Personal Narrative Essay: The Role Of African Americans In High School

“Get out of my car,” said my mom with a smile. Wearing an unnecessarily large backpack and reveling in the significance of the moment, I caught my reflection in the window: a young, slender boy with dark skin from my father, almond-shaped eyes from my mother, and a big smile all my own. I had a little hop in my step, pleased with what I saw. It was my first day at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ).

A life lesson that I have learned over the course of my high school years, is you need to choose wisely which crowd of people to hang around. I’ve learned that not everyone is your friend, even if they tell you they are. There are people out there who will claim to be your friend, and will stab you in the back when you least expect it.

Sixteen years old can be a very confusing age in any person’s life. We’re expected to act like adults but get treated like children, the age we begin to prepare ourselves for our last year of high school, the year we start to look into colleges we want to attend and what it is we want to do with our lives. But for me it was the age when my parents thought they would lead separate lives.

High school was hell. I went to a small school, very conservative and very athletics based. If you weren’t playing sports you were seen as less than the other students. Since I wasn’t on any teams I didn’t have many friends. The ones I’d had before high school had moved away or moved on from me. It didn’t help that the year before I started my freshman year I’d gotten diagnosed with major depression. Wanting to die every morning and school do not mix well. My freshman year seemed dire.

Have you ever worried what’s going to happen in future? I had this experience in 8th grade. This experience thought great life lesson. In life it’s important to trust and believe that everything will be fine and it will work out the you want it.

The honors and advanced placement courses I have taken throughout high have been my most challenging and the most enjoyable. My teachers motivated me to work harder which in turned helped me to achieve great things academically. Often my classes were smaller and taught in a more tutorial / discussion based rather than the traditional write memorialization style. I met and developed great friendships in all of my classes with other woman of color who placed high importance on obtaining a better than average academic experience in high school. If it were not for the support of my Spanish teacher last year, I would not have thought it was possible to spend seven weeks in Paraguay living with a host family who did not speak any English at all.

Shortly after, he responded saying he was not on campus but could call any time. However, similar with my mother, it was already too late. I had overthought the whole situation and chose it was best to push it down. I told him that I just got his email about our required checkup next week, and that I would talk to him then. Unsurprisingly, the meeting was solely school focused, and I told him the situation had been resolved. Preceded by months of pain, two cries for help in the span of two days that were both rejected, I was left in a very confused emotional state. As much as I hate to admit it, the night following these events was filled with tears.

I walked into the class late. However, it wasn't my fault that the stupid principal had stopped me in the hallway

The teacher was average sized woman.She wore a dress that had flowers on it and wore brown pumps ,she was really pretty. She looked straight at me.She said with a stern voice “Obviously the new student doesn't know the rules in this classroom and the school so why don't you stand up like the rest of us”. The whole class turned around and stared right at me. I was the center of attention.

I got inside the doors of the school quickly. I got pushed around at the bottom as normal. I spilled some chocolate milkshake on my shirt I was desperate to find a trashcan. It was awkward as I descended up the stairs. Everyone was sloshing around like melting snow in the winter.

I entered the school and the hot air hits my face. There are lots of people there, smiling. I didn’t know if it was a fake smile, but it made me feel welcomed. I went into the office to get my schedule. When I got it I went directly to my Science classroom and sat in my seat. The teacher called me up to introduce myself. “Great, just what I wanted, to make a fool out of myself on the first day.” My face felt numb and I wanted to go home. I went up and felt my voice struggling to get out, my body trembling as if I just fell into a tub of water. My first words came out“ M…..M…..My name’s Jeff.” At that moment I thought that I was done for, I was walking back to my seat, and I thought that I heard laughter. My face went red hot, and I thought that I was going to flip out, I just held it all in and started to listen as the teacher talked.

