3rd Year Program 2024-2025
For Monday 5/5:
Everett & Winston: Finish and outline Othello (IV, iii-end)
Scout, Kenneth & Georgia: outline V, ii
Read chapter 6 through (only) chapter 13 of Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Start learning new vocabulary — test on Monday, 5/12
Carpool schedule HERE
ISAT schedule affects Tuesdays 4/29, 5/6, 5/13 >>> (1:30-3:05 at NFS for PLMS students)
Georgia & Kenneth will come at the regular time on those days
On Wednesday 4/30 only Everett and Winston test (science) NO NFS for them
On Wednesdays 5/7 & 5/14, PLMS students have periods 4, 5, & 6 after ISATS, so only Kenneth and Georgia will come to English on those days — we will schedule reading The Tempest so PLMS students can read & outline what we have read in class on their own and come ready to discuss on Mondays 5/5, 5/12, 5/19.
Paradox
by Winston Gelardi
Success remembers failure:
when failure arrives, success
is next to come.
Failure is not the end;
only when you give up is it over.
Failure is just
one stone
on the path to success.
Life is like a long game.
We all want the Victory Royale, day one.
But, one must lose,
before knowing how to win.
To achieve greatness,
one falls over and over,
and in the end,
still chooses to stand
back up.
Admissions Committees
by Scout Weiseth
Admission committees should possess the rules I follow and qualities I value. My ideal admission committee would be thoughtful, understanding, non-judgemental, and helpful. Committee members should be thoughtful and consider everything a student has to say, not just the big and important things. If they are thoughtful, they will have a better idea of who a student is, so they can make better decisions.
An understanding admissions committee would try to see things from each student’s perspective. It's important to try and imagine what it’s like in someone else’s shoes. No applicant wants to be looked down on for having a different experience. Being judged for awkward experiences would feel insulting. If someone lives in a diverse household, or has uncommon hobbies, being judged for that would feel hurtful.
If an admissions committee rejects a student, it would be helpful to know why and see what elements might be improved for applying to other schools or colleges. Clear advice is best, so students could figure out what their problems are and fix them faster instead of taking hours trying to comprehend why they were rejected. Admission officers should consider everything thoughtfully to learn about each candidate to make the right choice.
Running
by Warren Day
Feet pound icy ground
like carpenters striking nails, while
softly falling snowflakes brush
my rosy nose. Raw faces freeze
in soul-chilling cold.
Heroically, I proceed like a caribou
fighting the wind. I am cold to the bone.
Freezing sleet pierces
my bare and knobbly legs. Feeble
snow, starting to fall faster now,
cannot override my
perseverance.
Numbing cold does its best to kill me.
Bouncing on deceitful ice, I wave my arms
to maintain my balance and defy the bitter air.
When I reach the coffee shop,
warmth will replenish my body heat.
Football
by Scout Weiseth
When my brother was in seventh grade, he was the student manager for the seventh grade football team. On game days, if I didn’t have anything to do, I would go to his home games and find my way up to the box where my elementary school P.E. teacher was helping with the scoreboard. First, he taught me how the scoreboard worked. Then, he began to teach me the rules of football. Once I learned about football and how the game was played, I was hooked. From then on, I played flag football with the boys during recess, watched college and N.F.L. games on the weekends, and tried to learn everything I could.
I love football. It is fun to watch and play, but comes with challenges when you are a girl. Most girls my age are interested in boys, clothes, and other activities, while I am curious about how good my fantasy football stats are, or if Saquon Barkley broke the all-time season rushing record. My life is always a little different from those of my peers because of my passion for football.
Watching the teams I support is always exciting. Football games are suspenseful and fun, because you don’t know if the game is going to come down to a field goal, or if it is going to be a blow out. Football is also a great way to spend time with my mom, who watches games with me, and I also get the chance to watch with friends at high school games.
Even better than watching football is playing the sport. Reading the offense and defense of the other team, or figuring out which plays would work and which ones would not is something I really enjoy about playing the game. The challenge and activity of football makes it fun to play, and it is also a great way for me to spend more time outside in the fall and spring. The only downside to having such a love for football is that I am always the only girl in my friend group who watches and plays football. Being the only girl can be hard: the boys don’t always treat me fairly or they choose not to pass or throw to me. To prove how good I am, I have to work twice as hard as the boys. There will always be challenges to being a girl who loves football, but I never want to lose the passion I have for the game.
