Essay

Winter in Vermont. Most people find it so beautiful, saying they have never seen anything like it.

I have always identified, rather sheepishly, as an intellectual. Considering that I am interested in linguistics, classical history, and mathematical philosophy, It’s the only title that has fit.

Veni, vidi, vici. I came, I saw, I conquered. This is the attitude that allowed the Roman Republic to become the Roman Empire.

Thank you.
Thank you for what you have done for us, what you have inspired us to do.
Thank you for all the work you have put into making us better people, a better country.Thank you.

Natalie Wainwright 

9/8/20

F451 Composition
Equal Rights For Women

    I’ve been exposed, controlled, and owned by this incredible maze since I was born.

[Editor's note: This essay by Roxane Park, Grade 8, Crossroads Academy, is a response to Banned Books Week, which is this week.]Words Worth Saving: John Steinbeck's East of Eden

          Every turn and bend looks the same. It's getting darker by the second. What to do, what to do. No one in sight. You're all alone. Doesn’t that sound like a good horror movie, as long as you aren’t in it.

I run through a maze of thoughts and decisions everyday just to start a different one the next day. The walls close in as the day comes to an end, I have to make the right turns and the right decisions or I could mess up everything I worked for.

    Left or right? Either way I’m going to end up somewhere. Whether or not its right is the question. I left the start line at 5:00 and I have four hours to get to the middle to win the prize.

I finally did it! I made it! Wait, you don’t know what I am talking about. Right. Well, I am ready to tell you if you want me too though. Wait, you don’t get to have a choice, you are listening to me no matter what.

For the first time I sit back and look at what has happened since that day. I finally noticed that it was worth it. I could have ended my life that day. Looking back on my life, I notice it was all the fighting that got me to where I am today.