The Importance of Student Government

I remember being in middle school and when kids were signing up for W.E.B (that's what our leadership class was called in middle school, it stands for "Where Everyone Belongs") I refused to sign up for it. As a seventh grade I was so full of resent towards this class because this where the "popular people" went and that was not where I belonged. I was never into dances and rallies. So I
refused to take part in this. Instead I did yearbook and that's not very relevant but it is what happened. But anyways I went to high school and I still resented student leadership. I went through high school without doing student leadership. (I did other things though I wasn't a complete nerd.)

My sophomore year I made a really good friend and her name was Hayley Salazar and she just happened to be in ASB. But she wasn't the people I thought were in ASB and she soon became my best friend. She kept urging me to join ASB and every time I would shut her down. But somehow she convinced me to run for Junior Class President and of course I lost (I don't blame anyone I made and awful campaign video that was Disney themed and it was my first year). But even though I lost I was in the class and I became the Sprit Commissioner.

So when my sophomore year summer ended and it was time for my junior year of school to begin we had ASB orientation. And because Hayley was in executive council she wasn't with me, instead she was leading one of the stations. I don't remember a lot about this day because it was almost three years ago and I like to forget awkward situations. But I did it I made it through the awkwardness of not being friends with everyone and being shy and before I knew it, it time for school to start and I was sitting in the 2nd period ASB and again Hayley was not with me because she was in executive council meaning that she had to be in the 5th period class.

I was an awful Spirit Commissioner. I had a lot of ideas; I wanted to have a sprit couch at football games where people could buy raffle tickets and the winner got to watch the game on a couch on the track with a free pizza with a couple kids, or a spirit phone call where we call students and if they say the code word like "Go Pups" or the prom theme or something they got free stuff and I thought they were great but I never knew how to bring it up to someone. It was my first year and I was nervous. But I did do something pretty cool my junior year I wanted to have a student appreciation wall but after going to the principal and my advisor it turned into student of the month with paw prints that their names got painted on. It fell through a lot but it happens. Oh and I planned spring fling week practically by myself. At the end that awful year of awkwardness trying to do ASB I decided that I wanted to run for a senior class office. I ran for senior class secretary and this time we did speeches. I had a memorized speech where I talked about being the mascot and my pants getting stolen and some other things (but I sure don't remember the other things). And I actually thought I had a chance at being senior class secretary. A boy stopped me in the hall one I had never seen before and he told me how awesome my speech was. But I still lost. Anyways I was still in the class and I was now the Digital Communicator Commissioner. (Long name I know).

So the next year started and I was finally in an ASB Class with Hayley and I had Michael (Another really good friend but it was his first year) in my 6th period! The year still started with the ASB orientation that I still have a lot of problems with how it runs but I myself did better and felt more comfortable. And I wanted this year to be a good year. I finally realized that in ASB no one is going to tell you exactly what you are supposed to do. In addition to my "duties" as Digital Communicator which was just updating the marquee which I am the only student so far that has been trained to do so I did plenty of other stuff. For homecoming Hayley and I against the advice of most of the other ASB students painted paw prints and wrote names on them for every student that went to our high school. This was really important to me and Hayley because we saw an inspirational speaker and we were one of the only groups that got to attend his workshop and he spoke about how when schools have poor participation you have to start smaller than dress up days and dances and he showed us a school that made and hung valentines for every student and we wanted to do this for our school too. At our school we do senior nights for sports and we recognize homecoming king and queen but not everyone can be those people and it was really important to recognize everyone in our school because they are part of it and just because they don't do sports of make it to homecoming court doesn't make them any less than a person. We don't have a small high school. I painted thousands of paws with Hayley and because of the lack of support from my ASB class I took a lot home and had my family painting  them. And then with a group of five kids on Sunday afternoon with a thing of fishing line we hung paw print with everyone's name on it. Lowerclassmen had black paws with red writing and the upperclassmen had red paws with black writing. And we hung every single one up by hand until it was so dark that we had to use our phone flash lights. But it was worth it because when we came to school on that Monday people were looking for theirs. And all throughout the school year I saw paw prints that I had made tucked into binders and instagram photos of them. When January rolled around we started on making pink hearts for everyone and they were hung for Valentine's day. But this time students knew what was going on. It was amazing to me because the kids that would skip class to go do drugs or just mess around in the bathrooms were instead looking for their pink hearts. But our security guard just decided to be a douche that day (whoops that just slipped out, you can tell I'm still not over this) and instead of doing his job and sending kids back to class, he tore them all down. But for once we were having people participate even though it didn't require much they were doing it. And that was amazing to see and I would paint a million more hearts and paws if it meant something to someone.

