My Experience After High School

Music has always been a part of my life. There has never been a time in my life that I haven’t been a part of a musical performing group. Between church choir, band, choir and show choir, I’ve found a way to fully immerse myself into music.

I would like to pretend that the bridge between elementary school and high school did not exist for me—that junior high just did not happen. I was a seemingly thoughtless kid, determined to make it out of school entirely and live in my own world where nobody could tell me what to do. I was awkward, irrational, and rebellious, three qualities I cannot thank my parents enough for dealing with. But the experiences and people I encountered in my junior high years almost made that whole chapter of my life worth reliving. I went through a lot in junior high, and have many memories of ridiculous instances that make it easy to make fun of myself.

Each year of school you meet new people and experience new lessons. The school year comes with many hardships and downfalls, but it also comes with some good times. For me personally, freshman year was the not only the toughest year of school to get good grades, it also had some of my most traumatizing life experiences and lessons. Freshman year was not all bad though. For example, I met many new people that I cherish dearly in life and made solid relationships with new friends, teachers, and coaches. Ninth grade is the foundation for the rest of your high school career, so I tried my best to succeed not only inside the classroom, but also outside of the classroom, and I think I achieved my goal.

My high school years were enjoyable and they were the best years of my life. I was in a class of about eighty and I could call every one of them my brothers. Although I had a great time outside the classroom, I slacked off during my high school years and did not do the best I could have. I regret not taking full advantage of my high school and I miss those years more than any other period of my life. Academically, high school was a rough time for me. Battling with ADHD over the years was very normal to me, but it constantly got in the way of my schoolwork and caused countless daily distractions. Along with my ADHD, anxiety has also been a large issue for me. I am constantly worrying about things in the future that are not important

As much as I would like to claim that today was a regular day, it wasn't. With me getting ready for my college applications and personal essay, I had a lot on my mind, and the last thing I needed was another confused teammates adding to my worries. Sitting on the bleachers and I quietly working my outline for my college essay, my little cousin ran into the gym crying. We, the Obi, prided ourselves on being manly, smart, pride, understanding and thick-skinned and there was only one thing that could make him cry, and that was him getting taunted about his accent.

I spent most of my elementary at what I think is an old run down school called Greeley Grade. I loved going to school there because the classes were small and everyone knew everyone which could be bad at times. I enjoyed all the teachers and staff members because they cared so much about each and every person. One thing I loved the most about being a small school is that I felt like I was able to learn more and be more myself than I have ever been. I also like that the teachers could have more time to spend with you to make sure you know what you need to. Everyone there respected each other and helped everyone out. At the high school we have a teacher for every specific job, a para that goes certain places, and nobody goes to another class to help any other teacher out. At Greeley Grade that is what we did, helped each other out. We had a cook that was also a para that worked with students, teachers helped other kids with work for anything, and everyone knew we could rely on each other for everything. I felt more like I was home and welcomed more at Greeley and maybe that is just because I was there for so long. I am not saying that Greeley was the perfect school but I definitely liked it there. It is an easier transition from elementary school to the high school if you went to an elementary school with fifty or so kids in your class, but it is difficult when you go from fifty kids in your whole school to fifty kids just in your grade. My sixth grade year I did decide to go

I, in most respects, am a perfectly normal teenager. On any given day, you can find me laid across my best friend’s bed, homework in tow, munching on junk food and chatting about the latest gossip. If I’m not there, you might be able to find me curled up in bed, binge-watching the latest shows on Netflix. My weekends are filled to the brim with shopping and team spirit, as my friends and I cheer on our football team under those bright Friday night lights. All of this combined presents a vignette of the typical high school girl. However, my high school experience has been anything but typical, as I have spent the last year and a half of my life attending high school on a college campus.

When I was in sixth grade I found myself already set on what I would do with my life after high school. I would serve the greatest country in the world as a U.S. Marine. This idea to be a soldier was always there, I don't know why but it was. The idea of serving my country and giving back to all the people who gave to me has always been appealing. In return of what they did for me, I would give my life. Little did I know how much work it would be to get there. Six years later and here I am getting ready to live out my dream. At the end of my Junior year I got the opportunity to join the Delayed Entry Program, which is basically early enlistment. Now that my senior year is here the date of me shipping out is less than a year away. I must take every chance I can get to prepare for boot camp and the life challenges ahead. That’s where P.T. comes in. P.T. is set up to get you prepared both mentally and physically for boot camp. I understood the point but I never realized how mentally prepared you need to be. After my first day of school, I underwent intense P.T. Before an hour drive to Denver we stopped by the recruiters’ office in Greeley. There we had to sign papers waving the Marines responsibility for us. If we were to get hurt or die, then oh well you signed the paper. I questioned my decision to go at this point, wondering how demanding the P.T. would be. That night, me and other recruits stayed the night in the Marine headquarters. There isn’t much to tell about that

