Graduation Speech : My Experience Essay

    Freshman year was dreadful. Simply standing up in front of the class was too close to an impossibility. I didn’t know who I was, or what I wanted to be, so I did whatever I could to seamlessly blend into the passing crowd. When I think back to those times, I just get… well… uncomfortable. About halfway into the school year, though, I was brought a Diversity Team meeting at school. Instantly, I felt comfortable and safe in the environment it provided. I had yet to come out of my shell, but I had

Growing up I was known to be a very shy child. I was too scared to talk to anyone and I was very reserved. I always have cared about what people thought about me. I didn’t want to wear “boy” clothes because I worried kids would make fun of me. I didn’t even make close friends until fifth grade. When I did finally feel comfortable at school and found amazing friends, I decided to switch schools shortly after for a chance at new opportunities. It lead me to standing alone in a crowded high school while I waited for that first bell to ring, so I could head to my first period class.

It was all downhill from elementary school. No, my grades didn’t drop and I didn’t become a street rat, but socially, junior high single handedly ruined my social life. But from before I even stepped foot on the premises, I was destined to an awkward, mute, and sidelined three years: seventh grade, eighth grade, and freshman year. My elementary school, Central Road, was made up of two groups of kids, those who would go to Carl Sandburg, and those who would go to Plum Grove; and my tight knit group of friends would be cut in half when it came time for the split. Although there was more than 100 students who would be moving on to one of these schools, I was one of only 20 who would be attending Plum Grove starting in the fall. Of course, my

I never thought I would be labeled an outsider, a misfit even. As I trudged my way through the halls of my small town high school, I would endure the gazing pairs of eyes, that belonged to my peers, followed by whispering and often times some laughter. I always used zone out during those repetitive speeches and commercials about the effects of gossiping and rumors; never did I imagine that one day I would be on the receiving end of of the everyday potshot. Growing up I was always the center of attention, the one everyone yearned to be friends with, never was I the antisocial child in the corner with nowhere to turn… not until high school. They say high school changes you. They say high school accounts for some of the greatest years of

Walking into school on my first day of high school, I felt out of place. My face covered in acne, my teeth covered in braces, and the callicks in my hair stuck up through the abnormally thick layer of hair gel that coated them. My middle school social anxiety still ruled over me as I could barely speak with any member of the opposite sex. Yet, I still had an odd confidence about me. I had always been one of the best students in my class, even without ever studying for a test. I viewed high school as a slight uptick from the curriculum I had easily passed in middle school. I was wrong. High school exists as a microcosm of society, in which I originally failed to acclimate myself to the challenges posed to me in a setting of increased

Let’s jump ahead again, this time to my first day of school. Morris Knolls High School is one of the top high schools in the US. Their curriculum is rigorous and their standards are sky high. Also, this was a completely new environment for me. I didn’t know how high school worked and this wasn’t the type of town I was used to. Living in suburbia and attending a school with different demographics than I was used to scared me. I now lived 30 minutes away from everything I grew up around. But the thought of having a fresh start excited me. No one knew me, I was a nobody and therefore free to completely change myself.

For four long years I felt as if my high school was in a different world in of itself. I had spent that time interacting with an extensive amount of groups, or “cliques”, and getting to know what they do. Through my experiences, I had begun to realize what made this “subculture” high school of sorts run like it did. High school is an incredibly dynamic time for people, and I had changed as a person dramatically from my freshman to senior year. Like many, my freshman year was quite awkward, as remnants of my middle school self remained with me. As time went on, how, I talked to more people and grew out of my passive and shy personality. This did not just randomly happen without reason though. I began to learn and realize who I was and whom I enjoyed talking to in school, which explained why I spent so much time socializing with multiple kinds and groups of people. Everyone’s concept of “normal” was different, and high school was where I learned that lesson and will never forget.

