What is the Brian Drain

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The brain drain in its simplest form is the movement of intelligent educated people from one country to the other, leaving that original country without that individual who could have made a difference or improved society there. This is a problem that first came to my attention when I was able to meet the president of Slovakia and at this event, there was a young girl giving a presentation on this topic. I suddenly became very intrigued because of the personal connection it ensued. My dad immigrated from Slovakia to America in the 80s and depending on your standards, I would say that he is a fairly successful person. Raising a family of 4 and living in Naperville cant be easy. As soon as I made this connection to what the speaker was telling me, I couldn’t help but think that my own father might have contributed to the brain drain in Slovakia. It’s not like I’m holding it against him or anything, I love my life and everything I get to do, but this was just fascinating. 

I was able to use this connection that I made in my final project first-semester junior year, I loved what I was learning and was very motivated to work on it, figuring out more and more of what I could do and the origins of this problem. 

What I learned when doing my research was pretty fascinating. As I defined earlier, the problem is that people are leaving the country, without making any sorts of economic improvements. According to the Slovak Spectator, “‘more than 300,000 Slovaks work abroad either short or long term, while an additional about 30,000 Slovaks are studying abroad’ (Slovak Spectator). With this many educated people leaving the country, there is no certainty that they will come back. Joining the workforce is very common and ‘almost 70 percent of the respondents are preparing to stay abroad indefinitely’ (Slovak Spectator)” (Jakub Siska). Because all these intelligent working people are leaving the country, they won’t be able to contribute any growth to the country, and that’s really a shame. I’m all for people going on and creating the best experiences for themselves, but it’s just sad to see a whole country take the consequences. 

The main solution that I have come up with is to spread awareness and promote business exchange from Slovakia to other countries. This way, there will be more people getting better jobs and opportunities in Slovakia so there will be no need to move. There’s a ton of resources there and plenty of space so land isn’t the problem except that it is landlocked. But Slovakia’s lead export is automobiles and they build for tons of different companies like Land Rover, Jaguar, Kia, etc so especially with the uprise of electric cars, Slovakia could fit pretty well into this system. 

But on the other hand, this is an almost unsolvable problem, people are going to chase their dreams and its unfortunate that people are leaving their home country, but it’s hard to put myself in those shoes since I was born and raised in America, the place where most people want to end up.

 

“Brain Drain Of Slovakia Goes On – Spectator.Sme.Sk.” Spectator.sme.sk. N. p., 2019. Web. 14 Dec. 2019.

 

Book Review: We All Looked Up

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We All Looked Up is a fiction piece written by Tommy Wallach which explains the deep underlinings of life of how most people don’t fulfill it because of their misunderstanding in what to appreciate and what’s important. The book makes the characters in the book and the reader answer hard questions for a teenager. Like, what would you do if the world was going to end? This is something everyone has thought of but never that seriously because it seems so improbable. But Wallach makes us think about this question and dive into it even deeper. What’s even important? Were not going to live forever. Is it worth it? These are the scary reality check moments that you’ll get reading this book. 

The characters provide an almost cliche feel to the book. There’s Anita the goody-two-shoes who grew up perfect with rich parents but wants to break free. Eliza the more rebellious, socially unacceptable girl who does not have a good image in the eyes of parents. Peter, the perfect jock, whos looking for something different in his life. And Andy, the slacker who doesn’t seem to care about a thing but has something more to him. All these typical high school stereotypes coming together because of one event, the world ending. It’s really predictable but the way they interact and all become friends under one reason is quite interesting to follow.  You could make a comparison to any other high school book or story but this one’s different, because it’s so dark. Most stories are meant to seem perfect but this one is full of chaos which I find refreshing. 

For my review, I decently liked this book. I came in knowing nothing about it because it was recommended and loaned to me. But I wasn’t a fan of how “girly” it felt at times. I’m usually not a fiction person, I like reading about real things that have happened or are happening. But I gave this book a shot and was not disappointed with the thinking it made me do. Sometimes taking the pessimistic view on certain topics like a living, for example, can be interesting if you’re not afraid to think about it all. So for my purposes, it served itself. I really do think anyone can read this book and find something that they enjoy from it, but it also takes a certain taste to follow through with the whole book, for me, I kind of got exhausted by some of the themes and reoccurring ideas. It just felt a little long for 370 pages. 

