... on me from that day forward. It was now my senior year and I was on a school bus with forty-five guys on the way to a baseball game two hours away in Lake Charles. We were on the way to play the defending state and national champion Barbe Buccaneers, who had embarrassed us 13-3 on our ... the loss and he didn't think it was worth using our best guy against a team that we didn't have a chance to beat, but after the first game that Bryce pitched we all knew that if he could pitch like that again then we could beat anybody. I remember getting off the bus and feeling the pressure immediate...

• Word Count: 710
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... a ninth-grader. Not only was this my first varsity game, but it was also my first varsity playoff game. Walking into the visitors" locker room was no quiet task as we heard the negative comments that were being yelled out by the fans. Once inside the locker room, my team started taking guesses ... at the number of points that we were going to be outscored by when the clock reached 0.0 seconds and the game would be over. As soon as the coaches started hearing the negative comments from their own players, they immediately put a stop to ... night for me came during the last seconds of the...

• Word Count: 798
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... At such a young age, the coaches let everyone play all positions just to get a feel for the game and to see what we liked best. As I grew older, I began to notice that my coaches kept me in the game a little bit longer rather than subbing me out like some of my teammates. I quickly realized that I ... was a good player and how much love I had for the sport. By the time I turned eleven I was eligible to try out for the local travel ... had to drive about an hour away to take an eight-hour class and a test following the class. The test consisted of the rules and regulations about the gam...

• Word Count: 870
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... drag at a snail's pace making it appear as though it were hours. Continuing to stare at my watch minute after minute, I quickly was overcome by a reminiscence of a basketball game. My ears hear the sound of my watch tick each minute but my eyes are focused on my feet and arms that are moving uncontrollably; the ... place last Tuesday evening. With only five seconds left on the shot clock, my team was only down by one point. These five seconds will determine who wins the game if any point is scored. Knowing this, I quickly dribbled the ball carefully with my left hand securing it as if i...

• Word Count: 1214
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... instead of wait to the last minute and hope for something good. Like I said in the beginning the person I aspire to be is a successful young man. I want to own a house by the time im thirty, be at my desk with all my computer parts. And trying to move ahead in the company. I slicked off some in the beginning but now I'm focused ... ...

• Word Count: 513
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Title: Farm Team Author: Will Weaver Pages: 400 The book Farm Team by Will Weaver is one of the better books I have been able to read this past year. The setting is revealed as the book begins. It takes ... place the first day of the 1971 baseball season at Flint Middle School, here, Billy Baggs shows up for his second year of baseball. After pitching a perfect game in Weavers" last book called striking out, the coach who watched him throw it was impressed enough to want him as a pitcher for a full season. All this happens ... Mavis, a lemon and won't do anything about it when the car breaks ...

• Word Count: 882
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... on looks alone and loses all his money in the process. Likewise, Samuel believes he can take on the Tribal Cops of the reservation in a game of basketball. The Tribal Cops represents the white man and how they have control over the Indians on the reservation. Although they were playing at a disadvantage ... by holding "the ball in his arms like a fullback and ran the Chief over " (116). No matter how much skill and talent Samuel has, he cannot achieve success because basketball was a sport that white men have dominance over. In order for him to compete, he feels that he must conform to t...

• Word Count: 1356
• Approx Pages: 5

... hour at a time [or] get to sneak into Rowsell's store on the way back." Miss Ralston also has a certain amount of courage, for she surprises everyone by saying, "I'll think about that, and I'll let you know next Friday." The teacher is respected and therefore is not punished for what she said, but Alma suffers ... to let [the] girls field at softball anymore." One of the older boys makes this clear by saying, "The first girl that goes out to field, we break her neck." At the end of the week's baseball game, Ernie gloats about the game from the pitcher's mound, saying, "And [it was] real ...

