Friday, May 23, 2008

Don't Text and Drive (Final)

Why does one think it's so important to risk their life and others just to send a text message that says, hey! Texting and driving has become yet another not needed action while behind the wheel. Texting is the newest and most popular form of communication for the past few years. Maybe the more one knows about the actual facts and statistics of accidents caused by texting while driving. Hopefully then the next person who decides to text and drive will think more than once about what they are doing.

Most teens today have said the texting is their number one distraction well driving. Just that sentence alone should make one think twice about doing so! Is it really a smart decision when most of teens seem to know that texting is not safe to do while you are driving, but they still do it. How is it possible to stop this growing epidemic? Texting is just another thing that needs to have a punishment also if caught doing so behind the wheel. Drinking and driving is illegal because it endangers yourself and others. Texing well driving should be made illegal to because it endangers yourself and others. For that one split second one decides to look down for one tempting little text message could mean the end for someone else on the road. Maybe what it takes for someone to truely understand the dangers, they need to experience a close call, or read first hand a disturbing story of what happens!

According to "ABC" News a local bus driver was caught texting well he was driving a bus full of innocent children. While he was texting he lost control of the bus! Since this bus driver decided not to think about the safety of others he ended up injuring 30 children, severing the hand of one of the young children. Another young man recalled a time when he killed a bicyclist on the road because he was texting while driving. Now this man is educating teens of the dangers of texting. After reading this story one hopes that it will stop any oneself from picking up the phone and texting while they are driving. Is a simple text message that important to where we need to put innocent lives in danger! It may be time to get others involved and taking this growing problem to the state.

The process to ban texting while driving will be a long one. Not everyone in the legislature is against emailing and texting while driving. Now cell phone companies are warning cell phone users of the danger of texting well driving. These companies believe educating people is better then creating new laws to ban texting. After innocent lives are lost consistently because of the act of texting behind the wheel should start the push of laws to ban texting. Educating is not always good enough! Everyone knows not to drink and drive and the dangers of it, but they still do it! Everyone is realizing that texting is dangerous too, but yet they have yet to stop doing so. There are so many distraction that are unhelpful while you drive. Texting is just another distraction to slow your reaction time on the road. The less reaction time the more over correcting, and the more accidents.

This may influence one not to text, or hopefully influence one to want to know more about texting while driving. Accidents happen all the time but it's not necessary to add one more factor to keep us from focusing on the road. Just because you know that it's not right to text while driving does not make it any better, it only makes it worse that you are willing to endanger someone else. Educating everyone about texting while driving can only be taken so far. Now it has come to the point where we all need to take part to ban the texting and driving.

Work Cited

Knich, Diane. "Texting and driving can spell trouble; Clemson studies its effects on the car control." ProQuest Jan 7, 2008.

"Danger on the Road: Texting While Driving." Newsweek, (Oct 30, 2006) Professional Collection. Gale. Marshall Sr. High Library. 16 May 2008.
http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodld=IPS.

"Texting While Driving Could Spell Trouble." ABC News, May 8, 2007.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3151040&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312>.

Don't Text and Drive Rough Draft

Why does one think it's so important to risk their life and others just to send a text message that says, hey! Texting and driving has become yet another not needed action well behind the wheel. Texting is the newest and most popular form of communication for the past few years. Maybe the more one knows about the actual facts and statistics of accidents caused by texting well driving. Hopefully then the next person who decides to text and drive will think more than once about what they are doing.

Most teens today have said the texting is their number one distraction well driving. Just that sentence alone should make one think twice about doing so! Is it really a smart decision when most of teens seem to know that texting is not safe to do well you are driving, but they still do it. How is it possible to stop this growing epidemic? Texting is just another thing that needs to have a punishment also if caught doing so behind the wheel. Drinking and driving is illegal because it endangers yourself and others. Texing well driving should be made illegal to because it endangers yourself and others. For that one split second one decides to look down for one little text could mean the end for someone else on the road. Maybe what it takes for someone to truely understand the dangers they need to experience a close call, or read first hand a disturbing story of what happens!

According to "ABC" News a local bus driver was caught texting well he was driving a bus full of innocent children. While he was texting he lost control of the bus! Since this bus driver decided not to think about the safety of others he ended up injuring 30 children, severing the hand of one of the young children. Another young man recalled a time when he killed a bicyclist on the road because he was texting while driving. Now this man is educating teens of the dangers of texting. After reading this story one hopes that it will stop any oneself from picking up the phone and texting while they are driving. Is a simple text message that important to where we need to put innocent lives in danger! It may be time to get others involved and taking this growing problem to the state.

