Students’ schedules have become busy with after-school activities, homework, friends, and family that time gets taken away from the hours meant for sleeping. When I was on the volleyball team this past fall, my schedule was murderous. On an average day, I got up at 6:15am, ate breakfast, got ready for school, and left my house at 7:15am for my drive to school. After each class, my stack of homework to do grew higher and higher until finally the clock hit 2:40 pm. Fatigued, I realized I still had to go through two hours of volleyball practice.

Once I got out at 5:00 pm, I sat through the parking lot that exists on the East Beltline during rush hour. When I pulled into my driveway it was usually 5:40 pm. At home I took a long shower, ate dinner, and finished my homework by 8:00 pm on a good day. With a relief, I could do whatever I wanted, but that time flew by and before I knew it, the digital clock in my room read 11:15 pm. Currently, I’m still getting to bed around the same time. Which means I’m living off of 7 hours of sleep, close to two hours less than what I should be getting. My schedule is tiring, but it’s not even close to what some teens are dealing with.

            T.V., Internet, Playstation, X-box, cell phones, and any other technology with a screen is becoming a big part of human life and keep kids up late, causing sleep loss. On average, 12^th graders have four major electronic devices in their bedrooms (Epstein). When technology is that close to one’s bed, the temptation to use it right before getting some shut-eye is higher. I blame a large part of my own sleep-deprivation on technology, mainly my computer. At the end of the night I keep telling myself, just 15 more minutes then I’ll go to bed. Before I know it those 15 minutes have turned into an hour. The stimulation of the computer or T.V. screen keeps the brain alert and awake, making it harder to fall asleep when someone actually goes to bed.

            A major biological reason for sleep-deprivation in teens is puberty, which naturally causes sleep patterns switch to later times, 11:00pm-12:00pm. When I was a 2^nd grader I remember thinking, “I can’t wait till my bedtime is later.” Being a young girl who looked up to her sister in high-school, I thought it was cool to go to bed late. In reality though, a teen’s bedtime shouldn’t be drastically different from a five-year-old’s. People who believe humans don’t need as much sleep as they mature from infancy to adulthood are misinformed. The biological changes in a teen’s body requires him or her to get more sleep, specifically nine to ten hours each night (Frieden).

            Early school start times are killer to students, making it nearly impossible for them to get the recommended nine hours of sleep. This would require some teens to be in bed by 8:45 pm if they have to be sitting in school at 7:30 in the next morning, and that’s asking too much. After doing extensive research on the connections between school-start times and sleep loss, Mary A. Carskadon quotes, “These early start times are just abusive. These kids may be up at 8:30, but I’m convinced their brains are on their pillows at home.” The first few hours at school are often full of yawning, drooping eyelids, and the inability to concentrate. James B. Maas, one of the nation’s leading sleep experts says,

“What good does it do to try and educate teenagers so early in the morning? You can be giving the most stimulating, interesting lectures to sleep-deprived kids early in the morning or right after lunch, when they’re at their sleepiest, and the overwhelming drive to sleep replaces any chance of alertness, cognition, memory, or understanding.”

How will being in school before sun rises benefit a students in any way, as far as school performance goes?

Most people are uneducated on the importance of sleep usually because we can’t always see the consequences immediately. Late at night, I find myself debating to either stay up late studying for a test, or sleeping. It doesn’t take long for “sleep” to come out on the losing end. Teenagers aren’t the only uninformed ones. Parents are also in the dark. In order to let their children have bigger schedules, moms and dads are sometimes willing to let their kids cut back on sleep. “Yes, my kid should be in bed… but there are a lot of other priorities!” is a typical parental response. Even some doctors have ignorant beliefs. In Po Bronson’s article “Snooze or Lose, a concerned mother called her family pediatrician about her daughter’s serious fatigue, his response was that it, “wasn’t a big deal” and “she’ll grow out of it.” The pediatrician’s reply is misinformed, but common among doctors (Bronson). If tiredness is just ignored, sleep debt will only continue to pile up.

The author begins her article with stating where she is, surrounded by fires in Los Angeles. She then tells the usual thoughts that go through a person’s mind when they hear about the fires. Like picturing what is in the fire’s path, if you’re in danger, what might be ruined, etc. During the last major fires California experienced in 2004, Wilentz took a drive one morning and gives a detailed picture of what she experienced,

“To the east, the sun was coming up behind the mountains, but it seemed too soon for sunrise. Then I realized that what I’d thought was the sun was the fire, making a silhouette of the hills. Smoke was pouring into the sky like a cloud bank in a dazzling sunrise.”

