Olivia's Blog

The first thing that me and my group did was go to the Holocaust Museum. We saw all the things that happen that lead up to the Holocaust and how the Nazi’s formed to take over Germany. There was also another part of the museum that was about this kid named Daniel who survived through the Holocaust. The first thing that happened when you walked in was there was a movie about his life and how he lost his mom and sister during the Holocaust. Then after the movie was over, we walked into this room which had all of Daniel stuff like his soccer ball and when you turned the corner you were in his room with his bed, diary, shoes, and suitcase.  It was really cool because they museum made his dairy bigger and you could really read what he wrote and so of the pages were scattered all over the museum where the event happened. In the museum there were many things about the concentration camps. At the end there was a place where you could write a letter to Daniel if you wanted, which was pretty cool.

When we left the Holocaust Museum we walked to the Washington Memorial and took pictures. Then we walked to the World War 2 memorial and I took pictures in front of the California and Delaware statues. Also we went to the Lincoln Memorial the statue of Abraham Lincoln was very cool and big. I also liked the thing that was written above Lincoln’s head which said “IN THIS TEMPLE AS IN THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE FOR WHOM HE SAVED THE UNION THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IS ENSHRINED FOREVER.”

Before we knew it it was time for lunch. My whole group got pizza and it was very good. After everyone was finish we wanted to walk around and look at some of the stores. When we came out of one of the stores there was a phone case stand and Brittany wanted to see one of the case for her phone. She found one of the cases that she liked and the guy put the case on her phone before she had decided that she wanted to buy it. When Brittany decided that she did not want the case she said that she could take the case off,but the guy said he could do it and when he was trying to get the case off, he was pulling on it very hard and he split her phone in two pieces. When we asked for his name he would not give it to us because he  said he did not break her phone, so we just got the name of the stand and that is all we got. Then left to go home.

During my middle school years I have accomplished many things, such as placing 1st and 2nd in the science fair in both 7th and 8th grades and then being eligible to go on to compete in the Regional Science Fair in Philadelphia, and being inducted into the National Junior Honor Society, but the biggest thing that I accomplished was to walk again after I had broken my leg at the end of my 7th grade year. It happened when I did not slide correctly into home plate and my leg, I guess, did some twisty thing and broke. It was one of the worst things that I had ever experienced in my life. I could not tell you the pain that I went through and the struggle involved in going places, like to the store, and getting  in and out of the car since my cast was all the way up to my upper thigh. I spent the summer reading many books.  I think it was about 42.

The thought that I always had in my mind was that I was never going to be able to walk again. Time went by very slowly.  The  days were long and never ending,  and doctor’s office visits were painful,   but I got through them somehow. After going through 4 casts, I only had to wear an ankle brace, but physical therapy was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. They were always pushing me to my limits. The hardest part was relearning how to go up and down steps and running. I always had a feeling that the second I put my foot down to bear my weight that it was going to break again, but my dad never let me give up. After many days of hard training, like running around the block, going up and down stairs, I was finally able to run again.

When I had reached that goal, then it was time for me to build up my muscle in my leg again, since it atrophied while it was in the cast, to be ready for field hockey. The field hockey season had its difficult moments, but it ended great and I scored 4 goals. When softball season started, my dad bought a sliding mat that would build my confidence and teach me how to slide correctly, so it would not happen again. We let many other people use it to  learn how to slide right so no one would have to go through what I went through. Softball season found me back playing the game that I love. I got many hits and catches in the outfield. It was just great.

These are things I accomplished during my middle school years.

The proudest moment of my life so far would have to have been when I got Sussex County’s 2nd Place award for my fire prevention essay. Sussex County has many people and there were several schools who participated, so I was proud that I got 2nd.  My family and I enjoyed a very nice dinner that night as well.

I also got invited to the Milton Fire Department to get another award because I initially placed 1st for the Town of Milton which allowed me to compete in the Sussex County competition. Again, my family and I had a nice dinner that evening, and since I was the first person from Milton to ever win at the Sussex County level, I got a big trophy, fire extinguisher, smoke alarm, and a $75 gift card to the Tanger  Outlets. I thought that that was very nice of them to give me that much for just writing a paper. I was very happy that night.

My other proudest moment was when I was able to walk again after I broke my leg and have a normal life again. After all of the physical therapy and hard work of exercising, I was good to go.

During my middle school years, I’m sure I have experienced many things. However, only truly memorable moments are easy to recall and will probably stay with  me my whole life.When I first came to Mariner Middle School, it didn’t seem like I had many friends, but after getting involved in  sports, both field hockey and softball, I met new friends who had similar interests. I participated in drama for the first time because Mrs. Pfieffer is the best director and made it lots of fun.

7th grade was the most fun year because of Mr. Guyer was a great science teacher who had lots of birds and animals in his classroom.  He always played around with everyone and treated us like we were his friend. During field hockey season his coaching always made us laugh, but he also made sure that we were perfect. At the end of 7th grade I will never forget the Cape Henlopen State Park trip. In the middle of the night the girls in my dorm decided to go for a bathroom run.

Everyone came, except for the people who where sleeping. While we were all in the bathroom, because no one was brave enough to stand outside, all of a sudden the lights turned out.  Everyone started to panic and run out of the bathroom screaming, and there was Mr. Luciano, outside of the bathroom,  laughing very hard. We did not know who he was, so we ran as fast as we could and started to scream on the top of our lungs. This outburst woke everyone up, and everyone was either looking out of their windows  or doors wondering what was happening.