The process to ban texting while driving will be a long one. Not everyone in the legislature is against emailing and texting while driving. Now cell phone companies are warning cell phone users of the danger of texting well driving. These companies believe educating people is better then creating new laws to ban texting. After innocent lives are lost consistently because of the act of texting behind the wheel should start the push of laws to ban texting. Educating is not always good enough! Everyone knows not to drink and drive and the dangers of it, but they still do it! Everyone is realizing that texting is dangerous too, but yet they have yet to stop doing so. There are so many distraction that are unhelpful while you drive. Texting is just another distraction to slow your reaction time on the road. The less reaction time the more over correcting, and the more accidents.

This may influence one not to text, or hopefully influence one to want to know more about texting while driving. Accidents happen all the time but it's not necessary to add one more factor to keep us from focusing on the road. Just because you know that it's not right to text while driving does not make it any better, it only makes it worse that you are willing to endanger someone else. Educating everyone about texting while driving can only be taken so far. Now it has come to the point where we all need to take part to ban the texting and driving.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Cause and Effect of Rumors

What is a rumor? Is it a false statement that one says about another. Has everyone at some point in their life spread of helped spread a rumor. Why do we allow ourselfs to believe something without it actually coming from the person it involves. The ripple effect of a rumor can ruin someones career, relationship, and even ones reputation. How is it that one statement can cause such a controversy.

If one decides to start a rumor it usually is because they dont like someone, are jelous, or just plain dont have anything better to do. A rumor can start by one person stating that another has an S.T.D.! Someone ends up listning in on this conversation and then it all only gets worse from there. Maybe it's true that students just have nothing better to do but to spread a rumor but they never stop to realize how this could effect ones life. A rumor is nothing but a dominoe effect of words and misinterpretation.

For an example say there was a rumor about oneself that they were drinking at a party and blacked out. Obviously this is not true because this person may not of even been there. This rumor quickly passes around the school and everyone is talking about it. As students talk about it in class teachers are the eyes and ears and hear everything. Then comes parent conferences and the rumor gets spread around through the teachers and parents. This one rumor now has gotten around the ones parents. Now they are grounded and their parents will never trust them again all because of something that someone slipped out of their mouth that wasn't true. This one rumor ruined ones relationship with their parents, teachers, and all of ones friends. Rumors always spread faster than any other comments made.

If everyone knows that rumors are not a good thing then why does one continue to spread them like a fire in the desert. One always finds the greatest interest in a rumor when it doesn't involve them. Rumors can completely tear apart a family, group of friends, or other important relationships. So why does one do it? Somethings just can't be explained and sometimes there is just always going to be someone who slips those little words that spread.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Critical Thinking

Making a decision involves more then just a split second reaction. Making a decision involves critical thinking. Critical thinking is a long process of looking at a situation and considering all of your options and find the option that works best for what you are trying to accomplish.

During your senior year of high school it's a very important time to be thinking about what school you want to go to. When looking at the decision of picking a college it's important to have more then one option. Then also looking deep into details of each option. Critical thinking is very important in this process. You want to look at which schools you want to go to, how far away you want to go. Then you need to think more critical about how much each school is going to cost and for the most important part what school is best for what you want to pursue for the rest of your life. When it comes to the rest of your life every decision involves critical thinking. School is only one of many things that involve this long thought process.

It's always easy for us to think without actually thinking. In todays world we do anything that is convenient for us. Making a decision that affects your life is not something that can be done inside yoru convenience. Someday you will have to decide where you want to live after college. Everyone always talks about where they want to live but no one really stops to ask themselves what place would be best for what career they are pursueing, how much money they will be making to afford where they are going to live, or even what is a good place to have a family. These are a few very broud subjects but to think critical is to think in more depth and detail. What kind of place are you going to be able to afford? What things can you afford to put into your place? All these things depend on what area or place you pick to live. Critical thinking is a never ending process no matter the decision every detail leads to one more detail. Is it possible to ever think critically to much?

Thinking critical may not always be a good thing. Is there a time where you have ever thought way to much about a small detail. Thinking about your options is always a good thing. Sometimes over thinking your options to critically is not! During a volleyball match, well you are on the court it's very important to think about where you are on the court and to think about what the other players on the other side are going to do. Sometimes thinking to much about the other team and what they are going to do can completely side track you and then you get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

To think critically can benefit you in a lot of ways. Knowing details about a college, car, or a place you want to live is not always a bad thing. Overthinking critically can sometimes side track you and put you some where you dont want to be. Thinking critically can cause you to lose track of where you are or where you want to go. Why do we constantly run our minds where they dont need to go? It proves to show there is a posative and negative about everything you do, it just depends on how critical you think.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Thinking

"The minifestation of the wind of thought is not knowledge; it is the ability to tell right from wrong, beautiful from ugly. And this, at the rare moments when the stakes are on the table, may indeed prevent catastrophes, at least for the self."

