Anakin Reese Conn Assignment 26

Concerning your ability to prepare me for the AP test, I say that you did a good very good job.  The AP test consisted of multiple choice, which I was familiar with as a result of your exposing to us of previous AP tests.  Most of the multiple choice was easier than what you assigned us, meaning that you prepared us for more than we were up against.  As far as the written part of the AP exam goes, I had no issue with it.  Your assignments this year have prepared me for the AP test, as the prompts found on the test were much more convenient than the ones you assigned, and among the prompts you assigned were ones that matched the AP test prompts in structure.  I think that you did enough to prepare us for the AP test, as I had no problem completing the whole thing, and I had high confidence about my score after walking away from the test.  However, some of the assignments you assigned this year didn't feel connected to the test, such as the socratic seminars, and several of the video projects we did.  Despite their lack of involvement in the AP test, I enjoyed the variety they offered me, as no other class had projects as open-ended as your class.  Still, your different assignments had me reading more than I did last year, so I appreciate your efforts to lead the class away from being a series of practice tests.

Anakin Reese Conn Assignment 25

This long overdue, and most likely pointless blog will be about my methods of relieving stress.  While the end of school puts a lot of stress on students, It barely affects me, as I usually separate myself from the existence of school while at home, only somewhat acknowledging its existence when doing homework.  While this method prevents stress from happening in the first place, its consequence is that I ignore school to the point of getting behind in classes.  I wonder if the temporary "pain" of stress is worth it to improve not only my grades, but the quality of life of the teachers that grade these late assignments, such as this blog, which is being written after school has went out.  I hope the only person who reads this forgives me, despite me not deserving forgiveness in the slightest.  I also hope that person has a great summer, and next school semester without seeing me, for whoever's sake.  Another method I use to relieve stress is cats, as they are unpredictable creatures that hide in weird places, keeping me preoccupied most of the time through searching for them.  They also make good heating pads and paperweights.  Sleep is another method of stress relief, as the angry chemicals in my brain forget why they're in my brain and leave by the time I wake up.  Also, dreams are neat, as you usually forget about reality in dreams, including the stresses caused by school.  Despite me being supposedly immune to stress, sometimes I remember that school exists, and fall victim to its stress.

Anakin Reese Conn Assignment 24

The more I go to school, the more I feel, and realize that every year is the same, but I forget this concept at the beginning of every year.  I still have misplaced faith that the next year will be different in structure, but it never is.  That is my main failure.  My success this year is little, but it involves my participation in the AP tests.  I can't think of anything else I've explicitly done well this year, everything seems to happen without any kind of effort put into it.  The whole year has felt like a dream, in the way that every effort is weaker in dreams, you can't break the table in your dream, or open the door like you intend to.  Despite your wasted efforts after failing to make a change in the dream, you often forget the whole dream, making the whole assortment of failures forgotten, much like how I remember this year, a collection of failures that I can't hope to count, as I have forgotten most of them already.  I can't say what I am doing in the summer, but I plan to treat senior year differently than previous years, instead of expecting new years to treat me differently.  Don't be concerned about my summer, yours is objectively more valuable than mine, and whatever value my summer holds will be wasted by me in due time.

Anakin Reese Conn Assignment 23

This is a playlist of songs I alternate between while writing blog posts, many aren't very interesting, but they serve their purpose when looped, keeping my attention focused on what I'm writing.  Keep in mind that most of these songs are from video games, they may be too simplistic for you to enjoy(or their loops may annoy you), and my interpretations are what I think of while listening to these songs, so it is likely that your interpretations of the songs are different, and their existence together in a playlist may disgust you.  I apologize if any of these songs hurt your ears, give you brain damage, or are unusable for your purposes.  I also hope that this isn't perceived as a joke list, it wasn't intended to be.
Playlist Sequence Explanations
1. Stuck, somewhere better exists.
2. Stuck, you have been somewhere better.
3. You could end up in a bad place.
4. Does this place have any meaning?
5. A better place can be found.

Playlist

1. Lost Painting - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Melancholy, sense that you're stuck somewhere you don't particularly dislike, just that you know there is somewhere else you could be that's better, and that there is no way to reach said place.

2. Snowman - Earthbound

Another melancholy song, similar stuck feeling, except you miss something that you once had, and you can't get it back.

3. Okami - Ominous Feelings

Title does a good job describing the mood, a simplistic song, yet it makes me think about the things that have yet to come, and what I could lose as a result through the arrival of those events.

