y name is Madison Newman. I am tall with auburn hair and blue eyes. I live the normal life of a seventeen year old in high school. I have sublime friends, a great boyfriend, and an even better family that surround me. I plan to go to an excellent college to become a Structural Engineer right after I figure out how to pay for it. My life is going to be unforgettable. Whenever my eyes open, I see my mother, and she tells me it’s time to wake up for school. Today is the last day before Winter Break. Today, I will take the remainder of the final exams I will ever have to take in high school. Just another day of senior year. I roll over to see my mint green walls and my turntable with an Abbey Road vinyl on it, not spinning. I toss my feet over my bed and stand up for another day of senior year. I go to school, where I am surrounded by friends. They are up to their normal shenanigans- making jokes and laughing about who know’s what. I see my boyfriend with them, fitting right in with the group’s persona. His name is Will, and he is tall with dark shaggy hair and blue eyes. I finish out the school day with the relief that I won’t be cursed with finals again until college. After school, I walk out to the parking lot with Will and hop into his car. We drive to my house and sit down on the couch to watch our favorite show, Grey’s Anatomy. We watch at least one episode almost every day. Eventually we get restless and go to his house where he plays video games and I do my homework or look through social media on my phone. Occasionally we go over to a friend’s house, or go out and find something to do in town. *** When my eyes open, I see a stranger, who is informing me it’s time to wake up and take my medicine. Medicine? I don’t take medicine? I sit up to see white walls with a painting of a lighthouse hanging on the wall to my left. I notice the room has one large window, and a white couch underneath the lighthouse painting. Where am I? The stranger is still standing in front of me with a tray that has two blue pills and a glass of water on it. I question the stranger, and ask why I need to take this medicine and where I am, but when I hear his response I do not listen. I’m not fond of the stranger, and it
The sun rises on an early April morning. It’s a beautiful day and I wake up in a great mood. I make breakfast, shower, brush my teeth, and get ready for another day in my high school senior year. I’ve always enjoyed school and today was no exception. My high school life is coming to an end in one month and I want to enjoy every minute of my final weeks in school.
It was freshman year in high school, and I was ecstatic about the fact that I can officially refer to myself as a high school student. However, not everything was perfect, nor filled with sunshine and rainbows. It was just two weeks into the school year when I faced my first arduous obstacle.
Back when i was in middle school and i was a pretten and was barely becoming a teenager.in middle school i had just switched schools twice. Switching schools wasn't easy for me it made things harder for me. I was failing most of my classes as a seventh grader; i §had §hit a point in my life where i gave up. Then one day my dad had gone into my room and said Asmariah you need to stop doing whatever you're doing and get started on your homework and get on top of your school work
But I pushed those thoughts to the back of my head as I tried to finish my summer extra credit book report. My parents never pushed me to take advanced classes or extra credit assignments over my breaks, but I did anyway, and I’m top of my class as a result. This summer was very uneventful, as per usual, the only memorable thing was Stiles and Scott. I met them at the end of school party about 3 months ago, I knew of them and had talked to them a few times since grade school, but never actually got to know them. Stiles and I are now officially dating, although it’s not exclusive to my friends Lydia and Jackson yet, I plan to do that tomorrow at school, but I had actually had a major crush on him since sixth grade, a secret I would never admit to anyone. The people I always associated myself with were popular jerks, and Stiles thinks I don’t belong in that group. He’s so sweet to me, I’m his first relationship ever, and he’s mine, unless you count that kid I held hands with for about a week in second grade. I’m fifteen, and before Stiles, I still hadn’t had my first kiss, while all my friends, aka Jackson and
My middle school years was not a very easy chapter in my life, but the past three years have defined me a lot. I’m an iceberg type of person; you can see a little bit of me on the surface, but the real part, the bigger part of me, is hidden. I don’t show all my colors at once. I keep myself clamped shut, too cautious to share myself with other people. I’ve learned early in life that some people’s stories just briefly entwined with mine before we part ways forever. I learned that everything in life in temporary, and that made me hesitate to get to know people well —after all, what’s the point when you just have to leave?
When I graduated high school I started working because I had decided not to go to college or the military. After I graduated, I went with my father to Texas in order to find a job because I was having a difficult time finding a job in California. In San Antonio, Texas, I found a job where the company hired me the very next day and I was ecstatic. The next day I started working and I found out that I would be working ten to twelve hour shifts on Monday through Friday. I found out that I was working for a staffing agency which most companies use to hire new employees, so that the employee is not directly employed by the company. In mid-December, I got fired for listening to music and I was devastated.
During the last four years of my high school life I came across a number of different teachers, all of them together had different styles of teaching and some were more positive than others. Be that as it may, despite the different characters that wanted to mentor me and those who care not too there were three women who gave of them self and did their best to teach a young Black girl a few extra things. Distinguished from their co-workers it showed me just what a great teacher is.
