Single-elimination tournament

Ever since I was little I always wondered why I was never good enough for anything. I felt like I was not good enough for my family, and I still believe this to this day. My family treats me so different than they do to anyone else. I know I was never good enough in school because no one ever wanted me in their class. I strived for straight “A”s and sometimes that just was not enough. I wanted all the extra credit and higher grades than anyone. I made it a mission to do everything that I could…

As an Iranian-American, I have had two very different worlds growing up, both of which have shaped me into the person I am today. One is my home in the Bay Area, the other is my native Iran. I went to Iran for the first time when I was three years old and fell in love with it. I remember the novel feeling of having an uncle who would take me out to get fries late at night, and being surrounded by people who loved and cared about me. In Iran, I felt that I had endless love and support. In the…

In my Persuasive Speech on the topic of Why College Shouldn’t be Free? I felt like my overall speech was honestly pretty genuine and had a really good point of view on the topic that made it very relatable to the audience. If I had to narrow it down to 3 things that I needed to work on it would be: pacing back and forth, rambling and finishing my speech off better with a good conclusion. On the brighter side of things my better things that I did were: Being calm and collected throughout the…

I took me five years to realize what an extraordinary influence he has been in my life. When I felt like disappearing, seeing him made me want me to be found. He is my best friend. Growing up with him has made me the person I am today. He is the most hilariously awkward handsome man I have ever had the honor of meeting. At first sight, you would say that his clothes are classy and formal. However; if you knew him as well as I do, you would notice that he dresses up in all types of clothes. All…

When I think back upon all of the life changing experiences I have encountered in the past, I tend to give myself a pat on the back. Because when I look back, I see all that I have overcome and accomplished with the help of my mother, brothers and role models. Nevertheless I can honestly say that I am proud of who I am today, who I 've grown up to be. I am currently seven-teen years of age and I will be eight-teen years old in two weeks. I am undeinably positive that I have been in a greater…

wings are unique unto only them, and Lucifer’s wings came as quite the shock for Hadraniel. Where Hadraniel’s wings were a deep dark blue and splashed with an intensely vibrant red-orange color at the tips, Lucifer’s wings were pitch black with one single lonely pure white feather at the end of his left wing. It made Hadraniel kind of sad to see the little white feather, but he wasn’t given time to dwell as Lucifer was becoming…

Growing up as a kid I never really enjoyed reading and writing. It was and probably will always be my least favorite subject, nothing against you my lovely English professor, but I just don’t enjoy it. The only time I really enjoyed reading as a child was when I got my first leap pad and I eventually destroyed it and it was probably within 2 weeks of getting it, so I wasn’t interested for long. I don’t have much memory as a kid with reading and writing at home, because my parents never really…

1 Sometimes I don’t know who I am, where I am, or what I’m doing. I feel imprisoned, sometimes, in a state of eternal dreaming. Although my dreams aren’t happy or fun or kind. They’re just dreams. They’re not real and I’ve known this for a long time. I see waves of sunlight pour through the bathroom window, catching fire to thousands of specks of dust. Dust. Inconsequential to the highest degree. I start to wonder what it would be like to be dust. Abandoned and lonely. Drifting through the…

I was only 14 years old, a freshman in high school when everything changed. I lost to very close and influential people in my life that I always looked up as they helped guide me in my life and future path. Getting the news that my Grandma had passed away from old age and my Aunt dying from a heart attack is just the worse thing anybody can ever hear, especially if they were your role models and heroes. They were the ones who influenced me to become an accountant and become a CPA, they guided me…

When strength is mentioned, we tend to think of muscular men such as bodybuilders, policemen, or firefighters. However, strength is more than a physical attribute, its other definition from Webster’s dictionary is “Able to withstand great force or pressure.” Nothing brings this to mind more than my grandmother Barbara Allen. Her life was one of the hardest lives to live. Through all of her life she taught me how to be persistent. To press on through life’s many struggles. Then she taught me how…