Another thing I did my senior year was Hayley and I helped plan Mr. GQ and Miss Hanford High Pageant and we hosted it. When we were first asked to host other people said we couldn't do it and that they should do it. But we did it and we were awesome if I do say so myself. And I did a lot of other things that don't need a long explanation but the point is I did them.

Finally I found my groove in ASB.

But I still didn't agree with everything that happened in ASB. In our class about 10% of the people in my class did work. (Maybe a little of an exaggeration but when you are the one to do all the work it feels like that). A lot of students in my class would love to argue about their ideas being better or to plan things and then have others do the work. But often times I would just do my work and my own thing and often when they had their meetings I would talk about it to no one as I painted a poster or programed the marquee and once in a while people would snicker. But one time someone said that we should have a Holocaust dress up day and I think I started laughing so hard that they finally looked at me. But I couldn't help it who actually thinks of that.

You're probably thinking that there isn't a point to this post and if you've made it this far you're finally going to find out. My sister just came home from CADA Camp which is a leadership camp I never went even though Hayley kept telling me I should I was nervous about asking my mom about it money wise and just being with people from ASB like that freaked me out. But anyways that is what spurred this random post. But I fell in love with ASB right at the end. I came from being a resentful 7th grader to a High School graduate who regrets not joining student leadership. I do still am frustrated with many of the things that happen in student government but I loved it because of the small group of those kids that cared and not just about Prom, Basketball games, or Rallies but truly cared for students. And my sister it telling me about CADA and I'm seeing tweets about how inspirational everything was there and how everyone was so nice and everyone participated. But the sad thing is (and I can only speak for my school and only for a couple people there) schools aren't like that. And when kids come from leadership camp and things aren't as great they get mad. They get mad because people don't care about the same things as them and they get mad because other students don't want to participate. And instead of trying to figure out what the next step is they give up.

There is no one way that student government should work. Leadership should be "custom made" for your student body. And I hated some of the things people in my leadership class said and did but I never did ASB for them I never did it to be popular I did it because I love working and helping people.  And I found people that I love to work with and I loved my advisor she was amazing and very personable even though sometimes she would talk to you and then pause and walk away but hey its what high school does to you.

High school is supposed to be the best 4 years of your life and for some it just isn't and those are the people that I wanted to do stuff for.

Join Leadership. Do something because I regret that I only did it for two years. And I'm so blessed to have had a friend who showed me what good can come from being involved in our leadership class. Because it is important to try and make a difference in your school.

The Ten Virgins

I just finished my senior year and will soon be attending college in the fall. So this year was my first year not attending girl's camp.

And I miss it.

For those of you who don't know what girls camp is, it is a program developed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for girls 12-18. The way its set up is you have level 1, level 2, level 3, level 4, YCL 1, and finally YCL 2. A ycl is a youth camp leader and they plan the camp under the advisement of leaders and stake members.

Our camp was Monday-Saturday for YCLs and Level 4s and Tuesday-Saturday for everyone else.
And one tradition for our camp is that they always did a whole camp spiritual activity.

Last year the YCLs acted out the parable of the ten virgins. YCL's were specifically chosen and sent this email.

