Personal Narrative: My Journey To Marian High School In Elkhart, Indiana

Growing up on the west side of Chicago, it was always about finessing to get where you wanted to go in life. You either play basketball, rap, or scam, and I don’t fit any of the mentioned criteria. I have only one way that will allow me to live the successful life I dream of, and that’s my education. I worked my hardest during elementary school just so I could be able to attend one of the top high schools in Chicago and only then was I accepted into Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, one of the top three high schools in the state.

I have always been in love with the game of softball. I love all the competition and the thought of working at it brings joy to my heart. I could always go to the field to get my mind off things and just focus. But in May of 2015 my life changed and I had a whole new mind set on everything.

My eyes repeatedly peered to the stands which had a crowd of at least four hundred students eagerly waiting as we were warming up. Observing the crowd I noticed the left side of the field was full of students in orange Parkview High School shirts while to my right students were in purple Brookwood High School shirts. It was the Lacrosse Region Championships between Parkview, the school I played for, and, Brookwood High School. Both of our schools were ranked top ten for biggest rivalries, we knew it would be a fight to win the most significant game for us.

“Fight, fight, fight,” was the chant that so often filled the halls of West Monroe High School. The teachers heard it every time but always hid in the teacher's lounge for fear of being attacked. This was the legacy of WMH, fights, student riots, and terrified teachers.

It was 7:00 in the morning when we arrived at the Johnston City High School. Once everyone arrived at the high school, we got on the bus and headed off to Benton. As we stepped foot on the bus, we all sat there quietly, nervous about the results of this game. This was the game that determined whether or not we went on to state. Coach Simon and Coach Shane gave us one of their what we like to call "before the game warm-up talks". We were all nervous of course, but we were all determined to win this game. We had been looking forwards to winning regionals and going to state the whole season and that day was the day that we gave us the opportunity to go to state. After the thirty minute bus ride, we finally got to Benton and once we got there,

Beginning my elementary school career, I attended Indianapolis Public Schools. When I entered school, Kindergarten was only half days, and we were working on materials such as, learning our alphabet and counting to 100. The workload was a far cry from the addition, subtraction, early reading skills, and science that my daughter is learning in kindergarten this year. Following the first grade I left the Indianapolis Public School System and entered into a new school system. Embarking on second grade we started working on the skills that would help us read proficiently. I was absolutely struggling, but I was also so distrustful that I didn’t dare to say anything to my teacher. Thankfully, even without me saying anything to her, my teacher noticed

Our family lived in wheaton I went to highschool there it was called wheaton high school. Although I was really good at football it was not my favorite sport I loved baseball and track I ran the 100 and 220 yard sprints also I ran low and high hurdles,the long jump and not to mention I was a 4 time sprint champion.In football at the highschool I scored 75 touvhdown and kicked 82 extra. I did not want to go to college because they did not offer college scholarships red father said “he was set on my going.” One of my neighbors convinced me to go to the university of Illinois. In my first game playing on the varsity team I scored 3 touchdowns my longest one was 65 yards all the people that watched me play said I had great speed dodging and change

While attending Judson High School in the beginning of my senior year, our advisory teacher Mrs. Evans

I, currently as a student at Ruth Thompson Middle School, have contributed to the community around me in many ways. In my school, as of now, I have been part of the RTMS Tech Team, which includes in helping students with technology, helping teachers set up with assemblies, open houses, replacing PC monitors, and a lot more. As part of tech team, I have also helped with things that are relatively tedious, like sorting out a whole room of cables. Yes, I will do it again at JFSS if I’m assigned or have the opportunity to. Also, I have helped with jobs that may require a little more skill. In my school, I have tried, along with a team of other students, try to install Chrome OS on unsupported hardware, which if succeeds, will be installed on more

HIgh school has always been easy for me, and probably for the majority of people that have been through the school system in America. 20 years ago there wasn’t a such thing as a program like northland CAPS for high schoolers. Also 20 years ago you didn’t need a college degree to pursue most careers. For me I’ve always been a procrastinator, even the application I submitted to northland caps was late. I’ve always been comfortable talking in front of large crowds and I’ve always been comfortable with myself. However, I was tired of the traditional classroom as well. The repetivness of being in highschool learning the same material has the juniors did before you. I wanted to try something different my junior year, and I knew that there wouldn’t be very many juniors in this program making it a bigger challenge for me.

I went to Ebenezer Middle School in Rincon Georgia for all three years. By the time I had made it to middle school I had adjusted to uniforms and the new people in a new district.I was upset that the uniform shirts were now green, and I had grown used to the navy blue shirts from fifth grade. I was very excited to start switching classes more and I was ready to start playing an instrument. In middle school we had A days and B days. Everyday it switched between the two. Everyday you would still go to your main classes, but the fifth class would switch everyday. That fifth class was an elective, and I had band as one of them all four years. In eighth grade I had the option to do band everyday so obviously I chose to do that.

How are you? I hope this letter finds you well. My homesickness is creeping towards me like an ominous cloud foreboding a thunderstorm. It’s frightening me, but I am sure the storm will pass quickly. The first sense of these feelings were ignited when I was walking to my dorm and it started pouring rain. In Southern California, where I was born and raised, rain is scarce. Deerfield has been great, but I yearn for the salty smell in the air from the ocean and the feeling of the sun on my skin. Thousands of question race through my mind as I recall my time back home. Was the move to Deerfield a good decision? Am I going to make it out alive during the winter? Should I have came this far? As I am writing this letter, the answer to all those questions is a gargantuan yes. I know the commitment I made to attend Deerfield Academy is miles away from my comfort zone, literally, but growth and

Until sixth grade, I went to Shepherd Christian Elementary School. Once I moved on to sixth grade, I had to switch to a school that went through high school. I didn’t want to leave my friends; I was scared. I was touring multiple schools to see where God was leading us. When I came to Liberty, I immediately felt loved. Liberty was much larger than my old school. On the first day, I felt at home.

“You sound like a white boy! Why do you talk like that?” said one kid. “You sound like a gay boy! Why do you sound like a girl!” another one said. “Haha, aren’t you gay or something?” mocked another. Those words from my fellow classmates ripped through my ears. The echoes of their unruly and harsh words were always screeched on the playground. I was only in the third grade when I started getting teased and bullied for my voice, my weight, the way I spoke and the things I loved. My greatest challenge I’ve ever had to overcome was accepting myself and learning to love who I am.

When recalling my high school days at Center Grove High School, I can’t really recall all the various kinds of drugs which were used around the school. I know that tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana were the drugs most would talk about. While the tobacco could be down played do to the fact that some were old enough to use it, I can still recall times were I have found what looks like “dip” spit in either the toilets, and even in a sink once or twice, with the occasional cigarette smell as well. With the other two, I can’t really say how often they occurred in or around the school due to me being in a special program which kind of kept those involved away from the rest of the school unless it was for electives. When comparing what I can remember,