The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, September 7, 2012 · 16 New school year brings promise of a fresh start By Shailee Koranne Grade 11, White Oaks S.S. T he first day of school is a day dreaded by many people. It marks another year of seemingly never-ending math classes, unavoidable rou- Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga, Milton & Brampton Looking for a vibrant congregation where community is embraced? All are welcome to join our warm, family oriented SERVING THE JEWISH COMMUNITIES OF: Conservative Egalitarian Service High Holy Day Services to be Held in Oakville Tickets: $95.00 each Special rates for seniors, families and students. Ticket prices will be applied towards new membership. Income tax receipts will be issued. Monthly Shabbat Services and Holiday Programming. For Tickets and Membership tine, nerve-racking presentations and great pressure. This day jars the relaxed feeling that teenagers everywhere had kept up at home all summer -- waking up at noon (or even later), watching television all day (probably re-runs), eating unhealthy foods (in ungodly amounts) while sprawled on the couch and best of all: avoiding work. Before they know it, half of summer is already over... then two-thirds... then three-quarters... then, somehow, it's the last week of summer vacation and everyone begins to panic. None of their summer whims were fulfilled and none of the summer goals they'd made for themselves were met. Many people are pessimistic when it comes to the end of the summer, not realizing that the start of school is actually an incredible opportunity. CLEAN SLATE The new school year is a fresh start. Your slate has been wiped clean. The bad grades, drama within your circle of friends, rumours, embarrassing mishaps -- all those things, and everything else, are gone. The year is starting fresh and so should the rest of us. Humans are a lot like the products we see on shelves at stores. We are made, labelled, and have a set amount of shelf life before we start to mould and eventually expire. While we are still in the process of being made, we go through the long assembly line that is school, which lasts for the first quarter, or even longer, of our lives. At the end, it smacks a big label onto our fronts -- physician, artist, actor, teacher, journalist, drop-out, etc. -- and puts us onto the path (or should I say, shelf) that is most suitable for us. There, we live with other products just like us until we reach our "best-before" dates. Labels are something that happen during school. Being labelled is virtually unavoidable. Perhaps this is the reason that our education becomes a burden on us. School begins to precede the foulest of things on the list of things we hate the most. The jolt that comes from being pulled out of weeks of summer vacation and put back at a wooden desk and decided social standing for almost eight hours a day -- well, that is almost never a good feeling. The truth is, we probably can't escape the labelling, but we can stop it from affecting our lives. Being negative about school really isn't going to do anything for you or anyone around you. SCHOOL MATTERS As annoying as it is to hear this repeatedly, school is in fact an important factor in the making of our lives. It does matter. However, you decide whether it will be easy or difficult for you. The first day (or week) of school doesn't have to be the first day of a long chore -- it can be the first day of you becoming something really, really awesome. If you are a teacher or student interested in participating in an upcoming Kids Speak Out - School News column featured in the Beaver, please e-mail Tom Dykes at dykes@cogeco.ca. e-mail: info@bnaishalom.ca www.bnaishalom.ca 905-901-9889 VISIT OUR BOOTH Oakville Lifestyle Fall Home Show September 7th - 9th UP TO 30% OFF COUNTERTOPS Receive up to 30% off selected Caesarstone quartz countertops or 20% off Affinity solid surface tops when ordered as part of a complete kitchen between September 1st and October 31st, 2012. Let our award winning designers work with you to develop a design that fits your home, lifestyle, tastes and budget. Whether it is a kitchen, wall unit, or home office, we can design and build your dream project in our local manufacturing facility. Oakville 146 Lakeshore Road E (West of Trafalgar Road) 905-337-2865 Hamilton 1200 Stone Church Rd E (Just West of Nebo Road) 905-388-7293 www.hamptonkitchens.ca