Captain Whitfield Diary Entries

Growing up in Chicago, I attended a neighborhood school from preschool through first grade. Although it was an exceptional school for elementary kids, the education for middle school and high school students was not as adequate. Seeking a better place to raise their children, my parents were faced with a tough choice. When I was in 2nd grade, our family made the decision to move to the suburbs. On July 3rd, we all packed into our Honda minivan and drove 45 minutes to a new home in the town of Winnetka. Within my first year at Crow Island, my new school, I learned so many new things. I started playing the violin and speaking Spanish, neither of which were offered at my old school. I met my best friends that I'm still close with now. Over the

I can remember sitting in class, feeling eyes burning through me, dodging inquisitive glances from all sides, and anxiously awaiting the bell to ring for lunchtime. As most people know, lunch is the most dreaded part of the first day at a new school. First day of school memories are still fairly vivid for me; my father was in the JAG corps in the Army and my family moved with biannual regularity. In fact, I even attended three different high schools. While this may seem highly undesirable to some, I learned an incredible amount about myself, the world, and other people through moving that I may never have learned otherwise. What I have learned about myself and the world will without a doubt contribute to my success in life and even law

In the days leading up to my school enrollment in high school, I wondered what this new school system would be like and if I could manage to cope and blend in with the rest of the crowd without losing my unique characteristics. Other than that, I was filled with great exuberance beginning to build the foundation of my destined career as a pharmacist at the same time increasing my skills as a woods craftsman.

In other words, I changed myself to fit society’s standards; it wasn’t until the end of my junior year that I realized something that would change the way I saw myself forever. During

One major event that changed my life was when I moved to the U.S. I was attending school in Japan, finishing 5th grade and one day my dad got PCS to Idaho, so my family had to move there. When I heard at we were moving to the America, I was jumping for joy. But I didn’t know any English that time and I couldn’t speak or understand English, so I was worried. When I moved to the U.S I was peeling my eyes and noticed that the place is dry as dust, and the cars in U.S were really big, big as a monster truck. Also, the people were tall as a giraffe. I started middle school in Idaho. The first thing I noticed was people were wearing regular street clothes and had their hair dyed. I was really surprised because back in Japan I was wearing a school

Once I was old enough to scramble along the trails by my own power, my father began taking me to work with him. In those days, he was a state biologist, and by the time I started kindergarten, I had been all over the state hiking, trapping, caving, camping, and generally running as a feral child. School was a change in routine, though on nice days, either one or both

This year’s family vacation was one for the books. With my aunt living in Tennessee, we do not get together as often as we would like so my family decided to go to Nashville, Tennessee. When we started our trip, it was 6 a.m. and it was nothing short of fun and laughter along the way. Never having been to Tennessee before, I figured I’d enjoy the eight-hour ride of sight-seeing and laughter with my family. When we were a few miles into the trip, the mountains of Georgia were breathtaking. While I was enjoying the scenery, another thing that I found enjoyable about this trip was the conversation that I had with my family. We went on talking about life in general, all the struggles, and childhood memories that we had. We even talked about years

It has been 3 months since I came to Oahu to help grandpa. Time flew by so quickly, considering that it seems like it was just yesterday when I left you in Maui. I grew 2 inches and became way more tan since I came here; you wouldn’t recognize me if you saw me right now. I miss you terribly and I really hope I go back soon. The work here is tedious, and requires a lot of manual labor. The weather is seems to be a lot more hotter here than in Maui, though. And yesterday, I saw a strange thing happening. In the harbor, a gigantic ship pulled in, and people who were as white as the sand began coming out of it. I wondered what it was, and when I asked grandpa, he said they were here to catch whales. I didn’t want them to, because I didn’t want

Who would have known traveling could be such a hassle? Especially when moving from Wilson, North Carolina to boring Goldsboro. Especially when having strict parents, an annoying sister, a spoiled brother and an innocent me stuffed in a van, just to move only 26.4 miles. Moving cannot be that dreadful, I tried considering to myself. Making new friends and memories are not the worst thing in the world. There was only one slight problem …school. It was fall of third grade and everything was different. From math to English to science, concepts were thrown at me that I was so sure that I had never seen at my previous school. So at first sight of trouble, I turned to my parents, but only to end up with a frustrated me and a very agitated mother.

Change has always been a part of my life. One of the biggest changes happened when I was 15 years old. I started to think of college in my last years of middle school. Until then College was someone else’s reality. Not many people from my community attended college. They felt that their futures were supposed to be spent being a clerk or fisherman. The change happened on a trip to visit mainland college towns, explore possibilities beyond the islands cultural landscape

McFadden was in Polish grammar school. It was taught in English, but there was also a Polish language class. When she moved to Japan (1949), the school was on the army base called Camp Crawford, and it was on the island of Hokkaido. The classroom that she was in had both seventh and eighth graders. Kindergarten through twelfth grade were in the same school building. Her class did a lot with the high schoolers. She had her freshman year of high school in Georgia. She had her last three years at a Catholic high school in Worcester, MA. She then attended the college of New Rochelle. In addition to that, she also went to New York

“Are we there yet?” my brother whined. My mom replied, “Almost”. Finally, after three hours in the car I can get out and stretch my legs. When I open the car door I am overwhelmed by the smell of salt. “We’re here!” my dad cheers. Everyone is mingle ing and having side conversations; catching up on what’s been happening the past year. It’s nice to see my relatives again.

“We’ll all have water, ma’am, thank you very much.” My mother replied before any of us could. That kind of bugged me. I could have gone for a nice cold cola, to soothe my aching throat. I know, the reason we’re moving down here in the first place is because we were tight on money, and couldn’t afford our rent. I sat there quietly, looking at my 10 year old sister, and 7 year old brother. They looked as if they were about to cry, but were too sad. I couldn’t stand to see them like this so I tried to cheer them

When I think about an event that sticks out in my mind as one that was very important in my life, I think about changing schools in the seventh grade. About halfway through my middle school career, I became very unhappy at my school and with life in general. Upon discussing with my parents, we made the decision that I would switch schools and embark on a new journey in hopes to appease my unhappy soul. At first, I felt as if a new school would not help; little did I know what a profound change it would have on my life.

Looming in front of me was something new, a fresh start. Despite being this, it seemed cold and trying, something that sent shivers down my spine. Mixed emotions of uncertainty and optimism had filled my first day of middle school; and as my final year is drawing to a close, I realize that this place-this transitional time in my life- is something that I never want to leave. I created a home away from home, and a family, over the short three years spent learning here. Each school year, from first to concluding, brought new experiences in which have altered my life. These are the things that I am hoping to carry over into high school-my next chapter. Every experience in which middle school has brought leaves me changed indefinitely, shaped for the future ahead.