Artist Statement

Quotable Top Hat
Katie Olssen

This is a top hat that represents Joe Hoyal, and
Abraham Lincoln. All around the top hat are common
things that Abe and Joe would say. These two people
are both really resilient and connect to each other by
their ability to have a better outlook on life and to
never give up on following their dreams. They have
taught me that no matter how hard things get you can
always look for the good in any situation.  

Resilience Essay

Life is like a piece of clay. It is up to you what you want to sculpt it into. Some people are born into already beautiful sculpted pieces of clay, others are given the tools to sculpt, though there are few in the world who have dried out clay that seems impossible to mold. These people’s lives are already set up for tragedy as soon as they enter this world. For some, they call these situations fate. They believe that there is no way out. They are wrong. There is no point in your life that you can’t control. Abraham Lincoln and Joe Hoyal proved this. These two men never gave up no matter how difficult the situation they were in. They always kept following their dreams. These two men inspire me and have encouraged me to keep on following my dreams.

Abraham Lincoln was a hard worker that never stopped, even when the situation seemed impossible. He once said, “Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.” It was hard for him to grow up in a small, one room log cabin and with no mom at the age of nine. His childhood was hard. It was also hard for the Lincoln family to afford living in Hardin County, Kentucky making them move to Perry County, Indiana to allow them to make ends meet. Later, Lincoln realized how he could make a difference in the world and he got involved in politics. In 1858, Lincoln ran against Stephen A. Douglas for Senator. He lost that election, but he now had a national reputation that won him the Republican nomination for President in 1860, and he won the presidency. Even though Abe lived a challenging childhood he still had faith to keep going. He was not the only person like this. Joe Hoyal also never gave up hope for a new start.

“Anything worth doing is worth doing your best.” This is a common thing that Joe Hoyal would say to others and to himself to remember that if you are going to do anything at life, you better do it to the best of your abilities or don’t do it all. Just like Abe, Joe kept going no matter how hard things got. His dad died when he was only seven. His mom then had to care for two young boys as a single parent. She also had little money since she did not work, and Joe would even work some small jobs around the neighborhood to bring some money to his family. This family soon moved from Chicago, Illinois to San Diego, California so that they could be closer to family. Joe later saw how much love was shared through teaching and wanted to give back to others. So he went to college to study to become a teacher, though he barley had enough money to make it through. He was able to work multiple jobs through out college. Though he had some rough times in his childhood, he never stopped believing that he could do something better.

Even though I didn’t have struggles with my childhood, I still lost hope sometimes when it came to following my heart and my dreams. There have been times where my dreams seem impossible to fulfill because of the situation in my life, but these two people have inspired me to keep going no matter how hard things get. I know that I can do anything if I set my mind to it. Everyone should listen to the message in these two men’s lives. They taught us all that no matter how dried up are clay pieces are they is always a chance to put water on them and that anything is possible. That no matter how dry things get, if you have faith you can get through anything.

Trial Performance

During the trial i played a role of a juror. Some of the challenges that I had during this trial was when we had to go to the deliberating room it was hard since I had read the book I new more information than what i learned in the trial. So it was hard to remember that i had to pretend like i hadn't read it. Some strengths that i had throughout the trial was that since i had read the book i new about what they were talking about.
During the trial i felt the Jack was guilty for the 2 counts of man-slaughter. But then during the deliberation room i changed my mind to believe that her was innocent for Piggy's and that it wasn't really his fault. But I still believe that it is Jacks fault for the death of Simon because Jack could have easily told tohe boys to stop during the song and dance. He was also encouraging the boys to dance, sing and kill. Also all of the boys look up to Jack and do what he does so they did as Jack asked of them.
Overall i feel that i should get an A on this project. The reason that i feel this way is because i did all that was asked of me throughout this project and sometimes even more.

Short Story

Title: Social Status

Author: Katie Olssen

Genre: Teen Issues

Pages: 5

Mentor texts: I didn’t get the idea from anything specific. But I got the idea from books I have read and some TV shows such as “Lizzie McGuire” and “Hannah Montana”. In both of these shows there is an average or nerdy kid that is getting over ruled by the popular kids. I just made my own story based off of these overview ideas.

Audience: Girls ages from 11-15

Writing process: I first started to brainstorm to get just my thoughts on paper. After that I started putting a story together. I did 2 Drafts soon after that. So now I have a total of 3 drafts.

Publishing process: So far I have only published it online on a website called sendstory.com. Here I submitted my short story and people will read over it and give me some feedback.

Querencia Clipboard

A querencia describes a place or something that you do where you feel safe and powerful. My querencia is when I am sitting on my bed alone in my room. My room is a very peaceful place with all kinds of roses and pictures on the walls. My querencia happens late at night after everyone has already gone to bed. There is soft and mellow music in the background coming from my iPod. A dim and calming light that hangs over my bed is the only thing that I can see with. During this time, I usually read or write but mostly I think about my day and what I plan on achieving and what I am doing the next day. Sometimes I write down my thoughts in a notebook or journal. I even write down things that I am thankful for and things that I know I should appreciate. When I am here in my room on my bed, all of my worries go away. I feel like I am floating on a cloud and that I am wonderful and very powerful. In this place, I feel like nothing could go wrong or hurt me. I always look forward to this part in the day where I can have some time to myself and evaluate what I achieved that day and plan for the next.

Featurecast from the Past

Project Purpose:
To understand the difference between Cause/Effect Relationships and Correlations. To understand how and why major events in history are connected and intertwined (think yarn activity!). To research a major event from U.S. history in order to understand why it is significant and how it relates to other major events. To understand features of a feature article and podcast and to be able to create a feature article or podcast about your major event in history.

Project Requirements:
To present the 5Ws of your major event to the class. To write/peer edit/revise a feature article or podcast. To have at least three drafts in your Writing Portfolio. To present a polished version of your feature article or podcast on Media Night, as well as posting it online to our Team Featurecast from the Past web page (made by James).

Specific Concepts Learned:

• More than 80% of the gold from the Gold Rush still underground
• Started in 1848
• A man named James Marshall Discovered Gold
• He discovered it at Sutters Mill California
• His great discovery led to the California Gold Rush
• The Gold Rush is a rush of people coming to California for the discovery of gold
• People came from all over the world
• It was very risky for people to move to California because it was such an unpopulated place
• Most people traveled in either a ship or a covered wagon
• A lot of people died traveling to California from lack of food or water
• Most of the people that came to the Gold Rush came at about 1849 they were called the 49ers
• Mainly men went mining for gold
• the Gold Rush lasted from 1848 to 1864
• Most of the people that participated in the Gold Rush lived poor and miserable lives
• After living working all day people would come home with little or no gold at all
• Once people moved to California there was no turning back
• which is one reason why now California is such a popular place

Challenges:

Some challenges that I had while doing this project was it was hard to get my writing piece started for my feature article. What i mean by that is it was to get this writing piece started was very difficult because I didn't know exactly how i wanted to write my feature article. I new it was about the gold rush I just didn't know everything that I wanted to include in it.

Real World:

How the Gold Rush relates to the real world is because if we didn't have the Gold Rush we wouldn't have as much prosperity and resources here in California. The gold rush exposed many people from all over the world to California and that is one of the reasons we have so many different cultures here.