Yesterday my group finally gave our presentation over hallway crowding. Even though it was a little hard to get going on this project and find motivation, I think it work out pretty well in the end for the most part. The worst part was finding a job for everyone to do so that everyone could be contributing all at once. But in the end I think that my group was able to come together and give a pretty decent presentation. I was happy that those in my group that weren't too active in the making of the presentation were willing to step up and help give it in front of the rest of the class and the administrators.

   Yesterday some of my classmates presented their power points to the administration. I thought that they all did a good job explaining what their point was and they all did a good job of giving possible solutions that I think the administration should definitely keep in mind. The fact that the administration was willing to come in and listen to what problems we saw as students and were willing to take our ideas and maybe apply them was really cool. The best way to solve a problem is to figure out how those that it effects feels about. When my group gives our presentation tomorrow I hope that we'll be able to present our ideas as well as the previous groups.

    This past weekend was our the choir christmas concert. Last year I wasn't involved in anything related to choir and this year I barely had any time to do anything but choir stuff. It was fun going around the community and caroling to all the people. You could tell that they appreciated us taking time out of our lives to come sing to them. I also liked how people from the community came and sang or played in the orchestra. I thought it showed leadership how they were willing to come and share their talents and support us.

    Today in class our guest speaker was Mr. Ritchie. It was obvious to me that he is a natural leader and a talented speaker. A lot of the material he used in his presentation was influenced by Ed Thomas. A lot of what he said reminded me of the message that Aaron Thomas had during his talk to our school. The themes of not forgetting where you came from and doing what you believe is right were his main points. My favorite thing that he said was that he was a positive person because there was already enough negative people in the world. It's true that showing a lot of negativity all the time doesn't really help anyone and only hurts you. Overall, I thought his talk was pretty well done and I think everyone could take something away from it.

        Tomorrow Thanksgiving break is over. I'm not exactly happy about going back to school, but I know that it's necessary. I'm happy that I had this past week to spend with my family and enjoy the time off. I like Thanksgiving because it gives everyone a break from whatever is going on in their life and gives them time to catch up with their family, eat a huge meal, and take a nap on the couch.

   Last Friday Ochayna gave her country presentation just like Vuk had done previously. I think it's cool how the foreign exchange program they went through requires the kids to present how they live in their countries. This way we as Americans can be exposed to a different culture just as they are exposed to ours. Everyone lives in different ways but it's clear that a lot of aspects of peoples' lives are the same no matter where they live.

Vuk's presentation

     The other day in class Vuk presented a powerpoint about his country of Montenegro. I thought it was cool how much he seemed to be really proud of his country and he was really excited about sharing it with all of us. I think it shows leadership in the fact that he signed up to do the exchange student program and left the country he obviously cares a lot about to come and learn about our culture and study in our school. I'm not sure if I would be willing to do the same.

   I've been thinking a lot about what Aaron Thomas said about being a consistent person. What he meant was that to be a good person you should have a consistent personality between all the people you associate with and shouldn't change depending on who you're around. I've been working on this for a while and it's pretty hard actually. I want to be able to be a person that is likeable to all different kinds of people and not just change how I act when I'm around them.

         Last week Aaron Thomas, the son of Ed Thomas, came to give a motivational speech to our school. I thought it was really cool how he seemed so at ease and comfortable yet not over rehearsed in front of us. The message that he was trying to get across was pretty emotional due to the tragic incident involving his father, but I also found it pretty inspiring and true. Mainly he was saying that you shouldn't forget where you came from, which I thought was good advice because I believe that Williamsburg is a pretty nice town that, for the most part, is full of good people who are truly kind and genuinely care about one another.

    Yesterday in class we made a list about all the problems that we have found in our school. I think that it was interesting to get the different perspectives of everyone in the classroom that are involved in different things and see how that influenced the problems that they saw. One of the problems that I thought really stood out was participation. I think  that that is in important problem because I believe that in order to fully enjoy the high school experience you have to get yourself involved and see what's it's really about or else you'll probably regret it later.

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    This is the week of the musical. We have been having long practices every day. It's starting to get to the point where it's stressful. I wish that I had prepared more beforehand than procrastinated until the show was this close. I think that preparation is important with everything because it can make you feel more relaxed and confident. And confidence is one of the most important thing you can have. Not to the point of arrogance though.

We have been doing team activities for the past couple days in class. I've really liked them because they've given us an opportunity to work together and think creatively. I think it's cool how we're allowed to think outside the box and use ingenuity instead of having to follow specific rules. I think that's important for a leader to be creative and use their own ideas to blaze trails. I also like to see the observations about the teams because it gives us a chance to see how we work from an outside perspective. And I just think that's interesting.

I wrote this

We've been talking about core values in class. This has made me think of what I really think of myself and what I decide is right or wrong. It's kind of a hard thing to think about. My core values are that I make sure that I won't offend anyone with something that I do. People aren't going to respect you if you do. Also I think that it's important to be social with people, as they'll respect you more if you can have a conversation with them and be interested in what they are talking about. I also think about if I do something if I'll still respect myself later. Self-respect is important. You need to like who you are if you ever want to be happy.

