My First Year In High School

I feel my heart boom in my ears screaming at me to go home and never come back, but I can’t because the Oakwood door is already staring at me in my face. I wonder how many times I’ll shut my mouth just so I don’t have to be told to shut it. I feel the air conditioning on my skin as I sit in my seat to unload my belongings. After putting my things on my desk, I heard a loud thump and saw scattered paper all over the floor. “Sorry ‘bout that, maybe you shouldn’t always be in everyone’s way,” hissed Mister to Cool for School, “or maybe you shouldn’t be here at all.”

Towards the end of my senior year of high school, I was preparing for the next chapter of my life. I would be attending UC Davis in the summer for a four weeklong orientation program, specifically for first generation college students. This was the first time I would be leaving home by myself to a different country and it was the first time in over eight years that I would be exposed to the American culture. I did not have any roots in any American city nor did I have a so-called “home state.” However, if there was one thing for sure, it was that Germany was my home and it has been for the majority of my life. In this paper, I will be discussing how the following topics in sociology: culture, socialization, and identity are related to my move from Germany to California as well as how I felt during the entire situation.

When going into my second semester of senior year knowing I had enrolled to take Freshman Composition, I was nervous. However, despite all the negative feedback I had received, I challenged myself to do my best and try my hardest to never give up or slack off. That was unsurprisingly a challenge for me, but with a little motivation of getting the class out of the way this year instead of having to take it next year got me through the semester.

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths,” (Walt Disney). The overview of my Junior year in high school was, I believe, the best school year so far both in academic and my personal achievements. As a person I had a major growth, I become more active in school in which was a huge step for me, and academically, well I’ve never seen so many A’s since Freshmen year, well that is if I examine only second semester but overall I felt that my grades were better than last year. This year I became a person who is more open-minded, one who sees the outside world, my mind has opened a door which helped me find the inner me that was stuck in for the past 2 years of high school like if I were a bud that has finally opened. I shockley impressed at myself, willing to accept any new challenges this year which truly helped me become a better person in education and personally.

The time came when I was sitting in my guidance counselors office my sophomore year of high school. The pressure was on, I had to decide what classes to take to help me not only prepare for the ACT but that would impact my future. With the support of teachers and counselors I was able to choose and pick out difficult and challenging classes that would help me excel in the future. The list grew long, I signed up not only for my junior year classes but I also planned out my senior year schedule as well. My counselor took the time to explain to me the honors classes that were weighted, helping my GPA, and were dual credit as well. I signed up for several of the dual credit courses and weighted such as Composition 2, American Lit 1, AP U.S. History,

You walk through the halls of your junior high school one last time. Every memoire seems as if it’s shooting at you all at once. First boyfriend, great teachers most of all though great friendships. We are starting our life if we know it or not. Everything will change. This summer I’m determined to get my glow up. Having so many friends you see how they’ve changed and yet here I am, still the same me I was my first year here. Nothing's changed except maybe my face blew up. Fun right, haha yeah it’s great.

"Yeah, I just got in today." She looked at me, her ice blue eyes made me catch my breath. How I would never get sick of staring into those blue galaxies.

Stopping at his locker, having Shisui leading on a locker that is beside of his locker. Shisui thought of something, before asking Itachi. "Don't you like any girls in this school? Itachi?" Itachi stop at a moment, before taking out his textbook from his backpack. "No, I don't. Where did this question came from?" Itachi glances over to him, before returning back to his locker. "Come on, there are a lot of beautiful girls who would kill to get a date with you. You don't have any interest in any girl. There must be one girl who got your eye. You can tell me, I am your almost like a best friend to you." Shisui exclaimed, adjusting his elbow against Itachi's shoulder, and making Itachi smile softly. Shisui's eyes widen, before a little mischoivies smile apeared on his lips. "Who is it?" He whispered. "Her name is..." Itachi motions him to come closer. "None of your business." Itachi closing his locker, before walking away to leave his cousin dumbfounded. "Itachi," Shisui

She smiled again. “Aw, sweet! Me too!” Her excitement almost made me jealous. After all, who could be that excited all of the time over school? Then, she asked me another question.

Throughout my sophomore year of highschool I had a hard time in Spanish and faced many challenges all year. About two weeks into the school year, there was an issue with my teacher and she was forced into retirement. This left myself and the rest of class with no teacher for over a month. Learning a new language was not the easiest thing for me and I could feel myself moving more behind the longer I went without a teacher. I had three more Spanish teachers that year making it harder to get into a routine to succeed in that class. By the end of the school I had to make the decision of whether or not I wanted to move on to the next level of Spanish. I felt that if I continued I would be setting myself up for failure in the language because of

The last day of the school year came so fast. I can’t believe that i’m going to be a Sophomore. I am very excited to see what classes and teachers i’m going to get. I hope I get classes with my best friends but if not I guess it’s ok. Year round school really wasn’t to bad. At first i really didn't’ want to lose my summer break, but it turns out you really don’t. I really enjoyed trying something new, and I can’t wait for 10th grade to

The first year, the time to prove myself had arrived. Classes, rooms, teachers, and some students were unfamiliar. Eventually, minutes melted into hours, hours to days, and days to weeks. It didn’t take long before my schedule was routine, something of second nature. Humor and happiness were found in the form of my advisory family, where school was transformed into something more than going through the same motions of day to day activity. By the closing point of sixth grade, I was having a hard time letting go of what I’d adapted to. “What’s wrong?” my dad asked when I was getting into the car after being picked up early on the last day. I explained how distressed I was that my first year of middle school exceeded my expectations, and that it had to come to an end. Although his outlook viewed my reason for sorrow as trivial, I didn’t.

I graduated from Fairview High School, where I experienced many things, and one of the things that stood out to me the most was the failure I experienced my sophomore year as a student there. I had never done so poorly in school until that year, and doing so changed my entire character. My first semester as a sophomore at Fairview I received a 1.667 GPA, and a 1.286 GPA the second semester. When my final grades were given to me I didn’t even know what those numbers meant, and definitely didn’t have a clue on what they meant to my future. You may find it hard, or funny to believe that someone in his second year of high school doesn’t know what a GPA is, but I am a first generation student, and back then I had no idea how much that GPA was going

My last year in high-school. My last regional track meet. My last throw. Everything I had been working towards for the last four years came down to this very moment. On a scorching hot spring day, weary and patient athletes from all across Oklahoma gathered in Cordell around a concrete ring; watching intently as the furthest discus thrower in the region arrived at his final throw. All attempts before this had landed outside the throwing boundaries, so they did not count. This increased the pressure tenfold as I grabbed the metal disc that was to be my last chance at State. I slowly stepped into the ring, took a deep breath, and shifted my weight onto the balls of my feet to prepare for the final toss. In this one moment, all of my experiences that brought me to this place rushed forward in my mind.

It was fall of my first-grade year of school. The group of approximately fifteen of us gathered together for Meghan Zimmerman’s birthday party at Cordova lanes Bowling Alley. Each of us were enthusiastically, waiting for our turn to bowl. No one may know if everyone’s failure to follow directions caused me to bust open my chin but it certainly was a factor. In the events that followed I learned that if one fails to follow instructions the consequences can fall on those who do obey.