Personal Narrative: Moving To Canal Winchester

Even though I’ve eaten lobster rolls, sported L.L. Bean jackets, and cruised lighthouse-studded coastlines, I am anything but a New-Englander. Though this has been by 4th year in Massachusetts, I still feel like I’m still the new kid on the block, the midwestern girl who’s naive to the traditions and expectations of New England. But, I am comfortable here, a result of many challenges I had to face over the time I spent in Massachusetts. These challenges did not arise when I first moved out—I was very unhappy the first and second year—it was during Sophomore year, when I started to adapt and be happy, did challenges from home spring forth on me. These challenges were from the people that I had left, family, friends, and others who felt that

Growing up in Chicago, I attended a neighborhood school from preschool through first grade. Although it was an exceptional school for elementary kids, the education for middle school and high school students was not as adequate. Seeking a better place to raise their children, my parents were faced with a tough choice. When I was in 2nd grade, our family made the decision to move to the suburbs. On July 3rd, we all packed into our Honda minivan and drove 45 minutes to a new home in the town of Winnetka. Within my first year at Crow Island, my new school, I learned so many new things. I started playing the violin and speaking Spanish, neither of which were offered at my old school. I met my best friends that I'm still close with now. Over the

Green, black and white, the colors we represented from kindergarten on. The pride we had for Southlake Carroll was indescribable. Our Friday nights consisted of the lights of the stadium and families who eat, sleep and breathe “The Tradition”. We were raised to become the Dragons or in my case the endless hours of training to become an Emerald Belle wasn’t an option, it was a lifestyle. Although Southlake is known for great academics the favoritism was very noticeable. I was spoiled with the leniency of the teachers who felt sympathy for my fourteen hour days. I got free passes and green lights, not gonna lie, it was pretty great. When I got hurt and my training to become the highly idolized Emerald Belle came to an end, so did the free passes.

From 9th grade to 10th grade, I attended a small, public choice school called Federal Way Public Academy. They accepted students on a lottery basis, and had a total student population of approximately 300 students, grades 6-10. It is a school that is very well known for it’s college-level academics, lack of music and physical education classes, and intense homework load. Regardless, I wanted to attend that school since I was in 5th grade, but wasn’t accepted until 9th. When 9th grade finally came, I met the group of people I would soon call family.

January 2015, I moved to Bothell, Washington from Kirkland, Washington. Moving to a new city means moving to a new school. I did not like that idea. I already had a bunch of friends in Kirkland, I couldn't just leave them out of the blue like that. Plus, it was in the middle of the school year.

Macon, Georgia – We made the big move at the beginning of my senior year and I was around 16 at the time. I had all of my senior credits for school in Colorado because of advanced placement courses. But Texas had a whole new set of rules regarding graduation. There was a test called TAAS, which I was expected to take with less than a year of preparation, while the rest of the students had been raised and prepared for this test their entire school life. I knew that I would have academic obstacles because the curriculum was also different and most of it focused on southern issues that were new to me, such as FFA and welding courses as electives. If the new high school wasn’t going to be a problem, my new home life would. It’s very hard

I was going to Brentwood Middle School when I got the news. I was just starting to find my friend group. Then I was told I would be transferring to a new group of schools. I would be moving 20 minutes down the road into a little town called Nolensville. When I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I would have to transfer schools again after I finished my freshman year. During my sophomore year of high school, I began at Nolensville. This school and town have changed me in ways I never thought it would.

Growing up in a small town is something many people don’t have the opportunity to experience. On the other hand, some people who do get this chance don’t really think of it as being an “opportunity” or anything special. I would have to disagree; being raised in Caddo Mills, Texas has been such a blessing and has impacted me more than anything else in my life. It’s in this town that I grew up with my peers like a family. It’s here that I met the greatest circle of friends. It’s here that I had the opportunity to meet some of the best educators and receive an awesome education. Most importantly, it’s here that I made the decision to follow Christ. I’m extremely grateful that Caddo Mills is the place God lead my parents to raise my sister and me.

Today, we reached The Dalles. Nate told us we have two choices. Either we can float down the river, or we can go around Mt. Hood. We talked it over, and almost everyone agrees we should go around. I'm certain everybody remembers Ezekiel and the river, and none of us want to go through that again. So we start on Barlow Road, which will take us around the mountain, tomorrow. Things aren't getting much better here. We are all so tired. I think that once we get to Oregon, I will just sleep through winter.

and left to my dad’s work in Lafayette, CO in order to get to school, even though school began around 7:30 a.m. Even with those circumstances, some of my greatest accomplishments include receiving high honor rolls with a 4.50 cumulative GPA, and winning a Naval Science Award at the Denver Metro Regional Science Fair for my science project called Indoor Composting?. The next year, I switched to a charter school again for the beginning of tenth grade and then switched to Cherry Creek High School for the rest of tenth grade till now. When I came to Creek, my grades changed dramatically from the straight A’s that I got since 7th grade to A’s , B’s and C’s. I even took extra classes for math over the summer to be able to catch up academically. The classes at Creek are more rigorous compared to what I was used to and the competitiveness of others was shocking to me too. My confidence actually dropped due to my grades and social

Choosing the right highschool was a crucial decision I needed to make in the 8th grade. There were a lot of schools to choose from. I could go to Medford High School which is my local area school, I could go to Medford Vocational which is the vocational school of Medford, I could go to Minuteman where they had computer programming which is my passion, or a could go to a variety of private schools. In the end I chose Minuteman. There were a few problems that I had to overcome. The biggest problem was that very few of my friends were going to Minuteman which meant I needed to make all new friends. The second problem

Growing up in Middletown New Jersey was like living in outer space. Everything was so big and sirene. Space consists of a variety of vast colors. In New Jersey, during the summer, the grass was a luscious, emerald green. The sky was always a sapphire blue. During the winter, a blanket of scintillating frost crystallized over the grass. Like space, over the course of time, things in my hometown began to change.

     Once my family and I arrived at our new house I was still very saddened because of the move and had trouble not getting mad at my parents. Summer went bye like it wasn’t even there and by the time school started I was very depressed. The new school I was going to was Naperville North High School which was about ten times the size of my old school in Pennsylvania in size and in the number of students. In my school in Pennsylvania there were about twelve students in each class, here the number runs around thirty two. The school building was so big I had a lot of trouble getting to class on time let alone finding them in the building. The school wasn’t what I was bothered by the most because it was the fact that I didn’t have any social life and I was a social person. There were a lot of different groups of people at my new high school, it was tough for me to fit in and meet new people. Everyone just knew me as the new kid and didn’t even bother to find out what my real name was. The first

I began to attend Thompson Middle School which did not go very well in the beginning. I was very depressed as I was being bullied every day. I was different; I was a military brat with a disability and had never attended anything but military schools on a base. Coming from overseas

When I think about an event that sticks out in my mind as one that was very important in my life, I think about changing schools in the seventh grade. About halfway through my middle school career, I became very unhappy at my school and with life in general. Upon discussing with my parents, we made the decision that I would switch schools and embark on a new journey in hopes to appease my unhappy soul. At first, I felt as if a new school would not help; little did I know what a profound change it would have on my life.