She then goes on to explain where fires normally attack (the wealthier areas, greener grass, but middle class is still affected) and after living through a lot of fire seasons, you are used to the all the newspaper articles, all the standard procedures, and it becomes more familiar. Most people lose something in the fires, it might not be as drastic as your whole home, but sometimes it’s the scenery you drive past everyday to work, a friend’s house, or a store you usually go to. While the rest of the country enjoys the beautiful colors of fall, Southern California is hoping to get through fire-season okay.

I really liked the authors writing style in this article, she gave really visual pictures of the fires. Since I couldn’t really relate to what she goes through each year, I’m glad she wrote about what someone would experience living in SoCal during fire-season. She went deeper than just facts, which is why I believe the article turned out interesting. Hearing these types of stories make me glad to live in Michigan, no fires, no hurricanes, no earthquakes. Besides the occasional tornadoes and snowstorms, there isn’t a huge weather threat here.

By: Brian Grazer

Brain has always put himself in situations where he finds challenges and difficulties. He learned how to surf when he was 45 years old. his first try was in front of a lot of tall, muscular guys with tattoos. It was intimidating, but Brian found a thrill in it anyway. That’s because Brain believes in disrupting his comfort zone to keep “growing” (learning, experiencing) as a human. Brian works in the entertaining business. He has become quite successful, mostly because he has stretched himself in his life. A big thing he has done throughout the years is call up people in different occupations, sometimes they were famous, other times, quite normal. His plan was for them to challenge his thoughts and ideas, and even if it didn’t always turn out to be a life-changing chat, he learned something from them. Going through experiences that most people would rather run away from keep Brian living his life.

This was a well written article about a subject a lot of people don’t like to do, including me. Getting out of your comfort zone. I wish I could have the courage of the author, I believe that I would also learn more from these types of experiences. I just have to be willing to take on the challenge. As far as the writing style of this essay, he catches my attention well by giving a visual picture of a small 45 year old man on a surf board just learning how to surf. It brought the question “How did he get there?” into my head. He did a good job answering my question by expanding with other experiences in his life and concluding his essay by saying,

“So why do I continue to subject myself to this sort of thing? The answer is simple: Disrupting my comfort zone, bombarding myself with challenging people and situations — this is the best way I know to keep growing. And to paraphrase a biologist I once met, if you’re not growing, you’re dying.”

            If I can help it, I try to stay in my comfort zone as much as possible. It was a big decision to change schools. In 6^th grade I went to Rockford Christian to experience their environmental school. Going to a new school forces you to meet new people, make new friends. It was hard to leave behind people I had been with since preschool.

Environmental school was a big change from sitting all day in desks. Every Friday we went on field trips. The trip usually was a learning experience, volunteering experience, or just a break at the end of the week to play capture the flag, or build snow shelters. We went everywhere, from the landfill (that trip was oodles of fun), to food drives, to Camp Roger, and many other places. But wherever it was, we always ended up outside, even with knee-deep snow on the ground. Some people may say it was wasn’t “real” school, but I believe I learned valuable things in Mr. Warner’s class that I still keep with me to this day.

Every Wednesday we all piled in the short bus for a 5-minute drive to Camp Roger. We each had our own plot of land; my plot was 50 ft x 50 ft. We were assigned a certain task to accomplish in 1 or 2 hours, which we then reflected on in our journals. I loved the times we just got to sit and think about God and his creation, these moments really helped me to play attention to the greatness of God and how much effort he put into creating our world. I sketched out the progress of buds blooming into flowers, recognized the smallest details, and listened to birds, crickets, and frogs. Going through this experience took me further beyond what I could have ever achieved in a classroom.

Other memories I remember most come from the times when we volunteered. After learning not to litter and trash God’s world, what better way to help than to dress up in hideous orange jackets and pick up newspapers, plastic bags, and unknown objects off the side of Belding Road. Helping the school by recycling everything possible and planting flowers to beautify creation. I wouldn’t have accomplished anything if I had just been told what’s good and what’s bad. It’s the fact that I actually did something.

            I tried something I wasn’t comfortable with, leaving my friends at Creston and going to RCS, but looking back I realize I have changed into a better person. I’ve turned a little “green”, learned how to care for creation, and have found a deeper respect for God.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/05/AR2007100501670.html

By: Melinda French Gates

It is hardly ever talked about in presidential debates, and downplayed too much. Education in high schools. Last year, about 1.1 million people dropped out of high school. Although high school works for some, others just can’t follow along. Some students aren’t even getting enough preparation for college, and find themselves totally out of the loop even though they got a 4.0 in high school such as Beth Martin who quoted,

“I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know how to operate the things in the laboratory experiments. I had never been taught how to use a microscope… I’m so far behind that I just feel like it’s going to be impossible for me to catch up. I don’t feel smart at all in college. I feel — I feel like I’m stupid.”

