Cole Paulin
Mrs. Durkee
AP Language and Composition
8 February 2019
Kindergarten should be banned from existence. The reason is that our nation should have 5 years of high school.
Our schooling system should start at first grade and work up to grade 13, starting high school at grade 9. Once high school starts, academics finally become super important and begin to play a huge role in a students career path. Why would our education system be chomping at the bit for one more year to let students prove themselves. One more year to get their GPA up. One more year to decide what they want to do with their lives. So many student come into freshman year and slack off. What they don’t realize is that one bad year can greatly affect what colleges you get into. An extra year of grades might be the difference for so many late blooming students who have dug a deep hole for themselves.
There is one question we need to ask: is an extra year of high school worth the loss of Kindergarten. The answer is yes. Kindergarten is nothing more than an extension of preschool. Our youth is coddled for too long and we need to start introducing some academics into their first year of school. Kids can learn to be nice people and start learning at the same time. Nobody will remember their kindergarten year anyway, so why not substitute it with a year that will matter in the long run. Some people may argue that the total years of schooling is the same, so there is no difference. Those people are far from correct. It is very similar to dropping the worst player on a football team in order to add another one. Sure, the roster number is the same, but the value is much greater.
A simple change can go a long way for many people, and I know that 5 years of high school is one of these changes. Students will get the opportunity to prove themselves for one more year.
Lessons I’ve Learned
As I am only a few days away from finishing my seventeenth year on earth, I have decided to reminisce the lessons I learned that made these years so great.
- Family comes first. Family has your back for life no matter what time it is, where you are, or what you are doing.
- Trust your gut. Don’t overthink things. Do what you think is right, and avoid what you think is wrong.
- Friends come and go for most people. Be smart like me. Find that one best friend that sticks by you no matter what, be real with her and never switch up. Once you develop such a strong bond you won’t have to worry about being lonely or ever needing anyone else.
- Don’t listen to what people say about you. It literally dose not matter at all. Wear what you want to wear, and do what you want to do.
- Physical and mental health are both important. Exercise and meditation can really help you to stay balanced and happy in life.
- Pray more.
- Know your boundaries and your limits, and do not push them.
- Be kind to everyone, and especially to the earth, which is your home.
- You will miss your teenage years so make the most of them.
- You should not fear anything besides fear itself.
– Isabella Dube 2/11
getting towed
Nicole Cyr
Getting towed shouldn’t be a thing you can legally do.
The concept of getting your car towed never really concerned me. To be honest, I thought all those signs that scream DO NOT PARK HERE…VEHICLE WILL GET TOWED were bluffing. I was wrong. My parents were wrong. They called the same bluff.
My family went to Boston for the weekend to watch a basket ball game. The next morning, we decided to acquire some authentic food from a quaint cafe before we hit the road to head home. The cafe was on a little dead end side street. There were only a few parking spots on the side of the road. My dad decided that parking in a tow zone for no more than ten minutes would be harmless. So harmless, that none of us thought twice about it. So we got the food and coffee. Took about five or so minutes. I begun to walk out. That’s funny. Where’s the car. It was right here. Where did it go. Immediately I turned into a angry knot of panic and start frantically asking my mom, who was trailing close behind, where the damn car went. My dad took another minute to come out to witness me and my mom in a full panic. Cut to us calling the tow company listed on the sign. Why would they answer, it’s not like they had our vehicle. After the seventh attempt, we got the address, called an uber, and jumped on the fury road. I was steaming and plotting a revenge scheme in my head, who could just take our car. It took the uber driver, who was thankfully a very patient and kind man, some time to figure out where the place was, as our set destination was conveniently in the industrial part of Boston, which as it turns out is not very easy to navigate. We found it eventually, and I kid you not, I thought I was in a movie. The stereotypical description of a run down tow company met us. Falling apart trailer, rusted cars with boots attached, dirt lot riddled with dips and deep potholes. $152 to get the damn car back. Cash only. Yes, everyone carries around two hundred in cash. We as a family unit try to muster up the sum with the cash we had on us. As I began walking to our vehicle to grab my wallet, I got chased down by a young adult man in red pj pants halfway off his body. He thought I was going to steal back our vehicle before paying. Well, as I look about twelve years old, I definitely see where he came to that conclusion. Our conjoined sum of cash came quite short of the fee, so me and my dad found a credit union with an ATM within walking distance. The walk there was quite scenic: abandoned factories paired with the sounds of crunching broken glass bottles under our feet. How pleasant. We acquired the cash, passed it to the lovely employee that we couldn’t see through the only window—tinted to full opacity—on the trailer, with a tiny space at the bottom where the transactions were to be made, and skirted the hell out.
I will admit, it was quite the experience, however, I wouldn’t recommend parking in a tow zone. As stupid as it seems, tow signs mean business.
