Assignment 22 | Evan Winkler

I have moved a total of three times in my life, twice to different cities around Los Angeles and the third time to Lexington. My Grandfather and Uncle are both currently working in real estate, and my grandfather has had an extensive career in that sector. My dad has told me that when he was younger, his father would often 'take him with' on visits to different houses, and give pointers on important features to identify in a house for when he reached the age of buying one. When we moved to Kentucky, I remember how my dad would go over his opinion on each house he had looked at in the car after he was finished, and remind us of things to look at that would "be important later."

In 2017, I was the National Geographic Bee Kentucky state champion, thanks to large amounts of research I would do for fun when I was in elementary and middle school. I remember learning about different climates and how local architecture would often be influenced by the situation of the groundwater or bedrock in the area. It was interesting to me just how pertinent these things are today in spite of our ability to alter the climate around us.

I haven't narrowed down my exact "top picks" for colleges, but there's a small chance that I might go to a school known for architectural or real estate-related programs and curricula, considering the amount of insight I have from my own personal experiences.

Assignment 24- A Reflection-Hayden Caldwell

Well the obvious first way to describe junior year is all too short. With the last three months of the school year being canceled as a result of COVID-19, this school year felt incomplete. No first prom, no volleyball season, no final goodbyes to my senior friends. For someone who relies on social interaction and being around people to get along, that kills. It feels like you took a cake out of the oven way too early and forced me to eat it. All the dedication I put into academics, athletics, and the bonds I’ve formed with people have seemingly disintegrated into thin air. While this overshadows any other reflections on this school year, there is lots I can take into next year. I feel like I will never take for granted the little things about everyday life. I am really good at getting down on myself, but this pandemic has taught me to expect nothing and appreciate everything, even things that might seem frustrating. This is the biggest insight I can take into senior year and beyond. I feel like this mentality will help me going forward to become a better person.

Assignment 21 | Evan Winkler

When I was much younger, around 6-8 years of age, I was learning how to ride a bicycle for the first time. My dad bought me a set of 'training wheels' to attach to my bike's rear wheel, but they weren't any help to me because they couldn't both touch the ground at the same time. Riding with them, I would keep swerving from side to side trying to get at least one of them to touch the ground, and I would predictably crash more than made sense for someone trying to "learn on level 1" or "take it easy." What my dad did following our observations was to just remove the training wheels and try and coach me without them, which worked far better than I expected at the time. Sooner or later, I was an aficionado, and we had wasted 20 bucks on a set of training wheels.

Assignment 23- The Perfect Gameday Playlist- Hayden Caldwell

Before the coronavirus canceled school for the rest of the semester, I was eagerly anticipating the second season of Henry Clay boys volleyball to the point where I even created a pregame playlist to listen to before games. So, I guess being able to use it for a blog post is the next best thing.

1. “m.A.A.d city (feat MC Eiht)” by Kendrick Lamar. This song, especially the opening beat, is high-tempo motivation for any game, especially ones against local rivals.
2. “Victory Lap (feat. Stacy Barthe)” by Nipsey Hussle. This is one of three songs in the playlist from the late Nipsey’s last album and since it’s a little slower it provides a great beat for some meditation and envisioning before a game. It’s important to get in the right mindset before I step out on the court.
3. “Run This Town (feat. Rihanna and Kanye West)” by Jay-Z. This song has it all. A good beat, three of the most prominent rappers in today’s culture, and great lyrics. A definite add to any game day playlist.
4. “Dedication (feat. Kendrick Lamar)” by Nipsey Hussle. Another fast-paced song to get me in the game-time mindset.
5. “Pressure (feat. Fenix Flexin and OhGeesy)” by Shoreline Mafia. This group of controversial rappers (including the recently deceased Mac P Dawg) always raps about sticking together as a team and working hard to make money. A great anthem for game time.
6. “Keyz 2 the City 2 (feat. TeeFlii)” by Nipsey Hussle. My personal favorite in the Victory Lap album is saved for last. It’s the best song for walking out of any locker room in my opinion.