I have a clear understanding of what this quote is saying and I agree with it. Thoughts run our minds every moment of everyday. Sometimes these thoughts can make us go off track and affect what things we are trying to accomplish. Our thinking seems to always run away with us at the most important moments.

As I sat on the bench of the Minnesota State Championship game I thought to myself can we win this game, even though we were down two games to none. Everytime I even thought once to myself we may not be able to do this. One play would go wrong and we lost a point. This is an example of how negative thinking and thoughts of disbelief can affect the result in an important moment. After two games of play we were down, but at this moment everyone knew it wasn't over. From this moment we played like champions, our posative thoughts drove us to a miraculous win! Thinking can affect your actions, results, and also everyone else. Sometimes it helps if you ask your self this question. Can my thoughts really affect my ability to compete, think, or reach the goal I truely want? Even if it does not help posative thinking can not hurt you, so why not better your odds of getting what you want.

Thinking is more than a thought. It's a state of mind that can affect your every move and the results that you reach. Why do we cloud are minds with negative thoughts when we know that they will never help us achieve?

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

What Excellence is to me

What does excellence mean to you? Is a definition in a dictionary really the only definition of excellence? Every person perceives excellence differently. Everyone can achieve excellence in their own way, for example winning a State Volleyball Tournament, or even getting an A+ on a school paper. There are many ways to achieve excellence either by winning a title, just doing better than thought possible, or never giving up!

A great example of excellence is winning a State Volleyball Championship! To be able to achieve excellence you need to train hard everyday even when you know that no one is watching you. It takes complete commitment and learning from you mistakes. It doesn’t take just want to create excellence. You can create excellence within a team. Excellence isn’t being perfect, it’s pushing yourself farther then you thought you could be pushed. If you make a mistake and learn your excelling, because you know not to make that mistake again. When you create excellence within a team it’s more then just playing the game. Every person has to believe in each other and believe in the team no matter what players you have or how big your players are it does not matter. If you believe you can accomplish the never thought possible by beating an undefeated team in the championship game, that is what I call excellence. Excellence isn’t always about winning the title, it can be about taking the risk to excel. Excellence is a great thing but sometimes taking the risk to excel is the toughest part.

After reading “The Crooked Tree” by Benjamin Hoff he used an example of excellence that really shows the risk you take when trying to excel. A cat is good at catching its prey, it was born to catch its prey. But when a cat is focused on its prey it’s making itself vulnerable to be caught by a net. This shows that you may be excellent at something but taking the risk to go outside of your box makes you vulnerable to the outside world. The cat has the ability to not be afraid and go for what it really wants. I think that everyone shouldn’t be afraid of the possibility to fail. If you fail by stepping out of your box and attempting what hasn’t been attempted you are already excelling. Excellence can be made into a win, win situation. Sometimes it’s just about not giving up and going for what you want! You can never excel if you fear failure. It’s always better to just not give up and go for it.

The most important factor of excellence to me is not giving up! Three knee surgeries in a year for me has taught me that you can not give up. Excellence can be achieved within you, within your ability to fight. Sometimes life throws obstacles at you and it is so easy for us all to just give it up. When the odds of breaking your knee cap are 1 in 1000, and it still happens to you. That moment would be a perfect time to quit! Maybe it’s your body fighting the odds. Making it through years of physical therapy is excellence to me. Committing yourself and keeping a positive attitude that you can get better and pushing yourself to rebuild. Not giving up is excellence, because we all know giving up is the easiest thing so when you fight and beat the odds. You are excellent!

The word excellence can mean anything you want it to mean. No matter if it’s winning the State Volleyball Championship, going outside of the box, or never giving up. There are many more definitions to excellence this is only what it means to me. What is excellence to you! Have you excelled in your life. Maybe you think that you have yet to do something excellent. You might have already excelled in your life, it might be time to stop and think about what you have done!

References

Hoff, Benjamin, "The Crooked Tree", pg. 170, Seeing Metaphors

Ludwig, Mark Donald, "Look out for more Blairs", 2004, Quill Magazine ; pg. 34

Sunday, April 20, 2008

What is Education

Jordan Stiefel
Grammar For College
Education Essay
April 20, 2008

When you mention the word education most people think of the words teacher, homework, lectures, tests, and so forth. What really is education? Education can’t be summed up inside of a book. If you can sum up education in a book then does that mean you can sum up life in a book? Education isn’t just about school, it can happen everyday outside of school just by taking a chance and learning from it.

Sometimes in life things don’t always go the way you plan or want. Just like the summer before your Junior year when you are forced to move 2 hours away from the place you have lived all your life. I know sometimes it seems that putting your tail between your legs is the easiest solution. Or else there is always another chance for you to better yourself. Every new opportunity is a learning opportunity, if you decide to open up and look forward to what's a head of you. I looked at this new opportunity as a chance to walk into a new place where I could be anyone I wanted because no one knew me. Doing that taught me that when you forget about caring what people think, or caring about anyone who chooses to judge you. This is a perfect example of how education is not just school work. Whenever you come out of any situation and you learn from it, that is education.

