My Senior Year In High School

My eighth grade year of Middle school. I had many challenges, with making friends and subjects. But one challenge was mathematics.I knew my eighth grade year was most important when it came transferring into my high school years, yet I didn’t do anything to raise my grade in mathematics at that time. It wasn’t until two I had a very low grade in mathematics on my report card at that I realized I needed to do something about my low grade. So after that report in math, I really was determined to really bring that F up to at least a B or A. So I remember I started to go to after school tutoring to get help with my math subject. They placed me with a teacher named Ms.Alice. And she really helped me with my subject.

When junior year ended last summer, I felt like I knew exactly what was coming my way-- after all, I watched three different groups of my friends go through senior years of their own. It was finally my turn to experience senior year, something it seemed I had known about for years, and I felt like senior year would be easygoing and uneventful. Now, it has taken just a few short months to realize how incorrect I was. If senior year has taught me anything, it is that one never really knows what comes next for them, even if they have a good idea. The monumental highs, as well as the deepest of lows, have kept me on my toes throughout my senior year.

Freshman year, I imagined that year to be amazing. I wanted it to just have an awesome flow but did it? It did in the beginning then a bomb went off during the middle of the year and turned freshman year into a complete disaster. Freshman year was supposed to be about having a great start to the rest of your high school life before you enter the big bad world but other students just couldn't help themselves but to create that bomb during the middle of my freshman year.

My memories are blurry. They are fragments of disjointed moments, without a linear narrative. I remember reading. It was in Mrs. Davidson first grade class. My reading proficiency skills were very poor, the English language still thick and unnatural on my tongue. While some of the other students took a Gifted class, I had to take a remedial course—English Learners (EL)— just so that I could hold onto the edge. I remember reading. I had a hard copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar in my little hands, reciting only the first page of the book from memory. The classroom was dark; the stream of sunlight filtering through the windows served as our only illumination. The rest of the words on the book looked like a mess of jumbled letters. I couldn’t make out anything other than the words “the” and “and.” I remember enthusiastically pointing out my “fluency” to my teacher, seemingly applauding my menial abilities: “The catpater at droo!” (The caterpillar ate through). In the first-grade, my free time was spread sporadically between watching The Little Mermaid, catching ugly black crickets and pretending that I was Sailor Moon, guardian of the galaxy. In the first grade, I was not at all concerned with words, literacy and books. In the first grade, I did not know the power that words hold. I did not know that books would change my life.

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.

“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.

I began my higher education at Antelope Valley Community College in pursuit of these skills, and graduated cum laude in May 2012 with my Associates in Liberal Arts and Sciences. Shortly after, I was admitted to California State University, Fullerton for my Bachelor’s in Psychology, where I also joined the University’s Delta Epsilon Iota Academic Honor Society. It was here that I also discovered how useful philosophy is in understanding human behavior, and added the subject as a minor to aid me in my studies. My belief is that while psychology generally explains why a person reasons in their particular manner, philosophy explains the different ways that said person could reason. I believe that this will be useful in treating clients, since the philosophy aspect will help me understand the perceived logic that the client holds, which in turn will support the overall treatment.

Sophomore year, I was thinking about surviving the next two years of high school. I realized I wouldn't graduate, not with the grades I was getting. My grades were at a 65 and I was going downhill. Panicking, I realized it was imperative that I go to a technical program.

My feelings toward certain grades differ depending on my teachers, courses, and other internal and external factors. I think my favorite grade so far has been freshman year, even though my mood wasn’t always so great. I had great teachers and fun classes. The year was overall pretty good, especially compared to the year before that. My eighth grade year has been my least favorite grade. I had pretty okay teachers, good friends, and I wasn’t getting bullied, so it might seem confusing as to why I disliked it so much. Starting in sixth or seventh grade, my motivation severely declined and my head was always filled with negative thoughts. My bad habits only grew worse and snowballed my last year of middle school. Everything was so overwhelming

The people, our surroundings, and our memories are what make the years of high school go by at the blink of an eye. Freshmen year, scared of all teachers, classes, and new people. Sophomore year is a breeze because you finally understand the bell schedules, and you’re aware of the teacher’s expectations. Junior year, the stress hits you all at once. You’ve got the ACT, EOCs, and many other tests that are a major part of your future education.

Absegami High School, this is where I am spending my years of being a high school student. I have been working hard as a student, a teammate, and an assistant. It is crazy how within these flying three years of being a high school student, I have achieved many of my passions. Some of them include being a captain of the school and club swim team, teaching toddlers how to swim and assisting children that are in the progress of learning English. Ultimately, I have sustained an ethical character that will help others and make them feel comfortable to their surroundings.

Going into high school this year, I was afraid. There was no doubt in my mind that I would find myself lost on my way to classes. I was certain that I would not be able to navigate the halls. And I was pretty sure that I would be run over in the hallway by all of the upperclassmen and even some freshmen, as I am one of the shortest people that I know. But after the first week, I knew I would be alright.

My senior year of high school rolled around and I realized that I was in need of loosing weight. In stead of searching the next new diet plans or asking my friends what they thought, I just kind of used conmen sense. Finding foods with low calories, controlling how much I was eating and making sure I kept myself on a regular exercise plan. I figured since the most important meal of the day was breakfast, I needed to start there. I stopped eating my sugar cereals and went exclusively to eating one "Smart One 's" instant meals for my breakfast. I know for a lot of people it is hard to eat non-breakfast food in the morning, but quite frankly it made me feel better. Every day I was starting off with protein and veggies with my starches. Normally I would eat there Swedish meatball or chicken alfredo do entry, but to mix things up I once in a while would try other random entrees like there fajita plates, but that wasn 't the best food breath-wise for socializing at school. Next came working on my lunch. In stead of eating pizza, fries or burritos at school, I started bringing my own lunch which consisted of a Wrap; a bottle of water and that was it. To make this wrap I started out with a "light" in calorie extra wide wrap and added eight super thin slices of meat(I usually used roast beef or pastrami). Then I would drip on a little Iguana Deuces vicious jalapeño pepper sauce just to add more flavor. This hot sauce pretty much is just a flavor thing in my opinion, I am a hot

Writing has never been my favorite thing to do; but taking Expository Reading and Writing my senior year of high school, as well as my English 101 course I am currently taking, my writing has evolved in tremendous ways. Writing has helped me express my opinion, point of view, and feelings, as well as clarifying my thoughts. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, small business owner, manager or an employee aspiring to any of those positions, you need to know how to write effectively for business. Reading and writing are two very important skills to develop in order to succeed in life because it is something that is and always will be a part of your everyday life.

In my senior year of high school my classmate was beaten and robbed for the mere five dollars she had at the time. The young man who robbed her was a friend of many in my peer group, and was looked up to by a great deal of the under classmates. The woman, on the other hand, was a party girl and she was in fact, walking home from a party intoxicated that very night. With all that being said, we were still all outraged at this young man. We blamed him for putting her in the hospital, for stealing her money, and rightly so. There were no questions asked. No one asked if she had been paying attention, or if she had the money out in the open for all to see. Now imagine if, instead of being robbed by this man, she had gone home with him. What if while they were at his place, he coerced her into having sex with him? Would we still have so easily blamed him for the offense of rape? Or instead, would we maybe question the woman 's sobriety, her past history, or her decision making skills. Would we have wondered what she was wearing, or if she actually told the man to stop? Victim blaming in sexual assault crimes is, in large, an accepted thing here in America. With so many people believing that it must be the victim 's fault, we are, in a sense, making light of the crime. Victim blaming can lead to less rapes being reported, less rapists ever going to prison and suicidal thoughts.