Topic Discussion

Teen Pregnancy
   A major debate in schools in the United States today is what steps should be taken to prevent teen pregnancy.  It is difficult to get into the mind of a teenager to figure out why he or she has sex as a teenager.  Does it go back tot he notion that kids want to experiment and do the "cool thing," or is it that teenage students no longer hold education as a priority, but instead want to start a family?  Whatever the reason is a solution to this issue is very much needed as teen pregnancies rates are on the rise.
   Teen pregnancy gained attention as a social problem in America in the 1970s, as the birthrate among teenagers was falling but the rate of unmarried teens giving birth was starting to rise.  Throughout the years, people have introduced various potential solutions, none of which have changed the steady increase of unmarried pregnant teenagers.  One solution was the use of contraception.  Contraception includes using condoms and birth-control pills to have "safe sex."  I see this as a surrendering to what teenagers want and what they will do anyways, with or without parental permission.  Another solution presented was to minimize teen pregnancy by having abortions available to women.  Roe v. Wade, a famous court case decided that abortions were legal, with limitations, on January 22, 1973.  Although many women do have abortions, killing innocent babies because their mothers and fathers were irresponsible is not a wise solution.  The last proposed solution was for teenagers to attend a sex education course in high school.  Many have argued that this course does not affect teens until it is too late when they have already established patterns of unprotected sex.
   Teen pregnancy affects teenagers all over the world, either by being or in the same environment as someone who is.  There have been no proposed solutions that have had an impact on the rates of which teens are getting pregnant.  A solution must be made that will reach every teenager that impacts their decision to have a child before they're married.
   Possible community service projects that could raise awareness on this issue include talking to a different age group.  Maybe the solution lies in talking to seventh or eighth graders about the consequences of having sex as a teenager.  Our society is changing and it might be time to start talking about this issue to kids in lower grades.


Self-image
   The key point in treating a self image problem is getting rid of the false beliefs you have about your looks and replacing them with beliefs that matches reality.  The truth is that most people are more attractive than they think. People usually never notice the small imperfections that a person might be obsessed with and most of their perceived defects doesn’t exist except in their imagination.  A major part of this issue lies with what social media says of the fact that you should fit in with society and what they're doing.  Many people compare and try to model from celebrities.  For example, being thin is something that most people try to conform to.  If some individuals cannot attain that, they are likely to become depressed and are more focused on what others might think of them. 
   Possible community service projects that could be done in our community could include visiting middle school students as well as high school students and raising awareness.  Many middle school students look up to high school students so we could be role models for them by saying that those kind of things do not matter.


Social Media
   Most people can agree that the social media is a huge influence in people's lives today.  Our society has evolved in the way it thinks over the past years.  We now look to the media for direction in the form of Facebook, twitter, and celebrities.  These things are role models to teenagers and children all over the world.  Over the years social media has become negative.  It has caused issues like negative self-image as I stated above.  These days kids are constantly on their phone, or on social networks and it has caused a lot of problems with socializing.  People no longer think they need to talk face to face with people, but just to send them a quick text.  Cyber bullying has also been a continuous problem with the creation of social networks.  Kids bully others because they feel "invincible" because they don't actually see their victim.
   Possible community service projects that can be performed in our community is to hold and assembly and show a video on the negative effects of social media is.  There is even a lifetime movie called Cyberbully that we could show to kids.

Persuasive Essay Topics

• Topic # 1: The first topic that I had in mind was trying to persuade a reader why one of the most famous cases in American history, Roe v. Wade, should be overturned by the Supreme Court.  I personally believe abortion should be illegal, so I know a lot about the topic.  I have  done some research in the past about this.  That decision was made based on right of privacy for women.  Many people today, sometimes known as the pro-life generation, believe that is no longer the case.  They believe that life starts at the moment of conception, so the mother doesn't have the right to decide if a person (her baby) lives or dies. One interesting fact about about this case is that the woman who sued to have the right to get an abortion, some years later, said she was pro-life.  She admitted that she made a mistake.  I think this topic would definitely pass the so-what test. I also know that I have to be careful not to interject my opinion too much and stay informative yet persuasive.
• Topic # 2: The second topic that I was thinking about writing about was why we should go back to the conventional way of dating.  I know many people make the remark of why people don't ask the girl's father for permission before they go out, or even ask the girl out in person and not by texting. Have people's social skills completely gone out the window?  People, teens especially, were more respectful back then.  I'd also talk about the positive aspects that came from dating the conventional way of "back then." I think that this essay would pass the so-what test with teenagers and would make parents think about this issue too.