The warm-up period ends pretty soon, so this is about all I’ll have time for.

Assignment 25: Uniquely You – Mulligan (College)

This is a Makeup Blog Post.  If you have a score that is less than a 30/30, this will replace that grade

When I tell my wife I’ve met someone new (a friend – don’t go there) she always asks, “what’s their story?”  She is keenly interested in the who, the capital WHO, a person is - in that she wants to know their story.  You have a story.  You have a unique background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful you believe you are incomplete without telling it

Inspired by Keanu Gomez
Minimum of 150 words.  Due on May 3 @ 11:59 pm

May 10 is the last day to make up blogs 23-25

Assignment 23- Madison Underwood- Yes, I Sing in the Shower

I am a firm believer in the art of singing in the shower, but it doesn't stop there. I believe it is my personal responsibility to give my own Super Bowl half-time show every time I step foot in my bathtub. Singing my heart out and busting some totally awesome moves for all of the shampoo bottles, razors, and bars of soap to enjoy while shampoo suds trickle down my face is a staple in my shower routine. So as you could probably guess, I have created a list of the perfect belt-your-heart-out and shake-your-groove-thing songs that will surely entertain your shampoo bottles.
1. Intentions by Justin Bieber and Quavo- Instead of taking this time to fangirl about Justin Bieber (although I am a Belieber at heart), I will talk about this song. It has a great beat that is perfect when you are scrubbing your scalp or just taking a dance break. I also appreciate that the lyrics and how they appreciate the actual beauty of a female (and not just their body, a common theme in today's music).
2. 80's Films by Jon Bellion- In my personal opinion, Jon Bellion was not deserving of his one-hit-wonder status. This song accompanies his most popular song, All Time Low, on the album The Human Condition. It's a great song to just sway to and vibe with while in the shower!
3. OTW by Khalid, 6BLACK, Ty Dolla $ign- Like 80's Films, this song is also great to vibe to (but so is anything by Khalid) and explore some dance moves while singing into your shower head.
4. Break Me by the Band CAMINO- The Band CAMINO is a super underrated band (creds to Hayden on that one) who has some super fun music to dance and sing to! This song is one of my favorites, it has a great beat and is super easy to jam to.
5. Hand of God-Outro by Jon Bellion- This song gives me CHILLS but you can only listen to it after having listened to the whole Human Condition album, but it's SO worth it!
6. Quite Miss Home by James Arthur- This song is more of a sadder song, but a super fun one to belt out in the shower when you wanna get in your feels.
7. Who I'd Be from the Shrek the Musical soundtrack- If I'm being honest, I have an addiction to this musical, I've lost track of how many times I've listened to it just over this quarantine break from school. This heartfelt song performed by Shrek gets emotional and ends with a powerful medley of the main three characters.
8. Tear in my Heart by Twenty One Pilots- This song brings me right back to middle school and is such a great song to rock out to while in the shower! It's nostalgic and always a crowd-pleaser among my various soaps and shower gels.

Assignment 22 - Ethan Scott - My Perfect College

Growing up my family was centered around University of Kentucky basketball and football. I basically grew up on it. This aspect of my life has not changed a single bit since and my fandom has become a large part of the person I am. Another huge aspect of my life is the trumpet and over the years I have wanted more and more to study the trumpet in college to eventual become a trumpet professor. Combining these two things I find UK to be the perfect fit for me as not only will my fandom of UK sports be satisfied but my connections I have to the UK college of fine arts and my experiences I have already had with the association lead me to believe there is not a better choice for me. I also am not the type of person to want to get as far from home as possible like many teenagers say so all things considered, staying nearby at UK would be the perfect fit for me.

