Extra Curricular Activities... ;)

I have been told by my mom ever since they sent me off to playgroup when I was four, that I need to overcome my shyness and get involved in this world. I must say I never took that seriously until this year. My school has an approximate population of 3,000 students. And as this year comes to a close it has never been more apparent to me that the world, in general, is big. You will never make a honest name for yourself unless you get involved. Applying that to the smaller scale of a high school atmosphere is definitely less intimidating, but nonetheless eye opening. This year has not been my year for extra curriculars. My intentions were to try out for volleyball, needless to say I missed first day of school try outs. I wanted to try out for the tennis team, I have never played tennis in my life so that was a bit of an unreasonable goal. I am, however, involved in the college club at school. We try to help get our student body "excited" about college, and we have committed countless hours of community work. Our group has made and delivered sack lunches to the homeless people in our community, we have dedicated to making biweekly trips to the University of Arizona for the Ben's Bells Project, and we have planned to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House. To say the least, we are busy. We always meet every Thursday in our school's library, today was no exception. But our organizer ran late; leaving ten high school students alone in a library. So we did what any person would do.... we left. :) Me and my friend decided to take a walk around campus, where we met up with other friends and twenty minutes later I found myself laughing way too much, and eighty four cents poorer. Today I learned that an extra curricular activity doesn't necessarily need to be school sponsored, or organized. As long as I am having fun with friends and doing what I want to do (keeping it legal of course) that counts more than devoting countless hours to a club I will soon forget when my four year journey in high school is over.

Hmmm... Physics

Right now, I am working towards getting my first high school science credit. This, for me, means taking physics. Now, I know that I aspire to be a doctor... Can you imagine Dr. Quihuis!!!--Pahahah! Anyways physics, I must admit, is not my easiest subject. In fact, it might even be my hardest subject. I really have a hard time understanding that when you apply a force to an object, an equal one is put back on it... like really I just thought when I walked, now i realize that the earth may just be walking on me as well... hmmmm... see what I mean. Physics isn't all that bad, I can genuinely say that my physics teacher is one of the best. We have no tests in his class; which some might argue, does not prepare us for our future schooling, especially in the science aspect. We also do not have strict due dates; there are suggested ones, but there is no repercussions for tardiness. But right now, as the year is coming to a close I am feeling the self-inflicted repercussions of not turning in assignments on time. Before the fifteenth of May I need to turn in five assignments with a total point value of two hundred points. To say the least, I am quite behind in my work. It would be great to know that I have all the time in the world to complete these assignments, and it would be great to know that I have no other homework that would interfere with me completing these tasks. Unfortunately, life as a high schooler has its least great moments; and I can say that right now is definitely one of those moments.

Birthdays

In high school, much like how it was in middle school, birthday's that fall on school days are a pretty big deal. Even if they do not fall on a school day, but people know about it, it still is a pretty big event. This Sunday is my friend Nicole's... I mean Catalina's :).... birthday. She is finally joining the fifteen year old club... yayy! But for us being "Mexican American" turning fifteen is an even bigger deal than birthdays in general. Turning fifteen, in our culture, comes associated with a quincenera. For us, however, we decided to have a less conventional quincenera route and together we have chosen to become a Florecita. In my community participating in the Florecitas is the hispanic equivalent of what a catillion ball is for the less Hispanic people. We, essentially, are coming out to the community as young women; we are coming out to the public and establishing our place in this world. It is very meaningful for my family, as well as myself. Usually the Florecitas, run by the League of Mexican American Women, consists of a large amount of people from private, or catholic schools. I am happy to say that this year there will be about one third of the sixteen florecitas from a public school: that school is Tucson High, and I am happy to be in that group. I cannot predict how this event will unfold in the next four or so months, the entire even will take place in September, but between the community work we will be a part of, I can say that Las Florecitas will be one of the better experiences of my life, and I am happy to share it with my five other friends at Tucson High. So welcome to the fifteen year old club Nicole... I mean Catalina... and Happy Birthday :)

Religious Classes....More like a clash between God and my homework!

Part of becoming a freshman for me, as a catholic, means beginning a two year journey of taking classes for my confirmation. My classes are held every Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m...such a convenient two hours for a pi house student!!! Anyways along with this classes come the more radical views of my religion, and as a catholic I must agree with them (or else I am referred to as a "Cafeteria Catholic," which my teacher would refer to as a person who picks and chooses how they want to follow the religion, this is someone that no one wants to be ;) haha). This year, I must admit, catechism has become more like weekly trip to the dentists office: you don't want to go but you know deep down that you have to go. All we really do is read papers, talk, get yelled at, then read more, and after we do that there is still one whole hour left in class!!! AHHHH the wait is excruciating, all this just so I can get home and do my tarea, or homework... yeah, yeah I'm a nerd, so what :) But either way I can really say that the funnest part of catholic classes is when I can talk to Crystal SALCIDO!!! before the clock strikes 6:30 p.m. Today for example, that was the only time I talked while on the church grounds... yes it is rather boring. Its not good that I feel this way about catechism, and I know I should be optimistic because I only have one class left, but I can't help but feel that sometimes my tarea piles up because of my two hour absence. With that said, you might as well stick a name tag on me that says, "HELLO my name is, Quihuis!!! and I am a 'Cafeteria Catholic'" :) WHOOO!!!

Pahaha...Mathematics.

