1. PBJs 2025

I was only four years old when I had the extreme pleasure to visit Italy for the first time. I don't remember every detail, but I do remember how it felt. The first time setting foot in the Milan Malpensa Airport, seeing my family there waiting for us, arms wide, and the smiles, made the airport "scene" such a lovely one.  This trip also gave me something I will never forget, my first ever soccer game. An AC Milan game. And luckily for me, this was the time I actually used to play soccer. I used to be called "little Messi" for my extreme skills, actually I think only my family called me that, but that's ok. I remember the excitement, all the flags waving, the fans all wearing red and white. I was small, sitting on my dad's shoulders, seeing the whole stadium erupt when there was a goal. The first jersey for soccer I ever bought was also there. Actually, it's still framed in my room, and there's always a smile when I stare at that jersey. I'll...

 Photo Credit:  https://www.lambdasolutions.net/en/blog/hindsight-insight-foresight-reporting-maturity-curve-part-1                Do you guys remember cruising through school last year? Because if I am totally honest, last year felt hard when we were sophomores. Like now that I look back I realize how little work I had to do, and obviously how little work I actually did. Last year was a vacation compared to junior year. One AP test which I barely had to study for. The rest of my regular classes, which also required the bare minimum work for credit. And my careless attitude, ready to waste all my time. Productivity was not present in my life at all, and there was no pressure to make me productive. Still the only way I remember sophomore life was with late nights finishing up assignments last minute or studying for tests I knew about months ahead in time. Looking back I do not know exactly what happened last year.  I do remember...

  photo credit: https://siskiyou.sou.edu/2022/05/12/senioritis-what-it-is-and-what-to-do/ We've all heard of senioritis: the loss of motivation and lack of energy from dreading the final weeks of high school, or for some, the desire to just fast-forward and jump ahead to summer. But as of recently, a different feeling has emerged: junioritis. No one really warns you about the mix of burnout exhaustion, post-AP relief, and creeping awareness that your childhood is slowly being boxed up and labeled “past.” I’m tired. Not just from the endless amount of homework or countless hours of sleep lost from late nights studying. I’m tired of doing everything right, of being told repeatedly that this is “the most important year.” I’m tired of the pressure to know where I’m going, what I want to do, when I barely understand where I stand now. And with only a few days left, there’s another feeling creeping in: fear. Fear of becoming a senior. Fear that I won’t be ready; that I won’t be abl...

If You Could Choose to Erase a Memory, Would You?   Credit: https://www.livescience.com/44160-erasing-unconscious-bad-memories.html If you could choose to erase a memory, would you? Memories are marks of successes, failures, and everything in between. Ranging from small everyday habits, to life changing moments, memories are a safe of self-understanding we can pull from to learn and improve as humans. However, like recalling happy memories makes us feel good, remembering sad or painful memories can create unpleasant emotions and remind us of things we would rather forget. Even though I have many unhappy memories of my own, I would not choose to erase them because of the lessons I learned from them. Each bad thing that we go through is a step toward something better; regardless of whether or not an experience is positive or negative, there is always something to gain from them. Hard experiences, and painful memories are often what distinguish individuals from each other. They p...

Once, I remember her sitting on a chair not too long ago, her eyes greeting the heavens, hands tucked on top of one another, and an undefinable smile that let those around her know that she very well knew who she was. To be quite frank, if you ask anyone at all, she didn't remember much; the only exception for her memory were the years cradled away on the chair—rocking away signatures of her past, unwilling to accept that she was burdened by the deceit of time. Those, like myself, who knew her, had also come to the conclusion that she, who never left the chair, remained speechless for the eternity that we had known her. She might have slurred a few words here and there, thrown out an unacquainted greeting at the average passerby, but her words never said much—perhaps because the voice itself, after all these years, had forgotten its origin.  I tried my best at first: reiterating our vows, lighting a bonfire between a pail of sand to commemorate our last dance, hugging her tightly ...

Then and Now      Now that we are almost to our senior year of high school, I am prone to thinking about freshman year and often wishing I could go back. Yes, I am excited to grow up, but I also want to return to the simplicity and comforts of a time when stress and pressure weren’t my everyday companions.       Back then, I almost never worried about my grades; I was more focused on what I would wear the next day and when my friends and I could go to the mall next. Obviously, I still think about those things, but they have taken a backseat to GPA calculations and figuring out my future.      I remember walking into school the first day of freshman year with my schedule and a map of the school in hand. I remember the super awkward icebreakers and waiting till lunch to debrief with my friends. I remember my biggest problem being running the mile in P.E. (to be fair, if I were still in P.E., that would be my biggest problem ).   ...

 Darshan Dhaduk  Mrs. Smith English 11 AP 7 May 2025 Image Credits:https://images.app.goo.gl/e2dzuHCePsfaUyuq9 Time does really fly by. One day we are stepping into our first ever day of school, and the next we are graduating. One day we are celebrating our 5th birthday, and the next we are celebrating our sweet sixteen. One day we have thoughts of driving a car, and the next we have our permit. Childhood is really one of the best era’s of my life. My parents used to always tell me, take advantage of the time I had as a kid, because it will never come back again. Now being a kid and hearing this from my parents just meant another set of words that my parents were trying to tell me. It had no meaning to me back then, but as I look back at it now, I should have really listened to what my parents said. Every time I come home and complain about not being able to go outside and hangout with my friends, I always thought about the free time I had as a kid. Coming home from school, ba...