How Ms. Daubendiek Changed My Life

To many freshman the first day of high school is the opening chapter of a new novel, a fresh start to a sometimes embarrassing middle school experience we would all just love to erase from our memories. August 13th, 2012 was the beginning of my four year long narrative at Cypress Bay High School. Despite my desperate desire to grow up, become an adult, and move far away from my parents for college all that did not seem possible because I had never previously attended a public school. I was struck with fear that I would not be able to adjust to the fast pace dynamics of a large high school.

Sophomore year is an in between year. No longer were we freshman, but we did not quite have the pressure of a junior and senior. I came to realize I was not able to be the perfect student, or even the perfect child, I was always perceived to be. Years of being a teacher’s pet made school effortless, I never knew the feeling of getting something wrong. Just like in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” I only fantasised what I thought was real about myself, I was to never present a mistake. I could not mess up for it would mean failure, leading to disappointment. Classes were harder, teachers did not have as close as a personal connection with their students, I struggled with this change. My

Carolina Flores has had an extraordinary experience at Casco Bay High School. She had a passionate smile as she said, “I would redo my four years here again.” Her journey before a CBHS was different. Her 8th grade year everyone kept telling her only weird go to CBHS or it's a hard school. But her mother didn't wanted her to go to Deering High school because her older sister had a horrible experience at DHS. “My older sister didn't want me to same experience as she did in high school,” Carolina said. But right now she is so grateful and thankful for mother forcing her to go Casco. She learned how to come out of her comfort zone, for example, her biggest millstone was being a dj at her 10th grade year for the Halloween dance.

At first, Eubank did not believe her son when he complained about his mean teacher. The staff at the school suggested at her son should take medication because he was not concentrating on class. She took him to get an evaluation at Baylor University, but he was fine. After visiting the school, her eyes were opened by a student who was classmates with her son. Jessica Kelmon, an author for greatschools.org, writes that “the teacher would regularly humiliate him in front of the other students, yelling at him and slamming her hand on his desk (Kelmon).” This fourth-grade teacher is an example as to how much a teacher’s attitude toward the students affects their excitement to learn. When a student is being treated poorly by a teacher, an interesting subject can be ruined for that student.

She was an all honors student and made the honor roll. One of her favorite classes was Biology. She liked it because is was captivating and hands on. Her biology teacher, Mr. Roy, still remains as one of her favorite teachers. He was such a good teacher because he didn’t put a lot of pressure on his students, he made his class fun, and was very laid back. One her clearest memories of high school academics happened in his class. In biology, they often conducted dissections. One day while dissecting eels, (which she wasn’t to keen on doing to begin with), Mr. Roy chased Karen around the classroom with a dead eel for a good five minutes! Another stand out class for her was freshman English. This class is fondly remembered because of the teacher, who made the class fun and really connected with her students, which didn’t happen so much when she was in high school. Some nights, Karen remembers coming home from school, and working on hours of homework until her eyes could hardly stay open, particularly in her junior year, which she claims was the hardest year of high school work wise. Getting good grades and putting in as much effort as possible to all assignments was very important to her. She was determined to graduate high school and go off to college, and she knew that in order to do that, she would need to work

The five-minute warning bell goes off. I rush to my first class of my junior year, eager to see my classmates, who I was going to spend the rest of the 9 months with. I find myself stumbling into a classroom plastered with decorations of Denzel Washington with a Dr. Seuss book in his hand, a t and college flags galore. My AP English 11 class suddenly seemed so appealing to me. As a beautiful, curly haired short lady stood in front of me and said “Welcome to AP English 11,” I knew that I had found a treasure so much greater than just a pretty classroom. Little did I know, that short lady was going to inspire me throughout my challenge filled second-to-last year of high school.

