We take so much from life that we do not stop and think to give back.

Community service is one of the best things that teenagers can do nowadays.

It looks good for your college resume, plus you get to help out the community and feel good about yourself. Sometimes, the events can be really fun!

For me, community service has built and helped my character to grow.

It helped me build connections with different people and it made me feel like I belonged somewhere.

For the guys out there that think they are so tough, trust me, community service really breaks down your barriers and I have cried quite a few times already.

It does not matter if you know anyone you work with while doing community service.

Everyone is family. We are all humans, and if you are able and healthy, then you can help and make a difference.

There is nothing more disappointing to me than a couple of teenagers lying on their bed and saying that they are bored.

Ask yourself this: If you are born on this planet and not making any impact whatsoever, then why are you here at all?

I know community service might seem “lame” to you at first, but all these little steps are worth it in the end.

Each little step makes up  one huge step in improvement.

Community service has definitely changed who I am as a person and I guarantee that it will do the same for you.

Just have a little compassion in your heart, and the world will become a much better place eventually.

This includes poles, tops, vehicles and even dangerous objects such as nails!

“Planking is by far the funkiest thing America has ever come up with and I think it can be a great way to spend an evening with some friends,” Henry Alona (12) said.

Although this might seem crazy, people enjoy doing this. Many students at Gahr agree with me.

“I think, as awkward as it is, I’m sure people can have a good time with it,” Monica Masoud (11) said.

I think planking can definitely be an enjoyable activty. However, it can also be dangerous, so I would rather do something else.

Thanksgiving can have many different meanings to students. It can be about family, friends, or even just celebrating what a great life you have.

I, for one, feel most thankful for my family. They are always there for me no matter what.

If I am ever having a bad day, I feel as if I can always turn to my mom. She is one of those people who always knows what to say and you feel like you can pour your heart out to her.

Secondly, I am grateful for the life I am able to live. We see homeless people on the streets with nowhere to go.

Yet some still complain about their lives and how they do not have the latest trend.

I sometimes feel that Thanksgiving should be more than a yearly holiday.

I think we should have a day out of every month where we jut stop and smile about our lives.

With all the stresses of high school we can sometimes forget to appreciate the time we are given on Earth.

In the beginning of the year, freshmen have to get used to their new environment and peers, because some of their classes have all sorts of people from every grade level.

During the first couple days, even weeks of school, new students might have felt scared, nervous, excited, and happy. It has been a while now since school started, so people are starting to settle down in their classes.

Teachers want their students to be successful in school. They take the time to offer help for those students who need help, those who come into class on their own free time for tutoring.

Aside from school work, homework, and tests, Gahr offers students the chance to join and get involved in many activities, whether it be clubs or sports.

I used to live in Long Beach and we had to move. I’m happy that I ended up going to Gahr. I would not have meet the people that I hang out with now.

Overall, I am enjoying my time at Gahr and I hope that the rest of my school year is just as fun. I’m looking forward to the rest of my years at Gahr.

What are we to make of the pandemic that is raging across this new generation of ours?  Sure, people do “play” or cheat on their significant other, but what do their peers think about this?

“I don’t think highly of players or cheaters because they are immature and indecent,”Alexis Garcia (10) said.

Have you ever been “played” or do you know somebody who has? To some people it is disgusting, stubborn or even pitiful.

“I think that these people should stop and consider the other person’s feelings. They should treat others the way that they would like to be treated,” Adriana Rivera (9) said.

In a way the “player” took away somebody else’s opportunity to find that special someone. Someone else could have made that hurt person feel great about themselves. They could have made them feel wanted, needed and even loved.

“I feel pity towards the person who got cheated on but I feel disappointed towards the person who did the cheating, you’re not supposed to treat a girl like that,” Jose Soto (12) said.

But, in some strange way, one must also feel pity towards the “player” or cheater.  They will probably have a more difficult time finding somebody who can make them feel wanted and needed.

Someone who could make them feel at peace with the world, someone to caress them when they are down and out. What are their reasons behind wanting to “play” with another person? Perhaps they do not get the love they need at home so they need plenty of people to fill in that void in their hearts.

