Mt vernon middle school

I need help with this issue I have. When I was younger around kindergarten age, my kindergarten class went to a school field trip. I forgot where the location is or what the place was called but not even my mom can remember where we went because she chaperoned that day. But I guess it was the first town that Bakersfield had with a really old ghost town from the 1800s where they would smile at pictures. It was in the middle of nowhere. We took a tour of the town, it was pretty much going into the schools, houses, jails and churches. After the trip was over we had to go back on the train and came back to the kern library to go home. If anybody else has been in this trip or know about it please let me know, I’m trying to go back to that place thanks

I’m (F) in my senior year of high school. Less than 40 days left. I don’t feel excited about anything. I’m not looking forward to anything. I don’t have any special talents, abilities, or passions. I don’t know what I want to do in life. My friend since middle school is a pretty blonde haired blue eyed girl. Athlete, smart, desired. It’s gotten so difficult to be around her. Every guy friend we have had has liked her. I have always just been a stepping stone for guys to get to her. She insists that I’m pretty, and so does my family, but they are obviously biased. I don’t get approached by guys. I’ve been on one date and he pretty much ghosted the hell out of me. I still can’t tell if him being interested in me was a joke. I have never felt pretty. In elementary school and middle school, I got made fun of for having bushy eyebrows. I now get them done regularly. But I can’t do anything about my big lips (I was told by a guy in freshman year that I look like a character from shark tales -a fish-) or my curly hair, or my asymmetrical face, or my small chest, or my abnormally small forehead. Every time I see my reflection I tear myself apart. I tried so hard to love myself but I just can’t. If I was pretty then I would have more friends. Guys would like me. People would make an effort to reach out to me or treat me like a human being. I wish looks didn’t matter but they honestly do and it’s no use pretending that they don’t. It’s getting harder and harder to control my emotions. I feel like I am the least favorite out of my siblings. I have a short temper and am stubborn, and I can just tell that I remind my mom of my dad in the worst ways -they got divorced recently- If my sister were to call me a bitch, my mom would say that she has good reason. If I were to say the same, I’m evil. I know they love me, which is why I’m still here. Even though I feel that I am treated unequally, I don’t want to cause them lifelong pain. Recently, however, dying has crossed my mind daily. Today and yesterday, it has been all I can think about. I don’t know what to do. It’s not like I will feel guilty about dying after I die. I just don’t want one of them to find my body.

I would’ve gotten a better mom a long time ago. She’s not the worst. She has always provided for me as a single mother all my life. But she was also physically abusive when I was a kid. I would get beat just for getting a bad grade on a test in middle school. I shouldn’t have been scared to come home just for not understanding something. One time she beat me so bad that my nose started bleeding. Another time, she accidentally stabbed me in the arm when I was 9 while fighting with her boyfriend and I still have the huge scar to remember. She’s still with him and they still argue and fight the same and every time, it triggers that same feeling I got when I was 9. I guess she started to get the memo that she should try other parenting methods because I haven’t been hit by her since I was 12.
I’m 20 now but to this day, she continues to be emotionally and verbally abusive. She can’t talk without cursing. She doesn’t support any of my goals. I remember telling her I wanted to do karate when I was 7 and she rolled her eyes and ignored me. I told her I had anxiety and she replied, “no you don’t.” When I was sent to a mental home at 13 and provided with extensive therapy which was the best thing that happened to me at the time, she pulled me out of it because she thought it was too invasive. I then told her I wanted to switch schools because of depression at my current one and the fact that they knew I was in a mental hospital which bothered me at the time, and she refused. She barely helps me with anything. She financially provides for me but that’s only because she doesn’t want me to be able to take care of myself. That’s why she refuses to unlink my bank account. She monitors everything I do. I guess I shouldn’t be so ungrateful. For the most part, I lived a sheltered life while there are kids out there who didn’t even have shelter. Sorry for moping, but I got cursed out and screamed at today for accidentally getting cat litter on the floor when dumping it in the trash and it just triggered all of my trauma. 🙃

Demographics

• Gender: female
• Race/Ethnicity: asian
• Residence: midwest (not risking getting exposed)
• Income Bracket: >200k
• Type of School: competitive public
• Hooks: none

