“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”  (Hebrews 10:24-25, NIV)  As a Christian, there are many ways that I can do what this passage says.  One of which is going to youth group.  Youth group is a great way for me to feed my faith, see my friends, and go to some cool events occasionally.

First off, youth group helps me grow as a Christian young man.  Every Sunday night I get to gather around God’s word with my friends and have a devotion.  Sometimes we study God’s word, and reflect on it.  Other times we apply His word to our life and see how we can lead Christian lives better.  An added benefit is that I get to meet with fellow Christians as God commands in the passage stated earlier.

Next, you can see your friends at youth group.  Everyone likes seeing their friends  outside of school.  Youth group is one of those times that you can see friends outside of school.  After the devotion is over with, you can do many different things depending on what people want to do.  If people want to socialize, then they can do so for a while.  If they’d like to play a sport or a game, they can do so.  So many kids my age hang out by sending pictures of their foreheads to each other.  However, if I asked everyone in my class if they like seeing their friends in person or online, I’m almost certain that the fan favorite will be seeing them in person.

The final reason that you should become a part of youth group is because there are cool events that happen from time to time.  For example, the youth group has gone to a corn maze, and is going to be roller skating in the future.  Of course, there is also the youth rally every two years where lots of teens gather around God’s Word and enjoy time with each other.

Not many people go to youth group, and I’m not really sure why.  You get to learn more about our Savior, hang out with friends, and go to cool events.  So what are you waiting for?  Go and enjoy youth group today!

I think that social media should be banned.  Although many people use it and have had benefits because of it, I think it should be cut off.  Firstly, many people have depression because of it.  I believe that if there wasn’t social media people would be happier in their life.  One of the main causes of depression for teens is cyberbullying.  The next reason that social media should be banned is because you could just go and see the person that you’re trying to talk to yourself.  If I asked you if you like talking with someone on the phone more or in person more, what would you say?  I personally like to see my friends in person more than I like seeing them virtually, but that’s my own opinion.  Finally, social media makes people do stupid things most of the time.  If someone sees a Tik Tok, they might copy it and do the exact same thing the person they originally saw did.  The definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting something different.  Is that what some people are then?  Insane?  I think that the world would be better without social media.  It makes people depressed, it prohibits you from enhancing your social skills, and people do stupid things because of it.  Social media has a lot of perks, but I think the costs outweigh them.

School.  Hated by some students, loved by others.  The main reason that students like or don’t like school is probably the classes.  I like school not because I get to see my friends every day, although that’s a big part of it, but because of the subjects.  Some subjects are more enjoyable than others, but there are three that are my favorite.  Math is my most preferred subject, writing is the next best, and social studies is the final one.

First of all, math.  I could go on and on about how much I enjoy math.  It’s mainly just puzzles with numbers.  There are many different types of math such as algebra, geometry, and statistics to name a few.  It’s also one of the classes that is very applicable to life in general.  There are many situations in life where it’s relevant.  It’s also challenging.  When a new concept is introduced to me, sometimes it doesn’t make sense until I look at it again a few times.  Once it  makes sense to me, the math is no longer frustrating, but fun and intriguing.  My favorite trait about math is how logical math is.  You don’t need to be someone that can multiply seventeen six digit numbers in one second to be “good” at math.  All it takes is some common sense and a little bit of background knowledge and you’re good to go.

Next, writing.  When someone writes, there are an infinite amount of topics to write about.  You can write about food, animals, games, or even school subjects.  It’s probably the most applicable to life out of all the subjects.  Without it, there would be no newspapers, no Instatoking or Youchatting, or any type of non-verbal communication at all.  Writing has played a huge part in the history of the world, and will most likely continue to keep doing so.  There are also a lot of different reasons that someone might write.  They could be writing a journal, a manual about fixing trucks, an advertisement, or a comic book. 

Finally, social studies.  This class is interesting most of the time, but occasionally it isn’t the most fascinating thing in the world.  I would take the Revolutionary war over the history of green beans.  I like social studies because of how broad the topic is.  You could study wars, countries, and even the history of the first McDonalds!  It’s amazing to see how big the world is and how many different cultures and countries there are.  Most people think that it is history more than ten years or so ago.  It can be an efficient strategy for getting something done that someone might have invented a week ago.  That’s why social studies is relatable to life because you might use something in history to accomplish something in your life.  

I use numbers and solve problems in my daily life, read things that people write down and write my own things down, and use things that history has given me.  Math, writing, and social studies are all classes that I enjoy and use in my academic life and my personal life as well.

How many times have you been excited for something?  I’ve been meditating on the fact that I’m going to high school next year, and it greatly excites me.  There are many things in high school that differ from grade school, but I have highlighted the three that stand out.  I think the three most notable things that excite me are meeting a lot of new people, all of the new experiences, and all of the freedom in classes and extracurricular activities.