The first year, the time to prove myself had arrived. Classes, rooms, teachers, and some students were unfamiliar. Eventually, minutes melted into hours, hours to days, and days to weeks. It didn’t take long before my schedule was routine, something of second nature. Humor and happiness were found in the form of my advisory family, where school was transformed into something more than going through the same motions of day to day activity. By the closing point of sixth grade, I was having a hard time letting go of what I’d adapted to. “What’s wrong?” my dad asked when I was getting into the car after being picked up early on the last day. I explained how distressed I was that my first year of middle school exceeded my expectations, and that it had to come to an end. Although his outlook viewed my reason for sorrow as trivial, I didn’t.

I am Elisabeth Ocegueda, a freshman at Harrisburg High School with a, hopefully, bright future. When I first met Mr. Hartzler I was a little, lost twelve year old girl in middle school who didn’t quite know were she belonged. Mr Hartzler was one of the first teachers I had come to know that had enough energy to make an English class fun. Mr. Hartzler let me express myself and even though he might not know it, he is one of my favorite teachers because I knew that in contrast to other teachers, he actually cared about me and my future. I was never judged in his classroom and I was slowly but surely able to find myself. Over all, Mr. Hartzler will always be a teacher that I respect and that I will remember for my whole life. Thanks to him, I know who I am and what is right.

Mrs. Wood is the person who has influenced my view of the world. She was my ESL teacher in third grade. I would attend her class for about 3 hours everyday and sometimes even more when the teachers from other classes had no idea what to do with me when I started crying in class. Mrs. Wood was not only my teacher but my counselor. She encouraged me to believe in myself and to always put the best effort in anything I do. Mrs. Wood has impacted my life in a way I want to impact others by

It’s hard to believe that we are actually sitting here in the auditorium for the last time as students of Kheradmand High. But we are! We made it through four years of high school. Now we are teetering on the edge of the rest of our lives, having to grow up and head out into the “real” world. That thought might scare some people, but we are ready. After all, if you decide that you don’t want to be a part of the real world, maybe, you can always come back to Kheradmand High and maybe they will let you be a teacher.

It was mid-morning when I pulled up to school, still wondering if I made the right decision by enrolling. Instead of feeling calm, cool, and collected the only thing arriving early did was increase the feeling of impending doom. My mind was racing a mile a minute. Am I going to be able keep up to the bright minds fresh out of high school? It was time to find out.

When I was in middle school, I truly didn’t care for school. I just thought it was a mandatory part of the everyday adolescent child. I came to school each day dreading the fact that I have to sit for hours and listen to lectures that I thought to myself that I don’t need in the future. It was the beginning of the second semester in eighth grade, I was called in by my advisor. She told me that if I don’t improve my grades, I would have to repeat a grade, and I would have to wait two years until I enter high school. This unnerving fact stopped me in my tracks, and I remember the cold feeling that suddenly surged through my body. There was a possibility that I could fail and repeat a grade. And so I thought to myself, is this really how I want to continue my life? Is

Fear. As I walked into the huge, unfamiliar building of Gibson Southern High School on my first day of freshmen year, I shook with terror. New teachers, new people, new classes, and a new environment that I yearned to explore, but anxiety filled my body. I had previously attended Haubstadt Community School, where I finally felt comfortable and now everything seemed frightening and different. Although my body told me not to, I forced myself to push through the day with a positive attitude. After all, this would be my home for the next four years.

My high school years, unlike the past years of steady achievements, felt much more like a sine graph with ups and downs. To begin with, I conquered my freshman year in a breeze. My easily achievable classes not only earned myself confidence, but also admiration and respect from my classmates and teachers. As a result, I comfortably acclimated myself to the status of a star student.

A very important part of life is education. In order to acquire a satisfying education, one should complete high school prior to college. College and high school have two different levels of education, but both are trying to further student’s knowledge. As recent high school graduates and college freshman’s many can clarify similarities and differences between the two. Some obvious similarities are that both have assignments, classrooms, and students. Although college and high school have many differences three of the main ones are the teachers, classes, and responsibilities.