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And it's not just school. Social anxiety involves either analyzing the people you want to fit-in with/impress and then acting accordingly, in a sense fighting, or removing yourself from social situations fearing embarrassment or ostracisation, in a sense fleeing. So ultimately, anxiety is an age old response to threat...
02 goals of the individual and the group absolutely line up. Unless you spend all of your time philosophizing, fully listening to others with an open mind is the only way to better your own thinking. Even if no one else treated you with respect, I believe it would still be to your advantage to be the bigger person and ...
04 Over time I recognized there need not be just one right answer. Why do we argue over the specifics where we disagree instead of focusing on the areas where we do agree? Not just within Christianity, but across all world religions. In 9th grade, I heard a presentation on pluralism, which encourages interfaith interac...
05 not going to stand up here and claim with certainty that the President has committed crimes worthy of serious punishment, but if he was, we wouldn't be able to find out and we certainly wouldn't be able to do anything about it. The unitary executive thought also gives The President more power to control every agency...
33 from your life and addressing them is what constitutes gratitude. I think gratitude is a key to happiness, and a path to being appreciative and content in our lives. And I think this season and other holidays throughout the year help us take time to of practice gratitude, but if it's so important, then why can't we ...
Senior year so far has seen those two personalities grow further apart from each other. Applying to college and receiving decisions has been the focus of my year. And while I would speculate about the impact they would have on my future, they perfectly described how I was feeling at present: mixed. After my final socc...
38 and interracial families face. Unlike many of you, I didn't hear stories about how my parents grew increasingly excited as their delivery date got near. Instead, I heard how happy my parents were when their referral to adopt a child was finally approved, and the story of the time they first met me, not in a hospital...
39 ! But, funnily enough, in my desperate want for a handbook on How To Be Biracial, I subconsciously wrote one. Granted, the first few chapters are a little messy, hardened, and sad, but necessary nonetheless. I've done a lot of writing since. My "Owner's Manual of Identity" is constantly under revision. I make conclu...
23 I And you feel like a scared child when the old man drives slowly beside you. You feel helpless when he asks your eleven-year- old self if you have a boyfriend. You hate yourself when you smile and laugh pretending nothing is wrong. You're relieved to see your house a block away. You don't ask to walk the dog anymor...
44 principals work great for everything around us. For a newspaper its material cause is paper, its form in sheets folded in on each other, its agent a reporter and printing press, and its end is to inform the reader of current events. It also works for animals, the material form of a squirrel is meat and bones, its fo...
54 accusations. Additionally, there are far, far more incidents of sexual assault that are not in the judicial system or even reported. But, while we try to fix the past, we must also look forward to the future. How can we prevent this from happening 50 to 60 years down the line? We have to stop it now. Things like the...
) Educate yourself on what affirmative consent is: a clear 'yes' is the only thing that is sufficient enough for consent. Then, educate everyone else that you can reach. Push back on behavior, in any form, that undermines the message that basic decency and respect require the understanding that no one is entitled to an...
55 ! : Margaret Youngdale I love you. And I forgive you. Because, mother, we have always been each other's. I became yours when the fear rose within you after your underwear was left unstained by specks of red soon after you laid down with a man, either as an obligation or from desire, and you waited, yearned, hoped th...
56 when you dreamed of easier times and wished for better outcomes as the tingling in your breasts grew and your hands and feet swelled. You grew fascinated with this new life inside of you; feeling every roll, kick, and punch to your stomach as you cradled me with your fingers and your worries, wondering if I'd ever b...
57 everything is all about who can do what faster, in the end it's all about effectiveness and what works best for different people. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow and let it take you wherever it wills. It's not always about the end point, but more so the path you took to get there. This has been put into ...
47 Dr. Peterson taught me the set up for a perfect bocce ball toss. A lesson I will carry with me forever. Wang lao shi taught me to never give up on other people, as she never gives up on me when asking how my weekend went and my reply is "yes", thinking she's asking if I was tired. T Fones taught me to work hard, but...
48 who buried their children in their hearts and waited, yearned, hoped that they would be forgiven. My mother, you, whose child grew up to be an adult, believing oversimplified answers to the neverending questions about why we were separated so long ago: An adult birthmark, female, unwanted, better life. who loves che...
