Goodbye GMS

It was only three years ago that I came to golf as a sixth grader and now three years have past and I’m graduating eighth grade. I’m sure we can all say that our time here at Golf went by pretty quickly but along the way we made many memories that we will cherish forever.

I came into Golf with the most optimistic mindset… I won’t make any friends, I will fail all my classes, all my teacher will hate me and I won’t be able to open a locker. That last one was true for a while but thankfully the rest were not. I made a lot of great friends, I surprisingly didn’t fail any of my classes and lastly, I had the most amazing teachers a student could ever ask for.

I think something that separates Golf from all other schools are the teachers. To tell you the truth whenever my friends talked about their teachers I always brag about mine because they are the best of the best. At the end of our conversations about school my friends never leave without saying, “ Aneena, I wish I went to your school.” They wish they could come to Golf mainly because of the teachers here.

I can’t leave here without saying how greatly you teachers impacted my life. I’d first like to thank Ms. Steadman, Ms. Grossman and Ms. Nelson for a great year in 6th grade. You all made my first year here a great year with memories like reading Counting The Stars, dissecting owl pellets, learning that fuzzy wuzzy was a bear and that area equaled pie-r-squared, and going to Medieval Times. Then comes 7th grade where I met many more amazing teachers. I’d like to thank Mr. Gilman for introducing to me the show, “Twilight Zone”, Mr. Carris for being the coolest teacher ever, Mr. Carro for still making Math my favorite subject, Ms. Maldonado for answering all my emails that I would send you almost every single day and lastly Ms. Conejo. Thank you just for being yourself because you are the most optimistic person I have ever met in my life and you never failed to make me smile. After 7th grade came 8th.

My new english teacher would be Ms. Joyner. In 7th grade the only reason I wanted to be in her class was because I saw that she had a couch in her room but I soon found out that there was much more about her class than the couch. Thank you Ms. Joyner for being the funniest teacher out there and putting up with my amazing procrastination skills. Lastly I’d like to thank all my teachers that taught special classes. Ms. Bowering, Ms. Boyle, Ms. Goulde, Ms. Vojack, Ms. Brown and Ms. Fain. I may not have been the most athletic or artistic person but you all taught me skills that I will use in life. To all of my teachers I say thank for everything you have done for me.

As I mentioned I made a lot of great friends here and I could probably write an essay or two telling my friends how amazing they are. I learned to love others as I love myself and that was definitely not hard at this school because everyone was kind to me. Thank you class of 2016 for making these past few years very special.

All of you are great people and you will do great things in the future. If you have hopes for the future don’t let them go until you achieve it. In the future something that I want to do was become an oncologist and find a cure for cancer. Someone may or may not find one before me, but either way that’s what I hope to do and if I have to say a speech after finding a cure I won’t forget to mention Golf Middle School and how this school helped me to become who I was. I’d like to conclude with a quote from the one and only... Winnie the Pooh. “How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” I will miss GMS very much and it is very hard to say goodbye, but the reason is because this was such an amazing school with amazing people. I congratulate all the  Golf graduates of the class of 2016 and thank you all for giving me the best three years of my life.

How To Prepare For Tests

     Yeah, I know the worst word ever is... test. It is one of my least favorite words because I personally hate taking tests no matter what test it is. If you go to school I'm pretty sure you have taken some sort of test. There tests we take in school like science and math tests but there are also standardized tests such as PARCC, SAT, ACT and ASPIRE. Even though you might hate taking tests like I do it's still good to prepare and not completely fail it, so here are some tips to help you do the best you can on an test.

• Get a good amount of sleep
• Eat a healthy and filling breakfast
• Have your pencils sharpened (if taking a test on paper)
• Have a book ready to read if you finish early
• Study and make sure you know your stuff
• Wear comfortable clothes
• DO NOT be late for taking a test
• DO NOT cheat (duh)

** DO NOT have your mindset on failing the test


What should you do if you fail a test? Well, hopefully you don't if you followed these tips but if you didn't here's what you should do...

• Follow all the steps listed above for the next test
• DO NOT be worried and think you life is ruined 
• Tell yourself that you will do better next time!

