Hurray! Part 2

The results came in for the Video Contest I spoke about, and having been a finalist finally paid off. I won second place in all of Connecticut, as I was notified yesterday afternoon. My hard work and toiling came back to reward me, and I am greatly appreciative. I was notified that there was a tie for Second Place, and they decided to give us both equal prizes. Even so, out of the 6 finalists in the Middle School category, one got first, two got second, and one got third. This only leaves two to be disappointed. Also, everyone got some reward for being a finalist. They were probably trying to be fair, which makes sense. Either way, I am overjoyed to have this accomplishment. You can watch the video here, and you can watch competitors' videos here. Only 6 were in the Middle School category; the younger looking kids. 

The SAT's

Now, if you have read my profile page, you may be saying "Wait a second, this kid's in 8th grade! What is he talking about?" Yeah. I have the pleasure to say that I had the opportunity to take the SAT test earlier today, along with my brother, who is a freshman. Last year, in 7th grade, I got chosen by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth as a gifted student who they believed had the aptitude to take a test 4 years above his level. I scored a 1710 on that SAT in May of 2012, which received me a "High Honors" award, meaning that I scored within the top 20,000 kids of my age in the country. I was obviously very proud to have earned this, and I wanted to test my skills again. Also, I know that colleges, as far away as they may seem, probably like to see kids who push themselves, and if I show improvement, that also looks good to them (I am guessing it does, at least. I've never applied to a college). So, taking all of these things into consideration led to my decision of taking the test. I studied hard, obviously, and though I didn't understand a lot of it, I think I did pretty good, for my age. The scores come in at the end of June, so until then, it's just a bucket-load of anticipation.

An Award-Winning Essay...

A couple days ago, on the 23rd of May, I participated in an Essay and Speaking Contest for the 8th grade here in my town. I had previously written an essay, which got chosen as one of 6 essays in my school to be presented orally at a competition. My essay, which was required to be personal, was about my winning the Statewide Spelling Bee in the 6th grade. I wrote about my experience before and after the event, including all the hard work and practice necessary in order to succeed. In addition to writing a good essay, I had to practice my verbal presentation of the paper within a mere two weeks. I wanted to be able to do well in the contest, and so a lot of work was required. I was making changes to the tonal qualities and volume levels of my voice throughout parts of the essay up until the final night. On the day of, I was nervous beyond comprehension, but I managed to survive the day. At 7:00, I was ready for another huge moment in my life. When I went up to the podium, I had already seen some of the others go, and I was slightly less nervous. Even so, my hands were shaking so much, I couldn't even see the words on the paper at certain parts of the speech. It also didn't help that the podium was high enough to make me have to stand on my tip-toes throughout the entire thing! I did pretty well throughout the entire thing, until I got about 3/4 of the way down, when the staring eyes of the audience were becoming slightly overwhelming. I mixed a sentence that went along the lines of "the gears in our brains" and instead said "the brains of our gears." My face became redder than a ripe tomato, but I fixed the error and moved on, hoping the judges wouldn't notice. At the end of the competition, when the judges' verdict was about to be released, the only thought running through my head was "Did they reduce my score because of that mistake??" It was nerve-wracking. They must not have, because 5 minutes and a lot of anxiety later, I received my award for 1st place school wide, and 2nd place town wide (out of a total of 18 kids). I was obviously disappointed about the second place, but I was still happy to have gotten any award at all. Turns out, the next day in school, my English teacher, who was present at the competition, called me over and told me that the student who received the first place award had an essay that was about 4 pages long. She said that the rules required the essay to be below 2 pages. My essay had originally started out as 4 1/2 pages, but I had to shorten it to adhere to the rules. My teacher had explained to the judges that this was not fair, and that the other student should not have received first place. The final decision has not been made, but technically, I won. So, overall, it was a success, and I am proud to say that I hold the title of first place.

Hurray!

To my great happiness, I today received news that my video for the CAPSS Video Contest was chosen as a finalist, one of the top 6 in the Middle School Level. The judge's panel liked my thoughts on fixing the school system, and I am this much closer to being a winner. Today, the 23rd, public voting has been opened, and the video with the most votes will have more influence on the final decision. Though the voting won't make the final decision, they are still powerful. The registration process is simple, and can be undone after voting. Please spread the word, and may the best video win!
You can watch my video and vote here.

Changing the School System

Here in Connecticut, the public schools are amazing. Education, however much dreaded, is always progressing. Even so, like every good organization, the public schools need some work. And so, the CT Association of Public School Superintendents was hosting a video contest for the students to tell them what to change in the state's system, for a reward of $800. I participated. I spent months interviewing teachers, and even the Superintendent of Schools in my town. It was originally an 11-minute video, but I had to spend hours and hours shortening it to fit the 5-minute deadline. You can see the video here. Just a few days ago, I submitted it. I will soon know whether or not I am a finalist, and am anxious for the results. Hopefully, the judges understand and agree with my views on changing the system. What do you think of the video? Remember, comments are always appreciated!

It's Been a While...

Wow. Today, I realized how much time flies. It seems like just last week I was writing the essay about the Stamp Act, and now, 5 months later, I realized that it has actually been this long since my last post. So many things have happened in my life, as young as I may be, that I cannot even begin to explain them, as much of a cliche as that might be. So, hopefully, after 6 months, I can try to get back to blogging, and hopefully a lot more than just once a month. So stay tuned... the show's not over!