San Pasqual Academy Dragons Symbolism

      The chosen mascot for San Pasqual Academy is a dragon. I believe dragons symbolize a school full of strong children who has came a long way and are protected. All of the students here has been through a lot and are currently in the foster care system. Most of us have come here to start over and work towards our high school diplomas and a good future. I feel proud to attend San Pasqual Academy because I'm surrounded by kids in a similar situation and I don't ever have to worry about feeling different from others at school, which can be very distracting.

“Through the Tunnel” Foster Youth Initiation

     Even though they don’t have to swim through a tunnel like Jerry in “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing, foster youth are initiated in and out of the foster care system. When a kid enters the system, they face many dilemmas such as being seperated from their families and being put into a whole new place with people they don't know. A large percentage of foster youth do not end up receiving their high school diploma due to enrolling in several different schools. I've only been a foster kid for about two years and it has been very difficult adjusting to strangers and trying to keep up with school at the same time. As a result of this initiation, we transition into adulthood at a fast rate because most of us don't have parents to help us get through our adolescent years. Instead, we learn how to be independent and prepare ourselves for the real world.

Symbolism in "Through the Tunnel"

Link to Glog- Underwater Tunnel

“Through the Tunnel” Analysis Paragraph

            If the story, “Through the Tunnel” by Doris Lessing, were told in first person by the mother it would be very different because her own son took a life threatening risk. In the beginning, her son Jerry caught a glimpse of older boys jumping off a cliff and appearing on the other side of the rock. Feeling rejected because he couldn’t make it across this secluded tunnel, he started training for it. When he finally does it, he almost loses his life from being underwater for so long trying to find his way out. In the end, he realizes it didn’t make him feel any different and all he wanted to do was go home to his mom. Coming from a mother’s point of view, seeing him go through all this would be mind altering because it symbolizes his growth from being a child to an adult.

“Through the Tunnel” Prove Yourself Paragraph

       Being put into the system was very difficult for me because I felt as if nobody cared about me anymore and I wanted to just give up on everything. I was in such a negative state of mind and that lead me to always running away and doing things I shouldn’t have been doing. My family was very merciless and even doubted that I would even make it past the current grade I was in. I wanted to prove them wrong so I tried my hardest to stay put and catch up on everything I missed out on even though it was very complex. It was worth all the stress because I studied and worked so hard, I ended up achieving a GPA of 3.7 and made up all my missing credits. I was very proud of myself, I never thought I could do it. Now that I think of it, I’m glad I made the decision to go to back to school because I now intend on going to college and even discovered my dream job, which is being a journalist. I love to write and just by staying put at my placement, I have met so much positive people in my life that supported me through it all.

House Symbols

      Eagle symbolizes our house which is Girls 3. To most people, this item is just a bird that flies in the sky and is most school's common mascot. To us, it represents that we are strong because we know how to work through our daily struggles and obstacles we go through on a regular basis. The house somehow finds a way to connect no matter what, and everything gets solved. Even though we get on each other's nerves most of the time, at the end of the day it feels just like a real home. Our house is comforting because we have good house parents and my house mate and I are always supporting each other.