Venture Academy- Can't Live With It, Can't Live Without It.

(Warning- Anyone who went to Venture Academy and is reading this should know that although I'm being a little mean, I'm being honest. If a teacher is reading this, then I'm sorry to be so harsh, I'm sure you'll teach better throughout the years. If you taught English, then you're the exception. You were the best English teacher ever and you'll still improve!)

I moved to Kaysville right before I entered the seventh grade, but I wasn't going to go to Fairfield. I was going to the new charter school in Ogden- Venture Academy. The school was in Michigan too and even the former principal was coming here. It seemed like a great opportunity to a higher education.

By third term, I was a Fairfield Falcon.

This school was horrible on so many levels. So many, in fact, it's hard to say how many with just a single sentence. I have to in fine detail, starting with-

Science. If you asked me today what I learned in seventh grade at Venture, I couldn't tell you. I remember watching parts of the movie "Core," (awesome movie!) and I could also tell you that we were starting physics when I dropped out, but that's all. Two terms and I retained NOTHING! It was like grade-school science I think. We would jump all over the place in science, but we wouldn't learn enough.

An elective we took during the semester was anatomy. I know this isn't a core class, but it was taught by the same teacher. Now, I'm not saying she's a terrible teacher, but personally, I believe Mrs.Nelson was WAAAAY more experienced than her. (One reason being she's taught longer- I think.) As for the anatomy class, I can't blame her at all really. This is because the class she was trying to teach was a living Hell. It seemed as if all the worst kids in the school were dumped here and only three of us out of twenty-five were good. Just what did this class do to my poor science teacher every day? EVERYTHING! They talked to no end. They disrespected property, they didn't listen, they, they...man, they did so much, I feel a little overwhelmed just trying to describe it. The main point though was that they disrespected the teacher and drove her into insanity. She yelled a lot. I mean, it's like they had no respect for her. She had these reptile bodies soaking in oil, which probably cost a lot to buy. Well, this kid kept rolling one around the table, and on the first day, they were leaking. They got out of their seats and didn't give a care to what the teacher told them. We barely did any assignments. They used the computers for game usage. The list goes on and on and on and on. So, do I blame the teacher for my poor education? No, I absolutely do not.  It's not her fault that the kids were all jerks. Also, in her other classes, she had to take away every single article of supplies from the desks. People would rub their rulers against desks, make them super-hot, and burn each other with them. I'm not quite sure what they did with the markers, crayons, scissors, and glue-sticks, but they all got taken away. So in other words, it was the students fault for what happened, not my science teacher's.

Next is my math class. I was put in the easy class because I was apparently told to be in it. Clearly, it wasn't sufficient. I had almost no homework and when I did, it was EXTREMELY short and easy. I eventually got put in a "higher" class, but it was still easy. And I actually left shortly after, so it didn't matter anyway.

History was a little weird. We alternated with science and history every other term, so when I had science, I didn't have history and vice-versa. The teacher was a very friendly teacher, but I didn't agree with his style of teaching. He first had us do a "create your own colony" assignment which didn't really teach us about actually history, but rather a way to punish a thief in the most painful and torturous of ways. We then jumped right in to the Boston masquer. We didn't learn about anything else before, which was a bad decision in my opinion.

Let's see... ah, band! A fabulous class. Our teacher was the principal's wife, and she knew how to conduct and teach us. Art was fine. We also had a mythology class which was taught by the history teacher. (It wasn't that informative, but I did discover Monty Python and the Holy Grail.) In addition, we had a homeroom class that wasn't really homeroom and a certain all week event. And of course their's a lot of stuff that I want to discuss, but these are for another post.

Right now, I want to talk about all the good stuff that came out of going to Venture. This can be said in one word-

English.

I was in the best English class I have ever been in. I'm sorry if this breaks the heart of other English teachers, but Mrs.Malloy was the best English teacher EVER! She taught us how to proofread, first off all. She taught us how to correct and edit writing. She taught us how to write an effective essay, and she made us write every day. In other words, I credit her the most for creating my love and talent for writing. She also taught us how to analyze a book. We chose a selection of books on utopias. Mine was, by suggestion from my mom, "Fahrenheit 451." She got me interested in him because of the work I did on that book. We did some serious analysis, a whole packet even. She made us look deep into the message, and I can probably even credit her for rooting some of the interest of song analysis to her. She made us write an essay on utopias, and she made us do like, SIX EDITS! She taught me how to make something grand, not just acceptable or even good. She was also one of my most favorite teacher because of the person she was. She knew how to teach AND be kind and helpful at the same time. She took the time to really teach us, and I'm in her debt. (I better remember that for the future...or for when I'm in Heaven.)

Mr. Herringa was also good in having us read the wave. I was a little sad to find I wouldn't be in Mrs. Maloy's class that term, but oh well. He was a great teacher.

So, there you have it. That is how my life of writing really got started as I see it.

For future posts, I think I'll talk more about Venture.

See ya people next week! (I'll be on a road trip, so if I don't read your posts, that's why.)