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FINAL DAYS OF FRESHMAN YEAR BY: Keanu Farrow

To the reader of this final portfolio, Yo this ya boy Keanu Farrow aka. K-Bizzle just thanking you viewers for reading my first experience at high school all compiled into one huge article. In this you'll witness what I've went throughout this whole year from struggling to even get into Science Leadership Academy to my struggles opening up to the class to even starting a journal so that way I wouldn't feel to shy to even describe my life. In this portfolio you'll read excerpts from many essays, journals, poems, and many more. You will also see a digital movie and finally see my magazine I made in the beginning of the year. They all show elements of my life from beginning in high school to the final days of it. I hope you readers enjoy what I've done.

The Odyssey:

In the beginning of the year the Red Stream english class read a huge book/poem called the Odyssey. It was a collection of stories that told the story of Odysseus and his son Telemachus. Telemachus was left an only child born only with his mother because his father was fighting in a war. His father Odysseus fought long and hard and when he helped win the war he forgot which way it was to his house back to Telemachus. During this book the reader finds out that he is spineless and can't stand up to these suitors who are trying to woo his mother to remarry. With the help of gods they help both Telemachus to stand up for what he believes in and they help Odysseus get back home through a treacherous journey. For the first project of the year I was to describe how the gods'/goddess' used their power to help and hinder both Telemachus and Odysseus. You can find the essay easily on [|Blogger.com] and witness the time and effort I put into my work.

2nd Quarter:

By the second quarter my lovely teacher Ms. A. Dunn decided to give us a collection of stories compiled into a book called "Freedom Writers". Inside I learned about the struggles that many students suffered while going to high school for 4 years. Many of the students were gang members, drug addicts, and plain just alone because of their family. I was truly astounded by how easily I could relate to this. By this time I started opening to the class because in my past I have suffered much trauma that sorta made me push everyone away from me and bottle my feelings up. Ms. Dunn soon gave us our project to create a memoir vignette of something that caused much tension between you and your family. I had so much to write about so instead I wrote about my future instead of something that happened to me. My other ideas about this project were turned into journal entries. My vignette was about me wanting to enroll into the military, but my parents not letting me. You can find this memoir on [|Blogger.com] as well, but the video version cannot be uploaded sadly.

3rd Quarter:

Now was the time that Freshman year was starting to wrap up. Due to the snow-ma-geddon in February left us so far behind that we started reading Kindred by Octavia Butler in the middle of March. Kindred was about a girl named Dana who has the power to time travel to Antebellum south. Her mission was simple...to protect her ancestor Rufus until the next bloodline was passed. In other words if Rufus didn't make a child then Dana would cease to exist. The only problems are that during this time Dana is treated like a slave so that her cover isn't blown. Also while do her mission she notices of how misguided Rufus is. At one point he even rapes his slave. After the trauma she went through she ended her life. During this quarter Ms. Dunn gave us the options to write essays about any one of the characters and what they must do. I decided to write about Dana and how her power costs a great deal. You can find the the entire essay on [|Blogger.com].

4th Quarter:

Now the school year was almost over and during this time we started reading one of my favorites...Shakespeare. We read Macbeth a drama play where greed, jealousy, and corruption settles in the body of our antagonist Macbeth. He is told a prophecy that he will move in the ranks by becoming the Thane of Cawdor and later King of Scotland. Once he tells his wife about his promotion she devises a plan to easily make him the King instead of waiting. Together they kill the current king and settle in as royalty, but Macbeth doesn't stop there. The king who was killed had his son (the true heir) Malcolm be sent to England so no suspicions can be set upon him. With this project Ms. Dunn tried to shake things up and allow us to make creative projects focusing on a character who changed from the beginning of the story to the end. I chose to do an iMovie about Macbeth's changes and make quotations that show his changes throughout the story. Like before you can find this and the movie on none other than [|Blogger.com]

Epilogue:

During the school year i also made a magazine to sort of break the ice to my fellow peers. Without the help of technology in the first month of school I searched deeply for pictures of my hobbies and told some background information on me. in fact some of my journals were made from the ideas that I couldn't make in the magazine.

On days when we had to do a journal Mrs. Dunn gave us a rubric or a time to free write. Here are four simple excerpts from journals I wrote from the beginning of the year throughout now.

1st: Trailblazers:

//"Get your butts in gear!" shouted the coach as everyone prepared for the upcoming opening day next week. We pushed ourselves hard working o bunting, catching pop-ups, and most of all contact with the ball. I was starting designated hitter since I was a solid hitter and for the fact we had too many first basemen. After two long and intense hours coach Gray stood up and applauded for our tremendous performance on the field. We huddled around and he said his gratitude followed by our spiritual remarks. "Excellent practice everyone. You proved to me that you are ready to be called athletes and when opening day comes we...will...be...ready." "1,2,3 Blazers, 1,2,3 Blazers, 1,2,3 BLAZERZ" everyone yelled at the top of our lungs.//

2nd: The Few The Proud The Unforgotten:

//"Daddy don't go I won't let you leave." I said through sob after sob with tears flowing down my face. My father had gotten a letter from the Marine Corp. saying he was to fight overseas immediately. He never told me why he was going to leave, but one day I went through his stuff and found the letter on his dresser. I told mom, but she already knew. It was hard to know that I needed to let go, but I just couldn't not at this age though. On the day of his depart he gave me his italian horn chain for me to wear. "Always think of me when you wear this." may luck be with you Keanu." From this day on you are the man of the house. Protect your mother now ok?" "Yes sir." I responded and with that he was gone.//

3rd: High school Expo:

//I rushed into class heavily breathing due to the fact that my bus ran late again to see my classmates acting proper (what a surprise) and the counselor in the middle of the room talking. I sat down in the closest seat and joined in to listen. "Ok class now first I want to formally congratulate you in making it to the 8th grade. I hope you feel like it wasn't time to kick back and relax because instead if you take a look at what's on your desk you shall be figuring out what high school you would like to get into. You only have 5 choices with your neighborhood school as your 6th choice, but if you keep your grades up then you won't have to worry about that problem. You have a good amount of time to do research on the ones you're interested in so I think you need to crack down on the research.//

4th: Guilt

This Journal was made in high school talking about if I have ever done anything that made me guilty or if I could have the opportunity to cheat off a test would you. My answer was I honestly wouldn't because when you successfully cheat 99% of the time you want to do it again and again, but then you never know if you might get caught. Even if you do cheat all you do is saying I'm an idiot and lazy who can't do something on my own for a grade. That's why I would never cheat even if I knew I wouldn't be caught.

Final Remarks:

Well now that the year is over I realized a lot more than I imagined. i tapped into my creative part very well, learned about my friends decided to know who my true friends were and I became more open to the community. I faced my share of struggles and overcame them with help and finally I learned that in order to survive this year you must be prepared for anything like no more teachers holding your hands and you must be prepared to solve different problems in various scenarios. I caught on easily and now to the incoming freshmen I wish you good luck and hopefully you shall be even more grateful for the things being taught this year. With those words said I wish you all a fond farewell and I shall see you all next year. The piece I am most proud of is the me magazine excerpt The Few The Proud The Unforgotten because this is the piece that helped me open up to the class. When doing this project the only problem I had was posting a video up so I went onto Blogger to do so so. Overall this project was easy and I wouldn't change a thing about my final product.

media type="file" key="Green day - Good Riddance.mp3" width="240" height="20" a goodbye song...now on to the next year. I have high hopes for this one.