When I was 5 years old, my mom and dad introduced me to the word “school”. They told me how important school was for everyone and how important it was to do be good at it. Recalling the first years of education is difficult for me, but I could only imagine how weirded out I was when I had to get up early in the morning, ride in a big yellow vehicle for around 15 minutes and get dropped off at a place that was unknown, filled with hundreds of others around the same age as me. Remembering the 6 years of elementary is fairly hard, but I do recall the memorable years of middle school. I had a ton of exciting moments in middle school, seeing my school district’s high school basketball team win our division state tournament and bringing home the gold ball, receiving recognition for completing middle school, and other great memories. The more I got older, the more I thought what I wanted to be as an adult, and going through high school really showed me some extraordinary things I could do with my life, but after walking down the aisle along with my classmates, I thought that this was the end of my education and I would move onto working the rest of my life. My parents though, had another idea, college. My first thought on college was questioning myself and my parents on how I could possibly put myself through more years of education after high school, but I made the decision, and now that I actually am at the collegiate level the answer is clear. If I want to be successful

When I spot palm trees appearing as I’m coming down south from the north, that’s when I know I’m in the Rio Grande Valley. The sight of the palm trees reassuring me that I’m close to home. Weslaco, Texas is a town close to the border that separates the United States and Mexico. The region where people fill the air with the Spanish language. The schools that I’ve attended from the Weslaco Independent School District has provided me great lessons academically and in the real world. Throughout my elementary, middle, and high school years, I've learned the importance of becoming successful.

Throughout my years in preschool, primary and elementary, middle school, and high school, hands-on learning and the relationships I’ve formed with teachers and classmates have made my education effective and fun, forming me into the student and person I am now.

It all started in Junior High. Before then I was just a normal everyday kid attending eighth grade. Hyper and careless. I had no worries and I lacked motivation in school, even during classes I would not listen to the teacher. But It all changed during my ninth grade year in school. In my course of the school year I started to become more aware of myself and other people around me. Peoples opinions and what they thought of me started to matter a lot. This caused me to become self conscious and shy around new people. It was hard for me to start conversations with new people, and because of that I did not make many new friends. I later realised that I had social anxiety and it would not get better anytime soon. Because following that year my family decided to move somewhere new. I was transferred to a new school with new teachers,new faces, and a new environment. I would be entering the scary unknown all by myself. My first day in the new High School was extremely scary. I did not know anyone or how to find all my new classes. The school’s hallways were cramped of the students talking loudly and slowly shuffling their way to class. My body was shoved up against other people's sides while I was looking around frantically trying to find the correct room number.The hallways were white and narrow as the flow of the students pushed me down the hallways. In my first class I had to introduce myself to the class as the new kid. Introducing myself nervously to the in the front of the

One of the most successful experiences I have had in my previous years in school was taking nine science credits in four years. This might not sound like much of an accomplishment, but when you consider that the requirement to graduate from most schools is three it takes on a little more weight. The reason I did this was that I want to be a doctor and that drives me to learn as much about science as I can. My top strength from the Gallop test was empathy, this helped me to get nine science credits in that my empathy partly drives my desire to be a doctor. While taking the science classes taught me a lot that will be helpful in my profession, it also taught me how to study and manage my time wisely.

I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when my family would ask me “So are you ready for high school?”. They would ask It with such enthusiasm my immediate response always happened to be a yes. I just thought of course I’m ready it’s just another step closer to growing up It couldn’t be that big of a change. When I look back at that now I can’t help but to see how naive I was for thinking It would be such a piece of cake, that I would come out being the same person I was before I started. I know now that without my high school experience I wouldn’t be the person I am today, and so for that very reason I am thankful.

Sixth grade seem like a century ago, yet I still have vivid sometimes frightening memories of that wretched year. I still remember the day we learned about Idioms. How amazing it was to my sixth-grade mind that I could use these unusual phrases to describe what I was experiencing. Today I will use my most valuable sixth grade English skills and pair my favorite idiom to my experiences.