{"id":4645,"date":"2020-05-30T10:27:23","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T14:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=4645"},"modified":"2020-05-30T10:27:23","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T14:27:23","slug":"big-time-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=4645","title":{"rendered":"Big-time opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Ava Moyer<\/strong><br \/>\nWest Hills Press<br \/>\nWest Hills MS<br \/>\n1st Place Division MS, News Writing<br \/>\nPersonal Narrative<\/p>\n<p><b>JUDGING CRITERIA<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A first-person account depicting a personal experience<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Topic relevant to interests and\/or welfare of school or students<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Effectively combines basics of good news and feature writing<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Effectively organized with smooth transitions; carefully outlined<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Proper diction\/grammar<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Should have byline, which could include mug shot of writer<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cCome on Ava,\u201d my dad says as he shakes me awake. \u201cTime for skating.\u201d \u201cFive more minutes?\u201d I groan, rolling over in my bed. \u201cNope,\u201d he says cheerfully, turning on my light. I lumber out of bed, almost falling off my ladder in the process. I groggily rub all the remaining sleep out of my eyes, and pull out a random skating shirt. I pull on a pair of leggings, and zombie-walk out my bedroom door. After I brush my teeth and hair, I slop a bowl of cereal down my throat. I get ready to go outside and head to the car. As I walk into the ice rink, I smell the stale stench of hockey players in the locker room. I survey the benches, looking for a spot to sit. I walk over to my friends Zoe and Katia, and I set my stuff down. I walk back out and gaze at the rink, my second home. I smile at the thought that I would soon be out there, landing every jump. I lace up my skates and head out onto the ice, stroking to warm up. I look up at the clock. 6:20. Good, I think. I\u2019m not late. My whole lesson feels like a blur, salchows and sit spins and spirals, oh my! I run through my program, hoping for a clean skate every time. Eventually, I climb off the ice, exhausted. I collapse in the car and head off to school. After weeks and weeks of lessons, off-ice, running, stretching and more, the big day is finally here. My first competition! I slip into my dress, white that slowly fades into yellow, yellow and silver rhinestones, a flower at the waist, ending in yellow waves cascading almost to my knees. I lace up my skates as my mom pulls and tugs at my hair. \u201cMom,\u201d I said. \u201cIt\u2019s fine.\u201d She looks down at me and smiles. \u201cYou\u2019re going to do great,\u201d she says. I returned the smile and head out of the locker room. It feels like I\u2019ve been waiting for hours, when the announcer says the words I\u2019ve been waiting to hear. \u201cNext on the ice is Ava Moyer!\u201d I scamper over to the boards and hand my jacket to my coach. \u201cYou got this,\u201d she tells me. I nod and stroke into my starting position. The music begins, and I start my routine. Each arm movement, jump and spin, was choreographed by my coach and me during hours of practice. I leap and turn to the music, thinking through every move. The song ends, and everyone claps. I head off the ice, anxious for my results. About an hour later we all sat on the bleachers waiting for the judge to call our name. My thoughts were drifting, but I was snapped back to earth as the judge called, \u201cIn second place, Ava Moyer!\u201d Everybody clapped their hands as I got up to receive my medal. I stepped onto the podium and smiled for pictures. After I was done I ran over to greet my family and coach. They smothered me with hugs and compliments, telling me what a good job I did. Afterwards, we all went out for waffles. We pulled up to the rink for my Saturday morning practice. My best friend, Hadley, greeted me at the door. \u201cI have great news,\u201d she said excitedly. \u201cNationals are in Detroit this year!\u201d \u201cReally?\u201d I asked. \u201cYes! Bradie Tennell is competing.\u201d Hadley replied. We continue to chat as we head on to the ice. We go through are moves in the field, jumps, and spins. Hadley is almost ready to test her moves in the field. She does her edges and spirals. We work on our waltz-8, a complicated set of edges and turns. When we\u2019ve gone through everything, and have free time, we choreograph our own program. Before we know it, practice is over. We tell each other goodbye, and head home. * * * \u201cI win!\u201d Owen yells. \u201cNo, you don\u2019t!\u201d Shaan says. \u201cI ordered chocolate cake!\u201d Jake yells completely interrupting the conversation. Ping! His toy computer bleeps. \u201cSettle down,\u201d Mom says. \u201cNobody wins just yet.\u201d Then, she pulls me to the side \u201cAva, I have some great news,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d I ask. \u201cYou\u2019ve been selected to perform in the closing ceremonies at Nationals.\u201d she tells me. \u201cHadley will be there, too!\u201d I scream and start to jump up and down. Everybody turns to look at me, and I tell them the big news. Nationals are a huge skating competition before the Olympics. Famous skaters such as Nathan Chen and Bradie Tennell will be competing. There are two ceremonies, an opening and closing, and I got picked to perform in the closing. I was so excited, I felt as though I could do a triple axel on the spot. \u201cBye!\u201d I called to my neighbors. \u201cBye, bye!\u201d Jake\u2019s two-year-old voice rings out. I head home from game night with my spirits high. * * * \u201cRule No. 1: Do not talk while I am talking,\u201d the coach says. She is very loud, and I can assume she will be very strict. \u201cI want you to number off from one to eight. Then I want all of your number to form a group.\u201d We carry out her instructions and, believe it or not, one of my group members is also named Ava. I am also working with Sophie and Madison. We get to know each other, and realize we have a lot in common. Soon, our first practice was over and we all headed home. * * * Oh. My. Goodness. It\u2019s finally time. Nationals are today! I eat a huge breakfast, grab my stuff, and head to the car. We drive for about an hour, and pull up at the Little Caesars Arena. It is jam packed, and people of all ages are milling around the parking lot. We squeeze through the door, and navigate through the crowd to find our seats. We climb up the stairs to the suite with coach Jess and coach Michael. The view is amazing, the multi-colored lights flashing on the ice. The announcer\u2019s voice booms over the loudspeaker, announcing the start of the men\u2019s free skate program. The programs fly by, until the last flight steps on to the ice. Nathan Chen is finally here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ava Moyer West Hills Press West Hills MS 1st Place Division MS, News Writing Personal Narrative JUDGING CRITERIA A first-person account depicting a personal experience Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity Topic relevant to interests and\/or welfare of school or students Effectively combines basics of good news and feature writing Effectively organized with smooth transitions; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,62],"tags":[175,24],"class_list":["post-4645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","category-nw","category-personalnarrative","tag-2019-20","tag-divisionms","post_format-post-format-image","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Big-Opportunity-May-1011.png?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Big-Opportunity-May-1011.png?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"Joel Beeker","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=9"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Big-Opportunity-May-1011.png?fit=2306%2C1330&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1cV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}