At the beginning of the year, Journalism was probably my least anticipated class. After all, who wanted to read and write boring newspapers? But now, at the end of the year, I can easily say that Journalism was my most valuable class.

I enjoyed how we were made to go outside our personal comfort. For the stories that required interviews, before those, I had never gone out and questioned a complete stranger. It felt strange and awkward. However, those are valuable experiences, and I am glad that we were forced to do that.

To be honest, the presentations and such were quite boring, and it was hard for me to pay attention to them, but material like that is naturally boring, as it is basically just history but without the conflict. I don’t believe that there are many ways to make it interesting, but I still learned a good amount from the lectures.

I have quite mixed feelings about the current event quizzes. On one hand, at the beginning, I thought they were worthless and seemed like a waste of time to study for. However, as the year went on, as I kept reading Google News, I realized how much more aware I was of the news and what was actually going on. Before, I barely knew anything. The news became more interesting to me and I find myself going through Google News and reading many random articles, however insignificant one might seem. The quizzes seemed extremely difficult at first, but as I became more caught up with recent events and important people and places and upcoming events, the questions become increasingly easier. Even the ones you don’t know can be easily guessed if you have good knowledge of current events. I think the only thing I would change is to organize the questions a bit more. For example, tell the students to go on EXACTLY at 8 o clock or so on a few chosen days a week. Then, tell them to skim through the first 5 or 6 articles on every page, and test them on any of the materials. This way, the test is less luck-based and more fair to people who study more.

After being told countless times to watch the anime Naruto, and constantly denying it, after finally watching a bit of it myself, I realize my mistake in not watching it before.

I now admire Naruto Uzumaki, who is the main character of the anime “Naruto”. The show covers the journey of an eleven year old boy, Naruto, who is an underdog that desires to become the strongest of his village. He has several characteristics that make him a worthy role model for people chasing a dream unimaginable by most people. Naruto’s undying perseverance inspires many others that their dream is achievable, both inside and outside the show. His extraordinary determination allows him to always persist, even in hopeless situations. This had led him to be able to do the “impossible”, and pull through many times. Another important quality he has is being able to chase his dream, no matter how foolish others believe it to be. He followed his goal until the very end and proved everyone that he could become the best. Everyone has dreams, but most people drop the journey due to others telling them that it is not possible or that it is too childish.

In the anime, you can watch his character development from beginning to end. At first, he is a loud-mouthed, boisterous boy who causes trouble and is hated by almost everyone in the town. However, later on, you get to see his change of heart and who he truly is, deeper than the first impression. Mental growth seems to be a strong theme in the show, and this is proved through the many instances where Naruto truly outdoes himself, and surprises many people, including himself. Even if he is a bit ignorant at times, he tries his hardest to learn what he is not good at or does not know. He is also very humble and down to earth. He never brags about his strength or power, and his story is truly of one of rags to riches. Nobody respected him and everyone ridiculed him, but in the end, people began to look up to him and admire him.

Naruto also has energy and a never dying spirit. He is always optimistic and never tells himself that he cannot accomplish a task. If he has an opportunity, he will seize it and do whatever he can to carry it out. Although his attitude is not perfect, it allows him to attain many new skills and he also is willing to change his attitude to make himself a better person. I also admired his teacher. He never told Naruto that he could not execute a task or goal and was the perfect teacher to him. He played a huge role in Naruto’s success, and he always supported him throughout his journey.

Tower of God started off as a South Korean web comic, or ‘manhwa’. After becoming a huge success and blowing up on “LINE Webtoon”, a popular web-comic app, it has now received an anime series adaptation.

The anime revolves around a boy who is peculiarly called Twenty-Fifth Bam. He has spent as much of his life as he can remember trapped under a mysterious tower, and he only has an equally mysterious friend named Rachel to keep him company.

The animations are incredibly good in the show, and every motion is super fluid. Every scene seems like an art-piece, and the fight scenes are amazing. Each blow is capitalized with a sound effect and the soundtrack enhances the experience. These all come together to make a masterpiece of a show.

