This is my family on our spring

break to Miami, Florida. One

of the few other activities we

participated in was going on a

airboat tour of the everglades

which was an unforgettable

experience. Alligators were

everywhere and the scenery

was like nothing I have ever

seen before.

The importance of family to

me is hard to describe. I have

always been raised close to my

family and extended family and

I love my family very much

and am grateful of the way that

I have been raised. This is why

I am choosing to make family

my theme for this portfolio.

Without my amazing family

and the influence that they

have had on me, I would not

be the person that I am today.

This portfolio hopefully will

reflect the enormous impact

that my family has had on my

life and all of the great things

that they have done for me.

Family

Newsletter Date

Volume 1, Issue 1

Meaning of Life Picture Reflection

2

Most Influential Person Biggest Game of the Year

3

Favorite Son Top 10 Apps

4

Lasting Legacy Academic All-State Life Lessons from FHS

5

Reflections on Shootings Reflection's on Bombings

6

Reflections on Gangnum Style Reflections on Twitter

7

Comic Reflection 8

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

Inside this issue:

Special points of in-

terest:

I love playing upright

bass in my orchestra

and plan on playing in

college

I am going to Purdue

for Environmental and

Natural Resources

Engineering. (quite a

mouthful right?)

I love playing sports

with my friends, es-

pecially basketball.

I believe that the meaning of

life is all about the relation-

ships that you form through-

out your lifetime. Friends, fam-

ily, peers, strangers, they all

have enormous impacts on

your life and you on theirs. My

relationships have defined who

I am and I am thankful that I

have been raised with family

being the most important part

of my life.

I recently had a grandpa pass

away and going to his funeral

and spending a great deal of

time with my family helped me

form a little bit of a different

perspective on my version of

the meaning of life. 9 years ago

my grandpa was put into an

assisted living home because he

had both of his legs removed

right above the knees due to

diabetes complications. After

he was moved, there were

times where he was bitter and

not very nice to others, and it

drove them away. But he was

also a compassionate and lov-

ing person who made many

new friends and at his funeral,

many of his old friends who he

had irritated and new friends

that he had made were there.

Even though there were people

irritated with him at times, they

were still friends with my

grandpa. This made me realize

Meaning of Life– In my opinion

Picture Reflection

both grandparents were there.

Every day was a party and we

were always doing something

awesome, whether it was on

the beach or in the town, it was

always a blast. That vacation

was a once in a lifetime vaca-

tion and the memories that I

have from that vacation I will

remember forever.

I have a huge family and I love

it. My aunts, uncles, and cous-

ins have had a huge impact on

my life and have always been

awesome to me. Growing up

around a huge family has

taught me that family is better

than any other relationship out

there and that I should always

put my family first. Vacations,

9 years ago I took the most fun

vacation of my life. My entire

Engelberth side of the family

went to Dauphin, Alabama to

celebrate the 50th wedding an-

niversary of my grandparents. I

had been on vacation there

before with one of my mom’s

brother’s families, but this va-

cation was different. ALL of

my cousins, aunts, uncles, and

Page 2 Volume 1, I ssue 1

big events, times where we

hung out, some of the best

memories I have involve at

least one of my family mem-

bers. Family is my life and this

picture reflects the importance

of family to me. (205)

that the great friends and fami-

ly that we have are always go-

ing to be there for you. The

relationships that we make in

this life we need to always

build on and cherish, because

it’s those people who will al-

ways be there for you, some-

times till the end of your life.

Most Influential Person in My Life

Inside Story Headline

Tall and skinny, his dark hair

and band t-shirt stand out and

show that he is an individual,

not one to follow the crowd.

Being young and impressiona-

ble, this was the man I wanted

to be like in every way possible.

When I was young, it was the

little things that I emulated,

such as hair style, music style,

even hair style. It was when I

grew older that I saw the traits

that made my cousin Joel so

unique. I saw that to truly be

successful like my cousin Joel,

I needed to take my education

seriously, have strong morals,

values, faith, and love the ones

closest to you. As I got older, I

started to become more like

my cousin and value the same

things that he did.

The strength and individuality

of my cousin Joel is what made

him stand out and become my

role model when I was young

and still to this day. There was

a time in my life when every-

thing Joel did, I wanted to do

and usually ended up doing.

