After reviewing the Voxopop discussion, I would like to persuade people to become houseparents, take San Pasqual students on field trips, or why people should donate to us kids at San Pasqual. You may listen to my class’s discussion here.

Students & Self Passes

Students at San Pasqual Academy should be allowed to go on self pass because just like other people in the real world, we deserve our freedom. They treat us like we are monsters on this campus. It has gotten to the point where I can't even be myself in my own house. I have to think about every sentence before I let it out of my mouth because I can't be myself without constantly getting in trouble in my current house. Staff constantly have an eye on us and show no type of trust whatsoever. They treat us as if we are felons because we are under the title of a Foster Kid. I feel that adults should open their eyes and realize we are normal teenage kids who deserve a normal life. It is not our faults for the most part that we are in the position we are in. This is why I feel we should have self passes.

Theme Comparison Essay

Marcus B & Joseph B
Period 4 English 10
Final Draft
Theme Comparison Essay

People regret sacrificing valuables in order to impress people. This happens often in a person’s lifetime. The actions of your peers may affect the way you act due to peer pressure. “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” and “Catch the Moon” are somewhat similar in themes. Both books have an individual character that changes due to another individual’s expectations or standards.
“The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” the main character is the narrator. The main conflict in the story is the fish that the narrator caught and the reason why he let it go. The resolution was to continue fishing, to quit liking Sheila, and to move on being himself and not changing for anyone else.The main character changes his hobbies, goals, and motivations just because of a girl. For example, in the book the two characters were on a date and they were sailing to a carnival. The narrator threw a line out to catch a fish while they were sailing, and out of embarrassment and trying to fit in with her he cut the line to one of the biggest fish he’d ever caught. Similar to the second book the theme are people regret sacrificing valuables in order to impress people. Especially if it’s to do something negative in your life.
In “Catch the Moon” the main character is Luis Cintron. The main conflict of the story was that Luis had to find a hubcap for this girl that he thought hated him, and he wanted to change that and make her like him. This is only so because he liked her. The conflict was resolved by Luis finding the hubcap, polishing it as much as possible, then at midnight delivering it to Naomi’s window. For example, in the story he stated that “ ..he waited to give to her the first good thing that he had given anyone in a long time.” This shows that he is obviously doing something different than usual. But by doing so means that he is changing and the only reason why he is changing is because of Naomi, all because he wants her to like him. So, like the first book the theme is people regret sacrificing valuables in order to impress people. Except this time it was to change him from a hooligan to a gentleman.
“The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant” and “Catch the Moon” have very similar themes. This is so because in each book a character changes in response to another character. Each main character in every book, like an individual in real life, gets influenced and changes to impress their peers or just to fit in. This act is wrong. People should be themselves and no one should change that. The main character of each story did, regardless if it was for a good or bad cause.

"Catch The Moon" Grief Paragraph

The change Luis experiences after he address the grief he feels for his mother’s death is believable. He starts to change. He begins hanging out with the wrong crowd of people who get him in trouble and start leading him to a life of mistakes and mishaps. He got in trouble for breaking and entering a house in which his friends dared him to do. He was sent to juvenile hall and when he got back he had to do community service which meant working with his father at the family junkyard. In real life a kid might do the same things with the passing away of a loved one. The person might turn rebellious. By dealing with grief people are able to get past a loss of a loved one.

Theme Graphic Organizer

SPA Movie & Games Day

To start the day off Friday, we watched the movie Freedom Writers which was very interesting and kept me focused on the movie throughout all of it. I loved the movie. After that we played basketball and Joe and I had this hilarious costume we wore for pregame warmups. He and I were planning it out the whole night before since we were roomates. Broderick, Joseph, Shaurice, Isaac and I led the Sophomores to victory over both the Juniors and Seniors. It was a great day. I loved it.

