Katie's Page

Hi! I'm Katie, 17, senior in high school. My passions include writing, baseball, Christian music, video editing, reading... and the list goes on. More details about some of my hobbies/obsessions below.

Let me warn you going in that this page is very rarely updated. If you want to find out about what's happening in my life now, check out my blog: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/thequietone.

On the right is a picture of me with my sister, Jessica, who is 18 months younger. If you can tell which one I am, you're better than a whole lot of people, including some that have seen us on a weekly basis for the past two years. :) Actually, I'll tell you - I'm the one on the left. I must have been standing on my tiptoes, because Jessica has been taller than me for over a year now!

I really enjoy writing, and I hope to pursue a career as a nonfiction author or newspaper columnist. If you want to see some of my various writings, click here. That list hasn't been updated in a while; hopefully I'll get around to putting some more recent essays and papers up sometime soon.

I love to watch baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals are my favorite team. I also love to watch my dad's softball team play, and (on very rare occasions) I play for them when they're short a player or two.

I also enjoy reading. I don't generally like fiction, except some historical fiction, and classics. I especially like to read about history and archaeology. Every once in a while, usually when the school reading load is heavy, I'll go for some Calvin and Hobbes! :)

I'm pretty involved in ACTION Impact Missions (AIM), a mime and discipleship ministry. The ministry has local teams across the country - including one in Branson - and also sends out mission trips to various parts of the US on a regular basis. I've participated in two mission trips so far (Louisiana '06 and California '07) and am heading out on a third one, to the East Coast, this fall. On the local team, I don't actually do the mime, but I run sound and help teach the mime songs that we present at various venues - patriotic events, youth events, nursing homes, you name it - throughout the community. I'm also a member of the Student Leadership Team (SALTeam), so I have additional responsibility for coordinating Bible studies, mentoring two younger girls (both part of the "discipleship" part of the ministry), as well as helping lead practices and being available to help at presentations and wherever else I'm needed.

I like to listen to Christian music. Some of my favorites (there are many more!) are Avalon, Nichole Nordeman, Bethany Dillon, Chris Tomlin, Geoff Moore and the Distance [disbanded], Chris Rice, ZOEgirl, and Mark Schultz.

If you want to email me, click here. I would love to hear what you have to say!

Favorite Web sites:

thequietone - my blog
Walnuts on My Windshield - Mom's blog
ACTION Impact Missions - mime/discipleship ministry that I'm involved in
FunTrivia.com - addictive trivia quizzes and games
88.3 The Wind - our local Christian music station
Branson Missouri - the latest news on my hometown

And, finally, here are my websites:

Mount Sinai - A few years ago, I did an educational web site for the local homeschoolers' history fair. You can see the site here.
Summerscape - In the summer before my (high school) freshman year, I participated in Summerscape, a summer camp for gifted students. Instead of outdoor activities, I spent six hours a day in classes. For my morning class, I chose web design (see my site). My afternoon class was Digital Art and Design. Some of my work is on this page.
Avalon - One of my current projects is a web site on Avalon. I'm having tons of fun with that!
I also designed a site for a chiropractor friend of ours: http://www.hillfamilychiropractic.com. And, of course, I designed this site, teamroberts.org.

My Writings

National History Day 2006 - On March 14, 2006, I participated in the regional level on National History Day. I entered a paper in the Senior Division. The paper was on Elijah Lovejoy, an abolitionist newspaper editor who was murdered by a proslavery mob in 1837 for the views he published in his paper. The paper won first place! It went on to win fourth place at the state level, and won special prizes for Missouri history and African-American history. Click here to read the paper.

National History Day 2005 - On March 5, 2005, I participated in the regional level of National History Day. I entered a paper in the Senior Division. The paper was on the Navajo Code Talkers. It won first place! It went on to place sixth at the state level. Click here to read the paper. (PDF version also available - 107 KB)

The Price of Freedom: A Cost that Can't Be Counted - I wrote this essay for the Wordsmith essay contest. It won third place! The essay focuses on Nathan Hale, a courageous Patriot spy who died for his country during the Revolutionary War. The essay, along with its footnotes and bibliography, can be viewed here.

This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land - a research paper on eminent domain I wrote for Sonlight. The paper, along with its footnotes and bibliography, can be viewed here.

SPJ Essay Contest - I wrote this 500-word essay for the Society of Professional Journalists High School Essay Contest. (PDF version also available - 23 KB) It placed first at the regional level and won third place at the national level! It was published by two area newspapers: the Springfield News-Leader and the Christian County Headliner News. It was also mentioned by the Joplin Independent (an online-only newspaper) and the University of Missouri Extension service.

Roberts Family Times - Starting when I was 10, I occasionally sent out a newsletter - I called it the Roberts Family Times - to family members and close friends. Here you can find my RFT page, which includes stories from some of the previous newsletters.

Archaeology Challenge - In spring 2004, I did a report for a competition called the Archaeology Challenge, which is kind of like a science fair. To find out more about that, click here. To read the paper, click here.

Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free download, is required to view the PDFs.

This page was last updated on Wednesday, December 26, 2007