Brainstorming Informative Essay Topic

   I think the kind of topics I'm leaning towards for writing my informative essay are more going to be about history or about some great places to visit around the world.  Some topics  that I thought about were:

-Best travel destinations in United States of America
-Seven wonders of the world

-Syrian conflict
   With these topics I thought it would be neat and interesting to talk about travel.  I love traveling and  I love talking about history.  So I thought it would be interesting to readers to combine travel with history.  With the Syrian conflict, I think this is one subject that will go down in history and you never know it could lead to some type of war. So I thought this would be a great chance to write about the subject. I would have great access with the new articles that are out there about what's happening in Syria too.
   I also thought about writing about the two countries, Ireland and/or Britain.  I have really wanted to visit those two places, so I thought I could provide some interesting background information on the two countries.

Practice Informative Writing

   Brownies!  My favorite dessert are brownies and I'm going to tell you how to make them.  Many people have their own little recipes on how to prepare them, but mine is fairly simple and it isn't very time consuming. 
   What I do first is take a generic brand of brownie mix.  It is very important not to use a box that has instructions on how to make them.  I call those kind of brownies "cardboard brownies" because to me they just don't taste the same.  After you get a generic brand of brownie mix, you need to add two eggs and one tablespoon of vegetable oil.  Warning: from personal experience you shouldn't use olive oil because it makes the brownies taste weird.  After, you've taken time to stir in the ingredients, you need to apply PAM to your pan.  Then, you need to transfer the brownie mixture into the pan.  Lastly, put the pan into the oven with the temperature at 350F.  It should take about fifteen to twenty minutes to bake the brownies.  When it's done, let it cool. and then lightly sprinkle powdered sugar to add a little something to it if you want. And wallah, now you have a great dessert to serve anyone!

Pre-Writing for Personal Narrative

#1: When I knew that I was a Republican, and that I believed in everything a Republican believes in.
- pro-life
- conservative
- limited government
- major part of who I am

#2: When I realized that I want to be a nurse.
- I want to help others.
- I never thought I would ever do anything related to the medical field.
- I will carry on the "family business."

My Summer Experience

   It's everyone's dream when they're younger to move as far away from their parents when they get old enough.  By older I mean when teenagers finally go to college.  When we're younger we think, "Oh I just can't wait to get away from my family, I want to go to college already!"  Now people might say this because they may think their parents embarrass them too much or they're just tired of all "the rules."  It could be for any number of other reasons too.  Well, I used to be one of those people.  I wanted to get out in the world and go to some hotshot college or university, and the only way to do that is by going to one that is fairly far away.
   Girls State 2013, in Vermillion, South Dakota.  I'm still in the butterfly phase of wanting to go far away to college.  After this experience, not so much... I was chosen with another girl from my school to represent my town in the 2013 South Dakota Girls State.  It was a week long experience on the campus of the University of South Dakota.  I had the whole college experience, right down to having a roommate, the extra long lines to take a shower, and all the walking to get from class to class.  I thought to myself before the trip, "This would be a great experience for me to have, to test whether or not I could stand being away from my family in college."  
   As you can imagine, by the second day I was already homesick!  I was thinking, "Why am I acting all weak. I haven't even been gone two days!"  Well I'll tell you what I learned from this experience.  From this trip, I was able to get my priorities straight.  I realized that it was more important to me to be close to family, than going to some hotshot college far away.  So I've decided that when I go to college, that I'm going to stay fairly close to my family, where I can see them at least every couple of days.

Writing...

   I'm one of those people who generally don't like to write for fun.  Most say I have neat handwriting, but I usually hate the thought of writing a paper or essay.  Maybe the only time that I actually start to like writing is when I get to write about a topic that I am really passionate about.  Things like that could include politics, history, etc.  All in all, I think I am a decent writer.
   I believe I have come a long way in improving my writing  skills over the years.  However, my weakest area in writing is personal essays.  I feel sometimes that I don't have enough to talk about in a personal essay.  When I'm assigned more of a research or topic essay, I feel I'm better at researching different points to talk about and am better able to elaborate on those details.  When I'm assigned a major writing assignment, and we're given ample time to complete it, I have my own way of doing it.  First, if there's any research that I need to do, I give myself enough time to do that.  I also make sure I have enough details to go with it also.  Second, I write a rough draft, that will have many red marks by the time I'm done revising it.  Finally, when I know I'm satisfied with my rough draft and have made all the revisions, I type my final draft. I'm also one of those people that even after I finish my rough draft is always looking for ways to make it better.
   I'm excited to be taking English 101 and 102 because I will be able to earn college credit sooner.  These courses will also let me have a feel for what college English will be like and what I can expect.  One apprehension that I have is that we might do a lot of papers and I won' t be ready or that I won't have the necessary writing techniques to make a very good paper.  I am looking forward, however, to getting the experience of writing research papers at the college level and learning the necessary skills to become a great writer.