My Experience In High School

The high school experience is something you'll never forget, even after graduating onto college and other careers. Toll Gate High School is a place where you learn who you are as a worker, but mostly as a person. Being in high school entails that teachers aren’t always going to be there to help with every situation or problem and that you have to fend for yourself with the large workload. This to me, was my wakeup call into true independence. Having independence is finally realizing that you are capable of doing things on your own without having somebody watching over you the entire time. After the eighth grade, I came to this realization. Whether the teacher was teaching the alphabet in kindergarten or teaching formal essays in eighth grade, I have always had teachers that would figuratively hold my hand with my work. I became so used to the fact that teachers would give me so much time for everything, that once I went to high school it just hit me. I have realized that I am fully capable of doing this, and the feeling of confidence turning in a report or paper will be genuine because it will be my accomplishment.

I never expected I’d spend the first two years of high school bedridden and suicidal. I was born and raised in Elmhurst, Queens. Attending the same school from kindergarten to 8th grade, I was used to being in the same environment. I was given assurance when my friends consistently told me that I was lucky and that I would be able to adapt to high school life fairly quickly — I was the outgoing one, the one who made everyone laugh.

I walk into a new place where I have never been before trying to find where i’m going next. I struggle to look for my friends in a commons area full of people. It doesn't help that my eyesight is very poor. I start walking straight into the commons in hopes to find someone. I finally find a group full of familiar people who had graduated two years ago from the school I went to. I go up to them and ask them where my classes are, if i have good teachers, and if anybody has the same classes that i do. Unfortunately none of them did but as i spot my better friends i say goodbye and head away from them. I walk up to my best friends alec and tyler they tell me “Gracie there's nothing to worry about, its college!” I figure that they are right but that doesn’t change the fact that it was only my first day and i had no idea who anybody was here. I was scared, i knew it was going to be way harder than high school. Both alec and tyler say they have the first class with me and it was 15 minutes to but they joked with me and said that it's almost mandatory to show up at least 5 minutes late to a college class. So of course it also made me nervous that they were going to be late to class. I had thought about all the times i got threatened for my attendance at the high school and how the teachers would make you go to ISS for the whole hour if you were even a minute late. I had millions of thoughts running through my head, who am i going to sit by? What if the teacher yells that we are

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.

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.

Starting off as a freshmen I was very quiet, I was scared of the teachers and classmates. Everyday was a struggle to get into the classrooms my body would shake, my hands would sweat, and my voice would tremble. Each and everyday felt like the first day of school. I hated the way I acted and looked at school as if it were a challenge. Being social became like solving a binary code. I could not figure out how to talk to people everyone made it seem so easy to connect to one another. I felt like a foreigner who did not know how to speak English. For the rest of the year I let myself be in isolation only speaking to my friends I have meet in middle school. As the new year came around I felt compelled to break the habit of being preserved. I went in with the intention of making at least four new friends. I knew it was something I needed to come out of if, I wanted to succeed in the near future and interacting was definitely needed for internships or job applications. Being very serious about wanting to grow as an individual I tried out for our school cheer. As I waited in line for a number to try out I was ready to just drop it and leave. My friend told me it was gonna be fine and I remained in line. As tryouts went on I felt so confident I was surprised myself. While learning the motions and dance I felt relieved. For the first time I was alive interacting with everyone who was trying out it was truly the time of my life. Two days later time to tryout came. I was me again.

(Hook) “English teachers put more thought into a novel than the actual author did” (Teenager Post #4155). English is a subject that is difficult, and usually, it ends up being detailed and a lot of work because of the way teachers push their students. (Controlling Idea) When entering into high school, I was signed up to take the class Honors English Nine, which turned out to be a stressful experience because of the this in depth work. (GS1) In high school honors courses, I as Freshmen was faced with academic difficulty in some classes that I didn’t experience in middle school. (GS2) Eventually, more fun came with the more advanced classes while in school. (GS3) While in the honors classes, I as a student absorbed a lot of material and lessons from our teachers who pushed us. (THESIS) Throughout Mrs. Oles’s Honors English Nine, I experienced a range of (I) difficulties through her honors-level class, (II) balanced out by carefree fun, (III) and ultimately many learning experiences.

Growing up, I had always been the best. The best student. The best son. The best athlete. Learning came easily to me. I don't recall having to study very much. I was a sponge of information. I loved reading. My room is adorned with books, certificates, and trophies, all of which I had earned. Naturally and easily. It didn't go unnoticed either. I was in Pre-K for the second year, because legally I was too young to start Kindergarten when my mother took a chance on a school that would allow me to start a year early. This school had more rigid standards (yes, even for a 4-year-old), but I was able to not only get into this school but excel. During my middle school years, my parents decided that public school was not enough for me. I noticed it too, but I was having fun. Being the best if fun. By the end of the 7th-grade year, my mom talked to me about attending Central Catholic High School. PCC was among the most prestigious private schools in the City of Pittsburgh. They were the creme de la creme of high schools. Most people call it the Ivy League of high schools. You can only get in by a combination of tests, recommendations, and interviews. It's a college preparatory school in every sense of the word. It too was the best.

