Challenges faced at Central … adversity? Well, the problem is there really hasn't been any. Yeah, maybe inconveniences, there may be a lousy day in there where I missed the alarm clock and then my movie plans fell through. Maybe I scored low on a test and then got lectured in my next class about not having a title on my essays, but Central isn't a place of hardship. I mean, you've got to hand it to them, you can pretty much sit in the corner of this joint and get some kind of award.
And so in the corner I've been sitting, getting my awards. Looking out that classroom window: wow, so that's the real world out there, right?
Now, I'm not writing one of those condescending get-off-your-ass-and-man-up type of papers. Honestly, I don't know what exactly is out there, there's no way to; it's going to be different for each of us. What I will guarantee with absolute certainty is that the real world is nothing like the cradle we've been living in, hell, I'll even throw in a pinky-promise. There's not that lenient late paper policy that I've been milking, that's for sure. There are certainly no extra credit crosswords regardless of your line of work. And grades? You're either "passing" in the workplace or you're on the street. No disappointing mid-mark sent home to mom, and cell-phone privileges revoked for the weekend.
OK, sure, you've heard this lecture from your teachers a thousand times, from your parents 10 thousand, but at least from my perspective that's a lot of change they're asking for. So, I didn't get the most amazing grades in my day. In fact, there's likely 10 teachers out there scoffing when I say, if there was one thing about Central that I could change, I would make it harder. I would make it three times harder, 10 maybe.
There's no way I'm ready for the real world yet. Give me back my window seat, just let me sit here a little longer.
Kirk Rasmussen graduated from Traverse City Central High School in June. This essay was part of his senior exam.
Generation Why
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Kirk Rasmussen
High school should have been tougher
I'm not even close to being ready for the real world
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I'm growing up with the Great Lakes
Flashback. Seats covered in what would now be considered horrendous upholstery and a car seat confining my limbs, thus preventing all mischievous movement.
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Even in the desert, I see the lakes
The sweltering sun seared my skin as I clumsily mounted an oversized Dromedary camel. It was barely 11 a.m. and temperatures had already approached levels of intolerable proportions.
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Facebook buries the true person
Until around the age of 6, I was completely convinced I was a robot.
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Family loves llamas in the mix
On a cold Christmas morning, Graceanne Tarsa crawls out of bed, but instead of running to the pile of presents and bulging stockings under the family's brightly lit tree, she heads out to the barn to feed the animals.
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Bedrooms give teens a place of their own
No matter where someone falls on the spectrum of organization, our bedroom is an expression of our personal style and an extension of ourselves.
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School dance is wrong place to flaunt it
Say goodbye to gowns and dance cards and hello to strategically ripped shirts, neon tights and bare skin.
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Anonymous protects what's morally right
Anonymous is an anarchy based group of computer nerds. This group of computer hackers has a long history, and it originates in 2003 as a popular Internet meme.
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Things are far apart and I can't drive
For the past seven months I've been a foreign student in Traverse City. There were many strange things I had to get used to, and many things I had to give up to — but I have no regrets.
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Michigan is big, with lots of trees
I have been in Michigan for seven months. I come from Rennes, in France, and I decided last year to spend one year in the Michigan to discover another culture and an another environment.
Continued ... - Monday, April 2, 2012
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Fearing for a life
Have you ever woken up at 2 a.m. thinking you might lose a loved one? I live with a sister who has Type 1 diabetes.
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Buy your own car, teenagers
Every teenager should purchase their own first car. Parents should not buy their children's cars or pay for their gas and insurance.
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Social Media: Swept up in the crowd
My three-month vacation was dedicated to nothing but the quest for knowledge. Now things are not the same. Something new, flashy and exciting has caught my eyes. And my ears. And my thumbs.
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Social Media: Lost magic of conversation
Little did my friend or I know, we were taking a plunge into the defining factor of my era, which would push the limits of social privacy, acceptability and communication beyond anything anyone has seen before.
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Looking for GenWhy writers, photographers
Generation Why is looking for writing and photography from high school students in the five-county Record-Eagle coverage area.
Continued ... - Monday, March 5, 2012
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Drugs — how to kill and destroy lives
Cannabis destroyed my life. I smoked cannabis and it hasn't gotten me anywhere ... actually it has, but not in a good way.
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Diseased, their diseases, their families
Year in and year out, families get shaken up and their lives changed drastically by the agonizing diagnoses of the ones they love.
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Pro: DNA effective in solving crimes
As technology advances law enforcement personnel are gaining access to new methods of identifying suspects and convicting criminals. DNA testing is becoming extremely accurate.
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Con: Innocent don't belong in database
Law enforcement should not be able to collect the DNA from anyone unless they are convicted of a crime. Taking someone's DNA before they are convicted will force the suspect to be in the DNA database even if they are innocent.
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Looking for writers, photographers
Generation Why is looking for writing and photography from high school students in the five-county Record-Eagle coverage area.
Continued ... - Monday, February 6, 2012
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I'll use my words to explore
It is a funny thing, being a creative writer. I wanted to show my talent and illustrate exactly my love for the art of words in my essay. Alas, it was too long; clever, but long.
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Required reading changes relationships
First off, I am an avid reader. It is unusual that a book like "The Hunger Games" slipped under my radar for so long; I only had the opportunity to read it in my Science Fiction class as a required book.
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Despite backgrounds, I feel a connection
I stayed up almost past 1 a.m. in my room all alone, on a school night, flipping as fast as I could through the pages of "The Hunger Games," because I couldn't stand falling asleep without knowing how Katniss and Peeta escape the trap the Capitol set up for them.
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Genre crosses cultural lines
I have never been into science fiction; in fact, I have never read a book, nor watched a movie within this genre. I have never really figured out why people would want to make up things way out of our reality, and enjoy it.
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Looking for writers, photographers
Generation Why is looking for writing and photography from high school students in the five-county Record-Eagle coverage area.
Continued ... - Monday, December 5, 2011
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Seven years of 'train tracks' mold my future
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