Hello Every1!

This has definitely been a crazy week with everything and this next week is going to get even crazier! It's been a few days since my last post and I'm already seeing positive change! Thanks for all you do guys!

First the NHS Inductions went very well on Tuesday night at Mann. We had many students attend and many helped out along the way as well. Bradley Phillips, Allen Reid, And Doug Phillips did a vocal performance with "How Far We've Come by Matchbox Twenty" and Bruce Bannister spoke to the students about what it means to be a leader.

Congrats to the following Juniors in being inducted into NHS Tuesday night!:

*Brenda Adimora

*Jonathan Bagwell

*Eric Basso

*Jonathan Belfore

*Alex Born

*Emma Borowicz

*Kate Borowicz

*Maddie Bray

*Ashley Brown

*Marjy Buschur

*Daniela Cano

*Amber Cantrell

*Chris Chu

*Jeanette Collins

*Caryn Cortez

*Brittany Crenshaw

*Andrew Daniel

*Olivia Devore

*Trip Ethridge

*Mikel Gasmovic

*Corbin Gaucher

*Travis Greig

*Zaneta Hill

*Savannah Holder

*Carson Jackson

*Elizabeth Jeter

*Aaron Johnson

*Carol Killian

*Price Kinney

*Matt Kofoed

*Francesca LeBlanc

*Megan Masotti

*Sam Mattern

*Campbell Mclain

*Matt May

*Anne Melief

*Danielle Meyers

*Lizzie Miller

*Will Mitchell

*Colleen Moe

*Ian Moore

*Leighton Morgan

*Carson Perry

*Greg Roush

*Chris Saindon

*Olivia Self

*Josh Shaw

*Jill Shepard

*Jason Tedstone

*Calli Trice

*Drew Tucker

*Grace Williams

*Rae Wilson

*Brent Vogel

Congrats again to these Juniors!!!!!

Finally Congratulations to the following Seniors who were inducted into NHS Tuesday night!:

*Amber Davis

*James Haarsgard

*Brittany Heeringa

*Steve Zielinski

Congrats to these Seniors who were inducted into NHS Tuesday night!!!!!!!!

WELL DONE TO EVERYONE WHO WAS INDUCTED!!!!!!!!! Work hard next year and let your leadership qualities shine next year at Mann!

Finally a congratulations goes out to the JL Mann Boy's Soccer Team who defeated "State Champions" Greenville tonight 4-1. It was an intense game from start to finish and I wish them best of luck for the rest of the upcoming season.

Stay tuned to the blog this weekend for updates on the Girl's Basketball team's trip to the state finals for the third year in a a row! Good luck to them tomorrow as well.

Good night every1 and I will see you again soon,

Christian L.

Fear, Intimidation, Abuse Of Rules, Abuse Of Authority, And Abuse Of Power, And Oh My The Horror is what we have faced in the new JL Mann High School since the move this past January.

There have been new rules and new regulations that have been deemed unnecessary and considered outrageous by fellow students, parents, community members, and even a few teachers.

These 16 items include the following:

1. ID Policy

2. Food And Drink Policy

3. The New Loitering Rule

4. The New Littering Rule

5. After School Procedures

6. New Lunch Policy

7. New School Falling Apart

8. Unstable Desks

9. Horrid Commons Area

10. Advisory - Worth It?

11. Renaissance - HUH?!?!

12. Drills At The Last Minute

13. No Pep Rallies Ever?

14. NHS - The Continuations

15. Single Sex Classes - Do They Really?

16. School Website - Teachers Matter More Than Students?

So Let's begin with item #1 - The ID Policy

This is a great safety rule for our students. But since the move both students, teachers, and administrators have abused this power. For one thing students who do not where there ID's are sent to ISS. On the other hand teachers who do the same thing have no punishments in place. We are not saying that they should go to ISS, "Bad! Bad! Ms. Tyvan," we just want them to honor and respect the same rules as the students. Students have abused this rule because some teachers fall slack on the rules as with everything else by not wearing them.

