10th Grade 2024

For my Thank You Project, me and my group members decided to put together a basket and thank you cards for our school nurses.  We were inspired by the fact that many are quick to forget about our school nurses, when in reality, they help us through sickness and make sure everybody's day is running smoothly. We wanted to make them feel just as important as every other staff member. 

When putting together our basket, we took into consideration many things. We made it nurse themed and added bright colors and fun notes and had volunteers in our classes sign a thank you card for them. We were hoping that this would brighten their day in any way. This reflects the taking action pillar of JAGS because we were able to have an idea and carry it out effectively. Being able to organize ourselves without too much help from teachers was a great learning experience and helped us put our JAGS pillars into perspective.

This year I took AP United States History taught by Mr Taray.  This class was the first class where I had to absolutely dedicate myself to not falling behind and staying on task in class. This class taught me how to study properly, and hold myself accountable when many different assignments are due. A key component to success in this class was learning how to balance a busy golf schedule, other classes, and speech and debate. It was tricky in the beginning, but after a few weeks I was able to be successful in managing my time.

This class reflects investigating the world pillar because not only was I learning about the United States, but I was also learning about how the United States carried out foreign relations and was involved in global politics. This class was incredibly interesting and helped me broaden my worldview from a very Americentric one.

This fall I started my second year on the varsity girls golf team. Although I had become somewhat familiar with the team freshman year, it was still important for me to learn how to communicate ideas effectively with my teammates in order to ensure no conflicts. I was blessed to have an incredibly unproblematic team with very little drama, but it was important to be able to utilize this Jags pillar when we were facing up a tough challenge, such as an important tournament or the postseason tournaments.

Being able to motivate and lift up teammates was something I learned from the upperclassmen who came before me. Using these skills, we were able to have a special season, honoring our seniors and making sure that our team did the best that we could. This meant not putting too much pressure on ourselves to do well, but always pushing ourselves to do the best that we could that day.

In the second semester, the Jags class of 2026 took a trip to Costa Rica. This trip was absolutely eye-opening, and being able to observe another culture first-hand was truly special. On this trip, I was able to learn a lot about Costa Rican culture, and it was fascinating. This trip exemplified the recognizing perspectives pillar of JAGS, as we were able to see how another country lived in person.

Not only was this trip incredibly educational, but it was also very fun! I was able to visit a foreign country with some of my closest friends, and I feel that our friendships have greatly deepened over this time, along with new friendships with my peers and JAGS that I haven't had the chance to talk to very much previously. Because of this, I'm very grateful for the opportunity that JAGS has presented to me. 

This year, I was able to work on a documentary with a group to explore a topic.  The topic that we chose to document was the question: What is a life well lived?  To answer this question, we took points of view from all over the world including Switzerland, China, Spain, and the United states. This was a clear example of the recognizing perspectives pillar of jags. Through this documentary, we found that there were many answers to this question. not one answer we got back was observed to mean more than another.

Being able to coordinate a group to work on this documentary that consisted of many moving Parts was challenging at first. luckily, I had group members that were able to take initiative and section out the work. I was in charge of editing, and the rest of my group members were able to track down interviews, get extra film, and design a poster. Working together on this project was very fun and we were able to compile some of our own answers in the documentary to answer our question.