Category: Introductions

Hi, I’m name is Bohdan. I am from Ukraine and I am 15 years old. I’ve been at Brookes for only a month so I am looking forward to my first year here. I love playing online games with my friends from Ukraine. Although I rarely went outside in Ukraine and mostly spent my time in front of the computer screen, I used to perform in a circus for 7 years before pandemic. I still remember some of the tricks and skills I was taught there and right now I’m open to do some physical activities. In Ukraine I used to hang out with my friends alot, especially during summer time. We used to ride bikes, explore our city, swim in the river. Wonderful times. All of that eventually stopped the moment Russia invaded Ukraine. Everything became serious, and everyone had to flee their homes since we lived in a city close to the russian border. Now the only way we communicated with each other was Internet. At some point everyone came back to the city and we were able to hang out again. But then due to some unfortunate events that happened in Ukraine I was given a once-in-lifetime chance to study at Brookes so I decided to use it wisely. Hopefully I wont regret it.

Hi, my name is Bohdan. I am from Ukraine and I am 15 years old and I am a student in Brookes Westshore so I am looking forward to my first year here. I love playing online games with my friends from Ukraine. However beside online games I like to do some sports and activities for example: basketball, football  etc.. Before the war started I used to be a swimmer and was doing very good in it, but sadly right now all the pools in my home city are closed, that is why i stopped doing it. I used to hang out with my ukrainian friends a lot during summer time. In Brookes I look forward to study more and improve my ATL and sport skills.

In the book Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine: the main character Li Ling was older and had her own job in mathematics and was writing her book on it. By this time Ai Ming had left and over the cold hard dance that life had played: Li Lings mother had grown sick. Soon however she received the call from the hospital that she had died. Soon after Li Ling decided to find out more about her father; her mothers death compelling her to find out the blank spaces of her fathers death.\

I came by chance to a small columbarium where, inside, four tiny tea cups and four red chopsticks lay waiting on a sheet of newspaper. Square niches, for holding urns and ashes, were mounted on walls. But some squares were empty (p. 196)

In this quote she described the cemetery in which her father wished to be lay in once his time came. However as she searched and searched she could not find her father among the frames of people among the wall who represented the dead. This could imply the chaos of the time Li Ling was in. Where rather that focusing the honor of the dead, the government of China was more pressed for time on modernizing and industrializing China.

Greetings dear reader!

My name is Ximena. I’m from the capital of a very beautiful country, Mexico.

While seeking for a new challenge, I ended up here at Brookes. Since I was 6 years old, one of my dreams was to someday study abroad. I thought that it would remain as an unreachable goal, until February of this year. For me, being now a boarding student in Canada is a dream come true. It feels like my efforts are finally giving results.

Talking a little bit of my interests, I love playing music. The instruments I play the most are piano and violin.

I’m really into law and debates. I realized I liked it the first time I attended a Model of United Nations in grade 6. The idea of fighting for a good cause in a polite and diplomatic way caught me instantly. Two years ago, I participated in my very first MUN in English. I don’t even have words to describe how incredible and exciting it was, I participated as Canada, and I won as best delegate!

Now, let’s talk of me as a reader. I realize it’s difficult for me to be consistent with my reading because I often get distracted with silly things. But, when I get to read something, it’s usually romantic novels, murder mysteries or things related to mythology and the divine. These kinds of literature easily catch my attention and I enjoy them, so it’s easier to focus while reading. I also love reading poems because for me, they are like a window to the soul of the writer. You get a better understanding of someone’s background, ideas, and perspective by reading their wonderful texts.

Last but not least, now that we’re talking about writing, I love writing poems and stories in my mother tongue. I think of myself as a very skilled writer: I’m creative and I always have stories in mind to write about. My writing style is mainly based on using big fancy words to give my creations a more deep and dramatic meaning, then when I’m done writing something, I share it with my friends to receive a little feedback. I appreciate their comments and observations, but the thing I like the most about sharing what I write is the expressions my friends make while reading. This means that I’ve reached my reader’s feelings and heart through a bunch of words arranged in a certain way to give them a pretty meaning.

Hello, my name is Maria Prida del Rio, I am 15 years old, I just turned 15 on Monday 9/11, normally when I tell people my birthday is that that day, they get surprised because it is not a happy day for most American people, and I can understand it.