Item #2 is The Food And Drink Policy

This should have been strongly enforced from day one. No school deserves to be filled with trash and dirty. On the other hand, students should be able to handle themselves with maturity when eating in the classroom. If they make a mess they clean it up, if not then punishment should ensure. Forcing students to eat outside class instruction leaves them to learn less and miss vital information for that class. The rule should only be enforced if a student makes a mess. If they do, they have to clean up after themselves and let the learning ensue!

The New Loitering Rule at #3.

Let me just say as everyone has said from students, to parents, the community at large, and teachers, as well, that this rule is simply ludicrous and unnecessary. What harm is there when a student comes early to school, say five minutes early, and they just need to breathe a bit before coming inside. I'd say, "That's fine with me. Have a happy dandy day." Well, not that slapstick. No student is going to be sitting there figuring a way to disrupt school that day and no student wouldn't dare to do stupid things, only the select few. The majority of the students who drive to school are upperclassmen. By that time no one has the maturity level of a "I just got out of middle school" - er. So seeing that they probably are not immature, most of them, there is nothing to little reason as to why the administration thinks they cause trouble by sitting in their cars. COME ON! If there is a problem, then punishment should ensure as with the Food and Drink policy. Not everyone causes a problem and having an administrator check the cars every morning just creates more than was necessary.

To show the funny side of this rule I decided to see if it was really that much of a good rule, since this was just implemented at the new school and was not a problem at the old school. "tsk, tsk" So about two weeks ago I arrived at school about 5 minutes early as I usually do. I see my friends waiting in their cars for the school bell to ring listening to their favorite music, talking with friends, and reading books, and doing homework. So I caught everyone's eyes around me and said to myself, "What the heck? He's too stupid to notice, I'll fake that I'm sleeping so that he will make a fool out of himself." So I did. 10 seconds later he comes to my car and knocks on my window once to "Wake Up" even though everyone around me knew I was totally faking it. So I lazily wake up and then he knocks on my window two more times. Seeing that I was "Awake" I start reading a book. He then gets angry with me for no reason and tells me to "LOOK AT ME" I mean he was shouting at the top of his lungs at this point. And at that time everyone is laughing at him in their cars. So I "looked" at him and then he does the same rhetoric, "Come inside and no loitering," even though I was not loitering. Loitering means, "to stand idly, to stop numerous times, or to delay and procrastinate." Okay the first two I was not doing. But the third I see, I "delayed" going into school because I needed to catch up on my "Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's" But I did not want to go to the Commons area, because it gets so crowded. That is item #9. And you'll see why we do not like the new commons area.

In the past week Item #4 was implemented. It's even more strange than Item #3. This is the Littering Rule. WAIT. Okay. So you're thinking that's a good thing right? I agree, but not in the way they are doing it. You see, let's say Johnnie parks 20 spaces to the left of me and decides, "Hey, I'm gonna drop this "Big Lots bag beside my car and see how far it blows to my right. Ha ha. That kid is gonna get in so so much trouble." The same can happen if he decides to place his Big Lots bag at my car. Either way if they find it an hour after I came in the doors I get in trouble. Silly, right? Even though it was not my trash. Some of the consequences have been "Community Service" and just this morning a student was arrested. OKay. Another girl said that a Burger King bag was found under her car, and that the administrators have the right to drive to Burger King to check their surveillance cameras to see if she was there. That is an abuse of power ladies and gentlemen. Leave it alone and let her be.

Since I leave early from Mann, Item #5 with After School Procedures do not affect me. A few of my Junior and Sophomore friends have detailed in full the nutty procedure when students leave campus. First, if you have an event after school, and you had an early dismissal, you are not allowed on campus until 4pm. Even though you might be late for that 3:45 Beta Club meeting, they will not let you in, even when your life depends on it. Another rule is that ALL Students have to be let out before Car Riders and Bus Riders. This may seem to be a fantasy for some students but it is unfair to the rest of the student population. Some friends of mine got picked up at 3:35 and could not leave campus until 4:15 so that every last student was out of the parking lot. The people who tried to leave before that were stopped by cops and told the entire student handbook. Oh my!

