Personal Narrative: My Life After High School

Looking back at my high school years I would say it was not easy. I was not the person I am today, I was careless and dull. I wasn't concerned about my standards or entity. The start of high school is the most critical year that will set your GPA for the future. Raising your GPA will not be an easy thing to do. As for me I had started out with a moderate GPA, but throughout the rest of my high school years I had to work very hard to bring it back up.

For years up until highschool, I had successfully tried out for and made a variety of sports teams. That is, until sophomore year. It was my first year trying out for the Winnacunnet baseball team, which everyone had known to be terrible for years. 3 months full of hard work later with that idea still in my mind, I was filled with a weird mixture of confusion, anger, and sadness when I was told that I had been cut from the team before the start of the season. At the time I thought that day ended my entire baseball career, I’d never play another meaningful inning of the game I loved ever again. I decided against that idea though, I wasn’t gonna let one bad event stop me from following my dreams. So starting that summer, I trained all year round

Some people fracture a bone in their body; some break the same bone twice. A few rupture a bone from slipping on a rug. I happen to be one of the very few for whom both of these scenarios are true. Between the ages of five and seven, my parents enrolled me in a gymnastics class because I loved to tumble and twirl. I knew how to execute everything a little gymnast aimed for: a cartwheel, a handstand, and splits. I always tested my limits with the dream of getting to the Olympics. So, as any athlete, I practiced outside of the gym. However, a normal practice would turn out to crush my dream of winning the gold. Outside at my aunt's house, my cousins and I decided to practice what we learned in the class that week. I had diligently watched the older kids master a back handspring so I thought that I could tackle the challenge. All I remember is falling backwards, thinking I had stuck the landing. However, lying on the floor, I realized that my arm appeared abnormal and shooting pains came from all angles. I had broken my arm for the first time.

Between the grades of kindergarten to grade four, I just didn’t care. I never thought twice about giving the wrong answer, doing my best work, or presenting projects in front of the class. That soon came to an abrupt halt when I started grade five. Everyone was starting to get serious about their grades and who they were starting to become. I began to worry about what people thought of me, and tried desperately to fit in. I was constantly working at getting my grades back up and maintaining my friendships, but I developed really bad anxiety about everything. I couldn’t work on or present any projects without stressing over it to the point where I wore myself out and made myself feel sick. My anxiety has decreased small amounts at a time over

I was a freshman in high school when I realized I was missing something, and no it wasn’t a boyfriend. Out of all the questions I was asked in high school, “What are you doing after high school?” was asked by a margin wider than Ronald Reagan’s popular vote in the presidential election of 1984. I was asked relentlessly by multiple teachers through out my high school career and I was always at a loss for a reply. I didn’t know what I wanted to be and I wouldn’t figure it out for a long time.

College comes with multiple, unspoken rules. My personal favorites being if you do not have a car find someone who does quick, time should never be wasted, ration your food, and last but not least, eight a.m. classes truly do not have your best interest in mind. About two weeks ago, these guidelines became my college commandments off this one hilarious memory.

My life began 14 years ago on September 22, 2000 at about 1:30 pm at Mesquite Medical Center. I weighed 6 pounds 3 ounces and was 19 inches long. I have a sister who is 6 years older than me and is currently attending Stephen F. Austin for her 3rd year. When I was born, I had little blue spots on my body, but the most noticeable one is on my finger, it has grown as I have gotten older. My dad also has these mysterious spots and has been to many dermatologists to try and figure out what they are but no doctor knows exactly what to call them.

“Hey Katie,” the cute boy at lunch whispered to me while drinking his apple juice, “pass this down.”

Ring! Ring! The school bell dings and Stan gets up and goes to his locker. He walk over to the water fountain and someone push his head down and he got wet. It was his friends Kyle and Eric. He says” hey what was that for” and Kyle responds “ It was just a joke.” They then exit the school and went their way home. As they walk through a back alley Stan trips Kyle. Kyle falls and hits a garbage can, and the can tips over. In the can was a brown bag filled with money. The boys were astonished and took the money.

Last school year was a crazy one. Lots of different things going on, good and bad. I'm usually a C and D grade type of student. School has never been easy for me, i figured it just wasn't for me. I started to give up and not care about school, i stopped doing my work, i let my grades go down and it was bad. I had about 5 Fs, the rest were mostly D’s and C’s. My best friend Erika is an honor student, all AP classes and straight A’s in every single report card. Her parents were so proud of her, we were all so proud of her. I wondered how that felt and told myself that if i try hard enough i can do it too. So i got my act together. it wasn't easy but i was really trying, i started to do my work, i studied like crazy and talked to my teachers more. All in all i dint get to straight A’s but i got to all B’s and maybe two C’s. i was proud, my mom was proud and my best friend was too. My GPA got a little higher and it was all great.

After high school I wouldn't want to go straight to college if I didn't necessarily have to. I would want to take a year to travel and see the world. Yes it might be better to just go straight to college after high school but who would want to do that when you could travel for a year. I believe after high school you should give yourself a gift and travel take a break from school. Even going to see the world and see different places and cultures, before reality hits you like a truck. Everyone should travel before their to busy with work, school, and or even families at the time. Its good to take time off.

I saw it. I saw as they drove into the peaceful grape fields that could be seen from any direction as the scorching sun burned our skin. I worked in those fields for eleven hours everyday with my parents. The peace was interrupted when the fields where invaded by white cars with a green stripe on both sides of the vehicle. Men in uniforms came out of the vehicles and started taking away some of my family’s closest acquaintances. I was seven years old when I discovered the reason my family lived in fear of stepping one foot outside the house unless it was absolutely necessary. The thought that they would take my parents away from me made fear overwhelm me until I dropped on my knees. My father grabbed my mother and I and ran as fast as we could

Most children live in a quiet neighborhood where they play for long hours all day without scraping a knee. Others come from less ideal circumstances. Now you are probably wondering which environment I grew up in. Seeing where this letter came from should tell you that I originate from this less ideal world. I was nurtured by my mother who was raised in a poor community in Puerto Rico and occasionally with my father who was raised in the streets of New York City. With their intentional love, in addition with the boundaries that they have set for me, they have made a path for me to grow up in without being affected by the cities dangerous nature.

I am notorious for being clumsy. Sometimes I envision how my senior graduation will turn out, full of trepidation that I will trip on stage as I am approaching my principal to receive my diploma. Regardless, I realize that as the number of days left in high school decreases, it does not matter what happens on stage; all that matters is that I am finally graduating. OR

It is the first day of the last semester of my senior year of High school. I am going to miss this; having my close friends by me every single day. I never really was popular in high school and I usually tried to hide in the shadows, but my best friend Sophie would never let that happen. She really pulled me out from my bubble. Sophie loves everyone, but she is picky with whom she likes. I know it doesn't make sense, but it is the best description.