"Dear Young Women,

 

We would like you to help with this years “Faith Walk”.  Last years was awesome as it came from your heart and each of those who listened felt the spirit.  This year we are portraying the parable of the 10 virgins.   There will be 10 stations where each of you will act the part of one of the 10 virgins.  At the end of the walk, it will be announced that the “Bridegroom cometh”.  Everyone (except the 5 foolish virgins) will go to the lodge and the door will be closed.  The 5 foolish virgins will then come and knock on the door but will be turned away.  We will have a speaker close with a short talk.

 

I have attached the characteristic of each virgin and what they will need.  Please review the list and email me your top 3 choices of which you would like to act out.  You will need to speak for 3 minutes about this virgin and what she is like.   We would like you to pray about this and you can use scriptures, stories, or personal experiences.

 

I love each of you; you are so special and are such great examples to the other young women!  I love to feel your spirit and see the light of Christ in your eyes.

 

Please get back to me as soon as possible so I can make the assignments"

 

And included in this email was a document enclosed with the "personalities" of the 10 virgins.

 

For the YCL’s,   The Ten Virgins

 

"1. The first virgin represents a Christ-like person. This is the person who is meek, humble, obedient, long-suffering, gracious, and just: one who has faith, is pure in heart, one who hungers and thirsts after righteousness, and is a peacemaker. This virgin prays and fasts, keeps the commandments and studies the scriptures to learn of Christ. You cannot be a Christ-like person unless you know Christ. ----- Her gifts are palm fronds – which are symbolic of Christ entering Jerusalem for the last time when those who recognized Him as the Messiah laid palm fronds at his feet. Another gift, olive branches, are symbolic of the gathering of Israel in the last days. Her final gift is seven white lilies, which represent the seven dispensations of time.

 

"2. The second virgin represents repentance and one who has accepted the atonement of Christ for her sins. She looks to Him with love and gratitude for being her own personal Savior. ----- Her gifts are a stalk of wheat and a vessel of water, which are representative of the sacrament. She is dressed in white linen, the material Christ was wrapped in when he was taken from the cross.

"3. The third virgin represents the ordinances necessary on this earth to enter the kingdom, such as: Baptism, Confirmation, Endowments, Temple Marriage, and Temple Work which includes genealogy, etc.----- Her gifts are two doves, which represent the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit of Promise. She is dressed in blue, trimmed with gold – blue and gold are the colors of the priesthood.     (I have two fake doves you can use)

"4. The fourth virgin represents truth, light and knowledge, and discovering, developing, and using talents for building up the kingdom. ----- Scrolls are her gift, which represent the knowledge, truth, and light she has gained, and the lyre is also her gift, representing all the talents she has developed, not just musical talents.

 

"5. The fifth virgin represents charity, the true love of Christ, and service. She has a serene smile. She represents the epitome of motherhood or fatherhood, of sweet, unseen service to her family and to others. Her gift is a basket of fruits. It represents two things: First, `By their fruits ye shall know them, and Second, The Word of Wisdom.

 

"6. The sixth virgin represents vanity and seeking after riches. She would be the one to whom wealth and possessions are most important. ----- Her gift is a golden vessel, filled with gold and precious things. Her dress is costly. Even the scarlet color of her dress, which is decorated with jewels and gold, is a sign of wealth. It is important to remember that he who loves the riches is evil, not the riches.

"7. The seventh virgin represents the sins and pleasures of the world. She is fun-loving and fun to be around. She doesn't' realize how the immodesty of her gown makes her appear or how if affects the emotions and minds of others. Her testimony is weak and she generally goes with the crowd because she isn't strong enough to stand on her own. She would live by the philosophy of `eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.' ----- Her gift is a large vessel containing an alcoholic beverage, because drinking and sinning are alike in that they gradually dull the mind and senses, until one day, you wake up horrified at what you have done and became.

8. The eighth virgin represents addiction and excess. ----- Her gifts are a swine's head, which represents filthiness of body, mind, and spirit, and honeycomb, which represents the addicting vices which are too sweet for us to give up. These addictions are not just what we take into our body internally, such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sugar or excess eating, etc., but also addictions of the mind and soul, such as soap operas, unrestricted T.V., listening to the wrong kind of music, R-rated or filthy movies or books. Anything that would cause the body or mind to depend upon or desire them. She has a weak will and would delight in telling or hearing dirty jokes or stories, or in repeating gossip. She seems to be inviting: `Try it,... join me.... it's fun.'