When I was little, I really liked to do sports and try a lot of them, but when I tried, Aereo dance I knew it was my favorite, technically it is a sport where you do different artistic disciplines that combine contemporary dance and gymnastics, I did aero for 2 years, but when I moved to Canada, I lost passion and interest in the sport.

When I moved to Canada, I was really sad because I really liked Mexico, and I also came at an age where I was trying to find myself, so at the moment, I hated the idea. But after my first year of school, I really liked it and realized I met really good people, I plan to finish high school at Brookes, and go abroad and study something I’m not sure what its goanna be, I just know I’m excited about the future.

 

I am Justin, and I come from Shanghai in China. I love to see the culture in Victoria and I usually playing sports or doing sudoku in my room.

As the view of reader, I do read lots of book on phone or physical, books share me so much knowledge. I enjoy to read science fiction to see many of my dream can become true in the book.

As an author, I don’t often write some diary or story. When I write something I usually having a huge amount of grammar error and that’s why I don’t quite enjoy writing…

Hi! My name is Avery Mackenna Schafer. I was born in Langley B.C. but I moved to Metchosin B.C. when I was ten months old where my parents started building our house in Metchosin. I moved to Brookes Westshore from West-Mont Montessori when I was eleven years old for grade six. I have been attending Brookes for four years and I’m excited to be starting my fifth. Some of my biggest interests are traveling,  jumping horses competitively, reading, spending time with family and friends, and exploring new places. I have traveled mostly in European countries and Canada although I have been to the U.S. as well. My aunt introduced me to riding horses when I was six and, to my parents dismay, have been riding ever since. I have recently started a lease on a new horse who I have come to love very quickly. Reading has been something I loved doing since I was very young, since the age of around ten I have read nearly 220 books and have enjoyed all of them. I have never read a book that I did not enjoy. Yes I have read books that take me a long time or which have parts that I find boring but to this day I have never finished a book and been unhappy that I read it.

I am a well versed, consistent and leisurely reader. I have read many books of many genres and enjoy taking my time. I have very few graphic novels and prefer traditional novels as I feel that I am more able to immerse myself in them. I love to get lost in a world that is not my own, I love to escape and become someone other than myself. I have been sticking to fantasy and contemporary romance of late and believe that they are my favorite genres.

I am practical, dark and good at conveying a feeling when it comes to writing. I have ended many school project writing pieces in tragedy or death due to timelines or word counts that I estimated would not be able to fit the full extent of my imagination. In my creative writing I enjoy creating pieces that will cause the reader to feel strong emotion. I find that feelings that are darker are easier and personally more fun to portray in my stories. For school projects like essays and reports I tend to manage my time slightly poorer than I originally intend but almost always come out with something that I am proud of.

In the dark corners of Mexico city, emerged a miraculous light in which the locals named Liath de Leon. I am Liath de Leon and I spent most of my youth in that dark corner until I turned 6 years old and we witnessed a murder on the street outside our home. This is usually a sign telling you to move and so we decided we wanted to move to the most interesting city in the world, instead we moved to Vancouver. We spended a wonderful 7 years renting a house in west van but we noticed quite a bit of flies had moved into our wallet so we set our eyes to buy a property in Victoria. I was now living on the edge of the world, Arden road and attended Brookes for the next two years.

I could definitely improve as a reader as I don’t consistently read every day but I read multiple books at a time. currently I am reading the harry potter novels in English because I had read them in Spanish but never English. I am also reading a biographical book by Ron Chernow on one of the founding fathers in which he gives a lot of detail and I am finding it very interesting. 

When I am writing I can get stumped really easily and just stare at the screen but at the same time when I start to write I fall into the flow and just basically spit out words. I have been told that my handwriting leaves something to be desired which is why I have practice writing on paper more often. 

Hello! My name is Hanli Loubser. My sister and I have lived in Victoria all of our lives, though my parents are both South African and as a result, we speak Afrikaans at home (it’s like a subvariant of Dutch). I live on a farm with my cat, dog and chickens. This is my second year at Brookes Westshore, and I’m excited to meet even more new classmates and people this year! I enjoy reading, writing, and drawing, and I’ve loved dinosaurs since I was little. I also do aerial silks outside of school and I enjoy learning new tricks.