When people used to tell me that high school would be the best four years of my life, I never seemed to believe them. Looking at where I am today makes me believe them when they say that high school will also be the fastest four years of my life. It is crazy to even think that just yesterday I was mentally preparing myself to walk into the doors of Lasalle Peru High School, and today I am mentally preparing myself to walk out of the doors of Streator High School. Time truly does fly when you are having fun, I wish I could go back just to feel everything one more time.
High school. Where you get over 1000 teenagers together and make them feel as uncomfortable as possible while attempting to prepare them for their futures. Needless to say, some mistakes will be made by each and every one of them. Preparing for the future is scary but it’s something everyone has to do eventually. Of course every high school has that “college readiness” week where they try and scare students into thinking about what college to go to when they’re only 15. It can get pretty stressful, and when stress gets to you, it can make you do weird things. With all of the stress about the future coming at me head first, I had a hard time making the right choices. On top of that, I was only a little sophomore who didn’t have many friends while trying to push my way through this whole “high school” thing. So of course I made stupid choices, but who doesn’t. With all the new and scary things I figured I might as well add Chemistry to that list as well.
I grew up in a life where I was told I needed to go to church at 8:20 every Tuesday, had to wear collared shirts of only red, white, or blue that are to be tucked into my khaki pants, held up by the mandatory belt, and I had better pray to Jesus that I can sneak past the teachers with my forbidden neon socks. This life was Catholic School. Attending Resurrection, honestly, was pretty fantastic; of course, no kid wanted to wear those tragic uniforms every day when they know other kids are wearing sweatpants, but I enjoyed school.
My High School career was not an easy one. Save preschool, my entire life had been spent in one school, Ambassadors for Christ Academy. Now I have learned of it’s notoriety as a failure of an institution, but at the time my ignorant caregivers chose to overlook the obvious negatives and hold fast to their overconfidence in their own decisions. All this in mind, I knew everyone in my freshman class, most of them on a rather intimate level. I would be lying if I said I held much else but the sort of rancid hatred one gets from being far too familiar with someone. My middle school years had been plagued with depression and bad times, so expectations moving forward were low. Knowing things would be bad, and that even the best situations there would rapidly deteriorate, I held the kind of optimism an abuse survivor has. You know, somewhere in the limited views I had been able to shamble together, I held the hope that the serially repugnant institution would stumble over some reprieve for it’s tortured students. This hope was fostered by those close to me. There were few people more supportive and loving to me than my grandmother, Ruby. She and my mother were the closest relatives I had, and they fostered this tiny spark of hope, for better or worse. To hope for such luck was foolish, and like hopes were punished. Things continued to get worse, until my family finally saw the light and encouraged me to leave my sophomore year. While the administration fought my departure, as they
High School is a very crucial place for most people, but I can definitely say it was very difficult for me. I did well in school, well enough for me. Now, to me the requirements to graduate high school seemed too difficult for one person, then again, most people manage to do; let me rephrase that: it seemed too difficult for me. I guess the main focus throughout this memoir is; when does your life truly begin? At the start of birth or the walk across the stage? Well, here’s how mines began.
My first year of high school, I did not think too much about self-growth. I thought more about finding new friends. The determination for new friends helped me gain the courage to join a sport and numerous of clubs. I decided to join tennis; keeping in mind I have never touched a racquet, nor stepped a foot on a tennis court before my first day of tennis class. I remember the gut wrenching nerves I had running all around my body when I met my coach and new teammates. Ranked second to last on the team was painful, but the pain encouraged me to become better. For day, weeks, and months throughout the school year, my new group of friends and I stayed afterschool waiting for varsity practice to end, so we would be able to practice until the sun came down. Slowly my tennis skills and talent started improving. Along with my improvements, I started realizing I was determined and committed to something for the first time in my life. My interest in becoming the best lead me from being rank second to last, to second on the list. With great success in improving my tennis skills, I was able to manage my time well enough to study hard for Latin competition. Continuous learning about Latin history and attending tennis tournaments were tiring but well worth it. I managed to place second for girls double in the Pasadena district and placing first in Latin competition for area. At the end of Freshmen year, I was announced to join the varsity team and make it to state for Latin competition.
It was august of 2014 and wouldn’t you know it, another school year is about to start. Like most kids my age, I wasn’t ready for the workload of high school and the stress, I would have rather stayed home and rode four-wheelers, played video games, and eat whatever I want whenever I want. I came into high school hoping it would fly by and thinking I would just barely pass all my classes and then I would be done and off to bigger and better things. And really what I came to find out is high school gave me an education, but it also gave me a picture of how my life will take shape.
The idea came upon me late on a Sunday night in early February. An idea that me and my buddies from high school need one last get together before the end of the semester. Yes, the end of the semester is not for another 2 months, but many of my friends go to a variety of different colleges which means many different weeks of spring break. I realized that this would be our last chance together so let’s go home this weekend and get together. We ran with the idea. We all found ways back home and our plan was to get together that Friday night. I looked forward to that Friday night all week, but when that Friday night came it was all ruined by a guy that would do anything to never be unfair to someone on purpose.