sjsprWriting

Come on seniors I'm waiting for you to post

She does it all with perfection. 

She says it all, almost. 

She does it all just for him. 

She's beautiful she's a mess 

She's bootyfull she's the best. 

She wants him 

Him wants she. 

Tell him when it's gone he'll be there interim. 

Tell her to tell herself it's me. 

He sees it all without looking.

and he hears it all without listening.

He says it all without meaning.

and he does it all without feeling.

He feels it all with interaction

He expresses it all with passion

He knows it all without actin

He wants it all without tryin

He curses it all.

El salio del barrio y el barrio le convirtio en guerrero -

As I got ready for school, I begged my mom to let me stay home. To not make me walk into a classroom with 15 unknown kids. 15 of the 50 that were part of the Class of 2016. I refused to walk in. I cried, I screamed, I pushed, I did anything to not go in there. My Pre-K teacher then sat me down with some kid, calmed me down and that's when my mom saw the opportunity to run away. It was the same routine for the first week of class. My mom would say she’d be just outside all day waiting for me but it was never true. Well, thank god she forced me in there. Thank god she made little Tuto get out of his comfort zone at such a young age to join this class. Today, the last day of my Saint John’s journey, i don't want to leave, i don't want hear that last bell go off saying goodbye. Yes, i understand all the bulshit of moving on and a new step in life, but I didn't say i want it to happen now! I'm with my family. A family of 38 kids that completely understand me. Each and every one. This is like when you need to shower. You don't want to go in, you don't want to get wet, you refuse. Yet once you're in, there's no way anyone takes you out of there. In the comfort of warm water.

In the 14 years of my life, i have seen classmates come and go. I have created friendships that are not going to break. I have memories that are going to remain with me for my entire life. The guys in our grade are brothers. Yes, you look at us and see us doing the weirdest stuff but it's brotherly love. I remember around 9th grade, we were playing futsal and Carli and Nacho almost punched me in the face. That's when Carli and I hated each other. Yet now, they are friendships that i will cherish for the rest of my life. Not only them, but every single boy in our grade. I know they have my back and they know i have theirs. The girls in our grade, well, have learned to tolerate and actually enjoy the crazy shit the boys do. Like really, if any girl would see us, they would simply not talk to us.

The advanced writing class started off not so great. I would dread going into a class where we had to be completely quiet, no whispering, no nothing. Just sit down and do your work. No lecture, no nothing. Then the magnificent Mrs. Erickson came back and the class completely changed. She came in and said, well why aren't we in a circle? And from then on, it became the class i would look at my schedule and say “Fuck yes”. The class where everyone was heard and everyone shared their ideas. I want to thank those people in the class for creating a great bond and listening to everyone’s perspectives with respect. I want to thank them for really caring what everyone has to say. Most importantly, I want to thank Mrs. Erickson for giving me the chance to be in this class. I remember going up to her at the end of 11th grade, being really scared and asking her if i could take the test to be in the class and thank god she did. Mrs. Erickson, there is no better class than this one. Out of the 14 years in SJS, it's the class that i have actually learned and enjoyed it. The class where the teacher doesn't treat us with superiority. She is one of us and that is something special. Thank you Mrs. Erickson, it has really been an amazing year.

To conclude, I’d like to point out to nacho that the Celtics are a better team than the Thunder and it is so obvious.

Nacho and Alvaro, YNWA, Ill definitely see you guys in a Liverpool game at some point in our lives. Pretty crazy but im going to miss

Vero’s laugh. It would definitely get even the people in the worst moods to at least smile. Sabrina, keep rocking that hair and dont let anyone, not even Ortiz, tell you what you can and cant do, unless it illegal.

Blas, youll probably become some famous novelist in the future with an alias of “el caballo”

Cata, well Chile kinda sucks at soccer, so maybe you can go for Argentina now that youll be living there.

Sophie and Vero, dont forget we have make a wish may something and we have to organize parties or something, idk ask sophia. No but seriously, Soph thanks for your beautiful and inspiring camp stories. I can definitely survive 10 days in the woods now. And Vero, for always pumping everyone to go out.

Isa is 100% going to win some Nobel Prize or something for her poems and writings and will marry Adrian.

Michelle should bring her dogs to college with her, yes, all of them

Sari, im still waiting for your dads movie of Vermont.

Sofia expect texts from me asking about the new rap music coming out so you can chair it with me. I mean, share.

Nicholas your stories are always the longest yet the deepest and most interesting.

Alvaro,well, there's so many things i can thank you for but ill keep it short. Thanks for always having my back even when things get tough. Let's go hard tonight.

