A Young Girl's Lesson

Annie, a little girl, the oldest of eleven children, lived in a house on Douglas and Homan in the city of Chicago with her family. She lived with her grandma, grandpa, mom, and her seven brothers, and four sisters. It was in a nice neighborhood with lots of churches and stores. The people in the neighborhood were very friendly. With her big family and nice neighbors, there was never a dull moment. As she began to get older going to school was getting harder, because Annie had to babysit her sisters and brothers. As time went by, her mom would get sick, and she had to tend to her sisters and brothers. She started to hang out with girls that were different than the way she was raised. They even dressed different than the way she did. Wanting to be accepted, by her peers, she started to hang out with them.

She felt like she was being too protected by her parents, so she left home and her mom was very angry! She looked to her friends as her second sisters and brothers then she started to like boys. She wanted to be accepted by her peers. That changed everything when she visited home to see her mama. There were lots of arguments. She turned to a boyfriend for comfort only to find out that he could not solve her problems. She ended up getting pregnant, first problem. Second problem was that she had to have baby’s pampers, milk and clothing. Her mother still needed help with Annie’s brothers and sisters. She still needed Annie’s help with dressing and feeding them, so Annie decided to go back home.

No matter what was going on, Annie’s mama said she understood that it was hard to go to school with helping her, but she that must still try to go. Her mother said that when she was a child her parents needed her to help by going to work in the field to pick cotton, so she did not have a chance to go to school. She wanted Annie to not to have a hard life like that, because she had to work in the fields, going to the white people’s houses to clean. Annie’s mother made her feel bad about having a baby so young. She said she needed Annie’s help sometimes, but never intended for her to stop going to school. By not listening, Annie found herself working, taking care of two children, and a home. When she finally realized what she was saying the damage was done, but what she said was still true. Now Annie had a chance to talk to other young girls who are at home with their moms and want to finish school.

Finally, she wanted young people to know that there are many things that can get in the way when trying to go school, but don’t stop trying to get a career in some field to support you. Mama influenced Annie to keep trying even though many people have told her she should give up. She now has enrolled in a Garfield Learning Center.  Influenced by her mother, with the help of many good teachers has made her feel better about her life. The staff at Family Start Learning Center has helped her with my reading, writing, and math.

Should a person that’s younger than twenty one be able to drive?

There are many things that can happen when driving a car. There is a lot of responsibilities in taking care of it. A car may break down at any time, so you would need to have the money to take care of it. The expense can be tremendous, there are lots of accidents, and drive by shootings among young people.  Responsibility sometimes comes with age; that’s why I believe the driving age should be twenty one years of age.

The first reason that a young person should not be able to drive until they are twenty one is that they are dangerous drivers. I understand that when a person is young they have lots of energy to use, but it is very dangerous to use that energy on speeding in a car. Young people do not like to follow the speed limits. There have been so many deaths. Some young people like to text while driving, they also like talking on the phone when they are driving.

The second reason that young people should not be able to drive until they are twenty one is too, that driving is expensive. Driving a car can be expensive especially when you are young and going to school. Being a student and trying to take care of a car is not a good thing to do. Lots of parts of a car can go bad at any time. If you are a young driver, you probably cannot afford a new car. With being a student or having not landed a good paying job can be very hard. If there is an accident, the parents will have to pay for it. Being young is hard enough. One has to look out for their self. With all the things that’s happening in the world today having a car can be more of a problem. If a young person have children that they have to take care of

In conclusion, I think the driving age should be 21yrs, because at that age, he/she may be more responsible, and have had a chance of having a good job, or a career to pay for any damages that may occur.

Annie

Mr. Henten

I admire Mr. Henten. He is a pastor of a big church in Chicago. When someone is concerned about the well being of others he/she is very special person. He knows that there are many people in need, and he said if there’s anything he could do for them, God would bless him for whatever he could help with. Mr. Henten is someone who many people would like to know. He gets information from different organizations to give people that need help. Whatever he can do, he will. He believes that people will not have money all the time, and he will not either. He likes to make people laugh too; he makes funny, but clean jokes. I admire Mr. Henten because he is patient with people, caring, and funny.