59 I'm going to tell you what I needed to hear. For whatever reason you might be suffering or doubting, your life is worth so much more than what your body looks like. Nothing is worth so much energy and thought and pain. I'm here today as a sum of the successes and failures of my relationship with food and with my bod...
26 I find myself responding with these exact three words multiple times a day. I just never really know what I want. I have been told that I am a thinker, which seems like a good thing, but not when you think about everything over and over again without coming up with an answer. Being indecisive also provokes worry, an...
27 60 I couldn't have been more proud with what I had created, but in reality, it couldn't have been further from what I imagined it to be. To give you a visual comparison, it looked like you were looking directly into the sun, but the sun was covered in quarters. When the day of the derby finally, arrived, I finally h...
7 years year. Often art is just a direct conversation between you and the artist as you find common ground between your experiences and theirs, but sometimes it becomes about more than just you. It was the dead of winter, the darkest and coldest day of the Two of my friends and I sprinted the distance from the car to t...
1111 I'm big. Everything I do is amplified by my social capital. I have a lot of power. I didn't realize that it mattered that much until recently. Some of you may know this already, but at the beginning of this past soccer season, as a captain of the team, I hazed the incoming varsity players. I gave them habanero pep...
11 68 I first watched Stick It, an angsty teen gymnastics film, when I was about twelve. Since that day, I watch it every time I feel insecure or do not feel motivated to train. Haley, the main character, is a feisty gymnast who stands strong in her beliefs and shares her opinions freely. Watching a teenager who is not...
111 solving competition designed to promote creativity with both a performative and structural design aspect. The judges were quite surprised that I was the team member who crocheted the beret, the snowflakes and the Eiffel Tower, used in our performance. We finished top 20 in the world. My initial fear and embarrassme...
111 to see him. Whenever my parents proposed taking him out for a meal, I always pushed back saying that I didn't have the time and that we should do it another week. In truth, I did have the time, but communicating could be exhausting, and there were always other things that I'd rather be doing. My perspective was so ...
18 ........ As important as it to open yourself up to influence, it's equally important to be selective in where and who you seek influence from. The people that we hold the closest -- our friends, our family, and our mentors -- are ultimately the people that we want influencing our lives, whether it be something as sm...
24 to let me stay down. Ali, the assistant manager at the time, was the first to notice my sour mood and was somehow instantly able to make me feel better. For the rest of my shift, I bounced around the restaurant with higher spirits. For the five or so hours that I was at work that day I forgot all about my bad day at...
20 This was meant to be an inexpensive weekend getaway but it didn't turn out that way. Upon arriving at the campsite my parents let me pretend to drive the parked car while they set up the tent and other supplies. Little did they know, they had left the car running with my sister asleep in the backseat. After I had fi...
21 we like to stick to our routine because we are weary of change. Since there is such an emphasis on similarities and especially since our community is so small, it can be isolating if you don't feel like you have a solid friend group that fits you. Feeling like you are different or unable to be truly accepted for who...
1111 Elise Parsons We are what we're afraid to lose. I can't bear the thought of losing things that I love, even if it's merely a memory. Perhaps even especially if it's a memory. My room is cluttered with souvenirs, ephemera to most maybe, but to me, capsules of cherished moments: a stick on my windowsill, a bar of Bo...
15 82 I learned a lot from watching Jackie struggle and ultimately overcome her struggles. I learned above all, that it's important for you to do what makes you happy, not just what will make someone else happy, or even multiple other people happy. More specifically, I realized through Jackie's experience that you have...
34 grateful. SPA has amazing accommodations for students with any type of learning disability or issues, and this was a major key to my success. The other reason I was successful was because of my parents. They were in my corner no matter what, defending me, helping me, and comforting me when I needed it most. Words ca...
36 passions, not by society's pull towards unfulfilling, high-paying careers that will only make this issue worse. We have the privilege of being able to seek, find and choose the things that make us happy in the world because of our amazing education. If we as young people change our social consciousness, then others ...
08 Ben Putaski One of the questions that I've found myself asking a lot, especially recently, is: what kind of person am I? What kind of person do other people think I am? Do people just think that I'm a slacker, a procrastinator? Maybe people just think of me as a friend, a goofball, or a master of puns. Some people m...