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We've been watching Pursuit of Happyness in class for the last couple days. I think that the movie brings up a really good point about how happiness is not really something that you can achieve, but it's more of an idea. No matter what you achieve in life you'll always have another goal to reach for and you'll think that when you meet that one you will finally be happy. I think that instead of spending your entire life trying to be happy you should focus more on being satisfied with what you have. I think that the word I would pick instead of happiness would be contentment.

With all that's going on I'm glad that I'm at least busy. It think that it's important to keep busy and productive, even though it's hard sometimes. If you just sit around and do nothing you aren't improving yourself or relationships with others. It's crucial to go out and make an impact and work towards something, or else you're just wasting the limited time that you have in your life.

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Lately I've noticed that everything in my life has been structured and I've never really had a lot of decisions that I've made for myself. Like my life has always been 9 months of school then 3 months of summer. It just seems that I haven't really had a lot of freedom. And then when I'm out of high school I'll go to college. Then I'll have to get a job to pay off student loans. Then I'll have to keep working to support the family that I'll probably have until I retire. And it's the same for pretty much everyone. I just think that people should be able to decide how to live their own lives.

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The past couple days I think that the monotony of school is really starting to get to me. Every day is starting to feel similar to the last and it doesn't look like things are going to change majorly anytime soon. What I'm trying to do to deal with this is focusing on goals in the long term. And I tell myself that once I work through all the stuff that's going on right now I'll get to my goal. But I think that it's important not to look too far into the future because you have to enjoy the present as well. Every day is another day that you'll never get back and I think that people forget to find what's important in their present lives and to experience that as well.

New blog.

The last guest speaker that we had was Mr. Atkinson. I felt that he was one of the best if not the best speaker we had, and I think that most of the class would agree. He made points like leaders have no fear of failure and pride can destroy someone. If you're a leader you can't be afraid to take risks or else you'll never be able to achieve something that is out of your comfort zone. And I think that pride is dangerous because if a person is so worried about impressing other people and keeping an image I don't think they deserve to be a leader anyway.

Response to Jepson's guest speaking

       I think that Mr. Jepson had a lot of good points in the speech he gave us. And I believed what he was saying because it seems like he has a lot of experience and is familiar with what it takes to be a leader. When he was talking about how when a job opened up for the curriculum director I thought it was really cool how he said that he stepped up and took the position even though he knew that it would be harder and take more work. I think that it's important to face challenges in your life and always test your limits to see what you're capable of.

What Influences Me

I believe that what a person is exposed to shapes who they become as a person. Whatever a person is exposed to, whether it's music, television, or other people, it can change their personality and how they view the world. I think what influences me most are the people I choose to be with. When I'm with a group of friends and they're all being positive I usually find that I'm in a better mood too. And it's the same if one of my friends is upset for whatever reason it upsets me that they're unhappy. I think music has a pretty big influence on me as well. I try to keep things and people that I enjoy close to me so I am shaped into someone that I like.

5th

The past couple of days I've realized that one of the most important things in life is making relationships with other people. The other day in class we talked about finding what's really important in our lives and it got me thinking that all the stuff I've been striving after generally isn't that important when I put it into the right perspective. The bonds that will last the longest are the ones that you make with your family and your loved ones.

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Whenever anyone fails at anything it's always hard to get up, shake it off, and try again. Sometimes when I really mess up I get to feeling like trying at anything is pointless. When this happens I find a way to make whatever it is that I'm doing mean something. I don't think people should just go around going through the motions of living and not have it mean anything. Every day is another that you'll never get back and I think that you should try to make every moment that you can important and meaningful.

#3

Sometimes I find it hard to find inspiration to motivate me to accomplish my goals. When this happens I lay out why I need to achieve a certain thing and what will be the cause of achieving this goal. If the reward is great enough I put in extra effort to see it through. I think that when you lack motivation you need to asses what's really important and if what you're doing is worth it. If your goal is unselfish and helps others as well as yourself I think it is a worthy cause that is worth pursuing.

Blog numero dos

When I think of leadership I think of a role model that everyone can aspire to be like. This summer my I went on a mission trip to Kansas City. When we were there we worked with people in poverty in a homeless shelter. It was a very eye opening experience and I definitely learned a lot and it changed me for the better. The group of people that organized the trip for us to be able to come down to KC were all former Central college students that called themselves Ascent Ministries. All of them were pretty young, but you could tell that they genuinely cared a lot about helping these people. I found that I wanted to be more like these people. To be compassionate to others and make a difference in something bigger than myself. That's really all anyone can hope to do with their lives.

First blog.

The other day in leadership we talked about the results of our personality tests. I had white. I agreed with pretty much everything it said. I think it's good to know how your own personality works. People think so much and worry about what other people think and how they feel about them. I think you should think more about how you can change yourself to relate to others. That way you can better understand yourself and learn how to better yourself. I think that in order to be a good leader you should know how to put yourself into other peoples' shoes.