Keep Durham Beautiful Tree Planting

Mar17

Last week, my school helped the community. We partnered with Keep Durham Beautiful to help plant trees in places that had little shade. The spot we landed in was Hillside Park. Hillside Park was originally donated to the city by John Sprunt Hill, and in 1922, Hillside Park High School was built on the property. Hillside Park High School was the first high school in Durham to serve black students.

This task was not easy work. Our group had rain and the work overall was very hard work. Even with the setbacks, we managed to get almost all of the park covered with trees! The trees planted helped with shade and watershed.

Here’s a brief explanation of how we planted the trees:

1. First, take a shovel and start digging a hole in the dirt. The hole should be pretty big and about 1 foot deep.

2. Next, take the tree out of its pot and start separating the roots.

3. Once you have the roots separated, place the tree in the hole previously dug.

4.  Before you start filling the hole with dirt, take any clay pieces and break them into the hole. Then you can fill the hole.

5. Once the hole is filled and the tree is secured, add molt h around the perimeter to keep it steady

(Optional) 6. Give your tree a name! Personalize it and make it yours!

 

Planting trees is a great, simple way to help your community and is greatly encouraged. Let’s branch out together!

 

Snow Day!

Feb2

 

It finally snowed in Durham! All the hoping and manifesting worked! There are lots of fun activities to do in the snow, including sledding! In fact, my brother was sledding and almost fell down a hill! I couldn’t help but laugh. There are no better memories than those including snow, so you’d better cherish them before they all melt away. Sadly, I have a fever and am locked away in my house, sipping hot cocoa. I heavily long to be outside playing in the snow. With that being said, hopefully you will take time out of your day to absorb the beauty of winter and, of course, snow!

Book Review

Jan30

 

In The Company of Killers by Elora Cook. Murder Mystery.

Imagine you have a perfect life. You’re popular, liked, rich, and feared. Mom left, sister engaged, and dad’s keeping secrets, waiting to be unraveled. Now you may think, where do I stand in all of this? In all of the glitz and glimmer of being Tasha Nicastro there lies its flaws. The flaws she does not know exist yet. The flaws of being the daughter of New York’s most feared mafia boss. That’s her.

Rich. That’s one way to describe Tasha. Snobby is another, but we won’t talk about that. She rules the school and influences everyone in it. That is, until Leo, the son of her family’s arch nemesis, returns from boarding school. Quite odd actually, Tasha and Leo used to be inseparable, but after his father died, and blamed it on the Nicastros that all went tumbling down. He was what started it, the one bad thing in her perfect life, but she would soon find that perfect is just a word we use to cover up the lies that hide inside of us. It was a party, the day it happened. Her sister’s engagement party, to be exact. To Tasha, it was just another one of her family’s soirees. But she’ll always remember that day. The sound of gunshots ringing in her ear. Her father, sister, pleading. And then boom. In less than a nanosecond, they were gone, dead. She was the only one left. If only she could have prepared herself for the lifesucking future that lay ahead of her. For the lies that were finally catching up. She would.

My opinion is that though the book can be gory sometimes, it’s not always about violence; it’s about lies, trust, making fatal decisions, and finding yourself amidst the chaos that unwhirls in your face. It’s about asking why? Why me? What did I do to deserve this? Though your life may not be like Tasha’s in any way, I’m positive you’ll find a way to relate to her and all of the other characters in some way, shape, or form.

My favorite part is when her family (dad and sister) dies, and all the details are just so incredible, it makes you feel like her. This was one of those moments in the book where I just couldn’t put it down. I normally have a hard time reading for a long period of time because I get distracted easily, but I found that I had spent hours just getting through this part, and I was ready to read for hours more.

I rate it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ because even though it’s quite interesting, it is definitely for those of age, but overall it’s a really good book.

Dramatic, amazing, interesting, eye-catching, and so many more feelings I just can’t begin to describe are how this book makes me feel. Try it out and maybe you’ll feel it too.