I would describe myself as a very avid reader! I read less now since I’m busy, but I usually read at least a chapter or two every night. I read most everything, but I prefer fantasy, science fiction, and Agatha Christie murder mysteries.

I enjoy creative writing, but not so much academic writing! I love writing fiction stories and books, and I have a few book ideas, including one that I’m writing with my friend, but none finished. I’m part of a writers club with some of my friends, but have increasingly less time to spend on it, so I’m hoping that I will be able to as I write my personal writing blog submissions!

My name is Emmett and i have been at Brookes Westshore for 4 years, since grade 6. Im an only child, and i live nearby at Thetis lake with my parents and puppy Digby. Although i do have hasty in my name, i am not a sprinter, I have been swimming competitively for 3 and a half years and have swam over 8000km. Other then swimming i also love to surf and hike, as well as play some volleyball every once in a while. I have quite a large interest in music production which is what im basing my personal project off of. I also work at a local pool where i teach kids how to swim.

 

As a reader my favourite genre of books based on philosophy. My favourite book of all time is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is a book which conveys interesting anecdotes about complex topics such as quality and classical vs romantical views through the anatomy of a motorcycle. Some other of my favourite books are also Sophie’s World which is a general history of philosophy which is written very well. I also really like Calvin and Hobbes comics because they’re pretty funny.

 

To be honest i’m not very much of a writer, i mostly like to read. The only times i would write is when being asked to for school, i don’t do much writing in my free time. When i do writing for school it tends to be very standard for an IB student of my my grade and does not have anything for special or interesting about it. I do still like writing though i don’t dislike it or anything like that.

 

 

 

Hi! My name is Sophie Wilson. I’ve grown up in Victoria in the same house in Metchosin for the entirety of my life. My family generally originates from European countries such as England and Ukraine, however, migrated to Winnipeg Manitoba several generations ago, which was the birthplace of both my parents. I’ve attended Brookes for 5 years now which really sounds like a large portion of my life when you put it into perspective. Although my family aren’t avid travelers, only traveling to Winnipeg and Hawaii, it has always been a passion of mine to pursue in the future. I also love just about any sport, except maybe rock climbing, finding myself to always be active, at the beach, or exploring in my free time.

Since I was younger I’ve had a developing passion for reading. I was always encouraged as a young kid to engage and pursue my interests by relating them to both fiction and non-fiction books. Specifically, over the past few years, I have dedicated hours engrossed in fictional novels, simulating my imagination to create my own storylines, become transported to fictional worlds, and develop new knowledge of a variety of perspectives, themes, and cultures. I gravitate towards fantastical mystery, dystopian, and romance series, some of my favourites include Throne of Glass, The Inheritance Games, and From Blood and Ash. I also find it beneficial to share this passion with my sister and friends which allows us to exchange books and recommend titles, demonstrating how reading can impact personal connections as well. This year I would like to expand my reading genres toward a variety of non-fictional topics such as autobiographies and historical accounts.

Writing for me has been somewhat of a complicated passion. I used to love writing creative stories individually and collaboratively. However, although I still love the organization of translating my thoughts and imagination onto a page, occasionally it becomes more difficult to specifically concentrate on each aspect of a story (e.g. individual sentences), my mind tending to wander to the overall outcome of the story. However, my mind does become engulfed with a writing piece if I’m invested in it, always finding myself continuously refining the words. When it comes to academic writing, such as essays or documents, I feel the writing process comes more naturally to me because I have access to evidence to support my explanations and theories giving structure to my writing. However, my mind always tries to throw various words and unneeded sentences into my writing. This challenge has encouraged me to continue working on condensing my ideas to clarify the message to the reader.

Hello! My name is Julia Street. I was born in Vancouver and lived there for almost four years until my parents decided to move to Sooke, a small town just west of Victoria. I transferred to Brookes Westshore in September of 2021 meaning I am starting my 3rd year. I am interested in drawing, reading, history, rollerskating and listening to my mom and brother debate about politics at the dinner table.

As a reader, I am usually very consistent. Reading almost every day. This summer I have been trying to adapt myself to reading more classic novels as I usually read fantasy books from my local library. Currently, I am reading The Spy Who Came from the Cold by John Le Carré which I have been finding a bit difficult to follow but a good challenge. As much as I enjoy reading if I do not find a book interesting or the writing style is not to my taste I find it excruciatingly painful to read (Sometimes it will take me months depending on the length). On the contrary, if I find myself enjoying a book I will often indulge in the pleasure of reading it all afternoon.

