Emma's Blog

       One of my favorite things to do is read. I enjoy reading because it helps me to escape the world for just a little while. I really enjoy fantasy books that have magic or royalty. My favorite book series is Harry Potter . My aunt got me into Harry Potter around four years ago and I have loved it ever since. My family is planning to go to Universal over spring break and I am most excited for the Harry Potter area. I really love reading on the beach in the summer. Laying back in my chair, listening to the waves crash while I read a good book is one of the most relaxing things I can think of. The last book series that I read was The Selection which I really enjoyed. I love reading romance books. Every book I read has to have at least a little bit of romance. I consider myself a hopeless romantic and I love reading about people falling in love. Books help me to explore other worlds and to learn new things. I used to read a lot more than I do now, but I plan to mak...

       Up until last year, I had no idea what I wanted to do in the future. I had a few ideas, but nothing really stuck. My mom brought up the idea for me to be a Speech Pathologist. I had never thought about it before, and I told her that I would think about it. I took a college prep course online and I had to take a test to see what careers I would possibly be interested in. Lo and behold, one of the top careers listed for me was Speech Pathology. I did more research and there were more and more signs for me to become a Speech Pathologist. There were so many signs to do it that I decided Speech Pathology was the career for me. It is even better that I can work in pediatrics because I love children. My mom works at a doctor's office, and she says they do several referrals every day for speech therapy. Speech Pathology is a really great career. It pays well and there is a dire need for them, so I would never be worried about not having a job. People have told me tha...

       This year I have connected with a new friend group that is so important to me. Almost all of my high school friends moved away to college except for one. He and I have known each other for over 13 years, but we have really gotten close over the past few months since we are the only ones who stayed at home for college. I also have gotten really close with two girls from my young adult group. We had been friendly before, but now, we have gotten so close that I feel like I can tell them anything. We are the only 3 girls in our young adult group, so we really have to stick together. We have hung out several times outside of young adults. We really enjoy each other's company, and I am so happy to be able to call them my friends. I have always had trouble with friends. I have been told that I can be too clingy as a friend, but they don’t make me feel that way. They help me feel like I belong and not like I am a burden to them. It is nice to know that you are includ...

  My favorite movie that came out this year was “Top Gun: Maverick”. I really loved the original movie, so I was very excited to see the new one. I went to see it for the first time with my grandparents and my great aunt, who also loved the original movie. The movie was so good to me that I went to see it two more times in the theater and then I bought it the day it came out on Amazon Prime. To me, it was the perfect sequel movie. It had a good number of callbacks to the original while still being its own movie. I liked how there was a new generation of people in the new movie. I also really liked that there was a mission in this movie. The first movie was all about training, so it was interesting to see what it was like to have a mission. I think that the movie had a good amount of action, along with other, quieter moments. I just loved this movie so much and I think it will stay as one of my favorite movies of all time. It was also funny to me that my aunt saw it in theaters t...

       My biggest accomplishment from this year was graduating from high school and being a salutatorian. I went to a small private school and there were only seven of us graduating, but we were all very close together in terms of our GPAs, so being a salutatorian made me really happy. I have always pushed myself to be really good in school. My parents always told me that as long as I tried my best, they were proud of me. I was the one who put all of this pressure on myself. I would get upset if I ever go less than an A on my report card. I always told myself that I had to be the best or I would be a failure. My last year of school, I tried really hard to get out of this negative mindset. I told myself that as long as I tried hard, I had nothing to be upset about. I got my first C ever during my last quarter of high school and I wasn’t upset. It was the first time that I ever felt that weight lift off of my shoulders. Now, as long as I try my best, I am going to be h...

       One of my favorite things to do in the winter is to go skiing. My dad taught me to ski when I was around four years old, so it is something that we have always done together. We normally go skiing once or twice a year, but we are going to start going skiing more often now that I have all of my own gear. My mom normally comes with us, but she stays in the lodge drinking coffee. My dad took her skiing one time and she fell off of the chairlift both times that she went up. She hasn’t skied since. She is perfectly happy watching us in the warmth of the inside of the lodge. I hope to one day be able to go out West to go skiing. My cousins have done that, and they said that it was really fun. It would be amazing to go skiing on the giant mountains that are in the west. I love skiing and I hope to be able to continue skiing for as long as possible. My dad and I can really bond over skiing and it is something that only we share. I am very ready for it to be cold enoug...