11 Some of the first things that come to mind are probably books and video games. Books, and more broadly stories, have been a large part of my life ever since I picked up the Percy Jackson series in lower elementary, Games, whether I've played with friends, family, or just by myself, have played a large role in my lif...
09 2 FIRST LINES 2019 Her past 4 years He turns off the water, steps out of the shower, and grabs a towel... In the world we live in, there is anger... I have struggled with fear ever since I first learned that the world is not perfect... "What do you think of when you hear the word scientist?"... "Where are you from?"...
4 "I have to have a passion, right?" I thought to myself. I began racking my brain trying to think of the activities that I do and I come up with something that is somewhat categorized as a passion. I like going to yoga, playing volleyball and my family. I like my dogs, my camp and my friends. What makes these activiti...
5 00 8 because they resist. Just because it's easy for you, does not mean it is not like climbing Everest for someone else. I can understand why people make these mistakes, I have made them myself. People get so good at hiding their struggles from the world, but they should not have to. No one goes through life without...
0 "No, I mean where are you really from?" That question, the words, said with a tone suggesting I either misunderstood them or that my first answer was a joke, sounds more like an interrogation now. An interrogation, whether or not that's what it's meant to be, that makes me want to crawl out of my skin and into a new,...
1 20 20 the day, strawberry fruit snacks, I'll never forget those strawberry fruit snacks. She reaches for the orange juice, but wanting to impress her with the brute strength of my 60 pound fifth grader self, I stopped her, "Don't worry, I got it." I said to her in a smoldering, semi confident tone. Boom, killed it I ...
8 All these years I have wanted a sibling but recently I've realized that my life would be completely different with a sibling, and I would not be willing to lose all the great memories I have with my family. There have been a lot of things that I have wished I had control over, especially being an only child. When you...
9 This conception of self probably had a significant impact on my response to when I got asked out midway through 7th grade. The first thing I asked her was - "Why?" I couldn't find a positive attribute about myself at the time, so why would anyone else enjoy spending time with me? But I said 'yes,' although for the wr...
3 42 me named Evelyn said that next week she was going to get a new heart. In that moment I froze. My four-year-old mind could not comprehend the possibility that someone could get a new heart put inside of their body. After that day I quickly decided ballet was not for me and I told my mom that I wanted to quit. That ...
1 discussion, and I won't use this time to share my opinions, but if you'd like to know them, come find me afterwards. One thing is for sure, when men fail, all of us suffer as a consequence. Male underachievement should be everyone's concern. If this issue doesn't concern you, I have a simple question that I implore y...
1 23 Let me be clear about what winning is to me. Winning is about knowing who you are and what you can do to pursue what you want in life. Winning is about passion and desire; one needs those two things while pursuing their life goals, otherwise I genuinely believe they won't be able to achieve those goals. The passio...
1111 to fish every day to scrap food up with his two brothers to feed themselves on top of my grandfather, grandmother, and aunt otherwise he'd be left with little to no rice to eat. Somedays, if he was feeling up to it, he would climb coconut trees for a sweet treat. Alongside these daily problems, he took schooling s...
12 52 53 40 Where would we be without progressive thinkers, change-seekers, and a willingness to try something new? For one, we'd be in the dark. Both figuratively and literally. As in, we wouldn't know anything. And we'd also be cavemen and literally have no light. We'd also probably be overrun by the Black Plague, wh...
111 One of the worst parts for me to comprehend was the fact that it was a distraction that I wasn't benefitting from. I wouldn't be getting that time back and I didn't get anything out of it. Even though I could see this, it was still hard for me to throw down my phone. It can be hard to know exactly what creates such...
6 I looked up to confirm who had pushed me, but was quickly trampled by other competitors. I laid lifelessly on the blacktop, trying to hold back the waterworks, but they inevitably came. My dreams of winning this year's Easter egg hunt quickly vanished. My hands and knee had never been in this much pain, which is hone...
7 86 America has done a really good job at forcing immigrants and first nations peoples to give up their cultures, and by default, their language. The homogeneity of American society is striking, with the reliance on the same type of English being a core element. The obstacles are clear: lack of interest, funding, and ...
11 always believed I could be. Of course I do. And I still will. I will do all of those things. I will work so hard to make her proud. What I realized was that the time I spent with her, all of the traditions and values I learned, the mindless fun and adventures are all things that I can now cherish and carry with me a...
