Personal Narrative: My High School Career

It was May 25, 2018 at 7:47 in a steaming hot gymnasium when the name Anthony Joseph Sansalone was getting called from the loud speaker, the sixth to last person to receive their diploma I begun shaking the hands of all the board members and everything that I had known from the last 13 years at the same school was over and a new chapter of my life was stating to begin. A few seconds after receiving my diploma the Class President guided us to changing of our tassels from right to left then commencement was over and I was walking out with my future roommate at BGSU, Vincent Zhang, we looked at each other knowing that our high school career was descending and our college careers were lifting off together. High school was tuff for me due to the fact that I have know what I wanted to do since I was a freshman, I want to become an animator and work for an Academy Award winning company such as

“Soon shall thy arm, UNCONQUER'D STEAM! Afar; Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;

I have always been a studious school-minded person. I went to school at Miles Exploratory Learning Center aka Miles ELC from preschool to 8th grade. I was very hard working receiving all A's and B's throughout my schooling. I then moved to Tucson Magnet High School. I was top 25 out of 600+ kids in my class and got to wear an honors cord and be called up in front of everyone. I graduated high school with a 3.8 GPA something I am very proud of. I worked very hard in high school to make sure I graduated with good grades because I needed all the scholarships I could get to be able to afford college since I am white and middle class and not very many scholarships are offered to middle class families.

Growing up I always took part in extracurricular activities to be more active and social in my life. I grew up with two brothers who had very different interests in things than me so I had to rely on friends and activities to help me from becoming couch potato.

Throughout my Jr. High and High School career, I've had many pastimes and hobbies that I found I could participate in outside of the classroom for. During the seventh grade and all the way until my sophomore year of High School I participated in basketball. From the seventh grade until my senior year of high school I participated in cross-country. In Middle School I participated in wrestling, and most recently I have partaken in soccer for my junior and senior year of High School. Besides sports I spent a good amount of time dedicating myself to volunteer for the local parks and rec center. I volunteered on projects such as the Annual Triathlon, the Haunted House, and many more. I also volunteered for the local Clinic during their annual 5K Color Run.

I consider my Middle School career to be like climbing a mountain. You start the climb not knowing what to expect, not knowing what types of things you will run into. As the climb progresses, you become more accustomed to your terrain. Through experience, you learn which places to rely on, which rocks and ledges you know you can trust with your life. Throughout your climb, things can get a little rough. Sometimes, you may feel like giving up and climbing back downwards. Other times, you may feel like you have no ledges to help you climb the mountain. However, after the hard climb, the view is beautiful.

Throughout my whole high school career what has happened to me in my life has reflected on how I perform. The first two years of high school was smooth sailing for me. I had a little bump in the beginning of the semester. However, that was only for I was not use to the high school setting, so I was only trying to get comfortable with my teachers and their working style. I had the mindset at the time to only focus on school, for I did not have anything else to worry about. The classes I had were fairly simple to keep up with. I believe this was because I only had honors classes during this time, and only one AP class. The teachers I had did not have that many high expectations, as an AP teacher would.

Ever since I can remember I have been fortunate enough to have my parents and

At first, I didn’t think I belonged here. I wasn’t doing as well as I had hoped at the beginning of the semester, but I buckled down, got tutors and used my time wisely. After just a week, my hard work started to pay off. I realized I loved being at Salve and I could not have chosen a better school to be at. The people here have been so welcoming and have been so helpful. I am so glad that Salve was the school I chose. Not only was it my dream school, but I also figured out who I was and why I belonged here rather than at any other school. I love Salve and I could not imagine being at any other school.

Growing up in a small town has forced me to face many challenges. Some of them being small like trying to figure out what to do on a Friday night, but some were much larger challenges like, what do I wanna do with my education, and how can I further it. These many decision haunted me throughout my four years of high school. In high school I would be considered very involved. My high school career included sports, my studies, an active Warrior sports fan, and planning events within student council. Multitasking was the greatest tool I learned during my high school career. After high school I plan to attend a four year university to gain the experience and knowledge I will need for the real world.

“Ranked sixth, Dorothy Hernandez, Texas A & M University Kingsville, Civil Engineering,” began the description at my high school graduation. I recall my decision upon selecting a school and major, which were all revolved around an anti-teaching attitude. My mother, who comes from a line of teachers in El Salvador, and a school counselor at the time of my graduation, attempted to lure me into the family profession; and as a young reckless teenager would do, I held nothing back when I declined to even consider that possibility. My mom recalls me saying, “Oh no! I don’t want to be a teacher, EVER!” when she helped me consider my career choices.

During high school I was a lot different as a person then I am now. I have bipolar and I did not know how to control it when I was in high school. High school was rough for me because I moved schools so much due to frequent bullying. My first high school was Nashoba Regional High School in Bolton, Massachusetts. Nashoba was really big when I first got there and really hard to get around. I was so afraid of leaving my books behind somewhere that I just carried them all around in my big freshman backpack. Nashoba was a struggle because it was such a difficult high school. I got a 3.0 my first and second semesters at Nashoba but sadly again because of bullying I had to switch schools. The next school was called Montachusette Regional Vocational Technical High School which was even harder than Nashoba.

In junior high, I could not wait to grow up. I wanted to be older, be able to drive wherever and whenever I wanted, and hang out with all my friends all the time. Little did I know, that is not really how it works. In junior high, I had a variety of friends and we hung out as often as we could. I was with the same group of girls all the time, we would go to school together, play sports together in the evenings, and hangout together on the weekends. In high school friends change and I was told that it would happen, but we all thought that it would never happen. We, of course, were wrong. Most of my high school career had been taken up with playing sports. It started the summer before my freshman year, I would go from a softball game, to basketball

Until third grade, I was homeschooled. Kindergarten through second grade, I worked in workbooks at my own pace. From third grade to sixth grade, I didn’t hate math, but I wasn’t a fan of it either. I had the same teacher for both 7th and 8th grade math, and that is when I started disliking it. I have always been good at math once I figure it out, but I don’t overly enjoy doing it. Ninth through eleventh grade I had a one hundred or higher (extra credit) in math because I was in regular on-level classes. Tenth grade year was my favorite though. The teacher was really kind and would take the time to explain if I didn’t understand. Twelfth grade, though, made me hate math. The teacher did not like me and told me I needed tutoring because I “obviously”

Throughout my high school career, I chose the recommended path. I followed the requirements and chose my courses based on the advice of my counselors and my older classmates: use high school as a period of exploration and growth. Whenever possible, I took classes that I knew I would enjoy; Digital Graphics, Sociology, World Religions, and French. Senior year, I chose to take Accounting and Statistics because of my interest in business (sparked by Business Principles and Ownership) and probability. In taking these classes, I hoped to explore potential career and major paths. Additionally, I chose to take classes that would expand my knowledge by stretching me to my limits. These classes included Calculus, AP Human Geography, American Literature,