Texts
Jamal Wilson
Ninth
Grade Author
Personal
Narrative
Taking
Flight page
2 of 15
Mathias
Muschal Tutor
Reunion
in Texas
I awoke at about 6:00AM
that morning, the bright sun hit me in the face, I
smelled sausages sizzling on the skillet. I walked down the stairs to come and
find out what was smelling so good. My aunt was making
eggs, grits, bacon, biscuits, and sausages. My mouth was watering until I
couldn’t hold my lip up. I went and washed up and put on my clothes. Rushing to
the table, I nearly fell down. I sat there and ate while watching the 6:00AM
news. When I finished, I resumed packing my bag from last night. My uncle had
just started to wake up and he ate and then we stared to finished
packing the truck. At about 1:00PM we were finished. Exhausted, we drove to the
store to get us some drinks. We came back and then we said goodbye to my aunt
and then we were off.
My uncle hopped onto the
driver’s side, and my uncle’s friend got onto the passenger side. I was forced
to get into the middle where there was barely enough room to stretch my legs
out. We stared off by making sure the truck was fully loaded with gas, and from
there we set off on I–55. For most of the beginning of the ride it was boring
because we only saw cattle and cornfields. As we approached mid‑state Illinois, we had to stop
and fill up for gas and get something to eat. Now it was about 7:00PM. We were
now approaching the city of St. Louis.
I was surprised to see the famous Gateway Arch. At about 8:00PM, the sun was
now setting, and it was almost completely dark like we were on some back roads
or something.
Next thing I know there was
my uncle falling asleep at the wheel. My uncle’s friend exclaimed, “Are you
trying to get us killed, fool?” My uncle woke up quickly, not realizing he just
fell asleep. We pulled over at the next rest stop, and now my uncle’s friend
took over the driving. Around 11:00PM we reached Memphis, TN,
and my uncle said we can exit. He and his friend spend the night at my cousin’s
house. They were expecting us anyway. We arrived and spent time together. When
morning came around, we were now back off on the road.
The gas tank was almost empty, so we pulled over at the next gas station before
we got back on the interstate.
While we were out on the
road, I was praying that we would find a good radio station while we where on
the road. Only thing I found was blues and country. Saying to myself I mumbled,
“I should’ve brought my walkman.” At 4:00PM we approached Little Rock, AR.
Finally, some good rap/R&B radio stations came in.
We stopped at a gas
station, and suddenly it began pouring down with rain. As we got back to the
truck from getting something to eat, the window was left wide open, and since
it just got through raining there was a gigantic swarm of mosquitoes that got
into the car. Somehow we forgot to put up the window. My uncle was ecstatic. He
was going through a fit saying words that I think no one would approve of.
We eventually got the
mosquitoes out by turning the air conditioner on full blast, and they had died
out. Relieved, we began driving again, and soon we approached a big sign that
said, “WELCOME TO TEXAS.” After a twenty‑mile drive, we finally made it
to Texas: I
was very excited. From here my auntie’s house was only about ten miles away.
Soon we arrived with hugs and kisses from all of my cousins and other family
members. I kept hearing, “Oh I’m so glad to see you!” like we’ve fell off the
earth or something. After we got settled in and unpacked our clothes, we then
ate and sat around watching movies and doing all sorts of fun stuff. At about
midnight we were tired so we went to bed. That next morning we told my aunt
that we would take the car and go visit our other cousins in Houston, witch would be about a six to seven hour drive depending
on the traffic. After we came back from Houston
to New Boston, we just hung out with the family for another week or so and we
said our goodbyes and we were headed back on home.
Since spending time in Texas, I learned a lot
about the people in the South and how they are so hospitable. I left with a
whole new meaning of how we all come from different areas, but we have a
special connection between all of the people not just in the U.S. but also
everywhere in the world. Although the trip down to Texas was rough at the time, I got to spend
time with my family to make up for it.
(Contents)
José Espinoza
Fifth
Grade Author
Personal
Narrative
Taking
Flight
page 4 of 15
George
Seidenbecker Tutor
Soccer
on Sunday
At 11: 50AM on Sunday in
summer, mom, dad, and I got into our car for a trip of three miles to my soccer
game on Wilson Avenue
in Chicago. In
the back seat I was putting on my shinguards and my
soccer shoes.