The story is also captivating and is much deeper than you expect at first. Through each episode, certain mysteries finally seem to be unveiled, but then another one pops up, making each episode frustrating but intriguingly satisfying at the same time.

Mental growth is a strong theme in the show, and this is proved through the many instances where Bam truly outdoes himself, and surprises many people, including himself. Even if he is a bit ignorant at times, he tries his hardest to learn what he is not good at or does not know. He never brags about his strength or power, and his story is truly of one of rags to riches, as he starts off as an isolated, confused boy to a king with immense power.

In the anime, you can also watch character development from beginning to end. At first, Bam is a shy and confused boy, seemingly slow and unsure. However, later on, you get to see his change of heart and who he truly is, deeper than the first impression, and you get to see his true personality, underneath his shy persona.

There are, of course, cases of almost companion-like parents that support their children in whatever they wish to spend their time or life doing. On that side of the spectrum, there is a small handful of parents that are very lenient toward their child’s career planning and helping them base that around what they’ve always enjoyed doing. 

The majority of students are greatly influenced by parents academically, who usually play a major role in their career and study choices. However, this should not be happening, as parents should not interfere to this extent with their children’s careers.

However, based off statistics alone, most parents try to steer their children toward a financially stable path than the ones students are actually passionate about. One way or another, this way of parenting leads to many unhappy children (especially when the options are practically endless).

Take a community like Diamond Bar for example. Here, the pressure is set even more so in Asian households than any other ethnic group. The demand to do whatever possible to attain certain high-paying jobs in the future is seen as a bare minimum requirement for children of Asian background. 

The majority of the asian student population play the piano or some musical instrument to a certain level. It is also likely that the majority of these students attend an after-school tutoring class or have personal tutors to help them with certain subjects. These efforts are then expected to be paid off by the student going to a highly respected UC school or perhaps a prestigious private university. 

The continuous mantra that is repeated all throughout our lives is then more heavily implied in college, where the choices we make play a major part in our paths in the future. 

Often, students, are seen as a second chance for parents to make the right decisions, and that more or less leaves an unhealthy expectation that that was never our own in the first place. These expectations-turned-pressure leaves many students with a career that they find little satisfaction with, and thus, starting the cycle all over again.

      School teaches students how to live independently.The primary purpose of school is to help students slowly mature and grow into an independent lifestyle and mindset. Schools teaches kids many important lessons that are crucial to life. This can be done through different activities or lectures. A staff member might walk by a classroom every now and then to give a short presentation on something as simple as mental health. Ted Talks are often held at schools to send students helpful messages and can be an example of a lesson in itself.

School prepares students for the workforce and helps them to discover their future jobs. During school, students must partake in and study a variety of subjects. Some of these subjects are science, math, social studies, and language arts. These are all crucial for figuring out the personal preferences of a student and to help them learn what they would like to do once they are older. For instance, if someone discovers that they enjoy studying biology, they could become a biologist. If one prefers math, they could become a mathematician or simply teach others.

        At school, students are continuously reminded to thoroughly consider all of our decisions and to not be rash. During solo projects, they must think about what they will do to complete the assignment well by themselves. During group projects, they are encouraged to take charge of the situation. They are influenced to learn how to think for themselves and make good choices in order to become leaders instead of followers.

The subjects taught in school are also important to students. For instance, math is used almost everywhere and is required for many important responsibilities such as taxes. It is used in calculated percentages and sales, which are seen in everyday life. Science may help students to experiment and memorize information. Students are also taught how to make reasonable choices so they do not end up committing crimes and wasting their life. It is a primary place for them to mature.

        

In the future, I want to major in computer science/computer engineering. I would like to attend an Ivy League school such as Harvard or Yale or attend a prestigious school such as MIT or Stanford. Of course, this is an extremely difficult goal to achieve, but I will work my hardest to get there. I would also like to sustain decent grades(around a 90-95%), and be in honors classes. I am going to attend many educational programs for areas of work such as essay writing, general math, history, and coding.