• Word Count: 1283
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... the school integrated successfully without any trouble, and volunteering in the community during the summer. Eddie Rake proves himself a good man by contributing to the community in more ways than one. First, he holds fishing rodeos for underprivileged children with no fathers. This shows Coach Rake ... during the summer. The only time Coach Rake had off from coaching was during the summer he spent by coaching younger kids in a youth league which exemplifies his goodness. Coach Rake confirms that he is a good man by taking his own time and using it to help all kinds of children. Eddie Ra...

• Word Count: 721
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... of those things that develop as we grow. I believe that in was somewhere in the middle of my sophomore year that I took a true stand and vow to live my life by a group of values I had set for myself. Like many other students in high school, I too experimented with alcohol, mostly due to peer pressure, which I never believed existed until ... after our return. Not knowing what else to do, and still being young enough to be afraid to take a stand by myself, I joined them. I remember that night like it was yesterday. We were sitting around a table and everyone was playing a drinking game an...

• Word Count: 903
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... freshman year of high school concealing a dreadful secret. Melinda struggles throughout her school year withstanding a flashback and battling her lack of voice, frightened to share her secret. She was raped by Andy Evans, a popular senior, the summer before starting high school. Laurie Halse Anderson uses the motifs of mouth, lips, and trees to develop Melinda's character throughout the novel. The motif ... , "my tree is frozen." She was probably thinking of her own life when everything hard, and she had no clue what to do. When Melinda's father said, "by cutting off the damage, you make...

• Word Count: 548
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

The essay "The True Cost of Entering a DSA School" by Brenda Tan, talks about the DSA routes and the causes and impacts of entering schools through DSA. The recent Raffles Institution students not able to enter Junior Colleges has sparked a ... entering branded schools that the DSA routes to branded schools are tough and arduous, and might bring about many negative impacts to the student, one of which has been displayed by the RI students who did not perform to standards. DSA students that are accepted to the branded schools they have to go through the strenuous trainings and also cope well ...

• Word Count: 498
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The novel, "Hate List," by Jennifer Brown is written from the point of view of teenager, Valerie Leftman whose boyfriend, Nick Levil, opened fire in a school cafeteria filled with students and faculty; he then turned ... how something perceived as an innocent act at the time can lead to serious consequences. When Valerie helped write the hate list she didn't realise that somebody could get hurt by it, she never even thought that anybody would read it. I was surprised how such an innocent act could result in such a monstrosity such as the school shooting. Valerie "may ... ...

• Word Count: 760
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

You could literally spot the shooting sparks coming from her eyes. This is why everyone considered her a live wire. "An American Childhood," by Annie Dillard explains how children may struggle with adolescence and growing up. When growing up is already hard enough, Annie explains in great detail how moving can take a toll on a ... , as if pushed." Different emotions flying at her any second of any minute can make someone feel bipolar and confused with what decisions to make. She could calm herself easier by doing multiple things, sometimes it was eating and sometimes it was singing. "I discov...

• Word Count: 708
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Looking Backward A Novel by Edward Bellamy How would you feel if one day you woke up and you were in a completely different world from what you were used to? I know that it would be ... I would not have any time to really focus on my studies. Sometimes I would not even get home from out of town games until eleven or twelve o"clock at night and by that point I was way too tired to do any homework. In Bellamy's world I would probably participate in a school activity an hour a day for a couple days a week and that would be ... ...

• Word Count: 1738
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... Frost In the "Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost, up until the last stanza the poem appeared to be concerning only on the choice between two roads in a woods. The final stanza, however, gave a significance to the ... ...

• Word Count: 462
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... moving into a house down the street from Cedar Wood Elementary which was reasonably close to Gateway. My 6th grade year started with me walking into the gym and being astounded by the sheer number of kids that where there sitting in the bleachers. I walked in and sat down on an empty row with my dad. We sat through the Welcome/Welcome ... back speech made by Mr. Peters, the principle of the school, before he took us all on the tour of the school. Looking back it seemed everyone was just as nervous as I was because ... it again. As the weeks passed Chris and I stopped being losers and s...

