]]> Bailey H. Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:37:56 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=1769&BlogID=185&BlogPostID=12902
The crowning of the monarchy was corning up very soon. Felicity wanted Eloise Montani to be crowned queen. Charity wanted Alicia Montgomery to win. -they both got into a very heated argument about whom they wanted to win and why. There were a lot of rolling eyes and huffing. Almira and Felicia tried to talk to Felicity and charity saying that this was ridiculous! They wouldn't listen. Charity and Felicity ignored each other for weeks. They wouldn't even make eye contact. To Felicia and Almira, it was very annoying since Felicia and Almira didn't like drama all that much.

The next thing that happened was that Felicity was scheming Felicia's boyfriend. She was planning out all kinds of evil stuff. She was trying to ruin Felicia’s relationship. Oh how evil she had been! She was acting like nothing was going on at all. The crowning of the monarchy came, and of course, Eloise Montani won. Felicity was bragging and rubbing it in Felicia's and Charity's faces since that's who they wanted to win. It was so disrespectful and impudent. Again, they got into another heated argument. It went on forever!

While all of this was going on, Felicity's birthday party was coming up. Felicity invited Almira, Felicia, her crush, and Felicia’s boyfriend. She also invited others from the kingdom. Of course, she didn't invite Charity. The only way Charity could go, was if someone were to back down. It was so immature and childish. Almira and Felicia told Felicity to invite her. She ignored what Almira and Felicia were saying anyway.

Almira and Felicia told Charity and Felicity to apologize to each other. They still wouldn't listen" Charity and Felicity never made up.

Forty years later, Charity became queen of the kingdom. She was so l-blissful that she was crowned! She could finally rub it in Felicity's face. Charity had so much pride! Only she lost her pride when Felicity came to pay Charity a visit. Felicity was livid. Charity could just see 1t in her face. Felicity started screaming at Charity's face'

"Oh, guards!” Charity called out. The guards came running out and grasped Felicity. The guards took her to the dungeons. There she sat, for years. Eventually she died from starvation. Charity thought to herself that finally the fight had ended, and no more drama would occur.
{{c}}

]]> Emily A. Wed, 03 Apr 2013 12:38:39 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=1769&BlogID=185&BlogPostID=12786 Freedom is a powerful thing. Freedom means (to me), that everyone can
do something that they want to without being judged or changed. However,
freedom does come with consequences, like having laws that need to
be followed, and being a nice person is an option, but you should follow
it, so people know that they can trust you. Freedom is a big part of
life that should be recognized, because it is not a right, it is a
privilege.

The freedom that I most enjoy, is that we can be ourselves, free,
open, etc. I like this freedom, because it tells a lot about my life.
I am allowed to be myself and enjoy my life. This freedom is very open
and it is very near to my heart. This freedom is not just given
though, people fight for it everyday and I really appreciate it.
Thinking, that people fight for my freedom everyday is truly amazing.

For this freedom to be alive, to be here, we have to thank a lot of
people! These important people are the military branches. They
sacrifice their lives everyday for this freedom. They deserve to have
praise, they deserve to be thanked. Which makes me really upset, is
that people don’t recognize the sacrifices that soldiers do, and they
don’t thank that, and that makes me really upset. People think that
freedom is just giving, it’s not it is fought for.

]]> Kayla J Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:37:21 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=1769&BlogID=185&BlogPostID=12488 Stress. It’s something that we all tend to face in some part of our lives. Whether it is from family, friends or school, it happens to everyone. Adults can often handle their stress in many different ways. They are more informed of where to go and what to do. According to Livestrong, “Teens often lack the maturity level to be aware of the issues that are causing their feelings of stress,” which brings a very important subject matter to one’s mind. The stress teenagers face must have side effects, and those side effects must have a huge impact on the individual during the very most important part of their growth and development.

 WebMD states that, “Stress is the body's reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses.” Many teenagers face numerous events that cause them stress. How they deal with those factors is a huge part of their wellness. One can choose to either handle a hard situation with a flight response or a fight response. Those that choose to fight often have a concrete defensive system. The hormones that usually cause stress get handled in a proper way, thus reducing their anxiety and making the individual a more well-rounded person.

When an individual chooses to flee a situation, this is where the problems can occur. Lifepositive.com says that if you do this, “The hormones and chemicals remain unreleased in the bloodstream for a long period of time. It results in stress-related physical symptoms such as tense muscles, unfocused anxiety, dizziness and rapid heartbeat.” Many teens choose this path, for it tends to be much easier at the time. What they don’t realize is that if they keep this up, it will turn into either an acute or chronic psychosomatic illness, a disorder that has physical symptoms but is caused by the mind. At such a young age, teenagers should not have to go through something as a severe as this. A weakened immune system will cause their stress factors to just increase. One has to handle things in the right way, so their stress does not get to such a severe level. Handling stress in the wrong way for a long period of time can take a dramatic take on an individuals life.

On a daily basis, teens face many issues, the biggest one being school. Livestrong says that,“School is the number one source of stress for teens according to a poll conducted by Associated Press.” They constantly have to juggle all these different aspects of their life. In addition, teenagers have to still make time to destress. Many don’t find it to be of much of importance in their life. They think that it can wait until later, so as they go on to handle their five hours of sleep, multiple after school activities, and mass amounts of homework loads on a daily basis. They set themselves up to crash, which then leaves them open to all of the harms of the flight responses. This once again causes disarray.