Assignment 22- Ava Nielsen

I've spent a considerable amount of time thinking about what college I want to go to, but I'm honestly still not really sure. That being said, I do think it would be really cool to go to school overseas, primarily in the United Kingdom. One of the schools I've been looking into is the University of Glasgow. I think I would be a good fit for this college for several reasons. First of all, I love big cities and Glasgow seems like a great place to live. I visited Edinburgh not too long ago and absolutely loved it, so I'm sure I could say the same about Glasgow. Another reason is that my brother goes to school in Scotland, so I think it would be a lot easier to transition to going to college overseas if he was nearby. Overall, I think I could thrive in Glasgow and I think it would be a beneficial experience.

Assignment 21 - Ethan Scott - Journey to All-State

As a sophomore in high school I considered myself to be a good trumpet player. I knew I wasn't and I still haven't achieved that but I understood I was good enough to accomplish some things such as making the all-district band but for me that wasn't good enough. December 2018 rolls around and first cut auditions for all-state are right around the corner so I did what i always do and work until I'm satisfied with my performance of the audition music and take the audition with confidence. Later that month I find out I made it through the first round but all that meant was more work and practice so I will be ready for the second round. January of 2019 then comes and it's time for the final auditions. Yet again, I prepare myself and take the audition with confidence. Unlike the previous audition I find out that I didn't make the cut and to make it even worse I was the first one out. So where do I go from here? This experience of failing an audition that I had worked so hard for taught me that no matter how much work I think I am doing there is always more progress to be made and that if I want to be great I can never be satisfied with my abilities and must always strive for better. So moving forward with this mentality Junior year comes around and every audition I have taken has been a success, from all-state to all-district and more, due to my new perspective on my abilities and learning from the failure I had the previous year.

Assignment 20 - Ethan Scott - How to Play Trumpet

When you begin to play the trumpet it is impossible to do so without putting the instrument together first. To do this you take the mouthpiece and insert it into the receiver of the lead pipe. To make a sound you must buzz your lips into the mouthpiece which will cause the air inside the trumpet to "activate" or move which creates the sound you hear from a trumpet. To play notes you use the valves of the trumpet to change the length of the trumpet. Each combination of valves changes it by a unique length and slots the sound into a different harmonic frequency. The second valve alone drops the pitch by one harmonic half-step, the first valve alone drops the pitch by a harmonic whole-step, the third valve alone or first and second valves together drop the pitch by three harmonic half-steps. You can use these combinations together to go down by two whole-steps (second and third valve) five half-steps (first and third valves) and finally three whole-steps (All three valves).

Assignment 21- Ava Nielsen

Though I'm sure I've faced many obstacles in my lifetime, I can attribute quite a few to my experiences in middle school. After having lived overseas for most of my youth, coming back to the U.S. in fifth grade was admittedly quite different from before. Even despite the struggle of moving, I persisted and made friends at my elementary school. However, the bigger struggle came after, in my transition to middle school. While I was originally districted to Jessie Clark Middle School, we moved across town, meaning I had to go to Tates Creek middle instead. In the following months, most of the friendships I had finally developed ended or grew more strained. I was forced to get through middle school practically alone, as I was also very shy and had trouble making friends. While I did make a few friends along the way, I was pretty awkward so I usually kept to myself. After having experienced this, I'm all the more grateful to have good friends now. I learned that it's important to get out of your comfort zone and make friends and that forming new relationships has a big effect on your experience at school.

Assignment 22- Eli Dyer- Centre?

Throughout my life, I've struggled with decisions. I can never decide where I want to eat or where I want to go, which often ends in me sitting at home, hungry and bored. It's insane to me that within the next year I'm supposed to have made one of the most important choices of my life. I don't have set goals on what I want to be when I grow up. I'm currently leaning towards something writing-related, but that's the extent to which I've narrowed it down. For that reason, I'm hoping to attend a liberal arts college, somewhere I'm not immediately put on a path towards a career.
I also haven't done many college visits (one, to be exact), and I won't be doing any in the near future thanks to COVID-19. The one college I've visited is Centre, and my parents both went there, so that's where I'm thinking of going for now.

