Health conscious

I guess I need to choose healthier choices food-wise, especially cutting back extremely on chocolate and soda beverages. I want to be healthy and fit in 2010! I play tennis, and I want to be very fit, especially this winter when tennis season is over. I am young so I don’t really worry about weight or anything, but I want to be in shape.

I never make resolutions ever, so making one alone is a huge step.

— Haley Ryan, Southwest Junior High School ninth-grader

To get straight A’s (which I have done every year), get healthier, work out more. I chose to eat healthier and work out more often because I always feel better about life when I do these things.

I kind of fail at keeping resolutions because usually I don’t think of any good ones or challenging ones.

— Bailey Sullivan, Southwest eighth-grader

Self-improvement

More time with family and friends, being nicer to my little brother, be more committed to school, keep my closet clean. They are reasonable, and I can hopefully keep them.

I keep about 50 percent of (my resolutions) because some I make too hard and long-term.

— Katie Rorick, West Junior High School eighth-grader

Write on

Win a writing contest and/or finish my book. I decided to make this resolution because I love to write and have been working on my book since last April.

I’ve actually done pretty well on my resolutions; I only fail every once in a while.

— Alex Wendt, West ninth-grader

I want to write the short story that came to mind over the summer and has been pestering me for months. I love to write, but my mind is usually muddled by too many ideas to concentrate on just one. After finishing my current project, I am going to force myself to sit down and write the above story.

I usually forget I ever made them. I think my last one was also about writing, and I am still working on completing it (but it’s a novel, which is much more time-occupying than a short story).

— Katie Guyot, West ninth-grader

Parts of speech

Add more Spanish to daily conversation. I want to be more fluent in Spanish.

— Abby Olker, West ninth-grader

One of my resolutions is to not say “like” after every sentence. I need to stop saying it, to possibly sound more intelligent for an interview in college.

— Sarah Jacobson, West ninth-grader

Anti-resolution

I never make resolutions. I just try to be a better person and maybe clean my room more often.

— Amanda Schaller, Southwest eighth-grader

Existentialist

I hope to possibly find some (if not full) peace of mind and find out at least a small part of the meaning of life. I would also like to help smite the problem of institutional racism. I decided to make these resolutions because I believe they will be beneficial not only to myself but other ethnic and multi-racial people such as myself.

I’ve kept my resolutions fairly well in the past, and I plan to continue keeping them.

— Noah Nunn, Southwest ninth-grader