School Dance and Raffle Tickets

 

        Yesterday, I attended a school dance hosted by my school. This is the day when eager students spend their evening dancing, playing games, and chatting with their friends in our enormous school gym. Many students have been waiting for this moment for the past few weeks.

        Last year, when I attended this event, one group of students, mostly eighth graders, were talking about their high school enrollments. Another group of students, mainly sixth and seventh graders, were dancing, chatting, and playing around with their friends. Some kids weren’t interested in anything so they stayed by themselves on their phones.

This was the second time I was going to attend this event, but I expected something different than the previous one. I reached my school just in time for the dance to start. Students were dressed up in a variety of styles. Some were in casual clothing, some boys were in blazers, and some girls wore dresses. After a while, I noticed that barely anyone danced when the music was playing. The only song that almost everybody danced to was the Cupid Shuffle, probably because it was the most familiar song for students. Some of the songs that the DJ played were unheard of. Something particularly stuck out for me and for many of my friends was the volume of the music. 

It wasn’t at a normal volume, it was blaring so loud that it was deafening. After the DJ finally turned down the volume because of many requests to do so, my friends and I joined the raffle games. There were four baskets filled to the brim with varieties of items that you can win with raffle tickets. There were many choices- movie snacks, fitness equipment, spa treatments, and gift-cards.

The only way to get raffle tickets is to win the games. The games included cup stacking, balancing candy on a skinny popsicle stick, and blowing a balloon and letting the air push a cup across a line. To win a basket, you have to put a ticket in a bowl for whatever basket you want. Each basket has a bowl in front of it to turn in your tickets.

I won seven raffle games and I put all of the tickets I earned into the movie basket, but sadly I didn’t win. I wasn’t too bummed about it but I noticed my friend dropped to his knees and suddenly yelled “NOOOOOO!” because he didn’t win any raffle.

Overall, I thought the event was a good experience for enjoying with friends. I thought it was fun mainly because my friends were there and there were also fun activities. Lesson learned – just don’t be bummed if you lose a raffle.

Snowy Days and the New Ways of Learning

 

It has been several years without snow, but finally, we have been hit with snow storms several times this winter. Let's just say, it has changed the way we attend school. We have missed several school days that our county had to implement Asynchronous and Synchronous learning. Students in my county are struggling with this remote learning and want to go back to school. This remote learning has caused many inconveniences to students and their families.

Asynchronous learning is when students work virtually by themselves at their own pace. Their teachers will post their classwork for that day and students are required to complete it within a week. Some teachers give the students only a day to complete their work, depending on what they decide is right. I prefer this type of learning because it lets me be independent and responsible with my learning and the completion of my work. Although it works for me, it doesn’t work for every student.

The other type of learning is called Synchronous learning. It means the students have to join an online meeting and attend class. This method of online learning was normal in our county during Covid in 2020. The students are required to have their cameras on at all times. This is an effective way of learning because the teachers can monitor the students as if they were actually in class.

Some students are affected by this large amount of snow. People are losing water, electricity, and some can’t even go outside because of the slippery icy conditions in their location. Because of such power outages and lack of basic needs, many students are unable to attend these online meetings or complete their work online. This causes them to fall behind on their work and makes their grades drop drastically. 

Since we are having so many asynchronous classes this winter, every school day in March has been extended by 20 minutes to recover the lost days due to snowfall. Our school will end at 3:35pm instead of 3:15pm. This 20 minutes can impact the students' after-school activities like swimming, karate, or even parents who have to pick up their children in the middle of their work hours.

In conclusion, many students are affected by this asynchronous and synchronous learning in a negative way. I hope this asynchronous and synchronous learning ends soon and gets back to regular in-person classroom style of learning.

The Story of Wüsthof

P.S. The other side of the knife has my name inscribed on it but I am not showing it for privacy reasons. 

As I was getting ready for my summer break transitioning from the fifth grade to the sixth grade, I was wondering what to do over summer. I thought I should read everyday, swim everyday, but nothing seemed thrilling. Then my mom suggested a new idea for her and I, which was to cook a new dish every single day, and after 30 days, I would achieve a custom cooking knife with my name engraved on it. I found this deal very interesting, so I took the challenge and started the next day. I printed a calendar and stuck it onto the fridge to mark each day what I cooked.