For for pastimes and hobbies, I would probably still be playing video games, but not as much since I will be a lot busier in the future. I will also be listening to different types of music and reading more books. I also enjoy swimming and taking lessons casually and having pool parties with my friends. I would also like to learn to play the piano to relax and play songs I enjoy. I like many outdoor activities and sports but I don’t like to get too physical while outside.

For clubs, I would like to start doing Robotics so I can go out in competitions to compare my coding and creativity/building skills to others. I believe Robotics is great for challenging me to see how I can overcome obstacles and such. I would also enjoy starting Science Olympiad, as it is a great source for gathering new information, and practicing building and doing new kinds of projects. For athletics, I might try and get back into basketball, because I enjoy playing it casually with my friends.

I believe I am currently pretty close to this “ideal life”. I am taking programming lessons and classes to get better at it, and I am currently doing very well in school, achieving grades around 95% and attending all honors/advanced classes. I am attempting to join more programs to get better at essay writing and history/social studies. I still read interesting books and am trying to get more time for swimming lessons and piano. However, I am not enrolled in Robotics, Science Olympiad, or currently playing basketball.

After releasing in 2013 and completely crashing, Warframe has since accumulated millions of players and has made a great name for itself in gaming culture, even after its horrible start. Thanks to Digital Extremes, the creators of Warframe, the game has sustained itself through the constant updates, seasonal events, and new characters, or ‘warframes’. Even after all these years, it still provides a fantastic gaming experience and sets a great example for other games with its diversity of playable characters and intricate story.

Warframe is a parkour/movement based third-person shooter that revolves around many different warframes or characters that have different roles. Each character offers something unique, both in terms of background, role, and theme and game-play. Even if you think someone looks weird, they could actually be extremely fun to play.

Getting new armor, weapons, or mods and finishing the game single-handedly gives you a giddiness like no other. Due to the game’s replay-ability, after investing hundreds, or even thousands, of hours into the game, it still offers moments of absolute joy. The game is also extremely accessible, which means that you and your group of friends can still enjoy a game together, even if your experience levels are differ greatly. The different mechanics with each character ensure fun, even if you have played for years.

Warframe’s actual feel and game-play is amazing, with its different environments and parkour styles, with constant new updates for movement to keep the game fresh. Every time you fire a bullet, rocket, hook, or laser and it lands on the enemy, it connects with a satisfying impact and sound effect. A headshot has a special sound effect that gives you a satisfying feeling. Melee weapons have a nice crunch to them like no other that also make them enjoyable to use. Buffing and healing your teammates can be fun too, as you watch them wreak havoc on everything else.

Team struggling with hitpoints? Pick a healer. It’s a dull and unappreciated role, but becoming the selfless giver and sustaining the team makes you a crucial part of the team. Just bored of playing a hero? Simply go back into your star ship and switch characters. Game not looking so good? If you’re having trouble with the enemy lineup and they seem to be constantly steamrolling you, you can swap characters whenever you like, and also use different mods in order to make yourself stronger. Seem to be dying too fast? Pick a tank and frontline for your friends while laughing at your enemies attempting to take you down.

The first thought that pops into your mind at the mention of getting fit or losing weight is probably something about sports. I used to also think the same, until i discovered a new activity. I recently took up jump-roping for its great benefits for the body and entertainment.

I started quite simply, only doing normal jumps for about 50 reps at a time and then taking a few seconds of rest. This soon got boring; however, I began to try and pick up different tricks, such as alternate foot jumps, high knees, and criss-crosses. This soon became addicting, and although it was frustrating at first, it was fun. Before I knew it, over an hour and a half had passed.

I had not thought that even close to this amount of time had passed, and I was shocked. This was much more fun than something such as running, and I felt engaged with an exercise for once. Instead of simply mindlessly doing the same action, such as what you do in running, I was able to incorporate different tricks and types of jump-roping into my exercise, burning calories and time extremely quickly.

After doing some research, I found out that jump-roping actually burns an insane amount of calories. It burns up to 800 calories an hour based on your body type, and it can actually build muscle and a healthy body for you. You also burn more calories after you exercise, which makes it even more efficient.