When we got to the park, my
team practiced a little. The team of fifteen guys kicked the ball around ten
minutes until the soccer game started.
My team and the other team
were tied 0-0 the first half. After four minutes, my goalie kicked the ball to
me, then I passed to my friend, then he passed back to me, and I scored.
There were thirty minutes
left. The other team scored to tie at one, but then there were ten minutes
left, and my team scored again. It was the final score.
My team won 2-1. We were really happy, and my mom and
dad and our coaches were saying to the whole team congratulations.
(Contents)
Erick Ramirez
Fifth
Grade Author
Personal
Narrative
Taking
Flight
page 4 of 15
Marilyn
Scavuzzo Tutor
The
Snowball Fight
WAMO! My face so cold, my
gloves so wet. His three men down and one to go. My
men were getting tired. But we kept throwing snowballs. My uncle and my three
sisters were all against my team.
My friends and I broke my
uncle’s fort by putting stones in the snowballs. He wondered how our snowballs
were so powerful. When we threw one, he grabbed the snowball. He looked at what
was in it, and he saw the stone. When my friends saw that, they took off. Now
my sister and I were the only ones on my team.
We left our fort so my
uncle wouldn’t get me. My uncle started to chase me. I went under the stairs so
he wouldn’t get me. I knew one more hit and we would win. I threw the last
snowball. I was going to hit him, but my uncle moved out of the way. I threw a
snowball one more time, but it missed him. He threw a snowball at me. I
crunched down to get a snowball, but on my way down his snowball hit me.
My uncle won. But we both got the prize–a cup of hot
chocolate.
(Contents)
Nataly Ramirez
Ninth
Grade Author
Character
Sketch
Taking
Flight
page 5 of 15
Kathy
Spears Tutor
The
Person I Most Admire
The person that I admire is
my mother because she has been there for me and my family. She came from Pueblo, Mexico.
Her father still lives in Mexico.
My mother never really knew her mother. She has not been in school since eighth
grade.
My mother went to Mexico City to work, and
she found a store that she worked in until she went back to her home town. Then
she got married. She came to Chicago
and has been here for twelve years. I think she also is brave because she takes
care of nine kids, and she also is a great mother because she shows us the
rules of life.
I also know when my mother is happy and when she is
sad.
(Contents)
Pablo Ramirez
Tenth
Grade Author
Personal
Reaction
Taking
Flight
page 5 of 15
Phillip
Heyrman Tutor
The
Chicago Auto
Show
Every year the Nation’s
largest auto show comes to the McCormick
Place. The Chicago Auto Show covers an incredible
1.2 million square feet. The year 2005 marked the first time I attended the
auto show. Everything was exciting from the trip there to the flashy cars.
It was a cold afternoon
when my aunt picked up my brother and I at our house.
After a fast ride down Lake Shore
Drive, she dropped us off at Roosevelt Road, roughly a mile away from McCormick Place. My
brother and I began walking the long, chilly sidewalk to the show. As we
wandered the streets of downtown, we began to worry that we might be lost. Our
fears went away as soon as we saw people with blue bags with cars on them
walking around us. Soon after, we arrived at the main entrance to the show.
We bought our tickets for
$15 and went in to the show. We passed the Dodge and Chrysler exhibits and
headed into the Hummer area. We got into the tall Hummer H2 SUT and took
pictures behind the wheel. We also went to the back and saw the TVs attached to
the front seats. As we left the Hummer area, we saw some customized cars. They
had some amazing rims, wild spoilers, and fascinating paint jobs.
Our next destination, the
Ford area, was the main reason that we wanted to come to the show. We were
excited to come to this area because it contained the Shelby GR-1. It has 605
Hp and a 6AL engine. The design is very flashy and smooth. The car comes with
silver body paint and with butterfly doors. The car was roped off so we
couldn’t get a close inspection. After looking at this car, we checked out the SYNus. This car looked like an armored truck with a TV on
the back. The design made the vehicle look strong, and I wouldn’t mind driving
one myself.
