was also exhibited by her hair loss and hair thinning. If students are too concerned with the SAT, it may affect their ability to absorb information in their classes, since their minds will be elsewhere, as well as exhibit happiness and other health issues. These factors can cause their class grades to drop, and take away from their actual learning

She was an all honors student and made the honor roll. One of her favorite classes was Biology. She liked it because is was captivating and hands on. Her biology teacher, Mr. Roy, still remains as one of her favorite teachers. He was such a good teacher because he didn’t put a lot of pressure on his students, he made his class fun, and was very laid back. One her clearest memories of high school academics happened in his class. In biology, they often conducted dissections. One day while dissecting eels, (which she wasn’t to keen on doing to begin with), Mr. Roy chased Karen around the classroom with a dead eel for a good five minutes! Another stand out class for her was freshman English. This class is fondly remembered because of the teacher, who made the class fun and really connected with her students, which didn’t happen so much when she was in high school. Some nights, Karen remembers coming home from school, and working on hours of homework until her eyes could hardly stay open, particularly in her junior year, which she claims was the hardest year of high school work wise. Getting good grades and putting in as much effort as possible to all assignments was very important to her. She was determined to graduate high school and go off to college, and she knew that in order to do that, she would need to work

The five-minute warning bell goes off. I rush to my first class of my junior year, eager to see my classmates, who I was going to spend the rest of the 9 months with. I find myself stumbling into a classroom plastered with decorations of Denzel Washington with a Dr. Seuss book in his hand, a t and college flags galore. My AP English 11 class suddenly seemed so appealing to me. As a beautiful, curly haired short lady stood in front of me and said “Welcome to AP English 11,” I knew that I had found a treasure so much greater than just a pretty classroom. Little did I know, that short lady was going to inspire me throughout my challenge filled second-to-last year of high school.

Jamie Waldo, one of South Windsor’s best and brightest, is making the most of her high school career. There are so many wonderful adjectives that come to mind when one thinks of Jamie: focused, responsible, hardworking, and caring are just a few. Frequently she is seen throughout the school actively involved. Jamie is not one to boast or brag about her accomplishments, but quietly relishes the success from her tireless effort. She is a friendly individual who is motivated and excited about what the future may hold. It is readily apparent that Jamie knows that we are all given but one life and she is determined to make the most of it.

I sit at the polished wooden table covered with endless papers, some of them mine, others not. The dining room is hazy, only the laptop and essay are clear to me. For the most part, I write in dead silence; occasionally, the heater and my mother’s footsteps disturb this peace. My phone buzzes sporadically, text messages and sports alerts light up the screen a few feet away from me. “I should really turn that off,” I think to myself, “This only serves as a distraction.” The dust in the room causes me to sneeze, breaking my concentration here and there. Besides the dust, the air in the room smells like

These students put so much time into tasks that ultimately lead nowhere and place needless stress on the student. All this stress has caused, “more than half of American teenagers [to be] stressed out all of the time or sometimes”, and there have even been reports that “Eating disorders are another pervasive health problem that can be caused by stress, particularly, doctors say, when students are perfectionists.”. The amount of stress being placed upon teenagers by their school and parents, has caused a number of serious health problems. For example, in the novel “The Overachievers” a student by the name of Julie experienced significant hair loss due to the amount of stress she was feeling, and another student mentioned named Alyssa, suffered from eating disorders that served as a coping mechanism for all the stress she was experiencing. These are only a few of the repercussions resulting from the justification of an overachiever lifestyle that puts a student’s grades above the overall wellbeing of the

Who knew High School would be over in a blink of an eye? Four short years and a whole chapter of your life is over. The goal everyone was striving to achieve was completed, yet an even bigger thing was approaching “Life”. All 365 of us would venture out into the world and start new journeys hundreds of miles apart.

On both sides of them are two student desks; the desk beside the girl has a tennis shoe inside of it. Behind them is a chalk board separated into three sections. On the first section all the way to the left has four containers on the top as if to hold pencils. In the middle, written in chalk reads “AGENDA: No music class on Tuesday” with a wavy box around it. On the right

After finishing reading the three articles of Between These Walls, I came to the conclusion that each reading focused on the concept of identity. Adding on, the authors Anne Krapfl of Setting up House at Geoffroy Hall and Heather Wiese of Untold story and Controversy surround building’s name discussed the topic of identity in relation with the names of building. These topics are important to anyone who wants to learn about the history of important buildings at Iowa State. It is important to learn some of the history because one can have a better understanding of significant people and events to focus on the success of Iowa State.

Letting out a miserable groan, my eyes rolled to the back of my head and I slowly sank into my seat. Finally, the bell’s boisterous rings erupted throughout the classroom, signifying my freedom. Running to the exit, I quickly grabbed myself a copy from the monstrous stack at the front of the room. Forcefully shoving it into the bottom of my bag, the novel was the last thing I wanted to think about for the rest of the

I stared at the piece of paper on the table in front of me. I had sat at the same desk, in the same chair for over an hour now, staring at the same piece of paper. My mind had gone blank with a serious case of writer's block. I looked at the clock on the plain, beige colored wall and sighed. An hour had passed and I continued to look at that dusty, old clock on the wall. Seconds turned into minutes, which eventually turned into an hour. My long, wavy brown hair brushed over the paper that decided if I would become a lawyer or not. I had endured almost seven years of school all to stare at this paper for an hour and have nothing. My vision was blurry, but I ignored it and tried to push through my pounding headache so that I could start my LSAT

Tutoring schedules, behavior sheets, below average practice regents scores, and hundreds of grade print outs flutter away from my backpack. My blood is flowing in like a dam. Tears start to pool in my eyes when I think about all the time and effort used in that assignment. I HAVE TO FIND THAT ESSAY, I internally yelled. My clothes began to stick to my body, as I am drenched in sweat.

Finals filled her mind ninety-five percent of the time, studying and studying was all she did for hours every day. The only class that truly worried her was geometry. Was all the time she spent getting tutored, staying after class asking questions, and studying the topics night and day worth it? Was the passing grade she yearned for in reach at this point in the year? She felt confident about her final exam, and the pending final grade tortured her during the winter break, it was the only thing she could think about. When reports cards arrived not only was she disappointed in herself, but her work. She knew she could have done better, but could she

Emily Lorence sits at her old, rickety desk staring at white board that is no longer white. Piles of dust sit in every nook and cranny of the classroom. It is the dead heart of winter and Emily’s fingers and toes are turning blue. The cold somehow manages to penetrate through her 5 layers of clothing. Her school can simply not afford heat to keep their freezing students warm. How is Emily supposed to focus on learning when she can not even move one part of her body? She stares at the other 100 students in the room with their winter hats and gloves on. Emily thinks to herself if coming here for free is really worth all the downfalls. Emily’s peers come and go as they please since they have nothing to lose or waste. However, a college education