The simplest thing like a movie can educate your mind and change your perspective. In the movie “The Dead Poets Society” a young group of boys faces a teacher who challenges them with all their weaknesses. One of the young boys Todd Anderson was the one boy who did not talk and did not want to participate. One day the poetry teacher Mr. Keating assigned the boys to write a poem. Todd was next to present his poem but had not done the homework. Instead of allowing Todd not to do the work Mr. Keating brought him to the front of the class and helped him write his poem with his eyes closed. This opened up a whole new world for Todd. This scene showed taught me that when you don't believe you can do something you in fact maybe able to do it better then anyone, with a small push in the right direction. Sometimes all it takes is a 5 minute long scene in a movie to change your view about things you don't believe you can do or your greatest weaknesses. The best way to make a weakness a strength is to try.

In the Essay “A Homemade Education” a young student has a hard time expressing himself in his letters. He knew that the only way to fix this problem was to try and fix it. He started by writing down everything on the first page of a dictionary, waking up the next day thinking about all those words and things he learned. Excitement rose over him so he kept on writing the pages of the dictionary and he learned all of these new words and history that he never knew. You can learn anything you want from a book or you can use life as your book of education. In the Essay “Two Ways of Seeing the River” Mark Twain writes about how life is a book created by man. Life is a book that can never be avoided, and someone can never come along and skip the page. The book of life can never be forgotten or lost. This essay looks at the things life brings us like the water, grass, trees, and sunsets as the most important part of the book. A book isn’t just a book, a sunset isn’t just a sunset. There is always something more to every book every page in life and everyday we educate ourselves by learning the facts of life.

Education isn’t always about going to class everyday to learn. Education is about learning something new about life and about yourself. How can you learn if you don't take a chance and try. Ask yourself this question and maybe you can open your mind to make a mistake and learn. No matter how much school you pursue or how smart you are, there is always more room to learn and make mistakes.
Work Cited
Dead Poets Society. Dir. Peter Weir. Perf. Robin Williams. DVD. Touchstone Pictures, 1989.
Malcolm X, and Alex Haley. How I Discovered Words: a Homemade Education.Twain, Mark.
Two Ways of Seeing the River.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Personal Statement

Cover Letter

1110 Paris Road Apt. 1004
Marshall, MN 56258
April 8, 2008



Ms. Sara Johnson
Director
Graphic Design Studio 10
Marshall,MN 56258


Dear Ms. Johnson
I am enclosing my resume in response to your advertisement in the Independent Newspaper, April 1, for an assistan director for the summer. As someone who loves to learn and from my sports I have learned always to keep a posative attitude no matter what the situation I hope you will consider me for this position. I do not have much experience working in a Graphic Design studio, but I have taken many art and design classes at school and know that it's something I want to persue in my future.

This job would be a pefect oppurtinity for me to see what Graphic Design is all about and how to learn on the job. I have learned from moving my Junior year to a new High school that you really have to adjust quickly and adapt to a new environment. When coming into the work world I think Graphic Design assistant is a perfect time to apply that. This would be a dream summer job for me and I hope that you could help further my career into being a Graphic Designer.

I hope I will have an oppurtinity to meet with you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Jordan Rae Stiefel

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Resume

Jordan R. Stiefel
1110 Paris Road Apt. 1004
Marshall, MN 56258
Objective: Summer Oppurtinity to work more with the art of Graphic Design to prepare myself for my career in the future.
Education: Senior at Marshall High School, Marshall, Minnesota
(Graduation June 2008) G.P.A: 3.5
Activities
and skills : President of the Marshall High School Womens Choir
-Helped keep track of attendance
-Organize set up help for concerts
High School Volleyball(grades,9-12) and Basketball(grade,9,10)
- Won the Southwest Conference title for volleyball
- Won the 2007 Class 3AA State Volleyball Tournament
- Created a posative energy for the team
- Helped play a leadership role as a Senior for our volleyball team
- I learned what hard work is and how important it is
- Voted a captain Junior year in Alexandria for Volleyball
Work
Experience: Table Runner, Bug-a-boo Bay, Alexandria, Minnesota, Summer 2006
- Helped run food to tables
- Helped with preparing food on the plates befor it left the kitchen
- Restocked the food from the freezer so the sauces and dressings didn't run out
Ticket and Merchanise, Alexandria Beetles Baseball Field, MN, Summer 2007
- Ran ticket sales before the games
- Helped out selling Beetles souvenirs
References: Availabel upon request