Intended Major(s): Economics, Government, some business schools as well (varied between schools)
Academics

• GPA (UW/W): 3.95 UW, 4.55 W
• Rank (or percentile): top 5%
• # of Honors/AP/IB/Dual Enrollment/etc.: 7 Honors/13 APs/1 DE, multivariable calc at state school
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics C: Mechanics and Electricity/Magnetism, AP Literature and Composition, AP Studio Art, AP French, AP Macro/Micro, MV Calc (dual enrollment)

Standardized Testing
List the highest scores earned and all scores that were reported.

• SAT: 1590 (math: 800, reading: 790)
• ACT: didn't take
• APs: Chinese (5), Euro (5), Lang (5), Calc BC (5), US Gov (5), Comp Gov (5), Human Geo (4)
• Other (ex. IELTS, TOEFL, etc.): none

Extracurriculars/Activities
List all extracurricular involvements, including leadership roles, time commitments, major achievements, etc.

1. State FBLA, Vice President: elected in a state of 3,500+; upkept every aspect of organization's online presence, planned and conducted state conference for 1,800+ members
2. School FBLA, President: nationals top 10, state champ, nationals qualifier x3
3. Online intl. debate organization of 800+, Founder & President: spent hours organizing and arranging debate seminars, councils, and comps.
4. Model UN, Executive Officer: unfortunately we only attend one intl. conference per year, but I've earned an award at every conference we've attended
5. Regional voter registration, Founder and Chair: worked with local elected officials and party organizations to direct non-partisan voter registration in my area
6. Local political org, Communications Director: wrote press releases, worked with elected officials to coordinate campaign/volunteer opportunities
7. Volunteer teacher's assistant for middle school math class, created student database for 3 classes, graded exams every week and helped reinforce important learning concepts
8. State representative campaign, Volunteer then Intern: systematized county candidate database, tracked constituent issues, led weekly canvasses/phone banks
9. Social Studies Honor Society, executive officer: organize and direct annual Trivia Bowl, promote and advocate for civic engagement
10. School Literary Magazine, editor: edited and rated pieces to be considered for publication, nothing special
11. UChicago Summer Immersion, student: studied econ through quantitative experiments, culminated in paper on competitive price discrimination
12. Self-directed research: researched wealth inequality in my local city through a human-rights lens, offered policy proposals

Awards/Honors
List all awards and honors submitted on your application.

1. National Merit Semifinalist
2. Local youth service award winner, nominated by school and recognized by local navy council
3. Presidential Volunteer Service Award (Bronze)
4. Outstanding Del, Model UN international conference (highest honor, doesn't award best del)
5. FBLA Top 10 Nationals

Letters of Recommendation (FERPA exists so I'm guessing)
Government teacher- 7/10. Wasn't worried about this one until I received four rejections this week. Doesn't know me super well, but assumed she'd write an okay letter. Not sure anymore.
English teacher - 9/10. I know she wrote some unique things about me, and she is a FANTASTIC writer, so I really trust that she wrote it well
School FBLA advisor - 9/10. The teacher I'm closest to, knows me extremely well and is aware of everything I've done for the club and on the state level.
Counselor- 7/10. Wrote my nomination letter for a service award (which I did get), so I heard a blurb of what he wrote about me, and it sounded pretty good; it should be pretty standard, but nothing that could've hurt me
Interviews
UPenn- 8/10, interviewer was sweet and I felt like I said everything I could've, but I did screw up one question which could've been important (How do you find a balance between your academic and social life, super important to Penn culture)- freaked out and gave a super generic answer
Georgetown- 6/10, had internet connections on my end, so we had to move to a phone call. The conversation just didn't flow as well as I wanted it to, and Georgetown is one of my dream schools, so I'm really upset
Harvard- 8/10, interview was standard, was actually pretty disappointed in my interviewer- didn't ask any interesting questions and guided my interview in a very boring way. She was super sweet though, just didn't feel like I did the best I could've
Princeton- 12/10, absolutely perfect. My interviewer was older, but I felt super calm throughout the whole thing and was very happy with how I handled all the answers. He told me he's rooting for me to get admission, knows I'll have a lot of options (lol he was wrong!) and that I'll choose Princeton out of all of them :)
Cornell- 6/10, not evaluative, interviewer was older and barely knew anything about the school now, so didn't get me excited or anything
Northwestern- 9/10, interviewer was the absolute best, would even tell me what he'd write on my report as I spoke, very casual conversation and felt very good about it
Decisions (unbelievably disappointed and want to cry):
Acceptances:

• IU Kelley
• UIUC
• UW Madison
• Boston College
• UMichigan

Waitlists:

• None

Rejections:

• USC
• WashU Olin
• Northwestern
• Yale (REA)
• Northeastern

Waiting on:

• Harvard
• Princeton
• Columbia
• Georgetown
• UPenn Wharton
• Cornell Dyson
• Duke
• Vanderbilt

At this point, I'm completely done and have lost any kind of hope I could've had of getting a T20. USC came as a massive shock, especially considering I'm a National Merit Finalist. Same with WashU, I did the video portfolio and everything, and it didn't work out. Extremely disappointed and feel like everything I've done was for nothing. I'm still in complete shock and genuinely don't think I can go back to school after spring break.

Does anyone else use their appearance as a "talking piece" while interacting with people?
For example, as a kid I wore over 30 bracelets on one arm everyday. People would comment about it because it is weird to see a little girl with bracelets up to her elbow. When they commented I would take it as an invitation to talk about the bracelets. I would show each bracelet and tell the story behind them. Idk how I managed to wear 30 bracelets each day. I liked to fiddle with them, so maybe it was my version of a fidget when fidgets didn't exist, or maybe I liked the weight and pressure of them. Either way, now I'm unable to wear even one bracelet without enduring a sensory hell
I would wear fake cow print glasses (they had no lenses in them) and black gloves with white stars
There was also a more recent point where I wore rings on every single finger (also an early fidget)
Middle school years I always carried a purse that had everything you could think of in it. I famously always carried scissors and mechanical pencil lead (I always had "friends" ask me for this). I also wore very visibly male shoes
From middle school through highschool I'd write notes and reminders on my hands and arms with thick purple or black sharpie. People always asked what they meant
Early teen years my hair was insanely long. I would also tie in strands of glittery string in my hair
Later teen years I shaved my head and that was my new talking point
Now I always wear thick black combat boots with every outfit even if it isn't conventional (ie with formal dresses or at the beach)
I'm probably missing some, so I'll add more if I think of them
I know that I didn't and don't do this "talking pieces" appearance thing with the conscious thought of gaining attention. Since I've recently realized that I do this, I wonder if unconsciously this is my effort to try to connect and instigate a common topic of conversation when I didn't know how?
Can anyone else relate to these "talking pieces"? Is this an autistic thing?

I’m not sure if it’s just me or the school that I went to, but people stick with each other from elementary school and beyond. I moved here when I was in middle school in 8th grade. From what I’ve seen, people from middle school stayed friends with their elementary school friends. In high school, it was also the same, people just stuck to their middle school friends.
I’m not sure if this is common, but I feel like I never had a group of people that stayed with me. Even going into college here at the UW people just stay with their high school friends. I didn’t really have that group of people that stuck with me. I guess people just stay with their old friend groups in Seattle. Maybe that’s why we have the Seattle freeze.

So I work with students around middle school, I know how they actually and they're okay with making jokes, the things I hear them I didn't even joke about that when I was in middle school. So I thought I can make jokes with them to but fail to realize I don't know they're situation. Basically there was this one student who was not listening, and he was making jokes about me so I made a joke about how the reason why his father left him after school was because he was misbehaving.
So yeah, I failed to know that that his dad isn't in the picture. Yeeeaaah I know I messed up. I didn't know until about 2 weeks later. I told him to please not think I was trying to make fun of the fact that he doesn't have a dad, but that his parents must need a small break from him not listening. I told him that I didn't mean my joke in the way he thought and that I wouldn't actually make fun of the fact that his dad isn't in the picture because I was in his shoes. He told me he understands it was a joke and that he's cool with it.
I know I won't be making that mistake again any time soon but I just I'd like to know if I did the right thing to at least apologize and explain my actual joke. What ever criticism I get I understand but I just would like to know if took the right step and what other steps should I take?