Her high school hadn’t even challenged her enough for the next level. All high schools should be getting better programs. The next generation needs to be educated or we’ll have more problems than global warming, the Iraq war, illegal immigration, and all the other big issues that get addressed a lot in our nation. Many people consider education as a high priority, but rarely do anything to or try to get involved in making it better for students. So the author and another foundation are funding towards a campaign called Strong American Schools to raise awareness of political leaders in the upcoming presidential election and hopefully improve high schools for our generation.

The author used her article to tell people of an issue that often gets overlooked. She started it out in a very creative way that acknowledged this by using facts and numbers,

“Number of students who dropped out of high school last year: 1.1 million.

Difference between the lifetime earnings of a high school dropout and a college graduate: $1.5 million.

Of 300 questions asked in presidential candidate debates this year, number that addressed this issue: eight.”

It gave the article a more creative twist rather than just saying “High schools are getting worse, we need this to be a bigger political issue.” Throughout the article she used surveys, stories, and quotes that backed up her statement well. The way she wrote it made me more interested than I probably would have been, otherwise. I feel our school challenges us and gets us ready for college. We have AP classes for those who need a bigger challenge. We can talk to teachers if we’re struggling. And we have a bunch extra curricular activities. Overall, our school keeps good standards, but more high schools need to do the same. It’s a big issue, it will make a difference in how educated people are for the next generation if we don’t raise the standards in certain high schools.

In 8^th grade I decided to learn guitar, and ever since then I’ve been on the praise team at our church. A major positive in this is now I can give my opinion of what songs we play in church, what songs speak out to me the best. I like being a voice in the choosing of songs, and being able to bring in new songs which the younger population in the church and I can relate to, instead of just singing hymns all the time.

Freshman year I went to a Christian concert, called “Winterfest” at the affordable price of $10 with my friend. We stood in a long line at the Delta Plex, shivering to see the likes of tobyMac, Michael Tait, Building 429 play live. My seat was near the speakers blasting out songs so loud and making the room vibrate with the deep sound of the bass, I was almost deaf by the time the 4-hour marathon of music finished. But it was one of those times were I could jump around, sing along, and glorify God with all my heart.

A couple summers ago, my youth group went on a retreat to Colorado and took part in the “Colorado Challenge” – a combination of challenges to overcome. It included rock repelling, hiking up and sleeping on top of a mountain, whitewater rafting, and other various extremes. As I scanned the schedule I saw all the activities we had planned for us, near the bottom of the schedule, at 8:00 pm I saw that we would have a chapel. I thought to myself “Oh that will be just an ordinary chapel, I just hope that it will keep my attention”. It turned out to be what I would look forward to most each day one and of my greatest experiences in my journey of faith. Our speaker Jeff was amazing and related to us teenagers so well. But in my opinion, some of the best times in chapel were singing with the band. The power of the electric and acoustic guitars, drums, and keyboard spread through the room. Being in the middle of the Rocky Mountains added to the greatness of it all. The band brought their own written music (by the lead singer, Nate), which we all ended up learning. At these times, I could actually feel God’s presence in the room. One of the chapels particularly stood out to me, where at the end of chapel we had a time of reverence to God. But it wasn’t like on of those “let’s take a moment of silence” type of things. It started out like a prayer, then the band came in and the intensity of the moment turned greater and spread through the room. What I thought would be a 5-minute thing turned into hours. I was so emotional I had in tears of joy. The praise shown to God was at an all time high. I had never felt that as to God as in that moment. The music played sticks with me the most from that time.

Looking back at my life, I find my “spiritual highs” to be linked in someway with music. A song can translate into a prayer, praise, thanksgiving, adoration, and so much more. I believe in music as a spiritual language.

By: Yolanda Young

Yolanda has never really had a father figure in her life. She tells stories from when she was younger about how he forgot her birthdays, how she saw him beat a woman in the street, and watched him try to shoot her mom. Luckily, her mother survived and because of this the author learned how to forgive. Her mom didn’t argue when Yolanda’s dad didn’t pay his part in child support and she always made sure that Yolanda had respect for her father, even through all the hard times. Her father had done nothing in her life to make her consider forgiving him. He hadn’t even asked for it, be she still gave it freely. He wanted to cut Yolanda off completely from his life, but then came crawling back wanting to have a relationship with her. And the crazy part, she is still willing to give it a try. She never expressed hate towards her dad (of course, she was never really fond of him), but she cared for him through sickness and tough times even if he was never there for her. And that’s the beauty in forgiveness.

