The Diary of Antoine Roquentin

When you first meet a person, you tend to believe they are the age they represent. Many of you may have thought that the young Amanda B. appeared years her senior, but that’s false. The third semester student is only fifteen!

She was born on August 18th in 1988. She attended public school until junior high. When asked why she switched to home school, she replied “Let’s see here. I didn’t get the classes I wanted at Crescent Elk and my brother was being home schooled so my parents thought it’d be a good idea for me to be home schooled too.” The plan went into action and soon Amanda was graduated from junior high. Now on to high school. Amanda remained in home school and enrolled at Castle Rock Charter School. She used the schools $1500 to her advantage and enrolled at College of the Redwoods, Del Norte Branch. She also bought all her class books and many other school related item with her money from Castle Rock. So why has she stayed in home school so long? “I like it in the sense now that I’m taking classes [at CR].” Regrets are something we all have and like the rest of the high school drop outs Amanda said she regrets “Well…uh…the experience and maybe my friends.” Then she went on about why her friends are a maybe.

This brown eyed beauty always has a smile on her face and willing to lend an ear, as long as you lend one back, because she is quite talkative. You may find her in multiple places such as English 1B or the Kerf, both with Letko. Yet another hiding spot is history 9 with Owen and radio and television production with Throgmorton. So which class is her favorite? “I’m torn between the Kerf and English 1B because there both English.” Not only does she love English, but she can prove it to you! She’s the president of the Literacy Club. Her favorite classes are taught by her favorite teacher, Ken Letko, “He knows a lot about English and I’m really interested in it so…”

Amongst her full time schedule, she finds the time to record the morning classes of pyshcology 1 by Hammel and philosophy 15 with Freanue. Arriving at the college as early as 7:30 AM to prepare and record. She doesn’t mind, it’s a paying job! This young lady tells what she likes about CR, I like it cuz it’s smaller. Less intimidating.” Isn’t that the truth.

At the prime age of fifteen, teenagers are usually experimenting with all sorts of things. However this fifteen-year-old steers clear from all pressure. In the little spare time she has, she’s working on her first novel, and five outlines for the other books that will be included in the series! When asked where she would be in ten years, she hesitated but replied with “a college English professor.” She also wants to write more novels. Her plans for the not too distant future? “I’m not sure yet. It really depends. But after I get out of CR I hope to go to HSU.” A rip goal to slowly peel as she gets older. She’s mostly taking her life in stride, her busiest day being Tuesday. She arrives at 7:30 AM to film classes until 11. Between 11 and her history 9 class at 6:50 to 10 PM, she works on the Kerf or studies and does homework. Her slowest day? She says “Thursday. I’m only here until 7:30 until 11.” What a relieve it is to get the rest of the day off! Speaking of off, what does she do in her off time? With a laugh she says “I’m at school most of the time, but I try to work on my book as much as possible.” Her weekends are a different story; she’s usually found “working on the house, cleaning and doing homework. Stuff I should be doing during the week!” We know how that goes!

Being fifteen, she gets hassled in some of her classes. But she doesn’t mind. In fact, when asked if she considered herself older at times she replied “Yea sometimes I do. Because you act like the people you hang out with. And I hang with people 19 or over. I have two contacts that are near my age.”

Any advice you’d give to high schoolers enrolled at CR? “Take it slow at first because you don’t want to jump in before you test the waters.” Anything else you want to add Amanda? “No!”