11111 And over the course of that year, I met friends who were, like me, in the LGBTQ+ community. I found out about Pride FM, an LGBTQ+ radio station, and I started listening to it in the car. I attended a couple GSA meetings. And one day last summer, I went to Pride. Minneapolis has one of the biggest Pride celebratio...
00 My Oma? which means grandma in German-is fading, too. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few years ago and while she's still here, part of her has gone. It was so slight at first, I didn't want to see it. But time stuttered on, as it always does, and her words became less sure, her smiles less broad, Her illness h...
01 18 At this point I was left off most NHL first round mock drafts, not what I was really hoping for. Not only was I missing the mark at my former dream, it came to my attention that I was getting tall. People who I hadn't seen in a couple months would comment on my height. Something weird was happening. I started no...
9 82 On the subject of me almost dying, my mom and I made an almost costly mistake on our family vacation to Puerto Rico in 2015. It was New Year's Day and we decided to go for a hike to see a waterfall. It was about a thirty-minute trek down through the jungle to finally get to the base of a huge waterfall. After look...
4 Sameer Bijwadia I've decided that people should just stop saying things that don't need to be said. Can somebody go write that down because that was genius. For example, when you enter an elevator with a stranger already in it, I don't think anyone has to say anything. Let's face it, conversations about the weather a...
5 24 Quinn Christensen I forget, sometimes, that neither of us could drive when we were seven. Or fourteen. She drove. For both of us. I rode up front, though. I was old enough to look out the windshield. You sat in the backseat. You had no idea where you were going. She told you to count your M&Ms, and you did. It's e...
, 2, 3, 4 quarter pounders a night. From McDonalds, to St. Clair Ave, to Oneida St, to West 7th from the void-from Bussy-from the extra stomach for dessert that was always grumbling and never. Ironically, it may have been the only sound his body didn't make. Before he got home that grease bag--his grease bag-would be e...
6 a young woman when a 13 year-old girl confided in her that she had been sexually abused by her mother's boyfriend. Tarana didn't know what to say. and she never saw the girl again. The interaction and her inability to respond haunted Tarana, + Tarana later said that she wished she had simply told the girl, "Me too." ...
12 individually." Now came the groans, but with no significant protest, each kid soon found themselves alone at the steps of an unfamiliar house, myself included. With each house, I found myself a bit more acclimated to my uncomfortable position, mainly because of how many people chose to open their doors. More surpris...
18 Kevin implied that Skylar, as a gender non-conforming person, should be referred to as an "it," thus labeling them as an object rather than a person. This prompted Skylar to instinctively exit the conversation, as they were being dehumanized and disrespected. To what extent is Skylar, and others who also identify as...
19 64 out it was very challenging at first. Coming up with something clever to say while also making it rhyme proved to be very difficult, but as I practiced more and more it got easier. While the lyrics and the wordplay are what initially sparked my passion for music, it turned into something more for me. It was a way...
111 the greatest contribution from any Cyrus ever to live. This memory, this recognition, this shared experience connects us. Many of you may have memories similar to mine, some may be quite different, but in some way, you can relate to the song and that connects us. Because music is a universal language. As a matter o...
16 studied by students like us, decades down the line. But what is it that those students will be reading? In our fast-paced and busy lives, chances for big-picture thinking are few and far between. During this pandemic, these chances have been even sparser, yet all the more important. I'm sure we've all seen or read a...
17 86 a spirit world, as the ball rolled right between his legs, and into the goal. I looked back at my bench to see coach Jenna Birch looking at me with her unimpressed smile. Although she never told me, I knew she was proud. The preceding story is incredibly important to me. It is an inspiring tale, one I hope to nev...
00 Looking back on the memory, I know I should have owned up to the mistake. But being accountable seems to be much easier said than done. It is difficult to own up to something you did on accident and it is even more difficult to own up to something you did purpose. But why is it important to be accountable if it's ea...
04 and never will. Instead, it sits as a reminder that the walls are really just stepping stones that make what seems so impossible, in truth, the most possible. It isn't about what I couldn't do because of everything I wasn't, it's about everything I did because of everything I am. Anjali Tadavarthy I stand here right...
