I Want To Be A Princess

A cool breeze chills me to the bone as I step out of the car, fall must around the corner. The earlier feelings of anxiety and fear start to take control as I start my trek to class. The air is becoming harder to breathe in as though I am nearing the end of a marathon I have been running. My first class was at the First Nations University. I could remember watching how what had to be hundreds of students march the path each break while we built the new residence. As I was getting closer it became apparent at how enormous the institute actually was. With an

A defining moment is a point at which a situation is clearly seen to start a change. Defining moments can happen at any point in one's life. In class we read multiple of stories with different defining moments. The two that stuck out to me were “ I Want to Be Miss America” and “Here’s Herbie”.

Throughout the last few years there has been a discussion on how Disney Princesses have a negative impact on young girls and their expectations on what lies in their future. Many Disney princess classics, although they are entertaining, send bad messages to young girls and often teach that their worth is more about beauty and less about their intelligence. The “ Disney princess effect” has impacted the way young girls grow and how they look upon their future and happy ending.

Throughout my life, I’ve wanted to be many things. An astronaut, a princess, a doctor, a lawyer, and at one point in my life the president. Now that I am older and much more mature. I still haven’t decided what I wanted to be. When I first started my high school career, I was terrified. I didn’t know what I wanted to be. So I decided to try new things. I’ve been with choir ever since I was in the sixth grade, so I thought I would give it shot, and try something new. I started to take drama and art. I soon found out, that I wasn’t great at either of those things. I had stage fright and I sucked at drawing. But, I didn’t give up. I stayed with choir, drama, art, and basketball. Now that I am a senior and ready to graduate, I have found out I

I was hopeful that the day would be a success. It was the same routine in a new environment. Fortunately, my first day at Larned High School started like every first day before. The principal, Mr. Langdon, gathered all the students and welcomed us into a new school year. His speech filled the room with excitement and optimism for the new year. After the ground rules were set we set forth for our first class. I would never have realized the challenges I would face in Biology. My instructor, Miss Moser, started off the year with a stern no-nonsense policy. Fear swept over the room. For the first two weeks, I did not dare speak, and I did not wish to cause any trouble. As long as I did not say anything I could not be wrong. To start the class, we began reviewing what the class should already know. It was difficult to figure out what I needed to know because she had such high expectations for the class. After the longest hour of my life, the class was finally over. I bolted

My evaluation of the room’s style, was interrupted by a BLASTING surprise: there were 40 energic students amid one substitute teacher: me. A few, but not all, of the students’ hormones ran faster than a New York City freight train.

Every little girl wants to be a Disney princess at some point in their life, I was not different. There’s something about the good heart a princess has and the love she garners, that was special to me. Through the Arteisa Pageant, I have found my chance. I didn't realize that being a princess really did mean you were serving the community, and I wasn’t just a figure. I went out and did many things that have involved serving my community such as painting a house for a resident, handing out candy to kids for Halloween and encouraging literature to be read to children by reading to them at the Artesia library.

Tutoring schedules, behavior sheets, below average practice regents scores, and hundreds of grade print outs flutter away from my backpack. My blood is flowing in like a dam. Tears start to pool in my eyes when I think about all the time and effort used in that assignment. I HAVE TO FIND THAT ESSAY, I internally yelled. My clothes began to stick to my body, as I am drenched in sweat.

My junior year began relatively normal. I was successfully running REACH, the religious club I began, taking on more responsibilities, and even had the standard “OhMyGodWhyAmITakingSoManyAPs” breakdown. But beneath the surface, things were different. My classes were being taught through a rigid curriculum, not offering any time for discussion or input. The vibrant classrooms I had grown to love were now sterile, coated in initiatives from the district. And one morning, almost instantaneously, things began to make sense.

During the time of heat, air conditionings were malfunctioning and teenagers at a high school in Highland Park documented the temperatures in their classroom and ended up with results over 100 degrees. A student, using Twitter tweeted a picture of a classroom with the headlines of 103 degrees. Moments later she tweeted again saying that her class was moved to another room with working air conditioning; and after that, more classes were moved to an auditorium. As this goes on, teachers, staffs, and students were arranged to a more cooler room, in effort to cope with the heat while the district works on a solution.

I may not have a star to grant all of my wishes or a fairy godmother to turn a pumpkin into a chariot. However, what I do have is the ambition, determination, and dedication to build my own chariot, make my own dress, and provide myself with the opportunity for a fairy tale ending. “A dream is a wish your heart makes,” is a popular saying in the Disney culture. Almost every young girl gets caught up with the magical world of Disney. It was a safe haven where I felt I could dream big and believe in a happily-ever-after ending.

The elevator ride took only a couple seconds, and then the doors swooshed open to a dark room and a rush of cold air. There was the smell of must, and something that smelled industrial like gasoline. I could tell we were in a huge space. Aidan and I hesitantly stepped out. Sure we had taken the “Preparing for your BI” class and we had taken all sorts of classes about how to use tablets, but those were all in a classroom. We had never actually been down there. In fact, the general rule from teachers and students who had gone down there was, don’t. I could see why.

Growing up as a little girl, I remember fantasizing myself as a princess. I would spend hours undergoing a fairly god mother transformation. I would put on fake nails, heels, makeup, and put a sparkly dress on. I felt like the world was my kingdom. My mother would look at me and just smile and tell me that I was the most beautiful girl in the world. The encouragement my mother gave me as a young child helped me out with my self-esteem. As I grew up I realized that fantasizing myself to a fictional character would have to end, I grew out of wanting to be a perfect Barbie and learned that we all have imperfections that make us unique. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with a lot of young girls; some of the young girls are put into child pageants to keep on dreaming of becoming a princess or becoming the new next top model.

The first day of school is nerve-wracking for most people, for me, the first day was especially terrifying. The first day of a college class is probably more crazy than all others. My mom and younger sister, Michaela, were busy taking pictures as I attempted to run out of the door. After being homeschooled for the last six years, I knew it would be a much different experience. I had been in my room alone doing school; I was content with where I was. The morning of the first day of class, I was so busy that I didn’t have time to be nervous. However, as I ran out the door, my heart rate elevated to a pace of 138 bpm. I felt older, nervous, excited, and anxious as I left for Pellissippi. Although it had been six years since I had been in a classroom, I realized that all of my worry was for nothing once I walked into Ms. Brown’s class.

My pastime as a child was daydreaming of the countless careers I could achieve. The imaginary future, I formulated for myself, included becoming an actress, lawyer, or a housewife with lots of children. I never became any of those things except for the part of motherhood, which is the greatest lifetime achievement of all. The profession I did choose was a modest one. I became a travel agent who for over twenty years assisted a countless number of people in making unforgettable memories. It was a livelihood where I did not benefit in traveling myself, since for the majority of that era I was a single mother. I spent the first part of my lifespan raising my two daughters practically alone. However, when I read, I used my vivid imagination to travel the world. It is how I discovered a passion for Great Britain and its nineteenth century literature with phenomenal authors such as, Jan Austen and Charlotte Bronte. This passion transformed into a hobby that includes; collecting British themed possessions, nineteenth century collectables, and romance period films. It is a leisure pursuit that I share with my daughters, as we share many other diversions together. In many ways, my childhood ambitions of becoming an important individual came true, for my daughters tell me this every day.