My Experience In High School

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.

Experiencing High school is where it all began for me. Of course my middles school teachers tried to make us all feel as if high school was going to be hard and a bit scarey, but it wasn’t until I was ending tenth grade and the beginning eleventh grade when i started feeling that way. I had an idea of what my future wanted to look like but didn’t know how or if I could get there, until I took a class called PFM (Personal Financial Management). My experience taking PFM taught me why i needed to get serious about what today millennials call “adulting”.

The day I left home for the first time to start Junior High was a bright day, brimming with hope and optimism. I’d always done well at school, so expectations for me were high, and I had gleefully set foot into a new chapter of student life, relationships and experiences. Now appearances, of course, can be deceptive, and to an extent, this spirited and energetic persona of mine had only been a veneer, although a very convincing one. The truth is underneath of it all, I was deeply unhappy, insecure and fundamentally frightened-- frightened of other people, of the future, of failure, and of the emptiness that I felt was within me. Despite all of this, I was very skilled at hiding it, and from the outside I appeared to be someone with everything to hope for and aspire to. This fantasy of invulnerability was so complete that I had even deceived myself, and by the end of the first year, no one could’ve predicted what was about to happen.

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.

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

High School is a place where “ if opportunity doesn’t knock build a door.” . For many of us, high school is that daunting step where students go from a small fish in a small pond, to a slightly larger fish in a much bigger pond. It explains that how students start their career from “a small fish” meaning in the first year they are very new to high school, they have plenty of new and great things to learn and also many more ways to go through in their life. They will face some problems, will go through some positive and maybe some bad experiences, and also understand the importance of study. From these experiences everyday they grasp learning power. As they go further, they learn many things, which are interesting and beneficial to them with their career or future. I had to transition from 600 students k-8 to 3,200 students in high school.

When I first enrolled high school, I was following the current I didn’t have a plan for college or understand what I was going to do with my life. I had a challenging background when it came to academics; my scores were always “alright” but were never enough for Advance Placement courses. Constantly schoolteachers belittled me believing I wasn’t meant for learning. After hearing this I wanted to create a structured path that I could be proud of. I thought I wasn’t going anywhere in life until I challenged myself academically for a better future.

Starting in my eleventh-grade year of high school I never knew all the changes I would go through. I attended Chickasaw High School in Chickasaw, AL. It was a little school, which had about five hundred students in total. I did not live in Chickasaw like all the other kids. I lived about twenty minutes away in Mobile, AL with my dad and stepmom. I went to this school because my stepmom (LaRae) was a teacher there. Also, I was like most girls in high school, I had a high school sweetheart named Michael Matthews. I thought my eleventh-grade year of high school was going to be a great and memorable experience until I found out some horrible news.

High School was difficult for me I will admit. I went through a lot of change in my life and I had a hard time adjusting to new environments. I tried hard though and I realized my own strengths and shortcomings. One Of the hardest things to adjust to was the acceptance of choosing whether I wanted a social life or a school life. I couldn’t correctly balance work between friends. My struggle occurred throughout my entire high school career. Even to this day I have a hard time. I wanted to feel apart and be considered the nice and fun one of the group. I wanted to be invited places even though I knew the truth was I wouldn’t be allowed to go. My social life in eleventh grade was hard. I didn’t hang out very often and I secluded myself. I look back on that year and regret nothing though. It made my 12th grade year so much easier. I don’t remember the class I took or the name of one eleventh grade teacher; Although, they were a huge inspiration to me. They told me that I wouldn’t regret my effort in twenty years, I would regret not trying hard enough. That was scary for me. Everybody says “You only live once” and they’re right. I won’t judge others people's decisions but I only have one time to make it big. The only way I will make it to where I want to be is if I do it myself. As much as I hated that year, I loved the results. I aced my PSATs and made it as one of the finalists. I remember that moment when I found out. I was so excited. I didn’t make first or even top ten but I

At the beginning of semester, I was not sure if the course was going to be enjoyable. There were some classes where I thought I had already learned some of the lectures in High School. I asked myself many times, “Why is this course required?” However, as the semester went by, I sort of started to understand the reason for the course. I had never attended college before, and I didn’t really know what certain things were,for example, Financial Aid. The topic time management was also influential across the semester. Learning a little more about my personality was also something that was influential across the semester.

Of all the things I struggled with while growing up, school wasn’t one of them. The classroom was like a second home to me; everything, from the sights (desks in neat rows, spotted multicolored linoleum), to the sounds (chalk against the blackboard, shrieks on the playground), and even the smells (a combination of glue, disinfectant, and wet paper towels) wrapped me in a cocoon of comfort and familiarity. I enjoyed doing assignments, and getting to know new teachers. Purchasing new school supplies felt like a second Christmas.

I remembered the first day I started high school, I was so nervous. As a kid I always remember I would have an anxiety problem for almost every little thing. I wake every morning feeling nauseated even though there was nothing to worry about because I mean after all it was just school. Honestly I guess I felt like that because I care so much about what other people would think or say about me. I remembered thinking damn, I just got out of middle school here goes another 4 long year of school. It was just extremely frustrating but what I didn’t know was that those years would go by so fast. After all, like everyone says, a lot happens in 4years. On my first day everything was going fine. I had made new friends, so far I liked all my teachers, and I got into this Culinary Arts class that I didn’t even know I was going to liked, I learned so much in Culinary. Everyday I would go in excited to see what I would learn the next day. I even started helping my mom cook, I learned so much in a gnomish time that’s when I discovered I had a passion for learning how to cook. I can honestly say I’m so glad I got into that class because now I know how to cook a little bit of Italian thanks to my godfather who is an excellent chef in New York City. I learn a lot from my mother who I’m forever thankful I just don’t tell her as much. Thanks to her I learn how to cook almost all kinds of Mexican food, I learn how to be a little more responsible, I getting into finishing my Diploma.

Maybe it was the thought of what people felt about me, or the way I felt their glare on my back as I walked past a group of people. It could also have been the way that people stopped talking as I got closer to them and all that gave them away was the accusatory look in their eyes. The tables had turned suddenly letting me with no choice but to experience the way that other half lived. Living as a socially awkward student was difficult, but living amidst all the flying rumors was close to impossible. That fall was a life lesson that made me appreciate the friends I had and humbling me to see past the materialism that existed in the school to the vanity of it all.

Until the summer of my sophomore year, I was unquestionably shy. I was the kid whose raised hand lifted four inches off the table and who slouched over her sketches of strangers. That summer, I was forced to change.

On a chilly, fall day, I ran out of my high school so that I could reach my car quickly and avoid the after-school traffic, as it was essential that I hurry so that I could arrive at work on time. Being that this day was only my fourth day, I desperately wanted to be on time. Before me stood a tall building, a nursing home, Epworth Manor. Since working there, I had built close relationships with the residents, and as an activities aide, my job was to brighten their days. This job was so important to me, for I felt as though I was honestly making a difference in the lives of the elderly, despite the significant age difference between us.