Throughout my 15 years of life, I have tried countless sports. My siblings are athletic, and sports have always come easy to them, but it hasn’t been easy for me. To be honest, I’m pretty unathletic. I have tried countless sports and continue to be mediocre at all of them. Both of my brothers have dedicated their lives to basketball, and both are successful; they have both played club and competitively. My parents put me in a basketball league when I was younger, and I wasn’t that bad, but I was definitely not great. I watched a soccer movie and begged my parents to sign me up for soccer, so they did but they also signed up my brothers. My brother ended up starting on his team and being the lead team scorer while I spent my time on the bench. I then picked up surfing as a hobby during quarantine. I struggled a lot at first but after months of practice, I  was ok. The thing about surfing is I truly enjoyed it and I continued to surf for months. One day I decided to bring my brother with me and it came so naturally to him. He stood up like it was nothing on his 3rd wave ever.  Growing up I never liked to lose. I was raised in a competitive household, to say the least, everything was always a contest to who could be in the car first to who could finish dinner first.  Growing up my parents emphasized the importance of being academically smart and my whole life till covid I was always a straight-A student. During covid my parents homeschooled me and I began to fall behind. The lack of social interaction was hard for me, as I am a very social person. When I returned to OVS in 8th grade I fell far behind getting my first ever C and failing Spanish which had come easy to me my whole life. As always I was listening to Taylor Swift and I began to relate to the lyrics of “This Is Me Trying”. If you haven’t listened to the song I highly suggest you do. I used to struggle watching my brothers quickly and easily succeed at things that took me so long to become mediocre at but after hours of reflection and of course Taylor Swift I soon realized everyone has something they’re good at. Mine may not be school or sports but one day I will find it and till then I’ll cheer my brothers on and continue to be mediocre at sports and okay at school.

pc:me

This past Tuesday, the girl’s Varsity volleyball team emerged with a fortuitous victory in their first game of the season. Such a triumph was overall unexpected, considering the team’s prior readiness. As of Monday morning, a day before the game, the Varsity and JV teams were not specified to us, the players. So, on Monday afternoon practice, we got our jerseys, established our teams, practiced serving, hitting, and setting for the first time this year, and went through the entire lineup and rotation. All the while, our coach was mostly dealing with the JV team and helping them do bumping drills. All considered, the odds were not looking in our favor. Fast forward to the next day during the game, the first set we lost. That one was expected. Then, however, we unexpectedly pulled out a win for the second set. Maybe we were still in it….The following two sets were finished in the same order of which team won. Now it was two sets to two, and a tie-breaker game to fifteen points was ensuing. Compared to how we were acting during the first set, this was serious now. We had put so much effort into winning this game, we weren’t going to walk up our own hill to dinner in defeat. In an exciting final match to fifteen, we ended up winning sixteen to fourteen. We did it, when no one on or off the team thought we could. After a total of three long, strugling hours, we dominated our first match, and hopefully it sets the tone for the many rest of the games to come.

I didn’t want to go from the start. I knew what was coming. The trip roster did not make me feel optimistic about the upcoming camping trip. Once we arrived Josie and I struggled to set up the tent and once it was up, after Ms.Wachter had to step in and help, we sat inside with disbelief. The two of us were already wanting to go home. We didn’t want to be with anyone else on the trip and both missed our own room. The first night passed and the next day consisted of a small hike of about a mile and a half long and me trying to sleep to make the hours go by. Sleeping during the day proved not to be a good idea when I woke up covered in sunburns. The next morning, things got even worse. I turned over, saying something to Josie, when she stopped me and brought attention to the current status of my eye. I brought my hand up to feel my eye and quickly realized it was swollen shut. After this discovery, I finally noticed how distorted my depth perception and sight had become. Another great addition to the trip. Luckily, Mr.Weidlich was nice enough to contribute his sunglasses to help alleviate some eye pain and reduce my having to aggressively squint in the sun, further shutting my eye. Slowly the hours inched by and soon enough I found myself sitting on the bus driving home. Finally.

PC: me (im not liz she’s my publisher)

A week ago, everyone at school had the pleasure of going on a camping trip. At first, I was annoyed and upset that there was a four-day camping trip during the second week of school. I already had a very overwhelming first week of school, pulling two all-nighters, and getting about three hours of sleep every night. The only part that I was looking forward to was that one of my really good friends was going to be on the trip.

When we arrived at the campsite at Kern River, it was extremely hot. My tentmates and I were overheating as we were building our tent, so we chose to jump into the river. I assumed that the river there would be pretty calm. Once we went into the water, we were getting slammed into rocks, zooming down the water as we were trying to get out. The whole camping trip everyone would just go into the river and one day we even had the privilege to go rafting.

The camping trip gave me some great memories. I was able to go rafting for the first time and experience the strong river water. I also got closer to people while also having a chance to relax and sleep after a very intense first week.

There are so many things I am grateful for every day of my life, and it is so important to look back on your life with gratitude. I am grateful for my time at OVS and the family I have here. I am grateful for my teachers who care about me and want me to continue to get better. I am grateful for my mom who supports me in every decision I make and is always on my side. I am grateful for my dad who pushes me to be my best and makes my dreams possible. I am grateful for my grandparents who keep my whole family close and are the most generous people I’ve ever met. I am grateful for all of my opportunities and all of the things that are laid out in front of me, and I am grateful for all of the things I have worked so hard for.

My favorite thing my dad has ever taught me, is to surround yourself with people who add value to your life. What he meant by that is not people who buy you things or add to your social status, but people who make you happy and help you to improve yourself. People who are always working to improve themselves and bring others up, not beat them down. This is because when you are around people who love to have fun and have goals for themselves, it encourages you to implement those traits in your own personality. It is so important to learn this lesson early in life because you can get a head start on making meaningful relationships for the rest of your life. I believe understanding this is a big step forward in being the happiest you can be. This of course goes both ways, add value into other’s lives and be the person people want to be around and surround themselves with.

pc: me