05 94 immediately important to us, or really anyone, it is an important life skill, especially in high school and presumably college classes, to be able to argue and discuss something that is not important to you. So, for those of you wondering, here is an example of what we talk about. Is chocolate syrup a jam? To con...
08 who you really are out of fear of letting it happen again. Instead of letting these define you just accept that we're all human and no human is perfect. In reality, everyone makes mistakes that they wish didn't happen. The best way to deal with it is to know that there's always tomorrow that you're gonna have to fac...
09 went to the hospital so often that I became friends with the doctor. I was short and skinny compared to my peers. I could not accept my physique, I thought I was not man enough. I started to play sports in my freshman year, hoping to get the strength and muscle mass of a man. Yet, I was hit by things I did not expec...
14 But for some reason, we turn away when there is just one victim. Or when it seems like there is only one. But abusers rarely stop at one, and silence is key for them to continue. We go through our own lives, unaffected by this tragedy. Maybe we just don't want to get involved. But no one can do this alone, we need t...
15 Have fun, you're going to school, but also living life after all. It's important to keep track of your responsibilities while also spending time with people you care about and experiencing your adolescence. These days, I've been writing everything I do in a journal to try and keep track of how I spend my time and to...
:45 PM - Finished calling friends and some work, will go rest. . 5:58 PM - Writing senior speech Be kind to those around you. : Wash your hands everyone and stay safe. ! SENIOR BRUNCH REMARKS Dear Class of 2020, gave It was an honor to speak at your senior brunch event this year. I am unable to provide you the script f...
02 a product of a positive attitude and determination. By maintaining a positive outlook, you can overcome all obstacles present within yourself. These books tout that pessimism has no place in improving the self, and that critics and cynicism should be avoided, lest they infect you with a negative mind-set. This ideol...
95 45 44 I went into junior retreat not thinking I would open up to anybody or even have a good experience, but Charlie, I'm so glad we were in the same cabin. We went from good friends to brothers, and I couldn't be more thankful for that. Both of you guys mean the world to me, I know there's a part of each other that...
111111 Brennan Keogh The Zoo. It's a place that we all love and adore for a solid 30 minutes or at least until we have seen a bird squawk, watch a monkey shake a tree, and witness the occasional seal that lands flat on its face. After looking at an animal for a few seconds, it's safe to say we move on to the next exhib...
0 Evan Barnes I don't know if everyone here knows this, but I really like rats. In fact many members of the current senior class really like rats. As a representation of our love of the animal and in order to express ourselves around January of last year, we created the rat wall. Now that last sentence might be confusi...
1 2 FIRST LINES 2020 My name is Lath Akpa... I've generally stayed out of trouble during high school... It's when I wake up and it's clear blue skies with the sun shining... I've been told many times throughout my life that the third times the charm... Four years... I don't know if everyone here knows this, but I reall...
111 in big class discussions. For those of you who don't know, I came from a Quaker school. Now that means that I am possibly the most comfortable person when it comes to prolonged silence. Since kindergarten, every Wednesday the whole school would sit silently on the floor in the gym for thirty minutes. Yes you heard ...
111 means to be quiet, agreeable, and sweet. That was Cinderella, but not me. It was hard to feel strong and beautiful at the same time, when I was too much of one thing, and not enough of the other. Flashback again many years. The little brown girl watching movies with her parents wanted more than anything to be Cinde...
Vivian Johnson I don't remember the first time I ever used a camera. I only know this because my grandpa sent me a photo of myself on a Florida beach taking a picture of my mom and dad when I was 3. It now hangs above my desk. My first memory that I have of using a camera was around age 7 in my hometown of...
Will Anderson This school's proclamation cannot be faulted for a lack of ambition. Shaping the hearts and the minds of the people who will change the world - in essence, implying that going here blesses us with a divine mandate to lead the world into some radiant future. Inspiring, isn't it? But like all gr...
0:45 that Sunday morning, ready to face whatever might come of it, good or bad. And surprisingly, the trip turned into easily one of the best trips I've ever been on. No, I did not get along with my roomates, consisting of three sporty senior boys who insisted on having the hotel TV on and streaming football games a...
Amara Torres As some of you may know, I transferred to SPA my senior year, which is almost unheard of. While the reasoning behind the switch varied from "it's a long story" to "it was just a random last-second decision", I feel like I have yet to share the entire story. I have loved every minute of my SPA e...