Our final destination of
the day was the Jeep section. We saw a dirt track with obstacles such as rocks,
water, and trees. We waited a long two and a half hours
in line to get in the car and experience how it is to go through off-road
terrain. My favorite part of this ride was when we got on the steep mountain
where we where pulled back towards our seats.
As night came people started leavin’,
and we were also on our way home. Even though we had problems getting out, we
were able to find our way. As we exited, I was left with the great memories of
a Saturday well spent.
(Contents)
Vanessa Ramirez
Seventh
Grade Author
Personal
Reaction
Taking
Flight
page 6 of 15
Alica Rodriguez Tutor
Why
My Mom Is Very Special
My name is Vanessa Ramirez,
and I’m going to write about the person I really love, my mom. My mother has
been there for me and my eight brothers and sisters when my father left us a
year ago. My mother decided that she would stay and work so we could have a
nice life with an education that would help us become a great doctor or
teacher. I’m very proud that she is my mother because she has worked very hard
to help us become better people and successful in the world.
She is very caring because
when one of us has a cold she makes sure that we have all the things we need to
get better. She does so many things for us because she loves us very much. When
I grow up, I want to be like my mother and make her very proud so she can see
that all her hard work has paid off. Her hard work may make me the person that
I’m going to be.
She is strong in that she
didn’t give up and let it affect her that my father’s family has not helped her
but instead criticized her and said mean things to her. She put all the things
aside, and she never looked back at the things she says or do.
Even though her life was very hard because she was
very poor and had to work since she was very little, she is gentle and sweet to
us. I don’t know how my mother does it, but she has gotten us to where we are
now with a better education and place to sleep.
(Contents)
Germain
Morales
Seventh Grade Author
Travelogue
Taking Flight
page 6 of 15
Angelica Bugarin
Tutor
Guatemala
Guatemala is located by the southern part of Mexico near El
Salvador, Belize,
and Honduras.
One day I will like to go to Honduras
because the weather is nice and warm and I can do a lot of outside activities.
I also have family there from my dad’s side that I never met, and, when I go
with my family from Chicago,
I’ll get to meet them.
There’s a lot of interesting things for me to do like
during the summer the carnival goes there and there is lots of different kinds
of food and games too. I have uncles that teach driving, so I hope that one of
my uncles will teach me how to drive around the city. I hope that I might climb
mountains and have ponies while I’m there.
I will save
money, so I can bring gifts back home to Chicago
for friends and family.
(Contents)
Migdolena
Salgado
Eighth Grade Author
Personal Narrative
Taking Flight
page 7 of 15
Laurel Lawson Tutor
Another Long Trip
Our vacation can be exciting, frustrating, and
confusing. At least once a year my mother and I go to Mexico to visit
the family. We spend hours and hours packing. Next we take everything out. We
pack mostly the same clothes again after my mom and I argue over what to take.
Then we get cranky because we have to pack so much: brushes, clothes, soap, shoes,
camera, and gifts. Lots and lots of gifts. My mom says
in Spanish, “Stop packing too much stuff.” Then she starts saying it in another
language that I don’t even understand. I just know that she is mad because she
starts yelling. So I leave her alone.
My mom and I get worried about missing the plane. We
stand for hours in line waiting to be called. People are very frustrated in
line. I am one of them! When we get into the plane, I usually take the window
seat. If I get dizzy, I change seats with my mother. Oh, no, the movie is
coming. I have already seen it. Now it’s time to take my nap instead of
watching it. I wake up when the flight attendant gives us a tray of dried eggs.
Not my favorite thing to eat.
I know my relatives are there before I see them because
I hear screaming. I see huge signs that say, “Bienvenidos
a Mexico Migdolena y Irma.” I felt so embarrassed. My
“Auntie Man” is there. She looks like she just finished cooking because she has
on an apron. “Migdolena!” she yells out so everybody
can hear. Cousin Carlos says, “Great, you’re here. Let’s go home.” He is two
years older than me. Off we go with my aunt, my cousin, and lots of suitcases.