Endings And Beginnings

    Wow, my class is about to graduate eight grade! Only thirty five more days left not including weekends. Time flies doesn't it? I've been to two other schools before this one and each school  go to I imagine graduating there. I remember back in third grade I would tell my friends, "Guys, we are gonna graduate some day. You guys better not leave me!"  I left that school later on and went to a school which literally had like twenty kids in the whole entire grade. Once again I would think of the day I would graduate that school but it never happened. Anyway what I'm trying to say is that graduation is something that I have always thought about but I never thought that that day would be coming so soon.
     I'm proud to be graduating here at GMS and I would like to be remembered as... I guess the girl who helps people because that's what I do. If anyone texts me about homework or anything school related I try to respond right away. For example, recently there was this time where maybe 5-10 people texted me asking questions about an assignment and I spent maybe an hour explaining to everyone before I started my homework but I felt really good after helping those people. I've learned to think of others before myself. I would also probably be remembered as the number one procrastinator in our grade but I'm really trying to change that before high school. :)
     Speaking of high school...I'd like to be remembered there too. There are like thousands people in high school but who knows someone might remember me. I'd like to be remembered as the best badminton player on the high school badminton team, the best dancer on Indo-Pak and maybe the best violin player in orchestra. Yes, I have high hopes. Jk, it's not all about being the best it's about trying to do your best. I think what everyone wants to be remembered as is a kind person who did their best in everything they did.

This quotes says, "Every story has an end, but in life every end is a new beginning." This may be the end of eighth grade for us, but we have a new beginning in high school and let's make the best of it!

Trip To The Holocaust Museum

     On Thursday my class took a field trip to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. Since we were learning about the Holocaust in school some facts my class and I were oblivious of but others we already knew. I learned a lot from going to the museum. Something that I found interesting was that there were opera singers singing in some ghettos. There were many virtuosos who performed in the ghettos.
     People who worked as part of the Resistance had to be very diligent otherwise they could get caught. Some workers in ghettos and concentration camps showed big acts of Resistance by taking apart gas chambers. This was not extemporaneous. They planned it all out. Others showed small acts of Resistance too. For example, at the museum there was a picture of a menorah in front of a window and there was a Nazi flag right outside. That isn't very prudent because the people living in that house could have been apprehended by the Nazis because the Nazis were not altruistic people who cared for others.
     The museum was layed out in a way that it started out dark and towards the end it became lighter. We had a tour guide who explained the rooms of the museum and we asked questions. Overall I think we had a good morale. Towards the end of the tour, we went inside a train car that the Jews were put int to travel to places. It was big but not big enough for about a hundred people to fit in there. People would sometimes die inside those cars. It would smell really bad and people would be so uncomfortable. After we went inside the car I had a greater contempt towards the Nazis.

July 20, 2011

Dear Diary,
     I'm so tired and my feet hurt. Today I probably walked like twenty miles. This morning my family and I drove from Angamaly, Kerala to Velankanni, Tamil Nadu. It was a 10 hour drive. I checked on google and it said that we basically crossed the whole country of India! We went on a big bus with my cousins, aunts, uncles an grandparents.
     As I said, we got to Velankanni which is a city in South India. Not many tourists come to places in South India but this place was packed with people. This city was named after Our Lady of Good Health. People usually visit this city as part of a church pilgrimage because there were so many miracles that occurred here with Mother Mary.
     I was really surprised when I got here because this place wasn't like anything I expected. Since so many people come to visit, I thought that the city would be more cleanlier than other cities in India, but that wasn't the case. Our hotel was... let's just say it didn't look like hotels that we have in the U.S. There were poor people out in the streets begging for money. It was really sad to see so many poor people in such a holy place. There were stay dogs out in the streets which was normal but here there were so many. Also, the beach was like gray. I was disgusted. My grandma said that it was the natural color of the sand but I was still kind of scared to sit down.
     The only place that was actually pretty clean was the church. I mean the basilica. A basilica is way bigger than a church or cathedral. It was so big and white. My family and I attended mass there. It was too crowded, so we couldn't get inside. I bet there were more than a thousand people. I was holding onto my grandma's hand the whole day because there were probably kidnappers and I could easily get lost. Overall, this trip was very tiring but it was really worth it.

~Aneena

My Loving Grandmother

"We must live, and when this is all over, we must work to make the world a better place. And if we die, we will die knowing that it was not our fault, that we did our best, and we can go to our deaths in dignity...I want you to both live...And to remember...You must choose love. Always choose love." 

