It Only Takes One

I was that girl you would see alone.

I’d sit alone on the bus, at a table in the lunchroom and the library. I loved reading, but I knew it was my _________, a way to look busy and not like I was being alone. I didn’t want to appear as though I had no _________— which was basically true.          

One morning, as usual, when getting on a bus, I got out my _________ and put my head down. Then, I heard someone ask if I minded her sitting next to me. I _________, and there stood a girl I didn’t know. She looked nervous as she introduced herself. Her name was Jane. She was new to the neighborhood, and this was her first day at school. That day at lunch, when she _________ me in the lunchroom, she hurried over and sat down.

In the following weeks, it wasn’t just Jane who looked to see if she could sit next to me—I looked for her, too. Little by little, we began to talk about school and other things and,_________, ourselves. We soon became best friends.

Isn’t it amazing how overnight your life can _________? I feel so different now. It only _________ one other person to make you feel as though you are no longer _________.

I no longer hide behind books—although I am still an enthusiastic reader. Jane also loves books, so we go to the library together, check out books, and __________back and forth when we finish reading them. Then we take them back to the library and check out new ones. Amazing! Just one other person makes you feel like you are really important.

Zhang Guimei has committed her life to improving girls’ education in a remote, mountainous region in Yunnan Province by     11     (start) China’s first free high school for female students. Her story has moved millions of Chinese people and is now written into a newly     12     (publish) book — Brief History of the People’s Republic of China. It described her     13     a moral model who uses love and wisdom to help thousands of rural     14     (girl) realize their dreams.

An eight-year-old girl in Texas has designed a pop-up classroom to help poor children. Paisley Elliott came up with the idea after she heard that a school she had helped to build in Greece     15     (destroy) by fire. Elliott considers herself a person     16     tries to improve people’s lives and reduce suffering. Now, she     17     (raise) money to take her pop-up classroom to Uganda, in Africa.

Feelings are     18     people experience emotions. They can include anger, sadness, worry, loneliness and shame, as well as surprise, happiness, courage and hope, among many others. Feelings are sometimes labeled as good or bad. But that isn’t helpful. All feelings are there to be felt. Some can be more     19     (comfort) and annoying than others. It’s natural     20     (experience) different emotions—and that includes emotions that might not feel nice.

Side hustles for college students deliver spending money while still offering the flexibility that a full class schedule requires.

Take class notes

One side hustle for college students involves taking notes in class and selling them.

Three sites — StudySoup, NexusNotes and Stuvia — offer attractive pay for uploading and selling class notes to other students at your university. Each has its own pay formula. But you usually get a bonus when someone signs up to get access to your notes, plus a payment for each set of notes that sell. Students say they can earn $250 to $500 per class, per semester. Because this job requires taking great class notes, you’re likely to do better in school.

Become a tutor

Many younger students have fallen behind academically as they struggled with distance learning. That opens an opportunity for those who have mastered a subject, from high school algebra to Spanish, to teach that subject to others. A number of tutoring platforms allow you to sign up and tutor online or in person.

Some of the best: Wyzant, Varsity Tutors, and, for those who want to teach music, LessonFace.

Be a survey taker

The best option in this category is a site called Prolific, which helps researchers find pre-screened survey participants. What makes this site better than most is that it asks you to answer qualifying questions — age, income, family status, etc. — in advance. Then, the site sends you only the surveys that you’re qualified to take. You’re given an estimate of the time it will require to take each survey and how much it pays. You decide whether it’s worth your time.

Charge scooters

Big campuses are often littered with electric scooters and bikes that can be unlocked and ridden around campus. Riders can drop the scooters just about anywhere. So scooter companies, such as Bird and Lime, enlist “chargers” and “juicers” to pick them up, charge them overnight and return them to a designated area early the next morning.

If you have a late class, there are two benefits to signing up to charge. First, you earn between $5 and $20 for each scooter you return fully charged. You also get to ride the scooters home for free, which isn’t a bad way to get back to your dorm.

There is a connection I feel with horses that is unlike anything I have ever experienced. They can be frightening because of their size, speed and unpredictability, but they also force you to be calm. I think that was the smartest thing my first riding teacher taught me when I was seven: if you’re calm, they will be calm.

I have never owned a horse, but for a year I got to take care of a pony, Baronet, that I had found abandoned when I was 11. I had moved to England for the second time in my short life. This period was filled with anxiety and instability and there were a lot of unaccompanied moments.

I saw him one day while I was out walking in the woods. He was staring at me from where he stood, wild and dirty. I just went to him and he came to me. I found the farmer who owned him, who said he was a lost cause: “Too difficult,” he said. When I asked if I could care for him, he didn’t hesitate: “Sure, take him.”

He wasn’t trained. He was stubborn and picky and angry. He had been labelled “difficult” just as I was labelled “Sunshine Girl”. It’s not a good thing to be labelled. “Sunshine Girl” made me feel like I couldn’t complain. I didn’t want to make anyone unhappy. I always felt I had to go with the flow.

Baronet saved me that year. He gave my life a sense of purpose and meaning. I would wake up early and walk two miles to the barn to feed him and try to train him, and the moment I came home from school I would run back to the barn to spend time with him.

Looking back, I see Baronet as a wonder. In some magical way I found Baronet when I needed him most and, as sad as I was to leave him at the end of the year, when we moved yet again, I saw the progress we had made together. Seeing that I could make a difference was a huge awakening for me as a child.