Farewell Medford

When I came to Medford about 5 years ago, I didn't really know what to expect. I was terrified with what was going to happen and honestly didn't want to move here at all. I hated the idea of making new friends and trying out new things. I was not motivated at all to try anything and it was a very dark time for me. Least to say, my days at Medford didn't start off all that great. Actually, they started off horrible.

Once I was here for a bit, I started making friends. No, they are not the people that I still hang out with today, but they were a start for me. I kind of went with the first people that said hello and were nice to me, which wasn't a whole lot. Let's face it, I was the strange kid that wore my sweatshirts zipped up to my neck in hopes of just hiding from this new world. I was happy I had people to sit with at lunch, but as time wore on I lost more and more of my old friends but couldn't seem to gain any new ones. I was having a pretty hard time with it.

But after 7th grade was finally overcame the start of a new year. This was the year I made the best decision of my life so far by joining the FFA. I was in the 8th grade exploratory and was forced to compete in the Small Animals CDE. Larson and Ovrebo started the process for me turning things around finally after so much struggle.

Since that first day in FFA, those two realized the potential I had, even when I didn't know it. I was an officer the year after, joined the poultry team, and started my amazing FFA career. I ended off my high school FFA career with a list of accomplishments, including my State Degree, Region Star in Agriscience, Top 3 in poultry at State, A world food prize internship and Region office. I could not have done any of that if it wasn't for those two people and everyone helping me along my way. It changed my life.


Looking back to all the memories my friends and I have had together, there are so many things that come to mind. All the dances, bonfires, and movie nights that we shared together. I can't believe that that kind of stuff is coming to an end. Our water fights were always a highlight just like prom. We had so many great times together and that made my high school career worth wild. We always had such a great time together.

As this whole transformation was occurring  I started to make some real friends that I would continue to be friends with until this day. I wouldn't trade anything for the friendships that I made throughout that 8th grade year. Even though there were some crazy issues with classic middle school drama, somehow we all made it through and are fine to this day.

Looking back, I don't know where I would be if I never moved here. But honestly, as much as people in the past have complained about Medford and everything that goes on here, I don't think I would trade any of it for the world. This place has forced me to grow and I think prepared me for the future as good as a high school career can. Even though there of course are some things that still bother me, it doesn't change the fact that this place did a lot of help.

So in the end, thank you Medford for the memories and life changes. Thank you for teaching me about what it means to want to try and do well. Thank you for letting me know that I can be successful no matter what happens. That even if I may fail, I can get back up from anything. Thank you for bringing my friends together and letting us make good choice throughout high school. Thanks for the seemingly endless nights and too long of days.Thank you for this, because I know I would not have had it another way. So long, and goodbye.

PROM!

I have to say, this was one of my favorite memories of high school. My prom this year was amazing, and I felt like the experience was a lot because of my friends. They really made my prom. Of course, on the same day as prom there had to be something else going on, which made for a very interesting morning. My older sister, Kristi, was getting her marriage blessed in the church that morning around noon. So I had to get my hair and makeup pretty much done, go to her ceremony, and then drive back down to Medford to take pictures . It was a crazy day but it was so worth it.

Starting with pictures, we were already having a blast. We went to Donahue's briefly to take some lovely pictures with flowers. After that we went to a senior living place to continue with pictures on the staircase and by the fireplace. We had tons of food and drinks there and hung out until it was time for grand march. Honestly, I had probably never felt better than I did that night. I loved my dress, loved my hair and my makeup and pretty much everything else that was going on.

Next, we had the dinner and dance. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice I thought the Vintage Ballroom was, even though it was in Faribault. I thought it fit its name very well and was a good size for the amount of kids that we had going there. Dinner was very good, mostly because I just love the taste of Alfredo. It was the perfect amount of food too. Then was the dance. The DJ was incredible I thought, and I loved how he played a little bit of every genera. I was tired by the end of the 3 1/2 hours of dancing and playing music, but of course it was totally worth it!

After prom was a blast too! The food is one of my favorite parts, because they seriously have some of the best stuff. I loved the fact they had Starbucks and Blast ice cream, because it just made the night even better. The hypnosis show was probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my entire life. I hadn't laughed that hard in awhile, and I think part of that was because everyone was completely out of it. After the show, we had fun earning tickets and getting a little too competitive when it came to bingo. We even got friendship lizards! I didn't win a whole lot at the after prom ticket drawings, but I really liked the senior clothes we got. It's strange to know that it was our last prom, but it was so much fun and I'm glad it ended on a good note.

