Letter to my grade 9 self

To myself in grade nine, 

Congratulations on having survived middle school and entering Oak Bay high school. This is your last stretch of public education and what you do over the next four years will determine if you can realize your hopes and dreams for the future. Not too much pressure. Right! Yes, you will have to make sacrifices to succeed, but you can also have lots of fun, make friends, try new things and become enlightened by what you hear and learn in school. Although, high school may present joys and challenges, the most important thing it can teach you is success is possible if you try and refuse to give up.

 

Remember that although you might feel alone as you face the academic and social challenges of high school, you aren’t. Millions of teens enter high school every year and experience the same anxiety. Trying to “fit in” and make new friends is scary. Don’t be afraid to put your self out there and meet new people. There are others in the same situation. Smile and be confident and others will flock to you. You will build solid friendships that will take you through high school and hopefully into adulthood. Stay away from friendships that bring drama into your life. You don’t need to hang out with those you lie or can’t be trusted.

 

Put your self out there! Join a new club or sports team. High school has so many opportunities for teens and this is the time for you to experiment and maybe discover your passion. You don’t need to be the best, you just need to try hard and show spirit. This is high school, not the Olympics.

 

Trust you teachers. High school subject can be hard, but your teachers are there to help you succeed. It doesn’t always feel that way when you fail a test or do poorly on an assignment, but they do have your best interests at heart. See teachers after school and at lunch and ask for help. You will be surprised at how much they appreciate a student who is motivated to improve.

 

Appreciate your parents more! It may seem that they are only putting obstacles in front of your chances to have fun, but they are really only looking out for your best interests, when many others aren’t. Talk to them when you are confused or anxious about school, friends or sports. They will find a way to help you face the most difficult aspects of high school.

 

Lastly, don’t sweat the small stuff. You may stumble or even fall on your four-year journey, but it is how you react to these challenges that will determine who you become. Stand up, dust yourself off and move forward. One bad test is only that. You can set new goals for your self and prove your mettle next time. Oh and don’t forget – have fun. High school will be the best four years of your life.

 

Sincerely

 

Your future self

Macbeth project

 Hi, my name is Carmen Andiel. This is a video project that my English 11 class has been working on the past few weeks. It is about the novel Macbeth written by William Shakespeare. We are making this video and choosing a passage to better our understanding of the well known novel and to learn about Shakespeare’s history. 

Personal Narrative Essay

What does an eight year old know? This was a question I asked myself as I entered Ms. Irton’s grade three-class room at Willow’s Elementary School to begin a literacy project with her students. The student’s in the class looked admiringly at our English 11 class as we milled around the class tentatively, unsure of ourselves and the task we were about to undertake.

Although, our goal was to work with a student to help them write and publish their own novels, we began the process by getting to know the students in order to develop a rapport. We spread out in the classroom, paired up with a student and listened to them read. Lucy read Charlotte’s Web with enthusiasm and passion. As she read the description of the young and vulnerable Wilber her eyes twinkled. John, who was a blond impish boy, giggled as he read about the antics Greg Heffley found himself embroiled in at middle school in the novel The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It wasn’t until I listened to Connor read about Harry’s adventures in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with such fervor that I realized I had found the boy I wanted to help write a book of his own.

In a class of rambunctious eight year olds, Connor stood out for being a quiet observer of the chaos that surrounded him. Connor’s calm manner, however, was in contrast to his love of the wild and frightening magical world that is described in the Harry Potter series. His parent’s had read the novels to him when he was younger and he moved on to read them himself. He loved how Harry and Dumbledore fought against the evil Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It was clear from talking to Connor, that any novel he would write would have to include the characters from the magical world of Harry Potter.

For the next several weeks our English 11 class walked over to Willow’s School to meet with our buddies. Connor was always waiting expectantly for me to help him realize his fantastical ideas. The dark forest was to be the setting for his frightening tale. In this eerie land of shadows and monsters, Connor, as the central character, and his friends Harry and Ron faced the wrath of the evil Voldemort. The story took many twists and turns, but as in the original novels, Connor, Harry and Ron are victorious against evil.

The days spent in that Willow’s School classroom working with Connor to envisage his ideas had a lasting impact on both of us I believe. We spent hours hunched over his desk working through the plot of his wondrous adventure. He dictated his ideas, which I transcribed on to paper for him. Connor also loved drawing the pictures of the Death Eaters chasing him and Harry through the forest, which would accompany his story.

After many weeks of hard work Connor’s novel was complete. I took his words and his drawings and typed them up to give a professional, polished feel. The pages were then bound together and I was then able to present the novel to Connor. He was spell bound at the sight of his words and drawings put together into a real novel. His excitement was tangible and I knew that the weeks of hard work had been worth it. This novel would be, I could only hope, the first of many for the imaginative Connor.