The Lunch Policy at #6 got way out of hand today and yesterday. In short, Students pick up your dang trash. It's that simple. Today because of a messy commons area the day before, at lunch today only two lines of lunch were served along with just milk. The Patriot Pantry, Snack Machines, Soda Machines, Gatorade, Cookies, Papa John's, And ChikFilA were not served. So this created chaos for students who regularly got school lunch. The first issue is throwing the food away. It seems that many students are too lazy to get up and walk to the trash can to throw their things away. I do it every day nonetheless. But the one thing that helps is when teachers and staff roll the trashcans around to the tables and we see that more students throw their trash away versus feeling forced to throw it away themselves. It is a big asset when the staff walks around because the students feel respected and we don't lose vital time with friends in the middle of the school day with trash issues. The second problem was having two lunch lines instead of four. Getting rid of the "goodies" was absolutely necessary, but getting rid of ChikFilA and Papa Johns was unnecessary. Today for the first time since the move, some students were not able to get their lunch until five minutes before the bell rang. FIVE MINUTES! That's not enough time to slam a banana and a Sunny D. So in the future keep the four lines, get rid of the rest. We teach healthy and safe habits that way.

The New School is certainly falling apart at #7. The school is supposed to be "settling" but we do not certainly do not see that at JL Mann. We have cement bricks falling at fast rates through two ceilings at once. At times they nearly miss a student's ear or head, if not watching out. This new school is absolutely dangerous. The walls should not be able to "move" but should be stable. Maybe other materials should have been used and more money used to help protect students and not harm them in their new school environment. It's enough moving into the new school, it's another thing making sure that "that cement block better not bust my head like a watermelon today," incident.

Not to mention that the new desks are unstable with Item #8. According to Inside Sources, the new desks were made by South Carolina convicts in prison. "Oh How Lovely." "We have murderers and druggies making our lovely new desks". "I'm feeling safer already." In the next few months, the school is provide "newer" new desks to make up for these that are full of crap and not useful in the classroom. The reason they are unstable you ask? Well. Most desks have four bars that help it stand up. Our "brilliant" convicts decided to cut their slack short and made only three bars. So if you are getting out of your seat and you happen to place your bag on the wrong side. POP GOES THE DESK! Yes, it's history. Thanks goodness for "Newer" new desks.

And now we come back to the Horrid Commons Area at #9. Yes, it's as bad as it seems. I feel like "High School Musical" every time I walk in there. Except there's no singing and dancing. And there's no Vanessa Hudgens or Zac Efron in sight. O well. The problem is that they commons area can only fit 530 students at a time. So put twice as much in their and you have a problem. Students can go to the library, but that's it. No one is allowed into the classrooms until the bell rings at the usual time. So cram around 1200 students and staff and faculty and so on in that thing and you have heat cramps, and soon chaos ensues again. This is why the Loitering Rule does not make sense. It's dangerous to cram the commons area, it's noisy, and students want a little bit of privacy before heading into a very "public" public school.

So is Advisory really worth it at #10? I mean I know we need life skills but recently it's just been a hoot of a waste of time. The last lesson depicted the last in a tornado situation and whom we would save: "Doctor, Teacher, Actor, Swimmer, and so on." Excuse me, what kind of life skill is this exactly? Am I supposed to be trained to be Supermann when I grow up? Um I'm not so sure. Let's find some "real" topics to talk about, but oh no, "That's too graphic," "You're too young," "blah, blah, blah" and so on with the excuses. So in short nothing is learned in Advisory just more free time of free time to chat with friends and make new memories.

