Student Models

The Horrible Day One morning I woke up and I was turned around on my bed. Then I fell off! I walked downstairs and I almost fell over my dog. Next I fell asleep in my cereal and my brother stole my toast! Then I had to walk to school because our car ran out of gas. I was late for school, and I got stuck outside in the rain! Guess what? I really didn’t like this day at all.

The House on Medford Avenue I have lived in three places in my entire life. The first home I remember living in was mis abuelos house. I lived in the upper flat of their duplex until I was three years old. My brother was fifteen years old, and my sister was six years old. I am the youngest in my small family. We moved out of that house because mi abuela and my mother were not getting along very well. They argued constantly, screaming so loudly that the neighbor’s windows started to shake. When we left, we only moved 20 blocks away.

The Incredible Egg Procedure: On October 5, I gathered a large Styrofoam cup, an egg, some vinegar, some corn syrup, and some water. Before I started the lab, I weighed the egg on a scale. Because the egg would just roll off the scale if I set it down by itself, I weighed the cup, and then added the egg. After I knew how much the egg weighed, I poured enough vinegar in the cup to submerge the egg. I then covered the top of the cup with plastic wrap and set the egg aside. The next day, I washed the egg and the cup and weighed the egg.

The KHS Press Characters Mr. Pulaski, the advisor for the KHS Press Ms. Cebon, another teacher Lena, Weasel, Beth, and Bryon, student reporters Mr. Pulaski stands behind a podium. Weasel, with a knee brace, sits at a table with his wounded leg sticking into the aisle. Beth and Bryon sit at desks. Mr. Pulaski: O.K., people. We need to start our meeting. Ms. Cebon has offered to help us with this issue because we don’t have a lot of time or staff reporters, and we need to get going.

The Killer Bean The picture may seem familiar. Tumbling out of bed and stumbling around in the kitchen—you begin your day. But wait. It cannot begin properly without that daily ritual, the morning cup of coffee. The aroma swirls throughout the room. What can compare to the richness and fullness of that first cup of coffee? Americans lead the world in coffee drinking, consuming an average of 3.4 cups per person per day (Pennybacker 18). Gourmet coffee houses are sprouting up all over the place. But what is the real story behind this dark brown liquid?

The Missing Coin It was the day after St. Patrick’s Day, and all the little leprechauns were settling down for a nap. But one leprechaun named Sly was wide awake. He had lost his magic coin! Meanwhile a little girl named Emma had found the leprechaun’s magic coin. “Hey, look at this!” she exclaimed to her mom. “Wow,” said her mom, “I think it's a real leprechaun coin. Without it the leprechaun can’t get around very fast.

The Racist Warehouse It was a beautiful August morning. The sun was brightly shining on my sunglasses while my mother drove the U-haul truck to a warehouse in Santa Ana, California. As my mother drove down the streets of Santa Ana, I looked out the window and began to realize that the mixture of people was no longer a mixture; there was only white. When we arrived at the warehouse, I had to peel my arm off the side of the hot door like a burnt sausage off a skillet. There were not many cars in the parking lot, and I could see the heat waves.

The Sled Run One day it snowed like crazy! So school was cancelled. I had Amy over to play. We decided to go sledding. So we started to slide down the hill. We sledded for a long time. One time we decided to go down together. Amy sat in the front seat, and I sat in the back. We started to go down the hill. Then CRASH! We ran into a bush! Amy went flying, and I got my feet caught in the bush! Amy looked like a spider caught in its own spider web. I had a lot of fun that day, and I will never forget it!

The Terror of Kansas It was 1:00 a.m. on a warm spring Wednesday, and it was storming outside. Casey was sleeping in her bed when she was awakened by a loud blast. It was the tornado siren. Just then her parents rushed in and said, “Grab your pillow and one thing you want to save!” She decided to grab her dog, who was sleeping in her room. Most of her other things she could replace, but she couldn’t replace a living thing. Then she heard a loud crash and ran downstairs with the trembling dog in her arms. When they were all downstairs, they started listening to the weather radio.

Unique Wolves If you visit northern Wisconsin, don't be surprised to hear the eerie and beautiful howl of wolves at night. They have returned after about 40 years of absence. By the 1950's, wolves had been driven out of their ancient homeland by ranchers and the federal government. Wolves killed livestock for food, so they were considered nuisances. But starting in the 1990's, the state reintroduced wolves to help manage the deer population. The number of wolves has now rebounded to nearly a thousand. Wolves are relatives to coyotes, foxes, jackals, dingoes, and our pet dogs.

To: Anne Cline Subject: Vegetarian Lunch Options at Bay High Dear Ms. Cline: Last summer I became a vegetarian. After visiting my uncle’s farm in Iowa, I couldn’t bear the thought of eating meat anymore. When school started, I thought I could eat school lunches by simply staying away from meat dishes. My plan worked for a few weeks, but it got tough to eat peanut-butter sandwiches and applesauce every day.

What Really Matters Margaret L. is like any other teenage girl today: she talks on the phone, deals with the stress of schoolwork, and has a boyfriend. Unlike many of her peers, however, Margaret takes medication as part of her morning routine; and the time she spends in the school bathroom is not devoted to fixing her hair. Margaret has spina bifida, a condition in which one or more of her vertebrae did not form properly, leaving her spinal cord—the most vital component of the central nervous system—unprotected.