On top of that, they also face many different pressured situations. One cannot go into a higher level education with their eyes closed. Teens have to prepare themselves for college, so they can succeed. So instead of doing what it takes to pass a class, they instead do everything possible to be the top of their class. There is this common sense of knowledge that students want to be better than the rest of their peers. Teenagers can also choose to go upon this in the opposite way, not doing what it takes to succeed. On a regular basis, teens face many stressful situations provoked by the closest people around them, their friends. They want them to look a certain way, act a certain way, and take part in things in which they would have never even thought about before, just for the sake of fitting in. The stress of saying no is too much, therefore they tend to cave right in and plummet. With all of the stress factors just named, it’s no wonder why this problem needs to be seriously addressed so it can be taken care of.

Drama, a huge cause of teen stress, has many definitions. A lot of people think of musicals when they see this word. On the other hand, the common teenager that is stressed will think of friends fighting and the world being in catastrophe. Everyone around them is changing; this causes people to often butt heads and get themselves into sticky situations. If they fight the situation they look bad to the other person, leading to losing someone important to them. If they flee the situation it just makes them look weak. Self-image is very important to teens and if one damages what they look like in front of others it can wreck how they feel about themselves. Drama leads to the flight response more so than the fight. It’s the easy way out. With the stack of stress piled already on top of the teen, readers can clearly see why this often occurs.

During the teenage years many often want to experiment. One of those happens to be dating. While handling school, their friends, and drama, they take on curiosity in the opposite sex too. Many look at this as a positive thing and can often de-stress by talking to their significant other, BUT if it gets into a negative situation a teen can often go into a depression. This can increase all of the many effects of stress. They give up on their school life and once they come to the realization as to what’s going on, things are already causing even more havoc, which slaps someone in the face with stress once again.

De-stressing should be something that all teenagers work into their schedule. Stress can cause many harmful effects to someone if handled in the wrong way. So if a student takes a fight response to most situations it will release those stress hormones causing a student to do the things they want and excel in everything they dream of. Stress is a serious thing that many people often put aside. It needs to be relooked at and handled. By doing this students will notice a dramatic change and a sudden improvement in their academic lives and personal lives. De-stressing is not a hard thing to do. One can just curl up with a good book for 30 minutes and notice a hint of a mood change. There are lots of ways to manage one’s stress. It may not show right away, but it will show in time. The stress teens face come in many shapes and forms. By de-stressing teens will notice in the future that they not only are physically healthy, but teens will also find out that they are mentally happy too. When someone takes the time to de-stress it relieves one’s body and more teens need to get it into their minds about what their body needs.

]]> Paige D. Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:42:35 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=1769&BlogID=185&BlogPostID=12125 ]]> Mandelyn Lyons Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:09:51 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=1769&BlogID=185&BlogPostID=12040 For years I had been cutting myself, purging, smoking, and not eating. My parents had split up three year ago and since then my life and family had been falling apart. No one in my family talks and my friends do not seem to care what happens to me. I was only a fourteen year old girl! I didn’t deserve to have that life. I should not have had to go through that. It was just not fair.
Just then I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. It was my mom. I ran into my bathroom and washed the blood off my arm and tried to cover the scars up as well as I could.
“Ally?” my mom called, knocking on the door. “I need to talk to you. Come down stairs.” I knew she knew something. Once finished in the bathroom, I walked down stairs. My mom was waiting for me at the table. She had my diary in her hands. My heart skipped a beat. She knew all my deepest darkest secrets. Never the less, I sat down next to her. She asked me my I was cutting myself, purging, smoking and not eating.
“I don’t do that anymore,” I lied. “I did it for a little while when you and dad separated, but I don’t anymore.” I’m not sure if she believed me, but just could not tell her the truth. Not then.
“I want you to go see a counselor,” she told me. I did not want to go see a counselor. I did not want to talk to a complete stranger about my problems. But I said I would go. I just did not fell like fighting anymore.
Monday morning I woke up and went to my counselor, came back home and went to work. I did this every Monday for months. It was not helping me at all but I kept going so everyone would think I was fine. But I wasn’t. I was still cutting; purging, smoking and I would skip meals.
After a while, I grew pale and weak. Then people knew something was wrong. My parents and pastor sat me down and told me I could not live like this anymore. They said I needed to go to rehab. Again, I said I would go.
The next afternoon I started packing. I was leaving in twenty four hours. I finished packing and zipped my bag. But I knew something was missing. Something that I use all the time and at the time I could not cope without it. I opened my desk door and took my knife out, put it in my bag and zipped it once again.
I walk down stairs were my family and a few friends were waiting for me. We said our goodbyes and I was off to St. Helena Recovery Center in Napa Valley, California. No one knew what was going to happen then. They just hoped everything would be okay.

]]> Annabeth D. Sat, 03 Nov 2012 11:00:54 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=1769&BlogID=185&BlogPostID=11975
It was a couple weeks after he broke his neck when he became sick of not playing sports so he started working out. At this time his football team was three weeks away from the state championship game, and he wanted to play in it. So he kept on getting his upper body stronger. His upper body got so strong that the coaches let him play football, but he couldn't play running back so they made a transition. They moved him to defensive lineman. He became so good at defensive linemen that he didn't only win the starting spot; he helped lead his team to the state championship.

So it was the day of the state championship. Athens was going to be playing the number one ranked team in the state. The game started, and Athens started out strong. Athens was winning 56-48 with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. The other team dropped back to pass when the kid who broke his neck hit the quarterback. The quarterback fumbled the ball and Athens recovered it. Athens ended up winning the game. The kid with the broken neck won the MVP award in the state tournament.

]]> Cade E. Thu, 25 Oct 2012 11:55:11 GMT http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=1769&BlogID=185&BlogPostID=11974 ]]> Layton L. Thu, 25 Oct 2012 11:53:19 GMT