I was only nine years old when I walked through the doors of First Philly. I saw this big new school with all this fancy furniture, computers, and all this cool stuff. I came to First Philly out of a public school that always had fights and the teachers were boring, except one. This was my homeroom teacher he was the only one that actually interacted with the class. But that still wasn't enough to make me enjoy and want to go to school. When I walked down the hall ways of First Philly I saw an awesome new start. Even though the ceilings and the gym and stuff weren't done yet I still was amazed and excited to start this new school.

Now I am 14 years old and this is my last and final year at First Philly. I am going to miss all of the friends that I’ve made here, but I’ll try my best to keep in touch with them. We have been through a lot over the years with each other, like losing to of our close friends Ajee Perry and Shatara English. But it took losing loved ones to bring us closer together and create a stronger bond between us all. And I know those two girls are smiling down on us right now and are so very proud that we made it all the way. And I know that they wish they could be here and give us one final hug and goodbye, but since they can’t they will forever be in our memories.

First Philly has tauught me a lot over the years that I’ve been here and I’m very thankful for everything that this amazing school has taught me. During my time here I have gained hard work ethic, determination, will power, and the drive to strive for the best. But most of all I gained family and probably some life long friends. Even though we might argue and have disagreements and maybe even go as far as not talking to each other for a while we still come back together in the in. And that is exactly what family is. And I am proud to call this class of 09’ my family.

This is my last year here at First Philly and I can honestly say that I enjoyed this last year. Nobody knows what my future holds but I will try my best and work as hard as I can to make my parents, and all the administration here at First Philly proud. This school has molded me into a mature respectful young man that will achieve at anything he does. I have had fun and enjoy every day I shared with the people here at First Philadelphia Charter, and I will never for get the people here who help me along the way. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” And that means that I won’t follow the path that other people have made. I will make my on trail and leave my legacy.

My Favorite Memory

The one thing that i remember the most from First Philly happened 4th grade year. This was my first year in the school and I had so much fun. My teacher was Mr. Cohen and he also was my basketball coach. His class was fun, but we also learned. There so many memories that I have from that year and in his class. Like when I got stock in his closet until lunch was over. And another one was when my best friend Abdill (who move to Texas that year) accidentally kicked Mr. Cohen in the woo-ha while doing one of his famous splits. But the number one thing i remember the most was when he lift that year. On the last day of school he told me that he loved me and that he'll never forget the name Donald Patterson. Then he gave me his little eagle’s dog that sung and danced to the eagles fight song. He gave it to me to remember him for one, and because i was always getting caught messing with it before class.

Cell Phone useage

I think that it’s really selfish to do other things that takes your attention while driving. Because when you drive you should be driving for the people around you and not for your self. When yo talk on the phone or text you are not only putting you life in danger, your also putting the people around you in danger too. It's very irresponsible to drive/text on the open roads while other people are near you. When you drive your attention should be on the road at all times. And by a person texting on a cell phone there eyes, hands, and attention is of the road and the wheel of the car. In the last week or so there were three accidents in different states. Which two of those three happened on the same day. And one of the accidents took the lives of five innocent children. All of this is totally ridiculous, and need to by corrected quick!

Our First Game

The first baseball game in First Philly history was a blast. The team had so much out on the field. And for once we finally acted like a real team, and didn't argue and fight. We played Northwood charter school, which is one of our rivals. So we were excited about beat them like we did. The final score was 7-0, it would have probably been more but the game was called after 4 innings. So of the kids on the team were upset because we didn’t play the full 7 innings, but we wouldn't have really accomplished anything by blowing them totally out of the water. To me I don’t really look at that game like a victory, I look at it as a pick-up game. Only because they weren't good and they had a lot of errors which help us pull out in front and never look back. Now, we have game Friday against Mass charter school who happens to be a much better team than Northwood. And if we beat them, then we'll have something to be excited about and proud of.

I don’t understand why people who are supposed to be your friends listen to other people that tell them that you were talking about them. I mean like even if it was true or not they should ask you first before coming to the fact that were talking about them. And then on top of that, since they thing that you were talking about them they go and talk trash about you, and wanna fight you or some dumb stuff like that. If they are your reel friend they wouldn't listen to what other people say right away, they would come to you first. Then when they find out the truth and if it's that you didn't say anything they would feel stupid and try to act like everything's cool when is really not. Because it's like wow dude, you trust believed that person and turned on me and talked trash about me, everything’s not cool.

Jocks

I just wanna know why in some school's you have "Jocks" that get away with EVERYTHING they do. I dont think it's fair that those guys can do stuff and get away with things but when normal people do things they get busted. Or another example is favoritism, how when a kid get get told on by another student and the adult either says don't worry about it or just doesn't handle the situation. I also hate it when guys are rude to girls and hit them or call them names and stuff like that. Then they think that it's ok because they're cool and popular, and when they get confronted about it they wanna get mad and not listen to you.

Lies and theft.

