If I Were In Your Shoes...

Every year at this time, we hear of all the “silly” stories of school administrators denying their students hard earned diplomas and trying to silence graduation speeches. I say silly stories not because they are of no importance but rather, they are silly on the part of the higher ups who penalize their students for things such as: families who yell out the graduate’s name, graduates blowing kisses to their families, or deleting parts of speeches or whole speeches that don’t conform to the ideas of the administrators. What gives?

I remember my 5th grade graduation. (Yes, in NY you get the whole cap and gown thing and ceremony, speeches, party, etc). I was the class salutatorian and prepared a speech. Of course, the teachers had to look it over to make sure it made sense. I chose to thank God, my parents, my teachers and the faculty. One teacher did not want me to mention the word God so she crossed it out and said I was to say “higher power” instead.

At 10 yrs old, I was confused as to why I couldn’t thank God when I was raised in a Christian home and always thanked God for EVERYTHING. My mom was upset about it and told me to say it as I always recognized God as God. I never used the term “higher power” and maybe the teacher thought that this term was less offensive. I didn’t understand because I was in an inner city public school filled with only minority students and knew they knew the word God. Hey, we said it everyday, when we had to say the Pledge of Allegiance….you know, “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Anyway, graduation day came and I read my speech. I was given a chance to put my personality in it. I said the speech as I had originally written it. Once I got to the part where I mentioned God, I had to pause because the audience stood up and clapped. I didn’t expect that but it felt good, real good. So this was my first taste of being at odds with administrators at graduations, my graduation drama. (Check out my graduation speech below)

So as I hear of all these stories and all the graduation ceremony rules, it makes me sick. Here’s an example of some graduation rules I’ve seen on the web: “No cameras, silly string, beachballs, bubbles. Any disturbances to the ceremony will result in immediate removal and possible arrest.” So Boring!

It’s as if they want to exercise their last chance of control. Why can’t we have a little fun? My mom speaks of her HS graduation as the best and most fun ceremony she has been to. She graduated from one of the top 3 elite Math and Science High schools in NYC. To get in, you had to pass a test. Some people call that type of school, a “school for nerds”. But I guess they knew how to have fun. (Shout out to all BTHS alumni!)

She told me that all the graduates kept doing the “wave” throughout the ceremony and beachballs were passed around. The administrators laughed too and let them have fun and it didn’t take away from the importance of obtaining a high school diploma. The faculty realized that if they were in that type of school, that the students worked real hard so let their graduation be memorable. But now, she says the ceremonies are lacking (boring…zzzzz). It annoys me too because graduation ceremonies should be fun and exciting. Sometimes I think the administrators forgot how to be young and enjoy each stage of life.

Anyway, this was my 5th grade salutatorian speech:

“Good Morning (name of principal and Asst. Principal), graduates, parents, teachers, faculty, and friends. Thank You for coming to our graduation ceremony. I am grateful to stand before you and give this speech to the great Class of 200_.

I know that I could not stand here as your salutatorian, if it were not for the help of God, my family, my teachers, and my mom and dad for raising me with the values to love, honor, and respect myself and others as well as to work hard to reach this goal. I want to thank my teachers and all of the staff who have helped me when I needed an extra push. Thank you, my friends, for laughing at my jokes, encouraging me to be myself and giving me fun memories through out the 176 days, 1144 hours, or 68,640 minutes of fifth grade.

We are about to start a new part in our lives. At first it may be scary, but know that we have it in us to succeed. We have come this far so let’s give ourselves a pat on the back. We deserve it.

My classmates, I will miss you all. Let us work hard to be the leaders of tomorrow. When you reach your goals and fulfill your dreams, remember where you came from. (Name of school) will always be our school. Remember also that life can be like a game of cards. It doesn’t matter what cards you were given; it’s how you play them. As Theodore Roosevelt once said, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

I now leave you with the words spoken by Ghandi: “We must become the change we want to see.”

Congratulations Class of 200_!”

Have you ever wanted something so bad that you wanted to believe what someone was telling you? Have you always wanted to be a “star” and would go to any lengths to do it?
Well, Have you seen the ads in the malls searching for the next “new face” or “new talent”? Have you been tempted to try it out just to see if you could make it? Well I know someone who has tried out for Model Productions “The American Mall Model Search“. That person is….my dad.

My dad is photogenic and in good shape. He looks young for his age. He always poses for pics. He is funny and definitely a good actor, which goes well when he does professional clowning for kids parties. (I’m his helper sometimes so I should know, ok?)

I knew he could do it without a problem. Last weekend, he did the catwalk thing at the mall and said a few lines. He got through to the next round. Then came the news that the contestants had to have a photoshoot the next day at the tune of 1 look for $150, 2 looks for $210 and 3 looks for $270.

Imagine how convenient; payments could be divided into 3 “easy” payments with the first one being due that day to book the appointment for the photoshoot. So that means that people had to shell out between $50 -$90 that same day, depending on what package they chose, or better yet, pay in full that day and” receive a free portfolio book for your photos”. Oh I forgot to mention that when they pay they get a free fashion show t-shirt so that they can decorate any way they want to “create your own catwalk theme”.

