From America_Days at Pleasant Hill High School_Jan_2016

We are more than happy to share all of you with the updated report from Ellie Goto, who are now studying in Oregon, USA.  The conclusion of her report is a very special message to the potential students who are applying to the entrance exam for Otsma Nakano.

Hello guys!! I know it's late to say, but I wanted to say Happy New Year! Today, I will tell you about three wonderful things 🙂

First, my cheerleading team in Pleasant Hill High School got first place in two competitions!!  We have 5 competitions during this competition season and now we're actually practicing for the next competition. We placed 1st in our 1st two competitions. The practice was hard but I feel like it was worth it since we got 1st place. We have the State competition in February so we'll keep practicing hard. It's necessary to make as much effort as you can when you want to get positive results. This is the same thing with grades!!

Second, the first semester was over! It's different from Japan because we finish the first semester in July and the second semester is over in December, but here, the first semester starts in September and the second in February. I will take a new class starting this semester. The class is publications. It seems interesting to me because I'm going to help with the school newspaper and I will also write some articles about Japan. It will be fun to take pictures! I'm kind of sorry for dropping out of Spanish though.

I decided to take publications because I like writing. When I did my US history project , I had to made something including contents about history through 1800s to 1900. So I created newspaper as if it was made at that time. I did research on some newspapers from the 1800s. Finally, I wrote some articles about industries and 2 inventors, Van Houten who was a Dutch chemist and chocolate manufacturer and Thomas Edison who experimented with thousands of different filaments to find just the right materials to glow well and be long-lasting. I included some of their quotes. One of my favorites quotes by Thomas Edison is,

"Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits."

This is based on pretty simple words but it inspires me. When you don't know what to do and can't find your way, I think the best solution is taking action. It doesn't matter if it's the wrong way or right way. I didn't know everything when I came to the United States, but I still had to keep moving and trying. If you keep stopping then you get nothing. I'm wondering whether prospective students to Otsuma Nakano are reading this report but if you are one of them, please keep your hopes up and believe in yourself whatever happens. Wishing you best luck and see you in April!

Thank you for reading this report and hoping you have the best year ever!

Best wishes,

Ellie

The following is one of the articles from The Billie Bulletin, which is the school newspaper of Pleasant Hill High School. Ellie Goto is on the article. We are very highly of her. Please take a look at it. The_Billie_Bulletin_Issue