Firstly, I’m excited to meet new people.  One of the main concerns of most freshmen that are starting high school is that they aren’t going to make any friends.  I’m not very worried about this because I know that I’ll eventually make some new friends.  One of the benefits that will come from having new friends in high school is that there will be a lot of new perspectives on things.  One person might like sports, another might like food,  and someone else might like math.  Another change for me will be the teachers.  Right now I only have one main teacher, and three others that teach a certain class, so I think that having one teacher for one specific subject will be nice.  Because I will have so many teachers, I can see many different teaching strategies, as I’m considering becoming a teacher when I’m older.  Next, there are a lot of new experiences in high school compared to grade school.  One of the different experiences is walking to new classes.  I think that it will be a little stressful at first trying to get to class, but I think that it’ll be fun after I get used to it.  Another one of the new experiences is block scheduling.  FVL uses block scheduling where you have four classes on Mondays and Thursdays, the other four on Tuesdays and Fridays, and all eight classes on Wednesdays.  I think that this new type of scheduling will help me on my academic journey.  The third and final reason that I’m excited for high school is all of the freedom in the classes and extracurricular activities.  In high school you can choose some of the classes that you take while in grade school you have to take the classes that the teacher instructs.  In high school there are also a lot more  classes that you can take.  You could learn about skills that are applicable to life like cooking, wood and metal working, computer science, and much more.  In grade school there are a few extracurricular activities like basketball, cross country, and volleyball to name a few.  In high school they offer a much wider variety of sports like wrestling, golf, hockey, and even eSports!

To sum it up, there are a lot of opportunities that high school has to offer.  The main points that I have spotlighted in this paper are all of the new people I’ll meet, all of the new experiences I’ll have, and the amount of freedom high school has compared to grade school.  I’m very excited to go to high school, as most eighth graders are, and am excited for everything that life brings me there.

Have you ever played video games?  If so, which ones are your favorite?  My three choice video games, in no particular order, are Splatoon 3, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Minecraft.  One game is a fun online game.  Another is the best single player game I’ve ever played in my life.  The third is great for playing with friends.  First of all, Splatoon 3.  The reason that I dig this game is because it’s one of the best online games that I’ve played in my life.  The main concept of the game is extreme paintball.  You shoot ink, swim through it, splat other online players, cover more ink, grab the fish-shaped bazooka, ride the tower, throw clams into your enemy’s clam basket…yeah, it’s pretty intense.  Next, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, my favorite single player game.  This game, in my opinion, has everything you need to make a good video game.  Action, adventure, puzzles, and most importantly, open world.  The game is pretty much the whole world is going to end and you have to stop it by getting stronger.  You can get stronger by completing quests, puzzles, or even just walking around and finding things.  Last but not least, Minecraft.  This game is basically a game where you can do whatever you want.  If you want to travel to other dimensions and kill a dragon, it has it.  You want to escape a creature that hunts you by hearing your footsteps?  It has it.  Spawn in a million chickens in a pen then blow them up?  I don’t know why you would want to do that, but you can.  In Minecraft you can build a castle, do a parkour challenge, and duel your friends. Many of the things that I just mentioned can be done online with friends.  I highly enjoy these games because these three cover a lot of my gaming expectations.  Splatoon 3 covers online play, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has superb single player options, and Minecraft satisfies most, if not all, of gaming with friends online.  Splatoon 3, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Minecraft are my favorite games in the world. 

Do you enjoy music?  Do you play an instrument?  I enjoy music and play multiple  instruments.  I know that playing music is beneficial to people that play them.  Playing an instrument has no damage to you whatsoever, and it can be very fun.  There are a multitude of reasons why playing music is good for you, but three stand out to me the most.  Research shows that playing an instrument will improve your memory, relieve stress, and give you a sense of accomplishment and increase your confidence.

Firstly, playing an instrument will improve your memory.  Investigations have shown that it will make you use both sides of your brain, causing it to work harder, and expanding your memory.  This is supported by Maestro Eduardo Marturet, the conductor of the Miami Orchestra, who states, “…research has shown that participation in music at an early age can help improve a child’s learning ability and memory by stimulating different patterns of brain development.”  Playing an instrument will increase your brain’s memory, and your muscle memory.

Playing an instrument will relieve stress as well.  Music can change our emotions.  The fact that music is repetitive, yet, it has its own rhythm and flow can help us become calm, resulting in us having less anxiety.  Music will also lead us to interact with each other more so we aren’t just couch potatoes.  Psychologist Michael Jolkovski states, “…(music) can satisfy the need to unwind from the worries of life, but unlike the other things people often use for this purpose, such as excessive eating, drinking, or TV or aimless web browsing, it makes people more alive and connected with one another.”

The tertiary and final reason that everyone should play an instrument is because it gives you a sense of accomplishment and builds confidence.  Most people think that to get good at playing an instrument, you have to play it five hours a day.  Contrary to common belief, you only have to practice about fifteen to twenty minutes a day.  Once you start to improve, you will feel accomplished, and this results in being more confident.  Pianist Emily Singers states, “There’s no feeling like playing a difficult song and playing it flawlessly. (It is) quite an ego-boost.”

