Masterpiece Academy

     
                   Beginning a new year, especially senior year, in a class that breaks traditional standards for a class structure is going to be a wild ride. For eleven years of our lives we have been taught in a certain way and we have created a route for the best ways to succeed in these classes so the class at the beginning was a big challenge. Then we were introduced to a Masterpiece which was a project that allowed students to dedicate themselves to anything and we were thrown even more off.
                    At first we were introduced to a high level of trust by some one that barely even knew us. Looking back at it now I know that we didn't deserve it and by the end of the year the majority of us didn't earn it. We were all so thrilled by the way we used trust to break the system that we forgot that the class was a tool with boundless potential. I used this trust to create something that I will never forget and that is a part of me forever, however I can't help feel like there was so much more I could have done with it.
                    The majority of the year we spent reading stories of fiction and met different characters that weren't all that different to us. Hamlet faced a forked in the road, which didn't seems so divided when he grew up a bit and realized there was really only one long winding road ahead. The way he was courageous and mature enough to make up his mind is very similar to the decisions we as seniors had to make this year, such as where to go to college, how to dedicate our free time, whether or not to join the work force. many small decisions that shape who we are and who we develop into. Pip showed us growth in another way, we saw as he was given choices and stereotypical extreme mentors and how he decided to carve his own way. He didn't conform to one way, he hacked his development and aimed to become Pip. These fictional character aren't all that different than ourselves because they were written by people that could connect with us. we also explored a more darker fictional tale, A Brave, New World by Aldous Huxley which taught us more about the darkness in ourselves and how humans conform to the norms of society. We watched as Bernard Marx fought to be understood and be different then ultimately give in to social pressures. We connected with how the humans interacted and how they weren't so different from our day to day interactions with people and technology, only a futuristic extreme.
                     During the time we had been thinking about these stories we had also had this masterpiece lingering over our heads. For a while I tried to answer a big question I shad which was, can I change the world. Ultimately I had set my goals to high and hoped to create a game that linked social media, gaming, and learning. 5ph1nx started off as a good starting idea that could grow however it seemed like my classmates weren't all that interested in trying this new way of learning because they felt that because they had a choice that they would rather stick to something they knew to get there grade and get out. I tried to put some incentive into the game but that ultimately failed as well.
                    By January I had given up on this project and accepted that the idea wasn't bad but the conditions weren't right. Instead I blindly forced myself to try to awaken a passion I had been hiding for years. I decided to base my project on music. I loved singing and playing music, especially the wide variety of artistic pop culture tones and sounds. I had kept this secret from everyone because I was scared of being called out and then told I was terrible at it. It would have been the most crushing thing in the world to hear that I had a terrible singing voice when singing was my passion. I decided to do it because I knew that someday I would have to show people.
                    I was really lucky to have worked with such supportive and talented people. I got in contact with Laura Ritchie and her students at the University of Chichester and they helped me record my song. All my friends congratulated me and loved it, it was a huge confidence booster for me. It gave me the confidence to continue writing songs and singing. I hope to repay the British students a debt and visit them in Chichester and record some more music.
                   This masterpiece project was a godsend from one of the most different teachers I had ever met, Dr. Preston. thanks to his assignment. many students got to express themselves, and I got to learn something about my classmates that I never knew before. I learned about how brilliantly funny Miles can be, how artistic Laike is, how Chase can turn an idea about personal success and name it stoke, how Imanie had such great ideas and truth and the potential of her book, how much Haley loved Yosemite, and how many people honestly didn't make a masterpiece and tried to make a picture movie or slide show and argue that it was about senior year and about home much we grow.
                    Lastly, I would like to connect this experience to one of a hero's journey. I would never go as far as to say I was a living hero, but by literary standards I didn't complete a hero's journey. I answered an internal call to adventure, I found and amazing mentor Laura Ritchie, I overcame my fear and accomplished a goal, and most of all I was inspired in a way that has changed me forever.
                    Before I end my narrative about my crazy, amazing year in English I would like to point out something that always made me and my friends crack up laughing, and that would be the use of juxtaposition. It occurred so often that sometimes when Dr. Preston would ask us what lit. device was being used you could guess juxtaposition and it seemed like you were right about 50% of the time. whenever some one pointed it out and Preston would praise them for recognizing it, my friends and I would laugh a little.
                    Overall this was a different year because I got to learn more about myself, my classmates, and I got to grow as a person. While I never recited "to be, or not to be", I truly understand what it means and I choose to be. I felt like I was always living behind a light up curtain. You can see my silhouette but my true personality was shown in full color.

Masterpiece Song

Legacy by Omar Dominguez
Chord progression:
Dm-F-Bb-C

I leave my footprints in the sand
The waves come crashing in and there goes all my plans
I was just a moment in the lives of all these waves
But that’s gunna change
But that’s gunna change

Like a light that brightens up a room
All lights will have an end and shroud in darkness too
I won’t be a light or a footprint in the sand
I will, I will be there tomorrow

Chorus: (same chords but faster tempo)
Give me reason, give me doubt
Give me something I can’t live without
I can’t lay here rest in peace
Baby be my legacy(2x)

( instrumental piece before a transition)

Bridge:(continue tempo of chorus)
Can’t press pause now, let it be
We keep living, live the dream
When were broken, back against the wall
We’ve got no more to give, ‘cuz we gave it all