Writing is not my strong suit. I enjoy journaling in my free time but academic and creative writing has never been something I thrive at. Academic writing such as essays are easier for me because they contain a structure. However, comma splices and repetition of vocabulary are issues I need to work on. Poems and creative always take me so long just to finish even one paragraph or a sentence. I either have too many or too little ideas. When I do creative writing I am not fond of sharing it and get caught up in the opinions of others too easily. Despite my faults in writing, I do enjoy when I get to analyze and write about a topic I am interested in.

𝓖𝓻𝓮𝓮𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝓵,

My full name is Norma Leaticia Sera Josep though everyone calls me Tish. My family and I immigrated to Canada in 2019 & since then I have dreamt of attending Brookes Westshore. Unfortunately, my application was delayed due to COVID-19 postponing my move to Brookes. I officially began attending Brookes Westshore in September 2022. My main interests fall into 3 sectors, Medicine, Literature, and the visual & performing Arts. Considering these main interests, my top goal throughout the next few years is to attend Oxford University and acquire a PhD. A few of my many hobbies include reading & writing, musical theatre, playing bass guitar, acting, fashion design, cooking, oil painting, vinyl record collecting and calligraphy. In terms of work, I am an actress and often travel to Vancouver for auditions.

As a reader, I often gravitate towards classic literature, poetry, and modern politics. I would describe myself as a novel fanatic though frequently feel as if there is never enough time to read as much as I would prefer to. I truly believe that knowledge is best absorbed through reading therefore in many instances find myself searching for more topics to learn about. Namely, I search for novels on the topics of world issues, moral philosophy, and psychology. During my free time, I take great pleasure in walking to bookstores and antique stores to collect old leather-bound novels, some even written in old English.

I am immensely devoted to my daily journaling detailing the inner workings of my daily life. As a personal project this year I intend to write and publish my own novel. With the topic of this novel unbeknownst to even myself, I have spent the latter of my days rummaging my mind for a feasible topic. The possibilities for this undertaking are endless, with my mind filled with ideas all the way from the life of an immigrant all the way to the specifics of affirmative action. Depending on my two main writing styles I can either venture through a more analytical research piece or a much more personal and poignant story. Despite the differing writing styles, I am more inclined to write in a creative and imaginative way as there are not many opportunities to do so in the academic realm.

𝓨𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼 𝓽𝓻𝓾𝓵𝔂,

✮𝒯𝒾𝓈𝒽✮

Hello! My full name is Meghan Amara Boxshall, but most people just call me Meg. I was born on November 5th, 2008, at Vancouver General Hospital, making me 14 years old. Despite being born in Vancouver, I’ve lived in Victoria my whole life, never once moving from my house in East Sooke. I attended Westmont Montessori until I was ten years old, and from there I moved to Brooke’s Westshore, where I’ve stayed for four years so far. Ever since I was a child I’ve loved everything about travelling; the flights, the countries, the cultures. In total, I’ve been to over seven different countries, each one bringing new adventures but my favourite being Greece. Aside from travel, I love playing volleyball, spending time with friends and family, swimming, and reading.

Ever since I discovered the Ranger’s Apprentice series at the age of nine, I’ve been in love with reading. That series was my first real introduction to fantasy, and from that moment onwards I’ve loved everything about the genre. As a very imaginative person, it feels as though I am transported to the world that I am reading about, and nothing else creates that same feeling. I’ve attempted to branch out, reading contemporary, classic, and even sci-fi novels, however, I always revert to my roots. It was not until I read the Throne of Glass series by the author Sarah J. Maas that I realized the possible world-building and characterization that could go into a book. I fell in love with the characters and worlds that Maas depicted, along with the structure she used for clarity.

Although I don’t often choose to write in my spare time, it is something I enjoy doing. I typically prefer creative writing to most other forms because it allows me to express myself and my creativity, however, I find myself enjoying the process of essay writing more than I care to admit. Despite the somewhat restrictive feature of an essay structure, the final draft’s flow makes the tedious process worthwhile. Although I don’t typically write in my free time, I recognize the importance of writing in various contexts and consider it a valuable skill.