• Word Count: 862
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... elementary school and his high school year. Peter seems to be pleased with his decision in preparing for a shooting at Sterling High School, however he had no one to be by his side; he was alone. Peter's loneliness lead him to the unexpected. You may think you know someone, but discover an outrageous action they have done that changes your opinion ... whatever scraps of your child you still could in what he had become Lacy was not planning to let go of her son"" (Picoult 125-126) Lacy was as traumatized by her son's actions as much as anyone else was. Either way, Peter was still her son...

• Word Count: 1341
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Learning by Doing Learning is a skill of gaining knowledge to be used in ones everyday life. As a senior in college, I have learned many lessons on learning. If I had worked more outside the ... of the biggest incidents I have been through is repeating an animal science class. If I had applied myself, for excellence in education, I would have done better in my studies. I faced loopholes by not applying myself towards the subject. Through repeating the class, I have gained a better outlook on learning. I did not read the assigned topics; as a result, I faced many hardships. Many of my ... CA...

• Word Count: 342
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

... remained nameless throughout the novel, was only able to discover herself with the help of Mary Fortune. Not only does the main character live a life defined by others, but she also does not know how to express herself and is not confident and unable to be at ease around others of opposite sex. ... grown wiser, I wished for dresses like those my friend Lonnie had, bought at Beale's store." (Munro 1) An example of when she lives a life defined by others is when her mother is making a red dress. The girl does not like the red dress, but does not express her sentiments to her mother. With t...

• Word Count: 1190
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... background and when he starts school is thrust into a totally new environment. Where the chaos of a working class home is gone and the boy is surrounded by a sort of, "mental calm," (Rodriguez 548). The instructors at his school "emphasize the value of reflection that opens a space between thinking ... easy to see a young boy might get caught up in all this. He has parents who are barely scraping by and know he is in a place where he can ensure his future by getting a good education. Rodriguez's parents had very little schooling. He recalls that in third grade he was " ... help", on...

• Word Count: 1139
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... could eventually support themselves. Sydney and Liam got to be together and Lara moved on. Everyone had to move on eventually. The main message of Backlash by Sarah Darer Littman is cyber bullying is a serious problem and we need to do our best to try and stop it. Cyber bullying can hurt more ... so everything between had to be kept a secret. As you can see there are lots of conflicts in my book, Backlash. 6) My personal reaction to Backlash by Sarah Darer Littman is very serious. I enjoyed the book because it teaches the reader so much. This book gives an inside look on what happens to ...

• Word Count: 2400
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... you eat, her mother would say" (pg. 62). Louise's mother was the first person to warn her about her weight. She was constantly being watched by her mother, which made Louise feel uncomfortable which eventually led to her secretive eating. Her mother was worried about her daughter's weight, not for her health's ... and stop hiding whenever she wants to eat. With the good help and encouragement from Carrie, Louise had gone down from 184 lbs to 155 lbs by Christmas. This goes to show, with good people in your surroundings, you are able to conquer it all, even your largest troubles. A spouse...

• Word Count: 927
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... to conclude that when Dylan and Eric are a pair, Eric's killer psychopath instinct and Dylan's suicidal mind will result in horrific violence. By failing to include an unbiased amount of information on the possible causes of the shooters, he completely fails at his attempt to provide a ... complete answer to the question. The American Theater Company's production of "Columbinis," answers the questions that Cullen did not. Originally written by Stephen Karam and PJ Paparelli, "Columbinis" exposes the many social issues of high school students as well as the "before and after " of ... manl...

• Word Count: 1619
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... their Tucson home to the uncivilized South American country, Codi is so distraught and does not know how to live without her younger sister. As said by Codi, "Our home fell apart when she [Hallie] left- (Kingsolver 10). Because of Codi's inability to live in Tucson without her sister, she ... important because they help each woman relate to one another. Discussing problems with another woman allows for closeness and for a deep relationship to occur. As noted by Paul Gray, Barbara Kingsolver's novel contains a theme of eco-feminism; a kind, gentle type of writing with women relying on the...

• Word Count: 1050
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School