Why do people lie and steal form pepople. Especially when the person is really close to you. Like i just dont get how a person can lie to you for so long about something thats not even worth the after affect's. Its so amazing that they can have the heart to do something conniving and hurtful to someone that they "love". It's one thing to steal from a person and not get caught. But when you get caught and try to lie about it and try to argue the down the person that you stole from and try to make them believe you. And then when you finally cave and tell the truth you try to make up excuses and try to justifie why they did what the did. And nine times its not a good enough reason why they had to still from you. I mean like if they stole from you to save somebodys life there's no way you can get mad, but when they say its because they need something. No, its not gonna happen.

Dirty ICE&Lemons

Do you ever get ice and lemon in your drinks when you go to restaurants? I know I used to and I would occasionally eat the ice after I was don’t my drink. I never saw a problem with it. My parents also used to get lemons to make their own lemonade. And I used to drink that to. Until one day I was watching the Tyra Banks show and she had a segment about every thing I just mentioned. She had a professor on the show and they did a little experiment that freaked me out. The experiment was to see what was dirty and had more bacteria, Restaurant Ice or Toilet Water. And the results came back showing that Toilet water is in fact cleaner then Restaurant Ice. This is because the ice is in different container’s and in side the dispensers and is move around so much that it picks up a lot of bacteria. And as far as the lemons they can be cut with the same knife as meat and other things that have bacteria of its own.

School Trips

So, trips are fun and are a way to get out of school and things like that. Most of the trips we get here at First Philly are either during school sports trips or after school sport trips. But what makes the trip not that fun is the fact that we have to leave the trips early. When we go to trips 99.9% of the time we don't get to watch the whole game. What fan wants to leave in mid-game, especially when it’s a good game. I think that who ever plans the school trips should make sure that the students are able to stay for the entire game and make arrangements so that the bus is there for pick up win the game is over. Don’t get me wrong I’m not being ungrateful or anything because I know the that they don’t have to plan trips for us and I am glad they do but I don’t wanna have to leave early.

Unfair lunchroom

I think that the lunch room is getting cornier more and more. These stupid rules are starting to get on my last nerve. For like the last week in a half we weren't allowed to go outside because of the the lunch room being a mess. Ok, i understand that people should be more responsible but its not everybody. Its not like the aides don’t know which grades are making the mess because we are divided in the lunch room. So say if the 7th grade leaves their side a mess the whole lunchroom has to stay inside and its not fair. The eight grade rarely leaves their side a mess and even when we don’t another grade does and we have to stay in. And another thing is that we're grown up we shouldn't have to stay quit when the lights go out or we get in trouble. And if the 5th and 6th grade side are loud the aides no what side it is and they just decide to keep all of us in.

Women and their struggle

Women don't get enough respect when it comes to playing sports. There are some female athletes out there that are more talented in a sport than some men. And there are also some female athletes that are amazing but wont disrespect themselves and show off their bodies to the media. And by some of them not doing that they don't get sponsorship because they are not known because the media doesn't give them any coverage. Women athletes also don’t get paid anywhere near as much money as male sports does. Female athletes shouldn’t have to make themselves “sexy” to get recognized in a sport. Women should just be recognized for being a good athlete and get the same privileges as male athletes.
Like the WNBA for instance, they barely get any T.V time and press coverage. They also don’t have all the sports commentator talk shows talking about them and showing highlights and stuff. Like how the NBA gets the All-Star game, slam dunk contest, 3-point shoot out, and playstation challenge and the WNBA doesn’t get all those things. They only get the All-Star game and it’s not even advertised like the All-Star game for the NBA’s is. I think that all athletes should be treated with the same amount of respect no matter the gender or raise.

Love is a very tricky thing in life
You try to make it work but it’s not right
Just want to cut the tension with a knife
Sometimes it’s hard to love with out a fight

Embracing all the possibilities
Of giving your heart and all of its keys
You might think they have the abilities
The lies and the distrust tries to impede

Forget all of the failure, just believe
It can get frustrating when times are rough
Stick it out because its easy to leave
You'll have to keep the love and remain tough

Different challenges with be thrown at you
Just persevere and try to make it through

Working hard

Now, today is April 1 the beginning of April and the start of a new path for some kids. This is the month where all high school applications have been submitted or need to be submitted A.S.A.P (as soon as possible.) High schools are now starting to send out letters to the students who have applied to their school. I think that this month will be stressful on kids because of the anticipation of finding out if they got accepted to the school they wanted to attend most. Some kids work hard all through middle school to have a shot at getting in to a good school. While others just do mediocre work just to get past. What ever high school you get into and the work you put in can determine what you will be capable or incapable to in your adult life. Some kids have a wild imation and want's become a writer, another kid might have a talented hand a might won't to become an artitis. But they won't have a shot a getting into a school for the arts if they didn't work hard through out middle school.

Baseball at First Philly

For the past three years here at first philly i wanted to play baseball. Two years ago a girls softball team was established, but still no base ball team. Some of the boys started complaining about how its was unfair that the girls at a softball team but the boys still didn't have a baseball team. Now the boys finally have a baseball team, but for some of them it is there last year in the school.
For the 8th grade students this is their last year here at first philly and they are happy but upset at the same time. They are happy that they have a team, but is unhappy that the games dont really count and there are two months left of school and baseball is just getting started. The boys actually wanted to be able to play for a championship and stuff like that. Because this is their last year so they feel like they should be able to play a real season.