Bonds

Every year in high school we lose seniors as they go on and move to the next chapter of their life. Clubs and sports always differ from the year before: people change, leave, and come. However, when people leave, it hurts the most.

I’ve been getting really close to my cross-country teammates and club members. They help give advice on what I should do and are very supportive. They have changed the way I think and have impacted my life. But when they leave I think to myself…what am I going to do without them? You can only move on and stay in touch with them. When the time comes I will also be leaving this place and hopefully, I will leave with a trace of myself in them as every senior I have met did to me.  

– Ethan Kwong

Writing

Writing expresses your feelings and thoughts in words. It was never fun writing essays or responding to questions with words. But as I write more in my classes, I see how writing helps us understand topics.

Ever since I arrived in Mr. Theriault’s class, he has allowed us to write whatever subject we like. Thus, this helps us express what we think in words. As I review what I write I see how I truly feel about a certain topic. In other classes such as AP European History, we also have to write a lot. However, in that class, you write your answers based on the questions given by the teacher. This helps you in a different way: it sees how much I learned and retain the knowledge the textbook has given. After sharing with my classmates, I see how much my classmates understood the textbook compared to me.

Without any literature, I wouldn’t be able to see my own thoughts and feelings.

– Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Purpose

Sport is life; it gives enthusiasm, a purpose, and a way to express yourself. In addition, sports help create bonds and friendships.

Playing sports has been part of my life ever since I got first place in running when I was around 6 or 7 years old. As I’ve grown, I participated in many sports and learned to love playing them. However, as I grow older I start to concentrate on one sport that I am very good at and enjoy the most.

I have started to concentrate more on running ever since I got to high school. Seeing how good I am at this sport makes me want to strive for greater goals that I can potentially achieve. Running gives me a purpose in life, as it is the only thing I am really good at in school and look forward to every day. To become this great athlete, I train 6 to 7 days a week for about an hour in a half. Some days are brutal and I just feel like giving up, but people like my teammate help me stay strong and finish what I started.

– Ethan Kwong

Death

Death.

Death is the one thing I do not look forward to. But before I leave this world many people will experience death that includes family members and close friends, including myself. The death of anyone breaks down the hearts of people who are close to them. It is very emotional and sadness consumes them. The Baron family recently lost one of its members as we all prayed for him at the track.

At a very young age, I experienced death in ways that I cannot fully describe. At the age of around five or six years old, one of my best friends passed away from the disease. I could remember everything from the way it started to the way it ended. 

My mom was picking me up from school as we were walking past the gate we saw the lady that takes care of me at the nursery going to pick up the other kids. We say hi, but she came with very sad news. As she told me, Kahiki had sadly passed away. I started crying so hard that probably everyone around me could hear me. As my mom keeps trying to calm me down, she carries me to the car and we start to leave the school. My mom keeps driving and she tries to cheer me up by going to McDonald’s. She got me an ice cream sundae but I was still crying.

I forgot that this event happened and want to forget about it, but I can’t. Every time someone talks about death it reminds me of him. 

– Ethan Kwong

STOP

I started running with a team during my Freshman year in high school. During the summer we practiced at Huntington Beach Central Park and would run to the beach and back. It was mostly on the sidewalk and only had to cross the street four times. In addition, these roads were not packed with cars and motorcycles. However, we still needed to pay attention to cars coming and turning.

When we started to practice at school, we always ran from school to different places. The school was surrounded by streets with many cars passing by. When we started running, we really had to pay attention to every car. We had to cross a lot more streets and entrance/exit to the parking lot to go to places we needed to go. In addition, I started to ride my bike to school and back. 

A year in a half passed and there were so many times when cars almost crashed into my bike or my running team. Drivers did not always pay attention to their surroundings around them. Thus, anyone who was biking, walking, or running has to pay extra attention to their surroundings that have busy roads. My team and I although that drivers needed to slow down around streets, especially around a school. 

– Photo by Михаил Павленко on Unsplash

Surpasses

My brother. Named Logan. Born on March 2, 2009.

He is a very competitive person and hates losing in any game. When my brother puts his mind to something, he becomes really good. Thus, he is talented in many things. However, most of the time he is a sluggish person: he doesn’t want to go outside, stays in bed until 10 to 11 am, hates doing chores, and always asks if they need help when the person is about to be done. Logan also loves complimenting himself. He always says he is better at that and is smarter than anyone.

Logan always becomes better and eventually surpasses me at everything I’ve taught him or the things I’ve once done. I was enraged that my brother beats me because I hate losing, but as I grow older, I try to help him to improve in those skills he has; I want him to surpass me. The only problem is his dedication. The only things he is dedicated to are his video games and youtube. 

– Photo by Bill Jelen on Unsplash

The Thought

When I graduate from high school I am going to college and for college, my dad wants me to go as far as possible from him to experience college life. However, I do not want to go far from home because of the thought of not having any support. Even though I become more independent in the decisions I make in life, they are still highly influenced by my surroundings. As I go to college I have to make new friends and make my own decisions that will benefit me later in life. In addition, my life would be in my own hands and I would have to make my own decisions. 

“The fledging has to eventually leave its nest.” Like the sentence says I can not always be in my comfort zone and I would have to take risks. I am learning that you can not always depend on people for help and there are things in life where you have to learn on your own. I will make a new life for myself, but I should never forget where I come from. 

– Ethan Kwong