Your parents are always going to be there for you and support you when no one else does. A couple weeks before I moved to Bryan, my dad had a talk with me about college. He asked me about my major and what career I wanted for myself. Before i could even answer, he cut me off and said “look at it as a mountain. It's hard climbing up a mountain and you feel like giving up, but you've already climbed so far up, do you really want to give up? When you get to the top, what do you do? You look over on what you've accomplished. The struggle you had to go through to get where you are.” at the time, i didn't really consider this advice because we were at a party when he was telling me this and my mind was somewhere else. But after almost being done with my first year of college and getting a taste of the college life, man, that is some good advice. I think every college student should take this advice. The long nights, missing out on parties, long study sessions, moving into the library, doesn’t sound like fun, right? It’s all gonna be worth it when we get that degree. If you really want it, you’ll work hard to get it. You could either be the lazy kid who learned nothing and cheated its way to the top by taking a helicopter, or you could be the one who worked so hard and gets to the top with no help and a full brain.

Climbing this mountain is definitely not going to be easy but I’m willing to work my butt off to get to the top no matter how hard is gets or what obstacle life throws at me.

Should the legal drinking age be lowered or stay as it is? This is a question, or should I say argument, that happens very often, and is honestly a very annoying argument. I personally think the legal drinking age doesn't matter at this point. Whether it's 18, 21, or 25, underage drinkers are going to find a way to get their alcohol. I believe lowering it to 18 won't be a good idea because at 18, people are barely getting out of high school. We're basically still kids. Just because we're 18 doesn't mean we are adults. Well, it all depends on your mentality and maturity. Yes, we can vote, yes, we are considered adults according to law. But, still. If it were up to me, I'd leave it at 21.
In David J. Hanson’s essay, the author suggests the drinking age should be lowered to 18, and for 18-20 year olds to take a “alcohol education course” to get a license to be able to drink. They must also never have been found guilty violating, or breaking, a state’s alcohol law. To me, that sounds dumb. You can't teach people to be responsible, that's something they have to do on their own. Getting a “license to drink” won't make a change at all. Especially if they’re fresh out of high school.
In William De Jong’s essay, the author says the drinking age should stay at 21 because it's a danger to the youth and the road. He mentioned that the last time they let the legal drinking age stay at 18, the death toll mounted back in the 1970’s. Lowering the drinking age to 18 would be a danger health wise. Do you really want to be young with liver problems due to drinking. Don’t even get me started on drinking and driving. At this age, many still haven’t matured (I know, shocker). There will be so many DUI’s, so many car accidents, deaths. Like William De Jong said, the age-21 law is working for us. Let’s leave it alone.

       

   Spring break in Houston is always the best time of the year because of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo! Every year, from mid February to March, the rodeo comes in town. (Unfortunately, this year it was delayed because the super bowl took place at the NRG stadium). There are so many things that come out of this.
   The rodeo and concerts are definitely my favorite part. Watching bull rides, barrel races, and carriage races are my favorite thing to watch, although it sucks watching the cowboys get injured in the bull rides. At one point during the rodeo, before they start setting up for the concert, the rodeo has this thing called the calf scramble. The calf scramble is an activity they made for students where they get a scholarship only if they catch a calf by chasing them, tying a rope around them and bringing them back to the center of the field. Believe me, it's very entertaining to watch. Shoes are lost, dirt is eaten, and students are dragged across the field by the adorable baby cows.The concerts are mostly country singers, of course, such as Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Zac Brown Band, Willie Nelson, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, George Strait, you name it. It all depends on who's on the line up though. They also have nights for pop artists, and a day for Hispanics named     Go Tejano Day, which is my favorite. Besides all the entertainment, the atmosphere is great! Events like the rodeo make me proud to be a houstonian. 
   The carnival can be a bit pricey. Seriously, if you plan on going... don't be surprised if your wallet is empty when you're leaving the place. There are so many fun rides and games! It's definitely a great place to go with family and friends. I would talk about the rides but I think it'd be best if you went to see what it's all about yourself. Trust me, it's worth it. 
   Food. Who doesn't love food?! But, more importantly, RODEO FOOD! they have all things fried! It's very unhealthy, I know. I'm going to lose the spring break body I never worked for when I go, but the food is just so good. There's fried Oreos, fried twinkies, Reeses's peanut butter cups, fried twix candy bars, fried ice cream, you name it! There are so many types of foods, just thinking about it makes me mouth watery. I'm so excited to go back home. With all being said, spring break just isn't spring break if there's no rodeo. 

