Gabby+Canales

=Sticks and Stones=

toc At a young age you learn the saying "Sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt me". When you are a young child who is constantly being called fat, ugly, and stupid, parents often remind him or her of this phrase. What people do not always understand is that words affect a persons emotional state and eventually physical. Verbal abuse is one of the most common types of abuse; it affects a child's life in many ways including his or her self-confidence and emotional stability.

I have a friend who was verbally abused as a freshman in high school by her entire cheerleading squad and eventually by the the rest of the student body. She remembers everything that she was told and how it made her feel, but luckily, her family started traveling with her brothers' motocross team and she was home schooled. None the less, today she is still affected by the abuse she suffered from and a simple little argument can still send her into a nervous breakdown. Unfortunately, dealing with verbal abuse is something that she goes through everyday.

Girls are more likely to suffer from and use this type of abuser. Often they feel the need to call each other stupid, ugly, and fat. The words that are said, if used enough, can hurt a girl enough to make her want to herself. There are many different types of ways to communicate to someone how much you might dislike them. You can use the web, text messages, or voicemail to attack someone. Over the years, this problem has grown, causing many youth to commit suicide. Even When you are just joking around with each other, it could be the last push she needs to follow through with suicide. You never know what she were told up to that point or how she had been treated. I know that I have been cruel on occasions, but I try to make sure that I am not telling someone something that is going to hurt her, because I know that pain. This can also make a girl feel like all she deserves is abuse, and she could start dating a guy that makes her feel the same way. He will constantly tell her that she is fat, ugly, and stupid, and that no one will ever love her, so he felt bad and took her in. Hearing this will only knock a girl down ever=n more and she will stay miserable to make him happy, and she is not alone.

Verbal abuse is a growing problem in the United States and is one of the most dangerous causes of suicide know today. Words do, in fact, often hurt more than physical abuse. While physical abuse causes temporary pain and wounds, verbal abuse can cause a long term emotional affect. When continuous verbal abuse is taking place, the act does tend to turn to a more violent aspect. When a girl feels threatened or betrayed, she often turn to using verbal abuse in order to scare someone into following through with an act, such as robbery. Verbal abuse affects a person's emotional state and start giving her thoughts of hurting herself so that they are no longer a burden on people. It is not a temporary emotion; if committed long enough, it could take a victim her whole life and years of therapy to know that "it was just a name"; but is it ever really just a name? Most victims of verbal abuse will not tell you what they are suffering from. They simply keep it to themselves until they have had enough.

On average, it could take a girl anywhere from a month to a few years to feel like she is worth something and the she is not fat, ugly, or stupid. None the less, verbal abuse is a major issue in the world today. It can affect anyone, at any age. The majority of victims are girls and older ladies. Laws have been passed to try and stop this type of abuse, but it is very hard to protect those who do not speak up. No matter where you go in life, there will always be someone there trying to knock you down to get where they want to be in life. At this time, remember that you are the better person for not acting on these actions and knowing that you are nothing they have said you are. When being verbally abused or seeing verbal abuse take place, speak-up and tell someone because you never know when a life could be saved.

=Grades=

 Grades, to some, are the most important things in life. Grades are what tell you if you will graduate, what college you will attend, or what career you will pursue, but for others grades are just another way to let down the ones you love. High school are the years that are going to make you or break you. Grade school and middle school all teach you and try to prepare you for what you are about to encounter at high school. However, you can prepare anyone for any task that they are about to taken on but not everyone comes out on top. Some kids have the potential to become one of the greatest writers, scientist, or doctors around but you might not ever know that because they have horrible grades keeping them from pursing their dreams. While some kids are lazy and just do not want to work at anything, others give it their one hundred and ten percent and still fail at achieving good grades. Grades can impact you entire life starting with grade school and ending in after high school or college, but grades do not define the chances that they will receive, determination does.

 As a student passes through grade school and middle school, they start learning how grades can affect their lives. When a student is young he or she learns that grades are important because it helps with their future. School representatives use rewards to encourage students to receive and maintain good grades. However for some students the rewards that is received for good grades can knock a student down when that do not receive those grades. It can at times make a student try harder but when they try and try and still do not receive those grades failing students often just give up but others refuse to let someone tell them they will not accomplish anything and continue to work hard. Failing students in grade school are the students that teachers classify as high school drop outs. Passing this information along to other teachers, as students approach middle school they continue to try. In middle school students learn what it is exactly that they need to do to accomplish the task of good grades throughout the rest of the years as a student. They learn everything from study habits to testing under pressure.

 When in middle school and high school students learn who they are, what they want to become in the future and what it is they need to do as the time of graduation approaches. Like many students going through school, I was a honor roll student through both grade and middle school. I was a good student; i took in everything that the teacher would tell us and use every source of help that i could get. I put one hundred and ten percent into every assignment, but I actually never truly tested until about the eighth grade. It was then, in the eighth grade that i learned no matter how much i studied and went over the course material, I never ended up on top and that is when my grades started to suffer. As i entered high school the problem continued, only i learned that if i concentrated on my everyday assignments and staying on task, it would occasionally help my grade a little bit. Going through high school i was often pulled aside by teachers asking me why I was unable to perform through test. I was still using every resource i could, going to night library for tutoring, asking questions before, during, and after class, and I was spending all of my free time studying yet i was still not able to get back to my honor roll grade history. I have, through high school, been able to obtain on average B’s and C’s but was never satisfied with myself. I knew that I was giving everything I had into my studies but it seemed like the more that I studied the more I was failing. Still then I never gave up and was able to maintain a decent GPA and ACT scores to help get me into the college I wanted to go to, even if I had to start with classes that were lower then what I was hoping. I still cannot test, and it has been five years since I have realized that I had a problem, but every day I wake up telling myself not to give up.