"9. The ninth virgin represents those who delve into dark works and idol worshiping. These are those who dleve into the mysteries, the occult, secret combinations, and perhaps other works in secret, like pornography, child abuse, and perversions. ----- She has a band around her neck, which symbolizes these sins that, first, like threads and cords, become like bands and chains to drag us down to hell. The jewel on the forehead represents the mark of the beast. The gift she gives is an idol of a goat's head and represents apostasy or anything that is put before the Lord.

 

"10. The tenth virgin represents unrighteous power and ego. This is the one who is puffed up because she feels her calling is greater than someone else's. This is also the one who manipulates or rationalizes and would have one set of standards on Sunday and another in the business world. ----- She wears a crown and carries a scepter which are symbols of her power. She is jealous and envious of others, even her dress is green with envy. She has a partially hidden sword which represents gossip or cutting people down behind their back. Her gift is the crown and scepter she wears.... but will she give up her symbols of power even to the One to whom they belong?

Each girl was asked to choose her top three and then our stake leader gave us what virgin we were.

I was virgin 2. Each girl was supposed to have a speech prepared about 2-5 Minutes long.

 

This is what I had written:

 

 

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

All the King’s horses and all the King’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty together again

But then, Humpty got up and looked good as new

His shell was all shiny and he didn’t use glue

He looked at the horses and all the King’s men

And said, “I don’t need you to put me together again!”

But then… he did realize that something was amiss

His outsides were fine, but his insides were all mixed

All scrambled, all churned, like an omelet he felt

So he began to plead to all the King’s help

But they all declined with their heads bowed down low,

“We haven’t what it takes to heal such a blow,

In fact we are each in the same state as you”

Said all the King’s men, and his horses cried, “Us too!”

“There is no man here that can fix this great sting,

But the man up the hill can, we call him our King,

So go up the hill now, He’s waiting for you

As he waited for us to heal up this few.”

“But there are some things of you he’ll require,

Your heart and your soul, and all your desires.

You see, we have learned this, so the past years we’ve been

All the King’s horses, and all the King’s men.

Jesus Christ truly knows us. And he did not take upon the sins of the world. The world is but a place we live in however he took on the sins of individual people. He took on individual sins. He asks for so little he doesn’t ask us to suffer and he doesn’t want us to feel pain. He wants us to repent, forgive and to learn.

But being a teenager we feel suffering, pain, and hurt and as teenager it is easy to feel alone.

Jesus knows exactly how we feel.

“My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me.”  Matt 27:46 Mark 15:34-35 Ps. 22:1

Jesus Christ felt alone and he felt my pain, and your pain, and our suffering. Some of us hold onto this pain because we think we deserve it or we don’t know how we could ever be forgiven.

We are given a truly beautiful gift, the atonement is what allows us to have grace and is the way to eternal life. If everyone truly knew what the atonement was no one would be unhappy.

We are able to be forgiven and our burdens to be lightened. We are able to be happy and to continue to live our lives without holding on to the pain or the hurt.

‘He cannot forget us; we are engraved upon the palms of his hands’

But we can choose to forget his sacrifice and continue on in misery or we can choose the atonement and be All the King’s horses, and all the King’s men.

 When we actually did it we each had a station around camp. We all had costumes on, our gift for the savior and a small oil lamp. And the girls went around to every station and heard every virgin speak. The hardest part was not for those righteous virgins but those who were the foolish ones. They were preaching a lifestyle they didn't believe in while dressed immodestly. They were telling the girls that clothes and riches were better than our savior, that you might as well party because you never know when your life is going to end, and one talked about being addicted to exercise and how being psychical beautiful is most important. While we were practicing with each other there were so many tears shed because how could they say these things to girls who trusted them? But that's when our stake leader stepped in and said that in order for this to work we had to play our part whether it was good or bad, to show what will happen to us in the second coming. The more we play our part the more the girls could see the difference between the wise and the foolish virgins. After the girls went to every station we heard "The Bridegroom cometh" and the wise virgins had their oil lamps lit while the rest of the campers started walking into the mess hall. While the girls were going in they heard the wise virgins tell the foolish to run and find oil for their lamps. But before they came back the doors were closed. And then we heard banging and screaming to let them in. By this point all the wise virgins are in the front of the mess hall with all our oil lamps lit and we are bawling.

