I am a nerd. Usually people think that means “bookish”, “antisocial”, or “know-it-all”, preferring to label a fact-wielding teenager rather than understand the person beneath the stereotype. My version of a “nerd” is someone who has a true love for learning, who tries to understand everything around her, from Higgs-Boson particles to the Marvel Universe, from oligopolistic game theory to complicated board games. Thus, it should go without saying that the place where I am most content is somewhere where learning is encouraged. Somewhere where I can study what I want, when I want, without fear of judgment for enjoying it. Somewhere like Academic Team, the club that has taken over my life over the past three years, in a very good way. Being the “new kid” at a public school of 2500+ students, after being homeschooled for 8 years and private school for a semester, can be extremely overwhelming. Nobody understood why the new girl knew so many random facts about everything, but they did not really care, …show more content…
Academic Team gave me a place where I could be myself, free of social pressure to conform to academic apathy. I always have loved watching quiz shows (I still watch Jeopardy every day!), so when the announcement came out that the club was accepting new members, I began attending practice as often as possible, even going to Varsity practices to gain experience. Our team gradually grew, from two to four to an eventual ten, all lured in by the prospect of nerd heaven-on-earth in the form of endless trivia. We laugh, joke, study, stress, and compete together, bonding over a shared experience. A core group of us have been competing together for three years now, sharing in victories at the district, region, and state level (2013 and 2014 champions), even placing at national competitions through QUnlimited. We look forward to making history for our school, the first team to win eight competitions and be nationally
Croal, N. (2008, August 18). You Don't Have to Be a Nerd. Newsweek, 152(7), p. 66.
Author and Harvard graduate, Leonid Fridman, in an excerpt of his article, America Needs Its Nerds, points out America’s anti-intellectualism. Fridman’s purpose is to inform the reader of the contempt held for the intellectually curious and call for a change in the country’s attitude. He adopts a condemning tone to make the reader aware of the issue and encourage them to change their mindset.
The nerd trope is ubiquitous to American media and culture. Usually, it’s an academically ambitious kid who has beyond thick glasses, tucked pants, and acne: a target. Leonid Fridman takes on this stereotype in “America Needs Its Nerds.” Fridman condemns America’s neglect and contempt for intellect. He argues that America’s perspective is self-destructive through the use of definition, example, and patriotism.
The story I chose for this analysis is “Why, you reckon?” by Langston Hughes. IN this analysis I will be focusing on how the great depression in Harlem had effect on the story, how racism played a part, and how or if the characters were justifyied in their actions. During this time period the intense racial divide combined with the economic harships that plagued the U.S. during the 1923’s makes for an interesting story that makes you think if the charaters were really justified.
The chapter “Clarify What’s Important to you” introduces several successful leaders and many praiseworthy values to me. Although each leader comes from different environments and possesses different characters, all of them keep their precious values in mind and persist in chasing their ideal lives. Even if each value can be interpreted by different meanings, they all lead encourage individuals to become better.
I have been in this school since kindergarden. I have been here long enough to see our school win the state title for football and I”ve also seen our school locked down. There is the good and the ugly in every story, and what side you choose to pick will make your life easier or a very long road to glory.
Ever experienced cheer camp a famous college? Surround by its famous color orange and blue? Well, I did! A tremendous amount of people have their different ideas an exciting experience in their life. Although out of all of the exciting experiences I’ve ever experienced , I would have to say my favorite is when I visited The University of Florida for cheer camp my sophomore year. I was overly excited about spending four days at The University of Florida; I stayed up all night the night before packing and getting ready to finally stay at a college for four days with my fellow cheer sisters. From that experience I learned a lot about sticking together as a team, and friendship! But, most importantly, I learned that bonding together as a team is what got us to finish strong at the end. Those four days really opened my eyes to a lot of different things and I’m glad I can say that I really enjoyed myself.
I was also in Algulitos, a program where high school students teach younger students Spanish. I led a classroom of second graders every Friday while integrating fun and learning. I was very excited to be involved in this program because it was an opportunity to be a successful role model for younger children. I developed many friendships ...
I had little to no motivation for a while and thought that maybe wrestling wasn’t the sport for me. I had shown promise in practice but as soon as I got on the mat for a tournament or duel I just drew a blank. I wasn’t executing any of the techniques I had learned after so many repetitive drills. I wasn’t the only one that had faced such miserable losses but it felt like it. My teammates helped me through my rut by giving me additional advice during practice and being in my corner while I wrestled matches. It was a great feeling knowing that I had people who had my back whenever I needed help. The wrestling team was a close knit group that dealt with all our problems together. We worked hard and played hard together till none of us could go any further. We were each other’s motivation, rivals, and family on and off the mat. If I had any doubts about a match my team thought the exact opposite and made sure that I understood why they believed so. But what made us a strong unit was the fact that we had similar goals and values. None of us wanted to lose and planned to make it past districts. We all wanted to take home hardware not only for our own self recognition but also to bring back a trophy to put on our principal’s desk who just so happened to love the wrestling program about as much as our team. All of us valued the effort that was put into every early morning practice so no one looked down on each other. The connection we had as a team made my experience wrestling all the more worth
The team was ready, we had been working extremely hard for the past seven months for this. We were all in great shape and very rested. A few of the returning players were meeting me at my house to carpool to the final game of the state championship tournament. Everyone knew that the hard work had paid off when we won the semi-final game the preceding day.
My senior baseball season wouldn’t have been the same if it wasn’t for the kids I had around me. All of my closest friends were on the baseball team which makes it easy to see why it was my favorite season. Win or lose we were the most tight knit group of guys you could come across. Not only were we very close friends but
I had never really been a part of a team that had a chance to win something, but the potential was always there. I finally got my chance to be a part of such a team my sophomore year of track. Mr. Jones, the head track coach, had decided to experiment with some different races to gain more team points. Since the girls' team lacked a medley relay, he placed Cindy, Kim, Susan and I in those spots. Cindy would run the 400, Kim would run the 200, and Susan and I would start the race off by each running the 100. We all had worked viciously to earn those spots by running off against our teammates.
The second group, known campus-wide, is the nerds because they are obsessed with books, constantly studying and learning about their interests. The nerds are usually annoying with their obnoxious laughter regarding a really stupid joke. The nerds wear a nice shirt with a bow tie, or a tie and a nicely ironed dress pants and always has a pocket protector to prevent ink stains from their pens. The nerd spends their school night with a tight schedule for recreation, school homework, and learning new things that captures their interests. Computer programming, calculator programming, the biology of their pet frog are some of the common things that interests the nerds.
...had very few content and it had to be put together in a short, unexpected, time span. So far it has been the same for the school year of 2016-2017 because no one shows up, though I and the group still thrive to doing the very best. Yearbook is something I truly enjoy. Although, debate was very intellectual it is an activity I did not enjoy much. I was in the first Denver Urban Debate League team my school ever had. We were all very lost with the structure, the content, and in general. The first ever debate tournament I competed in, a student’s partner did not show up. I had planned on competing by myself but I decided to pair with the student due to her bad luck. I had never practiced her so it caused a barrier. My determination allowed me to complete the tournament with the student and win third place despite of the roadblock. Debate taught way power and willpower.
After a review of my performance in the assigned group, I have learned a great deal about myself and behavior in the team-setting situation. This is not the first experience in a team-setting. Previous team setting experiences were conducted in sporting and recreational environments rather than academics. While the setting and the environments were indeed different, there were many commonalities and correlations between the team settings I previously experiences and the current academic team-setting experience for this academic course project.