4. Final Fantasy VII - Who are You

Title doesn't help, makes me contemplate how pointless everything is in the theater of reality as a whole.

5. Terranigma - The Underworld
Helpless feeling, idea that you are stuck somewhere with a possibility of reaching a better place.

Anakin Reese Conn Assignment 22

Choosing a fictional character to be is a tough choice, as there are many fictional characters.  As likely mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, I dislike choosing, so I will describe a couple of neat characters and the qualities I enjoy about them instead.  The unnamed protagonist of the game Furi is a neat character, as it uses a laser sword, shoots lasers with his hands, can't die, and moves very quickly, appearing to teleport.  Despite its conflict over whether to remain painfully imprisoned forever and let his race die, or destroy the earth for the sake of its race, which will lead to its death in the end, the protagonist of Furi is a neat character, especially because he glows.  Rex Colt Mark IV Cyber Commando from Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon is a neat character, as he uses a laser sword, shoot lasers through a ninja star using his life blood, heals to quickly to prevent the possibility of death, and moves very quickly in a stealthy fashion, appearing to teleport.  Despite his conflict over the existence of Mark V Cyber Commandos and the danger they pose to Mark IV Cyber Commandos, and his existence as a joke on the 80s, Rex Colt is a neat character, especially because he glows as a result of science.  Galacta Knight from the Kirby series is a neat character, as he uses a flaming death sword, shoots flaming death lasers from his dimension, and is literally immortal as a result of being from the future(?), and can move quickly to the other side of the screen by entering the opposite side of the screen, appearing to teleport.  Despite his conflict involving being summoned to the past to blow up planets, and his existence in the same universe as Magolor, Galacta Knight is a neat character, especially because his flaming death sword glows as a result of flaming death fire.  However, I still don't know what to choose out of all available fictional characters.

Anakin Reese Conn Assignment 21

The prompt for this blog calls for anything, even garbage writing, which I hold in great supply, but never share as a result of laziness.  While anything is more valuable if there is a scarce amount, a scarcely distributed amount of garbage is still garbage.  Continuing on with the prompt, this blog post will consider the existence of the multiverse, a place where everything happens at some point.  I view such a concept as having no limit to how precise every difference can be.  The multiverse must also contain every universe where the multiverse doesn't apply, meaning that our universe could be severed from others (as far as we know), except that we can "conceive" of the existence of a multiverse.  Any interaction between two different universes should count as the creation of a new universe, as causalities are uniquely different in these intersected universes than the sum of its separate parts.  There are universes that mute our universe from existence to exist temporarily before seizing to exist themselves, restoring our presence in our perceived timeline.  We have no way of knowing, therefore any answer is correct.  Maybe the universe was created at the beginning of this sentence, and your memories of the previous universe were completely conjured up.  You can't ask your past self if you're in the same universe, as that self is dead, and you carry that self's message that "I am here!  I am real!  I was real, and I remain real, YOU are real!", a message written in flesh, one that flesh follows.  If nothing is predetermined, then everything is predetermined.  The universe we exist in follows rules, events that will happen no matter the actions that are taken, as actions for, or against the result are a component of the result.  Defying predetermination is already predetermined.  There is no fighting it, succumb, follow your path, as it was meant to be.  Your life is filled with choice, which is your ultimate, binding chain.  Everything has already happened, and none of it has to make any sense, it owes you nothing.  The few that read this far will ask why someone would waste their time writing or reading this, and the answer is that someone is predetermined in this universe to write this garbage, and this time, it wasn't you.

Anakin Reese Conn Assignment 18

1. High School Bucket List
My main goal in high school is to finish while remaining in the AP courses.  At this point, leaving the academy would be the equivalent of death for me, as I would never be the same.
2. College Bucket List
Find a career that interests me, as I have yet to come up with any ideas for a career I would particularly enjoy.  So far I have only found careers that I do not want to invest time in, such as history or language related careers, and especially not teaching careers, as I want to escape schooling, not trap myself in this institution after finding a career.  I expect college to show me what I am interested in, or maybe something else along the way will guide me towards the career I belong in.  Maybe a fissure opens up under my parent's house while I'm asleep, taking the meaning away from the little effort made to write the previous few sentences.
3. Life Bucket List
If me writing this after midnight doesn't involve a sudden aneurysm, killing me before I can struggle enough to get anyone's attention, I have very few plans for my lifetime that I can share in this overdue blog post.  While unrealistic and absurd, I want to find a way to remotely preserve human DNA for future civilization, in a similar way that plant seeds and other valuable commodities are stored in remote locations, such as Antarctica.  The purpose behind such a project would be to send a template of our slowly eroding Y chromosome into the future, so that if a point is reached that males are unable to reproduce without the appropriately intact chromosome, this DNA cache could be unlocked and used to restore the continuation of human existence.  This project would probably end as a loss of tax dollars, or humans transcend the flesh and become the Borg, destroying this project to prevent a resurgence of humans as they once were.  What a waste of time that was to read.

