As a dedicated member of Skyview Academy for the past two, I've come to understand the attitude and tone of the environment. With increased standards and decreased freedom, Skyview is just the place for the academically gifted and splendid, who have a secondary desire to experience a family environment, familiar to that of homeschooling.

Despite the grievances that induce the sporadic growth of anger-babies inside my gut, the school does have one thing down; compassion. The teachers care very much for each other, and their pupils. Many teachers and coaches at Skyyview posses an aura of kinsman-ship, rather than the dominant acrimoniousness that typically surrounds a high school teacher. I do believe that we "thank, encourage, and inspire" each other.

At a community standpoint, there is always a need for a catalyst; one who perpetuates action, instead of idly gazing. In any community service standpoint, a leader who compliments, encourages, and most importantly, thanks a co-worker becomes the most essential ingredient in a successful project.

"Connor? Connor? Hello?" The words echo in the back of my mind, but don't quite penetrate deeply enough to sever my attention from the melodramatic status updates of my "friends" on Facebook. As my generation has slowly developed from naive children to naive children with bigger bodies and cars, a common theme has been the intrusion of the cellphone into constant, everyday life.

\On the train, in the bus, waiting in line, eating lunch, at every red-light, everyone is glued to their cellphones, appearing to be as crucial to survival as oxygen. Even in seemingly social interactions, like bowling or mini-put-put, everyone is checking their statuses, or taking an infamous 'selfie.'

Ironically, as we have become more connected to electronics, we've become more disconnected to each other. Face to face communication has been antiquated; if you wish to speak to someone you fancy, kid's first choice is to look them up on Facebook and start a cyber-conversation. In this way, they don't have to expose themselves and feel vulnerability; they can simply chat up a new friend without the fear of face-to-face rejection. Instead of calling up an old friend, send a two letter text message of greeting, hoping to spur an uninteresting and drab cyber-conversation.

The common courtesies of shaking a hand and simple eye-contact are simply unheard of from this generation of young-adults. We've been so thoroughly indoctrinated by electronics since we were young that it has become no longer a simply luxury, but a critical necessity.