Hello 'Ilima

Tick! Tick! Tick! The clock is counting down as the fourth quarter is almost done. This quarter has had a lot of ups and downs, so it's time to reverse the clock and look back at all that we have done. The quarter started with the last Family Nite of the year which was pretty fun. But the big thing that was to come was Orientation. We had been practicing and preparing for this moment for the whole year, and we made sure to go all out. It was very nerve racking to do the orientation in front of all those 6th graders, but we all stepped up to the moment and I would say it went really well. I made a couple of mistakes early on, but I fixed them up and ultimately succeeded in helping the future students. Overall, I enjoyed Orientation a lot, but I was glad that it was over because I was wanting to show what I had done quicker. Following this was the Royal Prodigies Dance Competition which was so fun. The beginning of the competition was pretty bad for me, mainly because of how much I was stressing. I was scared that I was gonna mess up on bringing the prop, which made me feel like I was gonna die every second. But I really got to enjoy myself after the Royal Prodigies were done with their dance. I screamed with my friends and watched the other schools try their hardest at their dances. But the best part of the night was when they announced the winners. Everyone jumped up and started to scream. I was full of exhilaration and excitement as I felt like I was on top of the world. ‘Ilima had won the Dance Competition, successfully completing the three peat and submitting us in history. That day was very tiring, but I had a great time towards the end of it which made up for all that pressure. After this, all of my momentum stopped with no brace at all. One day, my head was hurting so much and my eyes were very blurry. My friends recommended that I go to the health room, and after the teacher felt that my forehead was hot to the touch, I had to go to the health room. I was informed that I had a pretty high fever and so I was sent home. This was the first time ever that I have needed to stay home multiple days due to sickness, at least according to my memory. It was a big moment for me because I didn’t want to miss out on what I needed to do for my classes, but I still took the break and recovered from my sickness. During that period, it felt like a checkpoint, a break from all of the work I’ve been through. But there was still more work to go. We can breeze by the last recognition night, and move onto the 7th Grade Class Day. I was really anticipating this day a lot because I would be going to Ice Palace, an ice skating rink that I had never gone to before. I was really excited when I took my first step off of the bus, but all of that energy went down after we waited around 20 minutes just to get into the place. When we were finally able to get into the building, it was like entering a whole new world. Everything was much colder and the colors were different from the usual school/outside colors. I got my ice skates and immediately headed to the ice. I definitely wasn’t expecting the ice to be so slippery, which caused me to fall over a dozen times. My arms and legs were bruised from all of the falling I did. I think by the end of it, I kind of learned how, but I still did pretty poorly. Something really funny that happened was that during the Class Day, I was really thirsty. I got a Sprite in the size called, Pitcher. I didn’t expect it to be an actual pitcher, so the look on my face when I was handed a full pitcher of Sprite was priceless. The cashier asked me how many cups I needed, because she obviously assumed I was going to share it, but I was confused so she just handed me a bunch of cups. The 7th Grade Class Day was overall a really fun experience and I would love to do it again. We now enter around May, and everything has slowed down. But that doesn’t mean there still aren't big things going on, no the biggest thing hasn’t even come yet. The Awards Night was yesterday and it was super fun, for the most part. Yeah, the event felt like it kind of dragged on, but walking on stage was otherworldly. I won the 7-3 Student of the Year, and I was so happy. When I was on top of the stage, I saw the faces of so many people I recognized, and I felt true bliss. All that I have covered has mainly just been the big events, but there has been so many other things that have been going on. Just to list some things off, we have the graduation slideshow that we are making, Campbell Clubs and Athletics came to our school, yearbooks are about to be passed out, and so much more. That doesn’t even cover what we have been doing academically wise. There have been countless projects like social studies essays, AVID research projects, an Outsiders Final Project, and more. That also doesn’t even cover the SBA testing and the Post Diagnostic tests. This final quarter has been one of chaos and pain, happiness and joy, pressure and excitement, with so many other emotions just mixing together. But this should have covered all of the fourth quarter.

There are definitely a lot of highlights from this quarter. I am going to start with my favorite out of the events. Those favorites are Class Day, Awards Night, and the Royal Prodigies Dance Competition. Let’s start off with my favorite, Class Day. Class Day was such a fun time and I made so many memories with my friends. Next up is Awards Night. This event was mainly carried by me winning the Student of the Year. I had worked so hard throughout the course of the school year, so being able to win that award was so gratifying and seeing all the people I’ve met over the course of this year was very satisfying. Finally is the Royal Prodigies Dance Comp. I was pretty miserable for the opening part, but I had a total blast near the end. Screaming with my friends and jumping with enjoyment after winning was so exhilarating for me and made all the pain worth it. The next highlight for me would be all of the times I got to spend with my friends. Throughout this quarter, I was able to enjoy moments with my friends more. I’ll dive deeper into this theme more, but for now all you need to know is that I have been making great memories with all of my friends. We started hanging out in a new spot which has made us do some funnier stuff. The Band concert allowed us to support another one of our friends which was just a great moment. In this quarter, I feel like I have strengthened my bonds with my friends even more which is incredible. Now to the lowlights. This quarter was definitely very stressful for me. I overthought a lot of things which weighed on my brain like a 100 ton brick. I think that I have gotten better and controlling the stress, but I will need to be back into a new stressful situation to see how I react to it. My last lowlight from this quarter is that there is going to be a lot of goodbyes. They are going to stop looping, so I won't be able to have my current teachers next year. I was really hoping to have them, so them not coming up with us was a big hit. I am also going to have to say goodbye to the 8th graders. They are moving onto High School and it's gonna be pretty hard for me. The 8th graders have basically been role models and leaders for me, so them leaving is gonna be a big change. But I know that I will see them again, which will get me through my 8th grade year.

The big lesson I learned from this was to enjoy the moment. From a mix of different factors, I have been thinking a lot about time. I don't have time to do certain things anymore. I use up my time on work and sleep, that I don't have time for the things that make me happy. So when I have that time, I should enjoy it. I talked about this same lesson last week, but that was mainly the realization. I learned that lesson last week and now that I have had time to reflect on it, I realized that it has been the true lesson of the whole quarter. I've been put into situations where it leaves me with no time to do things and that can lead to some stressful moments. But that just makes the happy times even better. From going to Burger King with my friends, to supporting my friend's Band group, and from just simply talking to my friends, I have been enjoying my time. So throughout my whole life, I need to just enjoy the moment, because I might not have another chance to enjoy that moment. Even during the bad, I need to relish in the good in order to get through. So that's what I learned from the fourth quarter. I learned to enjoy the moment.

With a year of experience under my belt, I have a lot to look forward to next year. For starters, I look forward to teaching the new group of leaders. Throughout this year, I learned a lot from my more experienced 8th graders and it has taught me how to become a leader. So when the new 7th graders come to our school, I hope that I can be able to teach them all about what it means to be a leader. Another thing I look forward to is the big events that I didn't have as much experience in. Earlier in the year, I didn't know as many things as I do now about the different events, so I want to be able to do those events with my experience. I would be able to do things without having to be told first because I actually know what needs to be done. Something that also goes with this is that I want to see the things that I might have not noticed the first time. Like rewatching a movie, I want to be able to point out the tiny details that I missed out on during the first watch. The final thing that I am looking forward to is trying new things. 'Ilima has been a very unique experience for me as it has been nothing I have done before. That element of surprise that came with a new school was fun and I want to be able to try new things this upcoming year. With that being said, this concludes this blog. I hope you have a great day and a great rest of the quarter. Cheers to another day!