Homeroom Reform Essay

Marcus B & Joseph B
November 11, 20010

Homeroom Reform
I have a dream, that society and classrooms will one day form together to make a Super Class classified by technology of overwhelming content and outrageous experiences. For example, class today with technology can change a student’s perspective and learning tactics to achieve a better grade. Now imagine all classes throughout the day with technology in the society we live in today that is overwhelmed with computers and Internet, and then compare the difference of achievement from each class. The statistics would be astounding! The campus of San Pasqual Academy, a foster youth based school, can and will improve with use of the grant and the provided technology that comes along with it.
There are 510,000 foster kids in the U.S. and only 15,300 of these kids graduate high school. That is only 30% that passed, so where are the other 70%? And why didn’t they pass? Although we are not sure we guess and estimate using hypothesis and tactics to test if they help. But what we do know and we are sure of is only 15% of these foster kids go to college, and that’s only 2,295 kids! Those kids that go to college are only about 6.6% of the kids that have graduate from high school. The statistics are ridiculous and these numbers are unbelievable. Statistics also state that students do better at work with some sort of aid or assistance. So, my theory is to assist us with technology, technology that can be easily provided with a prize-winning grant.
The only technology used at San Pasqual Academy is in English class, and in this class we’ve never used a sheet of paper for an assignment. Our teacher is really focused on our education for out futures and specifically assigns technical assignments using different websites to educate our abilities on how to use and manage our technical skills. For example, we have vocabulary words we write in our presentation and to record them we have our own class Wikipedia. Anyone can access this Wikipedia and change it if it contains an error or if it just needs to be completed. This comes to show technology does help students be more successful and organized.
Apparently there is a problem within society in the terms of students graduating from high school which is probably the most important achievement to earn in life. It is also apparent that reasons for this is lack of money from the government to meet the standards for tools in the classroom. From my observations a class with more technology helps a student learning to cope with a life that is heading down a technological path because society is becoming more revolved around computers and with the help of money, we can be equipped with the computers that would for one help us for the future and for two give us a better way of learning our lessons.
Hopefully we will be able to earn this grant and help a dream become reality.I wrote this essay with Joseph Bakhit. We wrote it for the KNSD Homeroom Reform Essay Contest.

Brainstorm

SPA Theme Song

I believe that the SPA theme song should be Misunderstood by Lil Wayne. This song should be the theme song because on this campus many of the staff do not understand where kids on this campus are coming from and are quick to assume rather than help out a kid, therefore, they misunderstand us children because they do not have a full understanding of why we do the things we do. I'm sure many of us kids feel misunderstood and wish many of us could be understood. This is the song that should be the theme of SPA.

“’The Bass, the River, and Shelia Mant’ Airhead Stereotype.”

I believe that nobody should be titled as an airhead because nobody knows their true talent better than they do. Nobody knows how smart somebody is other than the person themselves and maybe their parents. Nobody should be stereotyped as an airhead because everyone gains knowledge on their own experiences and from their own interests. This is my take on the stereotyping of a so called "airhead".

Internal & External Conflicts in "The Bass, The River, & Sheila Mant"

In the story "The Bass, The River, & Sheila Mant" their were internal and external conflicts. An external conflict in this story is that W.D. Wetherell had deep emotions about a girl named Sheila Mant. He really liked this girl but he did not know if she liked him or felt the same way. In internal conflict is that he knew he had a big fish on the line but he didn't want to reel it in because he thought Sheila would judge him for liking to fish. As a result of the conflicts the narrator realizes that some choices that are made in life might not always be the way they think that choice is going to end up.

"Catch the Moon" Falling in Love

Falling in love teaches the person falling in love many assets of a relationship starting with trust, loyalty, no disrespect, and a true feeling of caring for someone far more than anyone can imagine. I've experienced love and it was the best thing ever but when you have to get past the person you fell in love with it is one of the hardest things anyone will have to go through. It's a horrible feeling but at the same time it opens up other opportunities. You realize you will always have love for that person you once felt love for because they will always be in your heart. When falling in love, people are motivated by true feeling that you can trust, be loyal, and make sacrifices you would never think you would ever had made. That is my opinion on love.