There is no better way to end Senior year than with a championship. Today, May 5, 2016 SJS won the Futsal Championship vs Wesleyan 3-2. It has never felt better. We've had that taste of victory at the tip of our tongues for enough time. We've played hard ever since we started. Every season we were so close, yet not enough. This year was the year. It was enough. More than enough. We showed the league, the coaches, the fans, the school and ourselves that we were capable of bringing home the 1st place trophy. After sufferiing a tough loss in the Outdoor Soccer finals, we came back to win this one. Our last game of our high school career brought us the freaking championship trophy. How about that for a conclusion to high school? Being part of this team, this group of brothers, is a bond that will never be broken. We never doubted our capability to win this and here we are, at the very top feeling better than ever. 

Everyone says that friendships end but that family is always there. I don’t believe it is true, unless there is the exception that I count my close friends as family. I think that my close friends will stay with me forever whether we are living in opposite sides of the world. Real friends, I am confident, will always remain with me and we will always see each other as long as we all care about each other. As it is my last blog post, I am letting you all know that all the friends that I have made all throughout Saint John’s will remain with me forever.

Throughout my high school years, I have dedicated much of my time to a local non-profit organization called Amigos de los Animales (Friends of Animals). This organization focuses on rescuing surrounding satos, or stray dogs, and rehabilitating them in order to find them a home. Many are skinny and malnourished. They are brought by different people to the shelter in order for the woman in charge to find them a better home. Adrienne Galler, the founder of this organization, has taken it upon herself to nurture this dogs back to health, giving them their necessary vaccines in order for them to be adopted to good-willed families. She runs the shelter in her own home, catering to over seventy satos.

Being surrounded by so many selfless and caring people made me realize just how much a person is willing to sacrifice for a greater cause. Adrienne is trying to find a solution to a problem that has afflicted Puerto Rico since the eighteenth century. Going every single Saturday and immersing myself in this compassionate environment has led me to become a humbler person. I have learned what it takes to run a non-profit organization. Through my passionate spirit towards the cause, I have also been able to motivate people to contribute and help this worthy ideal. This, however, was achievable only through a hands-on approach. It’s often difficult for a person to apply what they’ve learned in a classroom to a real-life situation. I find myself being successful in knowing that I was able to accomplish this task; I consider leadership, rapport, and proactivity to be essential to reaching this goal. I went in with the goal of making a change. Not only has it changed for the better since I started helping three years ago, but I have changed with it.

1. Tu Recuerdo by Ricky Martin feat. Chambao

a. Driving down a steep hill getting further and further away from my cousin’s house. Taking twists and turns, high and lows in the mountains. This song reminds me of my cousin Laura, someone I deeply valued but sadly have lost touch with.

2. Prrrum by Cosculluela

a. Reggaeton parties all throughout sixth grade. Constantly beating of the same sound. Sometimes, it felt as though my heartbeat would start matching the tune in order to be able to maintain balance. Still happens to this day.

3. Never Sleep Alone by Kaskade

a. Reminds me of my first music festival. I danced until the time came to go back to normal everyday life. This was one of the final songs in the set. I find it to be the perfect balance between electrifying, but sentimental enough to make a person want to reminisce about life.

4. Technologic by Daft Punk

a. I dedicated a whole afternoon to learning this song by heart. To this day, I still stumble at parts, but feel proud that when the beginning words are heard through my friend’s speakers, I can show off a bit. I remember one of my friends just looked at me in pure shock with her mouth wide open and she then proceeded to laugh due to such a sudden change in my demeanor.

5. Deviant Ingredient by the B-52’s

a. Since my parents are 80s enthusiasts, they have been a major influence in my musical taste. I remember this one perfectly because of my sister’s reaction to hearing this song. She was young and impressionable, so when the song came through my dad’s speakers inside the car, the catchy tune immediately caught her attention. I remember she could not stop singing the song for the next couple of days. When she found out what the lyrics meant, she reacted in the normal Amanda way and laughed while uttering the word “Wow!”

Muerte: Adv Writing Edition

12 kids in this room, including myself

4 boys, 4 girls, stranded in an island

If we were to stay together, I strongly believe this would be disastrous. The majority of us are individuals who would try to assume roles of leadership and power, which would lead to our interests clash. My suggestion however, would help the situation work somewhat better. 

Teams of three: one boy, two girls

Team A: Tuto, Vero D., Sophia

Sophia claims she survived in the woods for 10 days, so they're good.

Team B: Alvaro, Isa, Michelle

Simple: We'd make a great team.

Team C: Nicholas, Vero V., Sabrina

Between Nicholas's cooking skills, Vero's loudness, and Sabrina's creativity, they're outstanding.

Team D: Blas, Sofia, Cata

With Blas leading the way, they'll survive with a lot of laughter from the three. 

I recommend the groups settle in different spots, but agree to meet somewhere everyday at a specific time. Each team needs to choose a captain for meetings, and needs to look for their own necessities in order to survive. However, we would look look for help in each other upon struggling for survival. I trust all of you to leave your greediness behind.