My First Day Of College

I would describe myself as a very fast learner prior to coming to college here. I have been preparing for this step in my life ever since I was in school by participating in hard classes and being involved in my community. Keeping high A averages in my classes has given me the opportunity to become involved in national honor society and national art honor society but also granting me with the incredible trip to Blue Bonnet Girls State this past summer. I believe that involving myself in these three organizations gives me the extra drive a student needs to flourish as an aspiring student to UT Austin. I grew up in a good home as a child and my parents both pushed me to the best of my ability that thankfully got me accepted into this amazing university.

Everyone always says how everything changes in high school. You’re treated with more responsibility and more homework, just more of everything. There is a big transition from junior high to high school. The thought of entering high school for me was exciting and scary all at once. The fact that I’ll be with all of the big kids was pretty scary and being in high school and being a part of it was exciting.

Wow Ive came this Far to the first day of me becoming a grown up. It was pretty cool it was the first day of the rest of my ¨life¨ my grown up life. I had my outfit all set up on the chair by my bed, you could definitely say that i was prepared.

It was sixth grade when I met Paige and Carmen. About five years ago, can’t believe it’s been so long. I moved to Lewis Central just the year before and I didn’t really have very many friends. I remember the first time I met them, it was Carmen’s first year here but Paige had been there for awhile. We all had band together Carmen played the clarinet, I played the flute and Paige played the trumpet. It was like we instantly found each other even though we didn’t know each other. We’ve been best friends ever since that year.

BEEP! BEEP! My alarm went off. i knew instantly what today was. it was none other than the first day of school the day i have been dreading since summer started. but today was not any first day this one was as scary as a beetle because it was the first day of highschool. i thought high school was the scariest thing ever because of all the movies and the television shows that i watched portrayed it as ten percent learning and ninety percent bullying. the only people in the shows and movies that got bullied were the nerds and i was a nerd. The stairs creaked as i went down to the kitchen to get some breakfast. then my mom stopped me and said “the breakfast at school is free so you're going to eat it” so then we got in the car and my mom drove me to the bus stop. i hated busses. it confused me that we were taking the bus when i knew that she could have taken us herself but we had to. The bus made its way to the stop and i got on and to my surprise there were no seats. i tried finding anyone i knew and i had no luck so i had to sit next to two other people when the seats are only able to hold two. When i thought the bus couldn’t get any more crowded we stop at a popular stop and more people get on. The bus would stop a few more times until we got to the high school. we were packed like sardines in that bus but then everyone got off. we got there pretty late. The doors were wide open and i could see it all it was a big school with big kids. My stomach rumbled and i wondered were

Finally, I was on my way home from class, I could not believe I was almost finished and done with my First Semester of College. I could see the finish line from where I was. I just had to type my last two pages of my final exam paper and submit. I got home about 6 o'clock, I had had plenty of time to type two pages before 11:59, so I decided to relax. I ate, Watched my favorite show on TV, and started scrolling on my Instagram and Facebook. Time was flying and before I knew It, it was almost 7:30 and time for My son’s bedtime. We did our regular nightly routine and laid down for bed. As soon as he’s asleep, I would get up and finish my report, I mean it's only two pages left. Slowly I could feel plans start to change. I felt like I was laying on a thousand soft feathers, wrapped in my blanket like a butterfly’s cozy cocoon. I was sedated by its embrace and sleep in a matter of minutes.

The fumy smell of permanent marker lingered in the air as I stared at the big red ‘F’ written across my returned paper. I looked over at my teacher, as she continued around the room, and was met with an icy cold stare of contempt. It didn’t seem to matter how good it was every essay I wrote was returned with the very same marking and without the slightest feedback. This was my rude introduction to writing, at the high school level, and one I wouldn’t soon forget. It is an experience that remains etched deep in memory.

“You need to surround yourself with people who care about you. Who challenge you to grow. Who make you happy and appreciate all that you have to offer.” The message rang in my head as my mother offered me this advice, in attempt to quell my fear of not fitting in the night before my first day of high school. I was often scared to be myself. Being a persistent Asian with nothing but frequent late nights studying intensely to keep up, young male dancer, and closeted gay teenager were all facets of my identity that did not sit well in the minds of middle school bullies. However, my high school experiences brought me to realize that by integrating myself in a community of passionate individuals, I thrived immensely and found myself growing every day. Today, I no longer fear being unapologetically Marcus. With a profound clarity, I envision myself continuing my journey of self-improvement by studying at Carnegie Mellon as a design major.

It was two weeks before my first day of highschool when I started my first college class. I was signed up for an American History class to see what college would be like. My school tried to talk me out of enrolling in the P.S.E.O program because of how many high school freshmen fail classes in their first semester. The school’s suggestion was that I should wait until I was a Junior because then I would be ready for the difficulty of college classes. However, what my counselors didn’t tell me was that most of the freshmen who fail in P.S.E.O classes fail because they don’t know how to study for the tests.

It was a cold, dreary, January morning-- the first day back from Christmas Break. This one was different than past years though, as I find myself driving on I-10 and foreign roads, to my new high school.

I have already been in UH Hilo for three days. During my time here, I have had a few struggles as a freshman, such as looking for textbooks, finding a seat in a crowded room, lacking the necessary items, and most of all, getting lost. It always seems to happen to me on my first day in a new environment. On my first day of high school, I had to get security to drive me to my classes because I was late from searching in the wrong place. Then when I had changed high schools, I was so close to staying in the wrong classroom, if not a classmate of mine told me. Soon, I had graduated from high school, and the process of being confused and lost started all over again. I am sure most students go through this struggle, unless they took a campus tour before. However, there are still ways that we can make it easier for all of us. The solutions range from signs to maps to a helping hand of a fellow student.

The first day of school as a freshman is always an exciting and nerve-racking time for most freshmen. You’re making that big transition from middle school to high school, and you’re excited to start this new life and see what it should offer. I was always told by my older sister to always be open to meeting new people and new ideas my freshman year. The part she forgot to warn me about was that I would possibly lose friends, and sadly, I did. As a freshman I learned quickly that some people change when they enter high school, that the peer pressure of fitting in is hard on some freshman and it causes them to do drastic things for “popularity”. I learned a valuable lesson my first week of freshman year and it has stuck with me for my entire high school career and it was to always be yourself, and never try too hard to fit in.

Although the goal was to specifically focus on assessment, my week didn’t turn out quite like I had expected. However, I think that the craziness that I endured (and enjoyed) was a far more authentic to my future teaching job. On my first day of class, I did experience a rather “normal” day and stuck with my assigned teacher the whole day in order to get a feel for the literacy class that she taught six periods a day as well as the schedule I had assumed we would be sticking to all week.

Hearing so many good things and bad things about college I didn’t know what to expect and look forward to. That change my junior year knowing different college come every year I didn’t really pay it any mind what college I wanted to go to until ODU, Virginia State University and Virginia Teach came. It was Virginia State first year of visiting out school and I knew I wanted to go there I start getting e excited for college that were talking about their experience at college and what to look for when we graduated if we decided to go to college. Eager to start a new chapter college sound like it could be a little nerve wrecking but I thought I could handle it.

The first day is always the hardest. You go from being the leaders of the school, to the babies of the school.