Personal Narrative: Samantha Kisamitakis

In, “ Pay Your Own Way (Then Thank Mom)” Audrey Rock-Richardson brags about herself and puts down others, saying that all who attend college should be able to fully support themselves, without any help, just because she did it back in the year of 1998 in Utah. Well I’m living proof that it is impossible to do that in the year of 2015! Though I do work, my $400.00 checks every two weeks barely support the cost of living. If it weren’t for government assistance, I would not be able to attend college. Even though I receive financial assistance, it does not mean I do not take my schooling seriously because I’m not paying for it myself. But Rock-Richardson still tries to argue that those who are getting help from the government or their parents

When given opportunities, we must either take them and the challenges that come with them or stay at home with comfort. This is a theme known as Home v.s. Opportunity. It exposes the character to a dilemma to will render the future of said character. The choice of staying home against taking an opportunity is the main decision that has to be made. Each has its own pros and cons, but a decision has to be made. This theme is emphasized in 3 texts: I’m Coming Home by Lebron James; The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros; and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. These texts share the theme of Home v.s. Opportunity, however, the protagonists have different views as to what to do to overcome this challenge. Some

In Virginia Euwer Wolff’s Make Lemonade, Jolly’s apartment was a mess, she never thought that she could fix her apartment of her identity. LaVaughn came into her life and tried to help her. The environment of Jolly’s apartment affected Jolly and LaVaughn differently, but it affected them both in a positive direction. LaVaughn and her friend Jolly who LaVaughn worked for as a babysitter, LaVaughn came into Jolly’s life to try to turn it around. She tried to clean Jolly’s apartment, get her to school, and help her get a job so Jolly can pay her for babysitting. Throughout Make Lemonade, the environment develops in a positive direction at the same time as the identity changes of Jolly and LaVaughn. The positive changes of the environment connects

In 2003, a young thirteen year old named Bethany Hamilton was attacked by a shark at Tunnels Beach in Kauai, Hawaii. In 2010, my family and I ended up actually going to the beach that Bethany was attacked. We drove down from the hotel we were staying at through all the beautiful scenery that was so different from that of Idaho. The car we rented was a red Jeep and we had the top off all the way to the beach. It was perfect, the sunshine above, the warm salty air licking our faces as we sped through the streets lined by looming palms swaying in the breeze. As we arrived at the beach, I thought to myself that it looked incredibly calm and had a very difficult time imaging Bethany Hamilton and her friends and family rushing her to the hospital. Seeing that beach gave a whole new meaning to me about the courage Bethany had to get back in the water because I was even a little apprehensive about getting into waters where a shark attacked. While in Hawaii, we decided to also give snorkeling a shot. Tunnel Beach was said to be a great place for seeing all the extraordinary plant life Hawaii’s reefs had to offer and the beach was known to be a resting place of many sea turtles. Sure enough, my family and I were snorkeling not too far off shore and a few sea turtles are swimming in the deep blue below us! We were amazed at the great size of the

another 12 hours on the nose to have this long awaited baby. The family started

“Student” and “Crow Lake” these two articles both talked about the relationship between teachers and students. Wayman, the teacher in “Student”, he insisted on attracting his students’ interests, but it didn’t work out very well. Katie, the teacher in “Crow Lake”, she recalled a childhood experience during her class, it came out that students got bored by her voice. Wayman tried very hard on helping students learn better, but the students only care about their grades instead of learning things. Katie tried to teach her students, but there had no connections between Katie and the student. In both articles, the teacher showed no connections with students. However, Wayman didn’t give up on helping his students but Katie did walk away from her class.

The approach of autumn was well on its way. “Autumn’s hand was lying heavy on the hillsides. Bracken was yellowing, heather passing from bloom, and the clumps of wild-wood taking the soft russet and purple of decline. Faint odors of wood smoke seemed to fit over the moor, and the sharp lines of the hill fastnesses were drawn as with a graving-tool against the sky.” As Ellie drove down the road she was much more aware of all her surroundings. She grew up in a suburban area and always knew she would live there forever. Cypress is where she grew up and had most of her adventures. Though Cypress was where Ellie’s heart was, she was ready to start her new journey at USC. Since the age of ten, Ellie has always dreamed of going to USC, eight years later those dreams became reality.