The new Renaissance program is quite appalling at #11. The decision making process for this year's rally was extremely ridiculous. Students who were not leaders got to go, while other notorious ones were deliberately left out. It is about grades, yes, but absences, HUH??!!??!! Some people get sick and there's nothing they can do about it. I missed it because I went to the March For Life in DC and I was not allowed to go because they did not consider me a leader, because of the necessary absence. I think standing up for your right to live takes some gut especially when in DC in the wintertime. BURRR. I froze my butt off so that you could continue to live in this free world. In the words of Hilary Clinton, reworded, "Shame on you Renaissance!"

So any day now this week JL Mann plans to have their monthly "at the last minute" drills for fire, earthquakes, tornadoes and the like at #12. It seems that safety at Mann is not a top priority, more like at the bottom. We care more about the athletic teams and such instead of preparing for a natural disaster. HMMM. I'm confused. Anyways, I always was taught that hard work and being street smart was more important than being an athlete. I guess in my high school years I have discovered that this is totally false and wrong. Well, we'll see what happens from here.

Rumors are spreading widely that there will be no pep rallies at the new school this year at #13. I'm staying proactive on this because I know you guys want to see me dance one last time. I'm working hard to work things out, but things are looking dull right now. Hopefully in a few months we will try to persuade them to have at least one pep rally or two in the new school before our senior class leaves in May. Especially with school spirit being so low with the new rules, we need a pep rally soon and we need it FAST!!!!!!!!!!

The NHS inductions were held last night at #14 with our future leaders. The ceremony went pretty well despite no "fashion police" and "xtreme" gum chewing, the event was a pleasant thing that unfolded. More on this will come over the weekend. Instead let me take you back the months before the Induction Ceremony because of the delay due to the New School move and poor planning on the people in charge. In January were supposed to have a meeting. Well one week went by. Nothing. Second Week. Nothing. Third Week. Nothing. Fourth Week. Nothing. Wait. Were we not supposed to have one in January. I don't know. All I know is I followed my NHS rules and came to the "meetings" In case they did really happen without my knowledge, send me the memo.

A new program is coming to Mann at #15. Single Sex Classes is new in the realms of high schools across America. Only Elementary and Middle Schools have used them. We are determined to be the first high school to do it for our Freshmen class. WOOP DE DO! "We can make our freshmen more like middle schoolers again!" "YEAH!" (Freshmen teachers jump wildly up and down with glee) Well. Not so fast. Many of the freshmen teachers did not find out about this until the day AFTER the press release. So here we have a new program, no say from the freshmen teachers, and they just decide to implement the program to the dismay of the ill informed public. So before you send your kids into "Middle School Hell" please figure out if the administration and teachers are working together before you do so. It is a good program according to many scholars. But to the JL Mann community at large which many includes teachers and students, we do NOT agree.
And lastly at #16 the school website tells it all.

Check out the screen shots of our website compared to others across the district.
JL Mann

Greer


Eastside


Mauldin

I chose the Greer, Eastside, and Mauldin sites, not only because they are "Award Winners" but also because they prominently display their students on their front pages.

As you can tell by our screen shot. The teacher gets the face over, while only student's backs are shown while they are recycling. "Well, that's nice." "We just love recycling at JL Mann."

But the other sites are seeming to have more substance.

Let's take the first look at Greer. Beauty Pageant held recently is the big news. Cool. Not only that the young ladies are prominently displayed with their faces showing.

"Gosh, I wish our website did that!" The teacher on our website, moreover was "Teacher Of The Month." We DO, also, have "Students Of The Month." Why are they not displayed? Don't ask me.

Let's move on to Eastside. Different variety. But still the same concept. Students are prominently displayed. Students at the YABA book party that stands for Young Adult Book Awards for South Carolina for reading at least two or more of the twenty books on the yearly list. A noticeable plus for Eastside is that they have photo galleries of other events at their school on their front page to showcase more of the student body than would normally be displayed on the front page. Smart Thinking Eastside!

"Let's try that Mann," says Jimmy. "Yeah," says Adelle the webmaster!