        On the first day, I was helping my mom make Pav Bhaji, an Indian dish. My sister joined as well on that day, so there were many fights between us while cooking. Once the fights died down, my mom taught me how to hold a knife and how to cut vegetables. The first vegetable I’d ever cut was an onion. While peeling the onion, I could feel the tears coming. My sister suggested “Go wear a swimming goggle.” So I went outside to the sunroom to get my swimming goggles and then wore them to prevent me from tearing up. It worked! Cutting vegetables was a challenge on the first day, and I couldn’t imagine what the next 29 days would be like.

        

        During these 30 days, I learned how to toast and bake. My first encounter with an oven was when I made pizza. I helped my mom with the making of the dough and then cut vegetables. My creativity came in when I suggested using mozzarella cheese sticks for a stuffed crust pizza. My mother found this to be amusing and told me to do it as per my liking because she believed in me. Taking out the pizza was the scariest part of this dish because I thought my fingers would burn off. In the end, the pizza was delicious.

        

        On a few occasions, we couldn’t cook EVERY day. When I didn’t want to make anything elaborate, I made an easy dish like jalapenos with cream cheese and instant ramen noodles. Whenever I prepared an easy dish, I added my own spin so it doesn’t seem so easy.

        

        The dish that taught me the most was biriyani, the Indian mouth-watering rice based dish. Biriyani has a mix of spicy, salty, and is usually served warm. If you have ever tried it, you would never forget the experience. It taught me how to dice paneer cubes, how to be precise, and to be very patient. This dish was very hard for me to help prepare because I don’t have the patience the dish needs. I felt like every single ingredient needed an exact amount. After what seemed like a year, the dish was ready. My family sat down for dinner then my dad tried it first. Immediately, my dad exclaimed, “This is AMAZING!”

        

        My favorite dish that I cooked was Kothu Paratha, which is shredded flatbread mixed with vegetables, spices, and paneer. I asked my mom if we could cook this and she said “Sure! I would love to!” The same day we went to the grocery store and I helped my mother choose ingredients for this special dish. When we both reached home, I immediately took the ingredients into our home and then was waiting to start cooking. My mom told me simple directions and I followed as if I was her butler. I toasted the paratha and then cut them into small pieces. Once I added the vegetables, the cubed paneer, and the shredded paratha, I started mixing them together. Finally, the dish was ready. I tried it from the pot and it tasted just like how my mother would have made it herself. I felt like I had become a master chef.

        The last meal I cooked before receiving my cooking knife was pasta. Since the 30 days of cooking was coming to an end, my mother and I cooked our favorite type of pasta, Fettuccine Alfredo. I made sure the measurements were correct and I cooked per my mom’s instructions. After I cooked the pasta, I helped my mom with the preparation of the alfredo sauce. Mostly, my tasks were to bring her the correct ingredients, but I felt like I prepared the entire dish. I mixed the sauce and pasta together and it was ready to be served.

        

        The next day, my family went to the mall together to find a custom knife. We went to a Wüsthof store and the employee said the store did not carry the custom knives at the moment. Driving home in defeat, my mom suggested that we order the knife online. When we reached home, my mom and I went on the Wüsthof website and finally ordered a custom knife with my name. After a few days, the knife was delivered. I was so eager to see the knife and to try cutting vegetables with it.

        

        Completing these 30 days of cooking taught me so much about patience, perseverance, and precision. I also became more confident and creative at cooking and continued to work with my mom over weekends as a team. This has helped me become a better individual and helped me gain a new hobby that I can continue using for the rest of my life.

    Here is the list of dishes what I prepared each day...

Challenges of Middle School and How to overcome them

I am a middle schooler in the seventh grade. My school is a lot of fun, but there are some challenges as well. I believe the workload and distractions are the biggest challenges in middle school. 

The workload is the hardest part of school because there are more subjects in middle school and more work associated with them. As a middle schooler, one is expected to engage in self-learning and complete project-based assignments. These assignments build up most of the workload for school and they are time-consuming. My solution to handle my workload is to manage time wisely and finish assignments early.

Some students don’t manage time well and do their work at the last minute. Procrastinating increases stress and affects one’s sleep schedule in a negative way which in turn affects students’ health. My recommendation is time management to deal with middle school workload. Managing your time wisely helps you complete your work on time, without compromising your health. 

Distractions are a major challenge in middle school. Whether it is your phone or friends, or video games, students prioritize such distractions ahead of schoolwork. Many students struggle with this and lag behind in studies. My suggestion to solve this problem is to block off all addictive diversions when studying. This will help you focus more in school. 

In conclusion, in middle school, there are many struggles. Luckily, there are solutions to help you. So don’t procrastinate, don’t be distracted, and use your time wisely. Make sure you follow those to have a smooth journey through middle school.