Student’s Writings

Famous Threesome – Madison Hansel

February 9, 2022

A recent prompt: Famous Threesomes. For example: Three Blind Mice. Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato. Beginning, Middle, End. Madison Hensel takes us on a fantasy ride with Alvin and the Chipmunks while framing her story in the perennial writer’s challenge of getting started. Famous Threesome Friday is my favorite day of the week. After Friday I get to have Saturday and Sunday to relax. Also, on Fridays I have writing class. It’s 9:22 AM and Mr. Don tells us today’s topic is Famous Threesomes. We have a long list to pick from. Some examples: the three blind mice, the three amigos, the three musketeers, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the three bears, and the powerpuff girls. If you know anything about me, then you know I am the worst at deciding, I cannot pick one or two because I am indecisive. I sit staring at my computer screen and the list. I have no clue which trio to write about. All of the sudden, I see a chipmunk running around the room. Nobody else seems to notice it though. Am I the only one seeing this chipmunk in a green shirt? Last time I checked, chipmunks don’t wear clothes. The only chipmunks I know that wear clothes are Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. What is happening? Am I crazy? Why do I have to see a chipmunk running around the room? Why can’t everyone else see it? It goes near the kitchen so it must be Theodore because he loves food. I walk in the kitchen and I see Alvin with a spoon singing. What is...

Famous Threesome – Chase Christou

by Tom

Student's Writings

February 4, 2022

A recent prompt: Famous Threesomes. For example: Three Blind Mice. Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato. Beginning, Middle, End. Chase Christou weaves a fascinating tale seamlessly incorporating no less than twenty famous threesomes. Famous Threesomes The beginning I’m sitting around the campfire. Smoke burns my eyes like acid. I’ve already changed my seat three times, but the smoke continues to follow me. I decide to just ignore it. I won’t let this little fire get in my way. Anyway, if I wanted to, I could just spit on the fire and it would go out. This fire would have no leverage in a fight against me. After all, it is the weakest out of the three elements: earth, fire, and water. I pick up three marshmallows and roast them in the fire. I pull them out before they catch on fire because I’m not a psychopath who eats food that's on fire. I slide them onto my graham cracker and add the chocolate on top with another graham cracker covering it. The perfect s’more. Graham crackers, chocolate, and gooey marshmallows create the perfect late night snack. Before I take a bite of my delicious s’more, I sit it down on my plate and take out my knife, fork, and spoon. The proper way to eat a s’more. If you eat s’mores without utensils, you’re the psychopath. I dig into my perfect s’more. As I’m eating my s’more, I get a Remind message from Mr. Tom. “Good afternoon, I hope you all are doing absolutely splendidly. I am so sorry for texting you at the extremely late hour of 6:30 P.M., but I must...

Pursuit of Happiness – Ethan Christou

by Tom

Student's Writings

January 28, 2022

The students were shown a video in which two adult characters, a middle-aged man and an older woman, are sitting on a park bench discussing life. The man admits he has recently been suicidal but has now decided to stick around to “maybe make his little corner of the world a slightly happier place.” The woman responds, “That’s all there is, really. Happiness is amazing. It’s so amazing that it doesn’t matter if it’s yours or not.” The students were asked to share their reflections on happiness. Ethan writes that happiness is contagious, going so far as to refer to laughing as a drug to which he is addicted. Pursuit of Happiness Happiness is a very simple thing. Sometimes it can come easily. Other times it can be very hard to find. For me, it doesn’t take much. Small things can make me happy. Laughing is the easiest way for me to bring happiness since it releases dopamine. Laughing is basically my drug, and I’m addicted. I’m always using it, laughing at pretty much anything. Happiness is contagious. It’s so great to be around people who are optimistic or in a positive mood because they can spread that to you. Seeing other people happy is one of the greatest feelings. At least for me it is. I know there are those who see happy people and get angry. That’s definitely the opposite way to go. You should celebrate other people’s happiness, success, and achievements. Don’t envy other people’s happiness; make your own...

Happiness is Amazing – Bre’Onna Clowney

by Tom

Student's Writings

January 28, 2022

The students were shown a video in which two adult characters, a middle-aged man and an older woman, are sitting on a park bench discussing life. The man admits he has recently been suicidal but has now decided to stick around to “maybe make his little corner of the world a slightly happier place.” The woman responds, “That’s all there is, really. Happiness is amazing. It’s so amazing that it doesn’t matter if it’s yours or not.” The students were asked to share their reflections on happiness. Bre’Onna shares how making others happy benefits her and reinforces her own sense of personal growth. Happiness is Amazing “Happiness is amazing. In fact, it is so amazing that it doesn’t even have to be your happiness.” Even though it took me five minutes to agree with this statement, I believe in this saying because seeing others smile, laugh, and grow makes me happy. When I’m feeling down, seeing my nephew smile makes me happy because he’s happy. Making my little brother laugh because he was upset makes me feel happy. Knowing I can cheer someone up brightens my spirit. Analyzing my self-growth makes me feel great because I’ve come a long way. Knowing I can grow makes me want to continue to grow. Everyone goes through things. People tend to hide how they feel so they won’t ruin other people's happiness but, opening up to someone you trust a lot can lead to relief which can then lead to happiness for both of you. Sometimes even talking to someone you don’t know and...