And by far, even though we are one of their biggest rivals, Mauldin's website is simply the best. The front picture is not poised and it shows the true spirit of what it means to be in high school. Make friends, study, and live life to the fullest. Another plus for Mauldin at that is that students are featured in their Name and Logo strip at the top of their page. The front photo is definitely the most intriguing to make students want to go to that school.

Now for the quiz.

Which school would you NOT go to based on their website?

A) Mann
B) Greer
C) Eastside
D) Mauldin

Of course this is hard, but to be honest I would chose A) Mann. I feel that this is a "Moment Of Truth." We seem to make no effort whatsoever to prominently display our students as other school websites do and no effort to make students feel the want to come to this amazing school.

Guys, seriously, I love JL Mann. I have had the most fun that I have ever had in four years at this school. But this website of ours needs to shape up. NOW. FAST! If we do not care enough about our student body, try putting a student in charge or fire the current webmaster and hire another one. If we want more people to have interest in JL Mann we have to change our website, ludicrous rules, and regulations, and our attitudes to our students, teachers, staff, and our community.

JL Mann is still the best school in Greenville County. We need to show that starting tommorow when we are out in public, or at games, or at shows. They more we show off our school spirit, the better off our school will be, and the better off our future Patriots will be in the end.

God bless and enjoy your evening every1,

Christian L.

Hello again every1! It's been about two weeks now since the DC trip for the March For Life with
St. Joseph's High School and St. Mary's Youth Group here in SC. In short, I had a blast. But here's the whole story despite little news coverage here and around the states.

Saturday night was the day before I left for DC. I was excited and also scared since I had never been on a trip without my family and just a few close friends since the Freshmen year Florida trip. But that's a whole other story. So this kinda seemed like a new experience even though I had done it in Florida and also because I had been to DC once before my Sophomore year of high school on spring break with my family. So there I was late Saturday night awaiting anxiously and excitingly about what the next day would bring. Because the packing took so long with snacks, clothes, fun stuff, and more snacks I did not hit the sack until around 1 or 2 in the morning. I had to wake up at 5 the next morning to meet the buses at St. Joe's by 6. So in all I had absolutely little sleep, but that did not keep me away from being able to survive the trip.

Sunday morning at 5 I am up and atom for the trip. With three bags of everything that I needed I was off to DC. The trip to St. Joe's was a quiet one and very low key at that. Once I had arrived I was hustled into the Chapel for a brief Sunday Pro Life mass before we left on our trip. Father Longenecker did the Mass and had much ways to connect the pro life movement to other major movements since the dawn of time. Then it was too the buses. I said my goodbyes to my mom who showed me off and then we bolted out of the parking lot with two charter buses packed and we were finally headed off to DC.



I was excited to be off and couldn't wait. Before we had left we had movie choices that we could have. It was either LOTR or Padre Pio for our two buses. Luckily we got LOTR while the other bus two had to watch Padre Pio. HA HA! I was glad that my seat mate was Andy.



He's been a good friend in YG and we talked for like forever. Even through the dull and boring LOTR. I probably took too many pictures. But that was me on a field trip high. We made a few pit stops on the way and ate too many BK's and Mickey D's.




I think we got a little to mad here.


At one point in the trip I was speaking Gollum language.


Andy started freaking out and I stopped myself before I went too far. The bus ride up was crazzzzzyyyyyyy.


At one point we convinced Father Longenecker to do an Indiana Jones pose. And later one his son Ellis decided to join in.


He is such a funny kid. But his friend Clark had to babysit him since he was underage most of the trip.



But that sums up the trip up. I had fun looking out at the window at times to snow and heavy winds and many towns and cities that we passed through on the 8 hour trip to DC.

Once we hit Arlington, VA, I knew we were close to DC.



We stayed overnight at the Radisson in VA and my group went to eat out at Chilli's the first night. That included Andy, Christopher, and Tommy, and Lucas. We met another Youth Group there that was sitting beside us and laughed at all the stupid things that kids say in Youth Group these days.