Assignment 26- Chelsea Avery

I suppose I felt prepared for the exam so I'd say that most of the year your teaching meet the criteria. Everyone always hated the huge packets of essays where we graded each one but I think it did help. I'm not sure if the comments people wrote really did anything when it came to the way I wrote but it kind of gave me an incentive to try harder each time. I didn't want to have that one essay that was completely half-assed because I knew everyone would be reading it. Maybe that's just me...

Not so effective would probably be the reading of benchmarks. I really wasn't interested in what made really shitty essays really shitty. Maybe reading a few higher up essays to analyze successes helped but other than that, class was dull on those days. I couldn't focus enough to gain anything from them. Also, I'm not entirely sure why our final is to make a video. Maybe its just your sly way of making our final relatively easy and fun but I just don't get how it really pertains to English. 

Assignment 24- Chelsea Avery

While most say your junior year is the most difficult, I don't thing anything will ever beat freshman year. Let me just say- adjusting to a new social scene is harder than any standardized test. That being said, I am still very glad it is over. And I am ready for senior year.
This summer, I will be going to India to study Hindi through the NSLI-Y program. I have already began studies and have my flights booked. I am in contact with my future classmates and can't wait. I love to travel and experience culture. I'm hoping this trip will help me decide what I hope to do with my future. As of now, I think I want to study and spend a year or two in the Peace Corps. I hope this experience will help me know if this is realistic for me or not.
I am also very excited for my senior mentoring project. It will be photography based and I can't wait to continue improving my portfolio next year. I already let photography get in the way of my schoolwork so it'd be nice if I was supposed to be working on it. This weekend I agreed to take graduation pictures instead of completing some other things like my chores and blog posts...
I am scared for next year because I don't know where I want to go to college. Most people spend this upcoming summer going on college tours and such but I will be out of town for two months with my study abroad program and family vacation to Yosemite.

Assignment 23- Chelsea Avery

Throughout my life, my music tastes have changed drastically. If you were to ask me to write this blog back in middle school, my playlist would've been full of punk rock and metal. Alas, my mother was right and it was just a phase.
My perfect playlist for my ride to school needs to consist of my favorite songs. In actuality, this list is very long as I don't like to listen to the same song too many times. For the purposes of this blog, I'll just select a few of my favorites.

Come a Little Closer- Cage the Elephant
This is for sure one of my favorite bands-- there's no way I could leave them off this playlist

Float On- Modest Mouse
I love this song because I again, love the band. They sound so different that I like to include them in the mix- perhaps these songs don't technically sound right together but I enjoy them. Also, the message is a good one for the morning, "don't worry, we'll all float on alright."

Giants- Bear Hands
I don't have a good reason for this one, it's just a pretty good one from the playlist.

Dark Necessities- Red Hot Chili Peppers
The farther along I go with this list, the more I realize I maybe should've thought it out before putting them together. I really enjoy this song, upbeat melody, not too sad or anything.

My Body- Young the Giant
At this point, I have given up on making a playlist that really makes sense. This song is fun and I know all the words, which means I can sing it on the way to school. What better way to begin your day??

Assignment 26 - Christian Lauritzen

Personally, I really found the way you teach effective.  The leaving us to our own devices a lot of the time and focusing on what we need to focus on contributed to me being more successful and comfortable with the work I complete.  I found the essay's useful, and would recommend continuing with doing a lot of them (maybe more), but personally, I think we peer review too much.  I agree with the usefulness of understanding how graders would grade, but I felt like after the 3rd essay or so I knew the rubric as well as I was going to, and would've preferred talking more directly with you about my essays or even just focusing on your feedback.  Going through each essay as a 20+ person group just got repetitive after a certain point.  Even when they were going over mine, it was only like 2 people whose opinions I actually valued in our class to review me fairly and effectively, and I didn't find that experience valuable enough to spend 2-3 classes going through everyone else's essays.  To move on from that point, I thank you immensely for the video projects you assigned.  They taught me a lot about visual media, and of all the things I have done in an English class ever, outside of learning how to write at a higher level, the skills I have learned and will continue to learn in the field of media production are some of the most transferrable and valuable I will have in such a media based world.  I know a lot of kids didn't like the way you taught, but yours was my favorite English class I've had, and probably in my top 5 in High School.