I did choir back in middle school and it was an amazing experience. I loved my old teacher. She made a bunch of middle schoolers sound close to high schoolers.
I got to be apart of the first fine arts trip for that school and we got first! Band and orchestra also got first. I was trying to find some old music which I sadly couldn't find. It had to do with a candle I think. Telling the listener to hush and don't let the candle burn out idk.
I don't need to join choir again.... but how much I really want to. It's kinda funny tho cuz I hate my voice but I enjoy singing in a choir.

(x-post from lehigh)
title but also:
Is there anyone I can talk to that went through the finaid appeal process and can give some advice? I got in (to Lehigh), but they want 32k. That is quite high!! I also got into another school (in PA) and they offered me a really generous scholarship, bringing their COA to around 15k.
To be 100% fair, Lehigh is my top choice, but the price-tag is a little discouraging--especially coming from a low-middle class family. I was wondering if anyone had a successful appeal and would like to share some tips & information in writing letters & sending supps to help my 'case'.

Hey there,
is there anyone I can talk to that went through the finaid appeal process and can give some advice? I got in, but they want 32k. That is quite high!! I also got into another school (in PA) and they offered me a really generous scholarship, bringing their COA to around 15k.
To be 100% fair, Lehigh is my top choice, but the price-tag is a little discouraging--especially coming from a low-middle class family. I was wondering if anyone had a successful appeal and would like to share some tips & information in writing letters & sending supps to help my 'case'.

I noticed some neurotypical people tend to date sooner than autistic people. I remember them going on dates to the movies when we were in middle school. I was too scared to date back them.

I got married at 18 to a guy that had cheated on me (I took him back). We were married for maybe 3 months at this point. I cheated on him with his friend. Full blown affair, I'm not sugar coating it. He walked in on us. Afterwards, my husband posted my nudes, told everyone what I did including people I hadn't talked to since middle school, my whole family. I'm not blaming him, I know what I did was wrong, I know I deserved to be outed and I know I might have done the same. My husband was a little abusive before this happened and I wanted to leave him before I cheated. I didn't because I didn't know how. But being caught put me in the position to force it. So he wanted to stay together even after what I did and I told him I didn't, so he got angrier and harassed me for about a yea wouldn't give me the divorce. I didn't want his money, I finally got divorced recently since he's let go and I obviously opted out of any financial things and told him if he wanted money from me, I won't fight him. So the issue thats left. I hate myself. Everyone I know doesn't talk to me anymore, and I understand why. It's been 3 years and I can't seem to move on and I don't know what to do. I'm thinking of leaving the state I'm in to start new since my whole image is broken here. Idk I just need advice, though there might be none to give.

Hi, everyone. I have been getting a lot of college rejections.
I am surrounded by a bunch of selfish, egotistic people in my life that tell me I deserve it. They also judge you but do not judge themselves when they are in your shoes. I tried very hard at school and attained a 3.0 and a 3.3 my senior year with only college prep classes (standard) and college credit honors/ap courses. My school runs on a deflation; many students from other schools tend to have a rough transfer due to the heavy coursework. For example, my close friend from public school had 90s, and when she came to my school, she got her first 65. It's challenging, and I faced a lot during the pandemic, medically and mentally, which I put in the additional info regarding the Covid-19 section. I also have 9 ECs, including 150+ hr of community service. I also went to numerous English teachers to review my essay and found someone who was an ex-admission counselor. They all loved it, and I thought it was unique. It was about a negative word and how I attached it to myself because it was used against me in the past for being myself until everyone started doing everything like me, where now my personality is liked. Still, even if they never wanted it, I stayed true to myself as long I was doing good things. But I guess none of this worked because I got waitlisted or rejected/deferred by numerous schools, including schools with a 70-90% acceptance rate. I am not getting into the schools I want, and people constantly belittle me. They say it's a "skill issue," but I genuinely want to go to known places for my major. Lastly, everyone is so rude to people with 50 acceptance rate schools that they act like black supremacy is a thing, AS A MINORITY. Speaking of minorities, I am one, and I am first-gen to attend college. I also did not get enough financial aid and will likely have to visit a CC nearby. This school also has been an issue. Even though it's rigorous academically, it has poor funding. The teachers can not teach, and I have to use YouTube and a whiteboard to teach myself what they never mentioned in class. I deserve an easy route, and I am furious at a teacher because he constantly kept giving me low grades after getting reported multiple times by multiple students. Not every senior has him, so the other students get these advantages because they know what teacher to have from siblings or families that told them who to take. I also was a salutatorian when I was in middle school. I thought I would land into an Ivy League like my siblings.