Assignment 21- Eli Dyer- Laziness

My unwillingness to put forth any effort is and has always been my largest issue. I like to think I'm fairly intelligent (ironically I just had to do a google search to see if I spelled that correctly), but I've always found myself unable to fully apply myself. I have every opportunity to do my work when it should be done, but I choose not to, waiting until the last possible second to get it done, sometimes even after that. For example, as I'm writing this blog post, it's 12:50 a.m. on April 6th, almost a full month after its initial due date.
This issue seems like it should be easy to solve, but it's surprisingly difficult. It's hard to break a habit. And I've had this particular habit my entire life. I can't remember a time when I didn't procrastinate assignments and put forth minimal effort.
Hopefully I can solve this issue, but until it's absolutely necessary, it can wait.

Assignment 22 - Beppy Badgett - I Like Cities

One life experience that has shaped my character is where I grew up. I spent most of my childhood living in or near a big city. When I was 4 my family moved to Baltimore, where we lived in an apartment building on the 11th floor. When I was 6 we moved to a small town right outside of Washington DC. I have grown up navigating public transportation, keeping up with my parents through busy sidewalks, and finding my way through blocks of tall sky scrapers. Some people feel overwhelmed by the craziness of large cities, but I find it exciting. I grew up with classmates from all over the world, spies for neighbors, and easy access to very good food. My experience in big cities has influenced my future goals because I someday hope to live in one. I would be open to going to a college in a large city, but am not ruling out those in smaller college towns.

Assignment 24: The Future

You're done! - well almost Your Junior year (nearly) OVER. Tell us about it. Successes? Failures? Lessons Learned? Risks taken? Mistakes made? What will you do in the Summer? What do you want for your Senior year? How do you plan to reach your goals? Minimum of 150 words - due on Sunday, April 19 at 11:59 pm May 10 is the last day to make up blogs 23-25

Assignment 23 - My Homework Playlist - Averi Ricks

I have a playlist I listen to when I am working on homework, but it has 76 songs so I'm gonna list some of my favorites in no particular order.

I Just Wanna Marry A Mermaid by Orca Vibes. I think this song is in Korean, so I wouldn't even know if it's about marrying a mermaid, but it's a really chill song. The lyrics are super soft and blend into the music, which makes it really chill and great for doing homework.

Bicycle Weather by Pickle Darling. This song is so chill and relaxing. The lyrics sound blurry (if that makes sense) and add to the overall relaxed vibe of the playlist. This song is like the one by Orca Vibes because they're the only ones that have lyrics but their lyrics blend into the song.

Cute Girl from the Froyo Shop by Rook1e. This song is instrumental and upbeat. I really like it because it's upbeat but relaxing at the same time, so it's like putting a pep in your step, but instead of walking you're doing homework.

polaroids by Elijah Who. This song is also instrumental and super chill. It has bird tweets and a soft voice singing as the melody so it's very relaxing. It's nice for doing homework because it doesn't have a lot of different elements that could distract you. This song is like the one by Orca Vibes because they both repeat the same thing over and over which is what makes them so relaxing.

In Love Again by Discandy. This song is also instrumental, but it's so upbeat and the melody sounds like it could be lyrics instead of an instrument. This song is kinda groovy and chill at the same time and makes doing homework a lot less boring because the song is so fun. This song is similar to the one by Rook1e because they're the most upbeat.

Assignment 23-Katherine Henson-Playlist

Every month since September I've created a playlist with all new songs. People always tell me how crazy my music tastes are and my playlists definitely reflect that. I listen to pretty much anything under the sun. My playlists always make sense to me, songs that I vibe with that month or I've recently been into, but to the untrained ear it's a roller coaster of emotions and styles. Every time I listen to one of a past month it reminds me of that month and what I was feeling. My favorite playlist of recent was March. This playlist reminds me of driving around with my windows rolled down since the weather was just getting nice.

