Student’s Writings

It’s Not Easy by Khori Mitchell

“The students were reminded by none other than Kermit the Frog that ‘It’s not easy being green.’ They were then asked to consider what about their lives is ‘not easy.’ The students’ essays on this topic were excellent. Here is an example.” Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher

Starting a new community isn’t easy. Being a freshman, I’m going through many challenges. I have to be precise with my work which is very time consuming. I can’t go to a lot of events with my friends and I feel alone most of the time.

Trying to talk to people outside of this community is very difficult. I always see my friends having a wonderful time at their high school, no stress from homework, going to football games, going to the mall etc. Every time I hear my friends talking about their high school experience compared to mine I always think to myself, “dang it’s not easy to be me” Here,I am worried about if I’m going to be on the homework list while my friends around me are worried about clubs, school dances, sports etc.

While the teachers have been saying I’ve been doing good with homework, I’ve had a major setback today and it made me think, I feel so out of place because my friends aren’t stressed like me and the people around me at this school are doing a lot better than I am.

So I say all of this to say it’s not easy.

Before I came to this school, a lot of people were telling me it’s not supposed to be easy. You learn from your mistakes. It’s part of life. I’ve had many conversations with older people who went to this school and they explained the challenges they went through.

What inspires me the most is that every time each of them said they had a challenge, they also said how they’ve overcome it and how it made them the person that they are today.

I see these people and they look brilliant. They look put together and they have amazing things going for themselves. But overall, they mostly just look happy.

I want to be like that. I want to have amazing things going for myself. I want to be brilliant, but I mostly want to be happy. So I’m going to continue to try my best and I’m going to continue to try to give myself some grace because it’s okay to make mistakes.

Khori Mitchell
9/27/24

It’s Not Easy… by Madison Hansel

“The students were reminded by none other than Kermit the Frog that ‘It’s not easy being green.’ They were then asked to consider what about their lives is ‘not easy.’ The students’ essays on this topic were excellent. Here is an example.” Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher

It’s not easy being me. Now I could list probably 10 reasons why it’s not easy to be me. For now I’ll just give you one of the major reasons. I am the first in my family who is planning to go to college and get a degree.

My mother went to Mervo and did part-time cosmetology so she could become a cosmetologist by the time she graduated high school. She then worked in salons until she had to quit to take care of me. I would get sick a lot when I was little because of my asthma, and in pre-k I missed 30 days of school because of my asthma. She started working from home and took some of her customers to her hair station in our basement.
My father was really smart in school, mainly when it came to math and science. He went to Poly. He wasn’t a fan of school and dropped out in the 10th grade to start working with his older brother. He is now a contractor and does home improvement. He is really good at his job, but wishes he had finished school so he could be making more money than he does now.

One of my older cousins, who I used to be really close to and looked up to, really disappointed me when she dropped out of school her senior year. I realized she wasn’t a positive influence to look up to and I shouldn’t be like her, so from her I learned what not to do. She was really good at school until she was 15, then she started losing motivation and gave up on everything. Now, she works at a doggie daycare.

I have two younger sisters that I try to set an example for even though I don’t live with them. I am closer to my sister Mariah who is 15. She tells me that she looks up to me and knows she can do better because of the example I set for her. That means a lot to me. I have always felt I owe something to my siblings because I’m the oldest and I need to do good for them. Even some of my friends look up to me and tell me that they wish they were like me because of my work ethic and mindset.

My best friend helped me realize I shouldn’t let people tell me what I can and cannot do. When I first told people I wanted to be an Ultrasound Technician, some told me that it is harder than nursing, and made me question myself. When I told my best friend that she told me that I should go for it because I am self-disciplined, don’t procrastinate, and I have a lot of motivation to get things done right away.

My boyfriend, Joel, gets upset at me sometimes because he says my expectations for myself are too high. I disagree with him because I expect myself to do the best so when I do less than that it motivates me to do better. I don’t expect the bare minimum for myself because then I will succeed every time.