"God loves cats that are fat."
"Jesus blessed donkeys."
"Mary threw the first stone."

and so on.

Monday the 21 was sightseeing of DC. We woke up around 6 and walked to the Metro to get to Union Station around 7 in the morning. We got lost and finally found the first train to Union Station.





Most of the group boarded with success and high spirits. Our YG director Chris was confused along with John in the back.



But once everything was situated everyone was better then they were before. We had a few minutes to spare so we laughed and joked and talked about all the sites we would see that day. I wanted to see the White House and they thought that the Lincoln Memorial was cooler.

COOOMMEEE ONNN. A guy sitting in a chair is cooler than the President's house??!!! PHSH! Kidding me? Nope. Anyways, that was the plan from there.



One thing that surprised me about DC was that their were newsstands for The Onion, which is a newspaper of satire on current news. Andy was not pleased having Lucas read it and so was I.
I love The Onion, but maybe not at this point in time.



We had finally arrived at Union Station and Christopher wanted our group to get a move on. And so we did. First stop was the Capitol building. Mind you it was about 30 degrees outside so we were wearing extremely heavy warm coats and boots that were really air tight and smooth. So we were FREEZING SOUTHERNERS!



The Capitol was our destination and we were headed full force to see it. Their was a wait of up to an hour. No Kidding. An Hour. By the time we entered the building My feet, head, and hands were numb and I couldn't feel anything. I was about to collapse. But I made it through.



While we waited I took a picture of the back side of the Capitol with the sunrise and the American Flag waving on the top.

Once I reached the door they checked my bag and the others for weapons, knives, spray, and food. Yep, food. I had to throw all mine away for that day. So I had to be hungry until lunch and dinner with no snack food for a day. The security guy called my bag a "mini WalMart" which it was. We went inside and did our tour.



This is the view from the Capitol balcony where the President gets inaugurated. Hopefully "You Know Who" will not be our president from that balcony next year. Please. Please. Please. We are now considered the lucky few to have had that experience.



After 20 minutes on the balcony taking pictures of DC we left and I got a big full scale picture of the Capitol before we left.



Next up was the Mall Of America and the local museums. We visited Air And Space, Lincoln, Washington, and a few others. Disappointly we never made it to the White House. The other groups except us did. Boo Hoo. Im not complaining, because I've already been their before anyway.



We went to the Washington Monument and saw how humongous it was. Then it was lunch time. My group, same as usual, went to Fuddruckers in downtown DC. We then met up with the other groups at Ruby Tuesdays, Subway, and Mickey D's and we all made a big YG trip to Bed, Bath, And Beyond to try out their new massage chair. That's when they left me. Seriously. Left Me. I walked around as did everyone else. It was time to leave the store at 1 in the afternoon and I went to meet the group at the front of the store. They were not there. Went to the first floor. Not their either. Went outside the store. Not there. Went back to restaurants. Still no sign. So I then figured out they left me for the museums. So much for watching out for each other and those silly chaperone's.

So here I am in Downtown DC scared out of my mind with some Stunna Shades on. I walked to the monuments which were about a mile away from where I was. Their were pickpockets everywhere so I really had to fend myself without others around me. I made a stop into a Smithsonian Museum. Met up with Belmont Abbey people I did not know and hung with them and then went on my own pursuits. Saw the whole museum in like 20 minutes max and every exhibit in like 5 minutes each. After that I went to Mickey D's and surprisingly found St. Joe's people whom I recognized. I called Chris and told him where I was. He was not scared one bit. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's scary when you're own chaperone's are not scared for your life. BAD, BAD, BAD. But everything worked out in the end.



It was back to the buses for the groups to get to the Pro Life Vigil Mass at the Basilica Of The Shrine Of The Immaculate Conception.



Before leaving we took a group picture before heading out.



This time I sat with my friend Clark.



Yes, the really extremely crazy fun Clark. We talked about the day and how I got lost and how he played pranks on a few people downtown.



