My favorite work this year by far was the book we read for honors "Famous all over town". It was an amazing book in that it let you see through the authors eyes into the world of his youth and get a real sense of what his world was like growing up. His ability to portray the plot in a child's perspective also added depth to the story.

I got the most out if the Where I Am From poems, both because putting the experiences I have with my home and family into words helped me to better appreciate them, and because sharing my poem with my family meant a lot to me and them.

I learned from Poetry out Loud to throw myself into something that might be difficult or "not my style". The experience of being incredibly nervous to get up on the stage, but doing it anyways and killing it, really helped me see the worth in not just writing something off before I even give it a true effort. Besides what I wrote above, I learned from Where I'm From that I keep little parts of the people who are dear to me and the incredible experiences I've had, and use those to grow.

I learned how to organize my thoughts quickly and effectively and put them down on paper with articulate language and clear organization.

Speaker: I went to the Main poetry out loud semifinals and presented in front of judges, contestants and some guests
Writer: I got better at analyzing abstract, philosophical works and how they relate to our lives.
Thinker: I was challenged to examine myself in terms of EQ and how my life relates to the works we've read

Rigor: I need to find the desire to succeed inside me, then apply that to my schoolwork.

As teenagers, our brains develop unequally. While we are becoming more independent, outgoing and self-promoting, our frontal lobe remains immature. This means we have difficulties making informed decisions; we do things we feel like doing, not things we necessarily should or that are the best for us in the long run. These difficulties relate to both self and social-management aspects of EQ. They don't necessarily pertain to the awareness portions as teenagers can still be aware of the right thing to do in a situation, but won't act on it. This makes EQ especially important for teenagers in order to develop better decision making skills.

Burke Riley is the Lennie to my George. He is a wee bit naïve and and talks funny. However he is a great friend and even when I'm a jerk to him he forgives me and shows me how to be a better person by example. He works very very hard and I admire that about him. I get miffed when he asks stupid questions but I think he learns when I explain.