When it comes to reading, I'm very picky. If it does not catch my attention, I won't read it. I'm a huge fan of the Twilight Saga and the Harry Potter books but I wouldn't say those are my favorite books. In my freshman year, I was assigned to read a book called Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. I was hooked by just reading the back of the book. In fact, I was so hooked that I went to purchase the book myself after school the day it was assigned to me and finished reading the book the next day. I found it so good that I've read it three times. Long story short, the book is about a teen named Hannah Baker who committed suicide and left a box that contained cassette tapes explaining the thirteen reasons that led her to killing herself, a list of people's names, and very specific instructions for the people who's names are on the list. 
I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who asks me if I know of any good books to read, simply because it's a great book in my opinion. It's suspenseful, addicting and leaves you with chills. If you are into mystery and drama, this book would be the perfect fit! One of the reasons I fell in love with this book is because I can somehow relate to it. No, I'm not suicidal. Never that.But, there are events in the book that many teens could relate to. I am a big fan of teen fiction books which is why I'm so hooked. I highly recommend. 
Thirteen Reasons Why was published in 2007. In 2011, it hit #1 in the New York Times best-seller list. There will be a Netflix series based on the book releasing on March 31st (as you can see the trailer at the top), which I am very excited about. Hopefully it's as good as the book but let's phase it; the book is always better. The book can be found at any Barnes & Nobble or online.  

  Last week, we had our first exam in my reading class. Mr. Still's exams are pretty challenging because all the questions are short response, so they require a lot of studying. I knew what to expect on this exam but I still had to study extra hard just to make sure I knew everything I needed to know in order to pass. The vocabulary is the only section in which I had trouble in because I am really bad at remembering definitions and I also get the definitions mixed up at times so I left that until the end. Get the easy stuff done first at the hard stuff at last.

To prepare for the exam, I made flash cards, went over all of my notes, read and annotated in my experience reading text book and went over everything that was on the review Mr. Still gave us in class. Also, 2 days before the exam, Mr. Still went over the review with us and offered more help during the lab. Unfortunately, lab was cut short and it left a friend and I with unanswered questions but I figured them all out on my own. 

I think short answer questions are a huge help because it prepares us for our exams we will take in our future college courses. Multiple choice is too easy and college is definitely not easy, so I understand why Mr. Still made our exams this way. With all that has been said, I studied very hard and I hope I passed my first exam. 

Hi, everyone! My name is Stacy Sanchez. I am 18 years old but with the height of a 12 year old and sadly, I'm stuck with this height for the rest of my life. I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I have 2 sisters who are 21 and 3 years old. I know, huge age difference with the little one. I graduated from Sam Houston High School where almost everyone had it easy, and by easy I mean the grades were pretty much handed to us at times. Sometimes the teachers were too lazy to do their job and thought it'd be easier to just give us a random grade and let us "chill" throughout the whole class. It sounds cool, but it really wasn't. I wish they were a lot harder on us because that school does not prepare students for college at all. I'm studying to become a teacher. I had been between becoming a high school or an elementary teacher, then I remembered history is my favorite subject and the main reason I decided to become a teacher, to teach US History to Juniors and/or Seniors.. So high school it is. Plus, after living with a 3 year old, I really don't want to work with little kids. I'm planning to transfer to a University. I'm currently torn between Texas A&M and University of Houston because UH has been my dream college since I was a little girl, but moving out here made me think to myself "did I really just leave Houston to attend a community college when I can just do that back at home?" Oh well. It's all in God's hands, he's got his plans for me.

I used to be a dancer. Hip-Hop was my favorite type of music to dance, but it wasn't the only thing I danced. I love to dance all kinds of music. I never joined the school dance team but I did go to a studio near my house and took a couple classes at a class at a studio on the other side of the city. By the way, Houston is a huge city and traffic is horrible, so it took me about and hour and a half to get to that second studio. But the drive was worth it, because dancing helped me relieve any kind of stress I was having.  Dancing was my favorite thing to do since I was a little girl. Unfortunately I stopped due to personal issues. Sports are definitely not my kind of thing. I am the kind of girl who will scream if i saw a ball coming towards me.

Being away from my family is not easy. Here and then i get very homesick but then I remember why I moved here. I moved here to get a chance to see what it’s like to be on my own since sadly, i have to grow up and my parents aren’t going to be around for ever telling me what to do. To get my degree and make my family proud. I know these next couple of years are not going to be easy but they will be worth it.