 When a student does not have the grades but the determination to show everyone around him or her that she or he is going to have a bright future is accomplishment enough for the “failing students”. With the same amount of determination of a student on the honor roll or highest honor list, he or she can always have the job that they have always wanted. The students that are considered below average in school can continue on to college and receive a degree of their choice. Yes, it will take longer and they will have to start from the very beginning without a chance of skipping out on classes that they might not need but they are determined to accomplish it. Grades are not important because even the lowest scorer can come back and win the game. Ten years down the road the student that was receiving those grades could end up being the student who offers the most to the table because they have a greater story to share (“Grades Not Full Gauge of Talent”). When looking at a student with less than perfect grades, treat him or her as you treat a student with good grades. Students look for teachers who are going to continue to challenge them and push them to the next level in their education.

 Grades can impact a student’s life, but they do not define the chances that they receive in life, determination does. Ones students’ strong point can be another students’ weak. I have my weak points and as I finish my first semester at college I am still unable to take a test but I continue to work towards receiving better grades. Students learn what they are great at and what they are less than great at while in middle school, it is up to that student to continue to push his or her self to the breaking point. Many great stories have been heard about struggling through school and they continue to influence the students that are just now learning their strengths and weaknesses.



= = = = =The Boys of Fall= Imagine driving into a small town on a Friday evening, taking a stroll down Main Street and seeing a sea of orange walking into the Bulldog Bowl for Friday night high school football. When I was growing up in my home town, Artesia, I learned that no matter how important a concert or a sports game could be to someone, it is never more important than football. Football is one of the most important things in Artesia and to some people it is over exaggerated by the way that no matter what is going on in the community or what holiday it is, a Bulldog football game is always first priority. There, of course, are more sports and school sponsored activities, but football has over taken the town. There has been a street name changed, business names changed, and also holidays that get changed all for the football team.

In the small town of Artesia, New Mexico, we are known for having the only high school bowl shaped football field known as the “[|World Famous Bulldog Bowl]”, a game broadcasted on ESPNU, holding the most championship titles in football, and the talented [|Landry Jones], the current Oklahoma University quarterback. Landry is a big part of our community for bringing some well needed publicity to our small little town with his back to back state championships, was on live television for ESPNU and received the most college scholarships including one from UNM (In Artesia, Jones Already Hometown Hero). Landry is an amazing athlete and I am proud to say he is from my home town but he is also not the only one. However, football is not the only activity that has had accomplished members. There are many former students that have amazing talent to offer the world; Alexis Orosco has a beautiful voice and went to compete in American Idol, Kennedy Hernandez is living in Hollywood pursuing a career in modeling and acting and Brittany Fletcher is finishing up her final year at Cornell University where she received a full academic scholarship. There is always more to a town then football, but you have to be able to look past it and move forward, but sometimes you can’t tell. I also like to watch the football team play on Friday nights, however, I would also support other sports and school sponsored activities. Football is a sport that tops every other sport or holiday. Looking back at my years in the Artesia public school district, holidays, street names, and city celebrations. The Artesia Bulldog Volleyball team won state in 2010 for the first time in thirty-two years and was congratulated with a pat on the back; while the football team made it to the state game and the yearly “Light Up Artesia” celebration was turned into a city wide pep-assembly and upon winning state, after three years, they received a cook out and firework show.

Sports are a big deal in small towns because that is all anyone has to look forward to. However, each sport should be treated equally. Not everyone in Artesia agree with the fact that football gets all of the attention. Many parents and students believe that the volleyball team should have received more than they did for winning state. Together, the cheerleaders, who were state champs four years in a row, and volleyball team tried to protest the multiple celebrations held for the football team but had no luck. The school and football team were able to stop the teams from starting a public protest. Protesting or going against the football in Artesia is not acceptable because they are held at a higher level than any other sport or school activity.

The fact that football is treated better than any other sport or school activity has just recently started to raise problems. It is safe to say that not everyone in Artesia is fond of football, they enjoy to see the girls volleyball, basketball, softball, swimming, and cross country teams perform, the boys basketball, cross country, baseball, and swimming team, or other school activities like choir shows, band and drama performances, or cheer leading performances, who were state champions four years in a row. A lot of the citizens of Artesia are upset that there is rarely anything in the paper about anything but football. There was a huge debate on whether it was right to have a city wide pep assembly for such a small program and take away that actual celebration of “Light Up Artesia”. Every so many years when Halloween lands on a Friday it is moved to the first of November, because it interferes with the game.

As a former student of Artesia High I can say that my high school accomplishments were looked past because I was not a football player. As a town more and more people can come together to help people. Stand up for what you believe in and make sure that you are heard before you fall behind and live in the shadow of someone else’s glory days.

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