Personal Narrative: My Sophomore Year In High School

During my Sophomore year I interned with the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. As an intern I trained and recruited volunteers, registered people of all parties to vote, canvassed and phone-banked for the 2016 Presidential election, ensured that voters had transportation to their polling place, and watched the polling locations to ensure the safety of all voters.

Sophomore year. Worst year of my life. I’m not even going to surecoat it. It was terrible. The only thing that was going good for me was school. I excel or CAN. My mom was getting bad again. I had to juggle cheer, dance, school, my mom, and my baby sister all at once. I was stressed to the max. I got through it surprisingly. On the brink. It was hell. One person, out of the entire world helped me through everything. My boyfriend. He, I would consider my “real” boyfriend. He helped me through a lot. He helped me through bad times and made the good times better. As sophomore year ended, my mom had the worse news to me i could ever imagine. She told me that she has throat cancer. It screwed everything up for me, even my boyfriend, couldn’t

When I was younger I thought that life wouldn’t hand me the very sour lemons until later on in life. However I was wrong on that account. In the middle of my sophomore year of high school I was diagnosed with epilepsy. My friends and I actually knew there was something going on before my parents did but we just had no idea what that was. That year I would have been able to accomplish one major mile stone in one’s young life which was to get their license, but I couldn’t get that until later. I had really hoped to have that license at 16 and be driving and having the freedom I wanted nevertheless that goal was crushed. For after an episode you must wait six months. I continued having seizures until July of that year. That was great to not have

Do you believe in bad luck? I'm not talking about just walking under a ladder, or spilling table salt. Rather, sometimes in your life you just run into a tough patch and must persevere through it. This is a very good description of my physical health during my Junior year of high school. You see I broke three bones in a span of 8 weeks, and they were all during athletic endeavors. I broke my right leg playing in a football game, and I broke both bones in my left forearm playing in a basketball game.

“The hardship and all the challenges you go through in life make you who you are,” my mother once said. Thankfully, I haven’t faced many obstacles or challenges in life yet. However, a major turning point of my life occurred when I was in middle school.

“Umm, yeah, I can mop the floors and... uh clean the floors best, uhhhhh yeah…I am done talking.”

Coming from a low-income family a majority of the money goes towards necessities and doesn't leave much for other expenses such as private tutors which in turn caused me specifically during my high school years to take advantage of educational opportunities offered by the school. During my sophomore year up to my senior year, I utilized the advanced and honors courses offered by the school. I started small with just one or two advanced classes but by the time it got to my senior year four out of my six classes were advanced. At the beginning, it was difficult to deal with the demanding and fast-paced courses it took me about the first month of the school year to become accustomed to them.

Throughout my four years of high school, I have participated in the Red Cross club. During my time there, I've helped my local community and communties else where. I have helped raise money for premature babies with the March of Dimes, I have cleaned the woods around my town, and I have taught little elemetary school kids about water and bus safety. Whether it was organizing books in the library or mangaing a game booth for less foruntiate kids, one of biggest highlight of my four years at high school has been helping my

My freshmen year of high school I decided to try out for the soccer team. High school was a new start. I was ready to make new friends and create new memories. Going into try outs I only knew one other girl on the team. The other people in my grade I knew of them, but I knew little about them. I had never played any sports before. Therefore, I had zero soccer experience. My lack of experience led me to constantly compare myself to other players. I compared how far they kicked the ball, how many goals they got, and how fast they ran. I thought to myself, "I will never be as good as them". The second say of tryouts came around, and I only made it to the first session of two. I had quit. My fear of failure got the best of me, and I lost the opportunity to learn from other people.

You are 14 and never have time for love because of cheer and school. At school your were always thought to be the girl who was always studying for the test the next day or tutoring the jocks. But now you've reached a new chapter of life sophomore year in high school. The next three years you were determined to be the most popular girl at your new school but still be the valedictorian of your class.

In my sophomore year of high school, one of my classmates introduced me to join an extra-curricular club that enabled high school students to test their leadership skills by becoming a camp counselor for fifth-grade students at Camp Allegheny. Every time our school hosted club week, she would pull me aside and direct me to the booth labeled “Camp Allegheny.” When the date to turn in Camp Allegheny applications was soon approaching, she would energetically speak about the fun activities, the involvement with the teachers and fifth graders, and the steaming hot chocolate that was to die for.

“Ring, Ring, Ring” that’s the blaring high-pitched sound that completely shaped my senior year of high school. Sitting in the back of the class as my teacher Mrs. James a bronze skinned woman, with short hair standing about 5 feet 6 inches stands in front of the class trying her hardest to settle the rumbling sound of student chatter and gossip; she bellows in the sweetest, subtle and most authoritative voice “Okay class let’s settle down. As the voices diminished she proceeds by saying “as you all know graduation is right around the corner” in pure excitement my fellow classmates and I cheer like we just caught the winning pass in the Superbowl. Mrs. James continues “so in honor of graduation I brought some friends with some interesting careers to help influence you

Growing up, I was always known by my middle school teachers as that “scatter brained” girl with the low B/C average. After being tested for ADHD by multiple doctors, they all came to the conclusion that I just wasn’t trying hard enough. Entering my freshman year of high school, my determination to succeed in school was higher than ever. I stayed up late every night, went after school for help, and yet I still ended up with a low B average. After all of my hard work, I was still a failure through my and my parents eyes. Throughout sophomore year, my self-esteem in school was lower than ever, but my determination was still pushing me. The end of sophomore year, I hit rock bottom. Again after all of my hard work, I ended with a B average, and

Even though summer has come to an end, I am excited to start sophomore year of high school and to start another journey. This was one of my most adventurous summers yet, and I can’t wait for more to come. I had many achievements and visits during the summer with my friends and family. So many members of my family and friends have pushed me to become the person I am today throughout the summer and school. Every day they inspire me to become a better person and to try new things. Outside of school, I play soccer, draw, and referee soccer games. Continuing with soccer, I have many goals for high school and college that I want to achieve. With all the new classes this year, I am excited to see what happens.

Before I started high school, I thought I wouldn’t change much as a person. Now, I know that isn’t the case anymore because I developed anxiety during my first year of high school. Since then, I have to deal with it everyday. It’s not as bad as it once was but I think it has definitely changed me.