Hello, my name is Marichka and I am from Ukraine. I moved to Canada two years ago and Brooks was the only school I attended since I got here. I like digital drawing, reading, music, and online games.

I love reading, especially horror novels. It’s amazing when books have the ability to drag me into their world and it doesn’t matter whether it’s light or dark. I still like it more when it’s dark and mysterious because, in my opinion, there are more opportunities and more exciting events.

Writing is also one of those things that I like, but it depends on what to write about. I want to sit down sometimes and come up with my own events.

Hi, my name is Jan, and I was born in Paderborn, Germany. When I was 10 I moved to Puebla, Mexico. It’s my first year attending in Brookes and my interests are playing videogames, coding and doing sports.

I don’t read a lot of Booke’s. The cause is that I don’t fined often Book’s that interest me. My favored ones are Level 4 and Die Kinder Karavana.

Like you see I am a bad writer, my spelling is bad one of the reasons I think is that I cannot concentrate very good as I slightly have ADHD and the other reason is that I don’t read a lot.

Hi, I am Rylan from Hong Kong a discus thrower, basketball player and volleyball player. This is my first year in Brookes Westshore I would like to be friends with all of you, as you can see I love different sports. I think trying different sports is really fun because doing it might be easy but trying to master it is really hard I might have chosen the hardest ones to master for example discus throwing I say it’s a pretty rare kind of sports and a hard one to master.
Me as a reader is not what I can imagine of myself because I’m just not a reading guy I don’t like reading you can even say I hate it but when I see books that are really interesting and fun I will be like a kid playing in the playground. I’ll get all excited and crazy! So I guess the world needs more interesting books.
As a writer might be what I would do because I know that most of the people don’t like reading boring dull books but when they have illustrated and interesting books they will turn into a reader so my goal is to make interesting books to increase the interest of reading.

Hi, I’m Kate. I was born in Ontario, Canada, but I moved out to British Columbia a few months before the Covid-19 Pandemic. I’ve been attending Brookes Westshore since grade 6. I’m interested in history, art, music, and basically anything that involves some form of storytelling.

I enjoy reading outside of school and whenever my brain decides to go “Ah,  I’m bored again. I guess I’ll go stare at wood pulp with symbols printed on it and have vivid hallucinations”. I’ve been finding it harder to read for pleasure in the past few years as classes have involved more school reading (leading to the problem that whenever I open a book for fun I always feel vaguely inclined to write an essay on it). Some of my favourite books to read are ones with diverse and expressive characters (Alfred Jingle from Pickwick Papers is a good example).

In some ways I prefer writing to reading. More specifically creative writing, as I can create my own worlds and characters. Because my brother and I share an interest in creative writing we’re the other’s occasional story editor and someone who gives unfiltered and judgmental opinions that we didn’t ask for. I also like academic writing, although I tend to ramble and go over the word limit.

Hello! My name is Laura Francesca MacKenzie. I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Go Blue Bombers! The Saskatchewan Rough Riders do not stand a chance. My family is from Italy and I have visited 4 times, during the summer. I have been attending Brookes Westshore for 3 years. My biggest interests are soccer, science, reading books that interest me, and spending time with my family. I’ve played soccer since I was 5 years old. I am also a very extroverted person.

When it comes to personal reading, I am the type of reader who needs to be truly and entirely engulfed in a book to be able to keep reading. I love books that have a deeper meaning, books that your brain gets to chew and reflect on. I’m not sure what genre I am into yet but I’m sure I’ll find out one day. I like to read before bed. I used to only read the Geronimo Stilton series. I still love them. But, by grade 8 it was time to move on. I really enjoyed The Selection by Kiera Cass as well as the first few books of the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Mass. Right now I am reading a book called Roxy by Jarrod and Neal Shusterman. I love this books so much right now.

For me, writing is a place to utilize new words I have learned and formulate clear sentences. I love being able to comprehensively organize my ideas. I will continuously change a sentence or paragraph if I feel it does not present my thoughts the way I want it to. I also talk out loud when I write complex ideas so that I may understand what I am trying to say and make sure it is digestible. I believe that it is okay to take longer to find an idea you like because you must be passionate about something in order to cultivate a piece of writing with quality.