Assignemnt 26- Angelica Malkowski

I think writing essays and doing multiple choice tests every month was helpful and prepared us well for the AP exam. I think that perhaps some more in-depth looks at why certain essays are better than others could be helpful, particularly at the beginning of the year. I know this was done, but I think some people who already struggled with writing coming into the class may have been “left behind” as it were. However many people find reading essays in class a long and sometimes tedious process, and are therefore less engaged. So I understand a delicate balance must be made between the two, which may even vary year to year.

I think perhaps some review (an overview of the test and what you need for each essay, tips, etc.) at the end of the year before the test could be helpful. Additionally, the time given around AP tests for studying and doing what we personally needed was very helpful, relaxing, and considerate. So, again, there is a delicate balance.

Assignment 23- Caroline Couch

 I'm a bit odd and I make new playlists each month and name them accordind to what month it is so essentially every month I keep that songs I like and get rid of the songs I'm sick of and then add new cool songs to the mix. So this month is obviously May '17 so at he too if my playlist is a song called "prLristine by Mantaraybyrn I love this song especially when iim in the car it has suck a good chorus and just an overall amazing song to jam to. Coming up in 2nd is Cocaine Jesus by Rainbow Kitten Surprise I know this seems very crazy and you most likely think I'm insane for even thinking about listening to this but it is such a good song. Charlotte and I listen to it all the time and has become the track team anthem. I strongly encourage you to listen in. In third is "the Shape of you" by Ed Sherman mainly becuase it is just such a fun upbeat song that is great to song and (attempting at dancing to). Numero four is "Never be like You" by Flume a song from last summer that I just found again and am reminiscing to fun times this summer. Ranking in at 5 is "play that song" by train I don't get the impression that you like train but they have always been one of my very favorites, their new material is super fun and relaxed.

Assignment 24 - Christian Lauritzen

What a year.  To be honest, this wasn't a year for experimentation for me.  This was a year where I buckled down and did the things I didn't want to do so that I could have better opportunities in the future.  I got a job, took a bunch of AP tests, got involved in a lot of clubs, worked on getting good grades, and a whole lot more.  However, despite all of that, I still feel as though I didn't do enough.  I did very little community service, procrastinated a lot, and generally didn't get involved enough.  This year has been a series of realizations about what I'm capable of, and where I can reasonably expect to end up.  I discovered what I really want to do for a job in the future, but realized I probably can't go to a lot of the colleges I want to because of money (even if I could get in).  I just feel sort of drained in a sense.  Next year I've loaded up on classes I've wanted to take for a while and haven't been able to, so hopefully I can find more enjoyment in school.  I hope to go through next year working hard but being happy with where I am.  Over the summer I am going to work a lot then go to Germany, which should be a nice break from my regular life.  But at this point, I am anxious to get into the college.  I've had my fill of High School and I'm ready to start working on a future that I can influence.

Assignment 26 - Naylan James

I did think writing a bunch of essays was helpful. I thought (occasionally) going over benchmarks was helpful. I did not think group grading of each other helped. I thought that after a while we all got bored of it and feedback began to damper and less input became valuable. The only feedback from my papers I actually paid attention to was whatever scores you gave them, because I'd have the class give my a 5 but you give me a 7. I also thought, for the ACT, doing the passages in class as well as the AP tests helped. The AP multiple choice tests, while extremely boring, helped to prepare me for the actual AP test. Maybe next year you could spend a day on what different referencing stuff means, as we had like 3 or 4 questions over that on our AP test. Other than that, I feel like I'm in pretty good position for a 4 or a 5 on the AP test.

Henry Macfarlan - assignment 26

Junior year has been my favorite year or high school so far.  Heading into
The last week of school while the stress of finals is slightly overbearing, I cannot help but look back at the year as a whole with nothing but good memories.  With any year there were ups and downs and there were disaadvantages and advantages.  While i saw my greatest level of freedom, with ability to drive and new abilities within my life in general, it was also a year with the greatest responsibilit. As college applications hang over my head the year was one in which it was important to get good grades, gets. High act and maintain an adimment involvement in extra cariculars.  These all malde finding time for the things I wanted to do difficult but in the end I could not be happier with not only what I accomplished this year but also the great experience and the fun memories I made.