The Stigma of Majoring in Art
When deciding the type of job in a specific field of study you want to learn more about, take classes for, and go to college to pursue, it is important that your good at it, it makes you happy, you love it, you are passionate about it, and that’s it is a stable career. There is a large variety of good paying jobs in the math, science, and English fields, but what if you want to pursue an art career. You are good at art, you love art, you are passionate about art, art makes you happy, you want to learn more about art, you want to go to college to pursue a career in art, but, the stigma around being an art major makes you feel like you will not be successful, you will not be able to make a living through art, and you are not smart in the socially accepted normal ways.
The art field is a competitive and somewhat restricting field of study. Many people give up on their dreams of being an artist because they compare their work to other’s work. Also, after graduation, when students cannot find financial stability from their art career, they are quick to give up and work towards a career that makes more money, instead of trying to work hard and wait until they become successful.
The truth is, there are many careers that involve art such as architecture, makeup, photography, and florists. All in which can be turned into successful careers and lifelong, stable jobs through lots of hard work and with dedication.
– Isabella Dube 2/5/19
Cliques on Cliques on Cliques
Emma Gosselin
High school. An environment that is home to hundreds of different teenagers and adults, all with differing personalities and interests. Similar to most high schools, Thornton Academy provides a nourishing and welcoming atmosphere that caters to the needs of all. From the top notch arts programs to Class A sports, every student attending Thornton has an opportunity to find something they love. But unlike like most high schools, Thornton Academy does not have many cliques; at least that is what the thousands of alumni think.
Superficially, Thornton appears to have a relatively low number of cliques, yet I, and many others, disagree. Let me break Thornton Academy down for you; there are tons and tons of cliques, but there are about five major ones that everyone knows about. First, we have the jocks and the cheerleaders who tend to be grouped together as the popular kids, next we have the arts kids who are broken into the band nerds, the theater kids, and dance company. Also present are the nerds, who tend to be in all honors and/or AP classes, the “weirdos,” who aren’t necessarily weird they’re just different than the rest of the school, and lastly we have the freshmen. Yes, the freshmen form their own clique because they’re freshmen and they just do, deal with it.
Okay cool, so Thornton houses five major cliques, big deal five isn’t even that many. In reality, the five major cliques actually break down into smaller cliques that I like to call sub-cliques. Although I can’t speak for every clique, I can speak for the nerds and the band nerds. As a nerd, I can tell you that I’m really only a science nerd; I don’t fit in with the book worms or mathletes, and I’m definitely not a historian. However, as a band nerd I fit in to almost every sub-clique embedded within the larger clique. I play the saxophone, so I fit in with the saxophone sub-clique, but because of the type of saxophone I play, I also fit in with the base line sub-clique. Other sub-cliques include the base line and percussion, the upper woodwinds, the trumpets, and the base line and a few upper woodwinds (of these sub-cliques the only two I don’t consider myself a part of are the trumpets and the upper woodwinds).
As someone who sees the large number of cliques, and is included in a few cliques herself, I find the fact that some people don’t think cliques exist hard to believe, especially when I know there are cliques within a clique. I’ve never gone a day in my life without fitting in with a clique, and I’ve never been to a place that doesn’t have a clique; in reality, the world is just a cliques on cliques on cliques place.
Church?
When pondering over issues regarding religion it’s hard to know what to say. Every once and a while questions will be asked of “what religion are you?” or “Do you believe in God?” and up until last week my answers to these questions seemed a blur. Over and over again I have questioned whether God is real or whether the abstract picture of him is something that people use to get on with their day to day life. Over and over I think about how if a man as powerful as God, is real, why would He allow so many horrific situations and puzzlements to occur. If He was real why would He allow people, who have already endured chemo therapies and cancer, to acquire such a disease not once but twice. My whole life these questions, that so many people seem to have answers to, have wander about my mind with no clear cut destination. Over and over I look back into the memories of church and childhood that I have stored in my brain. I wonder if I was their because I believed in God or because my family wanted me to be. For these reason when I was asked to go to church last weekend, I wasn’t exactly elated to go. My feelings for God were questionable, and if He was real the only emotion I could think to feel was anger, and yet I still found my self placed in front of a pastor that very weekend. The experience was similar to the one of my childhood in the sense of surroundings and the physical way of the establishment, only this time when the pastor began to preach, questionable tears roll down my very face. This time being in church was my decision, now the sermon was not background noise, but a message pointed directly at me. I still don’t know how I feel about God, and what he does. I still don’t know if He is even real. However, what I do know is my church experience from this moment out will no longer be remembered as one of boredom and agony. From here on out, church will be remember as a place where everyone is family, where hugging strangers is done without shame, and with tear filled eyes, because everyone in that building knows they are all in life (whatever that may entail) together.
Cruisin’
Cole Paulin
Mrs. Durkee
Ap Language and Composition
4 February 2019
Finding a safe and affordable family vacation has always been a great difficulty for my parents. With a large family of two adults and 4 teenage boys, my parents needed to find a place where my brothers and I could have some freedom without the possibility of getting lost. After some web-surfing, my parents decided that a cruise would be our best option. The specific cruise that my parents picked out was affordable, including great food, and ensured that no man would be left behind. After my family vacation, I came to the conclusion that cruising is the best form of vacation.