‘Change begins at the end of your comfort zone’ – Roy T. Bennet

Hello. My name is Amarachi Tehilla Ogbonna (Mara for short, or Ama or Amara. Either way is fine by me). I’m from Nigeria and I recently moved here. By recently, I mean last week Wednesday. It was a bit of a rush but I think I’m adapting well. I’ve lived in Nigeria my whole life and I’ve only been to one school. I’m still getting used to the change but my Mom said I’ll fit in just fine. Like I said I just moved here so I’ve been attending Brookes for 4 days. Although It’s extremely different from my old school I’m trying my best to get used to the change.

I wont describe myself as an avid reader. Yes, I love to read but I rarely do it unfortunately. I love reading novels especially those without pictures. Books with pictures annoy me because it spoils my imagination and they don’t give me the opportunity to create my own image in my head. I love reading because when I do it, it takes me to a different world.

I’m not a writer. I’m not very good at it and even if I was, I don’t enjoy doing it to an extend to do it all the time. I used to write when I was younger but it was more of fiction that I wrote. It was bad. Though I can try my best to write essays.

To start this fantastic blog: my full name is Amelie (but you can call me Ami or Emily). I was born in Vancouver but I recently moved to Victoria just about two years ago and attended St. Johns Academy from grades 8 – 9. It was only after I finished grade 9 that I moved to Brookes Westshore, so yes I am a new student this year. Both my parent lived in Mexico most of their lives so something about me is that I can also speak a fair bit of spanish. Some other things about me is that my favorite coulor is yellow and my favorite food are tacos. Some of my biggest interests would firstly be rock-climbing (which I’ve done since I was 10), drawing and story-writing.

As a reader I’ve always been very fast paced and impatient in the fact that I often read very fast and I catch myself often only skimming the book. I don’t mean that I hate reading because I don’t, I actually love reading books. The only problem is, naturally I am a very restless person who without a doubt hates cliff hangers and suspension. Despite my very restless nature I often gravitate to fantasy or horror novels such as: The Fire Within, Percy Jackson or Small spaces. As a reader I also tend to gravitate as well to book series, the reason for this being that I enjoy a longer story that extends beyond one book to show the different perspectives a story could be viewed at.

As a writer I’ve never been an essay or basic paragraph type of person, for as long as I’ve known I’ve written in first person stories as much as I could. I write stories for assignments, in my free time, and sometimes to vent about my day. So far I’m in the process of writing two novels: Drifting Magic And The Trials of Zerpeia, Which are both fantasy novels that I started short of half a year ago. As well as writing up stories I’ve also been quite fond of writing poems. I stated to enjoy writing poems under a year ago, whereas before I thought them to be confusing and unnecessary. It was until grade 9 where I had to write a poem about something abstract (I chose darkness) where I found just how beautiful and rich a poem could be.

Hello, my name is Maria Prida. I am from Mexico, Puebla. Most of the people I’ve met don’t know where Puebla is, Puebla is 1 hour away from Mexico City, The capital of Mexico. I moved to Canada when I was 13 and this is my third year living In Victoria. I never moved out of my country so coming to Canada was a big impact, gladly all people are nice and welcoming. Some of my hobbies are hanging out my friends, watching movies, and bake.

I do not dislike reading but I would say it’s difficult for me to concentrate while reading or find a good book. The only book I’ve ever read is called the power of NO by James Altucher, the book is about the power of saying no to things that are not the best for us. I really liked this book because by the time i was reading it was difficult for me to say no to people, so I’d really recommend this book if you struggle to say no.

I really like writing, specially about topics I like, if it’s a topic I don’t know about I also like to get creative and research and get to know the topic I will write about.  I really like the way you can express opinions and ideas trough writing and i love to see other people’s writing Aswell.

Hello! I’m Asia Leggett and I’ve been a student at Brookes Westshore since I was in grade 7. I absolutely love it here! Travelling is one of my favourite things to do, and when I’m older, I would love to travel the world and learn about different cultures. In my free time, I enjoy going to the gym to stay active. I have an older sister named Summer who is also a student at Brookes, currently in grade 12.

I have never been a strong reader as I find it hard to focus while reading books. My goal is to try and read more this year and find a good book I truly enjoy. I have never really been motivated to read as it’s not an interest of mine. I prefer audiobooks as they allow me to multitask and listen while doing other things, which helps me concentrate.