Music styles, clothing styles,

even hair styles, were all aimed

to look and be like my cousin.

But as I got older, I stopped

trying to emulate the little

things and began to model

myself after the strong traits I

found in my family. I saw that

to truly be successful, I needed

to take my education seriously,

have strong morals, values,

faith, and love the ones closest

to you. I saw in Joel that when

someone values and has all of

these traits in their life, they are

much more successful and live

much better lives because they

are happier. Joel and his actions

and lifestyle have helped me be

the man I am today. (294)

better team that night walked

away with the humiliation of a

devastating loss. But now it is

the second game of sectionals

and our second chance to

show our rivals our true

strength and resilience and beat

them for the first time on their

turf. Once the game started, it

flew by. Fishers first down,

Fishers touchdown, Fishers

stop, Fishers block, the Fishers

Tigers were dominating the

game and weren’t going to let

up. Time flew by and before

we knew it, it was the fourth

quarter and the Fishers Tigers

were up 44 to 0 against their

biggest rivals and at a stadium

Cheering, screaming, red every-

where I looked. My senses

overwhelmed by the bright

colors and thunderous sounds

from every direction. The pres-

sure of this game loomed over

our team like the shadow of a

mountain, but we were ready.

In the locker room just

minutes before, you could hear

a pin drop, but now my broth-

ers in arms jump and chant,

pumping each other up to get

ready to play possibly our last

game. We have prepared for

this game since our first loss of

the season against our arch

rivals HSE; an embarrassment

to our football program.. The

that they had never won a

game at. For me, beating HSE,

scoring a touchdown that

game, and leaving the legacy of

being on the first team to beat

them on their turf was my

most memorable high school

experience. (242)

Page 3 Volume 1, I ssue 1

Biggest Game of the Year

My parents are thankful for

who I am today and who I

have become. They have raised

me to be a hardworking, obedi-

ent, intelligent son. The many

life lessons and skills that they

have taught me have given me

the tools to be more successful

in life so far. In my family we

have a little family joke, that

I’m the favorite son. The only

children that my parents have

are my sister and myself, which

by default makes me the favor-

ite son, when really I know I’m

the favorite child but that has

nothing to do with this. Being

a son my parents do not have

to worry as much about my

social life. They trust my

friends and they know I have

good morals so they know I

will make good decisions. To

do something bad would be

uncharacteristic of me. Also

being the son of my parents

has introduced me to many

professionals who have been

able to help me decide what I

want to do with my own ca-

reer. Over the years, I have

been able to network with

many adults and have seen

many different fields of study,

which will hopefully help me

later on in life. (202)

Favorite Son

6. Unblock Me– a challeng-

ing and fun puzzle that is

always there to pass the

time when I’m bored.

7. Amazon.com– I am al-

ways looking for new,

sometimes useless and not

needed, things to add to

my cart.

8. Facebook– always trying

to stay up-to-date with all

the current events of my

family and friends

9. Lumosity– “training my

brain” and playing little

fun games to try and make

myself more intelligent.

10. Llama or Duck– the stu-

pid competitions I get

myself into with my

friends...probably one of

the most pointless app

downloads ever, but still

always entertaining.

Top 10 Apps

1. Draw Something– a fun,

creative, game that I enjoy

playing with family and

friends.

2. YouTube– I am always

searching for the new

video that will make me

laugh or teach me some-

thing new.

3. Dictionary.com– word of

the day is always giving me

words to expand my vo-

cabulary

4. Twitter– there is always

something funny, enter-

taining, or witty to read on

Twitter.

5. TED Talks– every video

can teach you something

you didn't already know

about any topic you can

think of . The things you

learn from TED talks are

always mind blowing.

Volume 1, I ssue 1 Page 4

Lasting Legacy

Life Lessons from FHS

Academic All-State

Outstanding, hardworking,

intelligent, kind; a few of char-

acteristics I would want people

to remember about me when I

leave high school. I want peo-

ple who remember me to recall

the favorable characteristics

that made me unique; having a

legacy living on at Fishers is

not important to me. Playing

sports for many of my seasons

at Fishers, I have had numer-

ous encounters with various

types of people. Some of these

people becoming my best

friends, and others never

speaking to again after our

seasons end. I just hope that

my friends and peers from

athletics that remain at Fishers

remember my leadership, hard

work ethic, and ability to over-

come adversity when most

other people would have

thrown in the towel. As for the

teachers at Fishers, I wish for

them to remember me for my

academics and my personality.

