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For better or for worse

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By Cari Floyd
LifeatStart.com reporter

When you’re in junior high everyone tells you how high school will be the best four years of your life. This statement isn’t entirely wrong but, they don’t mention how it will also be the most stressful four years.

You walk in on your first day of freshman year thinking high school is going to be sunshine and rainbows, but then you’re quickly hit with everything no one told you about. There’s state tests, college tests, nights where you’re up until one or two in the morning doing homework. After a while, you start to wish you were still in junior high living your best life without a care in the world.

For me, the stress hit me really hard my junior year. I had just got my first job so I was working almost every day, going to school, and I was getting tons of homework that felt never ending. I started to lose motivation for school; I was slacking in my classes, not getting homework done, and waiting until the last minute to get things done. This loss of motivation is what brought so much stress. I was doing just enough to get by when I knew I could’ve been doing better. Even now as a senior, I know I can be doing better and I’m trying with everything in me to do so.

High school will be the best and worst four years of your life but, take my advice: stay focused, don’t let anyone or anything distract you from what you should be doing. Even when you have no motivation for anything, try your hardest because at some point you’re going to regret not giving it your all. You got this.

Sing your heart out

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By Lexionna Packer
LifeAtStart.com reporter

Singing is my passion. My mom and grandmother taught me most of the things I know, as far as controlling my voice and making a song my own.My first time singing in front of a crowd was at church when I was six, from there I continued to sing at church and school events.

When I got to 5th grade I started getting bullied and stopped singing and even talking in front of people because I didn’t want any of the attention on me. I became very shy and anxious about everything.

When I got to high school my mom insisted I put choir on my schedule and that’s when I met Mr. George Preston Wilson, from then he has become a huge part of my life and helped break me out of my shell it took a while but we did it.

My sophomore year he convinced me to do a solo and made the concert on my birthday which is why it’s such a day to remember I remember being on stage shaking and breathing heavy when I began to sing ” I Have Nothing” by Whitney Houston and everyone got silent until the end of the song then screams were all I heard there were even people crying that was so amazing to see my voice had that effect on people. From then I knew this was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

A dream come true

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By Emily Marsh
LifeAtStart.com reporter

Ever since I was a little girl, softball’s been a huge part of my life. I started playing t-ball at a very young age and I just remember completely falling in love with the sport. It’s always been my stress reliever and a way for me to escape the world for a bit. I started playing fast-pitch softball when I was 12, and it’s been my mission ever since then to continue playing this sport for as long as I can.

I always talked about playing softball in college, but as I grew older I became unsure on whether or not I actually would. Nearly eight million students play sports at the high school level. From those eight million, only about 500,000 make it to the college level as NCAA athletes. When I first heard that, my heart sank. I realized how hard it was going to be to get where I wanted. Despite this, I began working harder than ever to get noticed by a college.

I began emailing coaches every week, hoping for a response back. My summer team travelled all over, including to Chicago, Atlanta, Columbus, and Cleveland. We went to tournaments that were swarming with college recruits. I even went to multiple college recruitment camps, including ones at Akron, Kent State, and Tiffin University. Towards the end of the summer I was beginning to lose hope, but everything changed when I received an email from Notre Dame College.

I had heard about Notre Dame College from a friend of mine who committed there for softball as well. Notre Dame is a small college about 30 minutes from downtown Cleveland. It’s a Division II school, which means I can receive athletic scholarships on top of academic ones. The head coach had invited me to an official, overnight visit to the campus. When I went, I fell in love with the campus almost immediately. I loved how everyone knew each other there, and it was unlikely for you to find someone who wasn’t a part of a Falcon team. There’s a deep rooted passion for sports there, and everyone goes to all the sporting events. I enjoyed hearing that even more because I love getting involved with my school and going to sporting events. I felt right at home.

Quickly after the visit I applied to the college and got accepted in a week later. I was also offered a spot there on the softball team and I happily accepted. I felt a huge surge of relief knowing that my dreams of playing in college were coming true, and I couldn’t have picked a better school for me. Go Falcons!

Graduation?

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By Isaac Momenee
Lifeatstart.com reporter

Now that the football season is over, I feel like there is so much more to worry about. When football was in season I let so much anger and stress out, football was really my outlet. But now it is over, I don’t have an outlet every single day.

I’ve honestly been so stressed out, I’m worrying about the Ohio State Tests(OST) so much more. There are only 10 days left until testing and I’m so anxious about them. I am completely on track to graduate, you need 21 credits I have 19 and I might not graduate because of these stupid OSTs! I need one more point for the OST and that’s aggravating. I’ve worked so hard all four years just to possibly not graduate. I think these tests shouldn’t determine if we graduate.