Being Thankful

I realize how much I am thankful for as the holidays come around. I am thankful to have a house to live in and food to eat when other people don't. I am thankful for my family. I realize how important they are to me and I really enjoy every moment I spend with them. I am also thankful for the great friends I have. They always make me have fun and enjoy high school. I am also thankful for all the teacher/coaches who care for me to get better in my journey through high school. I know they put in a lot of effort and sacrifice their time to benefit me. So thank you all! I'm very thankful for you!

Team Synergy: Raider Basketball

Raider basketball's motto is "Team Synergy." It means that we will together produce an outcome better than any one individual. Team Synergy increases each others effectiveness and ultimately the success of raider basketball. I really like this motto because we have a few players who are very talented on our team. They could play individually and produce an outcome by them-self; or we could play as a team with synergy and produce an outcome that would be great. If we just focus on one person having a good game every night, the player would have some off nights and no one would step up. Working as a team is always the best route to take in basketball. And if we push each other in practice like we have been, its scary to think of what we could do. Even the players on the second team have a role. We will be next years team so we will have to push ourselves and the team to high expectations. Pushing each other out of comfort zones is the best way to get better.  That's what I expect to do; I want to make everyone better on the team. Even if it means that I don't play this season.

Vuk's presentation

Vuk's presentation was very eye-opening to the problem of obesity in America. In Montenegro, the population is about two percent obese while America youth is about two-thirds obese.  And the reason why universal healthcare works in European countries is because they are healthier than the people in America. People in America have to take more trips to the hospital which costs more money. That’s why universal healthcare is a problem for many in the US. People don’t want to pay for the bad health habits people have. It makes me wonder how people are ever going to get healthy with all of the fast food and unhealthy foods. It starts with just one person making healthy habits and convincing others to be healthy too. Michelle Obama is an example of this because she is making school food healthier. The future generations choose what we want to be; so how will respond to this problem? I hope we choose the right path

Vet's day ceremony

It is very inspirational to see the past war heroes of Williamsburg in the auditorium. The Veterans were blown away once again by the people who set up the ceremony. They love the time we take out of our days to support them and give them support. This year I was a little more active and it was really great to shake the hands of the veterans and tell them we appreciate them. It makes me think of the impact this made on the veterans and what the student body could do to other people. How could we impact someone else's lives? All it takes is a little work and SMART goals.

Aaron Thomas

He had Aaron Thomas come in and present a speech for us that was very eye-opening. He talked about how his father, Ed Thomas, was the geratest man he ever knew. He was always considerate of his surrounding people in his community. He had three things that were very important to him: faith, family, and football. Ed inspired us just to be a better person in every aspect. I makes you think about who you are and what you are. People should be respectful towards one another and care for your community and neighbors. You show them the respect and character that they have shown you. These people in your community look up to you and are inspired by you. So what if you make a bad decision and you drink on the weekend. The talk gets around and the next thing you know you are on the bench regretting what you did. Then people have to question what your morals are and lose respect. Someone is always watching and making the right decision should be a priority in your life.

Problems in our School

As a class we are identifying the biggest problems in our school. We focused on three main problems:
 Attitude towards self improvement, Hallway interactions, and school spirit. I spearheaded Attitude towards self improvement because I really think I can find a way to motivate people to have that attitude to make themselves better in everything they do. We have wrote down our system analysis and adapted the system to fit the characteristics of our problem. Our group looked at our results we are getting from the attitude we currently have and we want to change it to a more positive outlook to finish better in athletics and in the classroom as well. We still need more refining but this is the root of the problem. I really think we can find a solution. :)

Chantal Knepper

In leadership we had Chantal come in and talk to us about college and what would be good things to participate in. She went to Wartburg where she is in many student organizations. She is involved with service projects and she is taking a lot of good experience along with it. She applies these experiences to her  everyday life and is going to put them on her resume to look good when applying to get a job as a doctor. It helps me relate to the volunteer service I do for student council and NHS. They are very important to me and I plan to keep doing these service projects.