When school first started I took a break from everyone. I realized I was talking to so many people and listening to everything about them and I wasn’t paying any attention to my own wants or needs. I went mute. It affected everyone around me because they thought something was wrong. Myshell thought I didn’t care about what she had to say, Joel thought I was detaching from him. And my parents were worried because I barely would talk. But mentally I was exhausted and I couldn’t help anyone and be a good friend.

I have been under a lot of pressure to succeed from all of the people around me. But I am my biggest enemy in a way. I don’t really care what someone else has to say about me but if I do less than what I planned to do, it really affects me in a negative way. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well because I want to do good for my family, friends, and my boyfriend. It’s not easy being there for everyone and myself.

Madison Hansel
September 27, 2024

It’s Not Easy Being Me by Karla Rivas

“The students were reminded by none other than Kermit the Frog that ‘It’s not easy being green.’ They were then asked to consider what about their lives is ‘not easy.’ The students’ essays on this topic were excellent. here is an example.” Don Riesett, Writing Mentor & Teacher

It’s so hard to be this sexy, attractive, cute human being. Everyone wants a piece of me. Especially older men. They were so infatuated with me that my mother told me to stop wearing shorts, short tight dresses, and crop tops. She even tried to bring down my self-esteem by telling me I’m ugly because I’m incredibly huge. But I started to realize she’s only saying that because I’m the middle child and her oldest girl. And to her, that means that as soon as I hit puberty I became a woman and had to start acting like one.

Being the oldest girl from the new generation of immigrants is the most difficult thing. It comes with so much responsibility you are not warned about. If there is a child younger than me in the house, it means I have to be able to take care of them as much as I can, as if I were their mother. It means I have to learn how to cook and clean for my future family but also for the family I am currently a part of. But it also means I have to stay far away from males because, if I hold the hand of a male, I will definitely get pregnant. I don’t have as much liberty as any of the other younger members of my family. I am not allowed to have a boyfriend until I’m 47 and can’t have kids anymore and, if I were to have one, I will most definitely get lynched and disowned.

It’s hard being the middle child and also the oldest girl. Not only does your family view you as grown at the age of 13 but so do other people around you. Especially men. There have been many times when I was younger that older men used to come to me, stare me down, and ask about my age. As soon as I told them I was 13, they would not back up, they would actually get closer. Some tried to get as close as to touch my hands or head, others would try to joke around with me with the stupidest grin I have ever seen. Some got even closer when I was younger than 13, and invaded all of my personal space. Because of these interactions, I have been scared of the male species for the longest time. It is hard to say if I will ever be able to fully trust a male I haven’t been with my whole life.

I dream that I can. I’m not sure if I will be able to fully give myself to someone though. I don’t think it’s hard to trust people, but I think it’s hard to trust them enough to share your deepest darkest secrets. Regardless of all of that, I am actually a very social and talkative person. I make friends easily and I would say a lot of people trust me to tell me enough their personal business. I think that is one thing my family has taught me. They have taught me to listen to other people and act like an older sister, cousin, or friend whenever they need me.

I don’t think it’s so hard for me to be honest. I mean yeah there have been many occasions when I ask myself why I didn’t kill myself then, but I also have a lot of wonderful things and people around me. I have both my little cousins (a.k.a my kids) and all my friends, cousins, and siblings. All of these people are my world and I would definitely take a bullet for all of them. I try my best everyday. If I become rich, they will too. I am very grateful for everyone in my life so far. Even though I have not lived my life fully and I am only 16, I think there are still many other people and experiences I will be grateful for. I want to keep all the people that are close to me now forever.

Graffiti: Art, Ego or Vandalism by Danny Buck

Asked to weigh-in on this topic, many imaginative pieces were written. DANNY did so by taking us forward to the year 5026 A.D. to a place we humans had apparently already been. Fascinating.

