Kids Will Be Kids

What’s the best way to introduce yourself when you want to be modest but there are a lot of cool things you want to tell people? Just go for it! I’m Debra Terrill. You see that? Two sets of double letters. Don’t you forget that second “l” like everyone always does. You wouldn’t do that though. You’re clearly an amazing human being with an astonishing knack for remembering these kinds of things.

A little more about me. I’ve been a ski racer for my whole life but this year I’ve transitioned into being a ski coach for a ski team up in Mt. Ashland. I love the snow and the rush you get from racing down a hill. The ski hills were always a bit far away though because I’m from Chico. Born and raised here. I went to Christian school and have been a Christian all my life. Even now I’m one of the leaders at Christian Challenge (a club on campus).

I’ve always enjoyed reading and writing. When I was younger I would write stories of my own and proudly show them off to anyone willing to read them. Reading books was another one of my favorite pastimes. I didn’t realize that something I enjoyed so much could practically become my long term career. Currently I am an English Education major and am always thrilled by the classes I get to take.

Reading to me was always something that I could dive into. I never wanted to “get away” particularly, but it was something I enjoyed. The characters were always like friends! I invested a lot of time and effort into making sure that I knew as much as I could about them and so I could follow the story to the best of my ability. Due to reading as much as I did as a child, I was able to achieve a college reading level in second grade. This was partly due to my incredibly competitive side and needing to be better than the other kids. That’s a whole other topic all by itself!

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“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” -Charles William Eliot

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As previously stated, I was a very competitive child even before I could read. I decided that instead of learning the ABC’s like a normal kid, I would teach myself them backwards. People don’t believe it but it’s true. I taught myself how to do it and I loved showing off. It was such a thrill to know that I could do something no one else could do.

Why did I like reading so much? For me, the competitive thing really had a big part into why I did a lot of things. I always wanted to be one step ahead of the other kids and so I learned to read faster and more comprehensive. Spelling didn’t really become that important to me until around 6th grade. Just because it wasn’t my main priority didn’t mean that I wasn’t going to try and be the best I could.

My family never did a lot of reading. They understood that I enjoyed it though and so they pushed that passion to make it grow. I don’t know what exactly I would be doing if it weren’t for a fantastic push from my parents. The influence that parents have on the way we are today is huge. I had parents who were always willing to buy me the books I wanted and would push me to read them as fast as I could and tell them all about the books (to show comprehension on my part). I think they were generally interested to see how many books I could finish in one day. They gave me a 600 page book once (can’t remember the title for the life of me) and encouraged me to wake up the next day and start reading it then so I could see how long it took. Five hours. I was in 4th grade and it took me 5 hours to read a 600 page book. They were thrilled.

The household that we grow up in is what shapes us later in life. Our environment molds us into the people that we are today. Why do we read? Why do we write? Why is it so satisfying to receive a letter in the mail? How could the youngest generation be considered practically illiterate when they are constantly in communication with the outside world? Computers have brought us instant communication. To say the next generation barely reads or writes is absurd. Think about when one of these kids is making an Instagram post. They just take a picture and post it don’t they? No way! The caption that people put on their picture can make or break it for them in their minds. This means that they could spend quite a bit of time just figuring out what the best things to write would be for the specific picture. Whether it be a hashtag (#) or the rest of the caption, I guarantee that those are thought about for quite some time before they are posted.

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“An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator… these are NOT three separate devices! And we are calling it iPhone! Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone. And here it is.”

-Steve Jobs

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