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Elementary School Autobiography

Decent Essays

Imagine me at the start of elementary school. A five-year-old wallflower. Somehow, in a class of 12 kids, I managed to isolate myself. I was always alone in a crowded room. I watched, I listened, I got to know my peers, on a deeper level than just their names, but to them I was only “Rachel,” an enigma.
As time went on, I watched my classmates form friendships. They talked at lunch, played at recess, and hung out after school. And where was I in this idyllic portrait of an elementary school society? Removed from it; the eternal spectator. Soon I came to realize the name of the force that was holding me back: shyness. Once it had a name, I was able to work on it. I got to a point where I had some friends and was comfortable around the other kids at school. Had I conquered my shyness? No. But I was closer than ever before. It felt like I had climbed a mountain to get to where I was. Then middle school came, with 135 new faces, then high school with 360 more, and each time it felt like I had reached the summit only to find an entire mountain range lying ahead of me. …show more content…

It’s huge, and also, shyness peaks around late middle school. Among seventh and eighth graders, kids who are soon to start high school, 54% label themselves as shy. This is problematic because it means that over half of North’s incoming freshmen have “the tendency to be tense, worried, and awkward during social interactions with strangers.” It’s doubtless that this carries on into sophomore year for many of us. We can’t enjoy school to its fullest if we constantly feel uncomfortable surrounded by hundreds of new

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