 

 

 

About me

My name is Carmen Ursula Andiel. I was born in a small town in the Ukraine and moved to Victoria when I was two years old. I live with my mom and my grandma and together we all live very happy lives. Since I was a small child I have always been very interested in sports or being active. At the age of four I started figure skating, but quit when I was twelve in order to pursue other sports. Even though it was hard to quit my favourite sport, that gave me the opportunity to try out for many other sports including league soccer and field hockey which I continue to play now. By the age of five my mom also enrolled me in piano lessons, because she thought it was a good idea to appreciate classical music. I completed up to grade eight rudiments and theory level two rudiments by the time I was thirteen. I then realized I had to make some hard choices between my many activities. My mom also wanted me to experience  a summer camp and sent me for one week when I was twelve to Camp Summit, an outdoor adventure camp based in Squamish, BC. I have attended Camp Summit for the last five years and plan to return as a volunteer counsellor this summer. I also love giving back to the community so I do my best to take part in as much volunteering as I can. I have lived a very fulfilled life the past sixteen years and feel very blessed for everything I have experienced so far and can’t wait to see what the future holds for me.

At a young age I started being as active as I  could. My mom signed up for skating lessons at the age of four and wasn’t expecting for me to become as passionate for the sport as I did. I went to dozens of competitions and seminars to improve my skills and was on the BC select team for a few years. Most competitions and seminars were far way from Victoria so I learned to be independent at a young age. Unfortunately figure skating required me to give up many of my early morning, after school, spring, summer and winter breaks to practice on the ice. It also prevented me from participating in other school sports and activities , so I decided to give up the sport I loved. My decision  allowed me to participate in several school sport teams. Since I left figure skating I have been a part of the field hockey, soccer, basketball, volleyball and rugby teams at Oak Bay. My plan for the rest of this school year is to join school tennis, Ultimate Frisbee and the track team. In an effort to gain some track and field experience I am attending the indoor pole vault program put on by Track and Field Victoria at Oak Bay High every Tuesday and Thursday evening.  Outside of school I play soccer for Bays United and am part of a ladies field hockey team. I am also part of the BC regional field hockey team and travelled to California last May to participate in the Cal Cup tournament. Our team played well and we won the U16 championship. I enjoy playing sports because of the new people you can meet and the ability to bond over the sport. I also love being active and feel lucky to have the opportunity to do what makes me happy and feel good.

Piano was a large part in my life up the the age of thirteen. I started lessons at the young age of five at the Royal Conservatory of Music with no intention of it becoming so serious. I completed eight grades and passed my level two theory rudiments. Every grade requires you to take an exam to prove you have learned the proper rudiments. Within my multiple years of playing, I received three awards for earning the highest marks on the exams. Completing theory was mandatory to continue onto the more difficult grades of piano. I have written two theory rudiments tests and earned very high marks on them. I unfortunately realized the higher the grades you study in piano the harder you must work to practice and keep up. I decided after passing my grade eight Conservatory exam I would stop taking lessons in order to focus on my sports. I still try and keep up with playing piano for fun and find popular songs to play. I’m very happy to have grown up with music and know I will continue on my journey later on in life.

Although my volunteer and work experience has helped broaden my leadership skills, I feel the experience that has helped me to most develop in this area is my five years as a camper at Camp Summit in Squamish, BC.  Last summer I was a camper in the Senior Leadership Challenge 2 program at Camp Summit. This is a three-week program in which I received outdoor training and leadership skills by participating in a weeklong backpacking trip along the Juan De Fuca trail and worked as a camp counsellor for a week. I also had an opportunity to explore other activities such as mountain biking and climbing. I was able to hone my skills in these activities and move out of my comfort zone as I challenged myself physically and mentally. This coming summer I will complete the leadership in training program, which builds on the skills I learned in SLC 2, but begins to move the focus towards how one can apply skills and knowledge to guide and help others. The SLC 2 program also included a 16-hour Standard First Aid certification course.  I will apply my leadership skills by designing and instructing my own events and activities for the younger campers as I work with young campers this summer.

My volunteer experience has centered primarily on working with children. I volunteered for the past three years at a three-day Children’s Arts Festival in Whistler, BC.  At the festival I assisted workshop leaders by helping children learn and complete arts or crafts. I have also been a teen volunteer for the Reading Buddies program at the Victoria Public Library. I worked once a week for an eight-week period with struggling readers in the French Immersion program to improve their reading skills.  My last volunteer experience was this past December with the 12th Annual Bring It Indoors Soccer Tournament 2015.  I assembled team packages, interacted with both adults and children, and monitored the field and doors to create a more enjoyable experience for everyone participating. My work experience includes working as a referee for Bay United Youth soccer. I have obtained my qualifications for half and full field games. As a referee I have developed self-confidence, self-discipline and decision making and communication skills on the soccer field by working with children and parents.

Overall my life has been full of amazing experiences and opportunities. I’ve been active since the age of four when I  started figure skating and later as I tried out for many other sports. At the age of five I was exposed to classical music by being put in piano lessons. Going to camp has widened my outlook in many different ways. Camp Summit has taught me outdoor living skills, how to interact and counteract in various situations and has educated me on how to be true to myself. Learning to give back to the community makes me very happy as well because I feel I am making a difference. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to experience such a varied and interesting childhood and can’t wait to see what the future has in- store for me.