Month: December 2016

Christmastime, with your lovely smells
like pine and peppermint.
Every year, you are my favorite time.
Bright, crisp, cold mornings,
rainy days,
cloudy nights.
Festive sweaters with designs
Of reindeer and baubles and Santa himself,
Coupled with warm mugs of hot chocolate
around the fire,
After picking a tree together.
Decorating trees with swathes of sweeping colorful ornaments,
Leaving the dogs draped in tinsel.
Excitement and anticipation,
Family and joy.
Smiles and laughter
and that warm, fuzzy feeling you always bring.
The smells of Christmas Eve dinner
which linger from the night before,
And the living room smells like the forest.
You are a beautiful time, a treasured time,
For you bring us together in love.

No matter what your favorite holiday is, most can agree Thanksgiving is pretty great. The entire holiday is dedicated to food and family. It’s the one day a year that gluttony is encouraged. In the festive holiday spirit, the Prospector created a poll to decide how McClatchy students felt about each traditional Thanksgiving dish. We posted the poll on Twitter, giving students the option to choose between cranberry sauce, turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. The results indicated a great divide between fans of mashed potatoes and stuffing. With 98 votes, the mashed potatoes received a staggering 52%, 28% for stuffing, 12% for turkey, and 8% for cranberry sauce. As a mashed potatoes fan myself, I definitely agree with those students who voted for the potato buttery goodness of mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. With so many sides, it’s easy to see why turkey got only a couple votes. When there is stuffing, pie, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and gravy, who needs turkey? (Except for maybe a sandwich in the days following Thanksgiving, in which the classic leftover sandwich becomes the staple lunch for most households.) Regardless, I’m standing by my love for mashed potatoes and wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving!

Look
If you had
Some time
Or an opportunity
To get a free day, hour, minute for once!
In one moment
Would you take it?
Or just let it slip

Yo
My hands are tired
Knees weak, brain is wired
Word vomit all over my papers
I’m expired

I’m stressin’
But on the surface I’m crying
About all the work
But I keep on forgetting

What I wrote in my planner
The voices in my head go loud
I try to write, but words don’t come out!
I’m chokin, all the voices are jokin,
The clock runs out, time to soccer practice now!

Snap back to the car again, oh there goes my life
Oh there goes my free time, I’m stuck!
I’m so mad, but I won’t give up that easy? No
I won’t have it, I deserve that time to relax
It don’t matter, I’m jammed, and I got my plan!
I’m so stacked cause I know,
When I go home that’s when its
Back to the homework again, this whole routine
I better go capture my freedom and hope it don’t pass me

You better love yourself and the freedom, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go,
You only got 13 years, of grueling school
This opportunity comes once (plus college) in a lifetime

I better love myself and the freedom, the moment
I’ll own it, but how can I never let it go?
I’ve been here, at school, for 11 years
And I don’t think this is the only opportunity I got!

Bath Scrubs: This is a very simple gift that’s still very cute. It’s an easy DIY project with many simple recipes that only entail sugar and scented oil. It’s a great gift for a mom or a close friend.

Candle: Kind of a basic gift, but it never fails. Winter scents enchant, making candles a great gift to give to anyone. This is something I know I always love receiving, since I wouldn’t usually buy one for myself.

Patterned Socks: Although socks are usually regarded as a boring Christmas gift, there are so many ways you can make them a creative and thoughtful gift. Crew socks come in all different patterns. For example, you can get sushi themed socks, or socks with little sayings that fit each friend’s personality.

Stress relieving coloring books: While it’s debatable whether or not these coloring books actually relieve stress, coloring does provide a soothing feeling. These adult coloring books come in all different sizes to fit the needs of all your friends. If you are hesitant to buy a coloring book for a teenage friend, buy it! It’s likely they will enjoy it.

Insulated water bottle: A water bottle is a great gift that your friend will get a lot of use out of. I recommend buying a hydroflask, if you’re looking to buy a pricier item. Hydroflasks (or any other insulated water bottle) keeps your water cold for a very long time, and it keeps your hot beverages hot. This is a really high quality gift that will last a long time.

Time is something that all of us want, but most of us don’t have. Despite this, a lot of students at McClatchy participate in team sports around their academics, and manage it well! I talked to Julianna “J” Lopez (‘20), a player on the McClatchy Junior Varsity Volleyball team about how she manages sports and school. She is an experienced player who has been playing Volleyball year-round since she was in 5th grade, and this past season at McClatchy was her 9th season. She’s gearing up for club season now, and is super excited to start playing again. She’s been balancing her school and volleyball workload together as a student at Holy Spirit, and now here at McClatchy. When I asked her if it was difficult to manage her time around the sport, she laughed. “Yes, very!” She said emphatically. “I’ve felt tempted to quit. My school, not my sports, that is. I love volleyball, and nothing can make me want to quit.”
She has wanted to play college volleyball since she was very young, and she’s working hard to realize that dream. But how do grades and studying factor in? She explained to me that she keeps a planner in her backpack where she records all homework that she is assigned and how long she estimates that it will take her. After school she goes home to do some homework, and 2 to 3 days a week she returns to school for volleyball for 2 hours or more before going home to do more homework. “Taking a shower and eating also takes up my time too,” she added.
This year, JV only lost 2 games in League, but that kind of success requires hard work, dedication, and time. Time that is taken away from homework. I asked J what she thought about active student athletes being exempt from P.E. for a study hall style period. “I totally think they should do that. Saint Francis does that, I don’t see why we can’t too. If we have a free period, it’ll help us keep on top of our homework. It’s not that you have more time when you get home, it just means you’ll be more prepared for tests and stuff because you have more time to study.”
J isn’t the only one who struggles with time management issues – almost everyone has extracurriculars they need to work around, whether it’s sports,arts, or even just spending time hanging out with friends and family or relaxing on your own. It’s too bad that These two things, academics and the things you love to do, often times trump each other. It’s sad that academics can prevent you from doing the things you love when education is specifically designed to give you the qualifications to do what you love.
Academic balancing acts aren’t going away anytime soon, and they really are integral parts in the life of any high school student.