He camera phobic so I had to stop taking pictures for a while.



I mean I was serious.



Ellis wanted to join us so he hung out with Clark and I for the last few minutes of the bus ride to the Basilica.



And went crazy on us before the bus was supposed to land at its destination.



Emily and Andy were glad to get off from the bus to stretch their legs and walk to the Basilica.



The Basilica in full before we entered for the Pro Life Vigil Mass on Monday.



The mass was soooo crowded. It was so crowded that our group had to go to the lower crypt of the church. Even then the place was packed with people. I seriously had not seen so many people in my life in such tight spaces before it.




Andy sure does.



Actually we both do, even though I'm wearing a DC shirt at Mass. OOPS.



The YG guys chilled before Mass began.



So did the YG girls too.



We were lucky enough to have Father Longenecker be a part of the Mass for the Diocese Of Charleston!!!!

After the Mass was over around 10 that night we left and headed straight for the buses to the hotel. It was too late at 11 to go out so we ordered pizzas for the night. Then we stayed up watching Dane Cook and Lewis Black reruns on Comedy Central until 2 in the morning.

Tuesday January 22, 2008 was March For Life Day and now called The Sanctity Of Human Life Day by President Bush!!!!!! Speakers such as Sam Brownback and Ron Paul were there too.



First stop was the Verizon Center for the Pro Life Youth Rally And Mass before the March For Life. Over ten thousand people were in attendance for the Rally and the March altogether.



And you can see what I am talking about when there are 10,000 people in one building. There was actually standing room in this place!



And again we were lucky enough to have Father Longenecker serve this Mass too!



Even the American Representative to Pope B16 was there!



I had a lot of fun at the Pro Life Mass And Rally with my friends and my fellow Catholics.



Clark was camera phobic as usual.



And Andy was having the time of his life too!

Then it was off to the March itself. The moment I had always been waiting for. People stretched from the Capitol building to the White House. I held the banner for the Diocese Of Charleston the whole way through. It was breathtaking. The whole experience.



I was glad to see the whole group get into it from both sides. Many people chanting, singing, and praying. It was an experience I will never forget.



The Saint Joseph's High School Banner.



The Diocese Of Charleston Banner.



We all eventually all became tired and headed the buses for home in SC. The bus ride back was fun. I sat with my friends Jill the first half, Michael the second half, and Seth the third half. It was too dark to take pictures so I waited for BK to come.



The guys sat and chilled in one corner of the resturaunt.



The girls and Andy sat on the other side talking gossip and rumors about the trip.



At one point the three amigos and I went and got our own table. At one point Christopher accidentally called Tommy "Timmy" and Lucas, Christopher, Tommy, and I burst out laughing! It was the funniest thing ever.



At the table beside us, Stephen argued with Malachi over why the Catholic Church does not allow women to be presidents in America using his "Mini Catholic Cathecism For Idiots" book.



Jordan and I had fun on the trip.



And so did Marco.

And then once everything was done all we wanted to do was go homeeeeeee. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.




We got back at St. Joe's for pick up at about 1 in the morning. I was extremely tired. I finally reached my house around 1:30 on Wednesday the 23rd. And I had to go to school the next day. St. Joe's kids and Homeschoolers were lucky enough to sleep in a bit, but the rest of us had to get up bright and early.

So I got home, unpacked, and hit the sack around 2:30 or 3 that night. I then woke up at 7 for school. Only 4 hours of sleep for me.

I went back to school and everyone wanted to know the whole story. Well, here it is in it's entirety.
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Check out the new stuff on my profile which is the OI7 Banner for Justin, Travis, Emily, Taylor, Mac, and Jacob and the new V Factory banner for the release of their new song "For You" and others on my Facebook and Myspace now! Congrats to Wesley and the rest of the gang on their new releases this week! I wish them the best of luck in all that they do.
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I hope everyone had a great week and hope that all is going well!

Christian L.