There must be a way to accommodate these injured souls.  Show them that others still care, show them that there are people who do not wish to hurt them.  When it’s all said and done, they may be there for you when you need a shoulder to lean on.

Feel what they feel, know what it’s like to have a piece of your soul torn out then reflect on your actions.

This is hopefully just a passing trend. Maybe we could all go back to reality where we realize that we need each other and we can no longer abuse the trust and bonds that we once shared.

I should be working on that one important project for that one class, the lab for my chemistry class, but I suppose I can do all those things later.

After all, it is my senior year. During all my other years of school, I had the grades I needed. Plus, I already submitted my college applications.

Of course, that is where all the problems start. As a senior, I should feel privileged and I should not waste any time because of the fact that it is my last year of high school.

However, shirking off your studies is not the best way to deal with the problem either.

Senioritis is all just in your mind. The fact that our minds thought of this, that we actually acknowledge Senioritis, is truly just ridiculous.

As seniors, of course we feel priviledged and that we are already going to be sent off to college, work, or the military soon after our graduation.

However, wasting our time hanging out with our friends is not the smartest thing to do. I could be doing so many other things, like getting a job or volunteering somewhere. In the long run, those two things already pay off way more than hanging out with my friends.

I may sound like I should not be spending time with people that are important to me. In fact, you should not ignore them entirely either. The best thing to do is try to influence everyone around me to become more prepared for the challenges that could actually face us in the real world.

Dealing with something as overinflated as high school drama is important if you want to help people, but sulking around and dragging my negativity with me is not going to help anyone. I have to just suck it up and keep moving forward, no matter how simple or complicated your problem could actually be.

Senior year will fly right by, so make the most of it. Meet new people, help around the community, and keep your grades up! Everything will pay off in the end if you keep the effort up. If you start to slack off now, then how are you supposed to get back up?

What the school does not offer is the opportunity to choose what locker you would like to have for the year. The locker that you are assigned your freshman year, follows you throughout your entire high school career.

The problem that this causes is that not all locker positions are ideal for a student’s needs. Having a locker on the bottom row sucks because you have to get down on your knees to open your locker

Depending on your class schedule for the year, your locker might be too far away from your classes to even get use out of it.

Rotating lockers yearly can solve the solution to this problem. I have a locker on the top row, which is great, but I would gladly give up that locker to someone who had a locker on the bottom row last year.

Giving students the option to switch lockers with one another should be allowed. This could solve the problem of a student’s locker being too far away from his or her classes to even get used.

Not everyone is behind the idea of switching lockers every year.

“I don’t think that they should switch the lockers every year, even though I have a bottom row locker,” Leslie Espinoza (11) said.

Though these solutions could pose problems with security, I believe most people would not steal from each other’s lockers, thanks to our memory loss from summer vacation.

Locker switching would benefit many students here on campus. People should be given the option of experiencing the locker shuffle, or at least come up with another way to fix this horrible ordeal that has plagued us for years.

There have been previous Halloween nights where I have put on really nice costumes, such as last year’s full-on zombie costume with makeup, and went out anticipating a night filled with thrills, chills, and sweets.

Instead, I got a handful of complaints, a few pieces of candy, and a rock.  Yes, just like Charlie Brown.  Sure, there are some people who are polite no matter how old they are, but majority of the people I encountered were upset at the fact that teenagers are still trick-or-treating.

There is no age limit to how young you must be to trick-or-treat, yet adults nowadays try to find every excuse not to give us some candy.  I was not going to TP their house. I was not thinking about doing any type of damage to their house.  I was out just for the pure enjoyment of the night.  I was out for the candy, the memories, and the sight of others celebrating such a ghoulish night.  After all, what is Halloween night without the candy?

I cannot speak on behalf of all teenagers, not all are filled with good intent on that night.  But I do speak for the ones who go out to have a good night filled with wholesome fun.  Trick-or-Treating is our way to be a kid for a little while longer, before we go back to the daily routine of our young adulthood.