Shock
by Kenneth Weinrauch
Wind howls like a pack of wolves.
I shiver; my teeth clench tight.
A faint silhouette lies on black ground up ahead.
Irregularly-shaped puddles
on cracked pavement
ripple under my quick steps.
A spooky figure through thick fog
converges
against my haunted eyes.
I am fearful of what rests ahead:
I prepare for anything,
uncertain of what is to come.
A skinny, brittle arm
extends out,
reaching for me…
Behind my back a small glistening orange ray
gently rises, casting a glow on this mysterious
form. My eyes
lock onto dark brown
bark draped over a
young weeping willow.
Alone
by Everett Lingle
At the end of 7th grade, I went to France for three months as a foreign exchange student. I could already speak Spanish fluently, due to a past trip when my family and I drove from Idaho all the way to Argentina in our van. I was six when we left and eight upon our return. I had attended three different South American schools, and was homeschooled when not enrolled. I studied in Guatemala, Colombia, and Argentina, living in that country for six months. French would make me trilingual.
My mom accompanied me to Paris, but she would soon leave me alone in a vast, new country I had never set foot in before. Her imminent departure left me with a sense of sadness. Leaving my dad, sister, friends, and dog in Idaho was hard. My dad, who has always supported me, going as far as becoming President of our town’s soccer association, expressed his love and pride through tears. With tears in my eyes, I prepared to be alone for three long, hard months.
My dad gave me a letter he explicitly said only to read when missing family in France. I read it on the initial flight to Paris. My mom comforted me, even setting up my room in the French family’s house.
But the day came when she left on the train, headed back to Paris, and ultimately flew home to McCall. It was a day just like out of a movie: it rained, the wind blew, her train was late. I enjoyed every last minute. The moment the train arrived, I died a little inside. All the daggers of sadness I had been pushing off stabbed my heart. I hugged the last person I had to say goodbye to for three months as tightly as I could. The train left. I waved goodbye, knowing it was going to be a long drive back to my new temporary home.
It was a hard first few days. I thought about everything that was happening to me, nonstop. I was slightly depressed knowing this was only the beginning. Class gave me something to think about: I still had no clue what any of the teachers were talking about.
The first weekend came and I began to realize that I was going to be fine in France. Nothing bad would happen. I started to think I wouldn’t be super sad being away from relatives. The next week, however, we had a lockdown drill at school and no students knew if it were real or not. This scared me the most out anything that would happen in France. Immediately I began thinking about how I would never see my family again if I were killed. I never got over it. We didn’t have any other lockdown drills for a month.
It was around May when I noticed the first real changes in my learning. Right after the weekend, at school on Monday, everyone was saying hello and I could respond right away, and I barely had to think about it. I had already noticed my understanding of French had accelerated a couple of weeks prior, but I still had a hard time speaking. My first period that day was physics and chemistry combined into one class. I usually found this very hard even with language issues. But my second class secured my hopes of my being able to speak more fluently. This period was a two-hour French lesson and I understood most of what was happening and could answer the questions in my head as if I were speaking. Almost all of my answers were still wrong, but being able to even understand the questions and attempt to solve them was a huge bonus for me.
The last month was the worst. Not only did we have a lockdown drill every week, each one more serious than the last, but I also started missing my family. Every day I become more scared and could not wait for my family to come pick me up.
The day finally came. I was so relieved I got sick, because all my stress finally went away.
Backcountry
by Everett Linge
At the lowest point
snow piles up as high as my knee:
light and fluffy, skier’s gold.
The brisk smell of pine filling the air,
like walking through a dense forest.
The trek begins.
Desire: to reach maximum height;
to enjoy freshly-laid flakes.
First tracks are any skier’s dream.
Sun reflects off snow like a mirror,
rays pelting my eyes.
Finally the peak:
stunning views,
firs coated with gently-falling snow.
I begin my descent,
soaking up every moment.
Skis glide atop fluffy powder.
I am flying
across a sky filled with clouds;
surfing on a peaceful lake.
I hope it will go on forever.
Suddenly, the bottom: the very beginning.
I look up at the mountain so grand,
see my tracks: pristine, alone—up, and down.
Happiness, after hard work.