Brad Pitt's Cousin by Macklemore started off the playlist. I was obsessed with this song freshman year and kind of forgot about it until last month. This is one of my favorite songs ever. The music video for this song is so fun, all "home videos" shot on his iPhone and compiled.

Beautiful by Ben Rector is my next pick. At the beginning of this year, I got hooked on Ben Rector. I call it my "granola music" and try to get all my friends to listen but I don't think they like it at all. This is like the perfect song to drive down an open road blasting and sing at the top of your lungs.

Time after Time by Cyndi Lauper also pops up on my playlist. This song reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite which is one of my favorite movies. I don't usually like 80s music and oldies but Cyndi Lauper always has a special place in my heart.

not ur friend by Jeremy Zucker is a new one for me. This is the only Jeremy Zucker I know but I kind of stumbled across this song and really like it. It's really unlike a lot of other songs I listen too but I really enjoy it. Again, another song that's super fun to sing with the windows down.

Today was a Fairytale by Taylor Swift is a super throwback. I used to be totally obsessed with Taylor and this song was one of my favorites. I rewatched the movie Valentine's Day that she's in with Taylor Lautner that features this song and remembered how much I loved it. This song makes me super happy and nostalgic.

here's a link to all the songs!
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6ADf9m38Wk5RVuPiqcHBDm?si=agyvdk8vSXK_Phg9o91qJg

Assignment 22-Katherine Henson-Unique

I hate wasting my time. Well, more like I hate having my time wasted for me. I have no problem wasting hours away doing something I like, even if it isn't productive, but I draw the line when others waste my time. The beginning of this school year was a really tough transition for me. During the summer, I had a job (a very easy one at that) but when I wasted time, I was getting paid. I had the best summer really, I even did my summer homework at work and it didn't suck that bad because again I was getting paid. Going from a paid full-time job to full-time school was hard. Especially during the first couple weeks which are always a slow start. But it started kind of a fire in me to not waste time. I constantly thought about the saying time is money and really took it to heart. I got another job in January and still get frustrated when I have to take off for school-related activities. This is something unique about me. I'm a hard worker and devote myself to things I'm passionate about.

Assignment 21-Katherine Henson-Challenge

During my freshman year of high school, I auditioned for All-State Orchestra. The audition music was of course extremely hard, “playing in the stratosphere” is what my teacher called it because the notes were so high and pitchy. Not many freshmen are admitted into All-State, but I was extremely optimistic. I practiced and practiced until I could play the audition in my sleep and was fairly confident in my preparations. The day before the audition, we practiced the excerpts in class. After hearing all the juniors and seniors playing the same thing, I doubted myself. I lost all confidence in my practice and didn’t even want to audition anymore.  However, I reminded myself of all the hard work I had put into this. I had prepared to the best of my abilities and I was going to audition. Although I didn’t get into All-State that year, I was proud of myself for trying my best and having the confidence to audition, even when I doubted and compared myself to others.

Assignment 20-Katherine Henson-How to make a smoothie

Smoothies are some of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. About a year ago my dad bought an immersion blender, which is basically a handheld blender and food processor. This totally opened up the smoothie world to us and we got totally obsessed. My dad is always more adventurous than me when making smoothies and sometimes they aren't good. But here's a super easy recipe for my go-to smoothie.

You'll need:
1 cup frozen fruit (this is what I prefer but you can do whatever you please. frozen always makes the smoothie super cold which is what I want)
1 cup milk (I always use milk but this can honestly be anything. I've used greek yogurt and lactose-free milk in times of need and it turns out pretty much the same. My dad's experimental smoothies use water.)
A little bit of honey (this is what makes it yummy)

After putting all these in your blender or immersion cup, blend until smooth and all fruit is gone.

The measurements aren't exact. After you start blending, add more off whatever you please. If your smoothie is too thick, add more liquid. If your smoothie is too thin, add more fruit. I totally recommend getting an immersion blender. It's super easy to use and easy to clean. Hopefully, you enjoy the smoothie as much as I do.