My Sophomore Year

Waiting in the the waiting room of the doctors office felt like an eternity after they ran tests on my brother. While waiting there my brothers and I were just playing games on my mom’s phone while she sat nervously. She had a look on her face that I have not seen many times before. At the time, I had a general idea of what diabetes was but never thought about how serious, time-consuming, and life changing it is. The only thing that was on my mind at the time was how much homework I had that night.

Junior year was full of many new experiences. We were now classified as upper classmen! Just like any of the other years in high school this year had just as many ups and downs. One of the main stresses in eleventh grade was the SAT. For sure one of the scariest things that I have ever had to do. All of the preparation going into it and the amount of studying made me feel as if I wasn’t going to have a brain by the time the testing was over. I took college and career readiness, which really helped prepare me for what was to come. By this time in high school I had already had my job for a little over a month, so I already knew what to expect once school started. I am thankful enough that at my job you get to leave at seven because I hear many

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.

One night after writing a history paper, I was so tired I went to bed without eating. Around two in the morning I woke up scared for my life. My clothes were soaked with sweat, my head was spinning, my whole body was shaking, and I knew my blood sugar was horribly low. Getting out of bed, I went to my fridge to get something to eat. The next thing I know, I wake up in a hospital bed with both of my parents looking at me. I had been informed that I slipped into a coma for a day and I was lucky to be alive. My heart had also stopped beating when they found me. My only thoughts were that I had missed a day of classes.

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.

Sophomore year in high school had greater demand on my time and made me realize about my future more than my freshman year. Time management has been a theme I was constantly reminded with academic and extracurricular activities. Furthermore, the realization of entering college and pursuing a career is closer than before. These two factors have transformed my outlook of my junior year.

During my senior year at Southern Illinois University (SIU) I was selected for an extraordinary opportunity as an undergraduate teaching assistant for Introduction to Psychology. Within this position I ascertained a passion for teaching as well as a strong desire to work closely with college students. While instructing one section of this course I developed personal connections and grew quite fond of my students. One student in particular, Tamaira, was a bright, upbeat, and successful young woman doing very well in my course and a delight to have in class. However, halfway into the semester her behavior drastically changed as she was often absent, no longer participated in class, and her grades were notably lower. Upon noticing the sharp turn of events I sent her an email with my concerns along with an invitation to have a discussion. My email went unanswered. Nonetheless, Tamaira showed up to my next class. While passing out exams, she locked eyes with me and held a handwritten note on her desk that read, “when I was 15 years old I was diagnosed with bipolar and borderline personality disorder. Sometimes I get depressed, but I want to do well in your class. Please don’t give up on me.” Feeling genuinely empathetic, I said to her, “I won’t.” After class a long positive conversation ensued that served as a catalyst toward her regained emotional strength and performance. This singular event in my teaching experience has had a profound effect on propelling me toward

During my senior year of high school, all that I could think about was starting college and getting away from my small hometown and all of the drama that is stuck in it. I chose to go to the University of Miami in Coral Gables Florida. It wasn’t my dream school but it had a beautiful campus and a great academic program and the biggest factor was that it was far from home. I left for Miami in August to move in to the dorms and go to orientation. My mom came with me to help me get settled into my dorm room with my roommate that I had never met but had spoken to many times. I would soon learn once my mom left that Miami was going to be nothing like I imagined and it would be a hardship that taught me my greatest life lesson to date.

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.

One of the most remarkable life experiences for me was my first year in high school I think , I had some of the best times of my life every year in high school but I feel like my freshman year was the best time . Everyone made it out to seem like the freshman year was the worst for them but for the most part it was fun, one thing I didn’t do was take the most advantage of it as I should and I’ll tell you about that later on.

My mother perpetually advises me through statements such as “সর্বদা আপনার সেরা করা,” which translates from Bengali to English as “always do your best.” Taking heed of my mother’s advice has led me to always try to be the best possible version of myself, in school and outside of it. Adhering to my mom’s words was difficult to practice my junior year of high school. I knew that my junior year was going to be arduous; my schedule was inundated with SAT preparation, ACT preparation, AP classes, and extra-curricular activities. None of this was going to be facilitated by the added stress of finding out my father had just been diagnosed with having an “enlarged prostate,” meaning less and less time would be available for me to focus on school and my personal life. Equally terrifying was knowing that my grandfather had actually passed away from the exact ailment as my father was diagnosed with. As the only child, dismissing my obligations to help my mother and father out during my father’s crisis was not an option. My father was admitted at Baylor hospital for more than two months. My entire focus for the first half of my junior year was not on obtaining good grades or stellar SAT scores; my main priority shifted to helping my father return to a stable healthy condition and to enable him to experience a speedy recovery. Miraculously, during the second half of the school year, I was able to concentrate on my studies resulting in achieving excellent grades…grades that I was

The beginning of my Senior year of high school has been an interesting ride, to say the least. Completely new classes and concepts have been thrown my way and I’ve been trying my hardest to catch them. I thought I would be better prepared for some of my classes I’m taking this semester, but it seems like I must start at square one on the majority of my courses. The only way I’ve been able to keep on top of the new information is extreme time management, new study habits, discovering and utilizing efficient study strategies, and asking for help well I needed it.

My Freshman year of high school is nearing an end and I mostly stayed out of trouble, which was a great feat at the time. Until My buddy Sam and I decided to make some money off of our “hobby”. Since we were tired of running out of weed to smoke, we decided to have a bake sale. We googled how to do it and fired up the oven and ground up the weed. After about 30 minutes of baking and assembling crackers we had made three firecrackers, or peanut butter crackers with specially prepared weed in them. We both decided to do some quality control on the product and split one of the crackers and ate it. We smoked like normal and were satisfied with what we made. We discussed the plans and decided our goal was to sell both of the firecrackers tomorrow to make 20$ and get 2 grams to continue the cycle and once we are making a good amount investing in a toaster oven to be more discreet. The next day, being the smart human beings we were we smoked a bowl out of an apple at the bus stop before getting on the bus. When school started we went to gym changed, and started to sell the firecrackers. We told everyone we knew that smokes they were for sale and that they’re 10$ apiece. No buyers. 2nd and 3rd hour roll by then Sam and I went to lunch. I walked over to a table of people I knew and asked, “Does anybody want to buy some firecrackers?” One of them asked, “How much do they cost?” and I responded with “They are 10$” Joe and his friend Carl split the cost and bought one, “One down and one

Let me start by saying that I have thoroughly enjoyed this class, senior year is supposed to be the best year of highschool and this class was nothing short of being the best. In past years I've struggled with getting behind the language arts class I was in, but this year everything changed. After towing a few essay deadlines very carefully I realized that writing is actually one of my stronger abilities in school. Now by no means am I a great writer but I consider myself as a mid “B” average on my papers. After taking this class during my senior year in highschool, I believe that I deserve an 85 percent in this class because of the effort I have put behind my papers and my ability to write a decent paper when it comes time.

It was the year 2014 and summer had come to a close. My mind had suddenly switched from lounging on the warm, sandy beach and being gently kissed by sunshine to traumatizing, stressful high school. My first year of high school-what was it going to be like? Who was I going to be friends with? Am I going to get terrible grades? These thoughts flooded my mind and I was nervous. Thinking about being a highschooler made my throat close up and my heart beat faster. I was overcome with fear and excitement, going into the unknown and stepping into a freaky future. Soon the time had come to experience my classes that I had carefully selected earlier in the summer. I was especially excited, however, about my elective that I had chosen: classical drawing. Little did I realize that this decision would teach me perseverance and work ethic, while opening up a world of possibilities.