     This is a quote that Erika said to her brother, Daniel and her friend, Rosa. When I read this quote, I thought of my grandmother. I called her Ammama, which means older mother in our Malayalam. She may not be with me me now but she was the most loving person I have ever known. Till this day my whole family talks about how amazing, kind and spiritual she was. I may not have known her for long but when I look back at pictures of me and her, both of us would always be laughing or smiling. My parents would tell me that if I cried she would be the only one to console me.
     She was loving to me just as Erika was loving for her brother and friend. Erika told her brother and Rosa, "...You must choose love. Always choose love." My grandmother was the kind of person would would say something like that because she cares for me and she wants me to have a good life. Erika looked at both sides of the situation and made it positive. She said, "We must live, and when this is all over we must work to make the world a better place. And if we die, we will die knowing that it was not our fault, that we did our best, and we can go to our deaths in dignity..." By all this she meant that whatever happens to them, everything will be okay. Daniel and Erika were very lucky to have a person like Erika in their lives just as I was so lucky to have my loving grandmother.

It's Leap Day!

     Wow, four years went by pretty quickly. Four years ago I went to a different school and lived in a different house than I do now. I've come a long way in these past couple of years. There are times I'd like to remember and times that I'd like to forget. When I started fourth grade in a new school I didn't really do so well in school but now I'm happy to say that I don't completely fail classes anymore :) I used to live in a tiny house where I shared a room with my brother. Our room also the computer room. I'm happy that I have a new house and my own room now. Also, four years ago two of my siblings were born. I guess I'm happy about that even though they drive me crazy.

     Back then I was the most introverted person ever. I wasn't in church choir and I never knew how to play the violin. I have played keyboard in choir for the past three years and that really boosted my confidence. I go to a pretty big church, so there are hundreds of people attending and that kind of scared me a little knowing that every mistake I made would be heard by everyone but now I'm over that. I also joined orchestra which also boosted my confidence. I honestly don't know what I would do without my violin. #orchdork Overall, in the past few years my life has changed for the better and I'm grateful for that.

     Now that I looked at the past let's head to the future. The next Leap Year will be 2020. Let's hope that the Olympics are in Chicago and that I can go and watch it. In four years I'll be a senior in high school and I'll be in Symphonic Orchestra which is the highest orchestra that we have. I'm also hoping to crush other high schools in badminton. #badmintonislife All in all I'm just hoping that every years just keeps getting better and better. Happy Leap Day!

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

August 19, 1914

Dearest Papa,

                      I got your letter. I miss you a lot too. School closed a couple weeks ago because of the war. Before I left school, my teacher pulled me aside and gave me a book called, "There Is Hope." It's about a boy whose father is in a war, just like you. 

                       Do you remember when you were back home, I would always read to you and Mamma? I wish I could still do that. Mamma seems really perturbed lately, so I didn't want to pester her with my reading. Since I couldn't read to you or Mamma guess who I read to? An elephant. Yeah, I know it's hard to believe but listen, I'll explain.

                       The day I came home from the last day of school I was really anxious to read the book my teacher gave me. Mamma was really mad because Amanda and Alice were both crying. We were out of food. Mamma was waiting for me to come home, so I could go to the market. Why does Africa have to send so much food to other places? We are already poor. The prices here have gone up, so Mamma can only afford one meal a day. I went to the market, got some rice and dropped it off at home.

                        I wanted to get away from all the commotion, so I went to the dessert carrying my book. That's when I saw him, the elephant who weighed probably a thousand pounds. Each step he took forward, I took back. To tell the truth, I was actually kind of scared, just a little. He noticed the fear in my eyes, so he turned around and started walking in the other direction. 

                        I yelled, "Wait!" I needed company and I guessed that he did too. He walked towards me and sat down. Sand flew at my face but I covered it with my book. Then, I sat down, opened my book and began to read, " There is hope..." I guess you can never be too big to get read to. We finished the whole book. It had a happy ending, which made my glad. I'm sure there will be a happy ending for our country too.

Sincerely,

Amal

                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                          

                  

Carrot Cake

     Fitting in is hard sometimes, especially if you look really really weird. In science class we were learning about Meiosis. Meiosis is a process that happens in the cell. It makes gametes and when two gametes combine they make a person such as carrot Cake here. Carrot cake has both characteristics from her mom and her dad. She ha a circular head, five fingers, two toes, no knees, square eyes, a pig nose, a big belly, short arms, fat lips, eye lashes, little ears, a long neck, big feet, long hair, a little thumb, eyebrows, curly hair, horns, a tail and a halo.
     As you can tell, Carrot Cake doesn't really look normal. Being different from others can cause some problems for her. She may not fit in. One problem she may have is touching her toes. her arms are very much shorter than her legs. She also has small ears,so she may need a hearing aid. She may not fit in but that doesn't necessarily mean that she won;t have any friends at all. As you can see, she has a halo above her head, so that probably means that she is a really nice person. Some people may think that her features are pretty cool, so that would be a way for her to have friends. She may be different but there may be other people different like her. Something that everyone should no is that, everybody is different. We should not single people out because of their differences.