Wow, let me just say that I don’t think if I could ever forgive my dad if I was in her shoes. It’s horrible what kind of relationship she had to go through with her father. I really admire the author on her decisions throughout her life. Being there for her father even though she had no reason to be. The author really captured my attentions with her vivid memories growing up. Her introduction made me want to keep reading when she wrote,

“Recently, I emailed my father. I wrote: “It was good to hear from you. I’m glad you’re well. Take care.” I last heard from him when he emailed my Web page wishing me a happy belated birthday. He wrote in February. My birthday was in October.”

It made me realize from the start that this must have been a bad relationship. She was able to make this story personal with past experiences and she used “cause and effect” when she told how she learned the power of forgiveness through her mother’s bad experience (being shot at) because her mom was able to move on with her life rather than hold a grudge. It’s a powerful essay, and gives me a great respect for the author.

By: Jessie

In this essay, the author really puts thought into often circles come into our lives. Her whole life, she has been amazed with circles. She brings up many points. Like circles in creation. Even though we’re not thinking about it, the earth is continually spinning on its axis in circles, without that, we may always be in the dark of the night, or never get a break from the heat of the day. Seasons change, from fall, to winter, to spring, then summer, and the cycle starts over again. Another connection she makes is the round belly of mothers, pregnancy and new life. How rings tell the age of trees and how stories sometimes go around in a complete circle. She sees circles everywhere and finds fascination with them.

When I saw the title, I had to read this. I thought, how exactly could they make a connection between beliefs and circles. But it actually turned out to be a very interesting essay and got the gears working in my head, thinking about how often circles come into play in our everyday lives. Although the author didn’t bring up any religious thoughts in the essay, it made me think of how great our God is. It’s crazy to think about how much detail and thought he put into creating our world. Something as little as circles have a great effect on our lives. All in all, she chose her words well, and really thought it out. The author put together a good, unique essay that really made me think.

By: Lena Ann Winkler

In the essay, the author first talks about how much she is struggling in her life. She has a lot of kids, she’s going through medical school, and she is in the middle of a divorce. Talk about a lot of stress! But what gets her through all the pain is tradition (mainly revolving around snacks and sweets). She brings up a past experience where she worked at a health-care organization for women and kids in the Republic of Georgia. Every Friday at 3 P.M. everyone (all the cooks, drivers, doctors, etc,) would stop what they were doing and gather together for cake an event which they called “Sweet Friday”. It was always a time to put behind all the stress from the week and just sit back and talk. Winkler then started this tradition every Friday with her 5 kids. Now it’s something that everyone can look forward to. It may be a simple tradition, but it lets them all unite and connect with each other, making their relationships stronger.

I think it’s amazing that something as simple as desserts can do a lot for relationships. The author did a really nice job putting together her essay. One metaphor she used really stood out to me. She related her family to the Republic of Georgia by saying how Georgia was “collapsed and worried, but bright with personality, strength and hope.” She made a small tradition into really meaningful belief which I agree with… the power of tradition. I haven’t ever thought much about what traditions can do for a family. My family has traditions for birthdays, Christmas and holidays, church, vacations, and probably some things I wouldn’t even consider as traditions, but we always do them. It’s so much fun to look forward to these special times with my family. I believe that traditions are like a glue for families, and that they can really tighten the bonds between people.

By: John Fund

Flight delays and cancellations are pretty bad now, anyone who has flown at least a decent amount has experienced it. The author says that it will just get worse if America doesn’t increase the capacity of air traffic control. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) expects in 2015, there will be 36% more people flying. If nothing is done, our airlines won’t be able to keep up with the increase of people and tickets will become a lot more expensive. Right now, the FAA hasn’t kept up with technology and is rather inefficient. Around 40 other countries (Australia, Germany, Ireland…) have switched from their governments controlling their air traffic to public-private partnerships or self-supporting businesses which have speed up air traffic. Canada has an independent corporation called Nav Canada which runs well-organized and makes enough profit to afford new technology and improve their airlines.

I hope that the U.S. can change something with the airlines to improve on its efficiency. I have experienced the delays in an airport, and I haven’t even flown that much. I also have heard many stories from family and friends about having to wait long periods of time for their flights. It shouldn’t be a problem, the article brings up a good point when it says that we went to the moon with new technology, but we are too lazy to work on improving our air traffic – something that many other have worked on and have come out with successful results.