When kids enter their teen years, they tend to want some freedom from their parents, but often cannot live on their own. A cruise perfect intermingles these two aspects. Kids can find new people to hang out with, while knowing that their parents cannot be far away. The best time to cruise is over a school vacation because all of the east coast students will also have vacation. The end result is a massive teenage gathering. Cruising doesn’t just offer underage freedom; cruising offers amazing food and shows that bring families together.
The range and variety of food that is prepared is unlike anything I have seen in my 17 years of life. Just picture a perfect assortment of any food that your heart could possibly desire all lined up for the taking. The daily dinners are comprised of exotic meals that I have never had: frog legs, ox tail, escargot, and cow tongue. Not only can anyone orders these extravagant meals, passengers can order as many as they would like. If I never went on the cruise, I would have missed out on all of these meals that I may never have again.
I could rant for hours about the superiority of cruising, but I am already surpassing my suggested word count. Cruising is the best way to vacation as a family. The kids and parents can find a perfect balance of seeing each other and the food-related luxuries are unmatched.
swimming
I don’t really like to talk about swimming that much, which is funny because it takes up about 70% of all my time, effort, sanity, health, sleep, and overall well being for about seven months straight, and then a few more in the summer. Anyways, I’ve come to discover that 97% of people know just about nothing in regards to anything swimming related—which is part of the reason I don’t bother sharing my experiences— so here are some random tidbits that I feel sum up the general shanagins of swimming.
It’s hell. Juggling two swim teams, working out in the gym, and having at least some handle on the mentally strenuous classes I’m taking, can do a little bit of a damage. I’ve become quite good at suppressing the reality of the somewhat questionable lifestyle I chose to live, as I’ve been doing it for eight years. I’d say every swimmer could say the same. We all suffer, and we choose to suffer, and we don’t want to suffer, but we still continue to do the thing that makes us suffer the most. It’s a swimmers mentality.
It’s also kind of amazing. Almost every swimmer I’ve met throughout the years who’s in it for the long run, has been humble, benevolent, and down to earth. It is also very rare to come across a cocky swimmer. Of course they are out there, but they’re in the minority. For such an individualized sport, the team dynamic creates long lasting bonds that other athletes might not fully experience in other sports. Or at least not authentically.
Exclusive Sayings
Boys will be boys, I was a tomboy growing up, it’s a guy thing, and it’s a girl thing. All seemingly harmless sayings, yet they’re the root of several controversies involving sexism.
Boys will be boys is a term used most often as a way to dismiss the behavior of a young boy who got into some sort of mischief. Although “boys will be boys” seems like a light-hearted and harmless saying, it is, in reality, quite dismissive and exclusive. First of all, boys will be boys very clearly excludes all personnel who are not boys; on top of that, there is no saying for girls that has a meaning equal to boys will be boys. Not only does boys will be boys exclude girls, the saying implies that boys are allowed to be reckless and carefree, but girls are not. Why is excusing the behavior of boys with “oh that’s just how boys are” something that is okay? Why are Boyd taught that playing with dirt and getting scraped knees normal, while girls are taught to act with proper etiquette and respect for everyone? And why is it that when girls prefer action figures over Barbies or basketball over dancing they’re considered tomboys? By pinning a child, or any person, with a certain stereotype that proves their masculinity or femininity, we’re limiting them. A tomboy shouldn’t only describe the girls who take a liking to dirt and sports, a tomboy should be a description that fits everyone who wants to be considered a tomboy. And like tomboy, boys will be boys shouldn’t only describe the ill-behaving boys; it should describe the boys who have a passion for dancing and singing, or prefer to days clean as opposed to playing in dirt and mud.
All things considered, gender based sayings as we know them are not okay; they need to be changed. These sayings should be an umbrella that includes everyone beneath it; they should not be the exclusive messes that they are.
Stressed
“I’m stressed. Stressed about grades. Stressed about gas. Stressed about my job. Stressed about school, about my family, about boys. I’m stressed about life. I’m even stressed about my stress. I’m stressed no one understands why I’m stressed. I miss the days of ease and pleasure. Days where I could spend hours do nothing, or when my biggest issue was who got the swing on the playground. I miss the days when I thought getting a check instead of a check plus on a paper was the end of the world. I miss the countless seconds of fretting over who got to play mom in house at recess that day. I remember what the brain of a five year old was like, wishing one day to be an adult, not thinking about the stress I would endure once arrived at my very goal. Now instead of worrying about a check, I worry about how one test could ruin my future. Instead of worrying about playtime at recess, I worry about if my gas will last until my next pay check. I wish to go back to the little girl I once was, I wish that somehow the stress surrounding me could simply vanish. For years, I’ve wished and wished and still nothing happens, for the past is in the past, and now it seems as though I am just floating with my memories. So now instead of wishing I simply wait. Wait for the day when the stress will finally leave. Wait for the day when my problems vanish. Wait for an answer to my unsolved solution….”
“You should just breath, make the stress go away” answers her friend with a smile.
“Your right, I’m fine” the girl responds, in her mind she knows the truth, though she can put on a mask, no one will ever understand the stress she endures.
Thornton Academy - AP Language 2018-2019 