Semiya Payasum

     I'm from Kerala, which is a southern state in India. Wherever you go, no matter what restaurant, not matter what city in the state, there will be Semiya Payasum. It is one of my favorite desserts from my  culture. There are different types of payasums such as paal payasum, rava payasum and many more but semiya payasum is just my favorite.

     At my house, we don't make it all the time although I wish we would. Usually my mom makes it for my birthday because she knows how much I like it. Even at my house in India, we don't make it all the time. We make it on special occasions such as birthdays and weddings.

     Approximately, this takes twenty minutes to make. That's not too long. There are different ways people make it but I'll tell you about one way. First, you have to heat a pan with ghee. Then, you have to add nuts and wait till they turn golden. After that, add raisins. I personally add a lot of raisins because they just taste so good. After these steps just set this pan aside. Take another pan and put the semiya in it. You can buy a packet of semiya from a store which sells food from India. After putting in the semiya, you have to wait until it turns a golden brown color. After it turns brown then add milk and water and wait for it to boil. Also make sure the semiya is well cooked. After these steps, add sugar and stir everything together. Then, pour the payasum into a bowl and garnish it with the nuts and raisins we set aside. Now you're done! I definitely recommend making this, its delicious. Enjoy!

Shows I Used to Watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iC9WBrKP0I

     This show aired from 2005 to 2008. When I was younger I used to watch a lot of shows because a couple years back, in my opinion, kids' shows were a lot better than they are today. My favorite show of all time was Suite Life of Zack and Cody. There was never an episode where I didn't die laughing. Zack and Cody Martin are twins that have moved into Boston's best hotel, the Tipton because their single mom, Carey got a job at the Tipton as a singer. Just by looking at this picture and by watching the show's theme song, I'm sure you can tell that they cause a lot of mischief and of course there are people that try to stop them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29jhGR-yCtE

     The day the last episode aired I was devastated. That is how good a show this was. Obviously this show was the sequel to The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. This show started in 2008 and ended in 2011. Zack and Cody aboard the SS Tipton, so they go to school on the ship that cruises around the world. As London call it "Stupid Sea School". Along the way, Zack and Cody makes some new friends. Even though they are older, as you can see in this picture, they are still like they were before. They drive Mr. Mosby, the manager of the ship crazy. Mr. Mosby is the guy hanging from the anchor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIgLqN_rAXU

     Kim Possible aired from 2002 to 2007. This show started in the year I was born, so I started watching it before it ended. I absolutely love the theme song of this show. Kim is just an ordinary cheerleader who saves the world. Her sidekicks are her friends, Ron Stoppable and his pet mole, Rufus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDMIuuO_PQo

     Believe it or not, Hannah Montana was my idol when I was younger. I don't know why but she just was. I was a big fan of hers. Back in third grade I got Hannah Montana book bag and I still use it today. Hannah Montana aired from 2006 to 2011. Miley Stewart is just a regular teenage girl besides the fact that without anyone knowing, she is pop star, Hannah Montana. She moved from a small town in Tennessee to Malibu along with her brother, Jackson and her dad/manager Robbie Ray. Her two best friends are Lilly and Oliver are also part of her thrilling life as both Hannah Montana and Miley Stewart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvAUtEDgpyY

     Honestly, Chowder was the weirdest show I have ever watched in my life. It was from 2007-2010 on Cartoon Network. I think Chowder is suppose to be a purple cat since most of the characters in the show are animals. Chowder LOVES food. He lives in Marzipan City and he is the apprentice of Mung, a chef who owns a catering company along with his wife Truffles who is a fairy. Shnitzel, the rock who only says, "rada rada," also helps them. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbORcGOZ2GI

     This was a pretty interesting show. When I was younger I never had an imaginary friend but that doesn't mean that imaginary friends aren't real. :) This show as aired from 2004 to 2009 on Cartoon Network. It was one of the bet shows Cartoon Network had and that's why it received and Emmy Award. Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends is a place where imaginary friends go when their owners are too cold for them. If a child can't think of an imaginary friend themselves, they come to Foster's run by Madame Foster to adopt a friend. Mac was a boy who had an imaginary friend named Bloo. Bloo not Blue. Mac's mom thought he was too old for an imaginary friend so she sent Bloo off to Foster's. Luckily, without his mom or brother knowing he comes to Foster's to see Bloo almost every day. His job is to make sure that Bloo doesn't get adopted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSA4NrnXT4s

