The Great Catsby: May 2015

A small step I’ve taken recently is to think about what’s important to me, and what I really need to do to get things done well. Some of our seniors will soon be taking a small step in their lives, and I do think it is a time of reflection for them also, but let us celebrate for a bit the great work that has been done this year by this senior class and many other high school students at GCA. The summer is coming fast, and I hope you have made your plans interesting for the summer, as I have – my brother will be coming to Taiwan from the USA, and we will visit Peng Hu together.

Here is some of the work of students, recently, who have done well – I encourage underclassmen at GCA to go to the individual student blogs on the lower left to see the advice they have written for you. Some have written how to apply to college better or how to have a smooth senior year, or even just how to be a good student. They have written about their experiences both inside school and out, and things they enjoyed learning.

Both Arielle and Coleen have agreed to let their graduation speeches be posted here. Coleen was the salutatorian so she SPOKE FIRST.

and Arielle was the valedictorian, or finished first in the graduating class, and SPOKE LAST at the graduation ceremony on June 2nd.

Congratulations to all graduating seniors! We will be thinking about you and praying for you.

Jill – Langston Hughes
Karen – e.e. cummings
Coleen – John Steinbeck
Yumi – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Claire – Sandra Cisneros
Arielle – Tennessee Williams
Michelle – Sylvia Plath
Sharah – Ray Bradbury
Joanna – Virginia Woolf
Molly – George Orwell
Book – George Bernard Shaw
Oscar – Li Bai
Gordon – Leo Tolstoy
Allen – Robert Frost
Josh – Ernest Hemingway
Kevin – Edgar Allan Poe
Kate – Washington Irving
Ken – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Calvin – Maxine Hong Kingston
Paul – Elizabeth Bishop
George – William Carlos Williams
Alvyn - Douglas Adams

And here are a few good honors book reports, in case you would like to see what they look like:
Book - Things Fall Apart
Claire - The Lord of the Flies
Arielle - The Bell Jar

For more writing topics or good reading material that is often related to posts the students have made on their individual blogs, see below.

1. If you had some time off without worry about finances, from 6 months to one year, what would you do with the time? Would you prefer to focus on developing the mind through reading and learning, the body through physical exercise and exploring, the spirit by helping others and getting involved in a worthy cause, or the heart by improving social skills and working with people or meeting more than the usual number? Is there a place you would like to spend the time, an activity you would like to do, or someone you would like to hang out with?

Some examples for me in this arena include hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, which takes most healthy folks about 6 months, helping an orphanage ministry, or reading some books on my shelves.

2. If you had three to six months to develop one skill well, and you could work on it all day without worrying about finances or tuition, what would you learn? Would you learn independently, or seek assistance of a teacher or go to a traditional school? Imagine whatever teacher or school you want has no choice but to accept you and you can go anywhere in the world for up to six months to either hone a skill you already have or develop a new one. What would you choose and why?

Choose one of the following articles, summarize it, and then offer your own opinions.

6 Tips for Hiking Thru the Appalachian Trail

7 Top Science Fiction Projects that could Make or Break Google, Amazon, or Facebook

How to Survive the College Admissions Madness

College for the Masses

All Aboard 10 Train Vacations That Are Totally Off The Rails

How to Make Landslides Less Deadly

The Nordic Diet – the New “It” Diet (Plus 9 Recipes to Try)

Why Writers Love to Hate the MFA

The Knights Templar Shows How to Defeat ISIS and Win

Your Move, Grandmaster. (To the U.S., Please.)