After getting into jump-roping, I actually feel much healthier and more fit than before, and it is much more fun than running around in circles for long periods of times. It also has many, many more benefits other than calorie burning. These range from improving coordination and improving bone density to weird things such as making you smarter, decreasing chance of foot or ankle injuries, and improving your breathing efficiency. These can make you much healthier and make your life better overall.

Out of the thousands of anime available, there are several perfect role models and characters to look up to that seem to hardly make any mistakes. However, out of these, one imperfect but relatable character, Kurosaki Ichigo, stands out to me.

The anime, Bleach, covers the journey of a young man named Ichigo, who starts off as an ordinary human. However, after a life-or-death situation, he has powers transferred to him, giving him unimaginable responsibilities. Nevertheless, through this pressure he retains several characteristics that make him a worthy role model for people chasing a dream unimaginable by many others. First of all, he has extraordinary determination, and he will always persist, even in hopeless situations. This is shown at the very beginning, after he battled off a Hollow with his newfound powers. This had led him to be able to do the “impossible”, and pull through many times.

Ichigo displays his energy quite unusually, often acting quite aggressive and sometimes losing control of himself. Ichigo he has very high energy and a never dying spirit. He is always optimistic and never tells himself that he cannot accomplish a task. If he has an opportunity, he will seize it and do whatever he can to carry it out. Although his attitude is not perfect, it allows him to attain many new skills and he also is willing to change his attitude to make himself a better person.

At first, he is a loud-mouthed and boisterous boy. However, later on, you get to see his change of heart and who he truly is, deeper than the first impression. This is also due the lessons he learns as he gains new friends and teachers.In the anime, you can watch his character development from beginning to end.

Even if he is a bit ignorant at times, he tries his hardest to learn what he is not good at or does not know. He never brags about his strength or power, and his story is truly of one of rags to riches. Mental growth is a strong theme in the anime, and this is proved through the many instances where Ichigo truly outdoes himself, and surprises many people, sometimes even himself.

Another important quality he has is being able to chase his dream, no matter how foolish others believe it to be. He followed his goal until the very end and proved everyone that he could become a real soul reaper, even through his strange beginnings. Everyone has dreams, but most people drop the journey due to others telling them that it is not possible or that it is too childish. Ichigo’s undying perseverance inspires many others that their dream is achievable, both inside and outside the show.

Out of the millions of shows out, there are several role models and characters to look up to. However, out of these, one that stands out to me is Monkey D. Luffy from the manga One Piece.

The manga covers the journey of a young boy, Luffy, who is an underdog that desires to become the Pirate King by finding his legendary treasure. He has several characteristics that make him a worthy role model for people chasing a dream unimaginable by many others. First of all, he has extraordinary determination, and he will always persist, even in hopeless situations. This had led him to be able to do the “impossible”, and pull through many times.

Luffy also has very high energy and a never dying spirit. He is always optimistic and never tells himself that he cannot accomplish a task. If he has an opportunity, he will seize it and do whatever he can to carry it out. Although his attitude is not perfect, it allows him to attain many new skills and he also is willing to change his attitude to make himself a better person.

I also admired his brother, Ace. He played a huge role in Luffy’s success, and he always supported him throughout his journey. He never told Luffy that he could not execute a task or goal and was the perfect teacher to him.  Unfortunately, Ace died tragically after one of their missions, but he had already influenced Luffy enough to become a better person.

Another important quality he has is being able to chase his dream, no matter how foolish others believe it to be. He followed his goal until the very end and proved everyone that he could become the Pirate King. Everyone has dreams, but most people drop the journey due to others telling them that it is not possible or that it is too childish. Luffy’s undying perseverance inspires many others that their dream is achievable, both inside and outside the show.

In the manga, you can watch his character development from beginning to end. At first, he is a loud-mouthed and boisterous boy. However, later on, you get to see his change of heart and who he truly is, deeper than the first impression. This is also due to Ace and his lessons.

Mental growth is a strong theme in the show, and this is proved through the many instances where Luffy truly outdoes himself, and surprises many people, including himself. Even if he is a bit ignorant at times, he tries his hardest to learn what he is not good at or does not know. He never brags about his strength or power, and his story is truly of one of rags to riches.