In math class, over the past few months, we have been tracking the progress of three stocks of our choice.  We were given 10,000 metaphorical dollars to spend on our stocks.  During the few months we were doing this project, we checked the stocks we invested in weekly, and recorded how much money we mad or lost.  The following is my thinking on why I chose the stocks I did, what I would change in retrospect, and my advice that I would give about investing in stocks based on my experience.

The three stocks that I invested in for math class were Verizon, Unilever, and A123.  I chose Verizon to invest in because it is one of the leading phone and internet service providers in the country.  I also knew that Verizon would soon be a provider for service for the I-phone.  The reason I chose Unilever to invest in was that Unilever makes many products in many different areas including food, home care, personal care, nutrition, health, hygiene, and beauty.  I thought this would make Unilever a successful stock because it has many areas that it sells in, and all of them are part of everyday life.  The last stock I invested in was A123.  I invested in A123 because it makes electric batteries for automobiles.  I think electric automobiles are becoming very important and are becoming a big part of the automobile industry.  After making my stock investments, then I had to wait to see how it would turn out!

            After seeing how my stocks did over the time I was investing in them, there are some things I would do again, and some things I would change.  I would have invested in Verizon knowing the results because I made almost $4 per share.  I also would have invested in Unilever knowing the results because I made almost $3 per share.  I would not, however, invest in A123 for a short term investment again.  A123 went down over $2 per share.  I think that in the long term A123 will do well, but during these past few months it did not.  Even though two out of three of my stocks went up in price per share, overall I lost $1427.87.

            If you were to be buying a stock, I have a few pieces of advice based on my experience.  It would be a good idea to invest in Verizon for a short term investment like mine, if the company was about to make a big marketing deal like adding the I-phone to its inventory.  However Verizon is already a well established company, so I don’t think it is likely that it would make any dramatic climbs in the stock market, so Verizon would not be a good long term investment.  Unilever is a company that I would not invest in again based on how it did over the few months that I was investing in it.  Even though I made money from the original price per share, Unilever was up and down a lot during those few months and I just happened to be selling it on the upswing.  I think that it would be a good idea to invest in A123 for a long term investment.  Over the next many years, I think A123 will do very well considering the business it is in, and the way the car business is moving right now.  A123, however, is not a short term investment that I would recommend using, as it is not an established company yet, so it would not make a large climb in price per share in a short period of time.  Those are my recommendations based on my experiences, and I hope they can be a help to you!

            This project has taught me a lot about how the stock market works, and how to be a part of the stock market.  It also has showed me how investing in the stock market is a gamble and you never know how things will turn out.  I have enjoyed learning about the stock market a lot, and participating in it in a fun and informative way.

In science class we have designed a flag for Antarctica's because Antarctica does not have a flag.  On my flag, I did a drawing of the continent in the middle, with penguins surrounding it.  Penguins are one of the few animals that live in Antarctica, so I think that they are a nice symbol for the continent.  My writing was in blue because Antarctica is very cold and I think of blue as a cold color.  I left the outline of Antarctica white because most of Antarctica is covered in snow and ice.

Dear Jamie,

My love for you is indescribable, its bigger than a red giant.  I'm ready to explode!  Although my love for you is infinite like the universe, I feel like I'm an AU away from.  You are impossible for me to get!  You shine like the sun on Mercury.  You are so hot, you're 800 degrees!  If I was the eye, you would be my capillaries that give me oxygen, as without you I couldn't live.  I love you all of the 238,000 miles to the moon, and all the way back!

Love,

NHJA

Recently in Art Class we had the assignment to "hide ourselves" in the art room.  What we did was we took a picture of any spot in the Art Room where we wanted to hide.  Then we took a picture of ourselves in a certain pose that we wanted.  The last step was to edit the two pictures together so that it would appear as if we were actually in that spot in the Art room.

As the chair climbs the steep snowy slope below me and approaches the unloading station, the squeak of the old, worn down chairlift gradually gets louder. When I reach the top, I push off very quickly and duck from the chair that whips around behind me. I've been hit by it before, and it does not feel good! The view at the top is nearly 360 degrees of beautiful Maine mountains that surround me. The small portion of the view that is block by densely snow covered pine trees, is right where I'm heading. I take my skis off, then walk up the steep slope. Every step I almost fall over because of my clumsiness in ski boots. At the top of the small hill, I enter the densely wooded forest that drops down thousands of feet to a lonesome valley. But the view in front of me is the reason I came here. Nearby the land is filled with rolling hills and mountains covered in pine trees, but the most incredible part is in the distance. The eyecatching snow capped mountains of the Presidential Range are truly breathtaking. The presence of them makes me feel small and unpowerful. Then my dreamlike stat ends as a friend launches a snowball right in face!