Some may argue that playing an instrument will be dangerous to you.  They say that it will damage your heart because it takes more air than we’re used to to play an instrument.  I say to that, who cares?  That only happens if you overdo it.  Plus, there are many benefits of playing an instrument like improving your memory, relieving stress, and giving you a sense of accomplishment.  So if I were you, I’d consider trying out an instrument, and see the perks begin!

I think that everybody should run.  There are a multitude of reasons why dashing is good for you, but I’ve picked out three.  One, jogging increases endurance.  Two, it keeps you fit.  Three, you can run competitively and have more fun running.  That is pretty much why I think everyone should run.

Running will increase your endurance or the amount of time you can do physical activities.  The more you run, the more your endurance will increase.  When you begin jogging, it should be easy and slow – speed follows endurance!  Another reason that everyone should run is because it keeps you fit.  The more you run, the more you will increase your body strength, burn calories, and make you faster.  The tertiary and final reason that I think everyone should run is because of all the activities that can branch off of running.  You could join a cross country team, run a 5k, 10k, or a marathon.

Overall, I think that it’s necessary that everyone should run.  People would be in better shape, and be able to compete if they’d like.  As a runner, I highly recommend running to all.

Do you play video games?  Playing video games is one of my many avocations, and I have three particular games that I enjoy the most.  They are, in order from best to worst, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WIld, Super Smash bros. Ultimate, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch.

First and foremost, I am going to explain why my first choice of video game would be Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WIld.  In my opinion, this game has almost everything I could ask for when looking for a video game.  It has a huge map where you can traverse the land any way you like, there is a central storyline that you can follow, and the combat animations are hard, but not impossible.  The different variety of weapons and armor is massive.  If you level up all your pieces of armor in a certain set twice, and if you wear all the pieces at once you will get a set bonus that gives special effects.  After you beat the game, you don’t have to just quit and say, “Oh well, I guess that’s it,”  you can continue playing and complete all the quests or get a picture of everything in the game.

My second choice of a video game would have to be Super Smash bros. Ultimate.  This game has characters from a lot of video games.  Although you only start with seven characters, you can unlock over 60.  One reason this would be my second choice of video game is because of the game’s wide assortment of options.  There is the adventure mode where you have to go through all the mini bosses to get to the final bosses.  There’s also combat mode and classic mode where you fight 1-7 computer (cpu) players either on a team, or just a free for all.  This game has an immense amount of activities available and I have played it a great number of times.

The third-ranking video game I’d choose would be Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.  It is a racing game in which there are 5 different difficulty levels, of 50cc, 100cc, 150cc, mirror 150cc, and 200cc.  This game is the game I play with my sisters most often.  It doesn’t require much skill until you get to levels 150cc to 200cc.  Even I don’t get first place every time in 200c, and I’ve practically mastered the game.  There are also multiple little minigames that are available where you try to throw items at people, steal things, or capture people.  The different vehicle combinations are immense, and every combination has its own benefits and its own drawbacks.  Some cars are fast, and some are slow.  Some accelerate fast, and some take forever to reach top speed.  This game has many options and is very entertaining.

These three games will probably show up in the top 5 most played games on my Switch.  If you enjoy puzzle/strategy games, I recommend Breath of the Wild.  If you specialize in combat games, I recommend Super Smash bros.  If you like family friendly games, I recommend Mario Kart.  All these games are ones that I enjoy, and if you enjoy any of the types of games referred to above and own a Nintendo Switch, these games are highly recommended by someone who plays video games about an hour a day.

I have three favorite activities that I do a lot on a day-to-day basis.  They are the highlights of my day.  They are, in order from best to worst,  hanging out with my friends, playing video games, and building Legos.

The first avocation that I am going to go into detail about is hanging out with friends. It’s a very fun endeavor because for about 180 days of the year I get to go to school and that’s where all my friends are.  Hanging out with friends is something that makes me chipper.  An additional activity that I find enjoyable is playing video games.  It is a hobby that I do almost every day.  One of the main reasons that I love video games is I can play whatever game I’m in the mood for.  The tertiary and final enterprise is building Legos.  I personally love doing this because I am very imaginative, and there are infinite creations that I can build.

Friends, video games, and Legos.  Those three pastimes are ones that I find particularly entertaining.

Do you have some foods that you enjoy a lot?  Well I do and I would like to share some of my favorite foods with you.  One food that I find particularly delightful is hamburgers.  If correctly made, this food is juicy, flavorful, and overall, delicious.  It can either be a small burger that doesn’t fill you up that much, or it can be a nice big, hearty burger that will fill you up.  Another reason that I like burgers is because they can have any toppings on them.  I like going the whole 9 yards with the cheese, pickles, onions, bacon, and more, but you can choose whatever toppings that you like.  A second food that I like is my dad’s smoked salmon.  It is a meal that will intrigue you to just take a bite.  When you finally get to chomp down on the salmon, it will fall apart in your mouth and you will be bombarded with an appetizing and savory tang that will leave you wanting more.  The third and final meal that I will tell you about is fajitas.  I love fajitas because of their variety.  Whoever is making them can make them however they want.  They can make them with chicken, brisket, fish, beef, and you can add in bell peppers if you like, and you can control the spice level.  Those three delicacies are my favorites.