Overall very interesting book, I’ve never read something that encompasses the pessimistic view on life so well and in such a way that high schoolers can relate. As sort of mentioned earlier, this usually isn’t my style but if you interpret it in your own way you can have fun with the deeper meanings.

Should we Keep the Death Penalty?

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The death penalty, a very controversial and important topic nowadays. With more and more people speaking out against the moral issues with taking any person’s life, it’s hard to stray away from the idea that it might actually be necessary. I understand that this is a sensitive topic, but there is no use in ignoring it. So I’ve been compiling facts and ideas to figure out where I stand on the issue. Whether it’s for or against it. 

First, it just seems wrong. Taking any person’s life is a hard thing to wrap your head around. Even with these serial killers, I still can’t figure out if a person deserves to die. I want to say that they do but that is a big decision to make. There also is a misconception with the “satisfaction” that the family of a victim might feel when their family member’s killer is put on death row. It would seem that the family member would reach a place of peace knowing that the terrible person that took everything away from them is now gone for good and can’t hurt anyone else. But that’s not the case. Research by Marilyn P. Armour and Mark S. Umbreit states that “family members of a victim experience higher levels of behavioral, physical, and psychological health when a perpetrator is given a life sentence that is enforced instead of the death penalty” (Armour, Umbreit). This means that families suffer less trauma when they see the killer of their loved one in prison than seeing them die on death row. This makes a good amount of sense because decent people will sympathize with anyone’s death, and no one wants to see another person die, no matter what things that person has done. Death is sensitive to everyone. 

One major reason why the death penalty could be a beneficial option to keep available is because of the overcrowding in American prisons. The United States has the highest population of people in prisons. Whether it’s for petty drug offenses or assault and murder, something needs to change.  And the reality is that the death penalty can and has reduced some of those numbers with good side effects. 

Americas “occupancy level nationwide [is] standing at 103.9 percent” obviously meaning that there are too many inmates in prison at the moment, a lot of the cells are actually filled with petty crimes by first-time offenders like possession of marijuana. (McCarthy). Yes, there is no excuse for deviance and breaking the law, but that cell should be saved for serious offenders who pose a physical threat to society. 

From seeing the benefits and drawbacks of the death penalty, I’m still not sure what I would want to do if I had a decision about the death penalty and how it can be used. Controversial topics like these provide good thinking points, but when putting these ideas in practice, It seems impossible to create the best answer.

Chief, E. Chief, Editor. “15 Biggest Capital Punishment Pros And Cons.” Vittana.org. N. p., 2019. Web. 11 Dec. 2019.

The World’s Most Overcrowded Prison Systems [Infographic] “The World’s Most Overcrowded Prison Systems [Infographic].” Forbes.com. N. p., 2019. Web. 11 Dec. 2019

How Automobiles are Negatively Impacting our Lives

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In a place where independence is what we live by, travel is no exception. Every day millions of miles are traveled by people going to work, going home, or traveling for leisure and activities. As a driver, I understand the importance of being independent in your travel. But there are some negatives to this as well. The mass use of automobiles is creating a more crowded and dangerous environment. 

Think of LA as an example, it’s on the news nearly every day how there’s another major traffic jam. All you see is pictures of stopped cars on the 405. There are two reasons for this. Public transportation is awful in the states, and driving your own car is a luxury everyone wants to abuse. Think about it, when you’re in your car listening to music it feels pretty nice, there’s a sense of freedom that comes along with it. But it also just looks better, “if people can drive (from the suburbs) to their destination … the reality is (driving is) always going to be a more attractive way to get around” (Taylor). People who live in the suburbs and work in the city definitely know what this means. And for those who use public transport to get to their jobs, maybe is biking to the train station, or taking a bus to the train station. They just know what’s most economically friendly and all-around a better service to society. After all, there are way too many cars on the road anyways. “The latest 2017 data report 273 million vehicles, 225 million licensed drivers, and 3.213 billion miles driven annually” (Injury Facts). That’s billion with a B, I can’t even try to put that into perspective. 

Another negative effect of the overpopulation of cars on the road is safety. It’s a simple equation, the more cars, the more people getting hit by cars. To me, there’s no other way to reduce the number of deaths. And this has only gotten worse throughout history, “Between 1913 and 2017, the number of motor-vehicle deaths in the United States, which include all types of motor vehicles including passenger cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles increased 858%, from 4,200 deaths in 1913 to 40,231 in 2017. However, the role cars play in daily life is vastly different now than when tracking began” (Injury Facts). Since more and more people are driving, and the population in our country is only rising, it’s almost unavoidable to reduce this number of deaths by automobiles. 