Oh my, where do I even begin with math. That class, besides journalism, must be one of my favorite classes. It is so much fun, there is just a large variety of people in that class, that there is always a reason to look forward to that class. Today, however, we had an assignment in the text book which required us to solve for the volume of a variety of inatimate objects...yeah so useful. Either way, we partnered up and it ended up being me and one of my other dudes and yeah lets just say we didn't do much math... not like that, but I spent more time laughing than finding out the volume of the pyramids in Mexico. For me math is a class that I can go to and I understand that it is important to my life and stuff, but I never can take it seriously. Maybe I should start to focus more.... ehhh... let's not and say we did!

Until then, I will keep on laughing, smiling, talking, and WHOOOO-ing :) -Alejandra!!!

Field Trips...

I remember back in elementary schools, field trips were a normal thing. First grade and second grade we always went to the zoo, at least twice. Fourth grade we would always, always go to the Grand Canyon. Fifth grade was most exciting with a trip to San Diego. Not to mention, that there were plenty of other "educational" (; field trips in between all the major ones. (like that overly informational field trip to Peter Piper Pizza in the third grade, yeah there was such a big educational aspect to it that I don't even know how I lived through that one....pshhh.) Either way, as I have gone to higher levels of education, I realized how great those elementary days were. The days when we would take school, and unfortunately learning, places other than in a classroom. Today, however, my science class took a trip to the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium at the University of Arizona, the last of a series of three trips we were scheduled to take during the second semester. The trip began with us looking at rocks, then we looked at some more rocks, then we even looked at some minerals. Oh yeah, did I tell you we looked at rocks? :) Then we moved into the more hands-on stuff, like this spin machine that, well, makes you spin. Next was a "movie" that simulated what a night sky should look like, or as I would like to call it: NAP TIME!! haha Afterward, we all went to the Student Union, ate (a lot) and just laughed the whole time about things that only we would laugh about. That's us G!!! :) But I can say that even though we don't always go on field trips when we do go, we are able to make the most boring of places fun. I mean who knew that a furry rock could be so interesting??

Winners!.... there is really no time for losers.

Okay, my title may have sounded a little mean, but in order to understand where I am coming from you need to read this post. School, and plenty of other things, does not come easy. But for me personally failing at something, or losing in the case of this post, is not a possibility. Unless you know me really well, you may think I am a little wierd when I say that I will win at something even when there is nothing to win. But, when you get to know me, you understand that I and my friend nicole are very motivational people, and to us everything is a win-win situation. We win at everything! Going to school: we win. Completing assignments: we win. Even going to the bathroom, guess what?- We win again. We, in general, are just winners!! Viewing life this way comes naturally to us, and although we get strange looks and comments from people about us winning, I personally cannot see overcoming any sticky situation without this strange outlook. As a freshman, juggling my homework, school work, friends, and a social life is hard enough to fit into a 168 hour week I have already declared impossible. Now you can see why there is really no time for being a loser.

Dang Economy!!

To get into college, I have been told that I need at least two language credits, of the same language of course. I chose sign language, it may seem easy, but let me tell you it is not. At orientation I visited my classes for the first time, this was back in August, and I can remember clearly my first impression. She scared me. My teacher told us about how sign language would not be easy, and how by the first Thursday of that first week of school we would not talk. I was worried about that for the rest of my summer vacation. She explained to us freshman that by the end of the year our class would be a family, and she explained to our parents that she would consider us her children. I can say now, eight months later, that she held true to her word, and it saddens me even more to get the news today that she has been given her pink slip. The economy, a recession, even worse, a depression: all things we have been hearing a lot of over the past few months, and they are all things that never entered my mind. Now, six hundred teachers in my district are not returning for my sophomore year. My ASL teacher is one of those six hundred. This, is a reality check for me. This economic thing, is serious. I will be sad to see my most honest teacher not return next fall. In fact, it aggrivates me, to the point where all I can say is: dang economy!!

no WHOOO!! this time alejandra :(

Help

It's weird going from middle school to high school. Don't get me wrong, I never miss middle school, I love high school, but the challenges you face in higher schooling are really, wayyyyy different. Personally, a large majority of my friends from middle school came to the same high school as me. So the aspect of not knowing anyone at a new school, didn't even exist to me. The hardest part for me, was taking classes that actually challenged me. Every class this year, including lunch is a challenge. Okay, so I was kidding about lunch. But all my classes, I can honestly say, are difficult. Last year, I exceeded in all that I did, without even trying. I maintained a 4.0, by really just doing what I had to do. I never truly needed help, and I never really asked questions. Unless I had to go to the restroom. :) This year, I was thrown into a large school where I was no longer able to drift on by in my classes and still get A's. I discovered, that for once in the history of forever, I needed help. I resorted to online tutoring through the public library. Ahhh, let me tell you, it has saved my butt a few times on assignments I had no idea how to do. I can now say from experience, take help when you need it, give help when you can, and never ever underestimate your obstacles. And one more thing, when you understand something, don't ever be greedy with your knowledge. We know things for a reason: that reason is to share it with everyone (G!!!) :)

WHOOOO!!! :)

JOURNALISM !!!

Monday, Monday, Monday. What else can I say? Today was a Monday, just in case you couldn't tell. I want to know who the genius that invented Monday's, they are so unnecessary! Anyways, this Monday in particular was no different. High School on this first Monday in April was too much like a Friday, all seven classes shoved into one day. AHHH I would advise you to never, ever try it! The only class that I enjoy is sixth period journalism, learning is fun, but the talking is funnest. :) As I write this now, I am just talking and talking, and talking to my friend Alejandra (WHOOO!) haha, I guess once we get past all the crazy negative aspects about Mondays, our lives won't be so bad. Hmmm....

WHOO!