The Future is Coming....

This is such a scary transition period for a lot of people, including myself. I can't believe that at this point in my life it is all coming to an end. We are closing in on the final days of our senior year and coming up on starting the summer before we all head off and go our separate ways. To be completely honest, I am very excited for what the future is going to bring, but I am also extremely worried and concerned about what this new future brings as well.

One of the biggest things that  I am concerned about is paying for college. It is one of my biggest worries and I think about it so much anymore. I worry with having to having to pay and the amount of debt I know I will have to be paying in the future. Of course, many people that I have talked to have told me not to worry about it because what happens happens. But I can't get over the fact of how many zeros are after those amounts. I've worked as hard as I think I could for scholarships but that can only take you so far.

Of course I also worry about the future of my education. I have a good idea of what I want to go into but I feel like I may be pulled into a very different direction. I worry I am not taking the adequate steps into making sure that everything is okay. I hope that my future will just work itself out as it has done for the people that came before me but I can't help but worry about it.

I don't know if this is a worry or a wonder, but either way it is constantly on my mind. I am always thinking about what my future life will be like and what will be going on. I think about if I'll marry anyone or when and how other things will turn out. I always think about this kind of stuff even though at this point I know that there isn't a whole lot that I can do to make something go one way or another. I am excited for the future to a point, but I am also nervous about how it will turn out, because it's the fear of the unknown.

The Flaws in the Education System

In the past I have seriously thought about being a teacher.  I have some siblings that work in the education system and have learned a lot though. I think there are a whole mess of issues involving the system, starting in the public school systems all the way up to college. Knowing what I have learned recently about the system,  it makes me even more disappointed that somehow our country can't put together an education that works and produces at least semi-proficient results. This also boils into the way college is thought about.

I think I would like to start out with the primary and secondary schools of this county and how they are run. Most of the time, schools and kids are not performing up to the standards that need to be performed  In my learning  funding is one of the largest issues that schools face. Many of the times as well, the schools that need the funding and the help the most do not get it. This all started with the idea of what the No Child Left Behind Act would do, except it hasn't really helped all that much. Schools that were performing bad continuing to perform bad because they do not have the adequate resources to change and develop their schools.

Another issue I see in the education system is the way teachers are hired and the reason they stay hired. This whole idea of a 10-year teacher I do not find helpful at all. There needs to be a better way of assessing the teachers and their performances rather than basing a lot of the information by how long a teacher is spent somewhere. I personally don't think 10 year should happen until 8 or 10 years after the job, because honestly after 3 years you should not be considered safe. Also, I have seen instances where age is so much more important than skill is in the workforce, which it shouldn't be. There seriously needs to be a better way to assess the teachers in the school system, especially in the primary and secondary school.

Also, there are many issues that plague our education system in the post-secondary level as well. First off, I do not think that every person out there needs to get a 4-year degree in something. I think right now people think that the only way to be successful is to go 4-years in college and those people sometimes end up getting a degree in something that doesn't bring them anywhere. Kids need to learn more about trade and technical colleges or two-year degrees, because there are many many job opportunities out there for those kinds of trades.



I won't get too deep into this part but I will mention it. The cost of higher education is ridiculous  and the fact that normal people do not have the opportunity for many financial aid is just as ridiculous  What I do not understand whatsoever is where in the world is good financial aid for middle-class Americans whose parents cannot afford to pay for the education. There needs to be some serious value changes, because the fact that we don't get much help (even if you are great in school and community involvement  should not have to be a problem. There are just way too many things wrong.

The News in my House

For almost as long as I can remember, the news was always a time in our family where everyone either had to sit down and shut up or leave the room entirely. Of course, that has grown even more since my two grandparents moved in with us a couple of years ago. They really enjoy watching the news and every day in the morning, at noon, 5, and 9 the news needs to be on.

The news, though, doesn't always do the best thing for everyone  It is always filled with negativity. Even though I enjoy learning about what is going on in the state and in the world, I get so tired of hearing about homicides  murder trials, and shootings. It's getting to the point where I actually believe that the media is part of the violence issue in our world. Think about it: these people want to make a big bang and the media is right there to make it even bigger. I wonder if that contributes to the person's odd thinking, because they know if they do something it will be spread world-wide, whereas 50 years ago that was virtually impossible.

