Today I was supposed to go stay for the Stress Workshop but there was a family emergency and I had to leave. I still want to say what stresses me out, though, to admit that I do beat myself up about a lot of things. So here goes: I'm constantly stressed out about math classes and whether or not will succeed. The worry is not whether or not I will pass. I know I can pass with at least a meager 75 even if I don't exert 100% effort and barely try. But what is that? That's not going to to get me into Syracuse. Not a chance. The fact the I don't really always understand Algebra and that I have to always try harder than everyone else does, and half the time I don't exceed over an 80 is frustrating. It's always been math. I'm someone who aces essays and the humanities. Writing is my passion and I can read a Harry Potter book in about a week if I really want to. The fact that there are times where people believe math is more important than English, being that it is in everything that you lay your eyes on really stresses me out.It's not one of my strengths and I can't help but freak out when I get a quiz back, or my homework answers turn out to be wrong. I hope it will get easier, but I doubt it since it never has ever since I can remember.

I probably should have written a reflection piece on the trip the tenth graders have recently taken but what can i say? I've been really busy. One thing that this trip has caused is a motivation for all of us to pick ourselves up and get our act together. I feel like Quarter one is always the time where the majority of us slack off. Personally, my mind is still in the summer and the thought of me being back in school hasn't fully registered. That's why I think that the time of the trip was an eye opener for all of us. Initially, I cringed and moped at the thought of us going Upstate in November where it's cold and gray. I thought, this trip will be a very beneficial-in May. But now I'm actually glad that the trip was scheduled when it was. Because of it, I know at the moment that my college will be Syracuse university.The tour caused me to really visualize myself there, being a writer for Jerk magazine and a resident of the Newhouse School. Knowing that I have to push myself at the top of my game to get to Syracuse in a few years has really motivated me to do all the stuff that no one really wants to do. I find myself get extra credit whenever I can, writing everything in my planner, studying rigorously on my days off because of my insatiable hunger to be at Syracuse. Now I know that there is a chance that I will change my college choice in the coming years, but the way I see it, that school will have to be just as good or better than Syracuse. Either way, I'm going to have try my hardest in everything i do. For me, Syracuse is the first college that I have visited that makes everything I've been working towards since the fifth grade actually real. I commend Ms. Guzman, Ms. Cartwrite, Ms. Algozo, Ms. Roth, Ms. Gala, and everyone else who planned the trip. really enjoyed it and it's safe to say that the majority of the people who went did as well. Because of it, we have a new surge of determination to have the pleasure of opening that acceptance letter to the college they truly see themselves at.