I encountered many teachers in

my 4 years at Fishers, but only

a handful of teachers were able

see the intelligent, fun loving

individual I can be. My ulti-

mate wish is for my friends and

teachers of Fishers High

School to remember my virtu-

ous traits over my non-

favorable traits. (191)

take away from it. My senior

year was when I played varsity

and my only season highlights

were scoring 2 touchdowns in

the small amount of playing

time I was given. I knew that I

was smart and athletic, I just

was not a good football player

and I accepted that. At the end

of the season, I was happy that

football was over but was dis-

appointed that I did not have

more to show for it. It was a

few weeks after our season

ended that Wimmer, our head

coach, came up to me and told

me that I made academic all-

state. When I initially found

out, I just sort of blew it off

like it was not a worthy

achievement. I was thinking,

sure, it’s a high achievement, but it’s

highest achievement that I could have

taken away from football. After a

I have had a pretty awesome

life, and there have been nu-

merous achievements that I

have helped define me as a

person. But for top achieve-

ments, receiving the honor of

Academic All-State for football

is one of my greatest moments.

I devoted four years of my life

to the football program at

Fishers, and in the end, I had

few actual achievements to

lessons have been apparent

since kindergarten. It wasn’t

until high school that I proba-

bly truly started to understand

one of the most important life

lessons I could learn at school;

that life isn’t always fair. For

some reason, I always believed

that if you did certain things

and avoided other things, life

always worked out for you.

Another important life lesson

that I have learned from school

School has taught me much

more than anything I can learn

from some textbook. In my

12+ years of formal education,

I have learned countless life

lessons that have had numer-

ous impacts on my life. For the

most part, most of what I have

learned at school have been

basic life lessons; share what

you have, don’t always believe

what you hear, do what you are

asked to do. Those simple life

would be that not everyone

thinks the same way I do.

There have been many instanc-

es where I wouldn’t think peo-

ple would say or believe certain

things, and those people

Page 5 Volume 1, I ssue 1

a while though I realized that I

did what I could in football

and I made academics #1 in

my life and the award I re-

ceived truly reflects the hard

work and dedication I put into

my academics. (248)

proved me wrong. School has

definitely taught me many of

the life lessons I know and rely

to be successful in life and skill

I need deal with other people.

(199)

By no means is the world a safe place. There are crazy peo-ple everywhere, some are obvi-ously insane and others catch us by surprise, when we least expect it. All over the world there have been incidents of gun violence, some of the worst shooting taking place within the United States. Inci-dents such as Virginia Tech, Columbine, Aurora Colorado Movie Theater, and Sandy Hook Elementary have shaken our country to its core and fueled campaigns to put stricter

regulations on guns. Gun vio-lence is something that is very serious and I believe should be watched more carefully. I am by no means asking for people to stop selling guns and take away our rights, but there are things that can be done to help prevent mass shootings in schools and public places. Guns, powerful and destruc-tive, are dangerous, but we have the power to make it harder for people with bad intentions to obtain such de-structive weapons. I personally

have never been affected by gun violence, but I still believe that our country should pay more attention to who we sell guns to. I am not calling for extremely strict gun regula-tions, but for the government to pay more attention to who they sell guns to and who has them. (210)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/colorado-movie-theater-shooting-suspect-bought-guns-6000/story?id=16817842

Reflection on National Shootings

ings, bombings, attempted bombings. People are always out there trying to find new ways to hurt people or a large number of people. It seems like every couple of months there is another shooting or bombing attempt that shakes the country. People are starting to become restless and start trusting the government and society less as more and more of these events occur through-out the nation. When I was younger, I do not remember shootings and bombings hap-pening as often as they do now. It seems like these events have become much more of

the ‘norm’. Sadly, tragic events are happening more often and becoming a big part in the cur-rent events of my life. (201)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/

world/2013/apr/23/boston-

marathon-injured-toll-rise

Reflections on Boston Marathon Bombing

On April 15, 2013 two bombs were detonated during the Bos-ton Marathon. The aftermath included 3 people dying in the blast and over 250 people be-ing injured. The bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was even-tually captured after a shootout with the police and charged with using and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruc-tion, which could possibly get him the death penalty. During the shootout, his brother Tam-erlan Tsarnaev was killed.