I am preparing a lesson plan for middle schoolers about domains and I just can't wrap my head around this one- I guess I didn't pay attention to the creation and evolution of it like I did the other ones.
I'm trying to research it and I'm getting that it's good for games, that the games are bad... it's less expensive, it's more expensive, and mostly all the sources are trying to sell website names so it's biased.
All I know for sure is that my students are obsessed with playing the .io games but they aren't allowed to in school because chatting and user names are super inappropriate. Is it a good domain or is it sketchy?

friend hasn’t been diagnosed with asd yet but they are saying they are a savant. they are stating it occurs in 10% of autistics. im telling them they are out of touch of reality but they genuinely are believing they are a savant. they stated that savants can have exceptional skill in maths when they only got a b in maths in middle school. they are getting high grades in statistics now. they also stated that the psychology professor said that autistics have savant skills and they should check if they have asd. thoughts on this?
edit: they say that self diagnosis is not a bad thing

I (20M) was raised by NM at home, dad died, and NM’s family whenever I saw them were small and consisted of mostly enablers/narcs. Before middle school, I was younger and I don’t think kids can be narcs that early on. But beginning in my teen years/middle school, I was surrounding myself with ppl who bullied me/mistreated me. I’m reaching a point where I’m processing that and reaching closure. In high school, ppl didn’t explicitly engage in bullying behavior anymore, but I gravitated to so many ppl who I now realize were toxic and not the best ppl for me to be gravitating towards. I’ve attracted not the best ppl in all my volunteering/work experiences so far as a college student now. And I’ve attracted abusive lab partners in my science classes, with my last science class being the exception. I only began learning about abuse last year and only last Decembethis January did I start unfolding the pattern. The more I look back the more I realize it was everywhere, and it started with my family. I was just, later on, attracting ppl outside home that felt familiar. Thankfully I haven’t entered romantic relationships and I don’t plan on anytime soon (I have way more important pressing things to be worrying about for now), and am realizing the things I did early on (now). I’m really focused on figuring this out and I’m learning what healthy ppl look like/how to read ppl. Anyone going through something similar? Less so looking for tips and more so just interested in hearing about other’s experiences if they’ve gone through something similar.

Hi all.
I've been invited into the breaktime domino school at work and need some tips/strategy/advice.
The dominoes go up to double 9, it's 4 handed (not pairs) and each player draws 9 doms to start.
It's just a standard game where the touching ends must match, no drawing from the middle if you can't go and if the game is stitched the money (10 pence each) rolls over into the next round. There is only a count up on the last game of the day if nobody chips out and the lowest spots wins.
Other than the basic rules I haven't got a clue what I'm doing so any help is greatly appreciated.

I have a crush on this girl. We are the same age in middle school. She seems like that she likes me but it also seems likes she likes me as a friend. I have an intuition that she likes me but I’m not sure.
She stares at me sometimes as well. She seems like she is staring at me blankly. I saw her blush while she was staring at me once. I know for certain she doesn’t hate me and we don’t know a bunch about each other. We don’t have each other’s phone numbers. I am not usually shy but I only am around her. It barely seems like I can talk to her. She is probably an extrovert and I am in the mix of the two. I have sort of hid my feelings because we don’t really know each other yet. Whenever she looks at me, I usually look away out of shyness. She looks for a couple of seconds too. Most of the time, it is her who starts talking to me but we only do small talk, no huge conversations.
That is some context, can anyone tell me their thoughts on this?