Pirouette
by Georgia Spilotros
Sun rises above rosy clouds;
meadow grasses start to defrost.
Leaf by leaf, Spring arrives like a ballerina.
Slowly, bunnies hop into warm sun;
the nightingale sings his melody again.
Orchids bloom magenta under sunny blue sky.
Spring arrives like a thief in the night.
Vocabulary words up to February 20, 2025: poignant, ameliorate, resolute, transient, adroit, eminent, imminent, posterity, gravity, merriment, indolent, complacent, caricature, prudence, candid, fervent, former/latter, mutual/common, further/farther, zealous, utopia, renaissance, incessant, assimilate, explicit, precipitous, lucid, rudimentary, anachronism, fecund, temerity, furtive, abstract, gesticulate, introspective, recondite, petulant, abstinent, paradox, ingenuous, credulous, credible, credence, innocuous, vociferous, aristocratic, magnanimous, nefarious, among/between, ironic, impotent, profane, irregardless, alliteration, simile, metaphor, free verse, iambic pentameter, sonnet, sublime
French Foreign words & phrases: a propos, au courant, bete noire, carte blanche, de rigueur, deja vu, fait accompli, faux pas, idee fixe, joie de vivre, laissez-faire, outre, raison d'etre, rendevous, savoir-faire, tete-a-tete, vis-a-vis, ad hoc, aficionado, al fresco, de facto, junta, manana, mea culpa, nolo contendere, non sequitur, quid pro quo, semper fidelis, sine qua non, status quo, sui generis, zeitgeist
See the full list of 3rd Year Vocabulary words HERE, or study on Quizlet:
“The great skill of a teacher is to get and keep the attention of his scholar... To attain this, he should make the child comprehend...the usefulness of what he teaches him and let him see, by what he has learned, that he can do something which gives him some power and real advantage over others who are ignorant of it.”
— John Locke (1632-1704), on Education
Unfinished Pieces: Semester II
(updated 4/30/25)
Everett
Revisions = 44/72
Edits = 6/12
Paradox poem
poetry essay: The Flea
Satire paragraph — Soccer Team
Synesthesia poem
resume + cover letter
Green poetry: Tanka
Blue poetry: 1 Nature; Ballad; Narrative
Winston
Revisions = 50/72
Edits = 9/12
TYPED Skills List
poetry essay: Sonnet
Satire paragraph — Looking for Rocks
Synesthesia poem
resume + cover letter
Blue poetry: Ballad; Narrative
Kenneth
Revisions = 39/72
Edits = 7/12
application essay: activities outside school
poetry essay: The Flea
Satire paragraph — Homework
Synesthesia poem
resume + cover letter
Blue poetry: Ballad; Narrative
Georgia
Revisions = 70/72
Edits = 4/12
Paradox poem
poetry essay: Sonnet 138
Satire paragraph — Teachers
Synesthesia poem
resume + cover letter
Pink poetry: Poem of Feeling; The Right Words
Scout
Revisions = 57/72
Edits = 9/12
Paradox poem
poetry essay: Delight in Disorder
Satire paragraph — PE
Synesthesia poem
resume + cover letter
Pink poetry: Pictures w/words; Poem of Feeling; General to Specific; The Right Words
Warren
Revisions = 8/36
Edits = 1/6
R&J/Masque/Bible essay OUTLINE
Paradox poem
Locke paragraph
Master schedule
Blue poetry: 1 Nature; Ballad; Narrative
Student Resources: 2nd Year
Check every piece for THESE SKILLS before turning anything in for an edit.
Check ALL CITATIONS (quotes) with these formatting rules before turning anything in for an edit.
Click HERE for directions for email editing
Access pieces written by 3rd year classes to see what our readings and assignments are for this year.
QUARTER GRADING:
Participation = 30% (purely subjective, based on my perceptions of your initiative, interest, self-motivation, & tenacity)
Assignments = Revisions (20%)
Edits (20%)
Vocab/Multiple Choice tests= 15%
Timed essay grades= 15%
SEMESTER GRADING
Participation = 30% (purely subjective, based on my perceptions of your initiative, interest, self-motivation, & tenacity)
Assignments = Revisions & edits (20%)
Vocab/Multiple Choice tests = 15%
Timed essay grades = 10%
Exam = 25%