My freshman year in high school was rough compared to the normal high school things. On August 12, 2013, I almost lost my best friend; he had smoked for twenty some years when he had a devastating heart attack. I remember the fear and the thoughts of death that made my skin shudder. It was the second week of school on Tuesday when I got a pass at the beginning of my World History class immediately circled three or four times. The pass made me baffled considering I didn’t know about any appointments I had, and I didn’t ask my mom if I could go home early. Leaving the class and entering the empty hall, thinking about what’s going on as my footsteps echoing through the halls. What’s going on? Why would I be leaving this close to the end of school? As I walked past the office to my locker, I saw my mom with red eyes and purple bags under her eyes. At that moment, my stomach flipped and knotted up, because it’s at that moment when I realized something very wrong has happened. My pace quickened to the point of almost running; shoving my French one book and Algebra one in my backpack before sprinting to my mom. She met me by the big glass doors in the lobby of the office; laying a hand on my shoulder, she told me my dad had a major heart attack. I had felt my body instinctively lunged toward the door, but my mom held my shoulder tightly. As we walked to the car, my sister was in the front seat with her hair all messy in a bun and in her pajamas. She looked as though she had been

At Holland Patent High School, I am a 17 year old girl, who has understood how foolish I used to be, how impactful high school truly was for me and my personal growth, and how much I’ve really changed. I have a new outlook on life, I am more confident, and I am overall so much happier. This identity I have of myself is a combination of every single person I used to be over the years at the middle school and high school. Today, I can walk the halls of Holland Patent understanding that the high school has become like a second home to me. I changed the way I would look at school and began to enjoy it so much more. I got closer to people around me, staff or friends, and I started to enjoy learning and the high school environment again.

“Hey, move out of my seat!” she snarled at me. “Of course princess.” I fakely replied back. But I still moved. There’s nothing else I could’ve done. I would’ve had to face another day of insults and curses hurled at me by her and her entourage’s petty mouths. It’s not like she usually sat there, it’s just because I just happened to sit in a place where all of her little minions would fit as well.

When I opened my eyes, everything was spinning, the world, the things around me, and my head. Teammates grabbed me and helped me stand. I remembered the concerned looks on their faces, but I had no idea what had just happened and how it would completely alter the fall semester. It was my sophomore year of high school and I had gotten a concussion during cheerleading practice. My teammate was supposed to flip over my head, but the first time we tried this precarious maneuver, she got scared and stopped halfway. Boom! She kicked me hard in the back of my head. Fortunately, I was able to slow her fall with my head and shoulders, but unfortunately she knocked me out cold. After assessing me, the trainer said I had a concussion. The phone call to my mom isn’t very cleat in my memory, but the pain from the headache will be staccatoed in my mind forever. For the next couple days I stayed in bed unable to engage with the word. My memories of that first week are fuzzy, but eventually I had to go back to school. At first it was very challenging. Concentrating and remembering small things in class felt like an impossible task and I found myself struggling with the constant pain. I remember one day in my AP United States history class we were watching a movie and writing a summary on it. My head, like usual, was hurting that morning, but I decided to stay at school and push to avoid falling behind. It was not easy, but life isn’t east and sometime you need to push through pain - both

Another day in this school. Maybe if I keep my head down the entire class the time will go by faster. The most valuable part of my day was when the last bell rang. School was a cycle that felt eternal. My greatest passion and aspiration is Basketball. My life had no other purpose, sophomore year of high school and already I was scouted by two universities. I was bound to at least after college play overseas, so I didn’t think of a career. Before I get ahead of myself it was inevitable that I had to graduate high school first. At one moment of a person’s life, we stumble across something that will change our lives forever. During my early years of high school, I had no passion for academics. I was introduced to a book by my favorite teacher, and my mind experienced a shift, I was able to see myself beyond a basketball court. My Coach Carla would always tell me “you’re a student-athlete, the student comes first”. However, whenever I fell behind in my studies my teachers would always give me extensions on assignments because I was a part of the Lady Cardinals. If it wasn’t for my athlete title, I wouldn’t have the grades to make the team.

Junior high was a rough time for me. Puberty was going on at this time, and I was convinced that junior high was going to be the death of me. I will be sharing the good parts of my experience. I had so many wonderful teachers. I met my best friend; and the most embarrassing moment in my life happened.

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.