8th Grade Achievements

Recently, my dad helped me put up a bulletin board strip in my room, on which I promptly tacked some of the certificates/ribbons I am especially proud of on. I wanted this strip, not to show off what I've done or boast about it to anyone who visits, but to remind myself, at times when I may not be feeling fully up to par, what I've accomplished so far. Walking in and out of my room throughout the day, seeing those certificates on my wall, and tying up some loose ends from things I started during the year, I've been thinking about how much I did in my eighth grade year. And it's really quite a lot. It felt like a good year, a great year, but not a blazing-white-hot-with-accomplishments year...but it really was quite awesome. So, I've decided to make a list of the things I did/accomplished/feel great about in my eighth grade year so that I will never forget this past year. Hopefully, it's the first in a chain of great, successful years. We'll see. (I'd like to make a list of the things I accomplished in middle school too, so that I can go back and say, see, middle school wasn't as bad as everybody says it is. Actually, it was exceptionally great for me, thanks to great friends, great parents, great teachers, and a great school. And some great, gluten-free food at the end of it. Oh yum...)

Fall Term:

• played soccer and had a lot of fun. (Don't forget how much fun playing a team sport is, compared with something like track.) Scored two goals in one game! (They were headers, too, and yes, it was mainly the person who passed me the ball that scored the point...but I was still extremely proud of myself.) Played forward almost the whole season.
• took Speech and Debate, in which I made an informational speech about compost, and in which the compost program was kickstarted, and we decided to found what would later become ATAC. Quote from my teacher Ms. Carey's comment: "You entered class feeling comfortable in front of your peers, but I think you have gotten even more comfortable."

Winter Term:

• Started this blog!
• In November, I participated in NaNoWriMo and started a novel that I get increasingly excited and anxious about every time I think of it. (Meaning that I think this is "the one.")
• I turned 14! Had a great birthday party where everybody came out to Yellow Springs, took a hike, and saw the Clifton Lights. (That felt worth mentioning.)
• Participated in the Scale Ribbon Festival for piano, and got all blue ribbons! (You play scale-type stuff and a piece, people judge you and sort of grade you. Yahoo. It's not a big deal but I got super-duper-shaky nervous, so it was more about beating the nerves that I'm proud of.)
• Mrs. Kessler (Geometry teacher) said this on my grades: "I revel in your success." (Sweet!)
• Won a marathon school spelling bee.
• Played the March Hare in the school production of Alice in America-Land. That, I think, was my favorite role ever. (And my best friend Cora, who played the Mad Hatter, and I made perfect comedic accomplices.)
• Read Night, by Elie Weisel. Aahh...
• Played squash. Only played one actual match (and I didn't win, but I won one game).
• My Mandarin class placed second in the singing competition at Miami University. 
• Took the SAT for the second time, and got a score which I am...very proud of.
• Got to be a Student Ambassador for MVS (once, at the Open House, but hopefully that continues in high school).
• Got to talk to the author of The Tension of Opposites, Kristina McBride, who was truly AMAZING!
• A short essay I wrote for Chinese won Honorable Mention in a contest (I was pretty proud to get even that, since I hadn't really been expecting anything.) (Actually I'm really not sure which term that was in...but I figured that Winter term was equally close to the two others, so I wouldn't be far off ;).)

Spring Term:

• My Holocaust Window Project was completed, submitted, and won second place in the art portion of the contest.
• My essay for the Xenia Optimist Club on "How My Education is Key to a Successful Future" placed second.
• Cora and I collaborated on a high school TV drama (we got totally out of character) script for the April Script Frenzy (same company as NaNoWriMo).
• I got to shovel some dirt at the groundbreaking ceremony for the MVS greenhouse!
• Played lacrosse, loved it, and scored a goal almost every game!
• Over spring break, my parents and I went on our first big college trip! (To Oberlin and Kenyon.)
• Finished and turned in my first term paper, about Biosphere 2.
• Got A+'s for National Guild, at the state level. (Piano, once again, seven memorized things, five songs and two scales plus other scale-related things.)
• Took the ACT for the first time.
• Finished up all of my vaccines for China.
• Graduated the 8th Grade!