From this information, I’ve been able to gather my thoughts on the situation. I’m not trying to tell people to stop driving because that’s ridiculous. I drive all the time, to school, to practice, to friends’ houses. It’s just a part of my life now. It’s simply unavoidable. But we could also make an effort to change that, by increasing the use of public transport there will be less traffic, fewer cars on the road meaning fewer accidents. The equation’s simple. 

 

The Most Hated Man in Chicago

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As many of you probably know, Mitchell Trubisky is receiving a lot of hate from the public. If you’re a Bears fan, you’ve probably got a question like “why do you like him?” Or “what does he do for the team?” And there’s really no excuse to use, he’s not a good starting quarterback and it’s hurting the offense of the Bears. With a running back like David Montgomery, there’s no excuse to not give him the ball and control the offensive side of the Bears. 

In totality, the season is just not going how we were expecting, “the Bears sit at 3-4 after seven games. That is a far cry from where most fans thought they would be at this point. [we] thought they would be right around 5-2. I think most would agree that five wins in their first seven games would have been a reasonable prediction” (Heckman). 5-2 isn’t a crazy record at all. 5 wins, 2 losses. Very doable and with key defensive players like Khalil Mack, we should be able to win games. But there’s that one-factor that’s holding the team back and it’s arguably the most important position in the game. 

People are taking this opportunity of misfortune to “clown” Trubisky and people are making “low-light” tapes of him throwing picks and making bad plays while commenting over it with sarcastic remarks saying how good he is. It’s obviously a joke but there are some really hurtful things that people are saying. In the Bears HQ, sports news is always on the T.V and people are totally criticizing the team, and although some criticism is good, at this point I can see where it’s getting a little out of hand. “‘Trying to get some of these TVs in the building turned off because you’ve got too many people talking on TV about us and what they think about us — what we should do, what we are and what we’re not,’ Trubisky said” (Florjancic). Imagine having one job in the world, and at this point, you don’t have many other options to change it. He’s a football player and honestly, I don’t think hell be able to do anything else. So to be constantly trashed in the eyes of the public must be very hard to deal with, so I can sympathize with his request to take some of the bad news off the T.V’s. At this point, it’s probably more important that they stay positive and work on the game. 

And to those “fans” that are trashing the Bears, what’s the point? In my opinion, a true fan is someone who sticks by the team during rain or shine. Expectations aren’t always met, to be honest, the Bears were overhyped for this season and that’s okay, I believe the team will be able to pull through, if not this year, then the years to come. 

To Test or not to Test?

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To Test or Not to Test?

By: Jakub Siska 

It all started in the third grade. Like anything in life, your first impression is often carried out and remains your only impression until a life-altering experience changes it. For me, my first impression of standardized testing is my only impression and I’ll stand by that. Until of course, I get a 36 on the ACT, then I won’t care about standardized tests anymore. But that is unlikely to happen, and my teachers knew it, my parents knew it, all from when I was 8 years old. 

I remember specifically being introduced to the CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) and thinking “how could I take a test for three hours, why is it so long?” From that point, I wasn’t feeling so confident. And when it came time to take the test, there was just too much going through my mind. I was constantly thinking of something else besides the passage I was reading or the problem I was working on, sure, I’ve improved my testing skills since then. But not by the standards that I hold myself to. Seeing my growth in school but seeing a stagnant trend in my standardized testing is a hard reality to watch, I just have a hard time staying focused for that long. Part of my frustration is because I’m not naturally good at taking standardized tests. And for the people who are good at these tests and don’t exactly understand where I’m coming from. “Eh, hem,” my parents just say, “oh, that’s just an excuse” or “you don’t spend enough time working on it.” Okay, well maybe the ladder is partly true, but in my defense, it’s hard to study for something that you have consistently been performing poorly at. It’s a motivational thing, why would I want to sit down and practice something that just brings me back bad memories? But either way, standardized tests are not my strong suit, and with college coming up and having to take the ACT multiple times, I feel at a disadvantage. 