I have always loved writing, whether it’s creative or writing for an essay. I enjoy researching and learning more about a topic that I’m passionate about and incorporating the information into my writing. I’m excited to expand my vocabulary and improve my writing skills further.

Hello, my name is Agneya Pradhan. I am looking forward to my first year at Brookes and MYP5 English this year! Although I’ve spent the majority of my life in Kingston, Ontario, I am from Bombay, India, where I spent the first three years of my life. I have been to nearly every single province/territory there is in Canada, leaving aside a couple of the territories. I love to compete in soccer matches, practice boxing, and do weightlifting outside of school.

I am not an avid reader, as I would rather do other physical activities instead, but when I do pick up a book, I enjoy reading popular fiction novels that include plenty of action and mystery like the Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, due to its action-packed plot filled with twists, and the Sherlock Holmes series, by Arthur Conan Doyle, because of their compelling mysteries. I have lately begun reading self-improvement books like Can’t Hurt Me, by David Goggins, which is one that I thoroughly enjoyed and would certainly recommend.

I like to picture myself as a decent creative writer, as I spent the bulk of time reading and even writing a few books when I was younger. Reflecting on them now, they weren’t very good. I consider myself a modest academic writer, as I am quite descriptive and detailed. I am continuously trying to expand my vocabulary by exploring alternatives to words I regularly use and applying them to academic work.

Hola! I’m Vittoria Barocio Gonzalez, Im originally and proudly from a small but revolutionary city in the north of Mexico! It’s called Torreon, there’s not many things to do there but you definitely have some love for that beautiful city. I just arrived to Brookes last Thursday and I’m planning on staying this whole school year. My biggest interests would be snowboarding and basketball.

Of course there are many Mexicans who love reading, thankfully I’m not one of them. I hate reading, and of course I know the benefits of reading but my brain just do not work at reading. Yeah, if I have to read its school related but if I had to read for my own like, I just wouldn’t. Maybe in the future I can start reading at least 10 pages a day, but for today I´m good without reading.

There are many Mexican writers who are amazing and what they do, and of course I’m planning to becoming one of does amazing writers. I come from an American school in Mexico so that means I have to write a lot fun and boring essays, but that’s what makes me grow as a writer. I consider myself a good writer because I have amazing ideas and I love to explain to full detail all the information creating an amazing story.

Hi! My name is Regina Castro Jaime. I am a 17 year old mexican. It’s my only year at Brookes.  I love doing exercise but not sports, there is a massive difference. I can’t resist hamburgers, sushi or gummy bears. My family, my two older sisters and parents  and friends are the most important people in my life. They are my greatest adventure, like Olaf in Frozen would say “some people are worth melting for”. If you ask any of them how to  describe me they would say I am childish in a mature way, and honestly it is so accurate. I love disney, my desire is to work with toddlers when I am older and I am an optimistic and enthusiastic person, even though I am responsible, strong and independent. 

 

Now… if you ask me how I am as a reader, I would thank my dad. He taught me the excitement and how fun it can be if you read the right books. We always joke around that buying books and reading them are whole different hobbies.  He always tells me “buy another one when you finish the one you are reading right now.” Both of us have the good or bad habit of reading two books at the same time, one for learning and one just for entertaining. I love romantic books for losing time but for learning things I am open to psychology and better habits and lifestyles. 

 

In contrast, even though I try my best  to be a good writer, I am not sure I am. The problem I think that happens to me is that even if I’m writing in my native language, which is Spanish,  I have in my head at  so many ideas per second, I get lost and I mix up all my sentences, but just as in life I try my best. 

 

Hi! My name is Keira Alacio, I am from Mexico City and I am currently studying at Brookes. I arrived a few days ago and it has been a completely new experience for me and I am excited to see what this new year brings to me. One of my favorite things to do is traveling, getting to know different countries, people, traditions, gastronomy, etc, is something that I enjoy doing a lot and probably in what I would like to work in a future.

As a reader I would describe myself with the word “curious” because is something that I enjoy doing a lot and I read since I was little. I think that a book can transport you to a completely different world, it can scare you with the most horrible and terrifying monster or it can also make you fall in love; reading a book can change the way you see things by just reading a story about any topic you like, there are infinity of books of whatever you can imagine and also reading is a really good way to spend some relaxing time with yourself.

