Jack is sitting back on the weight stand with his hands ready, about to lift the bar. He gets the bar in the air and slowly starts to go down. Jack gets the bar down to his chest then starts to push back up and struggles very badly. “Don’t give up! Persevere and make it through!”, yells the coach. Just like Jack, we shouldn’t give up when times get tough, we should push through! It is always important to persevere because it teaches us to never give up and makes us tough.
Having the mindset to never give up is an amazing trait to have. For example, in today’s world the average person has the determination of a turtle. If it isn’t an easy goal to reach, they will stop trying and take the easy way around it! Everyone would rather sit around eating potato chips and watching Netflix than actually getting up and doing something. We need to learn to persevere and fight our way through the laziness. In addition, we shouldn’t back down from anything no matter what! Do you think Sia got a number of hit songs with the first record label she got? No, she had to fight and persevere with every single big and little thing she got. Like is like this because in order to reach a goal we make, we need to work for it.
Persevering through the troubles also makes us tough. For example, our One Act Play Cast has been preparing for competition which requires 24/7 perseverance as we grow tired, want to throw in the towel, and forget our lines. We don’t do any of those things though, because we know what lies at the other side of the tunnel, and we will do whatever it takes to reach it. In addition, a freshman is racing against a senior in a track meet and the freshman is out of breath, and the senior is breathing just fine. That is because the senior is used to pushing through and doesn’t get affected when he is racing around the track trying to win. The more we push through hard things, the easier they will seem to us.
When Jack got the bar up it was the best feeling in the world, and he wouldn’t have felt that if he didn’t persevere. Perseverance is the one thing that is keeping us from all being lazy lumps-on-a-log.

“And your school is advancing to the next level!” These are words that every extra curricular group wants to hear. They’re are ups and downs to the endless work it took to hear those nine simple words. Just like every other extra activity we do, the activity either helps or hinders us. I believe that extracurricular activities can improve us by expanding our knowledge and helping our social skills.
Our knowledge is one of the main resources that help us understand and get through life safely. For example, Sally got the lead role in her school’s play and has never had a main part before. She drilled those lines into her head and soon enough she got them down! She realized that memorizing lines is very similar to studying for a test, so she started to use her line-learning-technique on her homework and turned into an A+ student just like that!! Memorizing different pieces of literature and insane math skills can help your knowledge tremendously! Similarly, doing these different extra curricular activities can give someone knowledge and facts they never thought they’d ever have or need! Students in extra activities learn more than the average student does on a normal basis, turning them into the next Einstein! Therefore, doing the extra curricular activities will help students knowledge grow!
When we walk out onto the streets, we don’t already have the perfect social life and the guts to talk to everyone we come across, but being in extra curricular activities will help us get close. For example, in today’s world everyone’s nose is glued to the front of their phones or their computer screen. Joining an extracurricular group can help take up some of our free time and help us make a new posse, instead of just having Siri to talk to. Some of my closest and dearest friends I met in an extracurricular activity that I was unsure about joining,but before I knew it I began to fall in love with it. Therefore, I believe that extra activities really bump up our social skill and make our lives very enjoyable.
Whether it’s moving on in a major school competition or just doing it for plain ole fun, extra curricular activities help our lives more than they hinder them. These different groups greatly improve the people that join them mentally and physically.

Have you ever been sitting in your room bored out your mind and your phone saved the day? Bringing out the old flappy bird or talking to our close loved ones is a great way to pass the time. Giving us something to do is one of the many things our cellular devices can do. People lives have been affected by their phones by giving us world-wide contact and saving us from boredom.
Getting around and communicating are some of the most important things in today’s world. For example, Tammy’s birthday is coming p and many of her friends and family want to give her birthday wishes, but Tammy is off at college. How else are they going to get in touch with her but by their phones? Her phone is blowing up with “Happy Birthday!” notifications and her birthday is just as good as if she were there with her friends and family! In addition, this generation is always reading and talking about new news every second of the day! We’re all getting the scoop on new fashion trends and what’s happening in different countries. We never really can put our phones down.
Phones also help us in our worst time of need…boredom! For example, people use their lightning fast iPhones or Androids to open us Facebook or Instagram and just waste hours and hours on those social media apps. Scrolling through and seeing what’s going on in their friend’s lives, wondering if the picture they posted is real or edited out the wazoo! Once those social media apps get boring, we click the home button and go look through folders and folders of endless games. Playing different skill games like flappy bird or two dots till our fingers bleed is something that most everyone in this generation tend to do. There’s also multiplayer games that we can play with our neighborhood friends or with people across the globe!
Therefore, phones have affected our lives is many good ways. Saving us from being bored out of our minds and giving us contact with our loved ones are 2 of the many things phones do. So, phones have affected our lives for the good!

You might think i’m just
a fourteen-year-old girl
with brown hair
and blue eyes
But I know I am more
way more than that
not a tuba or a flower
not a beetle or a donut
A curtain
a lifeless, bulky curtain
When I am not at my best
or bummed
When I go home and sulk
listening to sad songs on shuffle
I am a curtain closed
not open
people leaving
because 1984 isn’t going to show
but when the music starts to play
and the actors start to appear
my curtains start to open
The audience’s faces start lighting up
and the crowd begins
to roar
I become a lively curtain
that never wants to close
disappointing everyone when I do
hearing the crowd want an encore
I am constantly open
until I get tired
and that’s when my show ends
I take a breath and hear the words “break a leg” over again
and again
and again
the brown haired, blue eyed girl
is a curtain
a big, wavy, breath taking curtain
all in one show