Mr. Henten is a very patient person. When going to different churches he does not mind waiting. When someone wants to talk about something, he listens to make sure he understands. He waits until they finish. He doesn’t mind waiting for people that has to go to the doctors’ office. I admire Mr. Henten, because his patience encourages me to be more patient.                            

Mr. Henten is a very caring person. He is caring because he helps people in need of different kinds of services, people who do not have any one else to help them. Like people who need food to feed their families. He cares about people who need housing. He helps with finding them a place to live. I admire Mr. Henten because he cares about other people having the things they really need.  

Mr. Henten is a very funny person. He likes to tell funny, but clean jokes to make his friends laugh. He twists his words around to see if his friends understand. He also likes to surprise them with funny gifts. He thinks the funny gifts will make then happy. Mr. Henten encourages me to want to laugh more often by the way he treats his friends.                                                                                                           

I admire Mr. Henten because he is a patient, caring, and very funny person. When dealing with other people he is special. He goes out of his way for them. He says that God will bless him for the things he does for others. I will always admire.

Annie

Learning to Ask Questions

Being a good student is not easy, but very important, and coming to school as many days as possible helps in order to keep up with the homework and the different assignments that the teachers may give out. There will be many assignments, but I must try hard not to get too far behind. It will be very hard to catch up. It’s not easy to have to keep starting over by waiting for the next six weeks to begin again. To be a good student, I had to ask for help from my teachers and the social workers. When I first decided to finish school it was very hard. I was ashamed at first to ask a question, but now I ask for help if I have a problem with a particular subject. That was the struggle I overcame.

I had to work in order to help take care of my children. Then, I had to manage a home and go to school, that’s three jobs! It was not easy being away from my family when I was working. However, I needed money, and I needed my education. I have started and stopped many times, because of work or family problems. I had to start learning all over again in order to read, write and do math problems. My academic struggles with math, even though it was not easy, in the end made me more confident about learning. One particular problem was renaming fractions. Renaming fractions have many different steps in order to solve the problem. I had to do it many times before I understood it. In addition, I had lots of help from my teachers. My teacher, Mr. Nathan, asked me to show him on the board step by step the way to do the problem of renaming fractions, so that he would know whether I understood it. I showed him that I could do the problem and he said, “That’s good.”  What I learned about a lot of problems solving, be it math, writing or any other academic problem, and was that sometimes the subject must be repeated many times. I learned that if I asked for help when I needed, I would get the help I need.

I continued to try. Each time I started again it was hard, but I also noticed that my academic struggle had gotten lighter. The help that I received from my teachers and social workers has helped me to continue. Asking my teacher more about the subjects that I need to learn has changed my habits from the way I used to learn. My desire for learning is much stronger. Right now, I am dealing with learning how to write better, like doing book reports and writing assays on different subjects. The struggle goes on in the academic field of learning. I will have to muster up some strength in order to get my GED.

In conclusion, to be a better student you cannot be ashamed to ask the teacher or the social workers for help with the problems you may have. If you are patient, your teachers will help; that’s what they’re there for. If you have a personal problem the social workers will help you with that, they are there to listen. Finishing assignments, coming to school on time, and doing your homework will help with being a good student.

Annie

One Summer Day in the Park

It is very important to spend time with someone special. My mom was very inspirational and she taught me many things. My mom asked me to move to Holland, MI to live with her because she was not well, and I wanted to go. I decided to move there in the year of 2002, to help take care of her. Moving there made life better for me.

One summer day when my mom was feeling well, I thought she may like to have lunch by the lake. It was a beautiful day to go Lake Michigan and then take her to her favorite restaurant McDonald's. My mom loved cheeseburgers.  We went to the beach to have lunch by the warm lake, and the trees were swaying slow, and gracefully.

It was a Saturday afternoon and at the end of the day my mom told me she had a great day. I enjoyed sitting there talking about old times and listening to her talk about the things she did when she was younger. I asked her if she wanted to ride around the park longer, and she said yes. My mom has passed since then and I am amazed at the things she taught me and the things she said.

Annie