Although some people believe that standardized tests give an accurate representation of where people’s education is, standardized tests actually hinder college’s ability to see intelligence in a person because they don’t measure, creativity, high-order thinking, and problem-solving. Maybe it isn’t just the test, maybe it’s how the test is viewed. With how much pressure there is on students to perform well on these big standardized tests so then they are able to get into their dream colleges, it’s pretty reasonable to make the conclusion that these tests are used to find out a person’s intelligence. And that shouldn’t be true, I, for one. Perform pretty well in school, I’m not a straight-A student but I’m not that far either. But if you saw my transcript and my ACT and SAT scores, you wouldn’t think its the same person, my tests just aren’t that good.

People nowadays view these tests as the end all be all decisions towards what school you go to and how smart you are. A conclusion that doesn’t seem fair to those who push themselves in school and can keep up on their coursework, but when it comes to a 4-hour test, they just don’t get the results they want. The problem is, “The goal of standardized testing is not to find out how well you think through problems, or if you can express your opinions, or create a presentation, the goal is to find out what you were able to memorize” (Hudlow). Memorization is not problem-solving, it’s just knowing the answers. Sure, the argument that anyone can memorize material is somewhat true, but not everyone is able to memorize four different s

ubjects of material to use all in 4 hours. And no one should have to if a test is claiming to put a number on a person’s entire academic performance, the performance should be based on problem-solving and not memorization. 

Standardized tests also aren’t a perfect science, like most things, there’s room for error and improvement. Meaning that there’s also a chance that we don’t quite understand the intended purpose of these standardized tests, Although, the common stigma is that these tests are meant to predict intelligence and what college we deserve to get into. Don Heller from the Penn State’s Center for the Study of Higher Education explains that we are seeing the test wrong, he says, “designed to predict first-year college grades — it is not validated to predict grades beyond the freshman year, graduation rates, pursuit of

 a graduate degree, or for placement or advising purposes” (Heller). If this is the case, and the ACT and SAT have no correlation to intelligence, then we as a community need to redefine the usage of standardized tests and change the stigma from intelligence to placement. 

Even though the common theme of standardized testing is that it gives the wrong idea to students and doesn’t accurately predict intelligence, some can argue that it does predict intelligence and even success in life after college. Two researchers from Vanderbilt University “documented that the SAT predicts life outcomes well beyond the college years, including income and occupational achievements” (Hambrick). Believe me, I want to believe whatever Vanderbilt tells me as well, great school. But, I simply cannot believe this. A test about math, science, reading, and English cannot determine a person’s success after college, and here’s why.

First off, if the most popular majors were something along the lines of English or math, it could make sense that the SAT could predict occupational s

uccess for a very small percentile of students. But that just is not the case, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics 19.2 percent of college students had a business major in 2014-2015. The runner up for majors is health professions and related programs at 11.3 percent (NCES). With this being said, there’s not much reason to be good at what the SAT and ACT want you to be good at, sure, they build a solid background a foundation for any type of work. But in the end, chances are these people who are studying business won’t need to know how to find the circumference of a circle or explain the theme of the story of Jimmy and his family life.

Touching on the topic of my parents again, my dad wasn’t always great at testing or school in general. Actually, he even says I’m in a better place than h

e was as a kid. But it took him a while to figure out how smart he was and because of that, the first part of his life was frustrating. After high school in Slovakia, he first went to the military because he didn’t think he was ready to start a new academic chapter of his life. After all, most people in Slovakia never pursed a secondary education. Once he was discharged from the military, he went to what they would compare a community college to and was massively successful, eventually gaining a scholarship to come here to America and study as an engineer at Iowa State University. The point being, everyone has potential, and the ability to harness that potential isn’t always there for all of us right away. It can take years. But we can’t wait years to take the standardized tests that we are required to take, so to have someone put their future into a test they aren’t quite mentally ready for is an unfair action to take.

In a world where tests are everything, it’s hard to not be pulled into the stress of learning the things you’re not passionate about, trying to get to a place where you can study your passions. And that’s why the ACT and SAT are poor examples of expressing intelligence because they don’t test the creativity, high order thinking, and problem-solving that people use in their passions. And because of my experiences when I was younger, I find it hard to believe that the standardized tests that we are given determine our potential and intellect, otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to do as much as I am right now in school. So when given a standardized test, of course, try your hardest, but also remember that your score is just a number and there’s a lot more potential in your creativity, high order thinking, and problem-solving abilities.

