Fresh New Summer
Hello, Internet! Cole here. It’s now the month of June, which constitutes the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. This, of course, means that I’m almost done with my first year of high school. I’ve only got the finals and some projects to do, and then I’m free! …At least until next September. Bleh. Anyway, I’m going to directly rip off the format of my New Year’s article and write about both my past experiences from this school year and my plans for the summer. (It’s lazy, I know. You try to work on a bunch of projects that the teachers gave for the sake of giving projects and prepare for finals at the same time. It’s not easy.)
Ah, freshman year. Where do I start? Presumably with an overview. This year was probably one of my better ones. I got relatively good marks in all of my classes overall, and most of my assignments were turned in on time. I even did well enough in Algebra II to constitute my receiving of an award for mathematical performance. I wasn’t as “popular” this year as I was last year among my peers – not that that matters to me – but I did make a few lasting friends, with whom I sat during lunch every day. I also performed in a mandatory one-act play for Theatre Arts I; several people have told me that I did very well, and I appreciate their congratulations. Perhaps most importantly, I entered Deep Run’s robotics club, Blue Cheese, which has provided me with both work experience and writing material. All in all, this was a very good scholastic year for me.
My plans for the summer aren’t laid out very well, as always, but I believe they will consist primarily of self-improvement. My summer will start with a work camp hosted by my church, where I’m going to help reconstruct houses for impoverished communities. I feel that this job will help to build my work ethic, as well as to enlighten me on the conditions of the poor; as such, while the camp will not be the most “fun” thing that I will do over the summer, it may be the most important thing that I will do. After that, I’m not going to do very much in the way of big outings, as most of the budget that could be used for such activity is going towards next summer’s planned trip to Costa Rica. I will, however, be attending a summer PE course (bleh) at Glen Allen High School, and during my spare time I plan to refresh my knowledge of Algebra in preparation for next year’s math course. For the sake of “catching up” to my peers in terms of technical knowledge, I’ll also attempt to advance my knowledge of programming through self-directed study. These activities will be essential for my self-improvement.
This was my first year of high school, and I consider it to be significantly better than my previous years in middle school. I made some new friends, kept my grades up, and even managed to win an award. Hopefully my summer will be better in terms of self-improvement than my other summers as well, though I doubt that it will be as fun. As always, I’ll be sure to write about anything that happens this summer that is interesting enough to write about. Thanks for reading, and I’ll be seeing ya!
Cole is a monthly contributor, he just finished his Freshman year in Henrico County in an IT Specialty Center. He has Asperger’s and shares a variety of topics with us each month. In his free time, he loves to take care of animals.