Home Is Where You Make It...

Well maybe that's a bit dramatic but honestly today is probably one of the biggest changes in most peoples lives (I know for me it is) and for some of us today was the last day we would ever see each other again except for possibly our high school reunion. As I walked up to the stage today to give a speech I couldn't help but stare at the faces that made my high school experience and think about how in only a few hours our time together would come to an end. In my speech, I talk about remembering the moments and the people who meant most to you and allowing those to remind you of your true value and as I followed my own advice and reviewed my past four years I was overwhelmed by the sense of home and peace. When I came to Righetti four years ago as a freshmen I knew absolutely no one and was convinced that I would never come to love the place and the experiences it would hold. I was convinced that it would never be my home. But four years later and a great group of friends later and I am so glad that I spent my four years with the Righetti Class of 2013. This group of people has given me the strength I needed to overcome my adversities and grow into the person I am today. This group has become my home and I'm proud to say I am a Righetti High School Warrior. I pray that everyone had a beautiful day and that every single one of you become the person you were destined to be. As for this blog, this is my last post and I will be beginning a new blog for my new adventures and experiences that await me in Hawaii and Washington, DC (I'll post a link to it in a comment soon). So until the new blog is up and unless you follow it, this will be my last goodbyes. So goodbye, farewell, and never forget that who you are can not be defined by paper and pencil.

Love Always,
Samantha Garrison

Talk About A Change In Course...

Well... It seems as though my Senior Project has taken on an ENTIRELY NEW direction. Rather than prattling on about graduation and self-actualization which, according to the grapevine, I manage to to do so eloquently, I've decided to give a speech about a cause that has shaped my life in more ways than one and ultimately has helped decided the path I want to proceed on. 

About a month or so ago, Dr. Preston asked me what I was passionate about and though I could feign passion in all the right areas at all the right times... I really didn't have an answer to his question. You see, after discovering my mother was ill and would have to undergo serious treatment and surgery, I put my life on pause in order to help her continue hers but by doing so I also lost pieces of who I was. I had essentially hollowed out and because of that I didn't know myself anymore. 

So after some intense thought and hours of work later I came up with a speech about an issue so severe that I get chills just thinking about it. I will be giving a speech on child abuse through the eyes of a victim. This issue has shaped my life in so many ways and was the original catalyst in my decision to become a lawyer. I hope this speech meets any and all expectations and if not..... Well TOUGH!

It Seems As Though The Dead Have Arisen..

Well would you look at that? I survived AP Exams! IT'S A MIRACLE! Hard to believe AP Exams are FINALLY over and done with! (Until midterms for university come around and then I'll be singing a completely different tune, but let's not dwell on my impending sleep deprivation shall we?) Yet with the deadline for Senior Projects looming and GRADUATION only a few very short weeks away, some of you (the ones who are actually interested and curious) must be wonder what I'm going to be doing for my Senior Project. Well, at first, it seemed as though I was only going to be doing a high school retrospective with my usual group that consisted of Feli, Isaih, Ashlie, Dulce, and Ming but after a long discussion filled with questions I couldn't give a meaningful answer to, I decided that I needed to rethink my course. So after hours of private deliberation, I finally found something that I felt a bit more emotionally compelled to do.

In addition to my high school retrospective, I will be giving a speech that will evaluate our time here as students, peers, and ultimately as students. This speech will in a sense be the second preview to my graduation speech which is rapidly approaching and for the select few who were able to hear me speak at the AVID Senior Celebration 2013, I think we can all agree that a speech like this will bring forth a lot of answers to some questions and will also bring up even more questions while you evaluate your own situation. As of today, I have written approximate 14 complete drafts of my speech and have an additional 6 incomplete drafts (yeah I think it is fair to say that I am on the brink of insanity because of this speech) and have yet to decide on the content of my finalized draft. The message I want to deliver isn't necessarily the question, it's just the way I deliver that has been so infuriating, but (believe it or not) I am actually thoroughly enjoying this process. In a way, writing this speech has helped me evaluate parts of my life that I had intentionally avoided and helped me find their purpose, so I hope that when I do deliver my speech you will enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed writing it!

PBC Essays

Seeing how we're supposed to be using these essays from the poetry boot camp to study for the AP Exam, I decided it would be a better use of my time if I wrote these essays in an AP test taking style. So each of my essays were hand written in the standard forty minutes, because my essays were hand written I will upload pictures of these essays with the feedback written on them at a later date. I figured they would be more helpful if I uploaded the pictures with the feedback on the paper rather than attempting to read my handwriting and then comment.

Seventh Reading

Mackenzie Greeley and I have gone over three poems in the English Augustan Movement. "Epitaph on Sir Isaac Newton" by Alexander Pope, "The Rape of the Lock" by Alexander Pope, and "Marriage A-La-Mode" by John Dryden. After reading these poems seven times the only difference I've found is that I have a better understanding of what I belief is being said and have been able to take things like the meter and rhyming scheme being used into consideration. Apart from that... I'm still lost on the subject of poetry.

Micro AP Test Feedback...

Hmm... Best way to put it. Time management needs work. I'm satisfied with what I did write in my very VERY short essay because I'd rather write three near-perfect analytical paragraphs than five barely mediocre paragraphs. So in the grand scheme of things, I could have done A LOT worse.

Response To Lit Circles...

The deed is done.