Sandra+M’s+Final+AmEx+2014+Speech

=Title of Speech= School Should Not Be Our Entire Life

=Text of Speech= Well we’re almost done with junior year and in a few months we will be seniors. It’s crazy to think that we’re about to start the beginning of the end of our high school life. Soon we’ll be applying to college and be stressed over that for a while but right we are beyond ready for summer. We've worked hard these last three years. I don’t know about you guys but junior year was the nightmare that everyone said it would be. It was honestly terrible. We had chapter packet after chapter packet, test after test and blog after blog. Oh and not to mention all that coloring for Physio. But we did it! We survived. I did everything possible to get the grades I wanted. But even though I’m happy with what I accomplished academically I did not accomplished everything I had proposed for myself at the beginning of junior year. I failed to accomplish some of the goals. I failed at spending more time with my friends and family.

My goal was to spend more time with my friends this year but instead I ended spending less time with them than previous years not only outside of school but also during school. I did FIRE this year and the other half of lunch I spent it in Anderson doing something for Physio or Med Tech. The times I was with my friends during lunch 2/3 of the time I was studying for a test. Then during the weekends there was homework or I was too tired from the week to actually do something.

Getting good grades makes me happy but spending time with the people I care about makes me even happier. I don’t remember the last time I spent time with my friends outside of class. Actually, that’s a lie the last time I went out was after the AP history test and I had so much fun that day. I was stressed free and mentally far away from school for once. One of the reasons I remember this day is because it was the only day I did something non-school related this school year.

 It’s awesome that we work so hard to get good grades but sometimes we do need a break from school. We are teenagers and we need some fun in our lives. I’m not saying that we should be partying every weekend but we should spend more time doing things that do not involve school. We need to actually have a social life. Now I know I’m not the only one who is not content with their social life. There are a lot of us who sacrifice time with our friends and family to get the perfect grades. Some of us are so focus academically that we don’t realize it. I don’t know if this happens to anyone else but when I’m doing something non-school related like shopping with my sisters I feel guilty. I know, it’s weird and I think some us need to be reminded that it’s okay to do things besides homework and studying 24/7. We’re about to be seniors and in a year we will be off to college and we won’t see each other every day like we do now. So this upcoming year I am going to spend far more time with my friends and enjoy the last year we have together. I don’t want to regret not spending enough time with the people I care about. I will continue to work hard to get good grades but I will give myself a break from time to time. In the America I hope to grow old in I hope that people are not so focused on school or job that they don’t make time for the people they care about. In the America I hope to live in people will make school/work only a portion of their life not their entire life.

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