In writing I’m not as good as I wish I was because sometimes I tend to translate exactly from Spanish to English and that gives a strange context to some sentences or even words, this is something that I will like to improve while I study at Brookes, but even though I’m not really good at it, I love to write, short stories, phrases, etc.

My name is Daniela García, this is my first year at Brookes Westshore, I have 2 sisters and I’m the oldest one, I have 2 dogs, my favorite food is sushi, I love animals and my favorite animals to the dogs, horses, and dolphins, l like to spend quality time with my family and friends and be productive.

I also love to read especially novels and I like to draw even though I am not very good a t it. I consider myself a very good reader because it’s something I love to do since I was in second grade and I’ve never stopped doing it. I love recommending books to other people and seeing them read them.

I also think that I am a good writer and that I can express myself when I write because when I was little I had a journal and I loved writing in it, I think that helped me a lot to have a good writing.

 

My name is Maria celeste and I am from Mazatlán México, I live in a city that is a touristic port, so all year is very hot but is a nice city. I am accustomed  to live in a little city so this is the reason why I choose Victoria to study, and until now I Iove here.

The really true for me as a reader is that I only read a few books in my life, but I really want to improve as a reader because I think that is a really fun habit and helps you in many things, so I want to begin reading drama books, I hope it will soon.

I consider me as a good writer because since I was in middle school I love to do like many paragraphs and resumes of topics that teacher gave me, and now when I begin to write I write all my ideas, because I consider that I have a lot of imagination when I do it.

 

 

I´m Jose Tostado, I´m from Mexico, I live in Guadalajara, I really like sports like soccer, tennis and football, I´ve been playing soccer and tennis since I were 6 years old and I also like to play football but I prefer to watch on TV. I´ve been attending Brooks Westshore 3 days and I really like the enviroment of the school and the location of it. My biggest interests are things like bussines, law, sports and technology.

I like to read books about bussines, successful people and self development. I like them because I know that it helps me to improve my life and create new skills that can help me in the future like for example, I´ve been reading a book about Stephen R. Covey that talks about the 7 habits of highly effective people and I´ve been really enjoying it because it teachs me step by step how to create good habits.

I don´t really like to be a writer because sometimes I don´t have the creativity or the inspiration to write something new or to create something like a story or things like that, but when I do have the creativity or inspiration to write something I really enjoy it and I always try to do give my best.

My name is Matteo Eden like the Garden of Eden, with no relation to the Garden aside from the name. I have lived in Victoria BC most of my life and came to Brookes in the seventh grade. I have a brother named Isaak and a dog named Willow my mom is a nurse, my dad is a lawyer and my family on both my mom and my dad’s side are from all over the world. I love traveling like much of my family and I enjoy hanging out with my friends in and outside of Brookes. Some of my hobbies are skateboarding, skimboarding, surfing, skiing, and many others I love to stay active and try new things.

 

I do like reading but not so much when I am told what to read I should probably read more often than I normally do. I am into lots of fictional, romance, and sci-fi books but am trying to broaden my range into non-fiction and autobiographies.

 

I don’t enjoy writing as much as I do reading and don’t do it often. I do write to my family and friends quite often whether it is through text or mail. I am not a great writer but hope to survive this year and improve my writing skills.

 

My name is Sam Verbaarschot, the last name comes from my dad’s side of the family who are all Dutch. I have lived all over B.C for my whole life. My first year at Brookes was in grade 6 and I have been here since then. I have a strong passion for surfing, skim-boarding, and lifting in the gym. I also love spending time outdoors in nature.

I do enjoy reading, although I probably don’t read as much as I should. I like to read romance classics as-well as motivational books e.g David Goggin’s “Can’t Hurt Me” about hardship and harnessing the full potential of your mind.

To be honest I am not a very strong writer, but I do enjoy writing for school work and letters I send in the mail. This year I hope to improve my writing abilities and skills, with the help of Mr. MacKnight.

 

 

I’m from Thailand, I’ve attended Brookes for about 2 years now and, my biggest interest is Travelling.

 

If I have to describe myself as a reader I would be like a romantic person since I love romantic books.

 

If I describe myself as a writer I would be a short story writer since a short story I would focus on a lot of details rather than a wider and endless ones.