Growing Up Into Middle School

Transitioning from middle school to high school now college. Hardships and victories I have experienced it all. I have gone from the shy student to one of the most involved and active student in my school.

Before the first grade, we moved around a few times before ending up here in Sylvania. As a child, both my parents worked full time jobs and I was always at after school day cares or at my grandparents houses, never really got to spend a lot of time with friends or was able to socialize with many people. So growing up most of my time was spent with my brother and I thought nothing of it. As I grew up I began to realize that I had become stuck in some bad habits. My brother and I weren't asked to help around the house much but when we were we never listened. But to my surprise there were no consequences for our disobedience. At the time I thought I had it good. Around the time I got too middle school I began to realize the problem. I began

Middle school is known as a time to mature for high school. For me, there were many changes I underwent after coming to the middle school.

Once again I found myself at the bottom of the food chain entering 5th grade. I had just moved back to Eureka as my mom realized she wanted to be closer to family, and I remember how scared I was. I came in the middle of the school year yet again, so there I sat in the library as I waited for my teacher to come grab me. I remember seeing familiar faces from the prior year pass by me on their way to first hour. I waited patiently, still no teacher had come to claim me for their homeroom. I realized I had been forgotten. What a great way to start off the new year... not. Finally a teacher came and got me and laughed about the fact that I was forgotten, which I failed to find as funny as she did but oh well. Looking around my homeroom I anticipated seeing all the same faces, quickly I noticed that there were A LOT of new faces,

As I went through 1-9 grade school I finally found grit. Going to St. Mary’s during 1-6 grade school getting up at 6:30 every morning just wanting to hit the snooze button so I could get that extra hour of sleep in. After getting ready for school, I would get on the bus, three stops later we would pick up these annoying foster kids that gave me a headache every day because they would shut their mouths that I would have to push through school with. Then building up all the energy sitting in 1-2 classrooms the whole day waiting for recess so I could let it all out. Since I pushed through those challenges, I was able to move on to middle school. During my two years of middle school three out of the five days of school, I would get up at 5:30 and

I remember when it was time to go from being a 12 year old 6th grader, to a 12 year old middle schooler with a lot more responsibilities than I was used to having. I had to make sure all my homework was done on time (It took me awhile to get the idea of no late homework hammered into my head), asked for help when I needed it the teacher wasn’t going to help as much as the elementary teachers would do unless I asked, with asking for help was a lot harder than I thought it would be everyone was confused too, after awhile the teacher finally got tired of running around the room jumping from student to student, marched up to the front of the class and wrote on the board of how to do a certain assignment.

Growing up in a city like Reading is not easy on any child, especially when you are the minority. This city is composed of 87,893 people, and of these people only twenty nine percent of them are Caucasian. Over half of the people living in our city are Hispanic, making up fifty nine percent of the population. Being part of the twenty nine percent can make a child feel different or left out while they are growing up. Children strive to make friends and to fit in with other kids their age. In my case it was not always the easiest because of a cultural barrier, or even a language barrier. Starting school is a scary for everyone, everyone fears the unknown. But when you enter school into a classroom full of people unlike yourself, is when the nerves really set in.

An additional life changing experience such as a school transition can cause more distress in the students’ lives (Blythe et al., 1983; Gonzales et al., 2004). Low income underrepresented students are two times as likely in reading, and three times in mathematics, to underachieve when compared to their wealthier peers (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2005). Researchers have shown that these students’ academic achievement in reading and mathematics declined after transitioning to middle school (Alspaugh & Harting, 1995; Midgley et al., 2002). Ultimately, transitioning from elementary to middle school can result in negative academic and societal outcomes for low income disadvantaged students during and beyond middle school if

Middle school was a drastic change in my life. In elementary school I didn't have to worry about wearing makeup or what I wore but once I entered middle school, it all changed. The classes became harder, the testing became more frequent, the teachers started to care less, and having to change classes every hour and a half was very confusing.

In my whole life there was only two time that I didn’t belong. The first time I felt that way was when I switch middle school. The second time was when start a summer program in CSULA called STEP.

Everybody has their breaking points. At a young age I was forced to endure mine; only to find that there wasn’t much of a break, but more of a point. With puberty, came a variety of changes: physically, mentally, and perspectivally. As a child, sexual abuse is not fathomable for many, and in most cases, are utterly traumatizing. Entering middle school in the midst of the abuse brought countless days and nights dedicated to realizing the situation that I was in was, indeed, perpetually toxic and morally wrong. Although this was a traumatic experience, I chose, with great pride, to discuss my knowledge that I acquired during this time.

I worked at Fairview gardens in Sauk Rapids until they closed for the year and i will continue working there after school ends. Fairview Gardens is a floral nursery and at my time working there I learned allot about plants and enjoy gardening during some of my freetime. Something interesting about me is that i'm a vegetarian, i've been a vegetarian for half a year now. I also enjoy volunteering at the saint cloud hospital during summers. Working there taught me how to be mindful of others, good work ethic and many more.

6th grade became the worst year of my life. My step-dad called me a piece of shit that year. I had maybe 5, 6 friends. 7th grade was a great year for me, which allowed me to become more vulnerable and naive than I already was. Then came 8th grade, which became(very quickly) a year worse than 6th grade. Not only did I have the same amount of friends as 6th grade, my teachers treated me like I was an abomination, a retard. Well, not all the teachers, just the male teachers. All of my female teachers treated me nicer by comparison, although one lost my homework and blamed it on me even though I handed it in on time and where the homework was supposed to go. I still won’t get credit for it. Once, a teacher assumed I made myself sick and leave home early to avoid a test and called me dumb. As the class ended we were supposed to finish writing in class. He took away some of the time I needed to make up that same test to finish it. When I finished it, he yelled at me calling me stupid and let me leave to make up that test. As I was taking it, he tried talking to my science teacher to prevent me from making it

I was ten years old when middle school first began for me at the Dr. An Wang Middle School in Lowell, Massachusetts, and already, I was excited for a new school year with new people, new teachers, and new friends. Sadly though, I never could have expected what the real turn out for me at that school was, and in truth, it was harsh, and cruel bullying. Mostly, the beginning of the year was fine for me, and everything seemed pretty normal, but as kids became more comfortable in the new school, they also became meaner. One rainy morning in October, a group of eight or nine kids decided to play a game with me, and because I was the shortest, and the chubbiest, they thought it would be funny to lock me outside of the school in the pouring rain. I tried getting in, and banging on the windows, but nothing would ever happen.

During my time at Junior High i’ve always had things come so easy to me, and I loved it. I would get decent grades without having to study for the tests, the homework was straightforward, and the teachers loved me. Being the average know-it-all child I was, I thought this would’ve carried out into high school. I spent my freshman year struggling because I didn’t quite understand that yet. It wasn’t until my second semester of sophomore year I finally made a change, and it showed a considerable amount. I kept the ambition up throughout my junior year, received a job as a CNA, and stayed busy managing wrestling.