The past week and a half went by smoothly and quick, Casey's dad was still in jail for attempting to attack my dad. Tomorrow is the final day of our high school years, we accept our diploma's and head off to college and our lives. But today is our last dance of high school; most of the seniors ditched it. We were all sitting at our table, Mariana got up "Casey! Ashlyn! Let's go dance." She pulled them up to their feet and dragged them on to the dance floor. Jake asked "Why you look down?" I turned to him "I can't believe high school is over." Austin said "Aren't you two going to the navy after this?" Jake laughed "Hell yeah." Austin cleared his throat "It's not like call of duty moron, you'll actually be killed." I laughed "It's nothing like that."

Final straw for me was my own  personal hands on experience. I was a junior in high school, a sixteen year old girl. Into the hair and makeup just to go to school. It was the end of the week and I had planned out what I was going to wear to school on Friday. Funny now to look back at it, because who was I trying to impress. Well, Thursday night I had all my stuff set up and planed on getting up early to curl my hair. Told my sister I was getting up early and I would be quite so she could sleep in. By the time morning came, way to soon for me, I just wanted to sleep. Forget all about the hair I could just put it into a braid and get some sleep. Shutting of the alarm I rolled back over to sleep another half hour or so. Before I could get back to sleep I was shaken vigorously. Thinking my sister was trying to be helpful and get me up so I could do my hair, I said OK I am getting up already. Took the morning trip to the bathroom and still didn't plan on curling my hair. Back to bed for me. Returning to my room I stood in the doorway looking at my bed. Sitting on the bed in a red and white shirt with blue eye's was a boy I have never seen before. But, he wasn't really there was he. How could he be when I only just got up and no boy's wherein the house. It dawned on me that my sister is still asleep, so how could she have woke me. This must be who woke me by shaking me. I looked at him for what seemed like a long time but was merely seconds. I closed my eye's and said out loud,

It’s the end, high school is finally over. It’s finally graduation day, and a wave of emotion hit, and I’ve never been hit with a wave quite this hard, not even at the beach. I’m not the type to get sad, but as I walk around in my long draping gown, my cap the doesn’t quite fit because of my abnormally large head, and my state championship ring I can’t help but be overwhelmed with emotion. Being the guy that I am I ignore it as always and I continue going around to teachers and give them hugs, thanking them for the help they’ve given me. Watching everyone take pictures, crying, talking about their futures, and how “they’ll have to meet up sometime” as if they’re moving to another country when they are just really moving to the next town over. I swore the day before, the week before, even months before I would be sad, and wouldn’t know what to do with myself when today actually comes, but I can’t seem to find the emotions. All of them are on the inside and won’t come out. On the inside I feel sad, and upset and I want to just hug everyone and cry, but I can’t. I don’t have time to think about crying, because of all the chaos going on around me. We only got one practice in ahead of time, just about nobody actually listened to what we are supposed to be doing, so everyone’s doing their own thing. I walk through the halls and realize this is my final last. I’ve had my last soccer game, I’ve attended my last football game and cheered them onto another loss, and now in

After a long time, we land in the back of the school and all the students got off the bus, so I went after them caring my new blue backpack I smiled. I entered inside schools it was so big, the color of the wall was cream. Then we went straight to the cafeteria. I stood there watching other students do some students were talking and others were playing, I was like the black sheep between a lot of white sheep. After that I went to the food line to go get my food, there was cinnamon bread and banana bread, so I chose cinnamon bread. I took a seat in the second table this was the first time eating a cinnamon bread. Then the bell rang, I go to a hallway, but my social studies class is not there. “Are you a new student in the school?” asked me a eighth-grade student in spanish, I responded “Yes I am a new student, I’m trying to find my social study class.” Then she asked “Can I see your schedule” “ Sure!” I said, “O you are a sixth-grade student” she said, “Yes I am a sixth-grade student” I answered. Then she told me “ So you try to find your class, but you can’t find here because the sixth-grade hallway is the last one down there” “ok thank you I said. I walked down to the sixth-grade hallway and looked for the number of my class that was in the class schedule. I found the class my teacher was standing where her table was. I entered in the class and sit in the second row and the