My Goals for a New School Year

There are many academic, social, and spiritual goals I have set for myself for the new school year. The picture in  this post is a summary of all of my goals for this year. Academically speaking, I would like to maintain good grades for each nine week period.  I would especially love to do better this year in English class, which has always been my weakest subject and lowest grade.  Another goal I have is to stay more organized in general and to keep up with my schoolwork and homework much better than previous years.  Lastly, I plan to manage my time better while doing school related tasks, in hopes that I don't procrastinate as much this year.

I also have several social  goals set for myself this year.  This year I want to be a better friend to the people I've  known for awhile and also to the newer students who I don't know yet.  Therefore, I also want to make at least one new friend this year.  I also wish to put others interests over my own in general. Unlike someone who is egotistic and unpleasant to be around, I want to be the person that people actually enjoy being around.

The most important goals I have for this year are those that are spiritually concerned.  This school-year I would love to develop a more meaningful and depthful prayer life.  One of my favorite verses is Phillipians 4:6 which says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God".  This year I am going to work to make this verse more prominent in my life by having a more constant contact with my Savior.  Another area where I intend to grow spiritually is in sharing my faith.  It takes a bold spirit to fearlessly share with others the gift of grace that God offers to us, and that's what I am praying about and intend to work towards. 

"Escaping the Confines": My Take on a Symbol From "The Giver"

In The Giver, a required summer reading book for my English class, there are many themes and symbols used throughout the book.  One way to disclose a message through these symbols or themes in literature is through using visuals.  In  this book, one of the symbols is the river.  During the entire story Jonas is confined to a small city that experiences "sameness" (everybody is forced to monotony and repetition), but once he realizes that there is a world outside the constraints he is living in, his inquisitive self begins longing to escape the city.  That's what the river in this book symbolizes: escape. The river that runs through the town flows right through only passage out of the city, therefore "escaping" it.  In the same way, Jonas plans and succeeds in secretly leaving the city without anyone but the giver's consent, and he escapes the town with a newborn he had wanted to save from being "released" (as the book describes it), or killed. To convey the symbolism of the river, I chose a picture of a little boy escaping a small and confined space.  This picture is also conveys the symbol in the book  in that the expression on the little boy's face suggests awe or excitement.  Likewise, Jonas has no idea what is waiting for him in the outside world, and once he finally does escape on the couple final pages of the book, it implies that he is fascinated by the world that has been awaiting him.