     This was one of my favorites shows when I was younger but I don't think I finished watching it. This show started airing in 2004 in the Unites States. Winx Club was an Italian show for kids but now it plays in many different countries. Apparently, according to my research, this show released season 7 in August of 2015 on Nickelodeon, so I'm guessing it's not over yet. The main character of the show is a girl from Earth named Bloom. She was living a normal life in the city of Gardenia until Stella, a princess from the planet Solaria met her. Stella was in trouble and Bloom saved her using magical powers that she never knew she had. Stella then told Bloom that she should join Alfea, the best fairy school in all the realms. That is where Bloom became roommates with Stella, Musa, Tecna and Flora. That was the beginning of the Winx Club. Together they learn to use their powers to fight evil. Evil meaning the girls from Witch Tower, Icy, Darcy and Stormy. Along the way the meet even more friends such as the boys from Red Fountain, Prince Sky, Brandon, Riven and Timmy. I suggest you watch this show. That's what i'll be doing over the summer. ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lshzQJ1YAzU

     This was also one of my favorite shows. I have a lot of favorites because there just used to be too many good shows. Wizards of Waverly Place began in 2007 and ended in 2012. It was a Disney Channel show and was definitely worth watching. The show is about Alex (Selena Gomez) and her family that own a restaurant in New York City. She had two brothers, Max and Justin. Her best friend is Harper. Her and her siblings are taught by their parents about when and where they should use magic but sometimes they may have to break the rules.  

Rise Of The Guardians Movie Review

     Rise of The Guardians is a spectacular animated movie by Dreamworks that I would recommend for all ages. Who are the guardians you may ask. Your favorites of course. Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Sandman and my personal favorite, the main character, Jack Frost. All of them together are the guardians who protect the children of the the world from it's corruption. In this case, Pitch Black(the Boogeyman). He wants to overthrow the guardians by making children not believe in them. He wants to take over the world with his nightmares. When the time comes, it's all up to Jack to save the world.
     This movie was released in 2012. Between these past three years I have seen quite a lot of movies and I must say, by far this is one of my favorite movies. It has won so many awards. It won best animation of the year at the Hollywood Film Awards, best motion picture at the Satellite Awards and best animated film at the CinEuphoria Awards, just to name a few. Did I mention Rise of The Guardians was nominated for best animated film at the Golden Globe Awards? Well, it was. The director, Peter Ramsay did an outstanding job with this movie. This is a movie that you must watch. I assure you, you won't be disappointed.

Hello 2016

     2015 was a very interesting year for me. If I were to use one word to describe it, I would use hectic. At times I would be happy,annoyed, mad and usually overwhelmed. A second word to describe my year would be overwhelming. I have 3 siblings and two of them turned three years old this year. There would be screaming and crying in my house 24/7. I thought I would go deaf but thankfully I didn't. This was a problem for me because since there are two of them and they love me, they come to my room while i'm studying and complain. Hopefully, as they grow older they will compromise. I'm hoping for that this new year. Yes, it's a lot to ask from three years olds. 

     I usually don't have a schedule planned out for myself. My parents always tell me to have one and I think I will use it this year. I have some classes such as badminton, dance, violin class, piano class, orchestra, ccd, choir etc. This year we actually got homework for ccd. We usually never had church choir practices but they started this year which i'm pretty happy about because I need some practice with my piano. So all of this describes my 2015. It was definitely hectic and overwhelming for me.

     I am the biggest procrastinator, so I always leave my homework for the last minute. That is one thing I would like to change for my new year. I would like to have a plan and not procrastinate. Two words that I would want to describe my new year would be tranquil and productive. I need to stay calm this year. To do this stopping my procrastination problem would really help. Productive is my second word. This is a word my parents always tell me to be. I'm taking it into consideration this year. Over break I usually just sit around and that is basically all I do. No more procrastinating and more of being a productive person. 

     In 2016 we graduate. Yay! I'm really excited. There are a lot of exciting events coming up for me and my family. Only six more months till summer! I hope everyone had a great 2015. I sure had an interesting one full of memories. I may have described my year of 2015 with hectic and overwhelming but other words I could have used were successful and memorable. I wish you all a blessed new year. Happy New Year!