Assignment 25 - Naylan James

Through finals week and the two week period for AP tests I change absolutely nothing. I've found that trying to cram more into that tiny period will just mess with me and create stress. I work my normal hours, sleep the same, and plan nothing. Organization creates stress for me because then when I get knocked off schedule everything goes off the rails and you have to somehow find some way to gather everything back together. It also helps to do well in classes prior to finals, because then I only have to worry about getting like a 70% on the final to keep an A. In physics, though, this isn't really the case. I just wing as much as I can in that class and hope I somehow pull something off. For a stress relieving activity I just play a lot of FIFA and basketball. These activities allow me to take my mind off of anything going on at school and I don't really have to worry about anything. The only real time of stress for me is when I know I've done something that will either get me in trouble or will create awkward situations. Like when I lost Mrs. Dewees' calculator. Which was 2 days ago. And I will have to deal with that tomorrow.

Assignment 23 - Christian Lauritzen

You know that feeling where you zone out and just stare into space, eyes half way crossed, not really thinking about anything but feeling somewhat blissful?  This is my playlist for that feeling.  All of the songs are pretty chilled out and spacey.  (I recommend listening to this song either softly to not rip you out of this mindset, or super loudly to drain everything out.  Also put it on shuffle, it makes it easier to listen to multiple times.)

https://open.spotify.com/user/12162089790/playlist/6m2d8tdqITXtTexXSFQxhB

1. Pink Floyd - Money - I was originally going to pick Time, but the beginning with all of the clocks and alarms is too harsh for this mindset.  Money almost does that at the beginning by its rhythmic and sort of soft so it's ok.  This song is a perfect example for this playlist.  It's vaguely repetitive, has a pretty cool saxophone solo, and large spots with no words are perfect for just draining everything out and focusing on the music.

2. Halsey - Castle - I feel kind of bad for putting this song on here for the reason I do, but oh well.  It's on here because the instrumental (if you can call it that), is thick, bassy, and feels like it moves along with your thoughts (flat, lol).  Now, normally this many words would be bad, but I listen to a lot of her music, and at this point all of her lyrics sound the same and she sings low enough in this song where I don't really notice it that much.

3. BØRNS - Past Lives - Honestly, you could substitute most of the Dopamine playlist for this song, but I picked this one in particular because the start is really nice.  BØRNS's voice is hypnotic in a way because of how high it can go and how smooth it is.  His music is really just nice to listen to.  It's hard to explain why, but if you find the time, just listen to the whole Dopamine playlist without doing anything else and see how much you zone out.

4. Coldplay - Clocks - I really wish I could just have a song of the intro to this song extended.  Its a really nice, repeating melody that makes it feel like you are lying on your bed or in a field just looking at the sky (maybe I'm just weird, but that's how it makes me feel).  Coldplay normally is a tad too loud for a playlist like this, but this song and the few lyrics it has excuse it.

5. Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street - You have almost definitely heard the main melody in this song before.  Saxophone seems to be a bit popular in this playlist, maybe because of how smooth it sounds.  There is something about seventies and eighties pop and how stretched out it is (as in the songs are longer and they linger on everything longer) that is perfect for a forget who you are and just listen kind of feeling, and this song is a perfect example of that.  The melody is soft and smooth but almost swingy, but it sort of makes me think of Bob Ross for some reason, which also contributes.

6. M83 - Midnight City - This is the kind of song you would listen to in a taxi driving through New York city at night with bright colorful lights flashing across your eyes.  The melody really just pulls me out of my head and makes me focus on only the things I'm looking it.  It's just a very visual song to me despite there being very little imagery used.  It gives me a similar feeling to Clocks in the lying down and zoning out respect.

7. AaronicStuff - Take A Walk - This one is very similar to Midnight City, in that both are Electronic House music which feel very visual and drown out your thoughts.  This one is unique to this song, but the lyrics, both the sound of the voice and the words themselves, help to get in that zoned out feeling because he emphasizes syllables right where the bass is, and along with the kind of scrapey sounding electronic music, feel hypnotic.

8. Milky Chance - Stolen Dance - The Indie-ness of this song contributes to it's place on this playlist, but one word sort of characterizes it for me: lazy.  The singing is slurred, the instrumentals are repetitive and simple, and while normally it would pass me by, the laziness feels perfect for this playlist.  It almost makes you feel lazy, which is one aspect of how this playlist should make you feel.