 

Works Cited 

 

Company Company. “The SAT Is A Good Intelligence Test – Nytimes.Com.” Nytimes.com. N. p., 

  1. Web. 14 Oct. 2019.

Hudlow, A. Hudlow, Andy. “Standardized Testing Is Not An Accurate Measure Of  

Intelligence.” Knight Errant. N. p., 2019. Web. 14 Oct. 2019.

Standardized tests not always best indicator of success | Penn State University

“Standardized Tests Not Always Best Indicator Of Success | Penn State University.” News.psu.edu. N. p., 2019. Web. 14 Oct. 2019

What’s Happened at the Area 51 Raid?

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The hot topic for 2019? Or just a hoax?

Personally, I thought it was fake for a very long time until I checked my phone on September 20th to see that people were actually making a trip to the middle of nowhere Nevada.

This whole idea started as a Facebook meme according to Vox News, but the incredible thing was how much it grew. The whole point of this raid was to find the aliens that the government kept secret from us, and logistics behind it all was “they can’t stop us all” so obviously this was a sure-fire win. Credited with the starting and planning of the Area 51 meme is 21 years old Matty Roberts.

In July Roberts started a Facebook group for the even set the date for September 20th. When over 2 million people RSVD’d for the even, the FBI decided it was time to put an end to this plan.

The original plan of meeting up in Rachel, the closest town to Area 51, and creating an interactive EDM music festival called “Alienstock” for the supporters of the raid fell through. So instead, the community set up a dance party in downtown Las Vegas to celebrate.

Bud Light even made a special edition green can with an alien on it to have fun with the worldwide internet meme.

And even if the original plan for “Alienstock” fell through, many people still decided to show up to Rachel and have fun with the occasion. Even though the 54 residents of Rachel were not too happy with all the publicity surrounding the event.

From the outside, this whole thing may just seem like a bunch of immature internet users getting together trying to do something illegal and potentially dangerous. But with that said, it’s important to see the power in this mini-movement.

The internet has a bigger influence than ever now, more and more people are paying attention to what’s happening and what’s popular, and with this power and influence comes a community. The people involved in this admittedly immature internet meme made more than a meme, they created a movement or people gathering together because of one common interest.

For those who found the Area 51 Raid unnecessary or stupid, give it a chance. It just goes to show that a lot of good can be done with the power of the internet.

Set up of the failed Aleinstock festival idea.

Picture outside of a convenience store in Rachel, the small town outside of Area 51.

Why Standardized Tests don’t Predict Intelligence

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I totally remember my first standardized test, how could I forget? It was terrible, I had no idea what was going on and I didn’t know what I was doing. I was never the smartest kid, I was just kind of average. But this test made me feel like an idiot, the whole timing aspect and how intimidating it was scared the 3rd grader like myself. I knew I wasn’t a strong reader and it usually took me a while to read any passage, but when I’m not even close to being done and the teacher announces that there are 5 minutes left, I knew I was going to hate every standardized test after this. Although some people believe that standardized tests give an accurate representation of where people’s education is, standardized tests actually hinder college’s ability to see intelligence in a person because they don’t measure, creativity, high-order thinking, and problem-solving. 

From the outside, the SAT and the ACT seem like the end-all, be-all of your life. Where everything comes together and you are being judged by this one test, about where you’ll go to college, what type of job you get, how much money you’ll make, and how happy you’ll be. But this simply cannot be true. If you think about it logically, the tests include, reading, writing, English, math and science, all very general topics, so how could something like this determine the rest of your life?  

An answer is that it really shouldn’t, there are so many things that the test is missing that make up a majority of people’s intelligence. I would be willing to bet that a majority of people find that creativity, higher-order thinking, and problem-solving are much more crucial to success in a career than memorizing the different types of problems on the exam. 

Let’s talk about creativity, it’s obviously the least important thing when taking the ACT or SAT, anyone who’s taking it would agree. The only time creativity could be used in the slightest is in the optional writing portion of the test and most colleges are straying away from it, making it an optional portion of college applications. And in the reading, English, math, and science portions of the test, all you’re doing is filling out a bubble sheet with previously selected questions on the given topics. There’s no need for reasoning, proof of the answer, or anything. It’s either you know it or you don’t. And I respect that for the most part until I start getting questions wrong, then I feel like I’d do a lot better with open-ended questions where I can explain myself a little more. 

