Thank you so much for caring for me all these years.  The past month or so I’ve needed money for trips.  You have given me money every time.  You have been increasingly selfless.  You have also been driving me around everywhere.  I really appreciate it.  Ever since I told you that I wish to be a vegetarian you have been supportive.  It was a big thing to happen for everyone and you didn’t try to talk me out of my decision.  Thank You for Everything.

In the beginning of 8^th grade you must make a choice about the last school of your life.  Your choices are between Cape Henlopen and Sussex Technical.  I picked Sussex Tech for my high school experience.  I wasn’t sure if they would pick me though.  Yes I had fantastic grades but that didn’t matter, what mattered was if you were picked in the lottery.           

In September you get a large folder full of information on Sussex Tech.  There was a booklet full of your classes, your technical cores, your exploratory, an open house permission slip, and a signup sheet for Tech.  The booklet had all the technical cores you could choose from such as criminal justice, child care, environmental, media broadcasting, graphic design, nursing, auto body, auto diesel, cosmetology, carpentry, electrical, and health profession.  Your classes are chosen by what math class you have, algebra or pre-algebra.  Since I have algebra I get higher classes.  On the signup sheet you have to put your top six technical courses to “explore,” your 2^nd marking period report card, and what your current math class is.           

To get into Sussex Tech there is a drawing of your name.  There are over 600 applicants and only 320 entries.  It doesn’t matter what your grades are, if you are a straight A student your place might be taken by a C student.  I do not think this is fair and that’s not the worst part.  If one of your older brothers or sisters have gone or are at Tech you are automatically in.  That doesn’t leave much room for the other 320 spots.  There are three drawings.  The first is in February, the second is in May, and the last is in August.  There are three drawings so that if some students change their mind or can’t go to Tech their spots can be filled.           

In February the letters were sent out whether you made Tech.  As everyone was getting their letters, I didn’t get mine.  I was so upset and scared.  I hated the idea of going to Cape.  I just did not like the idea of me going to that school.  Sure I’d be with all my friends but it’s just not what I wanted.  No offense to them though, I love them.  Then the day before my birthday I got a letter in the mail from Sussex Tech.  It turns out that my letter, by accident was sent out later than everyone else’s.  That didn’t matter, what mattered was I got in.           

 Middle School is only three years of your life.  Then you have to make a decision about what high school you want to go to. Whether you go to a Technical High School like I am or a regular high school like all my friends are, it will be an accomplishment.  You have made it past elementary school and middle school and are now in the last mandatory school of your life.  Getting into Sussex Tech was a major personal accomplishment for me.            

To Kill a Mockingbird is an American classic.  In it Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and her older brother Jem Finch learn lessons about friendship.  The story takes place in Maycomb County, Alabama.  In the town everyone is poor.  Most parents are farmers, lawyers, and doctors.  A lot of children don’t go to school.  This is because their parents tell them they don’t need it.  The children help their parents with work.  If children do go to school they usually fail the grade and have to repeat.           

 Scout and her brother, Jem are very creative, close, and curious about life.  They explore the town and their father, Atticus lets them.  Jem and Scout are four years apart and they are both in school.  Their mother died when Scout was two and Jem was six.  Jem remembers her a little bit and Scout doesn’t remember her at all.           

The town has a “family” in a house that never comes out.  They are mysterious and all of the children find them scary.  The family is called the Radleys.  Jem and Scout are very curious of them and try to make them come out.  Most of the time their father, Atticus catches them but they always find new ways.  But they misjudge the scariest, Arthur “Boo” Radley.  One of the biggest lessons in this book is not to judge a book by its cover.           

I like this book so far.  It isn’t my favorite book but I do like it very much.  I would recommend this book to people who enjoy reading American classics. 

To Kill a Mockingbird is an American classic.  In it Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and her older brother Jem Finch learn lessons about friendship.  The story takes place in Maycomb County, Alabama.  In the town everyone is poor.  Most parents are farmers, lawyers, and doctors.  A lot of children don’t go to school.  This is because their parents tell them they don’t need it.  The children help their parents with work.  If children do go to school they usually fail the grade and have to repeat.           

 Scout and her brother, Jem are very creative, close, and curious about life.  They explore the town and their father, Atticus lets them.  Jem and Scout are four years apart and they are both in school.  Their mother died when Scout was two and Jem was six.  Jem remembers her a little bit and Scout doesn’t remember her at all.           

The town has a “family” in a house that never comes out.  They are mysterious and all of the children find them scary.  The family is called the Radleys.  Jem and Scout are very curious of them and try to make them come out.  Most of the time their father, Atticus catches them but they always find new ways.  But they misjudge the scariest, Arthur “Boo” Radley.  One of the biggest lessons in this book is not to judge a book by its cover.           

I like this book so far.  It isn’t my favorite book but I do like it very much.  I would recommend this book to people who enjoy reading American classics. 

This is a good story for young environmentalists.  This book is about a boy who just moved from Montana to Florida.  He is picked on by a lot of people because he said he was born on a farm.  They call him Tex and cowgirl.  His real name though is Roy Eberhart.  One day on the bus he sees a boy about the same age as him, running away from the bus without any shoes on.  Roy becomes curious about the boy.  He looks for the boy in his junior high school but doesn’t see him.  Over the next few weeks he finds him again.  Roy runs off the bus, runs into a girl named Beatrice Leep and tries to chase him.  The boy is very fast though.  Roy can’t catch up to him.  The next day at school Beatrice confronts him about running into her yesterday.  She also tells him to mind his own business about the boy he saw running.  Over the weekend Roy goes into the woods he saw the boy go into and leaves a pair of shoes for him.  He was about to leave when there is a bag over his head.  The boy says for Roy to never come back again.  Roy agrees but the boy said to wait ten seconds before he takes the bag off his head to go home.  When Roy takes the bag off his head he doesn’t see the boy anywhere. He heads back home.            

Throughout all this there are strange pranks being played on a local construction site.  This site when finished will be a pancake house.  But the problem is there are tiny owls called burrowing owls living in the ground of the site.  The construction of the pancake site keeps having to be delayed because of the many pranks being pulled.  In the end Roy, Beatrice, and the boy team up to stop the construction and save the owls.             

Roy is a quiet by who is constantly being picked on for no reason.  Beatrice is a very strong girl who likes playing by her rules and no one else’s.  The boy is Beatrice’s stepbrother.  Beatrice calls him Mullet Hands because he can catch a very slippery fish called a mullet with his hands.  The reason he lives in the woods is because his mother (who hates him for no reason) sent him to a military academy and he sneaks out.  No one in the family knows he’s there except Beatrice but she swore she won’t tell.          

I recommend this book.  It is full of turns and twists and friendship and trust.  I liked this book because I love the environment.  I think this book represents a good viewing of people who think we should cut down all the trees and kill all the animals and then the people (like me) who try to stop people like this and bring them to justice.