At this point the banging stops and they stop screaming. Our stake leader comes forward introducing the wedding cake that was at the front of the mess hall, she then delivers a message about the parable and what it means and how we have to prepare now because we don't want to be the ones outside the door. And at the end of her talk each girl was given a small oil lamp like the ones each of the virgins had.

I still have my oil lamp and it sits on my shelf where I see it every day.  I'm so glad that we were able to do this. It was such a spiritual experience and also a wake up call for many of the girls. Afterwards we heard so many compliments about it and how this was a pivotal moment in their life.

I love girls camp and it was some of the best times of my life.

But for now I'm done but look for other girls camp posts later when I'm feeling sentimental.

Can you guess who is righteous and who is not?

 

 

 

T-Shirt DIY

So I have done a lot of t-shirt diys for costumes for school

and Halloween. It all started with my taco bell costumes.

 

I'm on the left. Yeah all that was painted on.

I have also done

 

Pumpkins! Yes I made everyone of these.

Except the Tardis... I didn't do that lol

 

Alright this next picture needs so explaining.

Our school does homecoming dress up days where

they pick a five letter word that ends with 's'

and each day we can dress up as whatever we want as long as

its starts with that letter. So this year its was "ROCKS"

and this picture was taken on "C" day. I made my shirt which

you can't see because the sign I was holding and my friend

who is standing next to me. Our shirts say "Go Ceiling" because

we were ceiling fans. We are clever! And then we have in

order of left to right a Christmas tree, a constellation shirt

and then finally The catcher in the rye. I know we are awesome.

As you can see I have lots of experience with painting things on shirts.

So I'll show you how its done.

 

I am in need of a 4th of July Shirt. So I saw this picture and I got

some ideas.

 

 

So after making a run to the store to get shirts and bleach I came

home and threw the shirts in the wash so they could shrink a little

and I would have a good canvas to start on. While the shirts were in the

dryer I made my template so I could paint this on my shirts.

 

 

1. Print out the image you want to be on your shirt and trace it onto freezer paper. And it has to be freezer paper!!! (Freezer paper is like a hybrid of wax paper and parchment paper. So you write on the non-waxy side and then that allows you to iron the template to your shirt and not to the iron.)

 

2.After it is traced you cut out the shape that you want painted. The template I made was very complex as you can see but solid shapes and words are a good place to start. But make sure if you do words make sure to keep the middles of letters like As, Rs, Ds, etc. so that the holes in the letters are not filled in.

 

 

3. After your template is done you will iron it on and apply paint onto the shirt! Let it completely dry before you peel off the template! I never use fabric paint, I always use acrylic because that what I have. And it works really good and I'm able to wash all more shirts. And you can use your template multiple times just peel it off and iron it again!

 

 

I did some extra prepping for these shirts. I bought plain red shirts.

 

And I wanted to paint the eagle stencil blue but I wanted the

shirt to be red. What I did so that I could have both it I bleached

the middle. To do this I put bleach in a spray bottle and diluted

it with some water to that it didn't eat through the shirt but only

turned it white. I prepped each shirt with a lid  in the middle from

some tubs we had in the garage. That way the back didn't turn white

as well. And then I took the bleach to the shirts, you don't need that

much because eventually it will spread out.

 

 

This is what I turned out with they look kinda pink in this

picture but it definitely is white now. After I sprayed them I rinsed them

 and tossed them in the dryer so that the extra bleach was gone.

After they were dried I ironed on the stencil and painted on my eagle!

 

 

TADA!

 

I hope you try this out! Once you do it you can stop!