9. George Michael - Careless Whisper - Similarly to some of the other songs on this playlist, it feels repetitive (and has saxophone!), leaving not too much thought to be had.  It feels like you listen to this song on the way home from a disappointing party, just watching lights go by and craving your bed.  While perhaps a somber feeling, it's a feeling of emotional exhaustion, which contributes to just wanting to zone out and listen to the music.

10. Mr. Mister - Broken Wings - Another eighties pop song which is probably the most repetitive on this playlist.  But the bass feels like it is rocking you to sleep, and the high pitched notes pull you out of that lull just enough to stay awake.  It drifts around and the instrumental bit right after each of the chorus's feel like it is opening up your mind and turning it all to mush.

Assignment 26: Sabrina Lozada

This year the most helpful thing was the process of writing and grading essays. I think that it was useful and beneficial having that peer feedback. That being said, I found it to be much more effective, although a little more time consuming, to peer grade in smaller groups of 4-6. When there is a smaller group you can focus more on each essay and are forced to actually read it and to actually give it feedback. I would have more of these small group grading sessions. 

Socratic seminars were another "big" part. These discussions were interesting but not necessarily helpful. It could be that it is because there is such a large group, but I feel like people would restate what other people already answered in order gain the participation points. I think that if these are to be continued that the best way to have them be more useful is to have smaller groups in order to generate more substance to the responses. Another comment is on the selected readings. I personally enjoyed the last few readings we had better than the first couple because I felt like they were more intriguing and paved a bigger path for discussion.

Assignment 24- Caroline Couch

Junior year is the year that makes and breaks you both academically and socially. I think I've done a fair job with both actually which is a shocker like freshman year I did well academically but oh god not socially at all. And sophomore year vice versa. This year I have succeeded at my cat dissection in anatomy and failed epically every time I try to do physics. I have learned to always ready to work your butt off in calculus every single day even when Mrs. Dewees cannot talk. I took. Risk of not starting my key terms till the night before and I died epically the next day. This summer I am going to North Carolina for an internship which I'm super excited about. For senior year I want to finish out high school strong with good grades and I also want to surround myself with a good friend group to go off with a bang in our last year of high school. I plan to achieve these things by not taking any thing for granted including extra credit opportunities.

Assignment 23: Naylan James

My perfect playlist for everyday:
Slippery by Migos and Gucci Mane - This song from "Culture" has the perfect up-tempo beat to want to do some Grand Theft Auto style driving. This song makes me want to race people on Todds road where the two lane road changes into one lane.

Peek a Boo by Lil Yachty and Migos - This is a perfect song to run to. Whether I'm planning a light jog or a walk with my dogs, this song makes me want to sprint and find someone to fight. The rhythmic background music as well as the repetition is quite hypnotic.

Congratulations by Post Malone and Quavo - This feel-good song about finally making it in life makes me want to get a job and get money. Nothing inspires me to do school work than this positively messaged jam from Post Malone.

XO TOUR Llif3 by Lil Uzi Vert - This ominous song is great for a rainy day when you're just not feeling up for whatever you have to do. It allows you to feel truly grungey as "push me to the edge, all my friends are dead" is repeatedly sung with a nice rhythm to it.

Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's - I don't even know how to put it. This song is simply great. I can listen to this song whenever I'm doing anything. Tom Higgenson takes us with him on a roller coaster of emotion and allows us to feel the pain he felt when his love moved to New York. Even through the heartbreak, the song inspires us to go love someone. I don't know how a song can be upbeat yet dreary at the same time but Hey There Delilah is everything.

Assignment 24- Angelica Malkowski

I think it’s safe to say junior year has been a roller coaster ride for everyone. It has definitely been the most stressful year of high school, but also the most fun. Have there been disappointments? Definitely. The biggest for me is spending 2/3 of the year preparing for GSA, only to not make it. But there has also been good. Like how much I have improved as an oboist because of my dedication for said GSA auditions, among other things. As has happened at the end of each year of high school thus far, I look back at where this year started and see how much I have grown. Hopefully I will continue to grow senior year (for example, my time management aka not procrastinating could still use some work). Senior year will not be stress free by any means, but I hope it will be one filled with fun experiences and amazing memories. No one can predict what will happen in the coming year, but one thing’s for certain: many tears will be shed.