Assignment 1- Eli Dyer

As I’m hoping most of you know, my name is Eli Dyer. My academic goals for this school year are relatively straightforward: to get all As, a 36 on the ACT, and at least a 4 on my AP tests. So far, the only score I have received is a 4, so getting a 5 would be a welcome change; however, the sheer amount of AP tests I’m going to take may interfere with that goal. Although it’s not a specific goal of mine, qualifying for National Merit would be an added bonus. More than anything, this school year, or year in general, I want to enjoy myself. I see no point in academic success for the sake of academic success. I view my grades, test or otherwise, as 2nd to my own happiness. What is the point of success if I am unhappy?

The question of the “best” superpower is present in a multitude of scenarios, whether it’s in a debate with friends or an activity for class. When most are posed the question of their favorite superpower, they answer with the typical “flying,” “super speed,” or “invisibility.” However, in this scenario, the common answer is not necessarily the best one. When I first answered this question, I pondered the power of teleportation; the ability to travel anywhere instantly is a good one. However, after extended thought upon the topic, the best power would be the ability to stop time at my discretion. It holds many of the advantages of other powers without many disadvantages. Although you cannot travel instantly as you can with teleportation, I believe the flexibility of stopping time more than makes up for that.

Once, I could have talked about how much I loved to read. And it’s true, I loved to read. In 5th grade, I earned 1300 AR points, beating out the next contender by over 500 points. However, that love of reading, although still lurking somewhere on the inside, is not something that drives me as it used to. In recent years, I found another pastime that consumes my life: Ultimate Frisbee. During Freshman year, I started attending Henry Clay’s Ultimate Frisbee club, and what started as a way to have fun has developed into a passion of mine. Now I’m a junior, and I’m the Vice-Captain of the club. The club plays Frisbee casually in front of the school, but we also sometimes take a team to a formal competition. I love both aspects of the club: the casual and the formal.

Throughout my years of school, I have taken several uncomplicated, uninteresting, and uninspired classes. My primary method of coping is most likely frowned upon. Whenever the class began to do independent work over something I’ve already done or see no need to do, I sat down, opened up the computer, and started playing Cool Math Games. Although admittedly not the best strategy, Cool Math Games was my primary coping mechanism for a long period of my school career. Luckily, I don't foresee this coping mechanism being necessary for this class.

coolmathgames.com