It was not that funny for us because we were so frightened, and then it was hard for everyone to go to sleep. I will never forget the end of my 7th grade year after breaking my leg in a softball game.  The break was very painful and having to be in a wheel chair and not being able to do what I wanted to was not fun at all. The good thing was that I did not have to go into the lunch room to eat, I just went into Mr. Luciano’s room to have a quiet and fun lunch with my good friends. There were many people who wanted to push me around in the wheelchair to my classes, but Hailey Steelman was the best and most cautious.  She is a great friend.

My 8th grade field hockey season was one of the best I have ever had. I scored 4 goals, which is the most that I have ever scored. It was just great, especially since no one thought I was even going to play after just healing from my broken leg. The Honor Society Lock-In was very fun. We got to watch movies and play with all the equipment that was in the closet all night. The bad part was that when I was trying to sleep on the stage, the people who were playing basketball would overshoot and hit me right in the head with the basketball.

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

Reflection:I think that this poem is about that dream don’t ever go away, they sometimes change depending on your life.

Today, from a distance, I saw you
walking away, and without a sound
the glittering face of a glacier
slid into the sea. An ancient oak
fell in the Cumberlands, holding only
a handful of leaves, and an old woman
scattering corn to her chickens looked up
for an instant. At the other side
of the galaxy, a star thirty-five times
the size of our own sun exploded
and vanished, leaving a small green spot
on the astronomer’s retina
as he stood on the great open dome
of my heart with no one to tell.

Reflection: I think that this poem is about sometimes things change without people noticing it.

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

Reflection: I think that this poem is about if you don’t have dreams, life is dull and boring.

There are many animals in the world and I want to go into Marine Biology because I love marine animals like dolphins and the colorful fish that are all around the world.  The theme animals let me explore many different types of animals and where they live. I want to learn how I can help the animals that are in need like the animals that are in the Gulf of Mexico who are dying or are being covered in the oil that is coming out of that pipe under the water. With this theme I will go into Marine Biology or become a Veterinarian to help all they animals I can help, so they can have a fun, long lived life.

Katrina is now 16. He parents died when she was little so her grandmother raising her. Katrina works at her grandmother’s coffee shop in a small town of Nordby and goes to school at Nordby High School. One day, Katrina sees a homeless guy in her grandmother’s alley next to her coffee shop. She decides to leave him a bag of chocolate covered coffee beans, some pastries left over from the day, and cup of coffee in a Styrofoam cup. The next day the homeless guy kept following her everywhere she went; he even when into her school gym, while speeches were being given and he said that he needed to find a girl and reward her with her good deed that she had done.

The homeless man meets Katrina outside school and she find out who he really is. He wears a skirt and carries around a bag with “The Messenger” on it, and his name is Malcolm. Before he leaves he has to reward her of her good deed by giving what she most desires. The first bean that he gives her is “fortune” She was supposed to eat it, but she put it in her pocket instead. The next morning, Katrina and her friend Elizabeth, grind up the bean to make it into coffee. While they go about doing other things, Katrina’s other friend; Vincent comes into the coffee shop and drinks the coffee.

While the three friends are driving to school, a truck comes from the other side of the road, almost hits them, and crashes. Vincent jumps out of the car and goes to the truck to help the man inside. The man Vincent saves turns out to be a millionaire, and to say
“thank you,” he gave Vincent a full scholarship to whatever college he wanted to go to. Vincent was the new hero in town, so the competition coffeehouse next door, “Java Heaven,” names a drink after him to steal all of Katrina’s grandmother’s coffee shop customers forcing her to move out.

Malcolm learns the Katrina did not eat the bean that he had given her, so he gives her another bean, which is “fame.” Katrina does the same thing. She puts it in her pocket to share with her friend, Elizabeth, the next morning. The next morning , while getting the bean from upstairs, Katrina’s cat is biting at her ankles; she falls, and her cat swallows it. When Katrina gets back from school, everyone is at her grandmother’s coffeehouse looking at Katrina’s cat that had gotten so large that someone said it ate a very big rat. This was not so good for the coffeehouse because now they had to close down for a health inspection.

When Malcolm decides to give Katrina one more chance to get what she most desires, she says that she wants Malcolm to get his promotion from being a messenger/angel to being a human. Katrina gets what she wishes for and malcom becomes a real human and starts his life.

The main character is Katrina, 16-year-old, who lost her parents in a car crash when she was young. She lives with her grandmother and works at her coffee shop.

This boo’s theme is about helping others, even though you do not know them, so you can make the world a better place a little bit at a time.

I thought that this book was great. Once I read the first page, I could not stop reading. I loved that Katrina would just go to a person in an alley and give him something to eat and coffee to keep him war. There were so many twists and turns that kept the story interesting and exciting. You should read this book because it is highly motivating with regard to helping others and causes you to think about others needs. I would highly recommend the Coffeehouse Angel

If i can’t do
what i want to do
then my job is to not
do what i don’t want
to do

It’s not the same thing
but it’s the best i can
do

If i can’t have
what i want . . . then
my job is to want
what i’ve got
and be satisfied
that at least there
is something more to want

Since i can’t go
where i need
to go . . . then i must . . . go
where the signs point
through always understanding
parallel movement
isn’t lateral

When i can’t express
what i really feel
i practice feeling
what i can express
and none of it is equal

I know
but that’s why mankind
alone among the animals
learns to cry

Reflection: I think that this poem is about being happy for what you have.