Hurting Myself

Why do you hurt yourself?
Dear Students,
I want to tell you something that I've been noticing this month. Many of you like to hurt yourself.For some reason, you guys like to do things that end up hurting yourselves. Some of you still refuse to complete all of your homework. In the end, if you don't do homework, who do you hurt? Do you hurt the teachers or your parents? Maybe a little bit. But if you think about it, not doing your work won't hurt me because I'll still get my paycheck. You, however, will suffer in the end because you won't be prepared for college.If you do drugs or inhale stuff, who do you hurt? Not the teachers or your parents because we're not the ones damaging our brains. A lot of you still don't understand how hard it is to succeed in college. You will need all of the brain cells that you have right now. Each brain cell you kill means you're one brain cell dumber than other people. So, tell me, who do you hurt in the end when you do drugs?If you act out in class, and you don't learn the stuff, who do you hurt in the end?If you fight, and you get suspended from school, who do you hurt in the end?If you copy homework or cheat on tests, and you don't learn the stuff, who do you hurt in the end?If you need help with homework, and you don't come to office hours, who do you hurt in the end? If you have a problem in your life, and you don't get help from us, who ends up getting hurt in the end?When I said "Think before you act" in my last letter, this is what I meant. Before you actually do something stupid, think about what will happen and who you're going to hurt. I'll bet you, in the end, you will hurt yourself the most. There's enough pain in this world; why do you think adults are always looking for happiness? So, if you can't stop others from hurting you, then you can at least stop yourself from hurting yourself.If you don't understand what I mean, come talk to me. Make sure you save this email, because I will ask you to copy it in the future, to remind you that you're hurting yourself again.
With love and respect,
Mr. Hsu

This is a letter my technology teacher wrote to my class. He also wanted my fellow classmates and I to respond to these questions.

Describe a situation where you had “hurt” yourself in the way that I described in my letter.

In eighth grade I was wrapped up in other things and not paying attention to school. I started to not do my homework and not pay ateention in class. I was disrespectful to my teachers and even some of my friends. I let my friends and having fun come before school. This was stupid because now I have to work even harder to catch up with all the information I never learned when I had the oppurtunity. This was my biggest mistake because the only one I hurt in the end was myself.

Discuss what you can do to prevent other students from hurting themselves.

To prevent other students from hurting themselves I could just talk to them. Sometimes if you just tell people that you think what they are doing is stupid or hurtful they will stop. I know it's stupid that people do these things but in the end whatever you do or say won't help if they choose to not listen and hurt themselves.

Talk about whether my letter made sense or not. Do you agree or disagree with what I said? Why?

I understood the letter because my mom told me something similar to this. She said that I could have all the talent in the world but if I choose not to use it, then I'm just hurting myself. I agree with what Mr. Hsu said because I constantly see and hear about people getting into fights, doing drugs, and drinking. I'm not saying I'm perfect because I've done stupid thing too and looking back I would take back most of it.

Alex, Jessica, Sara, Kristine & Katherine 

Kimi & Alex 

The OLD crew except for Samantha... I wonder what happened? 

Karena (My Sis) & Karis (Froggie) 

Crazy Cuz and his girl...He's in LUV! 

Alex "Green really brings out your eyes..."-Mr. Herrera LOL 

My Lil' Cousins 

You just wish you could be an herbal essence girl... 

"Tinkerbell is a SL*T" ~Christina LOL 

Rapper= Spencer 

Jovanna, Amarah & Christian 

HOBO STALL 

Halloween 2004 

Good Times 

Electric Slide in Spanish 

Crazy Carolin... How could you not love her? 

This is Alex Vargas! ~PIE MAN~ 

Grades

Grades and Attendance Exp. Last Week This Week Course Teacher S1 S1 Attendance M T W H F M T W H F ABS TAR 1(A,C,E) Geometry A Bear, Michael A 101 O 0 0 2(A,C,E) Biology A Long, Trisha A 94 O 0 0 3(A,C,E) Technology/Leadership A Hsu, Paul A 101 O 0 0 4(B,D-E) English 9A Cutler, Jennifer A 95 O 0 0 5(B,D-E) Spanish 1A (NN) Blanco, Miroslava A 99 O 0 0 6(B,D-E) Ethnic Studies A Carr, David A 110 O 0 0 7(A-B,D-E) Curriculum Skills A Carr, David A 100 O 0 0 Attendance Totals 0 0

1. What do you think about your grades? Do you like or dislike what you see? Why?

I like what I see right now because I have worked hard and have straight A's.

2. How can you improve your grades further?

I can make sure to do all my homework.

3. How do your grades at Animo compare to your grades in your last school?

At my last school I had straight A's exect for a B+.

4. Was there anything unfair about how you earned those grades?

No, I did most of my work and studied for tests.

5. If you received comments, what do you think about them?

I didn't have any comments.

Halloween Weekend

On Friday I worked with ASB to give the dance some finishing touches and then went to the hall where it was at. The dance was a success and everyone was having a fun time dancing and eating pizza with nachos. It was fun event though I had no one to go with but it was okay because I just danced with everyone. On Saturday I went to Venice High to watch my little cousins play football. They won both games and I didn't stay to watch the Peewee's play because I went ot Missy's and we met David over at the Haunted House. It wasn't that scary except for the lights and I was laughing because Missy and David made me go first. On Halloween I went TRICK-OR-TREATING because I wanted candy for FREE. I went with Missy, her family, and David. We got to walk of by ourselves and kicked it on a lawn. David and me got into an argument for fun and he licked my a**. I was hurting the rest of the night and Missy just sat there laughing. We went to all the doors, even the dark ones, and yelled out at the top of our lungs, "TRICK-OR-TREAT!!!" It was funny. We got a grip of candy, a pumpkin, and a Vote for Kerry sign. I had a fun time. THe only thing that sucked was getting up this morning since we got home late.