An Elevator Story – Ronan Guilfoyle

by Tom

Student's Writings

January 21, 2022

An Elevator Story By Ronan Guilfoyle It’s the end of the 2021-2022 school year, my last year of high school with all these amazing friends, who I now consider family. We’ve talked about doing things together for years, like one big huge trip. Somehow we finally figured out a plan to get it done. Where did we choose, you may ask. Well, we chose the amazing city of New York. Mr. Don is always mentioning to us that he used to live and work in the city of New York. I’ve only been one time but I dream of going again and seeing all it has to offer. Now, if you know me, you know that I hate doing adventurous things by myself. Constantly, I’m trying to find people to go on car rides with me, go to the movies with me, or just hangout. Point is, I don’t like being alone very much, especially in huge places like New York. So I’m so glad I get to experience it with my classmates. After the painful three hour car ride full of loud conversation between students and Ethan’s annoying laugh we arrive in New York. Parking has always been a huge issue for travelers to the impeccable concrete jungle where dreams are made. Luckily, Mr.Tom has connections wherever we go. We found a parking spot for our van right next to our hotel. We unload into our rooms, five separate rooms all on the third floor since Mr.Tom hates elevators. Room one was composed of Jayla, Airy, Destiny, and Bre’Onna....

Exotic Expeditions – Myshell Jones

by Tom

Student's Writings

January 14, 2022

Exotic Expeditions by Myshell Jones “Okay class start writing” “Okay Mr. Don” (The class says) Now that Mr.Don has told us to start writing; I have no idea what to write. Mr. Don gave us this pretty interesting topic. He gave me a picture of this place named Bhutan. I have no idea what this place is at all or who the people in this picture are. I only have one solution to this problem: ask for help to figure out my problem. I need to go up to Mr. Don and let him know I have no idea what to write about this strange place named Bhutan that I know literally nothing about. (So that’s what I do). “Hey Mr. Don” (I say) “Hey Myshell, what can I help you with? Wait before you tell me, let me get a drink of my water. My mouth just gets so dry” “Okay” “Okay, so what do you need help with Myshell?” “I just don't know anything about this place at all or these people in the picture that you call the Monks” “Well Myshell, you don't really need to know anything about Bhutan. What you need to do is put yourself inside of this picture and write about it. I think you can do it.” “Okay Mr.Don. Well before I go, I have one more question. May I use the bathroom?” “Of course you can use the bathroom. You don't have to ask me.” “Okay, thank you.” “Wait Myshell, before you go, enjoy your time in Bhutan.” Enjoy my time in Bhutan? What is Mr.Don talking about? Maybe he...

Doing the Right Thing

by Tom

Student's Writings, TCS Student News

October 8, 2021

Doing the Right Thing by Jayla Nickens-Gill How do you help someone who won’t even help themself? How do you be there for someone who has given up on so much in life? How do you do the right thing, even when it’s hard? I went to school with a girl. I won’t say her name for privacy reasons, but she was always sad and depressed. She never wanted to try anything or do anything. She would sit by herself and just exist, didn’t look like she was even alive, she probably didn’t feel alive. I would stare at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking about, and ways I could help her, but my mind was blank. I could’ve just gone on with my life, not caring about this girl like all the other students, but I couldn't. I knew I had to help her. One day I decided that I would be a person she could rely on. When I went to school that day, she was sitting down at one of the lunch tables reading a book. As I made my way over to her, I stopped in my tracks as I watched as the “mean” girl pushed the sad girl off the chair. The “mean” girl was way taller than me and the sad girl. I walked over and helped the girl off the floor. That’s when I noticed the cuts on her arm. I felt like someone kicked me in the stomach. I felt like I was going to vomit after seeing...

It’s Not Easy Being Tiny

by Tom

Student's Writings, TCS Student News

October 1, 2021

It's Not Easy Being Tiny by Chase Christou I’m short. Like very short. Too short. Being short is a weird, and cool experience. It’s sometimes depressing, and sometimes really great. I sort of feel bad for tall people. You'll never get to experience being short and standing next to a huge building and just feeling so tiny. If you’re tall you’ll still most likely feel tiny but being short just makes it so much better. Some history about me. I’ve been short all my life. In middle school I was around 4’6. Yeah short. Going through middle school for me being short was a semi-humbling and quite fun experience you could call it. Luckily for me I had a pretty good group of friends, I mean they still teased me of course. Can’t escape that. But they were nice. The other kids in the school weren’t extremely mean either. So I’d say my middle school journey was quite lucky actually, and I enjoyed it. Fast forward to high school and now I’m around 5’3. Grew a lot during quarantine. Pretty cool how that works. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m still short. I’m just a lot taller. I’m glad I’m here in this school, I don’t know if I would have been able to survive public highschool. Now that I'm here for 4 years hopefully, I have time to grow both physically and mentally. But I don’t really care too much about being the tallest person in the class. Of course I don’t want to go back to being...