My partner is Cathryn Cusano, she has lived in Easton, Pennsylvania throughout her entire life. Cathryn has a love for softball and has played ever since she was a little girl. During Cathryn’s senior year of high school she had multiple offers to play softball for elite colleges in the area. She started out having an amazing season, the team was also thriving which eventually resulted in them making it to the playoffs. It was the first round of playoffs and Cathryn was on first base, one of her teammates was up to bat. The first pitch is thrown and it’s a ball, the second pitch is a perfect strike down the middle and the batter slams the ball to center field. Cathryn takes off running for second base and her knee gives out she falls to the

On the corner of School Ave and 5th Street a small playground rests on a sandy pit dusted with footprints of different shapes and sizes. Each day a surfeit of students stomp over the play equipment during their fifteen minute recess. In an office close by this playground, Principal Harriet Taylor is hard at work as she reaches the final stride in her career as an administrator at Springfield Elementary School. In June when the kids abandon the playground for summer, Harriet will abandon the office, relinquishing her duties as principal for the lure of retirement. Before Harriet could even dream of the office she works in today, she was romping all over the same playground many Springfield students use today. Harriet Taylor’s family moved to Bay County when she was eight years old and Harriet began third grade at none other than Springfield Elementary School. “It’s kind of cool that I got to start here and now I’m ending here.” she says with a proud smile, a Springfield tiger through and through.

As a handicapper general of Sisler High School, it is my duty to ensure everyone in this school is equal. No student is higher than the other. For example, it is my job to make sure Kamryn Mendoza is equal to the rest of her peers. I have to eliminate her off her special advantages and help her with her weaknesses. Kamryn is musically talented. She plays the piano very well and plays the percussion for the grade 9 band. Because of this, she has a higher leverage in music than her fellow students. To rid her off this leverage and ensure her equality to the rest of the group, I have placed sandbag weights on her wrists. The weight makes it more difficult to play instruments; thus, keeping her from playing it too well. Although Kamryn is talented

The only class that she managed to maintain a perfect A in for the whole year of course was art. Melinda was actually not the best artist, but it was simply the only other way that she found she could express her anger, her sadness, her disappointments, and later on, her self-fulfillment and peace within herself. I felt that it was a nice way to show and express just how badly traumatizing events like rape could affect a person. The fact that she kept an A solely in art throughout the whole year, emphasized how much of an effect that class had on her and her situation and basically how important it is to have a class or place that can be one’s emotional outlet every now and

On May 1,1924 in Washington D.C Evelyn Boyd granville was born. William and Julia Boyd where her parents and her only sibling who was the oldest is Doris Boyd . Her father had a variety of jobs while julia stayed at home to take care of the kids . Once her parents separated Evelyn’s mom got a job at the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing as a Stamp examiner . Evelyn attended Dunbar High school which was a segregated school at the time . All the teachers that taught at that school had degrees from top Colleges all around . Her teachers inspired the students to pursue their goals that 's what made her wanted to further her education. She graduated as Valedictorian in high school and had a scholarship from Phi Delta Kappa from Smith college .

She often had visits from her mother. She was often left feeling like she had to take care of her sister’s child as she was often left with him to babysit. Not having a good relationship with either parent made her living situation a challenge. Kelsey argued with her step mother often as she felt that she always had her nose where she shouldn’t (CITE). Her relationship with her mother suffered because of the use of alcohol and the fact that she was harboring tense feelings towards her since she had confided in her about when she was sexually abused and her mother chose to do nothing to help her. Kelsey’s father often worked late and long hours which made him very absent in her life. Even though he was absent he still made time to make her feel that she could not pursue her dreams. According to Kelsey, her father did not believe in her and all she wanted to do was prove him wrong (CITE). Her social life suffered greatly due to the choices that she made. She had very few friends since her behavior deterred them. She spent as much time with her boyfriend as she could (well until he decided that they needed to split up). School was not important to Kelsey or at least she tried to act this way. No one in her family had graduated from high school, which made her want to be the first so she could have something to be proud of. Education came as a challenge: she didn’t know how to care and felt that no one else cared as well. Coming from a broken home, Kelsey expected to have a broken future as well. Lucky for her, a few teachers cared too much to let that be the case. The setting plays a big part of how and why Kelsey acts and thinks the way that she

Many people think that GED students would never be able to get into law school, however Cristina Arriola is on her way to proving that not to be true.