In the past couple years there have been some crazy events taking place in the US; shoot-

Page 6 Volume 1, I ssue 1

SANDELL, CLAYTON, KEVIN DOLAK, and COLLEEN CURRY. "Colorado Movie Theater Shooting: Suspect Bought 4 Guns, 6,000 Rounds of Ammunition in Past 60 Days." ABC News. ABC News Network, 20 July 2012. Web. 28 Jan. 2013.

Gabbatt, Adam. "Boston Marathon Bombing Injury Toll Rises to 264." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 23 Apr. 2013. Web. 14 May 2013.

Reflections on Gangnum Style

Reflections on Twitter

The hit video Gangnum Style has rocked the world with its popularity. It has been YouTube’s most viewed video at over 1.5 BILLION views. Now, the Korean rapper PSY is making appearances at MLB baseball games and giving un-scripted speeches to Harvard students. When he was giving his speech to the students and staff at Harvard, he told them that Gangnum Style was “an accident” and does not expect such a success to happen again. He also went on to say, "I can-not say I've been the best, but I can say I've done my best for

13 years", showing that he is someone who has worked hard to achieve his fame.

This video is going to be a part of history and is a huge pop culture event. It will be a long time before another video reaches the international fame level that Gangnum Style achieved. Nobody really knows why or how this video became

so famous, but it obvious-ly has had a major impact on pop culture and is definitely having an influence on the music and video. Gangnum Style is a great video that is

possibly the biggest pop cul-ture event of my lifetime. (197)

http://www.billboard.com/

articles/columns/k-

town/1561264/gangnam-style-

was-an-accident-psy-tells-

harvard-university-students

In the worlds of social media

and pop culture, Twitter has

become a necessity. It is very

rare to find someone who

doesn’t have some sort of so-

cial media account such as a

Twitter, Facebook, Vine,

Google+, etc. The way people

communicate is changing and a

big part of the communication

change during my lifetime has

been due to the creation of

these social media sites. Even

though I am not a social media

type of guy, i.e. I am not always

checking my Facebook and

Twitter and posting whatever

comes to mind or every event

in my life, I still recognize that

these sites are a major form of

communication and have had

an effect on how I communi-

cate with other people. (214)

http://www.time.com/time/

magazine/

article/0,9171,1902818-

1,00.html

Twitter has changed everyday life and how we communicate with other people. Why call someone up and ask how they are doing when you can just pull out your phone and check their tweets? Real-time infor-mation keeps all of your fol-lowers update on whatever you decide to “tweet”. The appli-cations of this site range from someone giving an update on what they are eating for break-fast to giving feedback and comments to speakers at a school policies conference. Everyone is trying to incorpo-rate Twitter into the new way our society communicates.

Page 7 Volume 1, I ssue 1

Associated Press. "'Gangnam Style' Was 'An Accident', PSY Tells Harvard University Students." Billboard. N.p., 10 May 2013. Web. 16 May 2013.

Johnson, Steven. "How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live." Time. Time, 05 June 2009. Web. 16 May 2013.

Hobbes, but most of them are

just the two of them getting

into trouble. Hands down the

best comics I have ever read.

Jokes and humor are a big part

of who I am. I try to be a fun-

ny guy and I am someone who

is always joking around with

my friends. Even though most

of my jokes aren’t very funny, I

still love telling and listening to

I LOVE Calvin and Hobbes.

There numerous comics out

there that are great and that I

enjoy, but Calvin and Hobbes

is easily my favorite comic to

read. The creative situations

and responses that the creator

comes up with are always very

witty and hilarious. The comics

also have a mix of serious

strips that show the great

friendship between Calvin and

jokes, even if they are awful

ones that aren’t funny at all or

jokes making fun of me. I am

always looking to get a laugh

out of my friends, even if that

means I have to tell some

cheesy joke that is so lame you

can’t help but laugh. Having a

picture of my favorite comic

strip represents my love for

comedy and I hope that it is

something that I never lose.

Comic Reflection