And that all goes without saying that I did very well in school, kept my grades up, studied, read books...and ya know, plenty of other things. (I'm sure there are some things I forgot to mention..so maybe I'll add a few in later or something..or not.)

As for what I did over the summer...that'll be another list. (One I should probably make soon seeing as school starts tomorrow...)

SAT, Ambassadors, and Spelling Bees

Lots of things have been going on lately. And I've achieved a lot in the past few weeks...yet somehow, I've focused on talking about other things on this blog, just things I've been thinking about. Just things I've been feeling. It feels good, I love it, but now the time has come to tell you what's up.

News item number one: The Friday before last, I won the school spelling bee!!! It's the third time I've won a school bee, and the second time I've gone tons of rounds with one other person.

The funny thing is, I was dreading going to this bee. I didn't want to, at all. Part of the reason, I think, was that the last two years at this school I haven't done very well, and I was getting to the point where I just didn't care about spelling bees anymore. It's true that once you go out in the world, spelling doesn't really make a whole lot of difference. At least knowing how to spell words like "logorrhea" (which the spell check on this blog doesn't even identify as a word). I didn't have to spell that, but it was the winning word for the national spelling bee one year.

However, this year, as the two of us (a seventh grade boy and myself) were going back and forth, throwing combinations of letters out there, hoping they were put together rightly, mentally crossing our fingers, arguing inside of ourselves...I realized why I love spelling bees.

They're all about words.

To tell you the truth, I realized this a long time ago. But now I realized why I should keep liking spelling bees. Because they're just part of me.

Being in a spelling bee is like running track. The only time you feel the elation is possibly during, and after the event. But before? Before, you're a nervous mess, fidgeting and heart jumping and falling all out of yourself. And during, you become like a machine - a task is set out for you, and you must do it, or you fail miserably. Nothing else is on your mind. Nothing at all. Only the letters. Only the lines of the track.

And spelling is something so inexorably wonderful that I would never give it up despite the hours of mind-tearing and stitching-up together again that occur prior to it.

The district bee is a couple of weeks from now. The same day as our middle school play. Apparently there are only six people in it.

Oh. Boy.

News item number two: I took the SAT yesterday. My second time, for practice. This year, I was there with people in my grade, so it was fun, while last year people in the grade above me were taking it at the same time. It seemed so much easier this year, and I was monumentally less apprehensive beforehand. I feel that I did extraordinarily better than I did last year, which hopefully means that I did extraordinarily well. I just spent way too long brainstorming for my essay.

And honestly, I purely enjoyed it. I thought that 4 hour test was fun. FUN. There's something extremely satisfying about taking a test, whether you're entirely sure of an answer to begin with, or you figure it out after some thinking, or even if you have absolutely no idea and you know you have absolutely no idea, and you skip it. Something about even that last one is extremely satisfying.

My mom said that my grade was a lot more energetic after the test than the kids (in the grade above me) had been last year. And that's very true. We're a pretty cool grade :D.

Afterwards, some of us went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch (which was entirely caused by my organizing) and then a few people came back with me to watch the boys' basketball game. It was our team against the team of my old school, which is still where I live. And our team was smothered. But the game was fun.

News item number three: I am now a student ambassador for my school! That means I get to tell visitors about our school and participate in some school events. I'm very excited.

Today I got to help show people around at the Open House. My friend and I got to give a boy and his mom a tour, which middle schoolers usually don't get to do. It was all very flattering, actually, when the teachers would say something like, "Oh, they can tell you all about it."

Bottom line, though, it helps me understand my experience there even better. And as I talked about things we've done, and things we've enjoyed, and opportunities I've had, I find that every single word leaving my mouth is entirely true. I'm not just saying this. I mean it with all of my heart. So it was very beneficial to me, and I certainly hope it was for the visiting families.

So there you have it - the news. Of course, there are many other things going on...but those are the ones worth sharing, for the moment. I'm tired now, very tired, and extremely relieved that all of my homework is finished! Now to go to sleep tonight...and not to wake up back up again before it's time...