When I get there,
I get bored and want to come back home. I get homesick. I miss people like my
dad and my friends. I know when I get homesick because I talk in my sleep. My
cousin said I talked half in Spanish and half English. After a month I’m
looking forward to going home to spend time with my friends. Now we wait until
next year to go back again.
(Contents)
Mariana
Bastida
Third
Grade Author
Personal
Reaction
Taking
Flight
page 8 of 15
Dan
Dooley Tutor
My
Favorite Sport
I love soccer because you
get to run around and kick the ball. My whole family plays soccer together. We
have to wear uniforms so everyone knows which team we are on. We play in fields
or in the park. Mostly on grass because we can get hurt if we
do not play on grass.
It’s very good exercise.
It’s also a lot of fun when you exercise. When we want, we can have time out
and drink water. Then we are not thirsty any more.
There has to be an even
number of players on each team. The team can have boys, girls, and adults. You
win by kicking the ball into the goal. The wining team has the best players.
I think I’ll play a lot of soccer this
summer.
(Contents)
Eduardo Ramirez
Seventh
Grade Author
Personal
Narrative
Taking
Flight
page 8 of 15
Sam
Lovering Tutor
The
Chicago Auto
Show
My brother and I had been
talking about going to the Chicago Auto Show for days. We had always told our parents
we wanted to go and they say “Yes,” but we never went. This time it was
different. It was a Saturday, and there were no excuses that we couldn’t go. I
always wanted to go to the car show to see all of the new cars. I went with my
older brother, Pablo.
Our aunt had taken us to
the car show at about ten o’clock. She had left us several blocks always from
the auto show. It had taken us about thirty minutes just to get there. When we
finally got there, there were lines of people waiting to get tickets to get in.
I couldn’t wait to see all
of the cars I have seen on TV. They’re big cars like the Hummers and some cars
that I never heard of. One of my favorite cars that I never saw was different.
Its door opened up instead of out. It had rims, the ones that spin. Another car
that I like was the Ford GT-1. It was different because the paint looked as if
it were made of mirrors. One of the things we did was go on a Jeep ride. They
let us ride a Jeep. We had gone to eat. I ate pizza and a soda. After that we went
to see some other cars, cars like BMWs, Mercedes Benz, and Porsche. We looked
at a lot of pictures.
We stayed there until the
car show ended at ten. We had been walking for hours. We had tried to find the
way to the place we had entered and get out. We went up and down several
floors. We asked different people; they all pointed us different ways. By the
time we found the right way, it was ten-thirty. We forget to tell our dad where
to meet us. By the time he came, it was eleven‑thirty.
We went home, and I fell asleep.
(Contents)
Gabriel
Hernandez
Fourth
Grade Author
Process
Essay
Taking
Flight
page 9 of 15
Linda
Madigan Tutor
The
Chess Tournament
I think it’s hard to win the tournament trophy. I need
to rake off the opponent’s pieces to win. The King is a good piece. The Queen
is a very important piece. The Knight and Bishop are good to protect. A Pawn is
a good piece to protect a bishop. A Rook is a very good piece because it can go
up, back, and to the sides. I play chess all the time: at home, in my programs,
and at school.
(Contents)
Christian Martinez
Ninth
Grade Author
Personal
Narrative
Taking
Flight
page 9 of 15
Eric
Holeman Tutor
My
Visit to Warren Park
I decided that it was time
to show my skills to the people at Warren Park. When I arrived there, I saw many
people playing basketball. I asked them if I could play with them. So, I
started playing. It was my first time touching the ball during the game.
I felt something bad was
going to happen to the person guarding me. I tricked him right, then left, I
bounced the ball off his head, then I shot it from the three-pointer-line and
it went in.
As I saw Donovan’s face, he
seemed so embarrassed about what just happened. He seemed to be more confident
than before. I could tell that he wanted to show up against me.
