Personal Narrative Essay : Being A Senior In High School

After a hectic first semester at the community college, I began to find myself. I realized that the four-year university I wanted to attend initially, would have not been a good fit for me. Being part of different student organizations and creating connections with my professors at the community college is what helped me find what I was really looking for. I wanted a place where I felt like I mattered and not a school with fifty thousand students where I would just feel like a number. The additional semester I got to stay home, I was able to do more research and find a university where I would fit in and connect with.

We can all recall that time between graduating high school and beginning our freshman year of college. For many people, myself included, going to college meant a chance to finally escape that small town that we called home. The summer began to come to a close, and we could hardly contain our excitement to finally start our new adventure. College began, classes and homework took over our lives, and we made new friends and experienced many memories with them. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, right? While most of my newfound classmates opted to go back to their home towns for the summer, I've decided to stay in my cozy college town, much to my parents disdain. It is wonderful, yet bittersweet to not have to go back to that boring

Ever since I was a little girl my parents have been saving and preparing themselves for the day they send me off to college. I have a long line of family members that graduated from Southern University. I knew for a fact that Southern was going to be the school of my choice. August 22, 2012 was the first day of my freshman year in high school. Once I entered high school the only thing I could think about my graduation and my matriculation at Southern. I couldn’t think of anything more stressful than transitioning from high school to college. When I was in middle school a lot of people told me about high school and how it was hard. The things they told me made me think going to high school would be a huge step, well it has nothing on college. No more depending on people, I have to get it on my own. Now that I am in college, I will be faced with many challenges that I will have to make the right choice about on my own.

I came to a decision, I wanted to attend Cal Poly Pomona. As I shared the big news to my guardians, they gave me the cold shoulder. They told me they do not approve and I was on my own. Hearing these words from the people I loved, tore me apart. I considered my local universities, to keep my parents happy. I knew deep inside, Cal Poly Pomona was my dream

In all my years of school, I never really enjoyed reading or writing. In elementary and middle school, I didn't hate it but I didn't look forward to it. Although, the books we had to read were not bad and I did enjoy some of them. Once high school came along, all the assignments got harder and my dislike for reading and writing grew stronger. Overall, I would say my Sophomore year was the worst but not because of the assignments but something else bigger than that.

The hill that life is, only gets steeper in your teen years. In high school anxiety, depression, stress, and fear kick into high gear. It only gets tougher. As the years pass you keep climbing that hill until you reach the peak. For me, I have yet to reach that peak. In 2015 I started freshman year, good grades flooded my report card making me think that school wasn't really that bad. Sophomore year came too soon and hit me with a wave of assignments that were hard to swim through, Don't get me wrong, I made it through the thick water but with a lesser GPA than the year before. Junior year is now kicking in, “Welcome to the hardest year of your high school lives” was what we were greeted with from the now seniors. Thinking, I tell myself,

My college experience has been very non traditional. Besides from having to work basically full-time for the entirety of my college career, school in general has been a struggle. My freshmen year, I decided to stay near home and attend Govornors State University. At Govornors State, I did very well but I was not enjoying my time there. My family was extremely disappointed in my decision to stay home. I was always told to "get away" and "get the college experience". I knew I did not want to be far away but I wanted to make my parents proud so I made the decision to go to Illinois State University the following fall.

It was October of last year, my first scheduled debate ever. My cool laid back bravado was officially terminated in that moment as my stomach turned. “A kid with nerves of steel was now overwhelmed?”, I asked myself. As I stared at the face of my first debate judge, a great deal of nerves stampeded through my body. There were two debaters to the left of me ready to make their school proud. My body was in complete shock because I had to compete against complete strangers. The judge was also a debate coach from another school. I began to think,“what if the judge shows bias against my team” and “what if the other team has a better speaker than me?”. All of these things took place as I stood in a room about to do what I said I’d never do in my highschool career.

Growing up I was bullied a lot, for my weight, my name, my hair, anything the bullies could think of. The worst of these years was when I was in 5th grade; A girl in my class derided that she liked my one and only friend but didn't like me. My friend had stuck with me though all the bulling in elementary, however when the new girl came along she convinced my friend I was only holding her back. For the rest of that school year I didn't socialize with other students

The first day of her senior year seemed like a pretty normal day, walking through the long never-ending hallways that had a sort of Harry Potter look to them. The elongated hallways were shaped like archways with arched windows going all the way down the halls.

“Umm, yeah, I can mop the floors and... uh clean the floors best, uhhhhh yeah…I am done talking.”

It’s not always easy to be the good obedient God-fearing child, although this was highly expected coming from a Judeo-Christian Latin-American family of scholars. Samantha felt the constant pressure of having to be the perfect kid from early on in childhood. She remembered the first time that her views of this were shattered. While she maintained an honor roll status all through kindergarten to second grade, in third grade she finally made friends and at the same time she earned her first C. It seemed that the world around her would be completely destroyed by this letter grade in elementary school. How dare she bring shame into the family, even though her older brother consistently brought lower notes home, and was praised if he earned anywhere near a C. That C was a complete catastrophe. She made friends, she got a C, and she got the crapped spanked out of her. She remember getting a heads up from her father that she would get a spanking for her grades, and remember wearing 7

I was born in California and lived there for approximately 13 years. That move was one of the most difficult experiences in my life because my whole life was found in California. I was already a freshman in high school when I moved. I completed my freshman year in Texas and started my sophomore year at Lancaster High School. I did not think much about my life after high school because the education in this new high school was anything but great. It was after moving to Missouri that I started looking into future careers. I was led to look into the future because Webb City High School is small enough that the counselors could keep tabs on students more. The other reason was influenced by my previous high schools. After being in schools where

My senior year in high school I decided that I was going to follow my friends and attend Ole Miss after graduation. I liked the idea of the big-name university, SEC football games, sororities, and all that fell into the Ole Miss stereotype. These were the main things I was focused on when making my college decision. Over the course my first semester, I quickly learned that my idea of college was not at all what I had expected. My fun-filled college dream turn into a reality filled with thousands of dollars of debt, an empty bank account, and 30-hour work weeks. While this is a reality for many college students, it was not the case for my group of friends.

I splashed some water in my face, standing at the bathroom sink. Graduation Day was upon me and I needed to freshen up a bit. Staring at myself in the mirror I ran my fingers across the mustache that had popped up over my 8th grade year. Today was going to be a good day, I hoped. My leg is not bothering me too much today, so that is a plus. Grandpa seemed to be more like his old self then he had been in months, though he still was not himself. That brought a flash of sadness across my face. It had been a rough three years; a lot of things had changed since I started Jr. High.