12 1/2 Days of School Left!

12 ½ days of school left! I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. Last week I attended the athletic banquet and the academic awards. Both events were very fun and enjoyable for everyone.

Memorial weekend was fun but too short. I was in my pool for the first time this summer, the water was so cold but it was worth it. With summer coming great adventure is too. Some of you probably think, come on its great adventure, I go there all the time. Well everyone at UC is really excited. We're excited to be able to go with all of our friends! We have one week till the great trip. I think I’m going to do it... I’m going to ride King da ka!

After great adventure comes finals! I know for sure that I am exempt from scripture, which is great! Of course, no one wants to take the finals and it’s terrible that this is how our school year ends, with tests! I’ve never taken a final before, but I’m sure it will be just like mid-terms. I hope I do well.

Wow, in 12 and ½ days I’ll be considered a sophomore, no more little freshman. I love(d) freshman year and I will never forget it! I hope sophomore year is even better. I am taken harder classes next year. Well I’ve written enough enjoy your last weeks of school!

Athletic Banquet && Academic Excellence Ceremony

Last week was a very busy week for the UC students. On Wednesday night, the freshman and sophomores had a ceremoney for the academic excellence; on Thursday night, the Spring Athletic Banquet was held.
I attended both nights, and as a freshman, both were new for me. On Wednesday night, certain freshmen and sophomores were invited to a ceremony in the school auditorium. There were specific awards for individual people and other awards for a large group. I really enjoyed how enthusiastic the kids were for their friends when their names were called. The different awards were for academic excellence, Spanish awards, Math awards, English awards, maintaining a 7.0 GPA, and a few others. I, myself, received 4 awards, 3 for academic excellence, and a medal for maintaining a 7.0 GPA.
On Thursday night was the Spring Athletic Banquet. The night contains a video presentation of each varsity sport, and food. Tennis, Golf, Girls Lacrosse, Baseball, and Track each had their own video. The video showed each player, and pictures or short clips of the sport. After the video, the coach would get up and say a few words about the team, and the players would receive their varsity letters. This year, among other freshman, I received my varsity letter.
Our school year is almost over, with only 16 days left! Everyone is so ready for summer. We are so close to becoming sophomores. :]

FRIENDSHIP

Coming to this school was a tough decision for me. I don’t know if I said this or not but I came from public school. I was never in catholic school so it was a little different coming here. The scariest part was that I knew absolutely no one coming to this school. None of my friends came to this school, I thought I was all alone. Over the summer I got a call and letter from my big sister Caitlyn, she made a difference when I came to UC. I didn’t feel alone anymore and she’s assured me that everything was going to be ok. When I called her with questions we talked for an hour. (Hopefully you will have a big sister like her) This school taught me something about friendship and it is that you find out who your true friends are. I had so many friends in my old school and I only talk to two of them now. Those people who I don’t talk to made me realize that they were never my real friends. I know that the friends I made this year will stick with me. I have met some people who have changed my life forever. One girl who I never thought I would be friends with ended up being one of my closer friends, another girl I met on the bus and we wound up sharing our life stories with each other ~ we became best friends. A lot of the people I’m friends with now, I was never friends with in the beginning. I love my new friends and I know 20 years from now I won’t have to wait for a high school reunion to see them again, because they will always be there for me. ( oh by the way I came from Woodbridge middle school!)

Great Adventure

Today we finished early in math so our teacher talked to us about the great adventure trip. I’m really excited because I haven’t been on a class trip since 5th grade! She explained to us how they just give us our tickets and let us go. We have so much freedom, it feels nice. All my friends and I have started to talk about what rides to go on. I am so scared of roller coasters. Kingda Ka scares me so much. If any of you have ever ridden that coaster, comment me, let me know about it. I have a feeling one of my friends is going to drag me on but I’m going to freak out! The superman ride at great adventure was designed by my great uncle! 16 days left of school. I can’t believe I’m going to be a sophomore next year. Time fly’s by so quick! Enjoy the rest of your school year. =)

<--Kingda Ka (incase you didnt know)

Service Hours

Over the course of the year, all students have to have service hours for their religion classes. For the freshman, you need 6 hours per semester, 12 in all. You can do anything that is helping your community or church. Some people don’t like doing service hours, and others think that it is a good thing to help others. Some examples of service hours would be babysitting, helping a neighbor, coaching or helping out a sports team, etc.

Personally, I like doing service hours. Some of the things I have chosen to do have helped me figure out what kind of job I would like to pursue when I’m older. What I have figured out so far is that I enjoy working with people. Because of this, I have volunteered at the Center for Hope Hospice in Scotch Plains. Center for Hope Hospice is a place where you go when you are very sick and are at the last stage of your life. The point is to die with dignity. Hospice can go into homes, but if the patient has no one to take care of them, they go to a Hopsice house. In Scotch Plains, Peggy’s house, the place the patients stay, can hold 30 patients. The patients have total control over what they would like to do and have a lot of freedom. I have had 4 ½ hours so far and I love it. I have had a training session and last week, officially started my work. There are a lot of different things you can do to help out there. Volunteering at Hospice means more to me than just getting hours; I enjoy helping out people and feeling like I made someone’s day better or easier.

SCHOOL ENERGY

Our schools energy has really risen this past month. The entire freshman class is excited about the great adventure trip. I think it will be a lot of fun to be with all my friends at Great adventure. I’m not a huge fan of rollercoaster’s but my friends are going to drag me on, that’ll be fun. On another note softball has been really great. My name was in the Star Ledger! I couldn’t believe it. It says “Union Catholic has been paced by Katie Zolli, Kate Williamson, Angela Sessa, and Erin Farley. I was amazed. With that being said yesterday I tried on a varsity jacket. It was like that moment every athlete waits for. I couldn’t wait to put it on and when it was on I realized it’s heavy. The jackets feel really weird, but I’m going to have to get use to it. Besides excitement a lot of the students are nervous. Finals are only a few weeks away. I hope to be exempt from a lot of my finals but I know I’m going to have to take at least 3 or 4 of them. I’ve had a lot of school work so I have no time to even think about finals. I have this huge poetry book project due Friday. It’s worth a double test grade! I’m almost done but I want it to be very creative. Wish me luck! =)