Graffiti: Art, Ego or Vandalism

                   “Yes, I copy Houston.” radio click
This is over three thousand years into the future, in the year 5026 A.D. Humans have invented technology which enables extrasolar travel. This is the first manned mission to another planet outside of the solar system ever. The mission’s name is Project Bifrost.
                  “Randall, we might’ve done it. We have now arrived on Kepler-452b, approximately 800 light years away from earth. We did it, boys. It’s done!”- James
Clapping from the Nasa physicists as they successfully succeed in the Bifrost Mission.
The astronauts roam the planet and remove their helmets because of its atmospheric similarity to Earth.
As the astronauts are collecting rock samples, they begin to explore caves to test samples of the underground water and the mineral content to examine the geological history of the planet… when they discover something gut wrenching.
“Oh my god, Randall, is that graffiti?”-James says in horror.
“Jesus Christ.”-Randall replies
The astronauts scramble back to the communication system to relay the message that they’ve encountered something unseen before. But as they leave the cave, they encounter something far worse.
“There are fossil bones embedded in that sediment, James.”-Randall says
They dig, chip, and scratch to make sure to carefully extract the remains of whatever animal this is, not too far off from animal bones they’ve seen from life on Earth.
“Houston, we have a problem. We’ve found fossils on this planet as predicted, but we’ve also found graffiti from the inside of the cave?!”- James says
Randall and James examine the bones and find mineral deposits in bones which imply that these are not just silicon-based bones as they’ve presumed from the rest of the discovered life, but these bones are made of calcium. The terror causes them to collapse to their knees and think about the implications of this discovery.
“So this life is carbon based, with similar elemental proportions to that of earth with similar DNA. We’ve also found sequences in the genome that can only be found in members of the genus homo. It’s entirely possible that these are human bone remnants from ancestors or cousins to humans long ago.”- James and Randall communicate
James and Randall descend further into the cave to gather more evidence of their hypothesis. A splash of water echoes through the cave, the eerie-ness almost freezes the air to be as cold as ice.
“I think we should go farther in.”-Randall says
As they’re exploring the cave they encounter a latch on the floor which is so indescribable and incomprehensible that their scientific minds cannot muster an explanation for how this could be possible. Thoughts race back and forth; Is it the government? Is it aliens? Is it manmade? Am I insane?
Randall trembles as he musters up the courage to say what he’s thinking as his curiosity overwhelms his fear.
“We should open it.”-He says
As he begins to peel open the latch, it makes a creaking, rusty sound like the heavy doors in an old warehouse. They find something; something that may be like James or Randall, but the line between man and…whatever the hell that thing is, it’s quite blurry. They close the latch as they realize that there can’t possibly be hope. Humans might not be native to Earth. Something higher… smarter… brought us here a very long time ago.

Danny Buck
2/16/24

Doorway to Heaven by Kendall Curtis

The students, walking through a park, suddenly encounter a door promising a heavenly visit. Some enter to meet loved ones who have passed, or historical figures of fame and even  infamy. But KENDALL, who always manages to see topics from a unique perspective, creates a self-possessed YouTuber who discovers TCS and its treasure-trove of creativity.

DOORWAY TO HEAVEN

 What’s up YouTubers? It’s your boy, Dumpster Fire James. On today’s video we are going to be finding the perfect door for my $500 million dollar mansion. Shoutout to kittymeowmeow100 for the $666 dollar donation. I’ll read your comment: “Go to Druid Hill Park and you’ll find the best door in the world.”

Isn’t that like in the hood? I don’t want to get robbed or anything. You know

what? For my loyal subjects, I’ll do it. But it’s a long drive, so send me some gas money, peasants.

The Drive There…

Hey guys, my tire went flat but I won’t let that bring me down. The repair man is on the way. Ok guys, the tire is fixed, but now my therapist is calling me and telling me she’s having visions of me dying. But you know…yolo. I’m

10 minutes away guys.

Walking Through the Park…

Guys, it’s your boy, and your boy is kind of freaked out. I keep seeing these people hunched over with needles. I didn’t know so many people had diabetes. That’s why I always say, “taking care of me is like taking care of yourself.”

And for you kittymeowmeow100, I don’t see any doors.  I really hate liars so you will be banned from my channel and my dad is going to seize your house.