What I noticed were that out of about 20 people who registered that day, 16 were chosen. The age range was from babies to over 30. I didn’t see what the judge saw. People passed to the next level whether they were short, fat, plain looking, whatever…but who cares? They all would have the great opportunity to pay a small fee for a photoshoot compared to what other photographers would charge, right? I don’t think so. The modeling and acting arena seems to be very competitive. I don’t want to put down the contestants but not everyone is cut out for this stuff. Many people have told my dad that he should be in movies or modeling or whatever. Maybe that’s why it got into his head and he wanted to try. He said he was doing it to show us that we can try different things. Yes, we should believe we can do anything and follow our dreams but is that really what is happening here?

Anyway, my dad decided to walk away because he didn’t want to pay that money. As he put it, if someone thought he was all that good, then they should sponsor him. My mom began looking up about modeling scams and state laws and found out that legitimate companies should not charge upfront fees for anything until the person works and then they take out the fees from that first paycheck. So in a way my dad was right.

You see, when I was about 10 months old, my mom thought I was the cutest thing in the world and wanted to put me in modeling. The only problem was that since I was her first son and only child at that time, she took so many pics of me that I hated the flash. I became afraid of it and would close my eyes or go away from every camera. My parents tried anyway. It was in NY and they ended up shelling out $ for my photoshoot and comp pics in black and white. I still have them, a bunch of them in fact, because nothing happened with them. The photoshoot was horrible. I squinted through almost all. It was a miracle they got 3 that could be used. I was part of A+ Modeling in NY. My mom never heard from them again. But hey, I was a baby model for a day or two.

So because of that experience they are more wary of scams. My mom tried many work at home job offers which never panned out after she paid for them. She tried the real estate ones, the liquidation buyer one, the assembling at home, etc. with not anything to boast about. Now she looks into something only after finding out all the pros and cons.

My dad is not going to continue with the mall thing, even though a lady called him again to schedule for that photoshoot. I figure I’ll just pick up our camera and take him some good pics and send it to local REAL talent agencies. It probably will be better than what their photographer can do. If they like him, they’ll call him. If not, at least he still has his $ to buy me more stuff (just kidding). I just think that these companies should be real with people and let them know if they have what their clients are looking for or not. Meaning don’t let the people spend all this money for something that will never be. It is very disappointing to be scammed.

I know everyone has a story of either being scammed or knowing someone who was. It is always good to be wise and shop around or find for information concerning whatever is being offered. Here comes that famous saying, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” So teens let’s be all the wiser and not let ourselves be caught in scams just because we want something so bad. Let’s not hit up our parents for their hard earned money just to be in the next big thing. Let’s learn from other people’s mistakes. Don’t let anyone have to tell you ,”I told You So!” Because That can make you feel worse!

You can check out other sites which are centered on this issue:

http://www.modelingscams.org/upfrontfees.html

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/the-american-mall-model-search-c285152.html

School is out for most of us. It’s a relief in a way because we don’t have to worry about tests, schoolwork, projects, reports, bullies, boring teachers, etc. But what about our friends?

If you have myspace, facebook, hi5, or any of the other social networks, you can still catch up but it’s not the same. In between summer jobs, summer camps, or vacations, everybody seems to be busy. So we’ll wait 2 months to see our friends again. Some will meet a whole new set of people because they have graduated to a whole other level. Congratulations to all graduates Class of 2009!

As for me, I’ll be keeping it real..relaxing. My mom won’t let me get away without “learning something new everyday” though, as she always says. She read the other day about an 11 year old kid from California who graduated college. He made a statement about how he doesn’t play video games because it doesn’t help humanity at all. He says he wants to change the world. She agrees with him and wants me to stop “wasting” my time on video games. I’m a game freak so I say NO WAY! If it works for him, then great but leave me with own pleasure time. I wish I could finish school faster though. I give him props for that.

But anyway, for all who want to catch up with some lost school buddy…keep searching. It is kind of cool being able to see what everybody is up to now. Though many times, people change..it’s still good to know how much. It’s good to be forever friends at heart.

Voice of a cynical teen:

“Dreams…how oh so unrealistic they can be. Dream, that’s all we can do. Who says they will become a reality? Usually things turn out the opposite. Instead of a dream, you get a nightmare. Thinking about the future and what it holds is a dream. It’s what I want it to be. I could make everything so perfect in my dreams. Everything’ll be just fine. But no! Stop! We have to face reality. Dream on…Dreams, they can take us where we want to go or show us that it’s all a fantasy.

Anger, yeah, that’s what I’m feeling now. Just realizing that dreams can be shattered and not exist at all. Dreams, unspoken of, keeping them inside. They can make us smile or make us cry when we see they will never be…Whatever it is..so much for wishful thinking.”

Do you view your dreams that way? Well please change your way of thinking. Never stop dreaming for great things but make those dreams become reality by never quitting. Think on good things that can be and don’t waste your life thinking that it’ll never be. Who cares if anyone else sees it as wishful thinking? Soar like an eagle. Keep your vision on the things that will produce life in you and others.