High order thinking is a big phrase, what does that even mean? For my purposes, I’m using it as the ability to reach beyond the given questions and find greater importance in the problem at hand. This problem could be an ACT problem or a real-life problem that we encounter on a daily basis. The thing with ACT and SAT questions, they provide no room to use high-order thinking, something that we do in school all the time. We’re always asking for the bigger picture, or digging deeper into the problem during class, so why aren’t these questions being asked on supposedly the most important test of our lives? To be fair, “According to the National Center for Education Statistics, ‘The SAT is not designed as an indicator of student achievement, but rather as an aid for predicting how well students will do in college’” (Heller). So maybe these just a misunderstanding in what the test is for, or maybe not. The test is actually only really assessing you on your “first-year college grades — it is not validated to predict grades beyond the freshman year, graduation rates, pursuit of a graduate degree, or for placement or advising purposes” (Heller). Using this knowledge, why would the Colleges even want to use this test for acceptance? Because if I get a 36 on my ACT and go to MIT, the test is really only going to predict my success in the first year, it won’t tell me how driven I am, my motivation to pursue a doctorate or any higher education. This is where higher-order thinking comes in. Someone who has high-order thinking would know that the opportunity to go to a great college like MIT should lead to a prominent education with ample opportunities to apply yourself in your major. Not a first-year straight-A education with no application to work. 

Believe it or not, no matter what education you get, no matter where you live or how much money you make, you’ll run into problems in life, and I think most people would say that being able to solve your problems is an important part of living. The SAT and ACT simply don’t practice that, and they don’t assess your knowledge on it either. In actuality “The goal of standardized testing is not to find out how well you think through problems, or if you can express your opinions, or create a presentation, the goal is to find out what you were able to memorize” (Hudlow). Memorization is a very small part of real-world problems. Sure having a good memory could be helpful in any situation, but real intelligence is measured with problem-solving. When in the workforce, being able to solve problems on the fly is much more probable than being able to predict problems before they occur and then memorizing the solutions. 

I’m not trying to say that standardized testing should just be completely taken out of college’s decisions to accepting students, I’m just saying that there are much better ways of determining long term success and intelligence. The ACT and SAT simply don’t measure people’s creativity, high-order thinking, and problem-solving, all things that contribute to the intelligence and future success of a person.

Works Cited

https://news.psu.edu/story/165456/2010/08/23/standardized-tests-not-always-best-indicator-success (Heller)

https://bsmknighterrant.org/2014/01/14/standardized-testing-is-not-an-accurate-measure-of-intelligence/ (Hudlow)

 

About me

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So you came to this page to learn a little bit about me. Depending on the person you ask there might be lots to talk about or little, since this is about myself I’ll keep it brief. First, off family, I am the oldest of four kids. Two of them being twin fraternal sisters (12), and the youngest being my brother (11). My mom is from Iowa and my dad immigrated here from Slovakia to go to Iowa State where my parents met. From then I was born and life was great for four years until my sisters were born, then life became chaotic.

I say this because when our family extended we had to move to a new house, still in Naperville but our house was just too small for all of us. I was about 5 at this time and was actually very excited to have baby sisters until they started to walk. When these kids started to become mobile life became very chaotic, they would run into each other all the time, and one time, they took each others teeth out and we had 4 broken teeth on our kitchen floor that still have never been found.

My brother, on the other hand, was born a year after my sisters and he caused a whole different type of chaos, one time when he was about 4 years old we were all sitting on the floor in the family room when we notice that David has just swallowed a quarter, immediately we all went into panic mode and rushed him to the hospital. Everything was fine in the end but I hope this helps exemplify the craziness of my family and how clumsy we all can be sometimes.

So that’s my family, I hope this provided a little bit of information about where I come from every day and what I have to live with. Everyone’s family is crazy but mine has a different type of crazy that’s hard for even me to explain.

A couple of things that I do in school and out are being a student ambassador for Naperville North and playing on the hockey team at North. I have been a student ambassador for 2 years now and have played hockey for North all four. I started playing when I was eight years old but I can remember being interested in the sport when I was about five and my dad taught me to skate when I was about three. I also am very involved in my church being a peer minister. One of my favorite hobbies outside of school is snowboarding. I started off skiing but when I was 12 I figured out that snowboarding sounded and looked way cooler so I went for the transition. I mean, never know when you’re gonna find a bird on the mountain, right? But the thing I do the most outside of school is spending Saturdays with the boys. All these things I feel like shape me into the person I am today.

So that’s me, hopefully, I didn’t bore you, and if you got any of the references, you’re ferda.