Wait *flips camera* Do you guys see that? It’s the most beautiful door I have ever seen. It has all of my favorite colors. Look at that green and orange. That blue is no joke though. I NEED THIS DOOR. let’s check it out before I call my movers.

Why won’t this stupid thing open? Stupid door, stupid colors, and kittymeowmeow100, YOU HAVE A STUPID FACE.

Well guys, I guess our hunt for the perfect door will have to continue tomorrow. What, wait! *door slowly creaks open*

NEVER MIND. WE IN.

This bright light will be perfect for my studio room, and for tanning and making my abs look like a toasty treat. Wait! Why are all these boxes in here? These look like writings. These all have weird titles: The Dawn of Man; The White Box; The Power of Chocolate; The Blue Rose…who comes up with these?

Whoever is writing these needs to start writing the scripts for my videos. This is amazing. Wait, these boxes all say The Community School. So you’re telling me kids are writing these? No way…they’re definitely using ChatGPT.

The Community School. Mmm, I’m gonna search it up. This place looks small, like scary small.

Hey guys, it says here they’re only six minutes away. I have to tell them that the one and only Dumpster Fire Boy loves their writings.

Six Minutes Later…

Hey what’s up peeps? We are about to open the door to the most clever minds I think I have ever seen.

“Hey kids, it’s your boy Dumpster Fire, and I just want to say that I love your work and you should keep up with the good work so that one day you can be as important , beautiful , and hilarious as I… BANG! *Mr.Tom slams door.*

And that kids is why you don’t do drugs.

Kendall Curtis
February 9th , 2024

The Dawn of Man by Quinn Guilfoyle

THE DAWN ON MAN…The students were shown the nine-minute clip that opens the extraordinary film, “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Asked to share their reactions, many found it perplexing and overwhelming, as did QUINN. But she worked her way through it to deliver a thoughtful piece and a provocative ending.

THE DAWN OF MAN

 The beginning of “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

I honestly have never been more lost and unsettled before. It was so loud. All I could hear were the apes and the loud music. The tall black pillar is so strange, and I have no idea what to make of it. One of the apes started destroying the bones and then he came and beat the other ape with it. Somehow that’s supposed to be the Dawn of Mankind?

I mean, I kind of understand, but I don’t at the same time. All I can think about is what’s going through the other apes’ heads. They probably think Billy (that’s what I’ve named the ape with the bone) is unhinged. I mean seriously, what was wrong with him?

In a way, I guess the black pillar is sort of like the “White Box” we wrote about. The tall black pillar drew the apes in, just like the white box in my other story drew me in.

For some reason, after the appearance of the pillar, one of the apes starts thinking. He takes the bone and realizes he can use it to his advantage. After all of this time with these dried-up bones laying around, he realizes he can use them. (Just like today’s thinkers and inventors turning old stuff into new, more useful things.)

He can rise up, defend his friends, and dictate his surroundings now. This was the beginning of dynasties and amazing kingdoms that helped the world develop into what it is today. All because of this strange black pillar.

Think about the Wright Brothers for a minute. They wanted to make transportation easier, and one day they did. They made the first airplane, and they flew! One random day, they just had a thought and made it come true.

If you aren’t really into the Wright Brothers, here’s another example: The Aztecs, the Inca, the Roman Empire, the Han Dynasty, and so many other things that just started from an idea.

Don’t you ever wonder why humans are more advanced than other animals? Why are we so sentient and they aren’t? How did we go from savage cavemen into who we are  today? Everyone is so different. We speak different languages, have different religions, and invent things nobody else would ever think of.

Sometimes, I get scared of what the future holds in store for mankind but, after seeing this, I’m kind of excited. I’m starting to see how valuable everything around us is. At first, I got absolutely nothing but weird feelings from the “Dawn of Man” film, but now I see what the introduction was truly trying to communicate.

It’s so funny how a nine-minute clip from a movie and a summary from Mr. Don can change your perspective so much.

You may think the most valuable thing on Earth is the ISS, a big diamond, or some sort of yacht, but I think it’s an idea.

Quinn Guilfoyle

2/2/24