As I shot and missed,
Donovan grabbed the rebound. He started to take shots. He ran out to the
three-pointer-range and shot. The ball was flowing in the air, then hit the rim, it hit the top of the backboard, spun on
top of the backboard for two seconds, then hit the rim again, and the ball fell
through the net. I didn’t know what was happening; all I knew was that he was
up by 5 points. We were playing up to 21 points. It seemed that it was going to
be a long day.
When he grabbed the
rebound, he took it out, then tried to drive in with a
layup, but I blocked his shot. He grabbed the rebound
and faked a shot, then ran, and took a fadeaway shot.
The shot was in.
I watched how the ball went
through the rim. I decided that was enough. Later, Donovan took a three-pointer,
but he missed. I got the rebound and took an inside shot. It went in. I kept
shooting, but this time from the three-pointer. All the shots were in: all you
could hear was the net twisting.
Donovan also didn’t give up
and kept going. We were very tired; we both needed two points to win each. The
score was tied 19 to 19. I had possession; I decided not to risk a three
pointer shot. I drove in hard and scored. Donovan was very mad. I wanted to end
it with a spectacular play. Then I shouted aloud, “Game over.” I checked the
ball from the out-of-bounds side. I faked him left, then I went right, I sped
up, and then I ended the game with a reverse, going under the rim, jumping in
the air, putting the ball over my right shoulder, hitting the backboard, and
going in.
Shrek! That was the sound when the ball went through the
net. Then the ball bounced three times on the floor and started to roll toward
me. I took off my headband and threw in front of Donovan’s face, shaking my
head saying “No!”
Then I picked up the ball and left.
(Contents)
Thomas
Sanders
Eighth
Grade Author
Personal
Narrative
Taking
Flight
page 10 of 15
Robert Kriss
Tutor
Why?
It was a day after school
in the park getting ready for my softball game. The fifth and sixth graders had
their game first. I was watching the game with some of my buddies. Because the
fifth and sixth graders lost the game, they started a fight with the other
team. We tried to break it up. But, because they had a fight, the seventh and
eighth graders couldn’t have a basketball game at home later in the year.
We asked our coach to talk
to the principal for our team about having home games. But the principal said
“No" to our coach. Then the coach took it into his own hands and asked a
teacher to write a letter to the Board of Education.
Later, after we finished
one of our basketball games at another school, our principal met us as we came
off the bus. She said, “Guess what guys?”
We said, “Yes?”
She said, “You all can have
a home game.”
We cheered and said,
“Thanks.”
Our experience was if you are in a group that did
something wrong, you can get penalized for it even though you didn’t have
anything to do with it. So the way I feel is don’t
hang out with a bad group.
(Contents)
Ethan Cabrera
First
Grade Author
Personal
Narrative
Taking
Flight page
10 of 15
Devon Lovell Tutor
The
Cockroach
I woke up at 5:00 and I had
my eyes a little closed and I opened the refrigerator and I got the milk. I got
the cereal from the pantry. I got the spoon from the kitchen. Then I saw the
cockroach close to the
refrigerator.
He looked black and strong
with, I think, four legs. I got the stool, and then I squished it. I took it
off of it, and I got the bug spray. I put a lot of bug spray on him, and he was
dead. I wanted to kill him with a knife. I was going to squish him with my
foot, but then he would be squished on me and maybe climb up me, and I would
have to throw him off my shoulder. If he was still alive, I would tell my mom
and my dad to kill him.
And
I would fight him with my dad. I would use a lot of bug spray.
I went to my room, and I didn’t eat breakfast. And I wanted to
move out of the house. I didn’t want to eat lunch or dinner. For three days I didn’t want to eat. But my mom
cheered me up, and then I wanted to eat cereal and
lunch and dinner again.
(Contents)
Jica’h Salami
First
Grade Author
Fantasy
Taking
Flight
page 11 of 15
Lauren
Przyborowski Tutor
Boogey-Monster
One day there was a
boogey-monster. He had four legs, two heads, and twenty arms. His
arms were stretchable. He only came out in the dark. Every
time it was dark he would open something that wasn’t his. When he did that, the
people thought he was a human being. He tricked them and acted like he only
wanted to take stuff from them, but instead he killed them. Then he would
disappear into the night. He comes back the next night and kills people one by
one.
