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.

I attended three different high schools as a teenager. I was a member of the JROTC program for four years. As devoted as I was I was on the unarmed drill team for two years at Roosevelt high school called the “ Riderettes “. My junior year of high school we actually made first place out of seventy schools in Kentucky, Louisville. Which means we qualified for Championship Daytona, Fl Nationals. It was a lifetime experience for me as a teenager. Who knew I would be going to Kentucky or Daytona for free with a team I can actually call my sisters. One of the most things I loved about my trip was the beach early in the morning with the sunrise out and all you could see was the beautiful blue waves washing over the shore.

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.

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.

I left high school as valedictorian of my class 2022. I had all A's in high school and scouts looking at me for soccer and academic achievements. Since Bangor doesn’t have a soccer team for high school I went to play for a rush league. The cost was to much for my mom to pay but the coaches saw how good I play and sponsored me. I was class president as well, it helped a little for college scouts. As a junior I knew what college I wanted to go to. I had toured Stout and was impressed by there programs. Also Stout has a soccer program.

As I think back on my high school career, of which I seem to be doing more and more lately, I now realize that I was fortunate enough to have more positive than negative experiences. I remember as I left middle school my main goal was to attend a high school where I would be able to further my athletic abilities. Luckily for me I went to a school which was great in both athletics and academics.

Throughout the past four years of my high school career, I have been rowing crew. I fell in love with the sport the moment I walked onto the team during the fall season of my freshman year. I was young and didn’t know how to react to such a demanding sport. The captain of the team “took me under his wing” and helped guide me to success. I told him on his graduation day that I want to be just like him when I become a senior. With focus and determination, I put my head down, and strived to be as good of a rower and captain as he once was. Every single day I brought my A-game to practice and left my blood, sweat, and tears in the boat and out on the water. In short order, I accomplished goals I didn’t think were physically or mentally possible.

Whenever the word meaningful comes to mind, some may think of tangible objects like a gift or an item that passes through their family. However, when I think of meaningful, I think of the teammates and coaches who have passed through my life, the friday night lights, the sweaty practices. The most meaningful school activity I have participated in during my four years of high school was the dance team. The dance team taught more about myself than any other activity or hardship has. The dance team taught me how to be responsible, a woman, and most importantly, a hard worker. All three of these characteristics are qualities I will never take for granted.

It was January 2013. I suppose I had known this would come. After Dad had started coming home later each night, more exhausted and drained than usual, I began to realize that our current residence might not be as permanent as I had wanted. We had relocated here, to the outskirts of Humboldt, Tennessee, four and a half short years before, to have enough acreage for our horse Clyde to stay at home. Our previous location in the city had not allowed for that, and stable boarding expenses were piling up. In the country, we could go riding any time we wanted, without having to make a long drive to the stables. We began to like this, and fell into a routine. Dad had now had his job for eight years, and I expected everything to stay the same as it had been. I was in for a surprise.

Right after high school graduation, I had the opportunity to go to college on a wrestling scholarship. I had to declare a major when I signed up for classes, and I knew from the start what I thought I wanted to do. My favorite subject in school was math, and my two favorite teachers were math teachers, and one of them was also my wrestling coach. I thought he had the best job in the world, and I wanted to do the same thing. I want a career that focuses on something I know and like (math), that lets me be around young people (high school teaching), and that might let me also continue to be involved in wrestling (coaching part time). I also wanted a job that gave me a great schedule: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., with weekends and summers off. My parents

In high school I always believed that I was capable of achieving more in life. Although I initially felt that I had a strong work ethic, the college admissions process soon showed me that I had a lot of growing and maturing to do in order to be successful. Thus, under the Blinn Team program I was able to realize my true academic potential, and began to work towards gaining full admissions with a degree in Nutrition,

High school is arguably some of your best years in someone’s school career and many start to notice this when they get to College or graduate.However,some students take it for granted and don’t participate in anything or can’t participate because they’re academically ineligible.In my experience I missed out on a number of events that I wished I hadn’t because I didn’t use my time wisely to do school work it’s ashame that I wasn’t able to participate since you get to only experience them once in your life.