Now, I am doing well, feeling challenged in my classes and have a lot of lectures who truly do care about their students. I am on a campus that offers the help I need when things get rough. It took a lot of time and years of struggling, but I made it through. Even though I hated high school and all the I experienced in those years, I’m thankful that I had those experiences to help me get to where I am now. A lesson to my teenage self: You’ll find yourself looking back on experiences when things didn’t work out and saying, “That is who I was, and this is who I am now.” High school isn’t for everyone, and it certainly wasn’t for me — but without the experience, I wouldn’t be where I am

“Back to the old grind” I said to myself as I started my third year at Lake View Christian School. Being there was only one class per grade you were with the same people every year. For, me in that case I was the only nerd in the class. It was like being Einstein with a class of NFL players. That is except my best and slightly nerdy friend Shawn. It was okay for the past few years. I never got bullied or teased, but also no one was like me. But at the end of the day I was happy I had at least one friend. That is until that unfortunate September day.

It was August and school was just around the corner. I was going to be a freshman that year. It wouldn’t be too bad if I hadn’t just moved to the west side of Cleveland. Once again, I was going to be a new kid, but I guess we all were because we were freshmen. Later I found out that the school I would be attending, John Marshall High School, was a 9th grade academy. They separated us from the upperclassmen because the High School wasn’t big enough. Construction workers were in the process of building the new high school that year, so that grades 9-12 could be together. We were placed in an old middle school, it sucked! I wanted the real high school experience, but in this situation, I still felt like a child.

     Once my family and I arrived at our new house I was still very saddened because of the move and had trouble not getting mad at my parents. Summer went bye like it wasn’t even there and by the time school started I was very depressed. The new school I was going to was Naperville North High School which was about ten times the size of my old school in Pennsylvania in size and in the number of students. In my school in Pennsylvania there were about twelve students in each class, here the number runs around thirty two. The school building was so big I had a lot of trouble getting to class on time let alone finding them in the building. The school wasn’t what I was bothered by the most because it was the fact that I didn’t have any social life and I was a social person. There were a lot of different groups of people at my new high school, it was tough for me to fit in and meet new people. Everyone just knew me as the new kid and didn’t even bother to find out what my real name was. The first

Starting off my high school career at McAdory High School I was accustomed to not saying a word to anyone and avoiding people as much as possible. Although McAdory had excellent staff and teachers the same could not have been said about the student body. Struggling with shyness brought on by constant bullying, as well as problems elsewhere, I quickly fell through the cracks in an unmotivated state where I stopped caring about school and my grades. I was never able make friends, and would go straight home to play games as those were my escape. Struggling daily I fought to keep myself from breaking down, and instead of being destroyed by all of the bad that surrounded me I wanted to show everyone who had

When I walked that day into the school, I felt hatred from the surroundings. Teachers, students, and counselors looked at me like I’m the enemy. It wasn’t literally that, but that’s what I sensed. My experience in the Elementary school and in the middle school was daunting. I wasn’t a student that wanted to learn, educate, and enhance. School was a nightmare for me. I hated to go there nor even do anything that is related to it; It didn’t mean anything to me. I lacked improvement, and self-assurance, because I used my life for joyfulness and dissipate. The absence of good grades made my relations with everyone defective and I didn’t feel jubilant with it, until that day came.

Graduation is an exciting time in a person’s life, especially a high school graduation. When I think of family and friends gathering together to celebrate a joyous occasion, I feel I accomplished my strongest goal. It never occurred to me that graduation would be the end of my youth and the start of adulthood. Graduating from high school was an influential event that gave me an altered outlook on my existence. Life before graduation, preparing for graduation day, and commencement day overwhelmed me for reality.

Freshman year I remember walking into the school mortified, thinking that everything and anything that could go wrong would. I had never attended a Liberty-Benton School and knew about five people that would be in my grade. I was shy and quiet because I didn’t know any of the new faces. I was insecure about myself and thought that it would be almost impossible to make friends. Before high school, I went to a small, private,