Also, many times when were watching then news, my grandfather will be watching it with us as well. I really do love him, but many times I wouldn't say we get blamed for it but it's stressful explaining to him that we are safe and things like that have never happened around here and so on. Sometimes its all good, but there are those touchy subjects that just don't bring out the best of people. I also notice with a negative of the news that sometimes it does cause my family and I to argue a little bit. I am the weird child that doesn't agree with half of the things that my family thinks is right. So of course when those issues start it gets difficult to keep my mouth shut about things. I have learned though.

One thing that I really do appreciate is when the news blows something up that is really good and touching and isn't negative at all. That is one of the reason my family and I were so excited to see how much air time the Team Jack and touchdown run got because it is something that is so good and we need more of the positive stuff going around the country and around the world. My family spends quite a bit of time watching the news, but in the end it's just a habit I guess.

A Day with Mr. Kim

Now, I don't know what has been up of Mr. Kim Jong Un's pants lately, but to be completely honest I am really getting sick of all of his "I'm going to decimate the world!" talk. It's stupid because I hope he knows that if he tries that will be then end of it for him. I think that he needs someone from the outside to sit down and have a serious talk with him about what the heck is going on. Of course, then they need to lighten the mood for him. If I had a day with Mr. Kim, it would probably go like the following: 

The first thing I think I would do with Mr. Kim would be to sit down and have a ravishing cup of tea with the fellow. Tea has a tendency to calm most people down, so  I figure why not. Also, I may just be able to grant him some outsider knowledge about how great the rest of the world is doing compared to North Korea. Of course, I wouldn't jump in right away with dissing because they still have some interesting weapons over there. Tea time would help to ease things in and get to know him a little bit.

Of course with Mr. Kim, I think we would need to do something so random to get his tired little mind off of the war that he kind of wants to start. I think that we should go zip-lining or something super random just to get the adrenaline going in his mind. It would be a way to vamp him up for a little bit. Then, I think that he should take me shopping, hopefully if there are places for us to go shopping together  so then I can get some nice North Korean artifacts before someone decides to nuke them. I think we would have lunch and then go into the afternoon.

Since they were blocked off from some of the world, I bet he has no idea that the dance of Gangnam Style started in South Korea. I think it would be a great way to end the lovely day that we had spent together. So I would teach him this very insane and lovely dance, and then we would go up in front of the entire North Korean government and people, and dance it. Of course, South Korea would recognize this as peace and want to talk more to North Korea, creating a very lovely end to their awful war. World peace!

My Easter

Easter is always one of my favorite times of the year. Kind of like Christmas, everyone always seems so happy and excited about it all. The mood in the house is always better and we just all seem to get along for the most part. I was really excited about this entire weekend, because I knew I got to go to a place I haven't been to in probably 8 years. And that lovely place was Chuck E Cheese. We took my two nephews, and had a blast. I felt like I was once again a seven year old with all of those tokens I had.

So getting to Easter, the day started out pretty good. We got up at a decent time because church wasn't until 10 that morning. We woke up to find our Easter baskets and the lovely candy enjoyments that we all got. We had our homemade Polish sausage that morning and soon everyone started to arrive at the house. It ended up being my parents, grandparents, aunt, uncle, Mary, Kristi and her family, and Andy and his family. It was a pretty full house! So we all went to church together where my dad was singing that morning and enjoyed Easter mass.

We came back and soon had an Easter dinner consisting of steak, twice-baked potatoes, salad, bread, and fruit. For dessert, we had homemade cream puffs and the awesome bunny cake I had made the day before ( I was so proud of it). But, I have to say the highlight of the day was when we set out eggs for my 2 year old and 3 1/2 year old nephews. Even though they didn't have to go very far to find them, it was the coolest thing to see them collecting all of their eggs filled with candy, fruit snacks, and crackers. It was also priceless to see the look on their face when they would open up one of the eggs my grandpa had put money in. They were all so happy and excited. Drew, the younger of the two, was so excited that the minute he opened up an egg he would eat everything inside of it. It was priceless!

Of course, by the end of the day everyone was pretty tuckered out. My older sister, Kristi, said that she wasn't feeling that great when she left and was ready to return home. That is when the cycle of the stomach flu started and passed to basically every member of my family, including me, regardless which house they were living in. That wasn't the way I had hoped to end this weekend by being off of school for another day and living on saltine crackers and Gatorade. Epic sadface.